DHX hit with major data breach (beware of spoilers)

[Sweet Daes]

Spoiler-ish rant ahead.

Spoiler

That first line in the pic gives them more of a horse-like look, and I really like that. G4 took time to grow on me because of the designs, and the G4Movie designs are a step downward, in my opinion. They are breaching the uncanny valley, if not looking more like taller, candy-colored, slender pigs with upturned snouts.

Out of all of those designs, I am mostly not a fan of the change in the breeds of pony. Maybe even a little perturbed. They never gave a straight answer on how cutiemarks actually work, so naming a unicorn a name that more befits a flier is irritating. At the very least, if a pony is named and the talent accidentally fits the name, that's cool. I like that idea. That leads me to feel that it would be pretentious of Fluttershy's parents to name her something that describes a cutiemark that she hasn't gotten. It adds a whole new layer of confusion to what your special talent is in respect to your name and species. I really, really don't like that at all.

If I may~~~

Fluttershy seems like a really silly name to call a unicorn, regardless if she has butterflies on her rump. The name has more of a "flyer" ring to it, so stripping her of her wings is a bummer. I really like the idea that she was given a talent to communicate with creatures that was outside of what the show tagged as "magic", so it made her more special in general.

Pinkie being a pegasus annoys me more. Being that earth ponies have an innate magic in the current G4 show, it sets her apart from most earth ponies because of her story and growth- the magic to make people laugh. Same as Fluttershy, it made her more special as an earth pony. Making her anything else could make her completely insufferable because of her personality. Floating upside down having a manic episode or buzzing around like she is hyped on caffeine? No, thank you. We get enough of that from Rainbow Dash, and there are points where SHE even pushes that limit, and she's not the one who is designed to make people laugh.

Though, if Twilight Sparkle is losing her horn, I'd prefer her to be a different color entirely. Purple has always had "royal" connotations (Renaissance festivals and historical references FTW, yo), and if there is any reason to believe they will alicorn her again, that just wouldn't be a surprise. In that regard, Twilight being purple is rational, and is much more faithful to what the color signifies. At least with a purple unicorn the contributing factors make a little more sense. Her name also doesn't sound reasonable for a pony that doesn't have the power to actually sparkle- she has lost the "magic of friendship" so a name that sounds ethereal doesn't fit. Twilight Sparkle as a purple pony without any actual unicorn magic just doesn't suit her any more.

Applejack will forever be my favorite- she has barely changed since G1, and I'm good with that.

1) Yay for horsey designs!

2) This is not the first time ponies have changed species. Fluttershy was originally a pink Earth Pony. Twilight Sparkle's predecessor was originally a purple Earth pony named Twilight Twinkle. If you look her up, you'll see that Sparkle is nearly a dead ringer for Twinkle. Purple being a royal color means zip, zero, zilch in every generation of MLP. If the G3 kids can get over the species swap, so can others.

3) Maybe they're going back to the way the old symbols were. They're just there. Cutie mark=destiny was a dumb, rigid premise to introduce so late into the franchise anyway impo.

4) There are lots of ponies whose name would fit a different species. Skyflier would better suit a Pegasus, Flutter or Winger, but she's a unicorn and that's fine.
Wave Runner would better suit a sea pony or merpony, but she's a pegasus. And so on and so on.

G4 grew into its own, to the point where they are the most recognizable characters out of the entire franchise to a large group of viewers/followers of various ages. To laterally transfer the personality but only half of the current designs doesn't sit with me from a marketing standpoint. I do not believe that they did a great job of that in the first place with G4- they were just able to work around it really well. Granted, we don't have any of the sales data or reasons why they decided to shift the mane 6 species, but if they are going to do a reboot of the show I feel the direction they have already taken it is shaky, at best. I am not opposed to harking back more to the roots, but from a storytelling standpoint, they are losing a lot of potential. For instance, pre-90s G1 didn't have bakers- G3 did, but G4 did it better and more relatable as a human.

In short: if this is how G4 started around the discussion table then it's left a lot to be desired. While G4 is not the longest-running line, it is the most recognized, so they will have an uphill battle when it comes to adult fans if they don't handle it with care.

