What happened to one-off characters? Why were they never brought back for future seasons before the conclusion of FiM?

[Jon the VGNerd 886]

Okay, I'm going to be brutally honest about it. And IDW Comics do not count either since this is primarily focused on the TV version. There's characters what were firstly introduced from Season 1 to Season 4 and were never brought back to future seasons ever since. Likely because either Hasbro forgot all about them or simply didn't care. I'll cut to the chase and mention characters that were in one episode and never returned since then. Let me start off with the obvious:

Diamond Dogs. Their first and unfortunately only appearance were in A Dog And Pony Show. Their cameo appearances in Equestria Girls don't really count since they're not considered canon. What gets me is that the Diamond Dogs never made any and all reappearances for the entire, eight seasons, meaning they've become the most forgotten characters in show history. Regardless on whether they're popular or not is still quite shocking that these characters were permanently ditched and were never mentioned again by the characters, much less seen. It feels like an absolutely wasted potential that the Diamond Dogs don't get any sort of love because its likely that Habsro either somehow forgot that the Diamond Dogs exist, or they cared less about them. Not sure if its either because the voice actors walked out or because Habsro basically let them go without so much as to notify them if they're interested in voicing the Diamond Dogs again. This is a perfect case of total character assassination, folks.

The Sphinx. Funny how she's popular among fans yet Hasbro never re-introduced her back after the episode Daring Done?, and one has to wonder why they didn't provide an actual voice actress for this peculiar character. And there's always a question that will remain unsolved as to where the Sphinx is and why she never appeared as a real character like with Ahuizotl. It just feels wrong to have an awesome character, but never actually include her altogether. It just feels like a very poor creative decision on Hasbro's end. The only plus side is that there's a lot of art of the Sphinx and fanfiction of her, but sadly, that's all you can find.

Suri Polomare. Ah yes, one of the most hated characters in FiM that somehow gets no deserved comeuppance. Even though Coco did mention that Suri was disqualified from the competition, there's absolutely no onscreen indication related to Suri's deserved karma. And why was she completely left out after Rarity Takes Manehattan? I don't know. Ask the show creators and their bad decisions. The fact that she lost yet somehow got away with her actions is what irked me and others the most. The fact that she made no return after Season 4 really shows Habsro's lack of care in terms of continuity within the overall plot.

Luster Dawn. An interesting character that has potential as the new protagonist, but alas, she's a clear case of a one-off character whom we will never see again. Why? Because the show is over, for good. Instead of maybe showing a mini-series regarding Luster Dawn's adventures with her friends, Habsro decided to instead release MLP G5. And unlike G4, the hype for G5 felt absolutely nonexistent. And it seems like the fall of Hasbro's grace clearly showed.

If there's any other one-off characters you know that never returned after one episode, feel free to share.

[Prospekt 11,018]

I liked Little Strongheart and Trouble Shoes. They did get small cameos but I really don't count those. I quite liked Little Strongheart's role in Friends Forever #31, which is one of the IDW comic issues I really wish had gotten an animated adaptation.

[Snow 7,205]

I guess a lot of such characters served the narrative they were brought in for and weren't really needed or wanted after that, though the case could be made that for the unlikeable ones they could have had some sort of development episodes where they came out as likeable.

[abronymouse 5,527]

Huh! Hadn't thought about these chars in a while.

I was sure Suri appeared - and she does, in Manehatten once or twice.

Diamond Dogs get brief EQG cameos but not much in pony.

Sphinx I can understand as a one shot thing. A bit like the tantabus or tatzlwurm.

Luster only appeared at the end - sometimes pony shows must come to an end

Can't think of too many other one offs. They did a good job of reprising many of them, but it's a shame some were missed off.

[Jon the VGNerd 886]

18 hours ago, North Star said:

I was sure Suri appeared - and she does, in Manehatten once or twice.

Sphinx I can understand as a one shot thing. A bit like the tantabus or tatzlwurm.

Except the Sphinx had potential to maybe return and face off against Somnambula once more, but it never happened. Just seems rather odd and a wasted potential because Ahuizotl was also a mythical creature, but then appeared as a real character. In my opinion, they could've done the same with the Sphinx, but Hasbro ditched it altogether.

As for Suri herself, she's been downgraded into cameo appearances, hence why despite her disqualification, she ultimately never received her deserved karma.

[Espy Vibe 4,331]

I forgot which episode they were in but I remember the cows that were stampeding towards Ponyville, and I believe AJ and Winona had to herd them away. We never saw them again either, but from what I remember they seemed to know the residents at least a good amount and it would've made for a good future (early) episode to have them back imo