Background ponies are best, but underappreciated?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

The creator of the g1 toyline, Bonnie Zacherle, once revealed in an interview that the ponies she designed were left without much personality on purpose. That allowed the children who played with them to create their own characters and imagine their own stories and scenarios for their ponies. This enabled Lauren Faust to do just that with the g1 ponies she played with as a kid, which led her to trying to use the characters from her nostalgic childhood and crafting a successful television show with them. 

To an extent, the fans of g4 have followed suit, finding and taking blank slate ponies out of the background of the show that Faust created with the same technique. But the problem is that the same 6 ponies that have dominated fan favorites continue to be the focus. It would seem that in spite of numerous background character blank slates in episodes for years now, none recieve the attention as Vinyl Scratch, Derpy (Muffins), Dr Whooves, Octavia, Bon Bon, and Lyra do. 

Are fans still interested in picking out background ponies to craft stories and personalities for them?

[Senko 459]

I know I enjoy watching what's going on in the background whether its a unicorn quietly sweeping a street or that filly dressed up as Twilight in the scare master with a cardboard tube horn and little alicorn wings.

[Ganondorf8 11,298]

When there are dozens of background ponies that have been created, the ones that are given character development or who made an initial impact better than other characters tend to become more memorable and fans become attached to them. That's a disadvantage a show like MLP has when it comes to characters. By constantly adding new ones, it's bound to cause some to be neglected in favour of others. I know the writers didn't intent for this to happen but rather it happened as a result of circumstance.

[Passion 3,484]

5 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Vinyl Scratch, Derpy (Muffins), Dr Whooves, Octavia

These four appeared with either quite unique designs, in correct time (Dr Whooves appearing when Dr Who was much more popular than now) or with different accessories. I'm pretty sure Octavia was picked because Vinyl was picked initially, and it was a perfect contrast of personalities.

I never understood how Lyra and Bon Bon got so much spotlight, but that's just me really.

It all might be connected with the fact that fandom was much more fresh in its first seasons than it is now, people had more drive, more passion and generally, the creativity levels were much higher back then. It was new, entertaining, people wanted to do something with it. And these were the background characters that garnered that attention and energy.

I think, just think, that the drive eventually extinguished. And that ponies, however ridiculous this sounds, became a little bit mainstream by now

[Oleks 1,993]

6 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Are fans still interested in picking out background ponies to craft stories and personalities for them?

Not as much as they used to be. The main reason is the abundance of secondary characters that we have nowadays. Back in the early days there were much fewer characters with personalities, so bronies picked the most interesting BG ponies (who were mainly recolors and clones back then) and made them what they are now. And today, even though since Season 4 most BG ponies have unique and creative designs and are often references to something, they don't get much attention, simply because the "competition" grew stronger.

But some still appreciate new BG ponies. We even have a fan club.

48 minutes ago, Passion said:

I never understood how Lyra and Bon Bon got so much spotlight, but that's just me really.

Lyra's sitting pose and Bon Bon's voices.

[SharpWit 2,646]

1 hour ago, Passion said:

I never understood how Lyra and Bon Bon got so much spotlight, but that's just me really.

 

1 hour ago, Oleks said:

Lyra's sitting pose and Bon Bon's voices.

Not to mention they were often paired relatively close together in many scenes.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

No, they're very appreciated and they serve their purpose as background ponies.

Let them be a blank canvas and keep them away from the spotlight of the show.

[Tao 7,736]

Its true after Derpy-Gate a few years ago,  background ponies also like Bon-Bon and Lyra got more focus with a few others.     Just we as fans got to have fun exploring the unseen lives of these ponies and even the writers of the show join us a bit.     So I feel the background ponies get a lot of love in both the shows own way and us as fans.  

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

Vinyl Scratch and Octavia always appeal to me. Not even on a "Ship" level. I like the idea of them being mis-matched room mates and friends. I never thought of them as underappreciated, but I would like them to get more screen time together.

(Shipping them is welcomed too)

Edited June 13, 2018 by cuteycindyhoney

[Senko 459]

I like the fact that in the wedding episode even though the house is clearly divided in half according to interest they obviously get along and help each other out happily.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

11 minutes ago, Senko said:

I like the fact that in the wedding episode even though the house is clearly divided in half according to interest they obviously get along and help each other out happily.

A lot of fans didn't like it, but I thought their sequence in episode one hundred was the best. It's pretty much exactly how I pictured  them living together. 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by cuteycindyhoney

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Do collectors really need the show? No, no they don't.

 

BGs are over-appreciated and only good cause OCs are shit due to years of bad character creation culture within our fandom.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

Do collectors really need the show? No, no they don't.

 

 

 

BGs are over-appreciated and only good cause OCs are shit due to years of bad character creation culture within our fandom.

 

Yeah this fandom has too much obsession with background characters considering hasbro has gotten death threats and stupid petitions over background characters not matching head canon.

[DubWolf 17,262]

One particular background pony that caught my eye was Cherry Berry; never paid too much attention to her, but I had no idea she occasionally played as a balloonist  .

[ManaMinori 4,145]

10 hours ago, DonMaguz said:

No, they're very appreciated and they serve their purpose as background ponies.

Let them be a blank canvas and keep them away from the spotlight of the show.

I wasn't talking about them being the focus of episodes.

[Senko 459]

6 hours ago, Key Sharkz said:

Yeah this fandom has too much obsession with background characters considering hasbro has gotten death threats and stupid petitions over background characters not matching head canon.

Which should tell them their doing a good job of making the show matter to people.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

1 hour ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

I wasn't talking about them being the focus of episodes.

I know, I'm just saying that they're appreciated and doing a great job in the background. And it is my opinion that for these characters to keep their mystery and appeal, it's better to keep them in the back.

I'm not referring only to the fandom favorite ones, but other bg characters and most of the pop culture reference ponies as well.