Pony Venting Thread

@Latecomer  
That’s certainly some expectations, ones that I disagree with but I get it. I just think it would be easier to primarily judge G5 as it’s own separate entity as opposed to comparing it to FIM but that’s just me.

@Myoozik  
Well I guess it can’t be helped - unless its much more different than I would expect.

I’d like to set the record straight about the Simpsons episode “The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show”.
 
The episode, which aired in 1997, makes points about the animation industry and fandoms in general, which are still relevant over 23 years later.
 
The first point : Lisa Simpson says  

 
The second point
 
Here, the problem with Poochie is that he doesn’t fit with the show’s tone or structure. Itchy and Scratchy is about horrific cartoon violence, so distracting from that is a detriment to the show.
 
The third point
 
The point here is that people who are unwilling to engage with a work on its own terms, and just want something to criticize, are really obnoxious.
 
Point being, if all you got out of the episode is “New character bad”, then not only has the actual point of the episode gone completely over your head, you’re exactly the person the episode is criticizing.

@DerpyFast  
In fact didn’t Homer think that getting rid of poochie was not the solution?

@DerpyFast  
That’s pretty much why I don’t like that word used as an argument since it’s been devolved to mean “character I don’t like” anyway.

@DerpyFast  
Wasn’t the point of the episode to show why is not a good idea when a group of execs decide to revitalize an old show by introducing new characters that completely clash with the original show formula? Remember that Poochie was a totally radical spotstealer that was completely rejected by everyone, young and older fans alike, and caused the show to lose ratings even faster than before, which is why Poochie is killed off screen despite of Homer’s pleas to give it one more chance. (This is the episode where the comic book guy’s catchphrase “Wost Episode Ever” makes it’s debut, by the way.)
 
The inspiration for Poochie’s episode came when several executives at Fox suggested the staff add a new character to the show, who would live with the Simpsons on a permanent basis, in a bid to freshen up the series. The writers found the suggestion funny and made the episode to be all around that in their usual cynical style, of course.

@Myoozik  
Well, Poochie characters are usually not-well liked.

@Anonycat  
Are there ani characters like that in FIM? i suppose some would say Starlight or the students…

@Latecomer  
Besides the fact they weren’t made by execs they’re probably the closest ones to fit the bill

@Anonycat  

 
Sorry but… I never felt Starlight clashing with the show formula.
 
Poochies are, in general, characters that were not well received in their debut.
 
Example: Big The Cat from Sonic and Tracey from Pokemon. Both had different reasons of why they were hated and demoted to extras.

In universe, Poochie was suggested by the son of the original Itchy and Scratchy show, aka not by the original show creator, and the guy was so full of himself that during the meeting where he suggested Poochie’s creation, he immediately fired a writer who disagreed with him.  
The only character who liked Poochie was Homer, and that was only because he was his ticket to work as a voice actor.
 
 
@[Ω]  
Twilight worked very hard to achieve her magic level, and the only onw who was even remotely close to her was Trrrixie. Out from nowhere comes Starlight sporting broken magic power that reached Alicorn level, and a genius intellect that enabled her to finish and even complete legendary spells left by an ancient genius, all without any of the training and study that the show told us Twilight had to endure to reach her level.  
That already clashed against tons of things and ended up sending the concept of magic in general to hell.

@Anonycat  

 
Ok… I am genuinely confused here.
 
Twilight worked very hard to achieve her magic level
 
I have seen episodes about Twilight pulling out spells with relative ease in early seasons. Hech, her buttmark is a freaking symbol of magic. And a lot of appearances as a young filly despicts her as a prodigy. Didnt she learned to use Sombra’s spell after just watching Celestia using it one time for few seconds?
 
and the only one who was even remotely close to her was Trrrixie
 
Sorry, but I havent seen Trixie levitating a bear the size of a house while manipulating the freaking wind to create sounds.
 
The only time Trixie was close to Twilight’s power was with that amulet
 
Out from nowhere comes Starlight sporting broken magic power that reached Alicorn level
 
Broken magic? Yeah, I have see her pulling some tricks, but then in later seasons, her combat was pretty much only reduced to pewpew beams and teleport spam. In fact, even alicorns suffered this downgrade, except Twilight.
 
and a genius intellect that enabled her to finish and even complete legendary spells left by an ancient genius
 
Sorry for my ignorance, but…Wasnt Twilight who did this in the end of third season? If you mean the time traveling spell, it wouldnt be too hard to pull it out by just stealing the instruction manual, right?
 
I may have watched few episodes, but I am pretty sure your post was more towards Twilight than Starlight. And this does sounds like a description of “Mary Sue” character than a “Poochie” one.

