In your face
God damn dude.
What you just saw is a composite of a number of tweets from Big Jim Miller, who appears to be pretty tired of the criticism coming from Twitter. Jim is the current Supervising Director on My Little Pony. Or maybe he's specifically tired of Murrison...
Either way, he got his point across!
Feel free to argue about what happened in the comment section below, or head over to Derpibooru for additional lols.
Feel free to argue about what happened in the comment section below, or head over to Derpibooru for additional lols.
I tend to take the Muad'Dib approach to this show and fandom...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't really call any of what's being aimed at Jim from Murrison "criticism", but yeah, if I were Jim and had to put up with that instead of receiving ACTUAL criticism, I'd kinda be tired of it, too, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteI've understood that if it isn't valid criticism then there isn't a valid reason to respond. It's one of the biggest problems that people have to reply to everything (and that those people who oversee the show really should NOT be on the front lines) rather than letting it go.
DeletePrimsatic Zero, not all people are capable of holding everything back. Some people have certain values that they hold dear to them. In this instance, he is being absolutely clear what that is.
DeleteHe is claiming that no matter what, he gives his all for this show. He states that he is ok with criticism and has reviewed it before, but he just does not stand for it when someone claims he, as a person, is not personally invested. a
Basically, he is not responding to criticism of the show, but to criticism of him in some really calm way that does not encourage an attack or make any claims toward the other individual. All in all, it was very clear.
If they are doing their best and the show keeps getting shittier, it means that they are a bunch of talentless losers who can't do anything right no matter how hard they try.
ReplyDelete.... In your opinion, which I respectfully disagree with on the grounds that Season 3 was the absolute lowest point for the show in regards to quality and pretty much everything that came after Season 3 is nowhere NEAR as bad.
DeleteRelatively, not absolutely.
DeletePURPLE TRANNY
ReplyDeleteU
R
P
L
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T
R
A
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There ya go. Much better.
DeleteThere's a fine line between dismissing bullshit, and dismissing all negativity as bullshit. Just look at how often people cry "THIS IS BAIT!" at anything they disagree with. So I can appreciate why Jim would want to engage with all comers, in theory.
ReplyDeleteI need to try and be more serious although I suppose it's hard being 'that guy' that will not interact with those on the show whether it be VAs, writers or what have you (I mean, there was a point I simply sat on the floor and watched Peter New for an hour, I suppose). This is more or less applied to both online and in conventions as I feel it's improper to influence the show.
ReplyDeleteThinking of what else to...Fuck it...He's STILL replying to Murrison. *throws laptop into the wall and calls it a night*
What's wrong with talking to him? I'm trying to understand what his issue is. It's kind of fascinating.
DeleteWhen you have the low ground people can attack in pretty much any and every direction out there.
DeleteHow do I have the low ground? I'm finally getting him to start telling me what his main issue is. Perseverance!
DeleteWell, we do live in a world that people will use whatever we write against us. We can't predict whether or not people will look at those tweets and put them, regardless of it being in context or not, in a manner that pretty much results in a 'SoL' situation for them down the road.
DeleteTrue. That's the risk I take, I suppose. And maybe it'll come back to bite me in the ass. Time will tell.
DeleteWhat probably doesn't help is that Peter made a huge mess of things not too terribly long ago. Some of us would rather not have history repeat itself.
DeleteBut how does this affect you guys? If anything, I only risk myself looking like a dick.
DeleteIn reality it probably doesn't, but there are people that will find a way to make it so.
DeleteWe could probably get Big Jim fired if we report this stuff to his supervisors, yeah? Play it up all indignant-type: Cursing! And in front of the children! That's how they really quash creativity & freedom of expression in corporate culture. Even worse, the phrase "not simply Hasbro shills" poorly positions his indirect employers. How dare he! But Mommy, I thought Hasbro was a GOOD company? That's even more likely to get 'im canned. I won't do it, but a big enough jerk easily could. Find an exec, tell 'im "yer flunky said less than totally ass-kissing stuff about the corporation on social media in a fit of honesty" and it's goodbye BJ, hello unemployment
Deleteby the lingo he uses to communicate to the fan it's clear he's been visiting /mlp/ or some other site. Probably quite familiar with the word "hasdrone" and probably chokes on that particular dick every day going to work on his executively compromised product
DeleteHey Jim.
