spoiler The mane five's legitimately questionable status as main characters

[Cleverclover 1,526]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but I'm feeling plenty of anxiety over how season 6 has started. 

 

The mane five have collectively never received any level of praise or reward that has matched or outweighed that of Twilight---the obvious proof being that she's an alicorn princess while they are not. While not particularly fair, we can accept this because Twilight is the central character in a group of mains. Twilight has also arguably done the most friendship-related work to get where she is. 

 

But even if I accept that, far too often does it feel like the mane five hold only a mere fraction of Twilight's importance to the show, and this has particularly evident in the milestone episodes which begin and end each season. For better or worse, these milestone episodes are ultimately the most important episodes of the show---the vast majority of changes in the status quo are borne from them. In general, these are the episodes that best display the show's themes and often end with the mane six overcoming some baddie through friendship magic and a whole lot of platitudes. 

 

But season 5's finale barely included them, and instead their only purpose was simply showing the viewers how much worse off their alternate lives were, just for the sake of raising the stakes. And the premiere of season 6 barely treated them any better, as they were given roles that could be considered even less than secondary. They could have easily been assisting Twilight with finding a spell or something else, but instead Haber thought that the best purpose that they could possibly serve in a two-parter was simply telling a group of idiotic ponies to get to shelter....and that's about it. 

 

So just to clarify, the mane five have played almost no role whatsoever in two milestone episodes in a row, and have instead been directly relegated into the background to make way for the characters who actually are important. 

 

So....what does this mean, exactly? What exactly does the fact that they can be so unimportant to two-parter episodes say about their status as main characters? Are they that worthless now? Are they now not only playing second fiddle to Twilight, but also Starlight as well? And after five long seasons, do they really deserve to be shoved aside in favor of a recently-reformed villain who has come nowhere even close to earning what they've earned? 

 

When can we expect things will get better for them? When exactly will the milestone episodes need them again?

 

And lastly, if the mane five are no longer really needed for the milestone episodes, what exactly is there that still makes them main characters? It certainly isn't the fact that they have their own focus episodes, because the CMC do as well.

 

I suppose there is the still the possibility of a season-long arc like there was for seasons 4 and 5 that includes them, but how much will Starlight's own arc as a student overshadow that? 

 

 

^ How long before something like this happens? When the mane five are only present to serve the plot as magical batteries to those who are more important than they are? 

 

In any case, though I feel that these are perfectly legitimate questions to be asking, I am willing to wait and see how season 6 goes on to treat them. After all, I've been proven wrong before where Twilight was concerned. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

And people wonder why Keep Calm and Flutter On is my favorite episode (Well it's part of the reason anyways) 

 

This is the reason the two-parters do not rank high in my eyes.  In a show which was built as an ensemble piece showcasing all kinds of characters, I really dislike that the writing staff cuts out 5/6 of the cast and shoves all supporting character out.  I feel that's a really disservice and you cut off a ton of story line potential, having another character or characters having to deal with a situation that more than a SoL type story. I mean imagine if Twilight's knocked out (somehow) and Applejack had to take over, had to deal with the situation, knowing full well that she doesn't have the magical arsenal or encyclopedic knowledge Twilight has. That would be so interesting, see how these characters react under pressure. It's why Return of Harmony is my favorite two-parter. Yes Twilight is arguably the focus but each of the Mane 6 still play a role in it, they each have their own moments.  Too bad there has been a big trend to have Twilight as the only character in the two-parters since A Canterlot Wedding, the exception being The Cutie Map, and it doesn't help me like Starlight any if she's going to be more important than the Remane 5. 

 

However this show is founded on and is it's absolute best in the SoL style stories ie the middle of the season, and it's here where the Remane 5 shine so much brighter than Twilight.  They are the ones who carry these types of episodes and are the emotional core of what I like about the series. So while I'm disappointed they don't play any role in the two-parters I don't feel they are irrelevant. 

 

 

Sunset.gif

 

^ How long before something like this happens? When the mane five are only present to serve the plot as magical batteries to those who are more important than they are? 

