Will we see equal gender representation in an mlp cast anytime soon?

[JesseJack 37]

Lauren Faust (American Emmy-Award-winning animator, writer, director, and producer, best known for developing Hasbro's animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic) developed MLP:FIM in hopes of contributing to the effort to support young girls and validate their form of play instead of allowing it to be ridiculed and seen as frivolous (see Lauren's forward in The Elements of Harmony Book.

 

It's not really FOR men/boys. Not to say they aren't welcome to enjoy it along with the rest of us. Boys/men loving this show along with girls/women is kind-of the end goal. But they aren't the intended audience. That may make some people uncomfortable, but that's kind-of the point. It shouldn't. Which is exactly why we need the mostly-female cast. 

 

 

Children's literature is OVERWHELMINGLY male driven right now. 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/06/gender-imbalance-children-s-literature

 

MLP:FIM is one of the very few places for girls. Let's leave it.

[AccountNoLongerUsed 741]

I think they simply need to flesh out some of the male characters instead of adding new ones

[TBlaze 158]

I understand that some of us want male main characters because they want equal treatment of our gender, but we bronies are males interested in girl show after all and we were fine with it to this point, so let's keep being awesome and leave things as they are.

Edited April 27, 2016 by TBlaze

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

It's very interesting that we have a female-centric IP that is good enough for males to enjoy. However, enforcing any sort of gender equality is really against what this is all about. We're supposed to think of the characters as the characters first and the genders second, unless they specifically call attention to that.

 

The reason why male representation was put under such a microscope here was because of how poorly the male characters reflected on the unintended male fanbase. At some points earlier in the show's history, male characters were more likely tokens or stereotypes than actually realized characters. That was to be expected because the show wasn't expected to have a male fanbase then, and it wouldn't be an issue if there was no such fanbase. Thankfully, they've been getting better at that lately to the point where we can see them as characters and not just accessories or stereotypes.

 

As for male main characters in future versions of MLP, assuming a main cast of about 6-10, I could see at most 2-3. No more than that. As of now, if Spike and the Crusaders are counted as main characters, the ratio is 1:10.

 

I think it would be a fair compromise to this franchise's growing male fanbase to give them about two main characters in a future reboot with a different cast, but to not take it away from its girl-centric roots. Given that blurring the gender divide is one of the more recent trends in the toy industry, it would be great business for the demographics of the cast to better reflect the demographics of its consumer base.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Wind Chaser

[Leave a Whisper 703]

MLP gen 1 had a mane cast of all females. So did gen 1.5 (Pony Tales) but there were males the mane 6 interacted with at times. Gen 3 had all females in the core 7, and g4 has all females in the mane 6. Now that the franchise is reaching out to both male and female demographics, will we ever see a generation of mlp with 3 boys and 3 girls? (F.R.I.E.N.D.S got it right, sans the romances in the group, in the end)

There were boy ponies in MLP n Friends and MLP Tales.

[ManaMinori 4,144]

There were boy ponies in MLP n Friends and MLP Tales.

but they weren't the MAIN cast

Even in Pony Tales. The theme song- which named off the main 6, were an all girl cast. Bon bon, Sweetheart, Melody, Bright eyes, Patch, and Clover. All girls.

[Leave a Whisper 703]

but they weren't the MAIN cast

Even in Pony Tales. The theme song- which named off the main 6, were an all girl cast. Bon bon, Sweetheart, Melody, Bright eyes, Patch, and Clover. All girls.

Teddy, Ace and Lancer were there frequently enough that they can be considered main cast, or well at least Teddy and to a lesser extent, Lancer. Don't recall Ace showing up much, but it's been a long time.

 

MLP n Friends didn't have a consistent cast of charachters anyway. They just had a few that were more fleshed out. As for the rest, Here today, Gone tomorrow. Ponyland is a dangerous place to live.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Leave a Whisper

[AccountNoLongerUsed 741]

Another thing is, go to a predominantly male show thats started adding more female main characters and see how the male fan-dumb reacts to it. For example, Star Wars. When they saw that the main character of Rogue One was a woman, they started complaining about her  "looking like a Mary Sue"/ (facepalm) you cannot LOOK like a Mary Sue. Mary Sue has devolved from a legitimate complaint about a character who is overpowered so much that they have to bring in diabolic ex machinas in order to create conflicts, to putting the label on any woman who is even the tiniest bit stronger than her male counterparts.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Wyllow