DeleteJust wanted to say that I almost admire your patience at this point.
Yeah there is some criticism to be made on the show but most of the people you reply to or the anons above me are of the most entitled case of Douchebaggery fostered on 4chan ever.
It's almost sad that you reply to them because it feeds them and to most of us it just put a sad display of the entire fandom (whatever you name it) although at this point I'm sure you realise you're more dealing with dedicated shitposters.
But just saying that to normal people, you're doing relatively okay and definitively not deserving this.
Jim, Murrison finally told you what's his problem with the current direction.
DeleteSo you will stop listening to him now? Isn't as if you ever were going to do anything with his comments anyway.
You can't unscrew this, at least not in this season. Every episode you watch was completed at least 8 months ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat you can do is either hope for a better next season or hope it dies a quick death. These horses are way overdue with their appointment at the glue factory.
Can I use that glue to stick your mouth shut?
DeleteGood one, Jim, really putting those writing talents to creative use somewhere at least
DeleteI am Jim.
DeleteWe are Jim.
Jim Jiminiy Jimmies.
In all seriousness, there's no season after 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-crw986KF-0
DeleteI post one complaint to Jeremy Whitely *instablocked*
ReplyDeleteJim and show staff gets shit from a moron like Murrison for months and months and enterains them. Yeah something here is retarded.
I won't block you, bro!
DeleteNice to hear. Hell IDW would probably not keep making the same mistakes over and over if they just actually listened for once. I'm not expecting Shakespeare, it's ponies for Celestia's sake but the putting fingers in ears approach just won't help. It's just like the Streisand effect again.
DeleteThe series is boring as shit. At least make some romance happening or add fighting sequences. Slice of Life aren't funny nor interesting. Just re use same backgrounds and locations and is mostly VA's doing all the work in trying to entertain people. Their budget is probably so low that they probably can't even make a Discord episode because they don't have anout to pay De Lancie.
ReplyDeleteRelationships between Mane6/Mane6 are bland and without chemistry. And these with chemistry like Pinkie/Cheesee Spike/Ember or Discord/Fluttershy are completely ignored so we can focus on a new friendship of the month that never goes above 1 episode nor influence or develop characters in any way. Instead lets focus on Trixie's memes to entertain Equestria Daily. Maybe Seth will shill our show so we don't have to put any effort? Let's add Derpy and DJPONETHREE so at least kids can appreciate our proffesional writing that belong to the cartoons like Care Bear and Barney Show. Fuck DHX, Hasbro and everyone currently working on the show. Especially the god damn hack Haber who probably didn't even looked at single script he supposed to edit.
Different strokes for different folks though isn't it. Some prefer SoL, some don't. Some want it to be aimed at the original audience without too much thought put into Bronies (like the season 1 they fell in love with), some want it aimed at them. Best they can do is vary it. Season 5 was pretty heavy at times so the return to more lighthearted season 1 style material is a nice break IMO but others won't like that. They can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time...
DeleteThe original 80's Care Bears actually had much better writing than this, it had its bit of slice of life but it had actions scenes in it too and did a better job teaching life lessons and even can be dark art times instead of being bland and boring most of the time.
DeleteAnother better show is Sailor Moon, it does a better job with balancing slice of life, romance, action, adventure, and the characters' relationships actually have chemistry and grow.
Good. I don't think he's averse to constructive criticism, it's just that too many people whine for the sake of whining and act like the thing they supposedly like is the worst thing in the world and they're not allowed to stop watching. It's not unique to MLP, mind - Doctor Who fans are the same. I think Steven Moffat ended up throwing the towel in on social media as he just gets endless abuse and scapegoating for every little thing that people don't like.
ReplyDeleteWith this show being their livelihood I do hope season 7 will be a thing (if not a spinoff, guardians of harmony or whatever, but *something*) even more than before. I know it won't be until after the movie at this point, since it's not even confirmed yet and production takes a year, but really hope the Hasbro execs aren't going to do something silly.
