G5 aired today, and it was…alright? I definitely didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. Despite all of the possible heart it could have had, it just didn't have that emotional core I think it needed. I think it just comes off a little hollow to me, like a color-by-numbers My Little Pony adventure. But the same could be said for the first episode of MLP:FiM but…idk it felt like, even then, that there was some emotion and soul in it. This movie came off just a tad preachy, and certainly very on the nose, but also at the same time, it was very low stakes?? It just has a pretty flat tone altogether. The songs are pretty great tho. Oh and Hitch. Hitch is amazing. Love him to pieces. Animals inexplicably love him?? it's never explained nor does it pay off in any significant way haha

Maybe it's a spoiler, but there were a TON of easter eggs for MLP: FiM. That was the only part that made me a tiny bit sad because here we're seeing the remnants of all our favorite ponies, and the future ponies have no idea who they were or what used to be. Everything that was G4 is reduced to a few posters and legends. Kinda sad. Gives kind of a post-apocalyptic feel to things.

If they really wanted this to take place in the same verse as G4, they should have leaned into it more and gave it a bigger reason for being there. What if, when Sunny figures out the crystals don't work on their own, she consults with her little Twilight Sparkle and friends figures and begs them for answers out of desperation. Maybe their existence could trigger some kind of clue, some spark, that makes everything clear to Sunny. Or maybe, she could stumble upon the last remaining journal entry from Twilight's era, with Twilight describing her first adventure with her friends and Nightmare Moon, and Sunny realizes what she needs to do. Her just finding the final crystal in her house feels super shallow, and makes the message so meaningless? It makes her figuring out the moral kind of come out of nowhere. idk I'm seeing a lot of missed opportunity here. I'm def gonna give the tv show a fair shake when it comes out, but I really hope they add a little more love to it.