@Penguin Dragneel  
To me 3-5 seasons were the worst.  
The rest are ok but the inclusion of the School of Friendship made them irregular seasons with good and bad episodes at the same season.

I mean, I’m relatively unbiased, and I feel the show went downhill after Season 5. I dunno why OP can’t seem to understand that.

@Officer Hotpants
 
I honestly agree, and although I like a few episodes here and there, it’s easily the worst of the Bermaga Trek series. STD and STP leaving a lot to be desired doesn’t make it any better. It’s not any easier to watch now than before STD or STP came along.

@Ebalosus  
Enterprise would have probably been an okay start for its own setting but it’s just awful as a Star Trek series. I’ve tried to watch it multiple times and can never force myself through more than two episodes.

@SilverTongue  
Or like how the Need for Speed community trash the latest game, NFS Heat, for having an endgame with nothing to do yet praise Most Wanted despite having the exact same problem.

Obviously there is always a “tinted glasses” effect on shows and movies, as they get older. It happens a lot with games too, especially the Zelda series where some games are trashed for their quality (for me it was Skyward Sword, which I wouldn’t play again) and then they are somehow considered classics deserving of a remake.
 
Still I think the first impressions are always the more accurate ones. People have different tastes, and themes resonate with people differently. All opinions are valid in the end.

@Ebalosus  
Okay…

@Hollowfox Jaeger
 
To quote myself:

My point was that at the time and for a while afterwards both the prequels and the last of the Bermaga Trek series were trashed for their ‘quality.’ It’s only now that those series have gotten a “fairer shake” due to the poor reception of NuWars and NuTrek.
 
Officer Hotpants disagreed with this part, meaning they either viewed Enterprise as good all along, or that it remains trashed (which is obviously not true if you talk to Trekkers).

@Ebalosus  
Actually, he doesn’t. Read it right, mmkay?

@Officer Hotpants
 
You liked Enterprise all along?

@Ebalosus  
You had me right up until Enterprise. Fuck. No.

@redness
 
Pretty much this. When I joined after S1 had finished airing, Faust leaving was considered “the end of the show.” After S2 opener was considered a success, and up until about Luna Eclipsed aired, all was considered well. MMDW was generally when the purist voices were raised about “how the show was shit now” and how S1 plus the S2 opener were ‘canon,’ and anything beyond that was “pure trash.”
 
Fast forward to S3 and the rumours of Twilicorn, and now S2 was included in the “good era” of MLP.
 
Fast forward to the end of S5, and now S3 and 4 were the “good era.”
 
Fast forward to S8 and now S5 is now part of the “good era.”
 
Fast forward to today and even S6 is now part of the “good era” too. Mark my mother fucking words: in 5-10 years all of G4 including EQG will be considered part of some MLP golden age, just like what happened with the Star Wars prequels, just like what happened with Star Treks Voyager and Enterprise.
 
Also, Season 2 sucked at the time, sucked when I rewatched it, and sucks now. Worst overall season; you can’t change my mind.
 
@Red-Supernova
 
Topkek.

1-3 were good though, and make me happy

Chad Rocco.avi

@FerrariRacerF430  
Objectively speaking, and with the exception of meticulously planned overarching stories, each show experiences a decline over the years. So yes, “the old days were better” is an accurate trope most of the time. It is difficult, to say the least, to maintain focus and quality over extended periods of time, and MLP was on for 10 years. It’s just nature. I started watching since season one, so I did notice the decline over the years.
 
We’re not telling you NOT to enjoy the show. We love it as much as you do. We’re just pointing out what is obvious now in hindsight. So don’t take offense to it.

@ABronyAccount  
That’s true. You can’t have a good fandom in general without those types of people going around the community trying to start a civil war

@FerrariRacerF430  
Fandoms were better before they did!

The same “The old days were better” people.
 
Every fandom has them.

The show never decreased in quality.
 
Problem came from the fandom and everyone trying to “grow up”.
 
The show was episodic and simple but you hear people complaining about character arcs and development.
 
Like a game developer making a game for casual players but serious competitive players pop up and complain about the developers still making a casual game series.