I can name off a whole lot of reasons why the current culture+naming schemes+poniological influences that the G4 just annoys me in general. The world was built pretty well in some cases, but others notsomuch. Like you mentioned, the cutiemarks being tied to destiny.

In my eyes, all of the inconsistencies and plot points that have written them into a corner can be straightened out since they won't have to retcon already-established tendencies in older/current generations. While it's a neat idea that they are keeping the recognizable characters, haphazardly changing them without taking a new world they need to build into account is going to lead them right back to where G4 put them.

Unless I am mistaken, I have not seen anything about the world these characters are supposed to live in, which is what my ranty-rant-rant is based on.

Just rambling lol

[Zapper]

Row 2 has the most amazing Rarity and RD, imo. They remind me of Last Unicorn and an Amazon. Very strong designs. I just fear these are too detailed to translate well onto a toy or even a flash cartoon. Toon Boom would be a must for row 2

[Mana Minori]

Spoiler-ish rant ahead.

Spoiler

That first line in the pic gives them more of a horse-like look, and I really like that. G4 took time to grow on me because of the designs, and the G4Movie designs are a step downward, in my opinion. They are breaching the uncanny valley, if not looking more like taller, candy-colored, slender pigs with upturned snouts.

Out of all of those designs, I am mostly not a fan of the change in the breeds of pony. Maybe even a little perturbed. They never gave a straight answer on how cutiemarks actually work, so naming a unicorn a name that more befits a flier is irritating. At the very least, if a pony is named and the talent accidentally fits the name, that's cool. I like that idea. That leads me to feel that it would be pretentious of Fluttershy's parents to name her something that describes a cutiemark that she hasn't gotten. It adds a whole new layer of confusion to what your special talent is in respect to your name and species. I really, really don't like that at all.

If I may~~~

Fluttershy seems like a really silly name to call a unicorn, regardless if she has butterflies on her rump. The name has more of a "flyer" ring to it, so stripping her of her wings is a bummer. I really like the idea that she was given a talent to communicate with creatures that was outside of what the show tagged as "magic", so it made her more special in general.

Pinkie being a pegasus annoys me more. Being that earth ponies have an innate magic in the current G4 show, it sets her apart from most earth ponies because of her story and growth- the magic to make people laugh. Same as Fluttershy, it made her more special as an earth pony. Making her anything else could make her completely insufferable because of her personality. Floating upside down having a manic episode or buzzing around like she is hyped on caffeine? No, thank you. We get enough of that from Rainbow Dash, and there are points where SHE even pushes that limit, and she's not the one who is designed to make people laugh.

Though, if Twilight Sparkle is losing her horn, I'd prefer her to be a different color entirely. Purple has always had "royal" connotations (Renaissance festivals and historical references FTW, yo), and if there is any reason to believe they will alicorn her again, that just wouldn't be a surprise. In that regard, Twilight being purple is rational, and is much more faithful to what the color signifies. At least with a purple unicorn the contributing factors make a little more sense. Her name also doesn't sound reasonable for a pony that doesn't have the power to actually sparkle- she has lost the "magic of friendship" so a name that sounds ethereal doesn't fit. Twilight Sparkle as a purple pony without any actual unicorn magic just doesn't suit her any more.

Applejack will forever be my favorite- she has barely changed since G1, and I'm good with that.

how do we know that they're keeping their g4 names, though? And isn't this all nothing but concept art, anyway? The MLP movie concept art looked nothing like the finished product. Just sayin'. Maybe your rant is a little too soon?

[Leave a Whisper]

Really? What about Wind Whistler, Gusty, Firefly, G3 Minty, G3 Rainbowdash, G3 Pinkie Pie, the Tales ponies, Shady,  Kimono, Starcatcher and Baby Lickety Split?They're quite recognizable As characters, and I'm sure there are recognizable ponies in the comics.

Cupcake did bake. What's that got to do with it?

[Zapper]

Fluttershy as a unicorn works for me because I imagine her working healing magic on the injured animals. It makes her more powerful and less mama-ish.

