MLP G5 Discussion and Speculation Thread

@Brass Beau  
Well, a show tends to have a Protagonist, but balance can definitly vary.

@Brass Beau  
Definitely. It’s was so unfair for the other characters, who also had potential to be explored more. Hopefully Gen 5 will do better with giving each character proper development.

@Background Pony #4608  
Which chracters would you say lost out in particular?

@Latecomer  
Spike and Fluttershy.

@Latecomer  
It would be Spike. He was my favorite character because he was just so different from the rest of the cast. His episodes where fun but at most times he would be casted out to the side and usually was seen having a crush on Rarity. His relationship with Twilight, in the early episode, seemed to give us this brother sister bond, but later to me it seemed they stopped with that. Since Spike was one of the youngest characters, they could’ve done a lot more to him. I just wish we could’ve have seen more of the little guy.

@Brass Beau  
Why Fluttershy?
 
 
@Background Pony #4608  
I think he had quite a bit of stuff going on. But it’s true that his relationsips with most of the Manes weren’t tterribly explored.

@Latecomer  
From the leaks, it seems their gonna give Spike more attention/ development, which is great.

@Background Pony #4608  
Do we have any remotely current leaks?

@Latecomer  
No, not really. I just remembered finding somewhere that Spike was going to be a little older, was going to have a archenemies, and from the start of the show hate logmas. When reading that, it got me interested.

@Background Pony #4608  
Well, they might still use some form of those ideas, but I wouldn’t count on it.

@Latecomer  
I’m going based on appearance count. Of the six, she had the least.
 
@Background Pony #4608  
He hates logmas?

@Brass Beau  
True. But quantity isn’t nescessarily the same as quality.

@Brass Beau  
I meant Longmas ,Dragon/Horse hybrids or in this case ponies.

I mean when you have so many 6 main characters you do start to limit yourself.
 
Speaking of which, here’s a hot take: what if G5 fewer protagonists? Like what if instead of the Mane Six it was the Mane Four? And then have a better supporting cast too from the beginning. We can add other protagonists later.
 
It can allow characters to be more fleshed out and three dimensional. And focus on their interactions with important background ponies. Like Rainbow having to help Derpy improve herself so she can keep her job. Or Rarity trying to help Octavia and Vinyl Scratch fuse their talents together to make a great electro-classical song.
 
You get what I mean.

@Background Pony #4608  
I think I read somewhere that Faust originally planned for Discord to be one… but she didn’t know longmas were a thing. Still, as a dragon amongst ponies, seeing a longma must bring some mixed feelings.

@Cosmas-the-Explorer  
Doesn’t fewer chracters mean fewer toys? (Or more toys of the same chracters?) Less diversity of personalities, too. Which of the Mane Six would you ditch?

@Brass Beau  
Yeah I think I remember seeing that the longmas where high society in the dragon world. So maybe Spike is jealous of that.@Cosmas-the-Explorer  
Yeah having few main characters would definitely help balance the development for each character.

@Latecomer  
The blind bags sold well so characters shouldn’t be an issue. And with background characters getting more exposure, those characters should sell better. I think G1 Transformers did something like that.

@Brass Beau  
Perhaps. A lot depends on G5’s format, as well - it won’t nescessarily be the same as G4’s.

@Latecomer  
It really would be nice to know what the format would be at least.

@Brass Beau  
If it’s the same as G4, then there are a few possible cast dynamics - but I think while experimenting might be interesting, the current setup fits well enough too.

@Latecomer  
Applejack is a personal favorite, but is not a popular as the other characters. So having her be a legit “side character” or someone who wasn’t really consider as one of the mane six probably would have done her more justice. Having fewer main character, but have a lot more side characters and balancing the “who is the main focus of this episode” would seem interesting.

@Cosmas-the-Explorer  
I think we may get a Mane 3 if the production staff actually decides to have fewer main characters. One pony of each race.
 
 
@Brass Beau  
Maybe like G4, but with 11-minute-long episodes.

@Background Pony #4608  
I consider Applejack an integral member and her lack of popularity a sign of poor taste. Doubt I’m the only one, either.
 
Nothing wrong with a rich suppourting cast either though. One thing I might like is to see a bit more variance of relationships between the leads instead of them all being in one clique. But that’s more complex, so not doing it is understandable.

@Latecomer  
I have nothing to say on the toy aspect.
 
For personalities, you could always have them a combo of different traits like maybe there could be a Warrior Princess who obsessed with fashion and elegant brutality.
 
As well as you could always have certain characters be side characters instead and give a bigger focus to said ponies.
 
The benefits to having less characters at the beginning is that it could allow you delve deeper into certain characters. Also it could create less tropey characters and more multifaceted characters.
 
As for which of the Mane Six to eliminate, I don’t know but make sure you know what roles each one character play in the group dynamic. And you can always give something like the clownish personality to one of the existing four.
 
My method has its own disadvantages but I think it might be worth considering.