Thoughts on The Mane Six and The Unique Effectiveness of Their Group

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

There are many reasons that we are all interested in MLP. One commonly cited reason (that is a major part of why I'm here at least) is the engaging characters. We can go on and on about which members of the Mane Six we empathize with/despise and most of us already have, but then I asked myself the question; why are the Mane Six so uniquely effective as a group?

 

Each of our protagonists generally has at least one major shared trait and one major difference with each of the others. For example Rainbow Dash and Applejack are both very stubborn and driven people, yet Rainbow Dash has to prove her greatness to the world where Applejack is generally content with proving her greatness to herself. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are very comical people, but Rarity is funny while taking herself entirely seriously, where Pinkie has no trouble laughing at herself or finding humor in anything in her life. Fluttershy and Twilight seem generally introverted and hesitant to take the spotlight but Twilight is this way due to general lack of interest and Fluttershy behaves the way she does due to her active fear of attention and her desire to be left to her own devices. Rarity and Rainbow are the only two actively pursuing some sort of future goal, yet the natures of their respective dreams are extremely different, preventing them from fully empathizing with each other (It doesn't help that they are each generally dismissive of or uninterested in the type of activity that the other loves). There are many other comparisons and contrasts, but I'll leave them for you to discuss for now and I can pop in again if I think of one that deserves special mention.

 

Because of these differences, each of the six interacts with each of the others in extremely different ways. Not all of these dynamics have been fully flushed out yet, but we can agree that Rainbow Dash's friendship with Pinkie Pie is extremely different than her friendship with Applejack. This holds true for all of them, so there is a lot of ground that the writers can explore just by playing different characters off of each other. And that's just for pairs of them. If you could split the six into two random groups, put each group into separate rooms for an hour and observe them, you would undoubtably see very different events happen in each room. That actually sounds like a fun thing to try . By mixing the characters together in different ways, much like chemicals, you can discover some dramatically different and fun results.

 

So far we have only been considering day-to-day scenarios. If something happens to shake up their lives, such as Rainbow trying to join the Wonderbolts, Twilight having an anxiety induced lapse in sanity or Rarity having a feud with her sister, then existing dynamics can change greatly, ether temporarily or permanently. It allows the writers to display many different sides of each character as they confront their crisis of the week. For example we have observed Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's extremely different responses to sudden increases in their fame and popularity, and during those episodes we gained insight as to how that changed their relationships with the rest of their friends and how they differentiate from each other. This can be even more prominent when the change in the status quo is related to the introduction of a new character, such as Gilda or the certain person that will be visiting during the next episode . We can see how having this new person around affects their existing dynamics and the contrasts between the characters can be explored through their varying interactions with someone new who they may or may not get along with.We can expand on it further by adding in family members, idols or mentors. Twilight, for example, is a VERY different person when Celestia is visiting vs. when she isn't. There is a veritable gold mine of potential with regards to character development here.

 

Overall these unique circumstances have left the writers plenty of room to expand on characters that are already developed very well to begin with. A group like this isn't something I've ever really seen before and I think I speak for most of us when I say that I can't wait to see what dimensions of them will be explored next.

 

Here's something semi-related that I thought up while contrasting Rainbow and Applejack. Feel free to check it out if you want to.

http://mlpforums.com/blog/448/entry-2461-crackpot-rainbow-dashapplejacktennis-analogy/

 

So there you have my thoughts on the matter. You can respond to them if you'd like, but I'd also like to hear your answer to the question.

 

What do you think makes the Mane Six such an interesting/effective group as characters? While we're at it, what do you enjoy about their group the most?

 

Fire away!

[Sky Warden 2,243]

Wow. You explained the Mane Six in the most detailed way I've ever seen.

Simply from me, what makes me think that Mane Six is such an interesting group of characters it that they have so many flaws and strengths in their personalities. One character has a strength in her personality which can balance the another character's flaw in her personality. It can be a good balancing relation, or can be a mess if they can't tolerate each other. Love and Tolerate. Sounds familiar. It also because each of them has a different point of view. It can be a good relation, or a mess.

[GoneForeverBye 184]

Uhh... Wall of text, so I presume it's all intelligent and sophisticated information.

 

If there's anything I have to say, is how the show favour of friendship and group work actually seems to work, unlike quite a number of cartoons. Example being the parasprite clean-up (that failed miserably afterwards, though). However, I seem to notice that the focus on the "group work" aspect seems to lower. In the pilot, Twilight took on the prominent role in the episode, which made sense considering she was the anti-social one who just wanted to be left alone so she could get on with her own things, but over time grew onto them. In the Discord episodes, she made a prominent role yet again, this time being forced to watch as the group was torn apart by Discord.

 

However, it seems that afterwards, the focus on their group seems to be lacking. In the Canterlot Wedding, I wouldn't say that the other ponies were a focus. They were there for the fight scene, too, but beyond that, I can't find anything memorable.

 

In the Crystal Empire it seems to have taken a step back yet again. Twilight must complete the test. Her friends are just sort of "there", like they were in Canterlot Wedding. However, with the whole "NEXT LEVEL OF STUDIES" thing, it seems even more ridiculous Twilight-esque focused.

