MLP G5 Discussion and Speculation Thread

@hironakamura
I doubt that’s the case.

@Dex Stewart
I’m a fan of super sentai. They didn’t use the “6th ranger” concept until much later in the era. The traditional group was 5 with red always being leader (unless they were screwing around with anniversary specials.) But you will never find a combination in super sentai that is less than 5. There’s metal heroes and kamen rider and tokkusatsu traditions that are not written in stone but ARE followed because of tradition. I’m not familiar with the Power Rangers though. I’m not familiar with the american interpretation.

@Litrojia

There’s no rule to this but its a recurring theme that G4 has. G5 doesn’t need to use it if they were independent from g4 but the show runners chose to rely on g4’s lore for g5. So don’t be surprised if people find it jarring if there’s no representation of the rule of 6 all of a sudden. If done with TMNT, fans would ask why there’s suddenly 3 turtles instead of 4? If done with power rangers, why are there 4 instead of 5? Imagine Transformers show with an Optimus Prime character but no Megatron or vice versa. People will notice this.

@ichiban iceychan 1517
Please elaborate so I may be enlightened by your perspective.

@Litrojia
Having Sprout immediately be integrated into the group because it happened off screen is bad writing. I don’t think the show runners will waste that potential. There’s a lot of story telling elements that can be done showing him grow over time. He’s literally named Sprout. It defeats the purpose if you don’t see the process.

The problem comes from people with a very narrow band of perspective regarding archtypes like Sprout saying he’s mean or whatever. People seem to have selective amnesia when it came to the mane 6 of g4. AJ and RD fought all the time. AJ and Rarity fought all the time. Twi abused her magic to get what she wanted in multiple occasions. And for lack of a better term, RD really was a cunt. She played pranks on every one.

If anything, Sprout feels like he rounds out the new g5 ponies because without him, their group is really boring. There’s no trouble maker or someone with an alternate perspective to things. He really feels like the AJ of the group who is not afraid to tell the truth as it is even if it hurts others feeling.

@hironakamura

@hironakamura
But the thing is that many of those franchises carry over the exact same main characters from generation to generation. MLP reuses characters across gens (with significant modification) every once in a while, but the core group has never been static, and G4 to G5 is no exception. That’s just not a fair comparison.

People want elements of G4 to be preserved. I get that, but this isn’t G4 anymore, nor is it G4.5 or G4.75 or whatever. Hasbro felt the need to capitalize on G4’s success by tying it in, but G5 is its own generation regardless. Folks can have ideas of G4 things to incorporate into G5, as people did with G1-3 stuff in G4, but people endlessly clamoring for particular elements of G4 to be brought back wears me down. If you want those things, go watch FIM. Read the comics. Check out Fimfiction. G5 doesn’t need all of G4’s baggage, and if that’s a problem for people, too bad.

@hironakamura
Again, they absolutely could bring Sprout into the group down the road. The name theory is one I’ve seen tossed around before and is fairly compelling. My issue is people whose view of G5 is so colored by their hope of Sprout’s reformation that they shoehorn the prospect into unrelated places or make believe that it’s already so. It’s just annoying. And I’m not saying all Sprout fans and people rooting for his reformation are like this; it’s just a few individuals.

You’re also right that the movie’s core cast was relatively devoid of character flaws compared to G4, even in an apples to apples comparison of their pilots alone. It’s a concern of mine. Whether they give the main cast a more interesting dynamic or not could make or break G5, and either could happen regardless of what they do with Sprout.

@Dex Stewart
They had 2 members added later. Even Go Busters and Hurricaneja looked like its a trio only to reveal 2 more members later.

@Litrojia
Can you blame people that want to preserve the elements when it served as a mega mcguffin in most of g4’s lore? I’m not focusing on the characters. I’m focusing on g4’s concept of the rule of six.

Imagine if Transformers dumped the idea of energon and replaced it with something else called mech fluid. They also would never mention energon. Imagine if Ghostbusters stopped using proton packs and started calling them particle accelerators instead. What if Star Trek lore stopped describing transporters as matter energy converters and instead started saying they bend space time. Fans are gonna notice when things in the a developed lore are ignored or changed.

G5 already crossed a line when they had g4’s mane 6 appear at the start of their movie. They cannot uncross that line anymore.

@hironakamura
Because those animations are just test animations uses for testing out the models and to get a feel of how the characters act. The reason Sprout gets one along with the mane cast is because he’s the villain of the film, which means he would need to have animation tests done for him too since he’d get more screen time compared to the other non-mabe cast members.

The promo stuff was probably just marketing stuff they forgot/never used, I don’t see how that would mean that it would include him getting a redemption arc in the show, and since they’ve already announced the voices for the show, and Sprout was not mentioned at all, chances are he’s not gonna have a big role in the series (or at least not as big as his movie one)

@hironakamura
So mlp could eventually add more main characters. Nothing says this story set in the distant future has to revolve around the same number of characters as before.

@ichiban iceychan 1517
Actually no. The “test animation” you’re referring to is from a cgi animator that literally said he was hired to make promotional material for 2 ponies. Hitch and Sprout. According to his page, he said he was instructed to make promo art for those two ponies under the following description. Hitch is described as confident and egocentric while Sprout was described as grumpy and cowardly. I’ll try to find the link if I can but that was a while ago.

@Dex Stewart
Using the word “nothing” is assuming too much because g5 already shot themselves in the foot when they chose to ride g4’s lore coat tail instead of making their own.

I wouldn’t care if Sprout becomes a main character or not, just as long as how they’ll handle him

@hironakamura
What in g4 said that a group of specificly six ponies had to form a group together?

@Dex Stewart
I was about to say, don’t other shows also have a six or so character dynamic? Why is it only exclusive to G4?

@Myoozik
What?

@Dex Stewart
I’m agreeing with you there

@Dex Stewart
The rule of six. Six elements made by the six pillars, later inherited by six friends who had six students of friendship. Kind of hard to miss the pattern, actually.

@hironakamura
Why do the g5 ponies have to control the same elements?

@Dex Stewart
That’s the thing. They don’t. But if they went that way, wouldn’t fans ask the opposite of your question? “Why DIDN’T the g5 ponies control the same 6 elements?” “Why’d they make new ones?” “What happened to the old ones?” etc…

@Myoozik
Agreed.

@hironakamura
It’s all part of Celestia’s master plan.

@Dex Stewart
The one we pretend she has?

@Lord WyrmSpawN
The one the writers make up as they go along.

I suppose the writes could just handwave that as a side effect of magic being lost and then restored from the crystals.