My Little Pony G5 IS OVER. What Failed?

[@confusedlizard]

my niece, a little horse girl and their target demographic, preferred g4 because g5 ponies “weren’t magic” enough for her so i feel like their world building decisions really killed it for them. She wants to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends saving the day, not a bunch of kids arguing with each other and doing tiktok segments. I feel like writers in kids media right now think kids just eat crayons and watch whatever mom puts on but they do have preferences that need to be explored and understood to make a successful kids show.

[@sodapets]

Very valid, they definitely missed the mark on action, g4 actually had a lot of action and fantasy that g5 is missing

[@FillaneA]

Yeah, I heard people saying the same about G2 when looking back. In G2 there were "just" horses, no unicorns and pegasi and the world was to 90% like ours. It was basically a show about a group of friends getting into whacky situations....but horses edit: lol gotta love how people get rude over me calling it G2. Y'all really should reevaluate who you talk to people

[@angeldollslps]

Honestly the way technology was integrated into g5 was a huge turn-off for me when it came to the series. I hated how all the fillies were ipad babies staring at their phones and I hated how Pipp was essentially an instagram influencer

[@AgarthanExecutioner]

I was babysitting a neighbour's kid once and I put on G5 for us to watch since the both of us liked G4. Half way through only one episode, she asked me to turn it off and play a rerun of G4. She said the faces creeped her out and she didn't like how she couldn't recognise a single pony. When even the target audience wants nothing to do with your product, you know you've missed the mark lol

[@bezoticallyyours83]

​@@FillaneA Tales isn't g2 einstein. 5 minutes of research would teach you that. 🙄😮‍💨

[@Breathing_in_sulfur]

I think that having g5 be in the same universe as g4 doomed it from the start. It just doesn’t make ANY sense.

[@electrobob992]

YEP and what they did to Discord in the comics was so dirty. You'd think he, Spike, and Twilight would have stuck around to make sure Friendship stays strong. Being all "Our old friends might be gone, but we will honor their memory"

[@StarGraveyard]

Agree

[@sailorcat]

Exactly! It could've been fine if it was set in a different universe, but nope, they wanted to reference popular characters. And it pissed me off that they didn't give a sh*t about rules of the universe.

[@averageanimefan519]

@@electrobob992 What did they do to Discord in the comics? Never read them.

[@slusixvioletpotato]

Honestly it would make sense if they did it correctly, I bet it could be better if twilight and spike being in the show actually made more sense if they had more writing talent but NOOOOO!

[@gatewoodanimations9753]

My turn offs from this show is that I’m not a fan of the art styles, the 2D and 3D ones and the fact that they had to tie in G4 into the plot. They’re called generations for a reason, not a sequel series

[@SoramimiKeiki]

The 2D looked really creepy. Like human heads on a sloppily drawn pony body, with horse features (ears etc.). No, just no ...

[@amandaslough125]

​@@SoramimiKeikiThey took the wrong inspiration from the 10s cartoons.

[@zipperooni]

I was turned off by pretty much the same things, I didn’t mind the 3D style *that* much (though it felt uninspired) but the 2D style just looked obnoxious I wouldn’t have necessarily minded a tie-in to the previous generation if it were done right, but it wasn’t, one of the key parts of the plot felt like a massive character assassination of twilight

[@Pinkbunnyrose2323]

It has two series in both models so they stretch their budget then when making G5 and we can see how it wasn’t executed properly also the 2D animation creeped me out just a little.

[@magicalpopfish9570]

Apparently there's some development art from when the 2D series was in production that looked way cuter by Claudio Naccari that looked more simple and cutesy.

[@CarolAnne009]

Its definitely the artstyle. The 3D looks like boring kiddy cocomelon x Frozen. The 2D artsyle didnt help at ALL. If ppl weren't interested in the artsyle, they'd never get invested in the first place. The first time I saw G4 I was immediately hooked, despite my lack of interest in horses. G4 designs were so good that they're still memorable to ppl outside the fandom. G5 designs are so damn uninspiring

[@desireesmith862]

Yeah G5 art style just turned me off. I think they could have done 3D or something completely different but not this. Like not this. Ew.

[@winged_cat_4571]

@@desireesmith862I didn’t like the art style of gen 5 they just look creepy

[@BarbieDreamDungeon]

Too much human, not enough horse, scary looking

[@maah1800]

g5 design looks like a randomized character made on that pony maker game I used to play on Dolldivine when I was a kid

[@ivoryphoenix7]

I didn’t mind the 3D style, but I did have to get used to those faces. I liked that they gave the pegasi more varied wings this generation, and that every pony has hooves instead of stubs now. The dragons look very off though. Like a pony/dragon mix that they just recolored multiple times to make new characters. …I couldn’t get used to the 2D style. Why would they make their show look like that; surely there were better concept styles? I’m curious what the show would have been like if they didn’t try to connect it to the previous generation. It’s not like getting rid of that tie would’ve fixed everything, but it seemed like they had some interesting worldbuilding ideas that they wanted to implement/expand upon but were held back by having to work around that connection to G4.

[@pensuls7595]

younger sister is in the age demo for g5, started watching it on netflix but switched to g4 after she stumbled upon it and likes it MUCH more. i think its that the characters are much more distinct and iconic, and more ‘magical’.

[@iiamapoptartt]

Most of it has to do with Hasbro and losing their former CEO. There was a LOT of corporate stuff that happened in the background that had to do with G5s failure

[@EmeralBookwise]

Pretty much, the restructuring following the CEO turnover was pretty much the death knell for most of the ongoing projects of the time. Admittedly, the former CEO racking up a lot of debt trying to expand the company into its own multimedia production company was not all that popular with investors, but the new CEO selling off those assets before they even had a chance to start turning a profit (not to mention for barely a fraction of what it had cost to acquire those assets in the first place) only put the company in an even worse financial position.

[@asmrtpop2676]

Is that the reason the art style is absolutely hideous and they all have the exact same Cheshire Cat face??? :/

[@RichardDong68]

Hasbro cancelling the ending to Equestria girls was just an early sign that they started caring less and less about what the fans truly wanted. Good thing The Tale of Two Sunsets exists.

[@SI4Y]

What’s take of two sunsets?

[@moisieiev7124]

Even though the Tale of Two Sunsets corresponds to canon, I think it's just overloaded. It must not be that long

[@rubyrue702]

I thought most of the MLP fandom initially hated equestria girls?