ReplyDelete"Not simply" Hasbro shills...
ReplyDeleteIt's still so sad that the company shits on the positive creative potential of its artists
Instead of figuring out, I dunno, GOOD ways of selling new shit to the consumers
...yes I'm still butthurt about Alicorn Twi, that was the absolute worst shoehorned garbage I have ever seen in the history shitty writing and it was deeply painful as it was obviously forced executive horseshit
All the princess and castle stuff is just cringey
tl;dr RUINED MAH WAIFU U SUCK HASBRO
ALSO THANKS FOR SHITTING ON LAUREN FAUST AND WRECKING THE POTENTIAL FOR INCREDIBLE GROUNDBREAKING TELEVISION AND DOOMING US TO THIS WATERED-DOWN IMBECILIC BULLSHIT
You can tell the people working on the show know better & that they just don't know how to handle the stupid shit they're forced to work with. As a professional writer or creative person it must be so difficult, they try so hard I'm sure... but you can only polish a turd so much...
DeleteIt was 3 years ago, get over it, jesus. People get over the deaths of their family quicker than this!
DeleteIt's just because it was meant to be the series finale anyway - Twi becoming an alicorn and ascending to royalty was supposed to be how the story ends. They decided to continue it at the last minute (after they'd already started churning out princess toys, so they couldn't backpedal on the change) and that's why that episode is such a botched mess.
It's not just the episode. In and of itself, the episode had problems, but it had a lot of quality going for it. It's what the change meant for some of the fans of the show. Some of the fans just saw the show as a never-ending, always exciting adventure where Twilight and her home stayed mostly the same. It might sound like a contradiction, but their minds were already captivated by and even in love with that youthful vision. How many fanfics or CYOAs were shared that involved the characters as they were for the first three seasons? For these people, change sucked, because they were already comfortable with it, and the change was the most dramatic in the show. Some chose to get over it and fall in love with the show again over another three years. Other decided to drop it and either never look back, or look back occasionally.
DeleteIf there's any criticism or explanation I can offer, from the perspective of someone who dropped the show, it's that the show could've done a lot more with a lot less.
You don't HAVE to watch this "watered down imbecilic bullshit". It's always your choice to watch or not watch.
DeleteJust sayin'.
Also I'm tired of hearing words like "incredible" or "revolutionary" thrown around to describe this show, or what it could've been. If it's ever been anything, it's been surprisingly charming and successful. It really can't be anything more, and it doesn't need to be.
DeleteReminder that Mama Faust has regularly retweeted from The Mary Sue for years.
DeleteWhat a delightfully elegant dressing down. More than what such vitriol deserves, but I wouldn'texpect less from such a fellow.
ReplyDeleteBig Jim, if you're still reading these comments: You can't unscrew the show, because to have to unscrew it you'd first have to screw it up. So the whole argument becomes moot.
ReplyDeleteLove the show, and love you guys for making it what it is!
Fuck off shill to Equestria Daily
Deletebecause of echo chamber like you who will eat every shiny turn, people like Jim go lazy as fuck and give the scripts to untalented hacks like Haber or Dusedau. You should all burn in MLP hell for this.
Implying EQD isn't full of people who hate the show as well
DeleteI get that we're supposed to be edgy and shit on everything that might be even slightly positive, but fuck it it's nice to see he not only reads feedback but is able to take it. We could have been stuck with so, so much worse.
ReplyDeleteHe's tough to put down and can even win you over. Look at what happened after Princess Spike aired.
DeleteBig Fat Lair Jim Miller is still a dork!
ReplyDeleteI am so big and fat I have become a lair for other creatures. Also, I am totally a dork. I will not refute this.
Delete"The show has not lost it's original charm! Except it did! But it's still the same show! Except it changed direction, because it's inevitable but it's still the original show so I'm not at fault! The show is for little girls, not for you! But if you want to invite me to a Con or ask for an interview then the show is totally for you and not for little girls! And remember, we are awesome, but awesome is a subjective thing, so if you don't enjoy what we do it's you who is wrong, not me!"
DeleteEvery one of Jim's tweets.
The show need NEW and FRESH direction, Jim.