Pinkie as a spunky pegasus works for me, too because in the show they went out of their way to make her bounce super high, fly with gadgets and do all sorts of physical stuff. It was almost like they regret turning Surprise into an Earthling because it had stripped her off the loopings and fast physical action.

I do not want Twilight to remain the main character. I don't want a main character in a show that already has six main characters.
I think it's funny people are so hung up on her being a unicorn. She shouldn't have wings, she shouldn't be a princess, she shouldn't be an Earth pony, she should always remain the same - why? It's a new show, it's a new cast, it's a new Twilight 

Personally looking forward to new voices, too. Tara Strong's Twilight was never my fave anyways. I preferred the first German voice, so it's no loss to me.
I just hope Tabitha will be somehow involved. Tabitha is kind of the MLP voice to me because she's been voicing my favorites since G3. And Kelly Sheridan just returned to MLP. I would miss her, too. So give these two new roles for my sake

[LadyMoondancer]

Fluttershy as a unicorn seemed odd to me at first;  if anything I would've thought they'd switch her to being an Earth pony, which she was origianlly slated to be since she was inspired by Posey.

But then I thought about the concept of a unicorn as a protector and keeper of a forest (like in The Last Unicorn or D&D) and I thought, "Oh yeah, that would actually fit her very well."

And I'm very happy the leaked art has 2 pegasi, 2 earth ponies, 2 unicorns . . . I am a big fan of having 'balanced' sets.  I didn't like it when Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn because suddenly there was only one unicorn in the group, lol.

[Al-1701]

I can understand why they wanted to make Twilight Sparkle an earth pony. Your main character is supposed to be someone viewers can relate to. It's hard to relate to a super-powered magical goddess of friendship, there's not a lot of places she can grow further. If they reboot and start her as an earth pony, they have a lot more exploration that can be done. I'm not saying she should get wings and a horn as the reboot series progresses, but they have a lot more options to work with.

100% agree. It's far more relatable to kids to make her an earth pony, though I made a theory in which I speculated that an earth pony could be far more powerful than an alicorn (especially from what we've seen in g4 and how the alicorns are portrayed)
http://sayastarr.tumblr.com/post/169510591272/mlp-g5-alicorn-ascending-to-earth-pony-would-be

As a writer, I want to let out a blood curdling scream from the highest mountain at this opinion and call it insults that could border on inappropriate.  I will instead point out why this is wrong.

"Relatable" is the worst word in writing, destroying far too many good ideas and letting far too many mediocre ideas skate by.  Relating to the audience is supposed to come from the personality of the characters, people we can understand how and why they feel they do.  However, making them plain vanilla is taking the concept too far yet a mistake far too many people make.  It comes from people who are really not that into fiction but just don't know it.

What's been the most successful in fiction since the inception of fiction has been characters who are human in their personalities but superhuman in their abilities.  The first face of the Hero With a Thousand Faces was arguably Gilgamesh who was a king and demigod, but his friendship with Enkidu and motivations in his actions (despite being beyond anything a human could possibly do) were something that connected with audiences.  Look at how well the Marvel movies are doing with a pantheon of superheroes who are superhuman in their abilities but human in their personalities.  Less obvious examples are characters who are particularly clever or generally intelligent and must use their wits to overcome their foe.  We love characters in positions of authority where their decisions not only affect them but others.  Whatever the case, we love characters who are human but have something that makes them stand above the rest.

Part of fiction is wish fulfillment.  We wish we had superhuman abilities or some awesome skill or position of authority.  By entering these stories, we can live it vicariously.  Their larger than life adventures help us give context to our own challenges.

And that's where Twilight Sparkle has failed.  Making her an alicorn princess is not what destroyed her character.  Writing her terribly is what destroyed her character.  Making her an earth pony won't change that.  If she can't make a decision that trading someone else away like property is bad, she's a terrible character.

Personally, I would like to see a pegasus main character.  Unicorns are mostly in the same setting as earth ponies with some magic.  A pegasus has the sky at her disposal, and I love stories that are set mainly in the air (or under the sea or in space or in extreme exotic climates, or anywhere but rural farmland).

