@Pannic - Oh, that's right.

@Ace - ... What?

And if Lauren had stayed and presided over a crappy third season, then what?

Remember also that she also helped check scripts for season 2.

You just can't make an "examples of how this show is going downhill without her involvement" list and then include something that's completely hers.

Personally, I think season 2 was better. Better humor and better animation, and it had a bit less of the "our target audience is elementary schoolers" feel.

edited 19th Jun '12 9:25:02 AM by Pannic

Still don't see the problem with Sapient Griffons. Gilda was sapient.

I'm always sad to see people disregard other people's work in favour of Lauren's.

edited 19th Jun '12 9:25:44 AM by Badwolfwho

Moe's an ardent speciesist, don't cha know?

Yeah, on the whole I found more episodes of season 2 enjoyable than season 1. Yes, I disagree with the humanized bits as well, but they were few and far between.

Season 2 had it's duds, but so did season 1, comparatively. It's just that now that we're growing used to this show's baseline level of quality it's easier to pick out which episodes are bad in comparison.

I know, I just don't get it.

Discord. Done while Lauren was there.

"Smile Smile Smile." Many songs have been done with Lauren.

A Griffon Baker. A Griffon as Rainbow's friend (not a pet).

Looney Toons antics as examples of assertiveness. Over A Barrel.

Dragons who act like human teenagers. Spike.

edited 19th Jun '12 9:28:28 AM by Badwolfwho

Season 1 had stuff that I liked, stuff I disliked, and stuff I was meh about.

Season 2? Same deal. That's just how it is with TV shows. It comes down to what works for you and what doesn't.

Overall, I prefered Season 2 as well.

I mean yeah, Lauren had some bad ideas and made mistakes (wanting the show to be more of an action-adventure series for example, which thankfully got overruled)... but its increasingly clear that most of the first season's amazing quality was due to her.

When Lauren was there, we got Sondheim musicals and eighties rock. When Lauren left, we got typical kids shows songs.

When Lauren was there, we got ponies pulling a train and a consistent low-tech universe which seemed like it was credibly built by Ponies. When she left we got "Ponies drive tractors!" and the most blatant toy plug in modern animation: the Friendship Express.

When Lauren was there, we had plotlines and characters that could actually be taken (relatively) seriously by an adult audience. When she left, we got "Rarity gets into a fight with her sister! Pinkie Pie annoys a donkey! Rainbow Dash learns reading is cool!" (though that last one was kinda cute I'll admit)

It's kind of reminding me of Dragon Ball GT.

Still plugging away at making my plushie. Ive been lazy so only a little progress.

Front Shot, head is not attached so it looks a little crooked◊

Side Shot, you can see the head isn't attached, its just sort of pinned on at the moment. I think I'm going to make the wings bigger on the next model.◊

Steampunk is hardly unusual in a pre-IndRev society.

We also got an episode where incompetent and selfish world leaders nearly doomed everypony with petty bickering in the face of catastrophic climate change, an episode that showed the inherent risks of raising someone of another species as a family member, an episode where we get a glimpse into the backstage detail of how an inherently-magical race overclocks their water cycle, an episode where someone takes their failure to deliver on a boast more harshly than normal, and an episode that showed the hazards of taking your studies too seriously and diving off the deep end of the sanity pool.

We also got the Great Lebowski, canon succubi, and a great Indy reference.

On top of that, we got the best Villain Song this season and possibly this past decade, the best Wedding Song to troll your bro or sis in-law with at their wedding, and the best Reality Subtext ever :3

edited 19th Jun '12 9:43:03 AM by AceOfScarabs

I liked the second season more, but that's mostly because I got the feeling that they were more sticking to their kids/girls demographic for the first half or so of season 1. Somewhere during the middle of season 1, they kinda grew the beard. At least that's how I felt.

@ Moe: I'm not a musical fan so I can't really contest that point except by saying I liked all of the series two songs.

Twahlaght Spahkle's Bahlloon wasn't as blatant as the Friendship Express?

And when we had Lauren we had such gems of lessons as, don't jump to conclusions, don't hang out with people who are jerks and the plot of everyone goes to the Wild West to be superfluous.

What Reality Subtext is that?

edited 19th Jun '12 9:43:50 AM by Badwolfwho

I don't understand this pc. IE 6 is crap either way, then Firefox is running like crap, and now Chrome is running weird. Y CAN'T YOU HANDLE ANYTHING

Six weeks of this...

Fine. Still bad idea.

Yeah, but many of the songs done under Lauren's watch were either good, or by Pinkie (and thus were supposed to be annoying)

Gilda was from early on when the show was still getting in the swing of things. We have a trope for that.

Also keep in mind I didn't like Gilda.

... I don't recall Looney Tunes antics being used as examples of assertiveness in Over a Barrel.

Who is A) a baby and B) raised by ponies. We can assume Spike is so far removed from his species that basically anything goes with him.

@badwolf: Cadence and Twi's relationship references Lauren's history as The Best Babysitter Ever :3

@Moe: I counterpointed you too.

edited 19th Jun '12 9:48:25 AM by AceOfScarabs

Watching Into The Woods now. Just in the intro, there had been a lot taken away in the Junior version.

*Obligatory ORLY Owl goes here*

Personally, I'd have liked that.

I've liked Season 2's songs. Especially This Day Aria, Becoming Popular and Smile.

No. Pulling the train was more stupid than just driving it. And Schizo Tech is a real life phenomenon.

Um, I consider the plotlines of season 2 better overall. Admittedly Sisterhooves Social isn't my kind of episode, but it's still well regarded.

But of course, you and I have very different opinions on this stuff.

How would a Catherine ponyfic work out? Changeling!Catherine much?

Hey guys! Let's play "rationalize our enjoyment of a cartoon show"! Ace, Moe, you both get 10 points!

Free points for everyone!

edited 19th Jun '12 9:57:51 AM by wazkatango

Subjective. Clearly many people do like them.

Except it isn't since it's consistent. Early Installment Weirdness would be a griffon showing up again acting like an animal.

So, subjective again.

It's used as a method of solving your problems, except in that episode it's okay and in Putting Your Hoof Down it's shown to not work in a real scenario. Twice.

Fine, other dragons however show that they are sapient, so why shouldn't they have a teenage phase?

@ Ace: Thanks.

But what about my points?

edited 19th Jun '12 9:56:49 AM by Badwolfwho

Admittedly, I'm not a Gilda fan either (though I like Gustave), but Early Installment Weirdness is the worst excuse ever. If it's been used by the show, it should be embrased and made into something good. NOT ignored.

edited 19th Jun '12 9:56:44 AM by Sereg

Prince Shiny, mighty is he