DeleteStop trying to recycle old stuff from S1 and S2 because it will no longer work.
Make something new. Create entire season based around single adventure. Have Mane6+Spike+Discord explore Equestria in search for magic gems, dragon balls or whatever that makes the series interesting. No one wants to see Rarity buying a gift for other pony or Pinkie eating a cake. You spend time making episodes that will be forgotten after a week instead making them into epic experience.
Today's little girls are watching Walking Dead and Marvel movies. Instead making the show that forced older audience to dumb down into childs stuff, have MLP that makes modern kids feel like watching a teenage show.
They might as well make a new show if they're going to fundamentally change the format to season-long adventure arcs. It'd just be G4.5.
DeleteHey Big Jim, it looks like you're reading the comments, so I'm gonna throw in my two cents. I've really struggled to enjoy the last couple seasons, and I know it's not strictly your fault; I'm just offering what I think should change, and you can take from it what you find useful. I wouldn't want to say this to you directly, because it might hurt your feelings, but at least this way you have the option to read it or not.
ReplyDeleteSince we're all offering unsolicited advice on how MLP should run, here's my input: the show that everyone fell in love with, and that became so popular, is the show that Faust started in S1 while writing for little kids, telling the stories she played as a little kid. That's it.
The minute the show starts trying to "appeal to Bronies" or "draw in the adult fandom" is when it jumps the shark and gets obnoxious. Bronies fell in love with the show that was directed at the kids, not at themselves! If you'd started out with the meme-episodes first off, or Discord being an asshole to the ponies, no one would have given a fuck and the show would be over by now. The adult fans fell in love with S1 and have been desperately holding on ever since. When you have episodes devoted to fandom memes, or you try to shoehorn in obnoxious one-off villains (cough Discord) because he's weirdly popular with the adult fans, the show tanks. It makes no sense, because it wanders away from what its core audience is, and should be: little kids. Do little kids want to see weird, adult enemies being forced to interact, in a mean way, with the heroes, who are forced to be nice to him? No way. Kids get enough of that shit in real life. (I vote we kill Discord, but that's just because I think he's a lazy and awful character.)
Faust believed in strong storytelling, and she didn't Flanderize the characters to make a gag work on an episode-to-episode basis; the jokes came from the characters, and even little kids will notice if Pinkie Pie is suddenly being an asshole for no reason for the sake of a joke. It's sad to see characters with such nuance suddenly become flat stereotypes, even though it's "only" children's media. I know it must have seemed like a burden at the time, but the "educational" requirements that Faust was forced to hold to in the early episodes helped make the episodes stronger, overall. She wasn't able to rely on "someone farted!" or "Pinkie has to pee!" gags when she wanted to make something funny.
Fandom fell in love with "favorite" or memetic characters not because of how much attention the show paid them, but how much attention the show "didn't." People fell in love with Derpy Hooves because no one knew who she was, and a mythos sprung up organically around her after a single random, odd appearance in the background. She's become one of the most enduring characters, and 90% of that popularity came before she had a single spoken line, and she existed solely as a background nobody. Compare that to a character that the show tried to push more obviously, "Agent Bon Bon", who was a bit of a flash in the pan, popularity wise.
When you give people just enough information about a character to grab their attention, the fandom will often jump in and supply details about them on their own, creating a more well-rounded and loved character, because everyone has their own "version" they adore. When a show canonizes a character, even if they use the most popular fanon version, it loses some of the magic.
I just think, overall, the writing team (and directors, and Hasbro, etc.) need to give up on trying to 'court the Brony audience' in any way except perhaps merchandising and adult events like conventions. Bronies and adult fans loved FiM when it was directed 100% to little kids, and I think if you go back to that formula, things will get better.
First of all, thank you for your well thought out post. I can appreciate that you have some strong feelings about the direction the show has taken.
ReplyDeleteWhile you may feel that the show is currently catering to the fan base and not it's original intended demographic, outside of the tip of the hat to the fandom that is episode 100, we on the show don't go out of our way to create 'memes' or put in shout outs to the fandom.Every day we are committed to making a show FOR KIDS. That has never left our thoughts in over 6 years.
