My Little Pony - Generation 5

Looks like they got another good show on their hands. Or should I say hooves?

Edited by Demetrios on May 12th 2022 at 8:55:05 AM

x4, x3 So like a Henshin Hero?

Hmm. The animation's taken a step down, but that's to be expected. Smaller budget and all that.

Seems like something will be happening with earth pony magic, which I'm very much down for. FIM always kind of beat around the bush when it came to nailing down precisely what that's actually supposed to be, so it should be interesting to see what G5 decides to make it.

... I would be a lot more of a fan of that dragon design if it didn't have a face quite that... human.

My first impression was Baby Yoda as a dragon, to be honest. Not a very attractive design. I agree it looks just a little too human.

Edited by Redmess on May 13th 2022 at 10:46:44 AM

But baby Yoda is cute! I will need time to get used to this dragon design.

I also will need time to get used to this dragon, but I'm glad it seems to be latching on to Hitch. He needs something.

Hitch is kind of interesting, in the sense that he's counted as part of the Mane Five but in the first film, he's kind of bland. He barely interacts with anyone because he doesn't really want to be here, and what interactions he gets are complicated by his arc.

Hitch is basically a Slice-of-Life antagonist who's job is to spend half of the film being wrong, and then slowly come around to Sunny's way of thinking. He's basically Twilight Sparkle from the Nightmare Moon two-parter, if Applejack had been the show's central protagonist; If Twilight had basically just followed AJ around, watching her solve the plot and defeat Nightmare Moon, while occasionally taking moments to go, "Ohhhh, friendship is GOOD, actually. Okay, I see it now."

This makes him come across as condescending at worst, kinda boring at best. Condescending because despite the audience being told that he's Sunny's only friend, he thinks she's a batshit lunatic with deranged fringe ideas who needs to be rescued from her own stupidity. Yeah, the word "friend" here comes with some massive asterisks. He's her "friend" only in the sense that he's the one person whose disdain for her manifests as a condescending disapproval rather than outright hostility.

And kinda boring because there's not a lot to him outside of that arc. He never really has a protagonist dynamic. He's just a cop learning not to be racist, and it feels like the only reason he's considered protagonist material is because he happens to be "friends***" with an interesting character.

But Hitch isn't going anywhere. Hasbro does want him to be one of the main protagonists. But he can't just relapse into Racist Cop and then learn not to be racist over and over again. So. Like. He needs something else for his character to be about. Partnering him with a baby dragon is a good start.

Yeah, the "something else" seems to be "be the new Fluttershy". Maybe they'll center the environmentalism message more on him, while leaving the Friendship National Healing Project to Sunny.

Speaking of Sunny, her being an earth pony while occasionally transforming into an alicorn feels a bit like Hasbro having its cake and eating it too: have the protagonist be a normal, relatable pony from the least special race, but also having her be a super special alicorn not-quite-princess. And you can't really quite have it both ways.

I disagree.

While Hitch is basically the Inspector Antagonist to Sunny, he has many little quirks that lend him a fully-realized personality.

Like the way he keeps tapping his hoof to the music without realizing what he's doing. It's one subtle trait, but it really tells you everything you need to know: straight-laced on the outside, but deep down he wants to have fun. He wears a mask of professionalism that slips off when he doesn't expect it. Perfectly sells his eventual change of heart.

I'm not following the second part of your argument, where you say he's a bad character because he's condescending? It seems to rely on our knowledge as viewers that Sunny's value system is metaphysically correct, and that he should know that, rather than listen to the status quo. But the fact that he's such an agent of the status quo and yet is willing to interact with Sunny at all and guide her towards what he thinks is socially-acceptable behavior also says a lot about his character, even if it's incorrect (on a metaphysical level) from our point of view. Though they have clashing value systems, he's willing to try and "rescue" his friend from being a pariah.

Yeah, there's lots of hints throughout the movie that show Hitch's character. He's good with animals (even if he doesn't understand why they like him), he cares a lot about the town more to protect it than any kind of individual glory, he finds himself getting wrapped up in the musical numbers, and he takes to the lessons everyone else learns too, by the end.