 

In any case, though I feel that these are perfectly legitimate questions to be asking, I am willing to wait and see how season 6 goes on to treat them. After all, I've been proven wrong before where Twilight was concerned. 

 

I'm going to quote someone as to the presents of the Humane 5 in Friendship Games because they say it so much better than I could:

 

 

 

Haha, yeah right! XD Compared to the in-show finales and premiers of late, this movie was practically an exhibition for the other main characters. The Mane 5 each played a crucial part in developing character growth while teaching Human Twilight, got a hefty amount of dialogue, and Rainbow Dash lead the pep rally and saved Sunset from being eaten by plants with the power of a flying tackle.

 

The other 5 didn’t pony-up in EG3’s last scene because they got their powers partially drained by Twilight’s device after showing off their awesomeness to human twilight and the school. The other 5 don’t play any verbal or important role in the premiers or finales cause Hasbro didn’t give a crap about the other 5, they just want to sell more princess twilight dolls, and they were shrugged off to the side for no reason.

 

And yeah the show has never used the ReMane 5 as a power battery for the plot:

Oh wait.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but I'm feeling plenty of anxiety over how season 6 has started. 

 

The mane five have collectively never received any level of praise or reward that has matched or outweighed that of Twilight---the obvious proof being that she's an alicorn princess while they are not. While not particularly fair, we can accept this because Twilight is the central character in a group of mains. Twilight has also arguably done the most friendship-related work to get where she is. 

 

But even if I accept that, far too often does it feel like the mane five hold only a mere fraction of Twilight's importance to the show, and this has particularly evident in the milestone episodes which begin and end each season. For better or worse, these milestone episodes are ultimately the most important episodes of the show---the vast majority of changes in the status quo are borne from them. In general, these are the episodes that best display the show's themes and often end with the mane six overcoming some baddie through friendship magic and a whole lot of platitudes. 

 

But season 5's finale barely included them, and instead their only purpose was simply showing the viewers how much worse off their alternate lives were, just for the sake of raising the stakes. And the premiere of season 6 barely treated them any better, as they were given roles that could be considered even less than secondary. They could have easily been assisting Twilight with finding a spell or something else, but instead Haber thought that the best purpose that they could possibly serve in a two-parter was simply telling a group of idiotic ponies to get to shelter....and that's about it. 

 

So just to clarify, the mane five have played almost no role whatsoever in two milestone episodes in a row, and have instead been directly relegated into the background to make way for the characters who actually are important. 

 

So....what does this mean, exactly? What exactly does the fact that they can be so unimportant to two-parter episodes say about their status as main characters? Are they that worthless now? Are they now not only playing second fiddle to Twilight, but also Starlight as well? And after five long seasons, do they really deserve to be shoved aside in favor of a recently-reformed villain who has come nowhere even close to earning what they've earned? 

 

When can we expect things will get better for them? When exactly will the milestone episodes need them again?

 

And lastly, if the mane five are no longer really needed for the milestone episodes, what exactly is there that still makes them main characters? It certainly isn't the fact that they have their own focus episodes, because the CMC do as well.

 

I suppose there is the still the possibility of a season-long arc like there was for seasons 4 and 5 that includes them, but how much will Starlight's own arc as a student overshadow that? 

Agreed there.

Two things have really reduced the other five in importance that makes it hard for them to contribute anymore: First off, twilights been made an alicorn and had her magic generally Suped up massively compared to what she was in S1 and S2. This makes it hard to legitimately have situations where twilight's in any danger that the other five could help: In the S4 premier they basically had to say "Twilight Forgot how to shoot lasers out of fear and can't figure out how to fly!" to allow the other 5 to save her and seem useful.

The second thing is that they got rid of the EOH. The EOH made the mane six seem importance and unique and special. Each of them was bonded to an object of incredible power and importance that seemingly chose them due to their inborn natural abilities that were unique and special.

Now... we got a Table. And the table only just buzzes their asses and sends them to stop some people arguing or being jerks. Which is cool and all but celestia was doing that shit in Season 1 and its HUGELY a step down from the EOH in importance.

