So... do the Royal Guards just suck?

[Concerned Bystander 2,903]

Shining is only captain of the CE's guard. And still, captains could have superiors, in Equestria. I.E., the royal sisters or Cadance

 

Okay, I cheerfully retract my earlier comment.

 

The blame belongs to Shining Armour and every other captain of the guard as well.  And even if the captains have superiors, which clearly they do, they are still responsible for their subordinates.  Do you think that President Obama as Commander-in-chief of the US forces takes a personal role in their training?  And has to remind his generals to make sure that the forces are trained and ready for action where and when ever they may be called upon?  Of course not, that would be silly.

[GeekySonic 1,150]

Like how in Gundam wing the mane characters can destroy the enemies by the hundreds but good guy mooks struggle to even 1v1 or even 2v1 them.

Ah yes, that.

 

I think I burst out laughing in the middle of Endless Waltz (I think that's what it was) when this one dude got his knickers in a twist at Dorothy. Watch out, he took down 5 whole Mobile Suits! Lol

[SilverStarApple 849]

How about no? The show is focused on it's main characters and what they do, and without more screentime to flesh things out, the writers simply don't bother to show random guards and such saving the day. Also, I'm quite sure there would be female royal guards too, but we don't see them because DHX simply doesn't have the animation resources prepared. There's certainly no reason for there not to be, as I'd say both mares and stallions in MLP are relatively close in physical strength compared to humans, given what we've seen. Anyway, theoretically, DHX could have the royal guards do more, but as I was saying, that would take a considerable amount of extra screentime, which would be difficult, considering how hard it is already to cram the two-parters into only 40~ minutes.

 

 

Well, I mean, it certainly seems like the most logical conclusion. You can definitely speculate on various things or try to come up with an in-universe explanation of your own, perhaps the royal guard isn't the actual military or is ceremonial or something of that nature, but the bottom line is that the writers don't use them to their full potential because it would steal the spotlight, so to speak. Stormtroopers in Star Wars are an excellent example of that. And I don't think it's necessarily that they are made to look 'bad', just that the writers prevent them from immediately accomplishing their goals because it's the heroes that need to swoop in and do that.

 

On Brotherhooves Social, I think that's complete nonsense, there's simply no way that Dash of all ponies would be sexist. Her comment during Brotherhooves Social had nothing whatsoever to do with sexism or anything like that. The real reason for her saying it isn't because of his gender, it was because Big Mac was in a competition where he had to wear a movement-restricting dress for a disguise, and it's pretty clear that a dress and high-heels is a significant disadvantage, and THAT'S what she was referring to. It seems she did overestimate the restrictiveness of said disadvantage though, as he still won. Either way, I very strongly disagree with the ridiculous idea that Dash is sexist, it doesn't even fit her character at all, among other reasons, it's just not a possibility really. Also, another thing I suppose I could mention is that many of the Wonderbolts are male and she admires them just as much, mind you.

 

And the suggestion that males are discriminated against or anything of that nature is just downright false, not to mention a ridiculous topic to even try to drag into this conversation. Everything in the show points towards Equestria being gender-egalitarian, and neither gender has been portrayed as dominant or advantaged. Equestria is most definitely not a matriarchy, nor is it a patriarchy. We've seen ponies of both genders in all sorts of positions and careers, there's no real enforced gender-roles to speak of, and both genders have been portrayed as equally capable. Mind you, the show focuses more on female characters screentime-wise because the small cast of main characters are mostly female, but it's never, ever portrayed either gender as superior or dominant in their society, and when it comes to side characters, screentime is actually fairly equal, especially in more recent seasons.

 

I just don't know where people get the ridiculous idea that male characters are mistreated or poorly portrayed in the show, but it's simply untrue. The show is very focused on the Mane 7 and CMC, who are mostly female characters, and thus you end up with female characters getting more screentime, and we see more into their lives as a result, but they certainly aren't portrayed as superior or any of that nonsense that people try to claim. Side/minor characters though, there's actually a pretty even amount of screentime between male and female characters, as I mentioned. Ultimately, it would be most accurate to say that the main characters get an overwhelming majority of screentime, and all other characters, male or female, get much less. Even Celestia doesn't even have an episode focused on her yet.

You can still show your soldiers as competent without needing to get them dunked upon by every villain ever just to make your heroes look competent. These redshirts only seem to exist to be Worfed, and it's never impressive because we know it's coming.

[cider float 2,538]

It's just like every Canterlot pony seems stuck up just to create the contrast the main characters are all better or how sheep-like Ponyville residents are like giving a nod and ear to those that merely the loudest and more obnoxious without a thought.

[Number62 1,258]

They suck because their writers suck. If there was a long period of peace, why is that the case? Why are there suddenly so many villains showing their faces just after the Mane 6 first obtain the Elements?

 

You can still show your soldiers as competent without needing to get them dunked upon by every villain ever just to make your heroes look competent. These redshirts only seem to exist to be Worfed, and it's never impressive because we know it's coming.

This can also apply to the princesses, except Twilight.

[SilverStarApple 849]

It's just like every Canterlot pony seems stuck up just to create the contrast the main characters are all better or how sheep-like Ponyville residents are like giving a nod and ear to those that merely the loudest and more obnoxious without a thought.

Yep. And those Flower Ponies... At first, they were funny, but... they just suck.