Top 10 My Little Pony Characters That Were DOA

Well, 2017 has been an interesting year, to say the least. No, I haven't finished up my season seven overview cause I'm pretty much struggling to find anything I could say that I haven't yet. Suffice it to say it'll be delayed for at least a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, to fill the gap, here's another collaborative post I did with The Super Mario Brony.

A couple of notes here; bold text is said by yours truly, and that italicized text is said by Tyler. Also, it was written prior to December, so forgive us if information is dated.

Remember the post earlier this year where Tyler and I listed potential ways that 2017 could salvage or sink MLP? Well, one of the kills for MLP was that they brought back characters that were unlikable from the get-go.

Now that all of Season 7 has aired (not to mention anything recent in the EG spinoff franchise), we'll be looking at those characters that could've gained themselves likability or potential within them, but in the end, didn't end up getting what they could've gotten.

Like many of our previous character lists, any character from both Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls is fair game.

And these characters we'll be mentioning make the cut, mainly due to poor writing and poor characterization. Therefore, we're not including characters that weren't trying to gain a cult following from many of us in the fandom, nor any characters that purposefully meant to be unlikable by our standards. (i.e. Svengallop)

Okay, I realize this choice to kick off our list is a bit contentious, to say the least. But really, it was all we could think of to avoid a Top 9. That, and if we included a certain green-haired jackass that shall remain nameless, it would've been too obvious. Anyway, Derpy Hooves.

Everyone has often adored her for her many background appearances, and her shining roles in Slice of Life and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?. (Even if her role in The Last Roundup strangely came out as controversial amongst disabled people) But quick question: "For a show that actually develops many of its characters, do minor characters like Derpy deserve so much love JUST CAUSE she makes 'interesting' background appearances throughout so many episodes?"

And this is pretty much a spoiler for the rest of the list, but I'll comment on it anyway; to fully care about a character, they need to be made relatable to the audience. They don't necessarily need complex backstories for us to care; just enough character to feel relatable. Derpy... hmm, how do I put this politely? ...kind of doesn't.

And yes, we get that background characters aren't meant to develop themselves, but do they really deserve some attention when they're not playing major roles? The answer to that... is a big fat NO.

To best sum these characters up, they have about as much wasted potential as a group of baddies in The Muppets movie (of 2011) known specifically as (for those of you who've seen and know what we're talking about) The Moopets.

Based off the trailers of Friendship Games, it looked as if they were going to be the Anti-Human Five (we'll come to the former sixth member later). Seems like a cool idea, right?

Ha-ha! ...nope.

Yeah, it have been somewhat nice to see them shine with at least SOME decent quality in Dance Magic, but what about their parts in Friendship Games?

They contributed literally nothing, their personalities were as interesting as a brick wall, and all they did was just stand there and looked pretty. Sorry, but good looks don't make good characters. As for why they aren't higher? Like I said, they had potential, but it wasn't utilized within the 72 minute time frame; there's no excuse for not trying.

Admittedly, we don't think Sunburst is necessarily a "bad" character per se... BUT, we did say characters who tried gaining a cult following amongst the fandom that had poorly executed characterization or writing overtime (or just hardly ANY of the two said qualities for that matter), right? And unlike his childhood friend Starlight (who earned TONS of it in a good way during Season 7 surprisingly), Sunburst suffered both of those qualities for various reasons.

It isn't helped that whilst Starlight had some interesting qualities in The Cutie Map, Sunburst had none from the get go.

If you want a pony who's really great with magic, you have Twilight, Starlight and Sunset, and the latter's basically an EG-exclusive character. If you want somepony that's a foalhood friend to a major character, you've got Moon Dancer. If you want an introvert character, you've got Fluttershy who's gained some great development, as well as Coco Pommel and Maud Pie.

And you might make the argument that he gained some in Uncommon Bond to an extent, but the way we both see it, it's kind of a part of one of our kills on 'Making Plots and Character Development More Random than Original'.

Does Sunburst have any chance of gaining any character in season eight or nine? (And yes, a ninth season has been confirmed.) I don't know, but if that were the case, it won't take away the fact he went through two seasons without any real character. You have 26 episodes to work with.

We've made it pretty clear over the years that we HATE Starlight's partner-in-crime, Trixie.

When she started off in Boast Busters as a selfish showoff who was just trying to gain the attention of literally everypony in Ponyville, she was just unbearable that we wished she would just never come back for another episode (much like other entries we're discussing on the countdown). But when she learned a lesson after Twilight saved her, she got her comeuppance in admitting it aloud. In Magic Duel (which was rather good no matter how much we still loathe her), she was a real threatening villain what with that Alicorn Amulet possessing her, where it was the amulet that made her worse than usual, but not where she wanted every evil thing to be the way she made it entirely.

But when Season 6 started off with No Second Prances, then that's where not only a protagonist like Twilight was derailed, but also where her bloody irritating persona became TEN TIMES WORSE! Her showoff attitude and constant bragging about how better she was than a lot of other characters in Boast Busters was already annoyingly terrible enough, but an episode where she tries to plot against Twilight through the use of her new "friend" that is Starlight? Unacceptable! And her role in To Where and Back Again makes no difference as she deserves more development for herself to justify her past transgressions just as Starlight has now done.