Maybe it's hard to believe, but while some of us on the show enjoy interacting with the fanbase, we don't pay as much attention to the goings on as you might think. Our attitude has always been to try our damndest to stay true to the world and characters that Lauren created and how she envisioned them. We STILL have discussions about her intent and process when making the show. Maybe in your mind, we're doing a shitty job of that, and that's fair if it's how you feel. I can't refute your opinion.
We use characters like Discord because we like that character and think there are more good stories that can be told with him. Not because he's 'popular'.
And I too believe in strong storytelling. It's the thing that made me want to get in to this business in the first place. Maybe I'm not as good at it as Lauren. Or maybe you just don't like the way I try to tell stories. Either way, it is what it is.
And all your criticisms are fair and well presented, and again I thank you for presenting them so thoughtfully. But please understand, while we appreciate that our older fans are invested in the show, we always make it for the kids FIRST.
I think Princess Big Mac is cutting it awfully close, though. I think what that anon was trying to get at is that there are a lot of nods, intended or not, that may be relevant to the adult fandom.
DeleteThe one thing that they didn't note that I feel, in addition to the educational requirement Faust had to deal with, is that Season 1 had no continuity outside of maybe 1, 2, 3, 14, and 26 (with I think 20 being implied after 14). I may be missing an episode in there but the gist is that you can shuffle Season 1 and watch it in any order with it still being fresh. The problem I've felt midway through Season 2 is that once a continuity was formed it required the show to be watched in chronological order to fully understand the motivations of some characters.
Are you making it for KIDS or KIDS WITH AUTISM?
DeleteYou want to see what I and other kids seen when we were 8-12? Dragon Ball series 1 and then also Dragon Ball Z. It had both fun and adventures, character WERE ALLOWED(I don't even know where the "it's for kids, so no romance" meme came from since kids and especially little girls were always into shipping and previous generations of MLP already had it) to form relationships of both romantic and platonic nature since they were more relatable to human beings.
Where is the adventure and exploration of Equestria in this season? We get a new character and some bullshit about new alicorn and Princesses not knowing anything about natural born Alicorns which makes no sense.
You said you like Discord not because he's popular, but you are using him as some Q reference to create more memes instead making him a character. How about turning HIM into a pony and focus on HIS development as an ex villain instead pulling out Twilight/Trixie/Sunset hybrid to tell the same types of stories? Why not give Mane6, Spike and Discord an actual quest and make them EXPLORE Equestria in order to save the world. Something that would actually force them to interact and develop their strenghts and weaknesses and relations to eachother? Are there even any relations to eachother? What can you tell me about frinedship between pinkie and Rarity? Or Fluttershy with Twilight? Oh Yeah, "they are all friends" and beside that there is nothing significant, since we only got some rivalisation between Aj and Dash (already forgotten) and opposite chemistry between Rarity and Applejack. You spend entire season making some wacky gags about McColts and McHoofs while comepletely forgetting to make Twilight actually interact with Fluttershy or make the situation in the episode actually refer to their characters.
S4 tried to do something interesting with keys but it ended up as ordinary Slice of Life stories that only led to Rainbow Toy commercial. Now we have even more forgettable episodes. People liked Spike episode but they are fooling themselves if they think that it will in any way change the way Spike is portrayed in the series. Episodes hardly ever reference eachother or care about continuity. DHX treat MLP like The simpsons trying to keep up the status quo which is foolish since you can't keep a story-driven series in one place and making it look like a sitcom.
Too long didn't read version:
If Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack have no more goals to reach and no boyfriends to meet(and no offspring to continue the saga), and you only attempt to make SoL episodes with similar, repetetive friendship lessons to extend their suffering, then is the best moment to end G4 with S6.
Nope. Because Big Jim cater to autists like you who don't want romance and want to have dinner with their "waifu" Rainbow Dash, this show is going full retard with boring plotlines. Maybe after Jim gets fired and someone competent gets to write these characters. The show will actually get views like Steven Universe or Last Aribender.
DeleteMaybe! Please let me know when I'm about to get fired. I'd like to prepare!