[brightberry]

Spoiler

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Wow I am in LOVE with the ones in row 4. They are very sleek and cartoony but still more unique and dynamic than the original row 1.

The only ones I do not like at all are last row and the ones that keep the stubby snouts.

I like 2-4.  But yea, not the last row.   

I don't have a lot invested emotionally in any of them though.  I just think those particular drawings look very appealing and worthy of my sticker book.   

[Leave a Whisper]

Fluttershy as a unicorn seemed odd to me at first;  if anything I would've thought they'd switch her to being an Earth pony, which she was origianlly slated to be since she was inspired by Posey.

But then I thought about the concept of a unicorn as a protector and keeper of a forest (like in The Last Unicorn or D&D) and I thought, "Oh yeah, that would actually fit her very well."

And I'm very happy the leaked art has 2 pegasi, 2 earth ponies, 2 unicorns . . . I am a big fan of having 'balanced' sets.  I didn't like it when Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn because suddenly there was only one unicorn in the group, lol.

That's a wonderful point.

[Dragonflitter]

I never said relatable has to = boring, or vanilla. What I said is that by making her an earth pony, they'll have a starting point for her character to grow, which is not possible now because she's reached such a pinnacle in the current story. Possibly, as someone pointed out, Twilight could be one of the few earth ponies who use magic. Or maybe they will completely ditch the Elements of Harmony and Twilight won't be associated with magic at all anymore. Who knows! This is all very early concept stage ideas that we're seeing. With such a drastic change in the designs of the three species, I'm thinking maybe they will be from very separate lands and Twilight brings the characters together? There's hundreds of possibilities, and starting out with a relatable main character to be front and center in a new story only makes sense.

Did anyone notice there's some concept art with the Mane 6's cutie marks on their shoulder or on their chest, instead of their rumps? I can easily see them getting rid of the "cutie mark = talent = destiny" if they're considering that much of a drastic design change.

Fluttershy as a unicorn seemed odd to me at first;  if anything I would've thought they'd switch her to being an Earth pony, which she was origianlly slated to be since she was inspired by Posey.

But then I thought about the concept of a unicorn as a protector and keeper of a forest (like in The Last Unicorn or D&D) and I thought, "Oh yeah, that would actually fit her very well."

And I'm very happy the leaked art has 2 pegasi, 2 earth ponies, 2 unicorns . . . I am a big fan of having 'balanced' sets.  I didn't like it when Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn because suddenly there was only one unicorn in the group, lol.

That's a wonderful point.

Yeah, that's true! I'd rather have a balanced set of six as well. And Fluttershy's personality actually matches pretty well with what we think of when we think of unicorns! In tune with nature, living in the forest, helping other creatures, quiet and shy, etc.

One of the leaked emails talked about making the pegasi more bird-like, the unicorns more like unicorns from standard media (with the cloven hooves and lion tails) and making the earth ponies like, and I quote: "friesians, the type of horse every girl wants." lol. That's probably why we're seeing the feathered feet in a lot of the concept art.

I dunno if friesians are really what every girl wants, but I do admit they are lovely to look at! One of my fave horse breeds.

[Mana Minori]

I can understand why they wanted to make Twilight Sparkle an earth pony. Your main character is supposed to be someone viewers can relate to. It's hard to relate to a super-powered magical goddess of friendship, there's not a lot of places she can grow further. If they reboot and start her as an earth pony, they have a lot more exploration that can be done. I'm not saying she should get wings and a horn as the reboot series progresses, but they have a lot more options to work with.

100% agree. It's far more relatable to kids to make her an earth pony, though I made a theory in which I speculated that an earth pony could be far more powerful than an alicorn (especially from what we've seen in g4 and how the alicorns are portrayed)
http://sayastarr.tumblr.com/post/169510591272/mlp-g5-alicorn-ascending-to-earth-pony-would-be

As a writer, I want to let out a blood curdling scream from the highest mountain at this opinion and call it insults that could border on inappropriate.  I will instead point out why this is wrong.

"Relatable" is the worst word in writing, destroying far too many good ideas and letting far too many mediocre ideas skate by.  Relating to the audience is supposed to come from the personality of the characters, people we can understand how and why they feel they do.  However, making them plain vanilla is taking the concept too far yet a mistake far too many people make.  It comes from people who are really not that into fiction but just don't know it.