Right. Like I said, he's a cop whose entire story is that he learns not to be racist, and his only significant character traits are that he's a cop and that he cares about his friend, despite hating everything she believes, stands for, and is.

Hitch has an arc in the first movie. But he's not supposed to be an arc character, popping in for the sake of this one story and then leaving when it's complete. He's supposed to be main cast. Which means he needs more than an already completed arc to define him. He needs actual character traits outside of his arc. He needs actual stuff to do other than following Sunny around going, "Yeah, what she said."

Stapling this new dragon character to him is a step in that direction. It gives him a new dynamic to replace his old, completed arc.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 13th 2022 at 12:12:09 PM

It's also good in another way: showing a guy taking care of a young child for a change.

Yes, the opportunity to depict Hitch as a male care-giver is a great one that should not be passed up.

I don't really get your argument, sorry.

Outside the Canterlogic factory, he waves hello to some passing women with a winning smile and confident tone of voice. Then he turns around and berates Sunny for trying to ruin his image. But she says "Come ooooon," and he immediately gives in to temptation and does a stupid children's dance with a scowl on his face.

Being eager to please. Wanting other people to look up to him. Putting on a self-conscious "I'm the sheriff" facade. Reluctantly breaking it to make his pushy friend happy, despite their clashing value systems. Being torn between his duty as a role model for the town and his friendship with the town pariah.

These are character traits.

This one conversation is like six lines of dialogue, yet it gets all that across perfectly.

Unlike Zipp, who has little personality because she's introduced halfway through the film and does almost nothing after the heist (and was woefully miscast), the whole first act is full of character-building moments for Sunny and Hitch.

Edited by WarriorsGate on May 13th 2022 at 1:51:27 AM

Those traits are all setup for his conflict. He's a decent guy who wants what's best for his town and gets along well with others, but also buys into the same xenophobic rhetoric that everyone elsebelieves. He thinks Sunny's a complete lunatic, but because they're childhood friends, he has an emotional connection with her that compels him to stick his neck out for her despite himself. That's his conflict, and all of those moments serve to set it up.

But that conflict is over. It's been resolved. What, do you think he's going to keep right on coasting on the same scenes? Keep being xenophobic but nice-ish towards Sunny while trying to convince her to stop reaching out to other ponies? Because he's not. That was a plot, and it's one that was wrapped up and concluded in the same film.

He has to do other things now. He can't keep being "torn between his duty as a role model for the town and his friendship with the town pariah" because she isn't the town pariah anymore. He can no longer be "reluctantly breaking [his sheriff mode] to make his pushy friend happy, despite their clashing value systems" because their value systems aren't clashing anymore.

That character is done. Finished. Wrapped up, tied off, nothing more to say. Hitch can't be that character anymore. So the writers need to figure out who he is in a post-Sunny Was Right world. He needs a new function as a character because his old function is a resolved plotline.

Racist cop learned not to be racist. But he still needs to be a dynamic character for the ongoing series. So what is that character going to be?

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 13th 2022 at 1:15:08 AM

You could make the exact same argument about Sunny. Sunny was proven right, ergo her character has nowhere to go.

Hitch can still be eager to please and put on the pretense of being a role model towards the people who elected him — and butt heads with Sunny over how to solve issues — without it revolving around the nativism issue.

It all depends on the writing staff coming up with interesting situations for their situation comedy.

Normal cop turned animal carer? Like I said, they're turning him into Male Fluttershy.

And yeah, he is still the sheriff. That alone is going to provide plenty of material on its own.

Edited by Redmess on May 13th 2022 at 10:47:38 AM

Sunny's arc isn't complete, the way Hitch's is. More specifically: Sunny doesn't have an arc in the conventional sense. She has the Flat Character Arc.

Sunny is a static figure whose sole job in the story is to be the person who is unyieldingly right, even in the face of other characters trying to insist that she's wrong. An unmoving, unchanging Beacon of Truth that shines a light on the Lies that other characters believe. The impetus of change and growth in other characters, by virtue of their proximity to her and the truths she carries.

Hitch is such a character. Like the rest of their society around him, he believes a Lie and is made to confront it by the force of Sunny's Truth. This is how characters like Sunny work. She doesn't need to find a new dynamic, because her dynamic is universal. She's Captain America, Superman, or Twilight Sparkle in several FIM stories. A lot of different stories have utility for an unshakable Truth-Bearer, regardless of the context they exist in.

