Mane 6, Mane 7, or Mane 8?

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

 

For most of the show, the brony fandom universally referred the show's mane characters (including Spike) as the Mane Six, because they're each connected to the Elements of Harmony. Whenever you mention the nickname, other bronies immediately know who you're talking about.

However, since the ending of The Cutie Re-Mark, that's changed. Starlight not only lives in Twilight's castle, but is crucial to a lot of episodes, particularly the openers and finales. Even though the crew still state that Starlight's CMC status (central to many episodes, but not a mane character), actions speak louder than words. When you're treated like a mane character in the show, you're considered one to many people.

So, here's the question. Since Re-Mark only, do you refer to the main crew as the Mane Six, Mane Seven (with either Spike or Glimhorse), or Mane Eight (includes Starlight and Spike)?

---

If you follow my history dating back to my Re-Mark review, I refer to the team post-S5 as the Mane Eight.

1. We live in a post Element of Harmony era. Since season four, the Elements they most represent are less shoehorned. We still get to see this quality in action, but it's said lesser nowadays with exceptions.
2. Spike is part of the Roundtable and the mane cast. Yes, he's not a pony, not a bearer, has a miniature throne next to Twilight, and not a mane feature in the opening credits. But he's treated as one. With Starlight part of the main cast, Spike shouldn't be exempt anymore.
3. Again, Starlight's claimed by DHX to be in the same status as the CMCs. However, to repeat, actiona speak louder. Starlight's neither a bearer nor part of the Roundtable. But premieres, finales, and many episodes in between treat her as not only part of the team, but an integral one, too. When you're treated as a mane character, consider yourself one. And since I refer to Spike as part of the crew, it's unfair to leave Glimhorse out.
   
   Not to mention…
   Spoiler

   …she's the first non-Bearer to be called by the Cutie Map.

    

[FlareGun45 2,221]

1 minute ago, Dark Qiviut said:

 

For most of the show, the brony fandom universally referred the show's mane characters (including Spike) as the Mane Six, because they're each connected to the Elements of Harmony. Whenever you mention the nickname, other bronies immediately know who you're talking about.

However, since the ending of The Cutie Re-Mark, that's changed. Starlight not only lives in Twilight's castle, but is crucial to a lot of episodes, particularly the openers and finales. Even though the crew still state that Starlight's CMC status (central to many episodes, but not a mane character), actions speak louder than words. When you're treated like a mane character in the show, you're considered one to many people.

So, here's the question. Since Re-Mark only, do you refer to the main crew as the Mane Six, Mane Seven (with either Spike or Glimhorse), or Mane Eight (includes Starlight and Spike)?

 

---

If you follow my history dating back to my Re-Mark review, I refer to the team post-S5 as the Mane Eight.

1. We live in a post Element of Harmony era. Since season four, the Elements they most represent are less shoehorned. We still get to see this quality in action, but it's said lesser nowadays with exceptions.
2. Spike is part of the Roundtable and the mane cast. Yes, he's not a pony, not a bearer, has a miniature throne next to Twilight, and not a mane feature in the opening credits. But he's treated as one. With Starlight part of the main cast, Spike shouldn't be exempt anymore.
3. Again, Starlight's claimed by DHX to be in the same status as the CMCs. However, to repeat, actiona speak louder. Starlight's neither a bearer nor part of the Roundtable. But premieres, finales, and many episodes in between treat her as not only part of the team, but an integral one, too. When you're treated as a mane character, consider yourself one. And since I refer to Spike as part of the crew, it's unfair to leave Glimhorse out.
   
   Not to mention…
     Hide contents

   …she's the first non-Bearer to be called by the Cutie Map.

    

I completely agree with this! They should consider Starlight and the CMCs as main characters, or put Spike in the supporting characters spot because it doesn't seem right have supporting characters do more than him, a main character. So how about this? We got the Mane Six as the main characters, then Spike, Starlight, and CMCs as the main supporting characters, then we get the supporting characters, and so on!