[@moisieiev7124]

@@rubyrue702 after Rainbow Rocks, they started to like it

[@indodinoyoutube]

G5 was done by Netflix, not Hasbro 💀

[@StarryKitsuKat]

G5 had potential, the movie was great but it feels they thought they could afford to cut corners on lore and stories "because it's a kids show". G4 had strong continuation storylines and much more lore. G5 concentrated more on comedy and randomness and the episodes are much shorter. I hope they learned not to cut back on quality so much. I enjoyed many aspects of G5 (the art was nice and colorful) but it just didn't have the same charm and wit as G4. Also, they didn't do much with music either which was a big part of G4's popularity too.

[@StarryKitsuKat]

And to add.. It feels Hasbro wants to distance themselves from toys with so many misses lately and them giving the licence to other companies to make them. I agree, they should do similar to what LPS is doing.

[@everest5718]

As a transformers fan… Hasbro is doing all of us dirty right now. My condolences.

[@froggyslap]

real, i’m a fan of both and i’m so distraught..

[@Voiceless_Defender]

MTG fan here and yeah... We're being done just as dirty as the Transformers and MLP crowd.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

@@everest5718 hugs fans of hasbro properties

[@Tikkilovesmacaroons42]

This is probably the saddest mlp generation....

[@Whatever-mh5dn]

I was gonna say this might be the worst gen.

[@shawnbay2211]

obvi a lot of us werent alive @ g2 but i feel even it has more dignity. g2 was untapped potential but still had certain success. g5 was wasted potential & it hurts watching it fail & struggle repeatedly & get discarded.

[@yuriodavai2288]

hey, at least it's probably better than gen 3.5, the really baby stuff

[@dragonplushy]

Them keeping G4 lore in G5 is what made me lose complete interest in the show, because I just knew this meant that this new generation was not be unique and itself. Gah not great at explaining this. I knew that it meant that they were just going to try to piggyback off the the love G4 had from its fans, and to fallback on G4 lore (and also messing with it) for things in G5, which would make this generation not unique on its own. They weren't going to really try building lore for G5 and instead were just going to borrow it and the world from G4. G5 does not stand out, with its stories or its art style, which I don't have much to say more than it's basic, it matches every other 3D show for kids that come out these days. I think that actually sums up G5 well, its basic, that's it, and people that know the love put in, the uniqueness, the style and stories of G4 weren't drawn in. I just hope Hasbro learns, and while I've lost interest in mlp all I really hope is they make a new world for MLP, and stop borrowing from G4.

[@mintysbowtie]

I totally agree with your point at 11:05 mlp toys were always great because you could collect many different characters & not just the same main cast over & over again, especially when you had a favorite who was maybe on screen for like one scene lol, but as time went you could tell Hasbro really was just in it for the money bc all they started making was the main characters & even then they cut some out & it got really old to only be able to buy the main characters. And it sucks bc I totally think they could have had a huge comeback if they actually made good toys of more than just three main characters!

[@TozheiAmen-Ra]

@@mintysbowtie But also, Hasbro shots themselves in the foot because with them focusing more on action figures they have to either do completely different hair/head sculpts or repaint already existing head sculpts which will look cheap and they’ve already done it with that Zephyr Hytes pony set I seen on Amazon. They just reused the main characters’ sculpts for the background ponies and it looks bad. It’s different for blind bag ponies but this isn’t that. If they actually did more brushables they would have more wiggle room to create more characters and not worry about them all looking the same because at least then they would have hair, so it can be styled differently and people can do whatever they want with them.

[@mintysbowtie]

@@TozheiAmen-Ra I 100% agree! I’d have totally understood Hasbro’s decline in the amount of pony’s they produced if they had focused more on new sculpts,new hair, an over all better & more thought out designs that actually captured different characters instead of having them look copy paste of the main molds but alas Hasbro was not smart enough to do that even modern day 😅

[@HandheldGamer1991]

Hasbro toys where always low quality garbo. The fan stuff is where its at.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

​@@TozheiAmen-Raagreed!

[@bezoticallyyours83]

​@@HandheldGamer1991It didn't used to be. Only in the last 15 years or so.

[@wendycomet7581]

Re: Hasbro forgetting that they're a Toy manufacturer and they need to Make Good Toys -- I'm a Transformers fan, and they've been doing the same thing over there! They made an AMAZING new Transformers series that's everything fans ever wanted with gorgeous designs, and SOME of the toys are really good takes on those new designs... and then some of them are obviously the EXACT SAME MOLD and low quality plastic as the toyline from a prior Transformers franchise, and the colors are all wrong -- not like, "this shade of purple isn't right," like, "this character is supposed to be purple and they're bright blue" level of wrong. It just confuses me, like, Hasbro, we WANT to give you our money! You just need to make the basic effort!

[@shadowfox2730]

Of all the mlp, I think gen 4 showed that all 3 ponies have their own magic. Pegasus can control the weather, unicorns control magic, mainly telekinesis, and earth poines control agriculture. In the show you mostly see earth poines do fruits and vegetables and as seen on their cutie marks. And gen 5 kind of goes on that idea seeing they have earth powers. Which i think is a little over powered since they can grow plant anywhere they are. Even when theres no dirt.

[@Whatever-mh5dn]

Yeah that does probably make them overpowered, remember though from G4 unicorns can teleport, create anything they imagine, do transformation and age spells etc. But it is kinda ridiculous that they can randomly grow stuff without soil.

[@StonedHunter]

​@@Whatever-mh5dn but they also showed not every unicorn was skilled enough in magic to do those things. A lot of those were things only very skilled/powerful unicorns could do

[@shady8868]

Also, earth ponies in G4 have the most physical strenght out of the 3 pony races. I don't remember if it was explored much in the show but there were kinda hints to it.

[@augustday9483]

@@shady8868 Maud Pie could punch rocks into dust, and I think Applejack kicked a boulder the size of a house into the air once. There were definitely little moments here and there to show that Earth Ponies were on another level of strength compared to most everyone else.

[@shady8868]

@@augustday9483 Thanks for reminding! Also, there was an earth filly who's able to lift a whole house and. Her strength was the point of her special talent, but still we almost haven't seen a unicorn or a pegasi doing such thing with just brute force.

