Discovery Family’s grip on the G4 characters wouldn’t be a problem if G5 just… stopped trying to reach for G4 nostalgia points. That’s why TYT is finally succeeding.

I do think the sale of eOne and the transfer of G5 to Atomic Cartoons may have done a lot of damage and resulted in this half-baked effect you’re describing.

It failed because Chris Chan put a curse on the creators shortly before getting arrested.

Fun fact:
Paramount used to own Mlp G5, but they sold it to Netflix because of the pandemic.

The thing about generations is...its supposed to be a COMPLETE reboot. I grew up with G3, so checking out G4 I recognized a lot of the characters, but all of them were revamped entirely, not just in design but in personality too. (E.g Rainbow Dash from a fashionista to an athletic tomboy) The only thing that stays the same between generations is that its about ponies.
But G4 was so successful it got in the way of G5 being its own thing. They wanted to have it both ways but ended up shooting themselves in both feet. I immediately checked out of G5 when the movie's synopsis was released and it turned out to be the low hanging fruit of 'racism is bad', rendering all of the adventures of G4 pointless by reverting everything they did. If it was a new universe, like it SHOULD have been, that would have been fine, but no, they just had to try and nostalgia bait. They wanted to make G4 money but failed to recognize that the reason G4 was so successful is because it ACTUALLY TRIED. There was nuance and humor that adults could appreciate, appealing visual design, you know, effort. They made it clear right out of the gate with G5 that they didn't want to put in the work, so they lost a huge chunk of people right before it even had a chance.

G5's problem:
1) A terrible initial idea, in which Equestria fell apart and Twilight failed. Moreover, she failed because of a villain who is so weak in G5 itself that any child could defeat him. Such a move is a slap in the soul of G4(FiM) fans.
2) 3D graphics and animation.
The ponies look plastic, too humanized, they all look the same. The colors are too bright and oversaturated, they are literally acidic. Only the mane and panoramic views of the city look good, everything else is terrible. Not to mention the dragons look terrible. Well, the 2D graphics in another series are absolutely terrible, ponies with human faces and anatomy are beyond understanding.
3) A terrible main plot, during which almost nothing is told. There is nothing memorable or interesting in it, not to mention the fact that the story of the collapse of Equestria was not told at all. Literally no information was received, not even from Spike (who looks like a foam dragon pony). A complete contradiction of G4 in everything (in interaction with magic, which in G4 had to be learned, but now they use spells very simply and do not teach them, but simply use them as they want; pegasi do not learn to fly, everyone flies right from birth, etc.)
4) Wooden characters:
They have no development, because they already have everything at the start. They don't have any memorable character traits. And the main character, Sunny, doesn’t look like a leading role at all, there’s just nothing, no leadership qualities and nothing.
5) And most importantly - no idea and no message. It's just chewing gum without meaning and that's all.

the differences from the original MYM script according to the official 2022 document is: that those crystals that appear in the mlp g5 comic (the one with the flashback with Fluttershy) would be part of the plot about learning about the past, and the explanation that Opaline built the her castle to try to make a tree of harmony

Hey, I'm Raven. I definitely wasn't expecting to be namedropped in this video, but I sure do appreciate it. Thank you very much! I was glad to help. 😄

As for whether Discovery Family really does own some of FiM: I do have some serious doubts. After all, we really only do have a single person's testimony who supposedly went to Everfree Northwest 2023 and heard Gillian Berrow say all that.

This show is legit one of the strangest things I’ve ever watched

It’s not like no one cared, there are some episodes that feel like they were written with thought and careful understanding of the cast and world-

BUT, there are also some episodes that legit feel like first drafts, and MYM was never able to shake this off, not even at the end

I think you’re right that external factors are at least somewhat to blame, but if that’s the case, then they shouldn’t have had the original story tie so heavily into the previous gen. ESPECIALLY when MYM repeatedly demonstrates all the potential the new stuff has on its own

I can’t in good conscience call the show bad or the people behind it incompetent, so yeah, “confused” is the best word I got lol

Why G4 succeeded financially and critically

1.) writers and animators simply made a good story with good characters, turns out that gets views. Shocker I know.
2.) Flash animation is cheap, it worked in the show's benefit creating a unique style
3.) The Mane 6, Celestia, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Queen Chrysalis and the Dazzlings. Iconic characters equals money.
4.) G4 was around when social media was picking up and continued to grow into 2020.

G5 failed because episodes took too long to release and people naturally stop caring. Outside of Izzy and Zipp, who is memorable in the show?

Make Your Mark reminded me of another 3D animated cartoon my daughter watched - "Mia and Me". Both felt like the storylines navigated around minimizing the number of sets and characters they had to design and animate. For example, both had evil queen like characters living in dark, remote castles, so they could avoid designing grand set pieces or more than a couple characters on screen at a time. In both shows, budget limited the storylines!