 

 

 

 

 

One thing i noted in your post was how you asked about twilight being knocked out and AJ taking over for a bit. Its funny, back in S1-5 people would always talk about AJ being the groups second in command: With starlight And sunset being introduced, I think we can safely remove AJ from having that role anymore XD

 

 

 

I'm going to quote someone as to the presents of the Humane 5 in Friendship Games because they say it so much better than I could:

 

 

And yeah the show has never used the ReMane 5 as a power battery for the plot:

Oh wait.

 

 

Surely you're not saying that fluttershy showing twilight a bunny to pet for like 5 seconds is anywhere NEAR as important or epic as Going super saiyan, fighting Twilight and then cooling down her insanity solo via a hand of friendship?

 

Yeah the other five got to have a couple moments, but they were absolutely NOTHING compared to the crap that was Sunset's role in that movie :/

Not to mention Sunset's interactions with twilight was the most important as her yelling at her was the one thing that drove twilight over the edge into listening to Cinch to unleash the magic.

As for RD's cheer song: that was nice, but the entire shadowbolts/canterlot plotline was basically a shaggy dog story that might as well have been cut; (And given how the shadowbolts seemed like they were designed to be mirror versions of the mane six in the blurb descriptions of them, it looks like it MIGHT have been cut :/)

 

 

 

 

And yeah the show has never used the ReMane 5 as a power battery for the plot:

Oh wait.

 

 

That is absolutely nothing alike; Rainbow power had ALL of the mane six get a random power up, in order for it to be anything like FG it would have had to have Them give twilight their power and her going off and Super saiyaning the day Alone while they stood and cheered

[SilverStarApple 849]

It appears Hasbro was swayed by the "Rainbow Dash is a Mary Sue" "Spike should just dump Rarity, she's unlikable" "Applejack is a background character" "Flutterwho?" "Pinkie Pie is a psycho" jokes.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Surely you're not saying that fluttershy showing twilight a bunny to pet for like 5 seconds is anywhere NEAR as important or epic as Going super saiyan, fighting Twilight and then cooling down her insanity solo via a hand of friendship?

Yeah the other five got to have a couple moments, but they were absolutely NOTHING compared to the crap that was Sunset's role in that movie :/

Not to mention Sunset's interactions with twilight was the most important as her yelling at her was the one thing that drove twilight over the edge into listening to Cinch to unleash the magic.

As for RD's cheer song: that was nice, but the entire shadowbolts/canterlot plotline was basically a shaggy dog story that might as well have been cut; (And given how the shadowbolts seemed like they were designed to be mirror versions of the mane six in the blurb descriptions of them, it looks like it MIGHT have been cut :/)

 

No I'm not saying it's more important, what I'm saying is that they have their moments and are still relevant to the plot, not like how they are in the last two two-parters where they're either cameos or shoved to the side. What I'm saying is that they still contribute to the main plot. I don't mind one character having more focus than some of the other, what I dislike is when they don't do jack all with those characters that aren't in the focus. Now I know we disagree but I liked Friendship Games because the Humane 5 have a role and actually do stuff. (Also Super Saiyan Sunset Shimmer, Yeah I'm a freaking DBZ fan boy sorry XD) 

 

 

 

That is absolutely nothing alike; Rainbow power had ALL of the mane six get a random power up, in order for it to be anything like FG it would have had to have Them give twilight their power and her going off and Super saiyaning the day Alone while they stood and cheered 

The only difference is that the Mane 6 got different forms, otherwise they are exactly the same. The Mane 6 don't do anything in the fight against Tirek, they just help form the super laser that wins the day and that's it. How is that any different than with Midnight, outside of the form difference?  