[@Box_Ball]

Chris Chan correctly predicted that the timeline would go into chaos if G5 released, I guess they're trying to reverse it.

[@Interstellarpool176]

😭lmao

[@Touhou-j8g]

11 more seasons of G4, here we come!

[@Furfrouu]

Dang, the mother f-er was right. 😱

[@slusixvioletpotato]

@@Touhou-j8g lol

[@mintywolfcrafts]

G5 was definitely robbed of the success it could of had. Movie Sunny is my main favourite character! In the MYM series, they changed Sunny's personality too much for me. Plus I prefer her adorable non-rainbow plaits, and she didn't need to become an alicorn in order to continue her mission for uniting ponykind. Zipp became my series favourite as her character was solid and super close to movie Zipp's. The voice actor changes didn't really bother me much except for Hitch's. Movie Izzy's voice actor was *chef's kiss*. I didn't bother with TYT. Too much fast brainrot for me personally. Not enough time to get a good short story across. Exactly as you mentioned, the whole concept of MLP were the toys. The shows and magazines etc were to help market the toys and merch. I was around towards the end of G1, and collected heaps of G2 and G3. In all honesty, I did start to lose interest in G3 when they stuck to the same core characters. I loved collecting all the ponies whether they were in the shows or not to build my pony village. With all the G5 playsets being just the mane 6, is a child going to continously make Sunny sell her smoothies to just her friends. Pipp can only sing to an audience of just her friends. Hitch can only be sheriff to just his friends etc. G5 had lots of variety in it's media, but very minimal in it's toy line. I would loved to had purchased non-main characters like Argyle Starshine, Alphabittle, Thunder Flap, Windy, Seashell, Peach Fizz, Leaf, Comet, Violette, The Dreamlanders and more. So many characters never got the chance to become a toy :( I am not business savvy, but my impression was that too much money was spent on the 3D animation; Which looks cool ngl. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel that keeping to 2D animation would had taken up less of the budget, leaving more to be used on the merchandise. The story in the movie was solid; They just didn't plan everything else very well after that. The comics also went off in a slightly different direction but they were a great read. The game was meh. Everything was done for quickness rather than thought. Ho sugar I need to stop writing my thoughts. RIP G5 🪦 and RIP braided Sunny 🪦. Will forever love you and miss you 🧡

[@matveyxivan7159]

tbh im kinda sick and tired of companies going to 3D, but actually technically 3D is cheaper now depending on how it's done- the real issue is hasbro doesnt really know what it's marketing anymore, people figure kids dont play with toys anymore, they just like to be on their ipads- i bet you they were planning to do a bunch of apps and games and stuff to market to the kids instead of toys- edit: aka catch the kids with the microtransactions, similar to roblox

[@chewee4ever811]

i made this essay about many reasons why people didn't like G5 and why it possibly failed, and here it is again: these are all the reasons i hear people commonly talk about when it comes to G5: 1) people wanted more of the Gen 4 cast: despite the mane 6's stories coming to a close at the end of season 9, there are still many characters and things people still wondered about, like how flurry heart is doing, or what happened inbetween the events with other characters. there were many things the later seasons introduced that we never got much of in the G4 show like the hippogriffs, klugetown, or many other stuff 2) 10+ years of world building destroyed: when Make your mark came out, everything it did abandoned what people grew up and learned about Equestria in G4, from how magic works, to how things happened with opaline, and the fact almost nothing from G4 carried over to G5 aside from a few references. not to mention, many of the things from G4 are retconned or even ignored. A good example of this would be with the earth pony magic they introduced. supposedly, according to G5, earth ponies never HAD magic to begin with till the unity crystals, aka the plot device, decided, "hey you know what would be funny?" and then boom, earth ponies can now grow plants. thing is, earth ponies have ALWAYS HAD magic, just small amounts or a unique version. like how some ponies can do things like talk to animals, special talents could also relate to it with the cutie marks since they are in a way magic, given we see in season 5, when the ponies in starlight's 3) so many unanswered questions: with G5 taking place right after G4, you'd think we would get to know what happened with all the other races they introduced, like the dragons, the changelings, the hippogriffs, yaks and all that, we don't get anything explaining how long it's been since twilight's rule, where the other species are, what became of the other towns in equestria. ((now i know some one in the comments is gonna say "oh well they explain in the comics". i'm mainly sticking to the show, cause most people won't have even read the comics or even seen the comics.)) 4) everyone is a FRICKING IDIOT: it seems like with humans, as the technology in equestria got better, people became dumber. as everyone in G5 aside from maybe zipp are dumber than bricks. I get its a kid's show, but just cause of that, doesn't mean everything has to be dumbed down. G4 was liked by both kids and adults, because the characters were well written and had their knowledge in some things and lack knowledge in others. i'm not saying they should be super geniuses, but they make Billy from Grim adventures look like Albert Einstein 5) Everything boils down to luck or convenience: another problem with G5 was how everything just happens cause the plot demands it, not cause of the characters actually doing anything, not to mention most problems they don't even fix, they just use magic to fix everything since magic is just a deus ex machina device. whatever happened to just working together and figuring things out, oh right everyone is an idiot in G5. 6) things don't make since. This is going to dip into spoilers, but... i mean if you really care about spoilers to mlp, you really need to reevaluate your life. but one example is in chapter 6, the final chapter of MYM, we learn spike has taken the role as the Dragon lord... so what happened to Ember, or Smolder, or ANY OF THE OTHER DRAGONS? Ember's rule had basically just started by the time of G4, and plus if anyone was gonna be dragon lord, it may be smolder since smolder is more in tune with dragon culture. Spike was only made the AMBASSODOR of friendship for the Dragons, yet all of sudden he's the new dragon lord, and why are all the dragons quadruped, especially spike, he was bipedal even after he grew up. Not to mention how cutie marks work now. Like with magic, they too are a deus ex machina device since they're capable of magic too. SERIOUSLY CAN THEY JUST FOLLOW THEIR OWN DAMN RULES! it's like when children play, and when they attack, they just make up stuff like "oh i have fireproof armor". its the same with G5's magic, in one of the episodes, where they try looking for sparky, they use speakers and say "the cutie mark magic is amplifying the sound". HOW DOES THAT WORK?! instead of the more logical thing of just getting more speakers, they just say "Oh MaGiC iS mAkInG iT lOuDeR". Even equestria girls got it right. when they beat the dazzlings, their magic didn't make their music louder, they had speakers and amplifiers, if anything, the music made their MAGIC stronger all in all, most people dislike or hate G5 cause of poor decisions, lazy writing and the sense it mostly serves as just a cash grab on nostalgia