Boulder Media was producing a 2D G5 series at the same time they were producing the movie. This series was described as a TV show, not a web series or a clip show. This series was unceremoniously cancelled, and replaced with Little Critter Workshop's "Tell Your Tale" and Atomic Cartoon's "Make Your Mark."
My hypothesis is that originally, when ANG was a theatrical release,  it was to follow up with a 22 minute 2D series on Discovery Family. When COVID hit and all the theaters closed, Netflix offered a deal to Hasbro to distribute the film and become co-producers on the series. With Netflix's involvement, the show had an increased budget and the decision was made to switch over to 3D. Boulder either couldn't or wouldn't make the switch and Atomic was brought in to essentially restart development from scratch.

Another thing to consider is that Megan McCarthy is not  involved with G5. We don't know why she quit being the head of girl's storytelling at Hasbro, but we do know from the leaks that she used to butt heads with Hasbro corporate due to constant, sudden paradigm shifts paired with unreasonable deadlines.

If Hasbro is the rightful owner of the MLP Franchise as a whole, then the channels that air them & the studios that produced the cartoons shouldn't have any ownership rights to MLP because they are just borrowing the IP, so Discovery shouldn't even deserve any money for the use of G4 characters in G5, any more than Disney should get any money for the use of G1 Transformers characters in newer Transformers cartoons just because the show was made through Marvel Productions back in the 80's & Disney bought out Marvel decades later, it just doesn't work through those kinds of extents.

I can also think of a few reasons why this show is failing:

1. It tries too hard to connect to G4, when one of the mane reasons G4 was popular was because of the uniqueness to it. It just has to remind you almost every episode that, “Hey guys! We’re a part of G4, too! Look at us! Look at the stuff we have!”. Also, as they kept doing it, the more ludicrous it felt.

2. It’s not really streaming on TV, and I think it would be better if it was, because me personally, I just wanna reason to watch TV again. Also, it would be easier access to their audience………besides the internet.

3. The music. It’s all just pop, and I’m really, really tired of it.

4. WHY CAN THIS JUST BE AN ORIGINAL?!?! Also, the characters are kinda bland ngl.

It was Lauren Faust's genius that make G4 the most successful version of MLP. She lefts the show in the middle of S2 because her focus on story (which is why MLP was good), clash with Hasbro's focus on selling toys. Does Hasbro realize that it's thank to the show that the toy sell themself? I feel like Lauren Faust has been used.
And now we have G5 who break the rule by connecting to G5. Like why? Does they know what make G4 good? Why they won't start a new, separated Gen like the previous?
1:51 I wish it ended on S3! But Hasbro has other plan. When fan will realize even thing you love has to end?

The main reason the new gen isn’t that good is it try’s to be connected to the show but then makes stuff like cutie marks different and adds to many do everything buttons

It's an interesting theory, but even if it's 100% true, that doesn't really explain the lackluster writing of the majority of G5 episodes. Let's be honest: MLP is not the first show where the ownership rights are all over the place, and one series (or episode) contradicts another (yeah, Star Trek, I'm talking about YOU!). And while legal shenanigans can play a part when it comes to quality, in the end, it all comes down to the writing skills and level of care of those involved (well, that... plus time constraints imposed by Hasbro).

Sadly, we probably won't ever find out what the core issue was.

I read that some or most of the g5 movie staff tried to apply for the openings to make the g5 series but Hasbro was not interested, they decided to outsource the production. This, as some others have mentioned, was a big change for G5 quality. I dont think G5 MYM is bad, but it might have been soo much more.

It honestly would make sense.

It feels like the g5 writing team just threw out the world building of g4 and half-baked the script for MyM BUT if they were suddenly told "Discovery is gatekeeping g4" then yeah, the writers would have to suddenly scrap anything referencing g4 characters or locations and try to fill the space with *something*. It also would explain why the dragons, specifically Spike, had to look so drastically different or why creatures like the griffins or the yaks aren't ever referenced. It isn't the g5 writing team just deciding to go weird directions, it's the fact that the majority of their own source material is being paywalled 0.0

G5 is a venture that was built with no plan, got screwed from the start by licensing issues, lackluster writing, corporate incompetence, and is driven by Hasbro's desire to make MLP toy money specifically from little toddler girls (the targeted audience for the G5 games).

G5 is ultimately harmless and not the work of the devil. But, toddler girls deserve better quality shows.

Imalou was also one of the most famous artists in the brony fandom and was one of the earliest fan artists as they uploaded their first fan artworks of the show before the end of 2010 which was before season 1 aired and just after the pilot had aired! They then did art commissions full time as a freelance job until 2017 when they permanently closed commissions as they had been hired by a studio they couldn’t publicly disclose at the time. They then mostly went dark on the internet with them only posting the occasional personal artwork until the release of the MLP G5 movie when they were finally allowed to reveal that they were a lead visual design cast member on the movie and will be on MLP G5! Pretty much Imalou designed two of the main characters and did a ton of lead concept art work for the series and is still working on it today! :)