@Hollowfox Jaeger  
It’s more like the reason why the South Park formula works is because there is no formula. This started with Kenny dying over and over again, and coming back to life each and every episode, but it goes beyond that. The stories are short and episode centered, they always hinge on social commentary (so they never really run out of material) and all continuity is scrapped or matters so little in the long run that it doesn’t affect the quality of the show. It’s funny, because the complaints I’ve seen later on facebook come from the fact that they tried to have continuity in the later seasons and it was driving fans off.
 
It also helps when you have only two authors who make the executive decisions, as you pointed out.
 
 
@Background Pony #8635  
I personally don’t mind the inclusion of gay characters. I think it contributes to a diversity of perspectives, if done properly and not in a cliched sort of way. Making each character a carbon copy of the other only contributes to making each character bland. This is what sort of rubbed me wrong with the Student Six. It was an obvious pivot towards diversity in an ambience of growing tribalism in politics and society at large but it felt sort of superficial with some of the characters. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to derail the thread with talks of politics, but I feel like the writers did diversity for the sake of diversity instead of actually taking the time to study that particular field.
 
If you want writers that actually managed to pull off inclusive diversity and in a very believable and natural way, look no further than Konietzko and DiMartino (Avatar the Legend of Aang, and Legend of Korra).
 
MLP though, seems to have shifted focus towards that and it sort of gives the impression of a high school or college group assignment where each member does part of the work and then they throw this Frankenstein together at the very end.
 
It was great still, but fell flat at the end.

@SilverTongue  
i dont have a problem with the student 6, but they where just there to make all the basic again, but they dont have a well defined arc, i mean, smolder working as a teacher in the school? gallus as a royal guard? where that came from? i think if they had more time they could end up with a higher note for each one.  
and my issue with the last problem: friendship will never end, and yet twilight is a princess celestia now, literaly, there is a new twilight, even the theme of cycle of day and night thing again, and the mane six getting older but not of them are forming a family, whatever kind they may be for those who thing a traditional family is bad. only pinkie, i never see that coming. and the last one: twilight outliving their friend, that way there is not “future” generations but twilight generation over and over. and things change over time we see this today.  
in 2010 out of the fandom i hear so many time that “ponis makes you gay” that was the stupidest thing i could think of, and today, these days people (some or most of them) want the show to include more gay couples because yes, and people fight about that.

@SilverTongue  
That explains it. But how? Is it the involvement of Parker and Stone?

@Background Pony #DAD2  
I don’t particularly like South Park, but I have to admit that the reason they have lasted this long is because they stick to their formula. Kids never grow up, there is almost no continuity or when there is it matters little in the long run, or doesn’t mess up their usual format. Even then, the later seasons have begun breaking away from this, but it still remains relevant.
 
 
@Background Pony #8635  
You said it, the school of friendship was just the cherry on top of the debacle. It took the Mane Six out of their element (no pun intended, for real) and placed them somewhere where they stuck like a sore thumb. Although it was interesting exploring a new side to them it greatly diminished their presence and impact on the story.
 
Personally, I wish their relationships had been explored a little bit more. RD and AJ’s ambiguous marriage is something that would’ve oddly fit if it had happened around season 2 or 3, but the characters drifted apart since then so it came out entirely out of left field, so to speak. With Fluttercord, there were numerous hints peppered in throughout the seasons that made that shipping plausible, even if it was left ambiguous, so it sort of “worked”. But the fact that all of it took the backstage with the many new actors stealing the spotlight made the whole thing dissatisfying.

@Hollowfox Jaeger  
Yet but for the wrong reasons everyone wanted The Simpsons to die now that Disney own it the situation is now even worse than their souless live action movies. Same with Spongebob and Nick refusing to end the show because that’s the only thing that keep their channel alive of all the shit they throw (well next to The Loud House)  
i can think the only large mainstream that is doing without problems is…South Park

@Hollowfox Jaeger  
imagine this: then the simpsions first appear there was a young public, 10 years later another came in the age to watch the show and 10 years later aswell, thats a lot if you ask me.  
Now MLP g4 aired in 2010 and 10 years later, kids that start waching the show now are almost adults! and adults are……well we are older, just that. i’m older, but if i see as a child, man that sounds crazy! have a show from my 10s to my early 20s is crazy.