Hitch, by contrast, does have a conventional arc. He's the fence-sitter. But he can't keep sitting on the fence forever. He's already picked which side of the fence he wants to be one, and then the fence itself was torn down. Sunny can go on being the Truth-Bearer who sheds light on other stories, but Hitch can't just keep going on finding new fences to sit on.

I mean. Is that really all you want this character to be? The stupid asshole who goes "NO, YOU'RE WRONG" and then has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Truth again and again and again? Because that sounds like a recipe for a pretty obnoxious character.

Not at all. I'm not sure anyone is saying he should be.

You seem to be arguing against the fundamentals of episodic television. Like, if you watch an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the way the crew approaches a dilemma is going to be influenced by their characterization. Worf wants to go into battle, Geordi has some nerdy technical solution, Deanni Troi will go the empathic route, etc.

The Mane Five come across the dilemma of the episode. Sunny and Hitch have opposing ways to solve it shaped by their personalities. Sunny's personality is optimistic, stubborn, and full of heart, while Hitch will put on his cowboy act and try to suave his way through it while reining Sunny in. They come into conflict over the best solution. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they compromise. They remain friends despite their bickering.

It's a fairly standard television pattern.

Edited by WarriorsGate on May 13th 2022 at 3:43:23 AM

It seems the opening clip of the the Make Your Mark special has been released:

I noticed (Sunny?) say "Dragons haven't been seen for generation!" Does that suggest whatever happened to them was much more recent than what happened to G4 if it had faded to myth but Dragons were still so remembered?

Also, Hitch now able to speak to animals isn't/shouldn't be their new earth pony magic given Fluttershy had it. Is it their becoming the Element of Kindness materials have stated?

It's a nice theme song. Fun and peppy, not quite as saccharine as Fi M's theme either.

Zipp just gives an exposition dump right of the bat. Not a very graceful start of the episode. If this is supposed to be the first episode after the movie, it sure seems to be skipping some important story beats in favour of an info dump.

The eyes on these ponies seem oddly deep. On the females, it kind of suggests mascara, but Hitch has the black lines as well. They really stand out against the otherwise lineless animation.

Oh gods, Sunny's forelegs bend both ways! It's really clear when she's holding that microphone. The leg on the ground bends like a horse's leg, but the one holding the microphone has a human elbow.

Also, things just stick to hooves now. There's really no way around it.

Wow, Pip really puts the earth ponies on the spot there. "Show us what you can do", indeed. I mean, she means Sunny, but in context, she also means earth ponies.

I'm curious, does this stream look like any real world platforms? And if it doesn't, how long until someone imitates the style in real life?

And there will be a concert in town, and I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

Well, that's it for the... well, not cold open, exactly, but opening bit.

Pretty sure Argyle was making stuff up for his daughter's bedtime stories. There's no way that Art Deco balloon station under Zephyr Heights is more than a century old. It's too well preserved and it has a poster of Sunny's lighthouse that looks identical to the modern day. If we judge by real-life aesthetics, then the balloon station is about a hundred years older than the city above, which fits in with Sunny's "dragons haven't been seen for generations" comment.

I think the new theme song sounds pretty bad. FIM had some great music that was stolen wholesale from Stephen Sondheim—I mean, fun and interesting to listen to. But then Equestria Girls went with all this bland jock-pop full of asinine, on-the-nose lyrics, and between the two shows it was always very obvious where Ingram put all his attention.

After the great music in the film, this feels like history repeating itself.

Edited by WarriorsGate on May 15th 2022 at 2:25:33 AM

As further evidence that G4 took place in the Gilded Age, apparently this is their version of "The Scream" (painted 1893):

https://youtu.be/jmbpAXpFGtg?t=109

I have no idea how or why this painting exists in Maretime Bay, since earth ponies hated pegasi. But I am 100% positive that that painting belongs in a museum, to be cherished as a national treasure for generations to come.

Edited by WarriorsGate on May 15th 2022 at 10:14:24 AM

That link doesn't work for me.