DeleteTo Jim: my experience with criticism is that there are some to listen, and some to ignore. A writer should learn first to understand who's speaking, and reply to who has really something of worth to say.
DeleteI meet a lot of people who said something of some stuff I done, but usually they haven't an idea of the context or were too shallow to reason why I tried to do in a certain way. Usually I ignored these discussion, focusing the time when I found someone who *really* point some real problems and with a rational explanation. Probably self-criticism is even more important to criticism from other: see our limits and thinking how overcome them.
Just focus only on who's useful. Usually assholes never change idea, no matter how much ram them. So, why waste energy on these?
Expecially, when these guys shows to have no experience or culture in this kind of cartoons ever.
Costructive criticism... I fear you could not like much anyway, in this case. I find the last seasons fun, but a pale shadow of what was in the 1st and 2nd, and not for "nostalgia". There are a lot of development errors and weird choises that I wonder what really happened in Hasbro, things that I don't see in other kid's cartoons, both old and new, and from different countries. I find a lot of nowday European and Russian stuff belong this genre that has much more robust development and structure.
Without counting many of my friends very disappointed how stale and unfocused become the characters, and how weird and unsettling are the plots of the episodes.
I guess that isn't entirely writers' fault, but for some heavy executive interferences.
The question of storytelling, FiM surprising lacks of the basics to do something interesting nowday. You started with the concept of a loose comedy with some vague reference and without a "fixed" world. Is a perfectly fine approach even for a fantasy, and I'm sure Lauren knew that. She did something like that in Them's Fightin' Herd, and works anyway.
The troubles came when you shifted to a "developed and continuity" world with, later, a "(pseudo)story arc" approach, without discharge the one used in the S1, and without apply the needed changes in the setting, and covering the holes in the structure.
The S1 had much potential to create an interesting world, but missed the opportunity becouse it lacked of the right tools.
Being the 6th year, I think is really later to save something now.
I guess me and my friends stay "here" becouse we still like the jokes of the episodes, but today FiM has no value to us outside these... and becouse Funtasia still not being out. Is not a question to make everybody happy. Is a question that effectively something is gone missing from earlier days, it will never come back, and what is left is a big hole.
I agree with the guy over me about to end this thing to the S6. Near all episodes of S6 are just rewriting of old ideas already saw in older episodes, or cover points that haven't sense with Twilight as "princess".
If really there is nothing to see anymore, I like pass to G5.
This. You can't beat a dead horse for long. You either have to shake some things with current Gen or start from something fresh. I would even suggest balancing between old G4 and completely new G5 and make G4,5 which introduce a possible timeskip in FiM universe where new characters are playing the key roles. And it would also have some sort of actual plotpoint that move between seasons. Maybe even introducing a reccuring villain that appears every season. I mean, Hasbro can't be as much demanding as to force the same series to continue? And you can still somehow fit their toys into the new series. Swan boats may as well appear in the new setting.
DeleteThis thread started out nice and constructive, good stuff!
DeleteThen the 4channer waded in (easily identified by the trademark abuse of autism to mean 'anything I don't like') and it all went ugly. Which is a shame to say, as the fandom seemed to start out from 4channers trying to be decent.
Just because some people don't like it any more doesn't mean it should end for everyone else. You can always stop watching. More please!
DeleteI'm not totally adverse to spin-off rumours though. I hope the VAs who wish to stay on board, if it happens, are able to do so.
Maybe you could ask around your friends at Hasbro on how would they feel about new series? Entire concept of "Guardians of harmony" make it look like Hasbro is also trying to make something new (like introducing boy related MLP toys). I doubt they would agree on new GEN5 since every merchandise is based on current Gen but remaking the G4 could possibly lead to something even better than Equestria Girls.