[Firedog 320]

I'm stilling saying "Mane Six"

 

I don't really think of Starlight as a Mane Seventh because she isn't really in the Mane Six group.

Don't get me wrong they are friends and all but she really has her own group of friends.

 

I still consider her a main character though, just not part of the mane six.

[Prospekt 10,984]

21 minutes ago, Firedog said:

I'm stilling saying "Mane Six"

 

I don't really think of Starlight as a Mane Seventh because she isn't really in the Mane Six group.

Don't get me wrong they are friends and all but she really has her own group of friends.

 

I still consider her a main character though, just not part of the mane six.

My logic in a nutshell. Same with Spike. Like no offense to Spike and Starlight as characters (I'm not one to trash them...), but they're just close friends of the Mane Six without the responsibility of bearing/embodying an Element of Harmony. That's what Spike has been since the very beginning and thats what Starlight has been since her redemption. Sort of like Sunset Shimmer's association with the human Mane Six.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Prospekt

[cmarston1 5,951]

I would still consider it to be the mane 6, even when talking about Starlight and Spike being in the cast.

For starters Starlight has like no interactions with any of the main characters outside of Twilight, so she can't really be part of the main group if she never even interacts with them outside of that one time in Rock Solid Friendship with Pinkie Pie.

Given her limited amount of appearances in the show, she still feels more like a side character, rather than a main character, especially seeing how she interacts more with side characters like Maud, Discord, Thorax, and Trixie rather than the mane 6.

[Megas 27,050]

I'd say, unofficially it's the mane 7 with Spike. I still don't know where Starlight fits in this, she still doesn't do enough with the six for me to see her as part of the mane 6. Even in promotional material, they still call them the mane 6, on contrast to EQG, where they are actually regarded as the mane 7

[FemaleIntrovert1995 138]

The reason why I don't consider her apart of the mane 6, is because she doesn't have an element of harmony within the circle of Twilight and her friends. She's friends with the mane 6, nothing more, nothing less. Spike is kinda like the mane 6's little brother or helper. 

I believe Starlight has some sort of element with Trixie, Discord, and Thorax. Who knows? Maybe she might have an element, but she has to find it. I hope season seven gives her, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax elements in the season finale. 

[Will Guide 21,325]

@Dark Qiviut

Honestly, it depends on how many of them are in the scene together! 

For example, in stating the premise for "What About Discord?", I would say, "While Twilight and Spike spent a booksortation during the weekend, Discord hung out with the Mane 5"

In this example, even though Twilight and Spike are still Mane characters in my eyes, they didn't spend the weekend with Discord and so don't count toward the Mane X total. 

Another example from "The Cutie Map": While Fluttershy pretends to accept Starlight's Equality rule, the Mane 5 remain locked up with a broken Party Favor in the isolation cabin.

4 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

FIM has been kind of a mess since early seasons that has managed to keep itself afloat by grace of being the only remarkable girl brand IP in H-Bro's arsenal recognized by wider audience. Though, one should not exclude the likely probability that this recognition is not based on writing but on circumstance.

 

 

 

That said, this boil has been festering long enough and it's about time the rotten content is evacuated. What is the reason characters can suddenly be granted the status of main protagonists with impunity? Is it the story? But FIM isn't big on story. Is it a plan? FIM is being made season by season. Perhaps the horrible truth lies within the first paragraph: all the characters, old and new, have been made so unremarkable that they can easily be pushed form background to the front and vice versa without resistance neither from the story's requirements nor from the fandom.

 

 

 

Yet that is FIM's problem. MLP in general is being handled by the iron fist of commerce, and they, for some unfathomable reason or the other, do not want to relinquish main status of Mane 6 or grant this status to any other pony. Let me remind the gathered fans that its word is the Word of Father God who rules over all other gods including the content creators. No matter what the story of FIM does this Word cannot be undone; however, the Word can undo the story itself whenever they wish to change its course. It is a bit of divine comedy that the same reasons Starlight can pose as a main character are the same reasons she or any other such character can be made irrelevant over night.

