New elements of harmony discussion

[Casey Pones 82]

Anyone who's familiar with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, know the Elements of Harmony. And they are not magical jewels that shoot rainbow lasers, they are the qualities found within people/ponies/creatures. Specifically the ones that together create harmony between people/ponies/creatures.

I think the elements chosen for G4 (Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness and the Magic of friendship) are not just random positive traits. I think that for true harmony to exist, even in real life, you need all these particular elements simultaneously. They all contribute to and support harmony like the support beams of a structure.

Before I saw A New Generation, I was expecting these characters to be the new mane six and after I saw it I assigned them these elements in my mind...

• Sunny Starscout-Magic. Obviously.
• Hitch Trailblazer-Loyalty. He was devoted to the town and his duties as sheriff. He also stuck by his old friend Sunny when everypony else turned their back on her.
• Izzy Moonbow-Laughter. Though though arts & crafts is not the same thing as throwing a party it's still creating something that puts a smile on a face, makes life enjoyable and therefore worthwhile. Plus she acts a lot like Pinky. Skipping, positivity, excitable and that scene inside her cottage was kind of like one of Pinky's reality-bending moments.
• Zephyrina (Zipp) Storm-Honesty. She wanted everypony to know the truth about how the royals couldn't fly. Even though she knew it could be devastating to her people, even though the lie was more beneficial to them. It takes honesty to tell the truth but it takes commitment to tell it if it does harm and no good.
• Pipp Petals-Kindness or Generosity. I wasn't sure which of these she would be but I was leaning towards Generosity.
• ????-Kindness or Generosity. I was expecting a 6th character to be added in the new series. Given the make-up of the new group so-far I was expecting a unicorn, possibly a male.

As Make Your Mark began I began to doubt if Zipp was the element of honesty. In the first episode alone she lied to her mother to get out of talking to her and revealed she used to steal her chocolate covered cherries and blame it on pip. As for the rest of the show I had little doubt I was right, especially when the jet had a empty 6th seat and Misty the unicorn kept showing up.

Recently in Tell Your Tale The characters have started saying these battle-cry like rhymes announcing their apparent elements.

• Zipp-bravery
• Izzy-creativity
• Pip-confidence
• Misty-feels?
• Hitch-kindness
• Sunny-hope

I am not that pleased. 

I'm not saying they don't represent these things but I don't really think they would create harmony like the true elements, especially creativity. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about creativity, but by itself it doesn't have the same ideology or harmony inducing effect that kindness and generosity have. In fact, if you think about propaganda, it can create discord just as well.

 

As for Hitch, I would not have pegged him for the new element of kindness. But while I would have rejected it at first my feelings actually rose to mixed.

It seemed to go against the strong, confident, determined, fearless, somewhat egotistical character we were introduced to in A New Generation, at least being his #1 attribute. But then I thought maybe it makes sense considering how he was always kind to Sunny when they were playing as foals and how he took in Sparky. And maybe it will be interesting to see this kind of character represent kindness like Fluttershy while being the opposite to her in many ways. If nothing else it leans into the fan theory that Hitch is Fluttershy's descendant.

 

As for Zip, the show says loyalty is a reflection of bravery. I like Zip but I was hoping she wouldn't just be a remake of Rainbowdash and she was already looking like that already.

 

I'm liking the fact the new show seems to be properly bringing back some of the core concepts of G4 but I wish they had done it better. Personally I'm hoping they will change it again so they will be the proper elements of harmony.

What about you? Do you think these should be the new elements? Do you think my pairing was acurrate?