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

No I'm not saying it's more important, what I'm saying is that they have their moments and are still relevant to the plot, not like how they are in the last two two-parters where they're either cameos or shoved to the side. What I'm saying is that they still contribute to the main plot. I don't mind one character having more focus than some of the other, what I dislike is when they don't do jack all with those characters that aren't in the focus. Now I know we disagree but I liked Friendship Games because the Humane 5 have a role and actually do stuff. (Also Super Saiyan Sunset Shimmer, Yeah I'm a freaking DBZ fan boy sorry XD) 

 

The only difference is that the Mane 6 got different forms, otherwise they are exactly the same. The Mane 6 don't do anything in the fight against Tirek, they just help form the super laser that wins the day and that's it. How is that any different than with Midnight, outside of the form difference?  

 

They're also shown to Help restore magic to everyone across equestria during the confrontation with Tirek: Twilight isn't shown to do any more work than the others in defeating Tirek with Rainbow power and restoring magic than any of the other five. That's very important.

If you had twilight form up and shoot the laser with them then Twilight alone was shown to appear to everyone across equestria restoring magic, yeah, they would seem like background power ups. But they are just as equally involved as Twilight is in the rainbow power deal fixing things. Rarity, applejack, fluttershy, ect.: Each of them is shown appearing before the drained ponies during the rainbow wave and fixing the problem.

Yes, twilight gets a solo fight against tirek beforehand: but she loses that fight, which makes it of less importance to the plot than when the group use rainbow power to defeat him.

 

 

Sure, up till the box they don't do much after the first 10 minutes of the episode: but they still have a heavy and important role in the Conclusion, which I think is the truly important thing: so long as something ends well and ties things up, its forgiveable to have people not be involved much in the middle, but people will much more remember characters being kicked out at the end of something and not being involved in the conclusion (Since the conclusion is generally the most important part of a story)

Edited March 26, 2016 by Unlikeable Pony

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

They're also shown to Help restore magic to everyone across equestria during the confrontation with Tirek: Twilight isn't shown to do any more work than the others in defeating Tirek with Rainbow power and restoring magic than any of the other five. That's very important.

If you had twilight form up and shoot the laser with them then Twilight alone was shown to appear to everyone across equestria restoring magic, yeah, they would seem like background power ups. But they are just as equally involved as Twilight is in the rainbow power deal fixing things. Rarity, applejack, fluttershy, ect.: Each of them is shown appearing before the drained ponies during the rainbow wave and fixing the problem.

Yes, twilight gets a solo fight against tirek beforehand: but she loses that fight, which makes it of less importance to the plot than when the group use rainbow power to defeat him.

 

 

Sure, up till the box they don't do much after the first 10 minutes of the episode: but they still have a heavy and important role in the Conclusion, which I think is the truly important thing: so long as something ends well and ties things up, its forgiveable to have people not be involved much in the middle, but people will much more remember characters being kicked out at the end of something and not being involved in the conclusion (Since the conclusion is generally the most important part of a story)

To me it's the same because it's still Twilight story with the focus still on Twilight, with the Remane 5 being part of the laser firing mechanism and doing it together being semantics to me. It's still Twilight's show and victory and the Remane 5 just guest role as supposedly important character even though the episode doesn't show this, IMO. 

I guess that's where we differ. I don't count being part of the laser triggering fire as important as playing a role in how the story went along. 

[Jane 123]

On 3/26/2016 at 3:54 PM, Cleverclover said:

 

^ How long before something like this happens? When the mane five are only present to serve the plot as magical batteries to those who are more important than they are? 

And that was exactly what happened in the first two episodes of season 9 and The Ending of The End, ReMane 5 became a magical battery for Twilight, after the elements of harmony were destroyed, only for Twilight to use that power. and get all the credit for it.

[Will Guide 21,360]

2 hours ago, Jane said:

And that was exactly what happened in the first two episodes of season 9 and The Ending of The End, ReMane 5 became a magical battery for Twilight, after the elements of harmony were destroyed, only for Twilight to use that power. and get all the credit for it.

Nonsense! She didn't get all the credit for it.

 

She clearly got extra help from the Pillars of Equestria, the Young Six and even Spike and there was even a statue of the Mane 6 built in Canterlot years later.

Heck the Young Six got a Stained glass window

 

[nightshroud96 124]

At least how they were handled at those iffy times you pointed out is better than how the Royal Sisters were handled honestly..