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Least developed main/supporting character.


CastletonSnob

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Applejack's big problem is that she's never really moved anywhere. She's great as a leader of other ponies, but she's not very dynamic herself. There's honestly not too many places for her to go, as she's never been dramatically flawed like some of the others.

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For most of the show, I found Fluttershy's "conflict" fairly one-dimensional and regressive (she literally takes assertiveness training in one episode: guess it didn't work). I think how she's written has improved a lot though.

21 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

Applejack's big problem is that she's never really moved anywhere. She's great as a leader of other ponies, but she's not very dynamic herself. There's honestly not too many places for her to go, as she's never been dramatically flawed like some of the others.

I might begrudgingly agree with you, except I really enjoyed the last two Applejack episodes which had some depth.

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Either Applejack or Pinkie Pie.

I don't think either of them even had any sort of a character arc.

Heck I have more hope for EQG Applejack as a character because she isn't exactly where she wants to be in life and there is actual potential for her to grow and change and stuff, unlike with pony Applejack.

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I didn't say I didn't enjoy Applejack episodes, just that they never change her all that much. And you're right about Pinkie, to be honest I never really considered her.

And yes, Fluttershy spent way too long learning the same lesson, over and over, and over again. Still "Flutter Butter" and "Fluttershy leans in" both display a very different, far more confident and self assured Fluttershy than the beginning of the series, and to be honest the change felt pretty organic.

If I see another episode about her being shy, I will call foul though.

   
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(edited)

Princess Celestia needs more development, far more than she's gotten. And why she may have had a couple of episodes more recently I felt they were in some ways marred.

Celestial Advice was nice, when focused on Princess Celestia and Twilight, guitar don't feel quite enough time was given between them.

And "A Royal Problems", well I believe quite simply it had a lot of problems. With one character which I felt was completely unnecessary was given too much focus, while pushing another character I felt should have been a lot more important to the sidelines. Then there was the basic premise, and how I would see it is a bit out of character for Princess Celestia.

 

All in all though the writers seem to be unable or unwilling to do anything with Princess Celestia, and it's not even funny anymore how often they've had her kidnapped or otherwise indisposed.

Edited by EquestrianScholar
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I say Princess Cadance, out of all of the secondary characters, I think that she really needs an episode of her own, particularly with Shining Armor and Flurry Heart, see how life is like in the Crystal Empire.

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(edited)

I will admit, Princess Cadence really does need more character development as does Shining Armor, perhaps if I'm going over the story of how they first met and if they did hopefully it not clashing too much with what was offered in the comics.

And you know I very much doubt that's ever going to happen, I kind of hope that the writers will show bit more respect towards the Royal Guards and even to an extent maybe the Wonderbolts and stop writing them so poorly.

Moving back on to Princess Cadence we have so very little on her from the show at least, and really all we have to go on is the Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, as well as the comic showing her and Shining Armor in high school. In the show we really know nothing.

Also, for supposedly being captain of the royal guard they really haven't been generous at all towards Shining Armor and showing why he would have reached such a rank.

Edited by EquestrianScholar
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I was talking about Cadance with some friends, all confused as to why we liked her so much considering how little there was to her. Someone called her the pony version of Canada. Maybe a little dull, but also nice, safe and a bit of an underdog. She's easy to like, and I'm not sure how much development she needs.

Shining could do with a bit more attention though.

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8 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

I was talking about Cadance with some friends, all confused as to why we liked her so much considering how little there was to her. Someone called her the pony version of Canada. Maybe a little dull, but also nice, safe and a bit of an underdog. She's easy to like, and I'm not sure how much development she needs.

Shining could do with a bit more attention though.

I like Cadance because of her appearance and her tall stature, she has the body that looks like that would suited to something like football where her tall body can take all the hits or do all the hitting. :love:

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Cadance is the least developed character of the show, along side with her husband and her baby, if not for S7, Celestia's status will be the same with Cadance, thanks god.

If I only count the mane 6, i choose Applejack, her characters are not too complex to be explored, she just look like the same to me after 6 seasons, it may even worse if you count all her infamous worst episodes

 

 

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(edited)

Can I say, that maybe Celestia never gets anything to do because every time she tries to be interesting the fans start complaining she's out of character!

