Question about having a Mane Cast

[HereComesTom 2,232]

I was just thinking about how G-4 and G-5---heck, even G-3 and G-2---had a limited mane cast of characters that all episodes focused on. 

But it felt like G-1 didn't have a mane cast like that, not really. 

I mean, there were some ponies in G-1 that recurred decently many times throughout G-1's episodes, like Wind Whistler, Fizzy, Buttons, and Gusty, but if you look at the movie or some of the more special episodes of G-1 like the pilot, those aren't really the ones that get focus.  So the way I see it, G-1 didn't have a mane cast in the same way as the other incarnations of MLP did.

First question:  Was this shift toward focusing on a core cast of characters Hasbro's writers learning from their mistakes?

I mean, G-1 spreading out its focus on numerous different ponies meant it was (kind of) marketing a larger number of toys in its episodes, at least in general, and while I haven't watched that much G-1 Transformers, I feel like G-1 Transformers was doing something similar, having different casts of autobots and/or decepticons in different episodes, again with the goal of marketing a lot of different toys.

It was the latest G-5 episode, the "All That Jazz" one where Izzy helps a non-mane-five pony out with one of her problems, that made me think of all this, and it's making me think that G-5 is taking a kind of a hybrid approach:  there is a mane 5 in G-5, and they have consistent characterization, but plenty of episodes give focus to non-mane-5 characters to (again) market more different toys.

Second question:  Do you suppose this hybrid approach will get to be more common in Hasbro's toy-based series?

I mean, Hasbro's got other toy franchises that can and/or have featured large casts of characters:  Transformers, Care Bears, and Strawberry Shortcake come to mind, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were other franchises with large casts of characters, as well.  Do you suppose Hasbro will try this have-a-core-cast-but-have-different-episodes-focus-on-different-characters format in general, not just with My Little Pony, but with its other franchises, as well?

Third question:  If they do, do you think that's a good thing?  Or does it simply depend on how well they implement the concept?

[Pentium100 2,056]

Having some core characters most likely helps people continue watching the show - they start to care about those characters and want to see what happens to them. 

[Megas 27,064]

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First question:  Was this shift toward focusing on a core cast of characters Hasbro's writers learning from their mistakes?

Most definitely because it made it easier for them. Gives them a lot less characters they need to work with. You brought up G1 Transformers(and I'll be using it since it's what I'm more familiar with), it's one thing to have a large cast of characters, but the issue with G1 Transformers(and obviously G1 MLP) was that it's massive cast was the main cast, and the reason they did this was obvious(to market toys). As a result of this, several fan favorite characters like Prowl, Trailbreaker, Sideswipe or Sunstreaker, never even got focus episodes or even episodes where they felt like main characters, but supporting characters at best(for reference, the first time Sideswipe felt like a main character of an episode was in Transformers Devastation, a game roughly 30 years after the show had already ended), it was even worse when S2 added even more characters to the mix, it got to the point where one character, Skids, only shows up twice in the whole thing and is forgotten about entirely! Once they hit S3 and the Movie, they made a hard shift with the cast entirely, with the movie effectively "trimming the fat". S3 decided to focus mainly on the characters from the movie(Rodimus, Magnus, Arcee, Kup, Blurr, Springer, Wheelie) and a couple from S1 and 2(Bumblebee and Grimlock, Blaster and Perceptor respectively). Most of the S1 and 2 cast were written off, a lot of them were killed off in the movie, and the ones that weren't pretty much retired, barring some exceptions who'd show up as supporting characters.

Since then every Transformers property has at least started out with five main characters from the beginning and it's usually to their benefit as it gives them a lot less to work with while giving more to do with what they have.

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Second question:  Do you suppose this hybrid approach will get to be more common in Hasbro's toy-based series?

It's always been

G4 had plenty of characters to get a lot of the focus besides the main six, but the main cast was still the mane six. Likewise, Transformers usually focuses on five main Autobots+a couple of human companions

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Third question:  If they do, do you think that's a good thing?  Or does it simply depend on how well they implement the concept?

It's undeniably the better approach

You brought up how Izzy helped Jazz in G5. For starters I wouldn't call Jazz a background character(more like a supporting character), typically, making her the main character of an episode with the main 5 a supporting role is the ideal way of building those characters up because it doesn't take away focus from the main cast while working to make supporting characters more rounded

 

[Fhaolan 4,468]

From what I learned when researching prior generations, Hasbro originally just generated toys, not characters. Part of their contract with Marvel to produce GI Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony cartoons, was to come up with names, write-ups, etc. for all the *characters*.

For the My Little Pony Tales (technically G1.5, not G2) cartoon, Hasbro dropped the contract with Marvel, talked directly to the SunBow Studio to produce the animations, and entered into a contract with Disney for distribution. This was when they first reduced down to a set 'mane cast', and there was a distinct change in tone and presentation. My suspicion is that Disney Marketing told Hasbro that reducing the cast to a dozen or so specific individuals would be best. 

When G3.5 hit, things went... weird. Art styles, character lists, and toy production all changed at different times, and the 'mane cast' list for everything including the toy line eventually got sliced down to seven. I don't know why, though.