In Season 7, she was no different as she was still the same annoying pony she was back then, even when All Bottled Up had the right to characterize her into learning yet another lesson. But what about her role in To Change a Changeling? Well it's rather enjoyable seeing Starlight being her voice of reason, rather than for her to try and portray herself as somepony new (which there was no change in her character at all when the episode came around). (And I didn't mention the season premiere that is Celestial Advice since it focused more on Starlight and Celestia than her, even though awarding her, Starlight, Discord, and Thorax medals was one small point of the plot to start the season off)

So yeah, she might be Starlight's friend, and had a good role in Magic Duel, but you know what? We can look past her on being Starlight's friend, but not her irritating persona as she is still THE most annoying pony in MLP history. As for any last hopes she has? Yeah, I got nothing...

Speaking of one-note characters, does anybody even remember Plaid Stripes? ... No? Then you've pretty much figured out the problem we have with her; she's annoying at worst, and forgettable at best.

And what about her own father, Mr. Stripes?

Well, Mr. Stripes seems obviously biased about his daughter having a job.

And yeah, there's no point as to bringing them back, since one's nonsensical while the other loathsome in every manner of a character. So what else is there to say, other than if they attempt to come back, we doubt they'd do something redeemable?

Even after he made amends with Pinkie in Ponyville and with other ponies in Season 5's Party Pooped, Prince Rutherford still stands out as a detestable character who's easy to loathe.

The fact that he was a stubborn jerk in Not Asking for Trouble makes it worse. I suppose I get the message they were trying to go for, but the way it was presented makes the episode one of season seven's weakest.

How you'd approve of him even after he makes amends with other characters throughout the series besides Pinkie Pie and the rest of the Mane Six is beyond us, but these stereotypical jerks have to be characters who literally have no hope for themselves whatsoever. And to give off a little FYI to any writer who's gonna TRY to impress us with them and their current characterization; Pfft. Yeah, good luck! 😠

Timtin Sprieber could've been a contender on the countdown, but because he didn't try to gain that much of a cult following during Everfail, we have to give that dishonor to his sister, Gloriosa Daisy (or, as I like to call her based on how bankrupt she and her villainous motives are; Maleficent Daisy).

There's not a whole lot I could say about her that I haven't. Stupid motivations, not thinking clearly, and practically getting away with terrorizing the campers make Gloriosa rank very high on the list. Seriously, Camp Everfree is run by incompetent counselors who can't row a boat to save their lives.

And if we need to make our selves very clear; just because we didn't mind a similar villain being done before her, doesn't mean we want that particular villain recycled through another character... like her! Cause literally, Maleficent Daisy does it the wrong way. So give us more ideal villains than just the same one over and over again after Sunset's original evil self, Hasbro!

Yep, you saw her coming. And she's only at #3 on the list. The short version is that she is NOT who Twilight is supposed to be. The long version? Twilight is supposed to be a brave, confident, wise character. Sci-Twi is none of these things.

And we've summed up her whiny, crybaby-ish persona more than once, but what about any last hopes she has?

Well, they could do what they should've done from the start by pairing her with Flash, but... nope. They do nothing for the poor guy (yes, nothing - don't even bring up a "shipping" that was also DOA) and replace him a character that's everything fans complained about, except ten times worse. She's a lost cause by this point.

And besides, sometimes even good characters can add charm to bad ones in some way, shape, or form. (At least most of the time)

So you gotta imagine Hasbro would have better ideas for EG characters, but, unfortunately they haven't in recent times because Juniper Montage was in the EG specials that became a thing right after the spinoff went downhill - especially what with Legendary Everfail. We also like to think of this brat as the Arianna Grande of MLP characters.

I've already done an analysis post on the bespectacled brat, but to sum it up, Juniper might've been a good character if A) she wasn't a cliched villain, and B) she actually brought something new to the table. Juniper did neither, and it says a lot when fans can make better characters than her.

And since the spinoff has just died completely after the specials, there's really no point at making anymore nonsense out of it, cause literally other than Sunset and Flash (to an extent), there are no other characters worth bringing to the table since they're all just unbearably derailed for the worst.

I've yet to compile a list of my Top 10 worst characters of MLP. Whilst Thorax would undeniably be on the list, he also receives the "honor" of having the biggest amount of wasted potential.

Thorax also earns our top spot for his characterization and lack of development he has earned overtime. In fact, here's a brief list if you all will of the characters who seriously put his story arc to absolute shame: Sunset Shimmer, Discord, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Star Swirl the Bearded, the CMCs, the Wonderbolts, Lord Tirek, Pharynx, Trixie Lulamoon, Cadence, Shining Armor, Cheese Sandwich, Pear Butter & Bright Mac, Grand Pear, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Moon Dancer, Vapor Trail & Sky Stinger, Celestia, Colortrua, Maud Pie, the Dazzlings, Coco Pommel, Daring Do, Trouble Shoes, Gilda, Babs Seed, Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mage Meadowbrook, Princess Luna, the Rich family, the Pie family, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, the Hooffields and McColts, Stygian/Pony of Shadows, Twilight Velvet & Night Light, Sunburst, Our Town ponies, the yaks, the breezies, Silver Shill.

Yeah. Even Starlight's story arc is better than Thorax's story arc.

We could go on for ages as to why they all work (in most cases), but, to make a long story short, Thorax's story arc was a flop from start to... whenever it ends. He couldn't even stand up for himself in his debut and when he next appeared in the season six finale, his changes were just handed to him on a silver platter.

And yes, To Change a Changeling may have been surprisingly good to us while anything else where Thorax plays a major role in is either average (Triple Threat) or just... well, bad (The Times They Are A Changeling), but his messed up arc was also one of those causes of TCaC's imperfection.

All that said, if Thorax had been assertive in standing up for himself in his debut, he could've been an interesting character, but... nope. This has been Zack Wanzer, and Tyler Smith, and we'll see you in the new year 2018!