Why does it have to be “unpopular opinion”, why not just: “the G5 thread”?
Anyway, here’s one opinion:
Keeping the same characters for G5 is pointless. If Hasbro is trying to “play it safe” like this, then they are going to end up with a boring, no-taste, overdesigned mess. (Kind of how Disney did with SW.)
We have already suqeezed out everything that was possible from this line-up and inter-character dynamic. The mane 6 already got stale by season 3-4 or so. It’s even worse how at the beginning they were characters with bad habits and tendencies but a capacity to grow. If you check back in the early seasons, the characters clearly had subconscious inclinations that they followed even when they didn’t notice, but consciously they tried to do the smart and right thing. Now their traits are just frozen in obnoxious, unapologetic ways. Rainbow is proud and lazy, Pinkie is loudly obnoxious, etc. completely consciously. All because the writers really struggle with coming up with stuff for them to do in episodes that aren’t about them but where they are obliged to appear.
Do we really NEED another show of that? Just pull another choice of stock personalities from a list, and at least we can have some fresh fun with how THOSE will interact, in ways that can not be fit into the current 6.
Here, let me make some up off the top of my head:
- the artist. Toola Roola? Sure to connect with a fandom that’s brimming with creatives.
- the dojikko/clumsy girl. Derpy was a hit so why not make a main character that fills the same shoes?
- the poorgirl/unpopular girl who runs on sympathy.
- the darker and edgier rebel loner who stays that way.
Any stock harem anime girl archetype. It worked with Fluttershy, didn’t it?
- the newly introduced race that is part of the cast froma beginning. If the cast has a seapony from the start, say, that gives the whole show a new fresh feel, because it can’t help but follow a different direction from this show from the word go.
I’d entirely retool the world - princesses, spellcasting, race roles, etc. - playing with what worked/did not work/was left untried in this gen. Maybe this time earth ponies have magic powers on par with the others. Maybe pegasi use their own typ of magic. Perhaps unicorns aren’t wozards anymore, but have wishy powers like back in G1. Maybe cutie mark are actually granted consciously and can even be swapped or borrowed. Maybe magic has different rules - can be used by anyone, has certain requirements and bans - say, you have to evoke your bond with a SPECIFIC other character when you cast magic, so the state of any two character’s relationship has a different kind of importance. Maybe Equestria has a different blend of old and modern era and a different explanation why things are so.
There’s so much you can work with, all you have to do is break from this mindset of sticking to the old.
(Which sadly dominates Hasbro’s thoughs and decisions, which is why they consciously steered MLP into being a Disney/Monster High/Barbie clone.)