[@shady8868]

I think you SHOULD've mentioned that G5 like completely ignores the way how do ponies get their cutiemarks and what do they represent in G4. The only ponies that follow the G4 rule of cutiemarks are Izzy and Zipp because you can really see what these two are good at by looking at their cutiemarks. In case of Sunny, her star-themed cutiemark may be somehow related to her dreamy attitude and the way she leans towards the distant hope... But if we don't even see her stargasing or being into astronomy or at least astrology in any kind what's even the point? And speaking of the other ponies, they just feel like having random pictures on their butts with no connection to their special talents which goes completely against the rules of G4. Like why did Misty got a butterfly? Just because it looks good on her? Then it doesn't make any sense since you decided to place G5 in the same universe as G4. Edit: typo

[@felisazure1820]

11:46 You hit the nail on the head. I had so many MLP toys when I was younger because of the fun designs and variety that got my imagination flowing. I actually really liked that not all of the toys were recognizable characters, because it was an invitation for me to fill in the blanks. Those ponies were actually my favorites over the recognizable characters. I also grew up with generation 4, but at that point I had no interest in the toys. Not because I was older, but because it lacked the variety the older generation had, and, as much as I liked the main six, playing with them and only them just wasn't fun. But, the show with it's inventive and magical story really helped that generation. Generation five had neither, in my opinion, and completely sank itself for it.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

Hasbro is continuing the stupid decision of making a handful of cheap toys with higher prices and no variety. Stores aren't gonna want to keep what doesn't sell on their shelves. I suspect girls who are into colorful horses will turn to Unicorn Academy and Wild Manes instead. I'll probably pick up a Unicorn Academy toy or two myself. They already look waay better in terms of quality, looks, and accessories.

[@pensuls7595]

and the actually have brushables!!

[@btsrosaline3559]

It honestly stinks that we never really got to take a deep dive into the Alicorn civilization

[@CheeseyCat252]

All ready that was fast

[@CheeseyCat252]

3:06 IS THAT TWILIGHT

[@naho.spellbound]

​@@CheeseyCat252 Yes, she appeared several episodes later

[@TheEvilPinkOne]

That's what she said

[@superpika1of4]

I think the sabotaged it by making it a G4 sequel and making it seem like the Mane 5's work was all for nothing. Plus the art style never looked very appealing.

[@Aspen_Husky]

Im so sad we will never know Aluras story. Ive been talking to friends about it but everyone has just been celebrating. Its refreshing to see someone else who is sad about it ending :(

[@Genzkidwrench55555]

My theory is she killed herself that's why Alura didn't appear in the finale!

[@swisscheese821]

@@Genzkidwrench55555what.

[@Cheesybreadlover]

​@@Genzkidwrench55555 that's uncalled for.

[@SpookyGhostpeppers]

People don't seem to get that one of the main reasons G4 was so successful was because they had someone with actual industry experience behind the wheel- someone who cared about making a show actually good and not just a glorified toy commercial. I also think trying to shoehorn g4 really isolated their target audience for g5- because imagine being a little kid whos never seen g4, and then they start talking about stuff you have no context of. It should have been its own universe.

[@shanon4768]

I agree they really shot themselves in the foot making it a full sequel, especially since they never really seemed interested in keeping the lore consistent between shows. kids who never watched g4 dont know what its talking about/aren't very invested in the twilight mystery and everyone who did is going to keep running into inconsistencies and going what about x? I for one kept thinking what about all the other nations/races we did get to see the dragons but what happened with Discord the kirins the changelings the hippogriffs/hippocampus ect? the og series ended with the friendship school up and running and we didn't hear about any of that as far as I know (I only really watched the movie, and saw recaps of the 3d show) just twilight/mane six vanished oppaline hated celestia and luna, and spike is a quadruped now. it really should have been a separate universe, they could throw in references and easter eggs for g4 fans, but it wouldn't hinder the experience for a new viewer and they could do whatever they wanted for story.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

@@SpookyGhostpeppers All their media is glorified toy commercials. Always has been. Whether it be for MLP, Transformers, Jem, or G.I. Joe. To pretend otherwise is stupid. They're a toy company. That's their whole shtick. Their bread and butter. It's what's kept them rich all these decades.

[@rubyriot69]

biggest issue with G5 was easily trying to make a whole new canon but also base it on G4 which contradicts some things and raises questions that never got answered. they wanted the draw of familiarity without keeping anything consistent that made G5 familiar to anybody who watched G4, while also making it it’s whole thing. TLDR Hasbro wanted the bronies to keep buying toys so they could have their cake and eat it too but they banked too hard on the G4 fans liking the new ponies so much while changing some things about the previous cast of characters.

[@Halkpelt]

Personally, I wish they 100% reboot the series. I liked gen 1,2 and 4 alot. Not starting from scratch throws off the world building for me. Especially when they added phones and technology. I want to see magical ponies not the world we live in.

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

I wished that MLP:Tell Your Tales Season 2 could continue a little longer or at least make the second special length episode because I would like to see the Ponies learn the truth about Allura and decided to help her get back home to reunited with her brother instead leaving as a cliffhangers.

[@skyshunts]

Same it sucks they didn't do that

[@aleczanderthemaster8702]

Yeah, true.

[@mikubrot]

like you couldn't even finish the current arc before cancellation?

[@Timber_dragonZ]

I feel like everything failed in G5

[@Lively-Rozari]

It would be interesting if they continue g5 in forms of movies like what hasbro did with G3.

[@michaelbuono4007]

That might have worked especially if the used the same writing and animation teams

[@Kocham1bigos]

Dang im actually sad that we didnt get a posey or windy toy

[@neruig2944]

we did get a posey toy!! it’s a tiny mini figure though

[@Kocham1bigos]

@@neruig2944 yea that's what im sayinggggg

[@poobinss]

I hope the next generation (if there is one) isn’t rushed. I think that was the biggest issue, G5 came out so quickly after the ending of G4 and it shows.

[@6larey]

The real answer is, is that there shouldn’t be another generation it’s should’ve finished at g4 only someone smart would know that..