DeleteI would be very surprised if this hasn't already been discussed to death at the various arms of Hasbro already and possibly in the peak of such discussion recently (but even more surprised if he's allowed to comment on something like that)
DeleteJim don't listen to HN SNork and illustrous Q those fucking shills. They would watch even the worst episodes and praise them just because they live off the fandom. Nothing they say can be trusted becasue they are never even remotely sincere. Same goes with anyone from official fandom sites. They get money out of brony clicks and advertisement. You can only trust 4chan in most cases (although this non-romance argument is probably a bias since the site is famous for waifufagging so ignore their every romance and shipping opinion)
DeleteHey Jim, I'm the original poster (11:21 is the timestamp) and I wanted to thank you for your reply. I know you get a lot of shitty criticism that you have to deal with, so taking the time to give me a thought-out reply means a lot to me. I hope you know that it's okay to just "ignore the haters" sometimes too, because I'd hate to see you burnt out on internet interactions to the point where it makes your job more difficult/less fun to do. We appreciate your insight, but sometimes people just want to "poke the bear" and wait for a reaction, and it's no fun to be the bear who is being poked.
DeleteI'm glad to hear that the focus remains on kids; sometimes it can feel like it isn't, because there do seem to be little "nods" occasionally thrown in that feel like they are there for adults, but so long as you know where your focus lies, I'm glad for that.
I do hope that any other stories you consider with Discord have less of him being a passive-aggressive, jerky douchebag, because to be fair, his "redeemed" episodes tend to involve him emotionally manipulating the ponies or being outright mean to them, who are forced to be kind to him, and it just makes me really hate the dude! Kids shouldn't have to learn the lesson that "you have to be nice to people who are abusive to you", I think. I just really hate Discord!!
All the best,
Anon 11:21 xoxo
Discord's a dead horse in and of himself. He went from all-powerful god villain, and literally Q, to a whipped dog. Yeah, he's learning how to be more decent and friendly, but not only does this turn out to be boring, but it's also the same kind of development that Q went through over the course of several generations. If that was the whole plan, to just be Q in MLP, then Discord's a waste of a design and a character, not unlike Weird Al's character. What could've been a more interesting role by only being similar turned into something we've all seen before, but then that's us: the geeks that watched Star Trek. To the kids and the fans who don't care about Star Trek, this is all new to them, but it's still a pretty meager imitation.
DeleteAll that being said, I think the S2 premiere is pretty terrible with it's pacing and forced humor, so that's another reason why I don't like Discord. The way he became Fluttershy's freeloading friend is also pretty hamfisted, like the rest of the show, and now there's going to be an episode with Fluttershy kicking her freeloading brother out. What is it with Fluttershy and episodes about freeloaders? I know her one characterization is kindness, but it's not like you couldn't do the same episode with Rarity, the element of generosity.
Mind you, I'm not putting the blame on you, Jim, for Discord. I don't know whose idea it was in the first place, but I do remember Faust saying she liked it and the premiere. Then again, by that point she'd already left the show.
I strongly agree with you anon! I also really hate Discord! I'm also an anti-Discord, anti-Fluttercord, and anti-Dislestia. And we want Discord die in the S6 finale and put the end of the master of chaos!
DeleteThis quickly turned into an shitpost thread. You can stop replying, already. Or make shit rants about Discord.
DeleteVentrilo is better.
DeleteDiscord's pretty shitty, though.
DeleteTotally a fair comment regarding continuity. It's definitely a balancing act, and something that I think most series have to deal with as they move in to multiple seasons. And it's something I've struggled with, too. Episode 100 was tough for me because I felt that if you weren't up on the show (and even passingly aware of some stuff in the fandom, since this was the one time we were going to directly acknowledge it), I felt that an ordinary viewer would be totally lost.
ReplyDeleteThe Princess Big Mac was a bit of a weird one, too. We were already working on that gag in Ep. 513 when that thing happened in the fandom. A weird synchronicity, but we were too far along to change it. It's just unfortunate that it was so long until the episode was ready to show people, and viewers thought it was a direct nod. It really wasn't.
Which is understandable. Most people don't realize the planning and execution of the show is done a year or two in advance so what could of been a meme that popped up in the fandom could of easily happened after it was planned and storyboarded.
DeleteAlso, probably best to use the reply rather than Add comment to keep the chains aligned.
Ah, yes. Sorry. I'm not a regular commenter on message boards. Also, I'm kind of dumb. ;)
DeleteI do the same stuff too, it's a bit odd how easily it is to muck things up here.
DeleteI still have a few more thoughts, but it'll be a while to flesh them out.
