The Issue With Megan

[Koudoawaia]

I think Transformers Spike was a lot more engaging than Megan myself.

[brightberry]

I liked Megan in the first two specials.   She wasn't essential, but I liked how the ponies loved her company.  I always thought Firefly brought her to give the others encouragement/hope.  Maybe many of the ponies felt so defeated by Tirek, they didn't believe in their own abilities and just needed some fresh energy.

However, the ongoing show made her too much of a crutch.  As a kid, I missed the original ponies and didn't care from how they went from "talking ponies" to humans in pony costumes.      

I also kind of feel that Megan was an ok character, just over used.  The ponies should have kept her visits limited and kept the rainbow of light hidden with her.  I guess as a kid, I assumed she held onto the rainbow to help keep it from pony enemies.  Apparently, they have a lot and ponyland was frequently invaded.







Edit:
I thought Spike was more interesting than Megan.  But I also frequently thought Spike was an embarrassment to human kind. 

[LadyMoondancer]

Edit:
I thought Spike was more interesting than Megan.  But I also frequently thought Spike was an embarrassment to human kind. 

I did like how he was buddies with Bumblebee, they had a good dynamic.  Even though Megan was sold with Sundance, they didn't really interact after Escape from Catrina.  (Actually I think Sundance only got a speaking line once in MLP & Friends, which is strange.)

[orangepeachmango]

Is anyone familiar with Spike (not the dragon lol) from G1 Transformers, and if so do you think he was more interesting than Megan, less interesting, or about the same?

I didn't think he was super interesting, and he also had the "I don't have any real flaws" thing going on, but he seemed a little more "real" to me than Megan.  I think he worked better because he spent a lot of time being interested in and learning about the Transformers, whereas with post-RaMC Megan, there didn't seem to be anything for her to learn about the ponies;  she knew enough about them / their world that they turned to her when there was trouble.   Whereas TF Spike was constantly being amazed by the Transformers, and was often kidnapped to kick off the plot.

I think he was just as boring as she was. What do you call a male version of a Mary Sue? The main character!

[Al-1701]

Spike was little more interesting than Megan, however it was because he was a mechanic so he, Sparkplug, and Chip were often involved in helping the Autobots with their projects.  They also stayed out of most of the fighting, keeping to a support role when the action started.

Danny filled that roll more with the ponies like making the recording of Bray to trick Grogar.  All Megan did was boss them around.

It would have been better if they had kept Megan a bit apprehensive about the ponies' world.  What if she ended up trapped in their world?  There's an idea.

[Gator]

Despite the haters, I will always like Megan
http://foxspotted.deviantart.com/art/Saying-Goodbye-192930324
Lord knows most of my life I've prayed for something magical to come take me away to something better.

[dragonfly]

I'm not sure who was more whiney, Shady, G1 Spike or Molly.

[Strawberry Swirl]

I've always kind of felt that in most of the original cartoon's episodes, Megan was there to drive the plot and the ponies were just there because they were required to be. You can guess that I like watching episodes that are without any of the human characters a lot better as a result.

Also I never got into Jem stuff but I totally agree with Taffeta's headcanon. >:3c

[Ponyfan]

I think Megan was maybe supposed to a character that little kids watching the show could imagine was them. I never had a Megan doll or Sundance growing up and I agree that Megan's best appearance is in Rescue at Midnight Castle where she doubts herself and even though she isn't sure how to defeat Tirek she's willing to try.

I like the idea that Megan keeps the Rainbow of Light with her to keep it hidden from the ponies enemies. I think it's funny that at the end of Escape from Catrina she gave the locket to Powder but by the time the movie came out the ponies had to find her to get it back.

I do like how the ponies deciding to get Megan in the Golden Horseshoes is handled. The ponies get Megan when they realize Mimic's illness is not something they've seen before. 

Ponyfan 

[lostpony]

I'm not sure who was more whiney, Shady, G1 Spike or Molly.

I'm.the whiniest.

No wait, I wasn't in G1. No fair.

If there's a reboot, I wanna be dragged to Ponyland and none of you will be complaining about me being boringly perfect...maybe being too whiny, "i'm in Ponyland, how come I don't get to have hooves or wings", that kind of thing.

I agree it seems Megan is there so we can replace her with ourselves, and she has to be important so we can be heroic in our fantasies, yes just like in Narnia.

As to the ponies being people in pony costumes...G4 does seem more like people as ponies than in G1 so maybe there's no humans in G4 because we insert ourselves as ponies. Or maybe dragons or apple trees, no wait that's Fluttershy and she's already in G4.

Just trying to liven things up a bit.

[kissthethunder]

I'd wager Megan was left deliberately blank, much as what's-her-name from Twilight, for the same reason.  Both are meant as viewer/reader inserts, for whomever is watching to drop themselves into the story along with a very stereotypical little brother and little sister.   I mean the bushwoolies have more character development than Megan... 

She's just very... decent at everything, has no outstanding flaws and thus no real room or motivation for improvement.  It's also what makes her rather bland, since it tends to be a characters struggles that make them feel human.

I'll second this, Megans purpose was always the viewing childs insert character. I think she was purposely made that way while other characters were far more fleshed out.

It, like most things, was a marketing ploy to make her a desirable 'perfect pony girl' for young girls to pretend to be and I think she served that purpose very well.

[MJNSEIFER]

I agree with those who have said that Megan was essentially supposed to be "you" (the target audience was, and still is girls after all), pretty much the first thing I thought of was that the over all feeling of Megan was supposed to be "She's making friends with the ponies, that means I could make friends with the ponies!", but literally being a stand-in for the viewer makes sense too.

Ulitmately I don't have anything against Megan, in fact I genuinely like her, but my main opinion her is that she served her purpose.

[Motion-Paradox]

Well they do have parents, in the movie we see Molly practicing horseback riding and Megan says "By the time Mom & Dad get back you'll be a champ"

I have to admit though, her having the Rainbow of Light made sense to me for two reasons: 1- The Ponies don't have fingers and Button's is the only one with levitation magic. 2- If I remember correctly there were a few villains who either wanted the Rainbow of Light or who likely would have wanted it, so having it be held onto by somebody who lives in a different world would be good for keeping it safe.

Though one thing we can get from her character is that she values fairness, which may be why she's made the judge for contests and whatnot since she is also a nutural third party, though the issue you're having could serve as a starting point; She could still want to help the Ponies, but feel limited by her role as the species' big sister and want to become the Witch's apprentice to help her get a better idea of who she is

[Jinxxy]

I always assumed she was just a basic blank slate for any little girl to project themselves onto. If they had strong opinions and likes/dislikes it might interfere with that.

[Taffeta]

I always assumed she was just a basic blank slate for any little girl to project themselves onto. If they had strong opinions and likes/dislikes it might interfere with that.

If this is the case, though, it royally backfired, since so many people grew up not really liking her very much. Or is that just those of us still into MLP and the ones who used Megan as a SI moved on from the series?

(Not trying to generalise, I am sure there are some Megan fans still among us, but the vast majority of the time people here seem neutral towards her, or to dislike her).

I saw her as irrelevant as a child and resented her being there when she was, so it totally failed to work on me. But as I said before, I loathed blonde dolls because it was all we ever had in the UK. I wanted some ethnic diversity, even at age five - so Megan was absolutely not getting any attention from me. (This all bearing in mind I was a white, British kid who, at that time, had blond hair).