I liked her in "Reflections" and "A Royal Problem". Flawed, weepy Celestia is wonderful and charming, and the fact that it generally leads up to her being a badass is only the icing on the cake.

Edited by Philweasel
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Just now, Philweasel said:

I liked her in "Reflections"

So did I, I have no issues with her portrayals in the comics and particularly in Reflections.

Still doesn't change my feelings on "A Royal Problem".

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6 minutes ago, EquestrianScholar said:

So did I, I have no issues with her portrayals in the comics and particularly in Reflections.

Still doesn't change my feelings on "A Royal Problem".

Sorry, it's just that every time I see 'Celestia' and 'Out of character' in the same sentence, I think someones complaining about "Reflections" :D


I thought it was a wonderfully structured episode. Act one allowed us to show the cracks in the relationship between the two Princesses from an outsider's perspective, along with showing that they were both noble and kind ponies at heart by their pleasant interactions with Starlight. It meant that went the Princesses broke down and started yelling at each other and showcasing their flaws, it didn't come out of nowhere and didn't make either of them unsympathetic. Acts two and three then seamlessly moved Starlight Glimmer into the background, because her role in the episode was now pretty much fulfilled.

Edited by Philweasel
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(edited)
24 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

Can I say, that maybe Celestia never gets anything to do because every time she tries to be interesting the fans start complaining she's out of character!

I liked her in "Reflections" and "A Royal Problem". Flawed, weepy Celestia is wonderful and charming, and the fact that it generally leads up to her being a badass is only the icing on the cake.

 

Only thing I disliked about Reflections was the "2 EDGY 4 U!" ending.

 

Celestia, however, was great both there and in A Royal Problem.

Edited by A.V.
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(edited)
21 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

Starlight Glimmer

My apologizes for my words, as based on your avatar I suspect you like the character very much, but my bias against "A Royal Problem" is in large part because of my feelings on Starlight. Yet, if I were to be honest, it is more the way she was written in the Cutie Re-Mark that has really soured her character for me. Her plot armour, sudden magical ability and skill despite no evidence of a teacher or formal schooling compared to Twilight, and her reform. Especially the five minute montage where everything is tied in a nice neat bow, forgiven without any punishment or consequences, student of Twilight and friends with Mane Six, where she even receives forgiveness by the ponies of the Town she created... which could have been an episode in and of itself.

Which I will admit, may be unfair have that single two parter prevent me from enjoying any other episodes with Starlight. I will offer though that I very much enjoyed the "A Hearth's Warming Tale", probably my favorite Starlight episode. I just wish her reform and what led her down the path she was on might have been better written, for her to be better utilized and perhaps even have her actually struggle at magic a it.

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In "A Royal Problem" I feel Starlight stole the spotlight from Twilight, who knew the royal sisters better then perhaps anyone else out of the main characters. With Celestia as her former mentor and she as the first pony ever to befriend Luna. Yet it was more then that, but in the premise that princess Celestia could somehow not appreciate her sister. Who she had to banish to many years ago, forced to have her heart broken as she was forced to use the Elements of Harmony on Luna and see her banished inside the moon. Her feelings of guilt in what she had to do and in not being able to prevent what had happened, the sorrow and loneliness of having to take over her sister's duties as well in ruling alone, and in having to wear a mask that hide her true feelings from her subjects especially during the Summer Sun Celebration.

When I first read the synopsis it was like a slap in the face for all I have come to see of Princess Celestia heart, that she could ever NOT appreciate her sister and if anything overappriciate her to the point of being a bit smothering at times at least in private. Signs, which is why I guess I would just have her offer the excuse that it had just been a bad week for her for things to play out like they did in that episode, if it comes up in roleplay.

Also, the comics handled them switching responsibilities and duties for a day much better then in the episode I feel.

Edited by EquestrianScholar
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(edited)

I appreciate your viewpoint, and I'm not going to insult it by expecting my own to make any difference. To be honest I've debated all those points to absolute death already, and the world does not need more Starlight Glimmer arguments.

I am glad that the episode was generally really well received though, and that means the odds are likely high for another Celestia episode next season. So... yay! Best Princess gets some screentime!