[@poobinss]

@@6larey True. But I love ponies so 😔

[@TozheiAmen-Ra]

This is what happens when you’re entire brand from the beginning has had a mainline of brushable Pony toys and that’s always been a primary focus, then all of a sudden switch to action figures being the main thing of MLP. I did not buy one single action figure because that’s not what MLP is and they are not going to gaslight me into believing that this is what my little pony is as a whole, even though at its core it’s been brushable ponies. They are tone Death.

[@HandheldGamer1991]

Kods nowadays font buy toys period and rhiae who do want figuribwa or plushes.

[@EmeralBookwise]

It wasn't a "sudden" switch, it was a gradual shift that started in the latter half of G4.

[@wendydomino]

I'm incredibly angry and sad that neither series got a proper ending! It's really not fair! They should have at least given them a special or movie or something to wrap up the story. It's so disrespectful to those of us who were invested in the story about Sunny and her friends.

[@EmeralBookwise]

It's less a matter of not getting a finale, considering the Opaline arc did get a proper finish that could have been an adequate series finale as well. The problem is writers clearly thought they were going to get renewed for another season and so introduced Alura as new antagonist, whose story now will unfortunately go unresolved.

[@agnesleuenberger3713]

@@EmeralBookwise Let's hope they'll reuse Allura in G6! She had potential, in my opinion.

[@TogekissKate]

im so glad G5 is over they grabbed G4 and showed them destroying every single bit of world building that G4 had spike makes no sense G5 even destroys its own world building and im just so glad its over

[@kandicreeperxd]

Omg finally someone whos GLAD that its over!! Couldnt agree more my broski

[@StarryKitsuKat]

Yeah, honestly it's best if they moved on. There were too many misses with this generation even if I liked some aspects of it, they dropped the ball on the world building and lore. They should just do a soft reset and make a whole new generation with new ponies and stories that is not connected to G4 so they don't mess it up again.

[@HandheldGamer1991]

Yws i agree i am glad its gone. It was so bad and you had to be drunk to ignore all the contradictions in that show.

[@samanthataylor8606]

I agree i hated make your mark

[@bezoticallyyours83]

MLP has always started fresh and new.

[@secretname3897]

It just felt like G4 had characters they could care about and write about. G5 felt like they just wanted to make a kids show to monetize, like before. But because we got to see what it was like to see a series that was so lovingly written, it makes the failures of G5 significantly more obvious and difficult to ignore. G5 is poorly written, poorly animated, and poorly directed. Kids aren't idiots, and they generally like things that are good. The creators of this series just missed every mark.

[@vibrantgleam]

I hope G6 is a better successor because I genuinely loved the concept of G5. I never strongly hated it whatsoever.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

I don't hate G5. It just wasn't given a chance and the economy being what it is, didn't help. I didn't mind it too much. It was a breath of fresh air at first.

[@Drixenol86]

Gen 4 was lighting in a bottle thanks to Laura Faust.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

No it wasn't

[@tanikaclarkson6894]

I feel like the toys point is something people don't get nearly enough. I was a kid, collecting during g3- still my favourite generation. It had so many great ponies in it- didn't have the best show but the toys were top notch. Then they scrapped making new ponies and scrapped some of their most popular ponies like minty starcatcher wisteria rarity etc to make core seven- continous rereleases of pinkie pie, rainbow dash, sweetie belle, toolaroola, scootaloo, starsong, and cheerilee. That's when i stopped collecting for a while. When g4 came out i was in high school iirc. Tried collecting the toys for a few years while they had new ones... and then got pissed off because it was just endless pinkie pies rarity and twilight sparkles. No new ponies to collect. And i got tired of fim after season 2- felt like plots were getting recycled tbh- so i had nothing really keeping me invested anymore. Seeing the newer g5 toys- they look cool! But its a course correction too late. The toys are what make my little pony- bad quality toys, toys that have no variation, or just not having them at all- ruins the generation.

[@EmeralBookwise]

Selling boulder media had less to do with Hasbro not having enough money and more to do with a change in management. The former CEO had been trying to build the company up into a multimedia corporation so that instead of licensing out their product IPs they could produce their own movies and shows in house. While, yes, this did put the company into debt, the idea was always to pay off that debt through releasing those in house productions. The problem is that CEO's health was failing, forcing them to retire before seeing the project through to completion, and the new CEO who replaced them basically backed out of it and sold off all the media production assets prematurely for barely a fraction of what it had cost to acquire them in the first place.

[@TsukasaUtau]

I feel like g5 could have a better chance if it was made in a different universe cuz the weight of the G4 is a lot for anything tbh ;(. I also think that the toys were a big problem cuz their plastic feels rlly cheap and sad (all the stores are full of mlp toys and none buys them)

[@pensuls7595]

and not many brushables!!

[@duckiidex]

my personal nitpick wasnt even the like??? storytelling [yes imho the pasing sucked] , i just reallly dont like the 5 minute youtube kids episodes,its hard to get actual good story in 5 minutes. if they make G6 im BEGGING they go back to 25 minute episodes, idc how its animated or anything i just want 25 minute good plotted and pased episodes back.

[@EmeralBookwise]

Normally I would agree. I'd have maybe skipped Tell your Tale entirely if not for my niece, but because it's something we watched together I actual found myself repeatedly impressed by just how much quality they managed to consistently squeeze into those short 5 minutes.

[@duckiidex]

@@EmeralBookwise thats fair but for me it was gen hard to watch because it just didnt keep my attention or was 9/10 going to fast story wise for me to actually enjoy it

[@EmeralBookwise]

@@duckiidex: Which is also fair. I'm not trying to say that you should like it. Personal taste is always subjective. I'm just saying that length alone is not the only standard a show should be measured by. Especially since, at least personally, I think TYT was over all better and more consistent than MYM. Yes, TYT can feel rushed, but it's also surprisingly efficient, whereas MYM often just felt bloated, with barely enough plot to fill its longer runtime. Although, there were also a couple TYT specials that were 20+ minutes in length, so if you haven't already, maybe you should consider checking those out.

[@PS_ItsTheCrockpot]

Why did no one tell me there was a dragon doll. I wish they made a My Little Dragon as a spin off. Id buy all of the dragons

[@TheBlueEM2]

I've got some good news on this front. Several big players in the G5 community have gotten together to continue Tell your Tale as an animated series.

