Am I the only one who doesn't like The Student Six?

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

I'm of course talking about Yona, Sandbar, Gallus, Silverstream, Smoulder and Ocellus.

To me they're all just very bland, forgettable and uninteresting characters unlike The Mane Six. Especially Sandbar. He's really lame and boring, and Silverstream is pretty much just another Pinkie Pie. They didn't even try with her. The others are nothing special either. To make a long story short, I just really don't find any of them interesting or entertaining and really don't give a crap about them.

And yes I know I'm way in the minority here. They seem to be unanimously loved by everyone else. I just wanna see how many other people besides me don't like them. I hope I'm not the only one.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

You are not the only one. Even when I try to embrace the Student Six as new characters and try to understand what the writers were aiming for, they don't hit the mark at what they are set up to. The decision makings and executions were horrible with these characters. The idea behind these characters aren't that much interesting, the character archetypes are uninspired, and the episodes about them were mostly disastrous.

If the show is trying to make a shift in generation, I can accept it if the story is good. It just didn't work, and it also affected the Mane Six in a bad way.

I consider the Student Six bad episode generators. As long as they don't write a decent episode to get the characters straight for future episodes so that they would work, I don't see any future for these characters.

※ Yeah, that's just my opinion of course, which sometimes can be wrong, or sometimes can be right. Judge it by yourself, but please don't say 'It's just your opinion' as if it's the magic word to invalidate any kind of opinions.

[age3rcm 101]

the show has changed a lot from episode one...

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

No need to fear, your opinion is respected around here.  I like them because I feel they're crucial to the overall message of the show, that friendship is something eternal that will be passed down through generations to come, but I'll let the other people who do like them speak for themselves. 

[Cwanky 17,455]

As several here and elsewhere have shown, dislike or disinterest in the Student Six isn’t that rare and to your credit you have a fair point, they do lack character development. It’s especially the case for Sandbar, Ocellus and Silverstream, who I feel are defined more right now more by certain quirks, callbacks to the Mane Six, or just wholly lack development altogether.

Nonetheless, it’s also unfair just to dismiss the Student Six for such reasons alone. They’ve only been around since Season 8 and competing with the Mane 6 and other supporting characters , especially with diehard fans who feel that any “inadequate” support or appearances of their characters means necessarily that they are being neglected . Let’s not forget that several popular characters now including Spike and even Rarity and Applejack were in the past considered bland or dislikable, owing to their lack of appearances and thus development. Besides that many of the Student Six have undergone meaningful development and are far more likable now, at least for me, notably Yona and Gallus.

I’m not saying you have to like the Student Six, but at least give them a chance. They’re only around for the rest of FiM. The Mane 6, and Spike, will live on into Gen 6. New things can be good.

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Cwanky

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

7 hours ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

You are not the only one. Even when I try to embrace the Student Six as new characters and try to understand what the writers were aiming for, they don't hit the mark at what they are set up to. The decision makings and executions were horrible with these characters. The idea behind these characters aren't that much interesting, the character archetypes are uninspired, and the episodes about them were mostly disastrous.

If the show is trying to make a shift in generation, I can accept it if the story is good. It just didn't work, and it also affected the Mane Six in a bad way.

I consider the Student Six bad episode generators. As long as they don't write a decent episode to get the characters straight for future episodes so that they would work, I don't see any future for these characters.

※ Yeah, that's just my opinion of course, which sometimes can be wrong, or sometimes can be right. Judge it by yourself, but please don't say 'It's just your opinion' as if it's the magic word to invalidate any kind of opinions.

Wow you literally took my thoughts and wrote them down perfectly. I honestly wouldn't have minded as much if they had just been background characters. I just feel like trying to make them a part of the main cast just doesn't work. Not only does it feel like the show is trying to make them a part of the main cast, but they've taken over everything. And it feels like the show is legitimately trying to replace Twilight and her friends with them.

1 hour ago, CloudMistDragon said:

No need to fear, your opinion is respected around here.  I like them because I feel they're crucial to the overall message of the show, that friendship is something eternal that will be passed down through generations to come, but I'll let the other people who do like them speak for themselves. 

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[Megas 27,063]

Every time someone asks “am I the only one who...?” The answer is almost always no.

Personally i’ve more or less warmed up to them. Only episode I ever felt like I disliked them was NCC, where it was really obvious that the writers neutered the mane 6 to make them look better in comparison. Otherwise they’re mostly fine. Hell, if i’m being honest, some episodes and developments they’ve been getting this season I feel they should have gotten last season 

[The MegaBrony 218]

Yes! They were introduced far too late to have as much lasting impact as the Mane Six, Starlight, or Sunset.

[Prospekt 10,984]

Sandbar and Silverstream have kinda rubbed me the wrong way since they first showed up. Sandbar just bores me, while Silverstream still comes off as a version of Princess Skystar who acts too much like Pinkie Pie and hasn't gotten much development. I don't think the issue is this group of characters as a whole, but rather I think they haven't all been done justice.

I've liked Ocellus and Smolder since the beginning. And both Gallus and Yona have grown on me. Gallus is no longer portrayed as merely a wisecracking griffon, which The Hearth's Warming Club portrays especially well... he has a more vulnerable side, which gives him depth. Yona has been given a kind of personality that stands out from what we are used to with the yaks.

