My Little Pony Generation Five, a continuation of My Little Pony G4. Trying to capitalize off the success of a previous series seems inevitable, but usually this ends in complete disaster. However, can this be done well? Here's stuff I'm optimistic about . . . and pessimistic about.
Optimistic Part 1: Scenery
Honestly, I would watch this show just for the art, my pagan god is this good.
That's just one of the main locations, and apparently is where Unicorns live. This is just covered in fruity colors, and has a generally red-purplish atmosphere kinda like Twilight Sparkle. Also I love the thought that Twilight's treehouses have just become unicorn aesthetic.
I mean there's so much character and charm already. The places looks beautiful, and inspires lots of interest. Especially with how advanced the lighting is.
That's Maretime Bay where all of the Earth Ponies normally live. Instead of the mystical forest, or even elf-like vibes, this place has sorta a sunny and industrial aesthetic, with tall buildings, and more pastel colors versus the fruitier tones. Everything here looks clean, and neat.
And that's Zephyr heights, and that seems more gold and blue. The buildings are higher up, and there's a lot of bridges. Here's the pegasi. Sorta similar to Maretime Bay, but still way different as well.This place offers depth and feeling.
Honestly, the only places in MLP that stood out were, well, the Everfree Forest. Even Manehattan wasn't quite this impressive visually. In fact, Kie and I kinda have a review making fun of the aesthetic of Griffonstone coming up...
(I always thought that place should be Griffony.)
ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE #1: The Heroes Lost
Small spoiler, but basically, the whole world is a post-apocalypse where the world forgot Twilight and all her friendship lessons and now all the ponies are split up by three races. And from what I perused, apparently the reason why they've split is a unicorn harmed an earth pony and so everyone bailed, feeling safer amongst their own kind?
What happens when one of those earth ponies harms another earth pony? Will they split up based on warm versus cool colors?
That's not unreasonable for an EPISODE of Generation 4, but as a set-up for an entire Generation? I can't really buy this. I can understand if they all just sorta forgot or there were major wars. Maybe there's more explanation. But like, wow.
Optimistic Part 2: Unique!
The show seems to be trying to be their own thing. From the summaries I read, instead of doing a rehash of learning about friendship, everybody is trying their damndest to have a plot. There's an overarcing storyline. Not that MLP has ever done storylines well, but perhaps if that's just ingrained, this can work.
While Generation 4 is a backdrop, and there are some elements that don't make sense (No joke, Noah and I laughed aloud when we read that Queen Opaline is listed as "Queen (Somehow)" on the wiki), they seem to be going for their own vibe and energy.
They're not trying to be G4, at least, not fully.
ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE PART 2: Too Many Good Characters In Last Series
The show has to get out of the rut of being Gen 4 part 2. They have five characters, and I don't really know how they'll create them.
Here's the thing: They're gonna get compared to the mane six. If they're at all similar to any of the characters, then that's the end. Okay, so they can't be similar to the mane six, or the student six, or the CMC. Okay, that's only 15 characters- or Spike - okay that's 15.5 characters.
And then, amongst all of that, they need to have their own characterizations that let them carry an episode, and enable them to share an episode with others.
Gen 4 had a great chemistry between the characters, even between each character. Pinkie and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack.
I told Noah, jokingly, I wonder if they only have five ponies in their main cast to avoid having an Applejack in their crew.
Optimistic Part 3: Modern
The show features a more modern setting. About time. Not every series needs a vaguely past-centric theme, and we can talk about stuff like cellular phones. This really doesn't push me off as much as people think, as I figure this is the natural evolution of pony.
ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE PART 3: Modern
The show features a more modern setting with cellphones and booty-shaking.
There's at least one character who seems like she's gonna get dated pretty quickly as she takes selfies and asks for likes on social media.
But honestly, I'm pretty neutral on this point because I'm interested in how this'll be handled. I think a lot of the best shows avoid modern technology like the plague. Spongebob Squarepants only had one computer shown over the course of three years. Selfies aren't plots. They're fads.
And sure, one character might get quickly dated, but she might also end up being that joke character everyone loves after her initial transgression. And maybe she's not even that obnoxious.
But you would imagine that, this far into the future, they'd be way more advanced. Then again, there was apocalypse after all.
Optimistic Part 4: They Got Jobs Tho
The cast actually seems reasonably diverse. Sunny loves scooting around on rollerskates - I'm not gonna lie I was like "Scootaloo?" She also runs a smoothie shop. One character is a sheriff and a MALE.