@[Ω]  
The first season was all about how Twilight magic power came from a lifetime of constant study, training and isolation that made her grow up without friends or social skills.

@[Ω]
 
Also, reminder that pretty much everything the episode Boast Busters established as the “rules” of magic in the world was pretty much immediately discarded after that episode anyway. Twilight also never showed that amount of magical power ever again, not even when she became an alicorn.
 
As for Starlight… yeah, she was a little overpowered I’ll admit (and I say this as a fan of hers).

Also, wasn’t the entire point of Trixie’s debut episode that she very much WASN’T powerful and was mostly focused on making things look flashy?

@Anonycat  
Didn’t fans used to complain about the show focusing too much on Twilight?
 
In fact, some found Twilight having a “best friend brother & babysitter/sister-and-law,” as well as her Canterlot “friends” she ignored, kinda contradictory to her backstory of not understanding friendship. Aside from her brother & older baby-sitter though, she didn’t seem very close to them though, and Cadance & Shining weren’t exactly kids her own age.
 
As for Starlight, who’s to say she never studied magic too? I felt she kinda made a good rival & foil for Twilight, and kinda showed Twilight isn’t invincible, (and honestly, even as an alicorn, Twilight was never really shown to be as powerful as Celestia or Luna yet, her power is developing) so Twilight had to find another way to stop her.  
Though, Starlight might not be all-powerful either, seeing as Cozy Glow easily imprisoned her.

@[Ω]  
I don’t use that term anyway so I couldn’t give too much of a thought on what constitutes as a “Poochie” or not. Besides, characters are subjective anyway where someone can like or dislike a character regardless of what some arbitrary term calls them

@Beau Skunky
 
To be fair if anything the fact that Twilight wasn’t as close to them only reinforced her early status of not understanding friendship, since she seemed legit upset when she realized she had blown them off for so long (ESPECIALLY Moondancer).

@Myoozik
 
Starlight’s honestly an interesting case for me, because as much as I like the character I honestly CAN’T deny that she was just a little overpowered during the season 5 finale and a few later episodes.

@Jarkes  
I mean I’m not denying that she was overpowered as all fuck even to an unfair degree, I just get a little irked that she has this specific label slapped onto her. Mary Sue, OC, and even Creator’s Pet I don’t have too many problems with, but just something like this rubs me the wrong way but whatever, what can you do?

@Jarkes
 
There definitely was a contrast in Magic Duel that whereas Twilight can vaporize crystals, as shown in the S2 finale… Trixie, after losing the Alicorn Amulet only succeeded in tickling Rainbow Dash (which it would make sense for Pegasi to resist electrocution, but still), when “that was supposed to make you writhe in agony!”
 
Acting like it’s the logical conclusion that Trixie was the only powerful/skilled unicorn remotely even close to Twilight is… sort of ridiculous, especially when Shining Armor pulled off feats far greater than her, going off of his debut.
 
Villains generally have a trump card or three, if they’re not more powerful (which often happens), and whether you agree with me or not, I still think it’s sort of reasonable to say “Starlight isn’t necessarily on par with Twilight in power, but she has more combat instinct, perhaps more experience in actually using her power, like say, she’s five years older, and she’s not used to being boxed in like Twilight was in an academic setting, more intuitively lets loose,” aside from what she did in her debut.
 
Being OP for whatever reason, whatever the quality of the hand-wave, is a thing villains do, and some people find it refreshing when they don’t get arbitrarily nerfed, when they get reformed, like what didn’t happen to Discord, either.
 
I really think say, Cadance could come out on top of Starlight in a fight, in part because I think the former is often undersold; she held off Sombra for quite a while, and curb-stomped Chrysalis and her army with Shining’s help.

@Myoozik
 
Pretty much.
 
 
@AC97
 
Yeah, true. Heck, oftentimes in some other franchises a reformed villain will get significantly nerfed after their reformation compared to when they were a villain (also see when JRPG antagonists become party members later and have much lower starting stats than what they had in their boss battles).

@Jarkes  

 
shh
 
There is no facts, only the narrative.

@Jarkes
 

 
Heh, yeah, lol. That does happen.
 
“Yay, I beat this boss, and they’re gonna help me now, and it’s gonna be so awesome… what do you mean their stats suck ass now? What the hell happened to all of that HP, their power?”
 
(There are some ways that sort of thing can make sense but… yeah, it can be kinda annoying, a lot of the time)

@AC97
 
Chrono Trigger actually had an in-universe explanation for it with Magus (Lavos drained a lot of his power during their battle)