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Thursday, December 29, 2016

Top 10 MLP Characters That Lost Their Mojo (ft. The Super Mario Brony)

As my final post of 2016, I've done a collaboration with the Super Mario Brony Blog. We've already done one on his blog about how to avoid bad writing, but this time, on my blog, we've done one about ten MLP characters (or character groups, in a few cases) that lost their mojo over the past six seasons.

I'd like to start off with a question; you've got a character you've loved since you were younger, but what does it take to make you lose interest in them? A general lack of interest? A couple of bad starring roles? Or maybe the writers have done something so bad it makes you dislike them?

In that sense, this is a post dedicated to those that apparently just slipped overtime. Those that we feel have slowly lost their charm, potential, or special something at this current point onward. The Top Ten MLP:FIM Characters That Have Lost Their Mojo.

A couple things to point out:
  1. Characters from Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls only. So characters that were featured in the comics won't be considered.
  2. We're basing them primarily on mix mashup of the all good character traits that made them a lot more successful with true potential, awesome, and interestingly more popular than they are at this current point.

So what puts Discord on our list? Three words - What About Discord.

We can't really blame him for being the unlikable jerk he was in that atrocious Twilight torture porn rehash of Three's A Crowd though, as we primarily have Neal Dusedau to blame for that. (Since it's obvious that fictional characters are who they either still are, or become depending on how specific writers write for them.)

And as for why he's so, so low? Season six managed to fix him up and make him a highlight in the otherwise disastrous finale. Too bad that a number of other characters got screwed over in season six. Speaking of which...

At the very start of season six, Rarity gave great performances as to being her true character in episodes like The Gift of the Maud Pie and Spice Up Your Life (both of those of which were collab episodes of both her and Pinkie, but anyway). But for some unfortunate reason, (alongside both of Ashleigh Ball's characters) she suddenly went in the opposite direction after the first half of season six.

Case in point, The Cart Before the Ponies; she, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash (more on her later) are supposed to act like adults, not the children they were in that episode! It's also rather telling that the Crusaders, who are actually children, behaved more sensibly and maturely than they did.

Rarity ranked slightly higher than Discord because she's a major character, but again, she's lower as other characters have had worse portrayals in recent episodes.

And believe us, Applejack would've made our countdown (as to only starting it off with Discord and Rarity) as well if not for Where the Apple Lies. Too bad Rarity didn't have a redeeming installment unlike AJ after the sloppy P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View).

No, Shining Armor and Cadance don't count; just everypony else
Oh, this isn't gonna be a fun one, I can tell you that much...

And we have three simple words for this one as well: Slice of Life. Yes, it's an obvious fact that they're just in the background as to not playing major roles in pretty much every other episode, but how they could've worked as if they were each done one at a time (basically one episode per pony; like Octavia and Vinyl Scratch together, or Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings together... not to mention others like Dr. Hooves). Cause even minor characters really deserve a lot of development instead of just being crammed into one so-called "100th special" as to getting only 1/10 of it.

That was a big problem with Legend of Everfree (more on five of its "stars" later) - too many subplots that resulted in a confusing mess. The only difference is that Slice of Life is practically harmless enough for children whereas Legend of Everfree sends out some dangerous messages.

Getting back to the background ponies, are they all bad? Not really; some have a bit of potential for storytelling based on the established traits they have - see Amending Fences for context - and they could do with an episode or two... just as long as you don't cram it all into a single episode where it becomes a convoluted mess, but I digress.

We've both rambled on about this Sunset wannabe countless times before, so for a real explanation on why, read here for her current character nowadays, and here (under the section "DON'T Overuse Certain Characters") for just what Hasbro can do to give her at least some decency. Moving on to...

You might disagree, but during season six, Rainbow Dash somehow became 20 percent less cooler. It started off with her being bullied in Newbie Dash, and then there was the aforementioned Cart Before the Ponies and 28 Pranks Later.

Luckily though, the airings of Stranger Than Fan Fiction and Top Bolt gave her some credibility as to having at least some reputation she had back in previous seasons with other installments before Season 6 like Season 2's Read It and Weep and Season 3's Wonderbolts Academy.

We're halfway through the list, but there's one other Mane Six member that got off worse than Rainbow Dash...

That's right. Even Friendship is Magic's main protagonist lost her charm. And with reason, we feel Twilight is slightly higher than the Mane Six character we feel got the worst treatment above any other element of the six in season six.

Where do we start? Well, let's take a look at The Crystalling, shall we?

Twilight believes here that friendship is easy as "following a list" when it's actually more complex than that. However, I'd forgive that since she's getting used to be Starlight's teacher, but in the next episode Glim-Glam (yes, even I am not immune to using fandom nicknames) appeared in, Twilight... she was just as bad a teacher as she was in said premiere, coming off as a biased hypocrite. Not only that, but No Second Prances was also completely regressive for Friendship is Magic itself, going against everything the show is supposed to teach. And because of that, FiM has become a show with potential to be great, but it can only be seen as good at best.

