That actually is a good question. We don't even know much about Fighting is Magic compared to MLI.

Also, what story said.

@ Zel no reason to slink off, everypony has there own opinions, nothing wrong with that..though would be nice to hear your reasoning.

If we had issues with people not liking what everyone else did, well, 1. we'd suck, 2. we would have lynched Ginger months ago.

@Zelenal: As others have said their is no reason to leave. I would personally like to hear your reasons why, if you don't mind that is.

whelp, while I would love to hear your reasons and debate them (yes debate NOT argue), as well as see you join our Herd, I gotta head to bed.

I think Moe is are current contrarian with regard to episode quality.

I hadn't been following the topic for a while, but I recall I usually agree with Moe Dantes' episode opinions, except for the speciesism thing. I don't get that part at all.

G'night Sera.

Yeah, don't mind being different lol, we might be a herd but we don't discriminate different opinions lol.

Unless of coruse you like A Dog And Pony Show. Then you're just weird.

Season Finale:

• The very blatant Remember the New Guy. Normally, I'm okay with this if it's someone who the character knows but isn't really important to them. When it involves two characters who are VERY important to one of the established characters and there is no readily available excuse good enough to explain why we haven't heard of them before, then I draw the line.
• The Mane Six are reduced to mere supporting rolls. None of them are lead characters in it and that just simple doesn't do. Instead, the protagonists are two characters we've never heard of and thus don't really care about.
• Celestia was hit with The Worf Effect a little too hard. While I can buy her being defeated by the villain, it would have been so nice if she had actually put up a decent fight and didn't fall in a few seconds. Really, that happens so often in poorly written fan fiction that I didn't want to see it happen in canon.
• The way the villain was defeated was BS. I mean, seriously. The series is called Friendship is Magic. Not Love is Magic. Sure, having the Mane Six defeat the villain with the Elements of Harmony would have been predictable but at least it would have followed the theme of the show as well as per-established canon.
• Celestia plays no role in defeating the villain. In the two season openers, Celestia played a major roll in the downfall of the villain. Against Nightmare Moon, she sent Twilight off to Ponyville so she could make friends and thus gain access to the EoH. Against Discord, she sent Twilight's friendship reports back to her to snap her out of her Heroic BSOD. Here, she does nothing.
• None of the events were foreshadowed. The Gala from the first season had two episodes dedicated to building up to it. Everything here came out of left field.

Season Two as a whole:

• The personalities of the Mane Six aren't as consistent and character growth isn't the cause of it.
• That damn echo from the "new" opening kills my ears.
• The plots of the individual episodes just aren't as exciting or captivating as S1.

Really, the best thing about S2 past the first four episodes is the improved animation.

edited 23rd May '12 9:18:59 PM by Zelenal

And there it is.

Now for others to voice there conflicting opinions.

I just realized that I have six major grievances against the finale. That's kind of cool.

Well I agree with some of the criticisms, I just didn't think they were big enough issues to detract much from the final.

That's reasonable enough. My thoughts are that S2 doesn't quite match up to season 1, but it's good overall. People will like different things, and I found plenty to like this season.

Rarity is still the best overall written character.

Keep in mind that I'm not saying any of it is bad. It's still better than most things on US television these days. I just can't stand it since it's inferior to S1. If the first season was so great, why couldn't the second be at least as good?

Rarity is best pony. It's weird because as a vain fashion queen, you'd think that she'd be the least likeable.

Horse crap, I''m really enjoying Rainbow Dash now.

I'm actually going to agree with you on these two points. Though on the second one it was less about the Power of Love, and more that two characters who have been just introduced this episode (and will probably never appear again) are going to be the ones who defeat our villain and not our actual protagonist.

I did notice that this season was generally more willing to exaggerate the characters in order to get their plots going. Though I do wonder why you enjoyed the first four episodes and not the later ones. Do you consider all of the episodes that came after bad/medicore? Ah, I see.

edited 23rd May '12 9:33:53 PM by Mio

Well season 1 and 2 just have slightly different styles. But I have favorite episodes in season 2 too. I haven't noticed any decline.

• On the point of Remember the New Guy I will accede. I realize that while I was able to overlook the issue it was a serious problem that Twilight had no mention of her brother until this point
• I will point out that Twilight had as much of a role in the finale as Cadance/Shining. She did not finish the job herself but she was the catalyst for the downfall of the queen. On the other hand, yeah the mane six did kind of get back burnered but the focal point of the finale was Twilight.
• Having read enough High Fantasy Novels I must sit on the point of Celestia being defeated too quickly. A Magical duel between two high level magic users not wanting to cause excess number of casualties on either side will lead to a short but decisive battle. Who knows, Celestia might have even been holding back due to proximity of wedding guests.
• Celestias defeat at the hooves of the queen are actually what foreshadow the defeat of the queen at the hooves of shining armor/cadance through love. Not to mention that in a sense love is the strongest form of friendship.
• There was a clear plot related reason for Celestia not being able to assist very much. Again Celestia being defeated in one on one combat caused serious issues for the rest of the story. Besides in my opinion having the issue being solved the same way every time is boring.
• I concede the point of limited foreshadowing. But on the other hand due to the nature of the show I really don't mind the problem at hand.

edited 23rd May '12 9:28:32 PM by stevebat

It should be obvious as to who I think the best pony is.

Now, before I go off to start the My Little Investigations page (which I will need help with since it is impossible for me to finish the demo or play it again to search for tropes), I might as well so some self-advertisement.

The Tales of Runic Quill: This is basically my attempt to capture the charm of S1 while using a Myth Arc to slowly go Darker and Edgier (although the more episodic chapters will remain light and soft for the most part).

And in all cases I accede to YMMV. Because YMMV has NO EXCEPTIONS.

@Zelanel: I didn't mean to imply that you HATED it or thought it was bad. It's not an uncommon problem though, for the second season of a good show to not quite live up to the first.

But yeah, we can be 'not OK' with certain things and like other things. Hopefully S3 will address some of your concerns.

I think I'm on the side that Season 2 was better. Though of course I like both Seasons alot still. On another site I've been doing an interesting way of analyzing by putting one episode of season one against another in Season 2. Based on the order that they aired (Ex: Ticket Master Vs. Lesson Zero, Bridle Gossip Vs. Sweet and Elite, Suited for Success Vs. The Last Round-Up). And based on my rewatch and personal opinion I decide which one I found more enjoyable.

I'm still currently in the process of doing it. But so far I'm up to Sonic Rainboom Vs. Read It and Weep and Season 2 is winning um... 11-5. In which I'm actually kinda feeling bad for Season 1. Though I still think Season one will still at least get a few more points from me.

(Honestly I don't hate any episode. Even ones like Mare-Do-Well)

God, after what happened last night, I'm wondering,

was it wrong not to quit after all?

I only trust exceptions as far as I can throw them anyway.