Would you enjoy the show if it became the Mane 5?

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,975]

Of Mane6, I think removing Twilight would minimize any changes in the series. It's not like she really contributed much to overall story of MLPFIM anyway.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Ease of removal at this point, IMO, goes

1. AJ

2. Rarity

3. Fluttershy

4. rainbow dash

5. Twilight

6. Pinkie pie.

 

Pinkie pie, despite not being my favorite, functions very much as a glue to the group and would leave the biggest hole. You absolutely NEED a comic relief character in a group, and though she may not be, storywise, important, Pinkie's loss would leave the most glaring hole in the group dynamic IMO.

I think twilight could work the BEST, but she would be one of the stickier one's to remove due to her connection to the royal sisters and the map, ect. Since they've played up her "chosen one" angle and dropped the EOH from the series, twilight's somewhat neccessary as the one to get the group to get up and go to adventure. While I think she'd leave very little gone in the slice of life episodes, for two parters they'd have isssues. Slice of life though? Drop twilight, nothings different now, twilight's got very little chemistry going for her since she had lots of her Season 1/2 flaws filed off for princessdom.

Fluttershy would be much easier to remove except for her relationship to Discord. This makes her sticky to remove from both a slice of life and Adventure angle, as Discord is important to both.

Rainbow dash has very little important overall to adventure episodes, and can be gone without for slice of life. However, of the six I feel she has the most interpersonal chemistry (Fluttershy, pinkie pie, AJ, even rarity, she's got a very good and natural way to interact with the other and produce entertaining dialogue and actions), which boosts her up to being harder to remove.

 

AJ and Rarity, sadly are the easiest to remove. They both have very little importance to the group dynamic in adventure episodes, and slice of life they, while good characters, fulfill the least number of roles.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Ease of removal at this point, IMO, goes

1. AJ

2. Rarity

3. Fluttershy

4. rainbow dash

5. Twilight

6. Pinkie pie.

 

Pinkie pie, despite not being my favorite, functions very much as a glue to the group and would leave the biggest hole. You absolutely NEED a comic relief character in a group, and though she may not be, storywise, important, Pinkie's loss would leave the most glaring hole in the group dynamic IMO.

I think twilight could work the BEST, but she would be one of the stickier one's to remove due to her connection to the royal sisters and the map, ect. Since they've played up her "chosen one" angle and dropped the EOH from the series, twilight's somewhat neccessary as the one to get the group to get up and go to adventure. While I think she'd leave very little gone in the slice of life episodes, for two parters they'd have isssues. Slice of life though? Drop twilight, nothings different now, twilight's got very little chemistry going for her since she had lots of her Season 1/2 flaws filed off for princessdom.

Fluttershy would be much easier to remove except for her relationship to Discord. This makes her sticky to remove from both a slice of life and Adventure angle, as Discord is important to both.

Rainbow dash has very little important overall to adventure episodes, and can be gone without for slice of life. However, of the six I feel she has the most interpersonal chemistry (Fluttershy, pinkie pie, AJ, even rarity, she's got a very good and natural way to interact with the other and produce entertaining dialogue and actions), which boosts her up to being harder to remove.

 

AJ and Rarity, sadly are the easiest to remove. They both have very little importance to the group dynamic in adventure episodes, and slice of life they, while good characters, fulfill the least number of roles.

 

Applejack having little importance in adventure episodes? What are you talking about she's pretty much the consistent Lancer in those.

 

As for Discord, How is he possibly more important than the Apple Family? or even Sweetie Belle? He's a  side character who appears like 2 or 3 times a season. Discord, with his redemption stufff done is basically only important in the context of his own episodes now.

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

Why would you miss a character, without awareness of its existence into first place?

 

Hadn't fluttershy existed, it wouldn't be awful, since there is barely any attachment.

 

No memory, no resonance.

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

@@They call me Loyalty, "Miss" may not be exactly the right word, but each of the Mane Six have incredible importance to not just the stories in the show, but also the growths in the fanbase. Each of us have a favorite character and favorite Mane Six. For myself, it's Fluttershy. Others, it's Dash, Twilight, and so forth. Remove any one of them, and you change the entire dynamic of literally everything.

 

 

 

Hadn't fluttershy existed, it wouldn't be awful, since there is barely any attachment.

Barely attachment to you, but for thousands of other bronies, they're able to relate to her struggles and demeanor extremely well.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Applejack having little importance in adventure episodes? What are you talking about she's pretty much the consistent Lancer in those.

 

As for Discord, How is he possibly more important than the Apple Family? or even Sweetie Belle? He's a  side character who appears like 2 or 3 times a season. Discord, with his redemption stufff done is basically only important in the context of his own episodes now.

AJ has second in command potential, but she honestly never does anything in that position, apart from the crystal empire where she kept things running while twilight was away. In all other adventure situations, she pretty much does nothing of note for helping or leading the group-- Look at Princess twilight sparkle for example, without twilight she really doesn't do anything with the five except go "Well shoot, without twilight we're kind of screwed" and decide to go get twilight.