I didn't really care that none of the mane six were male. However, this is interesting because this shows they're more openly acknowledging they'll have a male fanbase at the start. Will this alter anything? Maybe.
Anyway, Hitch Trailblazer the sheriff, is apparently the guardian who is fierce but sometimes arrogant. I guess he'll be kinda like Squidward with the self-importance of a Spongebob or a Mr. Krabs. He might be the more Applejack like characters, as in responsible, but mix in traits of Sparkle.
Sunny, well she's the main character, she doesn't need a personality. And that's good, because she doesn't. I think she makes smoothies.
Pipp Petals is apparently some kind of ditzy social media influencer and pop singer.
Izzy is a, uh, boring sack of lavander. She's like, stupid, naive, and likes to recycle materials. She looks like a hippie.
And Zipp Storm is Pipp's sister - so we already have a relationship between the characters. Apparently she's athletic and arrogant (oh no, Rainbow Dash) but also intellectually curious (huh). So maybe she's got that Plato Greecian sorta "strong and wise". She's also got some stealth. So fighter-mage-thief.
But what's really good is they do have jobs, and they do have lives. I see so many series where coincidentally, none of the main characters have lives and can go gallivanting. Here, they have actual struggles.
ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE #4 They Still Suck
A social, media, influencer tho. And a couple of them, like Sunny, or Izzy, literally have like a paragraph on the wiki. I'm guessing these characters aren't really that openly distinguished. Hitch seems like the only one to have a genuine personality. Zipp seems more like they wanted a Rainbow Dash but didn't want a Rainbow Dash at the same time, so they made her Twilight.
There's also no innate chemistry in these characters. Seriously, lemme point this out: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy naturally have oppositional traits, same as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and same as Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
These characters were made to be interlinked with one another, and I would say the best episodes usually focus on that interlinking.
Now what would Zipp and Hitchblazer, er, Hitchtrail, er, Hitch Trailblazer (yes I literally did question his name twice that wasn't a stupid joke really) do with Zipp Storm. They're just two people, who are both probably the most masculine ones. But what bounces off about them? Where's the friction? Where's the alliance?
If I said, "I'm going to have a country girl who likes to get dirty be with a prissy fashionista", you can imagine several plots naturally. They could get in a dispute about cleanliness. They could talk about being spoiled. They could talk about beauty.
If I said, "I'm going to have a shy flyer with an arrogant best-in-class flightmaster", you can go "oh what if one pushes the other", "what if one teaches the other kindness".
With Zipp and Hitch, you really have to work harder to make a plot between them.
"Okay, but, Fluttershy and Twilight don't really have many traits you can latch onto that are oppositional about them". I think that's fair, but there's so many natural links amongst the characters, you might not even notice that, meanwhile in this show, who really goes together?
Zipp and Pipp at least seem sorta like opposites, you got one into social media, one more into outdoorsmanship. Except, wait, that's not really opposite traits. I guess one might be more serious?
Also they have a baby dragon named Sparky.
Optimistic Part 5: The History is Mystery!
There's an already inbuilt sense of mystery throughout the show. What happened with Twilight Sparkle and why did the Friendship fail.
ABSOLUTELY ABOMINABLE PART 5: You Ripped Off MLP
Some of these episodes are literal rip-offs. "The Cutie Mark Mix-Up" is listed as inspired by an episode of MLP, because they both deal with two ponies trading cutie marks and having to figure out who has the harder job. Also apparently, the plot is about Sunny and Hitch.
Girl, you work at a smoothie shop, and he literally is a sheriff. Have you seen this universe? That goes from arresting ponies to fighting monsters.
One episode is about a sleepover and already I was like "kinda curious this mimics something from season one".
Here's another summary:
(So it's all hooves on deck to find Hitch's baby dragon buddy ASAPP — as soon as pony-possible.)
(Izzy invites newcomer Misty to a sleepover with sing-alongs, hoof readings, ponycorn and more!)
They really want us to know these are ponies.
There's at least a plot in this however.
Absolutely Optimistic Or Abominably Cynical?
Honestly, I'm interested.
I'm kinda getting Skylanders vibes from this tbh, and I think this is a netflix series. And Skylanders was, not a good series.
But on the other hand, there's a lot of traits that seem like they wanna be their own thing while still keeping to the show. There's a unique feel, a unique atmosphere that is rare amongst shows in general in my opinion.
The fantasy, honestly, brings me back to Neopets. Everything has a flavor. I'm not too sure if the characters will be as interesting, and to be fair, maybe not even the plot. This might not even be well-written in general.
What wins out will only remain to be seen. I guess all I can say is, "Eh, why not."
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