[@Toastymarshmallow80]

I grew up with g1 mlp, I thought G-5 looked awful imo. People are free to like it all they want. I don't like the modern incarnations of it.

[@meriewanderer]

G5 opened with a good premise but ended up just disappointing... The only good thing out of it outside of the movie was the comic where discord saw fluttershy's message...😔 And Misty, she deserves a better show

[@somerandomdude7785]

Is it wrong to say that MLP G5 is lacking in male characters?

[@billyboleson2830]

Funny considering g5 was the first to have a male main character that isn't a dragon named spike

[@-astraldove-]

just lacking in characters in general I think 😭 since G4 ran for so long we had wayyyy more background/minor characters and a lot of them happened to be male too

[@bezoticallyyours83]

Yes it is wrong because it has plenty. Unless you mean in toys. Which it only had a handful.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

​@@billyboleson2830Teddy, Lancer and Ace

[@jazzratoon]

I honestly found Opaline just underwhelming throughout the series. I believe it could be because they tried to make her have a presence in almost every episode which to me presented the issue of her character just feeling overstretched, like Gen 4 the reason why we love the villains of that is because they don't try to have a presence in every episode. It makes their appearances more exciting because the writers are given time flesh out a character, them showing up to be a problem and lesson for Twilight and her friends to solve were great. Opaline felt like she needed a constantly babied obligation to remind us that she is the main villain. Also the backstory felt just tacked on and rushed because Gen 5 had to be a continuation of Gen 4, like did she not try to be friends with Celestia and Luna. Did she just give up immediately because she felt like her role meant nothing? Its definitely sad that Allura, to me a way better villain will likely never get conclusion. Like she of been introduced in the main series earlier. But, this likely because of how their episode were released which plagues a lot of shows on Streaming Platforms. Which likely how Opaline had to be in every episode, because couldn't make more episodes like in Gen 4. Also i love the Chinese Hasbro Merch too, they look prefect and better designed than the English Hasbro Merch.

[@electrobob992]

Yeah... Honestly before the backstory was added. I always though Opaline could have been the child of Rarity. Considering she had a similar name to her Cat, would have treated her like a princess or queen. And we KNOW ponies can be born as alicorns.

[@6larey]

What failed? All of it never liked the start of it, it was always gonna fail nobody should be surprised

[@lauramlpfang4g5]

I'm so sad I loved the story gonna miss the cast and crew. I'm a miss sunny and fav background pony fifi. 😢

[@NatsuoxOkami]

Finally, though it took much longer than I expected. The moment they tried to make it in the same universe in G4 I knew it was only a matter of time.

[@xUnicornzillax]

Opaline was disappointing, didnt like her song, didnt like how they casually mention skyros and that there was history between the alicorns opaline and the sisters but they completely glaze over the alicorn lore, dropping Celestia and luna in there half baked with opaline and not really expanding on it :/

[@cursedalien]

I feel like the main issue was they didn't let it be its own thing. They made it have a shared universe with FiM, inviting comparison.

[@nnightmareg]

im just sad there was no merchandise of rhe auroricorns especially Comet

[@minkyway86]

You did a good review of the situation. I like very much that idea of attracting new audiences with toys, then make the show.

[@michaelbuehler3897]

I don't have high hopes for gen 6, if there's even a gen 6.

[@KevvoKevvo-st3jt]

I feel like that G5 would have had more success if it had been its own universe.

[@ohnothepossum]

The leopard character reminds me a lot of kipo from kipo and the age of wonderbeasts. Mainly because "purple cartoon leopard" but still

[@jseden]

What happened? It was awful! The animation was bad, the writing was hollow, the characters just weren’t super likable.. and all this after the movie was decent. I gave up on g5 after 2-3 episodes.

[@yvanaluz9994]

Rest in pepperoni and good riddance, g4 was a one time phenomenon that will never be repeated, g5 tried so hard to be that and it failed miserably.

[@FL0ra_favvn]

It still feels like gen 5 is brand new

[@LOMAS-xt3th]

Even if I didn't like or cared that much about G5, it's still disappointing that a show didn't have a proper ending specially for the people who worked on it or enjoyed the show. Hopefully G6 or whatever is next is treated better than G5 was by Hasbro and I hope they bring back some or all of the G4 characters for a reboot but who knows, either way whatever they do I'll give it a chance.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

I doubt it. Hasbro is too lazy.

[@chaoking3119]

It is amazing how few toys we got. As far as I know, we never even got a Misty plush at all! Why?

[@Sugarwavee]

I feel like g4 actually had passion put into the story and animation it feels like everyone who worked on it cared about making a good story but with g5 it feels like a bunch of men in suits sat around a table and made a show on what would sell the most toys or what would appeal the most to current trends

[@jonathanhaag8634]

1:27 NO SUNNY!!! Oh wait, there she is, she's fine!

[@mahogania5536]

It's the faces, different body types for the ponies are interesting since horses can look quite different from each other, but their faces look the same and I couldn't tell who is who

[@ingbing7447]

As a transformers fan, you're so true about Hasbro losing their touch. Transformers one just came out, but they only made a handful of figures but there were 3 variations of one character, not any of the background characters (which there were a LOT of). In the past they always made so many variations of one character, but now the options are super limited, so people buy one and never bother getting the rest. It sucks too, cause they failed TF: One just like they failed MLP, a lack of advertising and proper toy sales.

[@ViktorErikFade]

As a very casual fly on the wall type of fan who hasn't watched a lot of the show other than gen 4 friendship is magic enough to know fluttershy is my favorite. I think G5 got done dirty. At the very least I think old fans would have given it more of a chance if the art style stayed consistent, episodes were at the very least around 12 minutes long, and the story, which deserved to be told, was played out fully to give people lore, and a reason to come back to the world. Even though the dragons look a little...off, I would have been happy to see them more too

[@TheCommenterDragon]

You're right, G5 didn't last a very long time. But at least it had a good run. And even though Hasbro never gave an official reason for G5's cancellation, I have heard rumors that the toy sales for G5 haven't been doing so great. So you never know, Hasbro could've cancelled G5 due to low toy sales. Which wouldn't be surprising especially since it wouldn't be the first time they cancelled a show because of low toy sales, I mean that's why they cancelled Littlest Pet Shop. So yeah if they did cancel G5 for that exact same reason, I wouldn't put it past them.