What's been the most successful in fiction since the inception of fiction has been characters who are human in their personalities but superhuman in their abilities.  The first face of the Hero With a Thousand Faces was arguably Gilgamesh who was a king and demigod, but his friendship with Enkidu and motivations in his actions (despite being beyond anything a human could possibly do) were something that connected with audiences.  Look at how well the Marvel movies are doing with a pantheon of superheroes who are superhuman in their abilities but human in their personalities.  Less obvious examples are characters who are particularly clever or generally intelligent and must use their wits to overcome their foe.  We love characters in positions of authority where their decisions not only affect them but others.  Whatever the case, we love characters who are human but have something that makes them stand above the rest.

Part of fiction is wish fulfillment.  We wish we had superhuman abilities or some awesome skill or position of authority.  By entering these stories, we can live it vicariously.  Their larger than life adventures help us give context to our own challenges.

And that's where Twilight Sparkle has failed.  Making her an alicorn princess is not what destroyed her character.  Writing her terribly is what destroyed her character.  Making her an earth pony won't change that.  If she can't make a decision that trading someone else away like property is bad, she's a terrible character.

Personally, I would like to see a pegasus main character.  Unicorns are mostly in the same setting as earth ponies with some magic.  A pegasus has the sky at her disposal, and I love stories that are set mainly in the air (or under the sea or in space or in extreme exotic climates, or anywhere but rural farmland).

for the record, I know reliability doesn't come from one's looks. Hell, I relate strongly with Fluttershy, a flying horse, because I'm struggling with shyness and being assertive, even though I've made baby step progress.  So I know looks aren't all that matter when it comes to being a character kids can relate to. But starting Twilight off without any inherent powers at first glance, being an earth pony, (as one would assume, since the earth pony race in prior gens, didn't have any outstanding powers) would be a fresh start, wiping the slate clean on the path to reliability, as many people often DO feel like they have nothing, and are powerless in life, while other people (or unicorns, or pegasi) have more talent than they do, or more options or privileges in life than they do.

[Al-1701]

You have a very low view on people's belief in their capability.  The problem isn't starting with nothing, the problem is taking the something you do have (which probably isn't much but still something) and making it work for you.

And why make Twilight Sparkle the main character again?  She was pathetic from the get go.

[Leave a Whisper]

You have a very low view on people's belief in their capability.  The problem isn't starting with nothing, the problem is taking the something you do have (which probably isn't much but still something) and making it work for you.

And why make Twilight Sparkle the main character again?  She was pathetic from the get go.

I just want these six to go away!

[LadyMoondancer]

You have a very low view on people's belief in their capability.

That's a pretty rude thing to say, especially to someone who just said they have trouble being assertive.  :/  And nightmare_muffin is right, a lot of people do struggle to feel like they're 'something' and feel like everyone around them is better, more talented, and knows what they're doing.

These are just cartoon designs, ultimately it doesn't even matter what Hasbro goes with.  It's nothing to get heated about.

[Zapper]

I'd like to read

I can understand why they wanted to make Twilight Sparkle an earth pony. Your main character is supposed to be someone viewers can relate to. It's hard to relate to a super-powered magical goddess of friendship, there's not a lot of places she can grow further. If they reboot and start her as an earth pony, they have a lot more exploration that can be done. I'm not saying she should get wings and a horn as the reboot series progresses, but they have a lot more options to work with.

100% agree. It's far more relatable to kids to make her an earth pony, though I made a theory in which I speculated that an earth pony could be far more powerful than an alicorn (especially from what we've seen in g4 and how the alicorns are portrayed)
http://sayastarr.tumblr.com/post/169510591272/mlp-g5-alicorn-ascending-to-earth-pony-would-be

As a writer, I want to let out a blood curdling scream from the highest mountain at this opinion and call it insults that could border on inappropriate.  I will instead point out why this is wrong.

You don't agree with her opinion, that doesn't mean it's "wrong". Being a writer has nothing to do with it. A lot of us are writers.