If the Mane 6 were male...

[~ Dr. Ocsid ~ 690]

... there would be nearly no difference regarding the character of Rainbow Dash.

[Scrubbed user 3,417]

If there was ever a need for a VA for AppleJack (lol same name), I think I could do that job quite well. Who better to voice a character with a southern accent than someone with a southern accent?

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

The show would certainly lose attraction for me, being that the show would have less focus on feminine characters. That would really leave poor Rarity in the dust and dirt, would it not?

[Justin_Case001 4,940]

I like they're female, mostly because of this.

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree.  Admittedly, I probably would have no interest in the show if they were male.  I guess that in itself is technically sexist, which is ironic, because I consider myself the least sexist person on Earth.  But one of the reasons I'm drawn to the characters is basically what the OP said in that thread that Blobulle linked.  I loved that we have such dynamic, strong female protagonists in starring roles, because that is, surprisingly, still quite hard to find these days.  As stated in that other thread, it's easy to find female characters everywhere, but actually surprisingly hard to find female characters in strong starring roles that challenge stereotypes and so forth.

 

I have mulled on this topic many a time.  I have looked through my collection of games, movies, and books, and the TV shows I watch, and it's a little sad just how few female protagonists there are.  I know I'm biased simply because I enjoy the sci-fi and fantasy genres the most, but still, there should be more women.  Take a look at something like LOTR for example.  Three, count em, three women in that whole story--Galadriel, Arwen, and Eowyn.  (I'm not counting characters that had no speaking parts, like Rosie.)  And then look at how many men there are.  As I understand it, Peter Jackson actually invented Evangeline Lilly's character in the Hobbit just to add a touch of estrogen.  Good call, I say.  If you actually look, I mean really look at movies and shows, the majority are still male dominated.  And even when there are an equal number of women, the men are always the title characters.  It's The King of Queens, not The Queen of Queens, it's Everybody Loves Raymond, not Everybody Loves Debra.  As I said, I know I'm biased due to genre tastes, but I also love powerful, realistic movies like Crash.  That movie has plenty of women, but it's still more male than female.  It seems tough to find women in strong, starring roles outside of romance movies, or "chick flicks."  Don't get me wrong, some of those are good.  I enjoyed The Lake House, but typically, I don't really care for Jennifer Aniston movies where it's and hour and half of beach houses in the rain until the woman turns around and realized that true love was here all along.  We need more Ellen Ripleys.  Perhaps the greatest female protagonist of all time.

 

Interestingly, if you look back at some of the older sitcoms, many were centered around a starring woman.  I Love Lucy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jennie.  I know, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough today.  I know we have shows like Bones, Hot in Cleveland, and Rizzoli and Isles, but meh, I don't like any of those.  You know what's a great female dominated sitcom?  The Golden Girls.  I love that show.  Maybe it sounds weird for a guy to like that show...wait...I forgot where I was for a second...

 

Anyway, the point of all these ramblings is that I love to see female characters in strong, starring roles.  Also, I've always been completely bewildered by the fact that entertainment targeted towards males tends to be male dominated, and vice versa.  I realize that for little kids, they relate better to the same sex, but even as adults it seems like women are suppose to watch women, and men are suppose to watch men, unless they're watching oversexualized, objectified women, which is just fine (sarcastic voice.).  Guys will say that watching a show with an all female cast is "gay."  ... ....MY HEAD A-SPLODE.  First off, they shouldn't be using gay as an insult, but that's not the point.  Guys criticize other guys for watching female dominated shows, but apparently watching all men is not gay?  So, let me see if I understand this correctly: a guy watching women's figure skating is gay, but a guy watching men's football is not.  Am I missing something?  I think in those cases, the term gay is just being used as an insult, and doesn't mean homosexual.  It's all so ridiculous.  This clip comes to mind.  Sorry for the poor quality.

 

Now, I'm not saying that the only reason I like watching female characters is because I'm attracted to them, but I admit it's one aspect.  And honestly, when it comes to sex appeal, there's nothing sexier than strong, dynamic, independent female characters.  A damsel in distress is not very appealing.  That's why I like characters like Ariel and Jasmine so much.  Ariel saved Prince Eric's life.  She kicked ass.  And Jasmine don't take no sh*t from nobody.  That's appealing.  Why wouldn't guys love a strong female character?

 

An all female cast as great as the Mane Six is a rarity.  (See what I did there? )  I would never want the 6 to be male, not that I have anything against male.

 

Sorry that turned into such a long post.  Once I got started I couldn't stop.

 

"This is becoming a speech."

"You're the captain, sir,.  You're entitled."

"Hmm.  I'm not entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows."

 

Lol.  The Picard Song.  I'll stop now.

[Cirrus. 1,093]

In general, I'm just not too big on the idea of "Rule 63 MLP".  If everything was as it was except for the gender swap I think it would be VERY weird and wouldn't work well as a show. If the characters' color palettes, manes, cutie marks, and a few other aspects of the show were slightly changed accordingly, it might work. They could have similar personalities to their female counterparts, but some tweaking would definitely be needed to cut down on the awkwardness factor.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Yes, a 1 shot like On a Cross and Arrow is might be a good episode but I don't think it would work as a show. Fluttershy/ Butterscotch & Rarity/ Elusive come off as a sissies & this would be seen as gay, which would make trouble in a kid's cartoon.  (Hey, some of my favorite shows have gay characters but it would make trouble in a kid's cartoon Which is why I don't consider the Simpson's, Family Guy or South Park to be kid's cartoons)  

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

I don't really like that idea, it's better that the mane six are female.