Now the finale just has to be her saving everyone else for once, and I'm ready to declare Season 7 the best Season ever.
(Never going to happen, I know...)

Edited by Philweasel
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Sweetie Belle. She has almost ZERO character development, to be honest. All the chances that they've had to solidify her character have went badly, and have only showed us basically no real personality. I really hope that Hasbro does something with her in the future that actually puts her character more in perspective instead of just adding more character to Rarity like it seems like they do every time they make a Sweetie Belle episode.

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(edited)
2 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

I appreciate your viewpoint, and I'm not going to insult it by expecting my own to make any difference. To be honest I've debated all those points to absolute death already, and the world does not need more Starlight Glimmer argument.

Actually, perhaps in the Debate Pit with its own thread, I would be happy to debate such as maybe with your help I can work through some of my misgiving. I would rather not be as bothered and frustrated as I am with Starlight and if I had someone to discuss such with maybe my views could change... if just a bit.

 

2 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

Now the finale just has to be her saving everyone else for once.

Yah, where the Royal Sisters, Mane Six, and Crystal Royal Family is captured overnight and off screen so Starlight's "ragtag band of misfits" can save the day.

Edited by EquestrianScholar
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(edited)
8 minutes ago, EquestrianScholar said:

Yah, where the Royal Sisters, Mane Six, and Crystal Royal Family is captured overnight and off screen so Starlight's "ragtag band of misfits" can save the day.

 

Give the S6 finale credit: At least Starlight and co. had to be clever and coordinated with their s*** to save the day.

 

Unlike in Chaos Theory (where even the freaking Elements/Rainbow got @$$pulled and retconned just to make her look good) or Mirror Magic (where she suddenly became the only one left to "fight" Juniper in probably the lamest climax ever).

Edited by A.V.
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4 minutes ago, EquestrianScholar said:

Yah, where the Royal Sisters, Mane Six, and Crystal Royal Family is captured overnight and off screen so Starlight's "ragtag band of misfits" can save the day.

Well that proved we can have a finale without Twilight Sparkle being involved, so I'm certainly up for exploring that more. A Celestia/Luna season finale would be amazing, possibly with Cadance tagging along too.

It's easily topping my list of dream finales, along with Twilight/Sunset/Starlight and Fluttershy/Applejack/RD/Pinkie/Rarity.

2 minutes ago, A.V. said:

Unlike in Chaos Theory (where even the Elements/Rainbow got @$$pulled and retconned just to make her look good) or Mirror Magic (where she alone was left to "fight" Juniper in probably the lamest climax ever).

I hated the endings of both of those. It completely missed the point of Starlight Glimmer, and basically turned her into Diet Twilight.

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Celestia, Luna, and Candace are all horrendously underdeveloped. With the exception of Luna's traumatic past and how it affected her through mid-Season 5, my biggest criticism about these characters is their lack of depth. Yes, A Royal Problem was refreshing and gave us more of a slice of life look at the elder alicorns. But Cadance is still fairly bland. One of my favorite arcs from the FiM comics is the one that details how she met Shining Armor. I love this kind of backstory and it's frustrating to not have any of that in the actual show apart from the exposition in A Canterlot Wedding that she foal-sat for Twilight.

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8 minutes ago, Philweasel said:

Well that proved we can have a finale without Twilight Sparkle being involved, so I'm certainly up for exploring that more. A Celestia/Luna season finale would be amazing, possibly with Cadance tagging along too.

It's easily topping my list of dream finales, along with Twilight/Sunset/Starlight and Fluttershy/Applejack/RD/Pinkie/Rarity.

I hated the endings of both of those. It completely missed the point of Starlight Glimmer, and basically turned her into Diet Twilight.

 

How Chaos Theory should've ended: They simply don't make it to the Elements in time -- oh, and that whole "inside Accord/Discord's mind" subplot actually bothers to play a part in restoring Discord.

 

How Mirror Magic should've ended: Juniper does try to trap Sunset, but simply misses (therefore, Sunset gets to team up with Starlight after all) -- oh, and Magic!Juniper actually does stuff besides just stomping around and hallucinating that everybody loves her.

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