[@HandheldGamer1991]

Man lwta be real here. 95% of thw fans hated it. Moat pll who watched it did so just to hear them say or revealnthat the show takes place in some au. Heck i heard that being said all the time. The few ppl who like g5 on youtube avtually ignore the flaws amd try to say it was good or wben bettwr then g4. Now tell me what are hasbro going to do woth a aeriea ppl hate? They dont even make g5 toys but in china right now there is a g4 boom likw crazy

[@EmeralBookwise]

If toy sales have been low, that seems like it might be just as much if not more so a distribution problem. At least in my local area it's been next to impossible to actually buy any G5 merchandise when there's barely been any merchandise on the shelves in the first place. It's not just MLP either. My local stores have barely have any Transformers stock either, which only seems all the more odd since I'd have otherwise expected the shelves to be flooded with tie-in products for the new movie. It really seems like Hasbro is intentionally trying to kill off these latest iterations to rush a new reboot cycle, which they probably are considering the recent management changes at the company.

[@karaoconnoraliasraidra]

Are there any properties Hasbro does like? I ask because I hear about this after their mishandling of Power Rangers. The most recent season, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, was stated to be the last season in the series that had been running since 1993. Hasbro explained this was because they were going to reboot the series. There was some grumbling, but a lot of fans said, “Hey, this could be really great! Let them cook and we’ll see what we get!” So far all we’ve received is an announcement that the reboot has been delayed and there isn’t a definitive release date or even word on whether it’s still going to happen. Right now it feels like Hasbro planned a reboot, but found it would take more effort than they thought and they’re now weighing whether to continue the project or drop it. Only time will tell if my comment will age like milk or like wine, but a number of PR fans are considering the reboot series as good as dead. When it comes to the toys, a number of PR lines are either A) halting production or B) rehashing the same figures over and over. This is despite fans saying, “I want a figure of this character,” or, “I want a figure of that character.” Speaking of properties, where are all the crossovers fans were excited about? I remember fans excited about the possibility of a Transformers-My Little Pony crossover, a Transformers-Power Rangers crossover, etc. Did any of those wished-for crossovers happen?

[@bezoticallyyours83]

I heard they seriously screwed over magic the gathering. I've also heard that transformers toys is getting cheap and kinda crummy. The GI Joe resurgence has fantastic quality, so I guess that's where the money is going.

[@kenthuang436]

I’ve heard people complaining about Spike’s G5 design but I think it’s fine. It’s not the worst thing ever and honestly I’m just glad that they stuck to the original purple and green color scheme unlike G3 Spike who looked just awful with that orange and purple combo.

[@francisfishing4913]

the issue is that they're hideous and the character design is so bad

[@TheStormBolt-gf8qi]

Just saying G5 didn’t feel like MLP

[@not_the_useless_cake856]

That was…quick.

[@tobitatsushiba]

The initial movie that came out was really good and the songs were catchy (the voice actors also had beautiful singing voices!). I watched it a few times and I really enjoyed it! But, I remember when the actual 3D series came out and the animation looked so poor and all the voice actors changed. It just felt like a huge step down and not what was originally sold to me as the viewer. If their first impression was going to be big name actors then they should've kept them on for the series and continued the same quality throughout. Maybe little kids don't notice it as much but, older viewers who actually have the money to spend on merch and toys definitely do. G4 had a very large adult following so Hasbro should have kept that in mind when creating a new series. G4 captivated viewers because it had great world building, characters with depth and interesting backstories and high fantasy plotlines that continued through every single episode. Plus, the songs in G4 were really great and just hooked me in. I still listen to the music every now and then. :)

[@vezhopkins714]

im not surprised it didn't do as well as hasbro thought it would ,I thought the film was very bland and just a rehash of what happened in the first series of G4 finding the elements of harmony, after I saw that I didn't bother watching the series and I never watched the "Steven universe-esque" one either I mean wasn't there a series of thunder cats that was done in this style and that did abysmally as well, and the toys looked really weird and I never got any.The G4 cartoon was so much better but here again the toys had quality control issues I personally found 5 misprinted figures while in toy shops and the hair wasn't much cop , I would love G1 style and characters with the cartoon production values of the G4 cartoon as I am a G1 collector, I hope if they do G6 it will be better than G5

[@rubyrue702]

100% agree that them taking the approach of collectable unique ponies instead of making the same character over and over would be a good idea. if you look at other toys that are successful right now like mini brands among others, they all have this sort of collectable feature to them and even a 'chaser' figure on each set, which I think would be a cool model for future MLP toys to follow

[@laurenpark9800]

Nooooo!! Don’t encourage blind box collector culture!! Just let us know what we’re getting and buy the whole darn set!!!!

[@bezoticallyyours83]

​@@laurenpark9800Agreed. MLP did that for 3 generations without blind bags.

[@bezoticallyyours83]

Blind bags suck

[@kimikoscult1948]

I haven’t finished the video yet but i think the main reason it didn’t work is because the audience they are looking for is just not really interested in the "magic of friendship" anymore. That’s just a quick guess from me. And obviously the reason it didn’t work for adults is because adults loved mlp g4 and most of ud wasn’t ready to leave it behind ahah.

[@NikoZguri-l8z]

it didn't work because it was ATROCIOUS. everything about G5 after the movie is nothing short of a complete disaster: the writing, the animation, the characters, Hasbro's horrible corporate decisions, its creepy obsession with leeching off of G4, annihilating the lore, treating the audience like morons... everything that could've went wrong, went HORRIFICALLY wrong.

[@faeriesorceress]

​@@NikoZguri-l8z Stay strong pony sperg, stay strong...

[@Baby.Puss.In.Boots.]

As an adult whos been a fan of all the generations up until G5 I feel like they missed the mark in most aspects. Every generation bring separate with references to the previous ones and some things carrying over was fun but everything separate so they can grow and evolve doing their own thing was key. Having G5 take place in the future of G4 not only means all your favorite characters are dead but also everything they worked for and cared about is as well and thats insane to do. Its so clearly they knew they had to move on and create something new but with G4s unimaginable success they didnt want to let it go and it only hurt them.