 

Now, I'd love to see them expand on AJ as a second in command, but she does nothing for that position currently.

 

>Discord

As for Discord, while he has little effect on slice of life, his relevance to the two parters is HUGE. Discord is a walking magical nuke essentially, and any two parters that don't have the mane six isolate (Like them heading off to starlight's village without telling anyone) will HAVE to deal with him in some way. He dominated the plot for Season 4's two parters after all, being the one behind the plunder vines and trolling twilight till she went back to her friends, and was almost as important to the plot of twilight's kingdom as Tirek was.

Any threats that threaten equestria as a whole that are known about will have to deal with Discord at some point in some way since he's vastly more powerful than Luna and celestia and will have a bearing on the plot in some way by that virtue.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

AJ has second in command potential, but she honestly never does anything in that position, apart from the crystal empire where she kept things running while twilight was away. In all other adventure situations, she pretty much does nothing of note for helping or leading the group-- Look at Princess twilight sparkle for example, without twilight she really doesn't do anything with the five except go "Well shoot, without twilight we're kind of screwed" and decide to go get twilight.

 

Now, I'd love to see them expand on AJ as a second in command, but she does nothing for that position currently.

 

>Discord

As for Discord, while he has little effect on slice of life, his relevance to the two parters is HUGE. Discord is a walking magical nuke essentially, and any two parters that don't have the mane six isolate (Like them heading off to starlight's village without telling anyone) will HAVE to deal with him in some way. He dominated the plot for Season 4's two parters after all, being the one behind the plunder vines and trolling twilight till she went back to her friends, and was almost as important to the plot of twilight's kingdom as Tirek was.

Any threats that threaten equestria as a whole that are known about will have to deal with Discord at some point in some way since he's vastly more powerful than Luna and celestia and will have a bearing on the plot in some way by that virtue.

Okay yeah, AJ doesn't get to play with the Lancer role as much as she should, still she's pretty much always the one Twilight talks to during those adventures and is the only one that has any potential for that kind of thing. And again the Apple Family is far more important than Discord

 

In season 4 Discord was in the two parters because there was a story to tell with him, that story was basically finished in Twilight's Kingdom. Now that it is finished Discord would actually be a downside in two parters as he can too easily serve as an "I win" button and I doubt he'll have a big role in the finale. Right now all he ads to the show is his comedic solo episodes, which are funny but you can just as easily fill that space with main character episodes.

Edited November 2, 2015 by M'gann M'orzz

[AmberDust 1,118]

Of course, I don't WANT to get rid of any pony, but who do you think would cause the most/least friction if they were removed?

I think that Twilight could potentially be removed without causing imbalance, if not for the fact that she introduced the mane cast to each other in the first place...hmmm...maybe Rainbow Dash could go, instead? She seems to be the foil to Twilight, right? Or maybe these characters are a bit too complex to only have one foil in the group...so anything lost through removing one character can be regained through others...

 

If we lost Rainbow, for example, her flaws could be portrayed through A.J. or Pinkie, or perhaps even Rarity instead. If Fluttershy were replaced, on the other hand, it might cause an imbalance, since she seems to be the only one in the group to bear the specific flaws of shyness and social anxiety that balance out with the more brash characters.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Of course, I don't WANT to get rid of any pony, but who do you think would cause the most/least friction if they were removed?

I think that Twilight could potentially be removed without causing imbalance, if not for the fact that she introduced the mane cast to each other in the first place...hmmm...maybe Rainbow Dash could go, instead? She seems to be the foil to Twilight, right? Or maybe these characters are a bit too complex to only have one foil in the group...so anything lost through removing one character can be regained through others...

 

If we lost Rainbow, for example, her flaws could be portrayed through A.J. or Pinkie, or perhaps even Rarity instead. If Fluttershy were replaced, on the other hand, it might cause an imbalance, since she seems to be the only one in the group to bear the specific flaws of shyness and social anxiety that balance out with the more brash characters.

rarity maybe, not AJ. Dash's role is more to be the egomaniac of the group for dynamics. AJ's incredibly humble and just wouldn't do the job (its part of why the two work so well).

really, if you were going to replace RD, the closest character to fill that dynamic would be to bring in trixie as the replacement since she's actually got alot in common with RD.

[AmberDust 1,118]

rarity maybe, not AJ. Dash's role is more to be the egomaniac of the group for dynamics. AJ's incredibly humble and just wouldn't do the job (its part of why the two work so well).

really, if you were going to replace RD, the closest character to fill that dynamic would be to bring in trixie as the replacement since she's actually got alot in common with RD.

I dunno, i think A.J's pride and Rarity's vanity could kind of fill in for Rainbow's arrogance.

[Celli 4,337]

Pretty sure I saw a this topic already.

Anyway, The mane 6 are already part of the show and have been since the beginning, I don't think removing any of them would work in any stretch of imagination.