@blissey Ooh, interesting. I'll read it immediately.

If nothing else, I doubt Hasbro will end the series next year - its the 30 year anniversary! I think at the last My Little Pony collector's fair they said they plan on doing something. I'm actually kind of curious how they plan on celebrating. Anniversary special choke full of Mythology Gags? IDW doing a special multi-gen mini-series? Somehow rerelease Firefly and call it a day?

I think it will be a while before we see a G5. Hasbro rebooted My Little Pony because it needed to be rebooted. You guys have seen the G3.5 stuff, right? They know they have a good thing going with G4, I think they're just trying to figure out how to keep the train going, not start the train ride over.

@Calnos: I totally agree that they're going to carry G4 as long as humanly possible and it'll probably be years before they even consider G5, but it's going to happen eventually. Even if they don't create a new cast, they'll probably want to find a way to spin something off rather than keep just this show going.

Im worried about the MLP fandom. What if Hasbro takes MLP to G5, Wouldn't the bronies be pissed off?

edited 14th Sep '12 8:59:09 PM by brb1006

Depends how it actually turns out.

Why would that be a problem? Is them possibly dying, eventually, at a far off time, that bad?

G'night.

edited 14th Sep '12 9:02:55 PM by Mio

Night folks.

Sort of like Legend Of Korra?

A Time Skip is a Time Skip. Nothing unique to that show.

@Mio: Not really. I'd just rather see an entirely new cast than have a time-skip. It would be interesting to see where the cast are in 20 years or whatever, but I'm not sure that I'd want an entire show based on that idea.

@Brb: Depends on the quality. If G5 is comparable to G4 I don't see there being too much of a problem outside of the inevitable G4 vs. G5 flame wars.

@Applelight: Goodnight.

edited 14th Sep '12 9:11:54 PM by JapaneseTeeth

They won't swap generations for a good long while. Success breeds continuation.

I do think that a small time skip is necessary eventually, though, in order to get the younger characters out of cartoon stasis. Otherwise, the CMC will never age, no matter how long the series goes on.

edited 14th Sep '12 9:19:21 PM by PerpetualLurker

I think the most likely scenario in that case is that they only show up in cameo or background roles, with a new cast. I think it would be nice to have the same world that the last show took place in, but I don't know if that is what will happen.

edited 14th Sep '12 9:16:45 PM by Mio

I just thought it was a good example of how a Time Skip could work.

I could see that. I wonder how they'd set things up if the new cast doesn't have to do the friendship reports.

They have a big fantasy world to play with. They can do all sorts of things for a new series that can have nothing to do with Friendship Reports.

Anyway, I'm turning in. G'night.

They can do all sorts of things with this series that have nothing to do with friendship reports. Something to keep in mind that currently the precedent for generation changes is Continuity Reboot. That's not happening for a long time.

What I mean is that I'm wondering if they'd try to create something analogous to that to have a common thread running through the episodes. I'm fully aware that they have plenty of freedom within the setting, it's just that given the primary target audience they're still probably going to want to have a way incorporate morals into the episodes. The friendship reports gave them an excuse to spell it out on a semi-regular basis, and I'm just thinking about what kind of structure they may or may not use to replicate that skeleton. I know they can do stuff aside from the friendship reports, my question is "what kind of things do you think they'd do in their absence?"

edited 14th Sep '12 9:34:42 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Do you think they'll ever let the CMC grow up?

It's possible, although I don't know how likely it is. They probably won't get their CM's outside of a premier or finale though; those are the only episodes that can really shake up the status quo that much.

They have to resolve the Cutie Mark plot eventually. There's only so much you can get out of that before it stagnates. IMO, their best bet is to let them each receive their marks one at a time, so that we can see how it affects their group dynamics.

I'd love an episode where one of them gets their CM for exactly that reason. Who do you think would get it first? If I got to choose, I'd say Scootaloo, just because she's so much of a punching bag that something needs to go in her favor. That and she needs her own episode.

edited 14th Sep '12 9:39:56 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I'm not worried, G4 will probably keep going until they either need to refresh the series again, and they'll know to make the series as good as they can manage to keep the fanbase.

Agreed, we need some serious Scootalove this Season 3 :3

edited 14th Sep '12 9:41:02 PM by AceOfScarabs

I'd say that Apple Bloom would probably get hers last, as her talents are the least well defined and the least utilized. As for first, it's a toss up between the other two. They both demonstrate their talents on a regular basis, they just need to have their epiphany that it's something they like to do rather than just something they do.

Indeed.

Anyway, I need to get to sleep, so I'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight.

Applebloom probably won't get hers first since she already had The Cutie Pox.

Both Scoots and Sweetie Belle already have a really obvious talent that the adults clearly recognize. They just have to realize it themselves. Considering how Scoots seemed to get shafted so much it'll probably be Sweetie who gets it first.