 

 

 

That leads us to the final horrible truth that shall be disclosed in this shitpost: if FIM is being neglected by toy department and does not produce results, what happens if the Movie then becomes the one and only relevant source of MLP's cash flow? What would happen if the Movie flops? When it comes to FIM, the answer remains the same in both cases. I suspect our Father God is not as stupid and sentimental as the rest of his ever-changing pantheon, and I hope that the answer is found sufficient.

 

That has nothing to do with the topic's question. The question is do you call them Mane 6, 7, or 8?

Edited May 28, 2017 by WiiGuy2014
Addressing the OP's name

[Steve Piranha 28,750]

I think only Mane7 only applies with the equestria girls as Sunny is officially part of the group. Starlight in contrast was always more independent, only interacting with Twi at most, and hardly with the rest of the Mane6

[Brainstorm 4,092]

I think they're the main eight now.

[Storm 199]

I consider Spike a main character but never saw him as part of the Mane 6. I consider them the Mane 7 now with Starlight.

[K.Rool Addict 718]

Mane 6 represents the 6 Elements of Harmony  

[Hierok 11,829]

Mane 10

• Twilight
• Rarity
• Fluttershy
• Pinkie
• Rainbow
• Jack
• Spike
• Starlight
• Trixie
• Sunset

[Phirun Natela 77]

Tomorrow will bring something new, so leave today as a memory.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Phirun Natela

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

Mane Six. I've always excluded Spike. Yes, he's a "main" character, but he's not a "mane" character because he's not a pony and therefore has no mane.

I don't include Starlight either. She sure feels like a main character with all the episodes she gets, but on the other hoof, so little of that time is actually spent with any of the group barring Twilight, thus she doesn't feel like part of the team. 

[Ganondox 899]

 

Mane Seven, mainly because Starlight Glimmer restores balance to the force by possessing a horn, but lacking wings. On a more serious note, I think with the map calling Starlight in Royal Problem officially promoted Starlight to the same level as the Elements. 

Edited June 22, 2017 by Ganondox

[Balt 108]

Mane 7 including spike

[ilovedashiemlp 22]

Mane 8, i just like having alot of mane characters, also Starlight and spike are almost in every episode nowadays.

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

Mane Six. Together, they’re the Elements of Harmony and there are six elements! Anypony can join them for something but no matter what, it was the six of them who have saved Equestria so many times! 

[Landi 597]

Mane Six. These six ponies are the embodiment of the elements of harmony. They are the main focus of the show, and although Spike and Starlight are main characters, those two aren't on the same level as the others. Plus, they don't embody the elements. To me, they are just the friends of the mane six.

[Splashee 28,537]

Mane 8, that including Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer, and not including Spike (remove him, he was never interesting)

[Thrond 3,257]

I still lean towards mane six, even though Spike is pretty close to all six of them. He's pretty clearly part of that friend group, and has been grouped with them pretty often, and yet I always feel the age difference in his interactions with them; he doesn't feel like their peer. Maybe I'm just distracted by the fact that he's not a pony. Plus he doesn't casually hang out with them very much in the later seasons, by which point he has gotten a separate friend group. 

Starlight is clearly important to the show, but she was never integrated with the mane six. First she was connected to them solely through Twilight, then she started making her own friends outside of that group. When she saves the world, it's never with the mane six, except for the season 7 finale two-parter. She was hired as part of the school staff and then promptly went on to continue doing her own thing in most of the episodes she appeared in. 

Though in retrospect "main six" was a bit of a misleading phrase, since most episodes didn't feature all six of them, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were almost as prominent. Later we had the student six taking the spotlight as well; by the end, it could be argued that there were as many as 17 main characters. I'm under the impression that this is a relatively small cast for a show which exists to sell toys. 

[The Nth Doctor 652]

It has always been, and always will be, The Main Six

- Twilight (apprentices: Spike, Sunset, Starlight)

- Applejack (apprentice: Apple Bloom)

- Rarity (apprentice: Sweetie Belle)

- Rainbow Dash (apprentice: Scootaloo)

- Pinkie Pie

- Fluttershy