 

Now I think about it, I'm missing the MLP group episodes like Bridle Gossip and the Swarm of the Century... the last non-two-parter we had was all the way back half-way into Season 2...

 

for the rest, Sky Warden sums up the basic points perfectly.

 

Edit: Dang. I totally forgot. Magic Duel put the usage of group work to good use. I loved it how they took the Twilight episode, and then added the other mane six characters into it, and made them actually relevant to the plot. I believe it's that sort of stuff we're missing here.

Edited January 13, 2013 by OlegEqualzName

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

Now I think about it, I'm missing the MLP group episodes like Bridle Gossip and the Swarm of the Century... the last non-two-parter we had was all the way back half-way into Season 2...

Ha ha, sorry about the big blob of text. I just sort of ran with my idea and kept thinking of things . You did bring up a good point that I agree with entirely, and that is how season three seems to be neglecting the group episodes that previous seasons have had in favor of the individual episodes. We did have it in Magic Duel like you mentioned, and to a degree in Spike at Your Service as well, but it is something I've been missing.

 

I'm also not a huge fan of the increased focus on Twilight, and I'd generally prefer it if the Mane Six were mostly balanced in importance.

 

So thank you for your thoughts and for responding!

[Zygen 6,065]

I think you put the thoughts in my head as to why the characters in this show are so interesting into a very long detailed post .

There is quiet alot of possibilities with all the scenarios and character combinations, and they all make for very interesting ones.

 

So yeah, you pretty much explained everything, not much I can add .

[Veylon 255]

I've seen this bandied about before, but it always bears repeating. FiM is all about how the Mane Six interact with each other.

 

Each one is the foil for another in a particular way that highlights what each is about relative to one another. You can throw any two together in a situation and get interesting results by how they work together and against each other. Heck, you can have nothing going on at all and still get interesting conversation.

 

I don't know whether this was on purpose or if it just fell into place, but other show creators ought to be taking notes.

[hawkflame 3,308]

I think you really hit on something here.  And to the show's credit, this reflects something that goes on real life, at least in regard to friendships.  Let's say you're in a group of friends- you, Friend A, and Friend B.  Even though you're all friends, each of your relationships isn't going to be exactly the same, and you're going to relate to Friend A a little differently than you will to Friend B.  Rainbow Dash' competitive side relates to Applejack, while her laid back prankster side relates to Pinkie Pie.  Compare Twilight to Fluttershy, where Twilight plays the more assertive role, vs Twilight to Pinkie Pie, where she's more socially reserved.  You're right in that the show can explore these relationships in a variety of ways.

 

And I think I may be repeating what Veylon already said above, but I think it bears mentioning again- you can pair almost any two characters together so that they bounce off each other in some complementary way.  You have the prim and proper vs the down and dirty, practical ("Look Before You Sleep"),  There's the rational and logical vs the eccentric ("Feeling Pinkie Keen").  Agressive and boastful vs. meek and demure (well, anything between Fluttershy and RD).  Even in the specific archetypes of "tomboy" and "girly girl" you have two different versions of each that can play off each other in episodes like "Fall Weather Friends" and "Green isn't Your Color". 

 

One of the best episodes to exemplify this is "Hearth's Warming Eve".  There you have the six broken off into three pairs- two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies.  Within each pair, you have one crazy, over the top one, and and one that's calmer and saner.  But each "over the top" pony is over the top in a different way, and each "sane" pony is sane in a different way, and each crazy/sane pairing complements each other in a different way.  I particularly liked Rainbow Dash being Insane Drill Seargeant Warrior General pony vs Fluttershy's meek and genteel army private.  It's not my favorite episode, but I like the idea of taking the "outgoing" pegasus,earth pony, and unicorn, magnify their worst qualities by 100, and then pair them off again with their more reserved counterparts. 

[Night Shine 767]

 

I'm going to go ahead and post this cool chart that I ran into on MLB on Memebase the other day that contrasts the Mane 6's themes and inherent personality traits.

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, no?

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

A picture is worth a thousand words, no?

Dang it, I remember seeing that a few days ago. That would have come in handy yesterday when I was putting this thing together. Thank you for sharing it .

 

You know what, I just realized something.  Along the lines of the Hearth's Warming Eve pairings, you could also break it up not only by pony species, but by character archetype- Tomboy, girly-girl, and neutral- and come up with a similar extrovert/introvert type pairing.  and that would compare the character relations in other ways as well. 

 

Damn, the more I think about it, the better written this show is!

 

It's true. You can take any sort of attribute and have fun comparing how the six express it. I like how each of them has at least one clear opposite within the group and many shades between them.

 

And yeah, can't argue with that. This show gets better and better the more you think about it (usually)

[Wingnut 6,733]

I've noticed it too but I never took the time to analyze it in such depth.  MLP:FiM simply has the same great theme that Digimon, Sonic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Powerpuff Girls, and countless other cartoons have:  Friendship makes us greater as a whole than the sum of our parts. But I have to give it to you...this is the first detailed analysis I've seen to explain why that is so instead of just accepting it through blind faith. 

Edited January 14, 2013 by Wingnut