We both still have serious respect for the character who was at her finest in masterpieces like Amending Fences and of course Twilight's Kingdom... and she still has given us great performances like with Rainbow Dash in Top Bolt. But please, Hasbro; bring back the Twilight we both knew and loved back then from the first four seasons (with some of season five also but still).

Two months have passed, and we still can't get over how rushed the Changelings' turn-around was. Where do we even start with them?

Thorax is already a character we're both neutral towards, and every other changeling of Queen Chrysalis herself was good (with A Canterlot Wedding being the prime example of this factor, whilst in the painful The Cutie Re-Mark she and her minions were just highlights), but then the most recent season finale (or as we both like to call it; the worst episode of the show to this day) happened.

And then there's the designs... sweet mother of Celestia, what is up with them?! If you thought Twilight becoming an Alicorn was bad, the new Changelings' designs take that up to eleven... thousand.

While Twilight randomly receiving new wings may not have been the best idea (since we were all used to her original unicorn form at first), she still has been written greatly throughout seasons four and five. Compared to the newer Changeling designs though, which were all completely unoriginal (mostly like "Final Fantasy villains" unoriginal), it practically was the best idea of the show despite that it technically wasn't.

Yeah, good idea done in one of the worst ways possible. Three more entries to go, and we may have controversy...

Speaking of Legend of Everfree, these five human counterparts of all of Twilight's friends have unfortunately lost their mojo even beforehand with Friendship Games.

Personally, I'm thinking of doing a post about the Human Five. Sure, they were pretty good in the first film, but perhaps one of Rainbow Rocks' most significant issues is how they regressed to being whiny, petty teenage girl stereotypes once more when it came to being a rock band. In fact, I can't believe even I missed out on that in my review!

Ah well, no one's perfect, I suppose, but never mind.

And don't get us wrong, we still love Rainbow Rocks as it's undoubtedly the best in the spinoff series, but another reason we felt they've been bruised badly is the fact they've also been overshadowed by the whiny Kim Kardashian of MLP characters (except that she doesn't take countless saucy selfies) known as Twilight's real human counterpart Sci-Twi, which is really just as bad as how Starlight overshadowed everyone in you-all-know-what.

The Human Five are possibly the most frustrating characters on the list, but we're basing them on how much they lost their mojo, so keep that in mind. So... who's number two?

Now this is where crap's really hitting the fan...!

Even despite her highlight of a role in Top Bolt (as both Twilight and Rainbow Dash obviously had), we just can't deny that this leader of the Wonderbolts still hasn't gotten any better over season six. I mean, this is the Pegasus who stood out and shined in breaths of fresh air like Wonderbolts Academy and Rarity Investigates!, but then, along with the other Wonderbolts, she went completely out of character in the cartoon abomination known as Newbie Dash.

You know, it kinda feels like the writers don't know what to do with her; is she really that jerkish or does she actually have a heart? C'mon, writers, make up your minds about her, will ya? If you're not interested in telling a story, then at least try to get the characters right! Is it that hard to do?

But then, of course, there's the number one contender for someone who'd totally lost her mojo...

You all know why we feel she's lost more mojo than any other MLP character in general, right?

Six words: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?

I know it's a rhetorical question, but my answer for that would be "no" if the princess in question is committing self-harm, therefore endangering her subjects in modern Equestria, and potentially coming off as a bad leader to said subjects. That's Luna in a nutshell.

Pinkie slandering about her in Luna Eclipsed is bad enough, not to mention she's often treated like Starlight when it comes to turning characters into nothing but pointless plot devices, but the fact that Magic Sheep completely wrecked her true character is honestly proof enough that even die-hard Luna fans really need to look more clearly at her personality, and not just (and only) the things that she's capable of doing. (Because really, we obviously blame Scott Sonneborn for ruining her).

Yeah, we're also looking right at you, Maleficent! But, again, I digress.

We'll see you all in the new year, and this is Zack Wanzer and Tyler Smith singing out.

4 comments:

  1. I think another reason why MLP has been going stale since Season 6 is because the Mane 6 are apart far too often. We really need more multiple-plot episodes with certain pairs interacting or seeing what's going on with them at the same time like Wonderbolt Academy and Trade Ya.

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  2. I can agree with most of the entries, though if I did a list like this, this is who'd I include (I wouldn't include Discord):

    10. The Human Five

    9. Background Ponies

    8. Spitfire

    7. Starlight Glimmer

    6. Rarity

    5. Applejack

    4. Rainbow Dash

    3. Chrysalis' Changelings

    2. Princess Luna

    1. Twilight Sparkle

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    Replies
    1. I got news for you; pretty soon, once Season 7's done (if not IMMEDIATELY right after), we'll be doing those characters that either gained, or REgained major character mojo. Since, you know, Season 7 has done soooooo many wonders for the series, and we've had no issues with the season other than that atrocious Party Pooped sequel Not Asking for Trouble, and the fandom-insulting Fame and Misfortune.

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    2. I dropped the show (season 7 hasn't interested me or caught my eye) but that sounds really good.

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