[Props Valroa 26,038]

You are not. I don't like them too much either. They are bland, boring and show nothing else other than being cardboard cutouts meant to sell toys. All of them are really underdeveloped to me, at least it's a change from the mane 6, who constantly hogged the spotlight.

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

5 hours ago, Califorum said:

at least it's a change from the mane 6, who constantly hogged the spotlight. 

Agreed with everything you said except this part. Well they're the main characters...They're kinda supposed to...The show is supposed to revolve around them.

[PiratePony 8,473]

I do not like how the show went once it became friendship school based (and the forced everycreature phrase that went along with it). As a master's degree having pedagogue the school board politics of the show is pretty absurd, what with me being angry with both the chancellor and headmare Sparkles. 

He's still a better chancellor than New York City's though.

Regarding the kids themselves: I like Yona, but I'm a fan of the yaks. As a whole, the rest are pretty forgettable. I don't even remember the names of the other ones. Am I the only one bothered that the dragon girl has a similar raspy voice and exact same color scheme as Scootaloo? That bugs me every time I see her.

[Kion 7,374]

No I don’t like them either I find them uninteresting. 

[Shigaraki 270]

l'm really not a big fan of them at all.

They're just annoying imo. Also Yona is pretty goofy.

15 hours ago, age3rcm said:

the show has changed a lot from episode one...

kinda but not really

[Odyssey 5,713]

I'm a fan of the Student Six as characters. Some people say that they're all characters we have seen before, but I feel that they got enough different quirks and personalities to distinguish them. Their all got their own stories as to why they are enrolled to the school and all. I understand why some might not like them, I feel that they were all introduced too late personally. But they are all really adorable and I can't wait to see more of them

8 hours ago, This Whomps said:

Every time someone asks “am I the only one who...?” The answer is almost always no.

This, basically. A lot of people actually do not like the Student Six. The "Am I the only one who" phrase is kind of pretentious anyway. 

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

Do I “like” them? Sure there’s nothing overly offensive or annoying about them. But there’s also nothing really special about them, they’re far less interesting than even the main six were at the start of the show, and they’re never going to get enough development to reach even Season one standards of development that the main six got. Every moment they take up is an unfortunate waste because of it, and they really shouldn’t have been introduced if the show was going to end this soon afterwards.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

To add something more to my opinion, I think they missed an opportunity to win us over with a good introduction story.

Princess Ember had it. We were introduced to her with a compelling story and a perspective, and the story had a satisfying conclusion, making the whole story complete and memorable. That made her memorable and made us care about her, want another story with her in it.

The Mane Six had it with the first two episodes of season 1. These characters didn't just show up with gimmicks and quirks. They also had stories and values, perspectives. They had a story anout defeating Nightmare Moon. Moondancer had a story, and out of all of the Pillars, only Mistmane had a story. Autumn Blaze had a story. Thorax had a story.

School Daze worked as the first stepping stone for future episodes with the Student Six in, but it is hard to make a story to work even when it's introducing only one character, how could they simultaneously tell a story about Twilight making a new school, conflict with the chancellor, conflict with five kingdoms, and her learning a lesson, six students coming together, and introduce them at the same time? It's not impossible, but it's hard to get it right. The students didn't had a distinct story tied in to them. They were replaceable. And the individuals didn't had enough character, only gimmicks and quirks due to short screen time.

After that, they were just jaded and became uninteresting. They missed the perfect timing. It's easier to introduce a completely new character and leave a deep impression than to make a pre existing boring character to look interesting. They didn't had to slowly sink in to be accepted, they just needed to give a strong and positive first impression.

[Kadeda 178]

I feel like most people dislike them than like them. I will admit... i'm very indifferent to them as long as the episode is good. I think the lying issue with me is that we were introduced to more interesting characters right before they showed up and they kind of took the times those characters could've had. Starswirl could have been amazing to watch bumming around Equestria.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Kadeda

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

Personally I feel like they give a purpose to the otherwise boring school they go to. They’re not the most interesting characters but they work well together.

[Kion 7,374]

There really really really really annoying 

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

17 hours ago, ExplosionMare said:

Personally I feel like they give a purpose to the otherwise boring school they go to. They’re not the most interesting characters but they work well together.

The school shouldn't have even been there either. It shouldn't exist any more than those six should. It was a dumb idea and concept. I mean really, a school for friendship? Think about how stupid that is. That's almost as dumb as having a school that teaches you how to play a children's card game and makes just about as much sense. (Yes there was a show that actually did that. It's called Yugioh GX.)

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,406]

I hate all of them, because they're all just boring and useless characters. All of their episodes are just a gigantic waste of time, and they ruined about half of Season 8.

[Early Sunsets 2,106]

Nope, I hate them too. Ocellus is boring, Silverstream is annoying, Sandbar is forgettable and bland, Gallus and Smolder try too hard to be cool, and Yona is my least favorite of the student six. She's just so irritating.

Silverstream and Ocellus are the most tolerable to me, but that isn't exactly saying much.

[The Kaeya Simp 13,953]

I like the student 6,
I especially like Sandbar, Gallius and Silverstream 

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

I love the Student Six! Sandbar is especially my favorite.