Ironically, episode 100 was the only episode I really enjoyed lately. Focusing on nostalgic background characters like that as a one-off was a nice break from the bumpy downward spiral of the normal show. It just probably wouldn't work a second time.
DeleteThe worst thing to happen to MLP was /mlp/.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing to happen to MLP was Equestria Girls.
DeleteEvery asshole who supported it contributed to keep fucking up MLP by turning it into a more and more generic cartoon where suddenly everobe began loving parties, princess crap and other things the original staff wouldn't touch at all.
^ Reminder: EQG is not canon and has no impact on the show.
DeleteReminder: Jim Miller keeps saying it is, just like the comics.
DeleteBut he also keep trying to confuse people by spewing out bullshit and nonsense to try pandering to both fans and non fans so he wouldn't lose popularity.
Because while he keeps yammering about how the show is aimed to little kids, he fucking LOVES the attention he receives from older fans so as usual, he always tries to give vague, confusing answers that could pander to everyone while also assumes a compromise with nobody.
^^ seconding 21:47, although I'd say /b/ instead of /mlp/
DeleteWell sort of - the worst thing to happen after the initial 4chan exodus and founding of ponychan (the glory days) was both chans screwing around with things - /mlp/ being a key element. The problem with imageboard admins is they have a fetish for changing things all the time instead of leaving well alone. So where originally you had a place for the 4chan mentality and a place for the oldschool ponychan mentality (hugboxing) and everyone was happy, because both places kept meddling with rules and layouts eventually stuff happened like people from /mlp/ giving up on there and going to ponychan, but retaining the 4chan mentality. Therefore lots of infighting and drama happened and meddling happened there - /ef/ was formed to herd all the 4channers into and then axed, like some kind of reenactment of the holocaust, efchan and eleventy billion other spinoff chans were then formed by the many people who were pissed off at all this and wanting their own place with blackjack and hookers and ponychan emptied out, the numerous chans died off because they were too diluted from having so fucking many of them, and at this point a lot of people threw the towel in and those that remained ended up bitter, resentful and cynical and the infighting hasn't stopped since.
DeleteThe show is getting close to cancellation.
DeleteMaybe maybe not, but it's not going to get cancelled because a bunch of manchildren on a 4chan-birthed blogspot whine about twilight having wings.
DeleteI look at all these comments and I'm reminded of that one time Homer Simpson said "Why would a grown man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?".
ReplyDeleteSo is Ok for old, fat grown men to MAKE a children's cartoon show but not for other grown men to watch it?
DeleteWatching is one thing. Obsessing and fapping over it is an entirely different animal.
DeleteI don't "fap" to it, but I think it says a lot about you if such a thing were the first thing you assumed about other fans.
DeleteWhere do you think you are?
DeleteI wish everyone involved could just swallow their fucking pride and get Lauren back on the show and take her good ideas with the bad. If I were a toy executive I'd want an elite character designer and world-builder working on my toy ads so I'd always have new, appealing stuff to sell.
ReplyDeleteExcept Lauren didn't do half of what people attribute her for doing. It was a huge team effort, and she was public face of it. Character's were designed by someone else, and the world was built by the writers.
DeleteCitation needed.
DeleteStop kidding yourself, Faust would turn this show into feminazi propaganda.
DeleteIt's good that she left.
Cool story, Jim.
DeleteHe's a big guy.
ReplyDeleteFor memes.
DeleteIf these fans are expecting a GoT-esque story in a pony show, they are clearly watching the wrong show. smh
ReplyDeleteIt's the staff's fault for creating absurdly high hype in the first place.
DeleteI think both the fandom and staff are to blame for the direction the show's going frankly. To me it's now a boring slice of life series with little to no adventure (and a good amount of the brony catering, rather pandering, is annoying). It doesn't have a good balance between the two of them compared to shows like Sailor Moon, which had more relatable and better characters. Some of the recent morals are terrible ones (there's too many villain redemptions and such), and frankly it's just been overhyped. Considering we're getting a season 7 it feels like the show's already overstayed its welcome and needs to end now.
ReplyDeleteAt least, this is what I think.