[@sharaheartsixx]

Outside of the obvious bts issues with finances and legal stuff that made the G4/G5 connection weird, a lot of kids media are dictated by specific rules made by a bunch of grown men in suits who just wanna sell shit. Yet it's amazing how much they miss the mark by trying to be "relevant" by focusing on trends like tiktok, smartphones, selfies etc etc instead of creating a good magical world that kids imaginations can get lost in. I'm not even against the ponies having modern technology but when it takes away from the fantasy elements it's just awful. Oh and I hate the character personality changes. Izzy and Hitch went from my favourites to least favourites almost immediately and oh my god Sunny was so boring.

[@Nika44]

My honest opinion is, that G5 movie was awesome, but series lacked good writing. I respect people who liked it, I think it was ok but not good at all because of the tons of plotholes and overall plot that wasn't all that great. Maybe if they would not connect it to G4 people would be less upset with it, I am not sure. Another problem it has were songs. While G4 were catchy, same with movie songs, MYM songs were...well they exist. When it comes to toys, you are absolutely right, they were pretty weak compared to previous toys. I have G3 toys which were amazing quality, G4 which were good quality, but when I saw G5 toys, well...lets say quality went down. And yea, only main cast toys get boring very quickly.

[@paintlightshine918]

I think the kids knew how bad the story writing was, the episodes were extremely weak and the most important character is extremely side tracked to just be good with no flaws just overly nice overly happy. Kids deserve to have emotions OTHER than happiness it's what drew ME when I was a kid I liked films that had cute aesthetics but also loved plot!

[@myroyalart9246]

I haven't watched the video and I will edit the comment after but I think G5 was what Legends of Korra was to Avatar Legend of Aang: it never had the chance cause the original was so beloved.

[@HandheldGamer1991]

Same with dragon ball gt

[@mitchsona]

no i strongly disagree. Atleast Korra was more tied to the history of ATLA and it had the same art style.

[@makaiduperault6933]

Try sending a message to Hasbro and tell them we want MLP G5 to continue, convince them to make another 3D MLP G5 series in 2025, try anything just get this Gen to continue.🥺🥺🥺

[@gigiisaweirdo8175]

😭wait I didn’t recognize you until like right at the very end of the video 😭I used to watch all your old mlp videos I kept waiting for the next episode of rainbow factory but it never came 😭 I didn’t see that you changed your channel name I always wonder how you’re doing meowr

[@gigiisaweirdo8175]

I feel so old 💀 I’m only 18 turning 19 next month

[@hannahbarley97]

Yeah I could honestly see this coming a mile away just from the lack of g5 products that were released this year. I think the only things that got released was that sunny and dragon set and that big sunny playset (there was also images of a girl scout pony no idea if that ever got released) It’s a shame hasbro never gave g5 a chance to succeed

[@TheEvilPinkOne]

What failed? EVERYTHIIINGGG!!! MUUUUHAHAHAHAHA.... IT SUCKS.

[@sitron7224]

I'm not a big mlp fan myself, but I like to keep myself up to date on the world of kids' toys and their tie-in media. And it feels kind of unfair to compare G5 to G4. G4 was LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE. That kind of quality cartoon as the BASIS for the toy line NEVER happens. It's usually toys first, THEN story, more or less as an afterthought. The fact that they got Lauren Faust, a profilic Cartoon Network animator and writer, as the showrunner was spectacular and nearly unheard of in this business. And while G4 was by far the most popular iteration of MLP, its popularity also came with a few drawbacks. I can imagine Hasbro's PR department must have had the worst decade of their careers during G4. The sheer amount of fan-created content NOT suitable for children was IMPOSSIBLE for them to keep in check. So it really was no surprise that G5 is a mixed bag. They were both trying to build upon the solid foundation G4 built, while at the same time distancing themselves from it. Trying to keep the charm of MLP:FiM, while also moving away from the parts that attracted unwanted attention. Which is a near impossible job. Kudos to them, honestly. I'm curious to see where the next gen leads the ponies.

[@isayama.8]

i have a feeling mh g3 is next 😭 with the cancelation of the tv show and movie it’s not looking good

[@sodapets]

I’m so sad about that. I absolutely love MH g3.

[@pensuls7595]

yeah at this point its just the dolls keeping g3 afloat. which imo was the best part of the gen

[@39Fanclub]

I'm convinced its 90% the artstyle. If you're making a cartoon, you have to captivate people with ypur style because that's what people will look at first and the most. If its unpleasant, no one will want to watch your show, no matter how interesting the story and characters are. It was a hard switch from g4 to g5, both 3D and 2D and especially the 2D style is just. Kind of abhorrent. And that seems to be the general opinion in the mlp fandom. I can't say if the actual demographic, young kids, like this style or not, but i will say that its reminiscent of youtube content farms with all it's bright colours.

[@Annewastaken]

For me it’s a mix of different things. For one, Revolving gen 5’s story off of gen 4 was just not a good decision as it’s not introducing us to a whole lot of new opportunities or anything new. Second it’s the artstyle, the whole 3D look just looks…awful compared to the charm the other 2d styles had. And finally, the lack of overall magic as if the feel for the original’s charm has been sucked out by the angry suckers of corporate greed

[@Magnet_Chaos]

Maybe the real failure was the friends we made along the way.

[@Daemon_Belial]

Damn, I would watch a series of MLP G5 being recreated with just the latter set of toys, they looked so cute!

[@Luna-dw2px]

Allura pretty much is gonna be stuck in Equestria and not going back home

[@undyne1]

I never bothered with G5 because I wasn't a fan of the 2D and 3D art style, especially the 2D one. It also didn't help that they tried tying it in with G4, when there was no need. The character designs felt so unnecessarily extra and annoyingly bright to look at imo.

[@Julie_875]

I watched G4 when I was little. A lot of memories.

[@anthonyjrdd]

idc about it ending tbh nobody loved g5 like g4

[@CosmicPotato740]

Let’s hope the next series will be better 😮‍💨

[@michaelbuehler3897]

Having 2 separate series didn't help.

[@CrystalArtest]

As much as love gen4, gen 5 should have been its own thing like every other generation.

[@splendidpheasant9192]

That's a shame; a few years ago my friends and I watched the premiere movie when it came out and we all liked it. The characters were cool and we liked the potential it had. Personally, I think it would have been better if they didn't try to connect G5's existence to G4. Yes, I can see the brand appeal of drawing in old fans to this new property, but I do think it really hinders G5's ability to have its own unique identity. It's a shame all 'round, really; you could tell so many people working on it really cared and were excited about bringing this story to life. And these characters were fun and interesting! Dang.