So you knew about this all along yet you didn't tell any of us? I thought you were cool man...

Goodbye Soleron  

;-; He was one of the first members to greet me on this site and help me get accustomed to it

Nor me or Mr Khan were aware that there was a vote on perma-banning Soleron :/

Rise, rise from the dead!

Despite my mixed feelings over Season 3, I knew I'd have to give Season 4 a shot. I mean, it couldn't possibly be worse, right? So, with the S4 premiere airing mere hours ago (like 2), and me conveniently having a short day at work on my first day of break, I figured I'd check it out.

Spoilers incoming!

The Good:

- There will be an overarching plot for S4. Fantastic. My only concern is that it will make this other thing that I liked pointless...

- ... which is that the elements of harmony are gone. Deus ex Harmony was getting old. But if what's in that box is what I expect, we'll be right back there at the end of the season.

- The return of Discord was nice, after what happened in S3.

- The flashbacks were actually very good. The scene just after NMM struck Celestia was gorgeous, and reminds me of a scene from The Clone Wars in the fifth season with Obi Wan (that I won't spoil here... go watch the show!).

- Twilight can't fly well.

- Pinkie Pie was fantastic here. Her humorous moments were done perfectly; I laughed at a lot of them, and never felt that they were too much.

The Bad:

- Twilight being "sent home" by the other five. Seriously, this was not only a terrible idea, but it lasted for all of two minutes before everything was fine agian.

- Related to the first one; Applejack. Seriously, you started the whole send the princess home because Equestria needs a princess thing. WHAT HAPPENED TO CADANCE?!

- Deus ex Zecora! Did she just give Twilight some drugs? Repeatedly?

- No songs. Okay, I admit it. The songs in the S3 finale have grown on me. Especially Celestia's Ballad, which I absolutely love.

- Dialogue. This is actually a problem I have with the whole show. The constant "but but friendship but but together" crap drives me nuts. It always has, but I tolerated it. It just grates now. If this show is supposed to be more mature, can we get something a bit more realistic there, and a bit less likely to make me gag?

The Everything Else:

- Was Photo Finish always in the intro? I swear I saw her in there.

- You can stop casting magic by licking your hoof and touching your horn? What? (I'm talking about unicorns here, guys. Sheesh).

- The poses that Celestia and Luna have when they perform the Summer Sun celebration are so awkward. Celestia does a similar one in the S3 finale, and it's not natural. Ponies don't do that. Stop trying to make that a thing.

Overall:

Not bad. Having a season long arc is promising. The bad stuff can all be fixed; it's all writing related. I don't think it will be, though. I would rate this higher than the S3 premiere, but below S2's first two episodes.

This thread...so many memories

Some good times, for sure. Did you watch the S4 premiere?

I saw it!

I really enjoyed it. It lacked the pacing problems that plagued "The Crystal Empire", it provided lots of background info without any of it feeling especially forced, the twist on what was causing the evil was pretty clever, and they're doing wonders with a sort-of-reformed Discord, and now they have a season-long plot to roll with, as well as a second significant shakeup in the status quo (first Twilight's ascension to Princess-dom, now the loss of the Elements).

I was unaware that season 4 already started. Good thing this thread was still in my "forum buddy".