Ranking the Celebrity Guest Star Characters of FiM, From Worst to Best (Version 2) · 5:05pm Oct 25th, 2019
Season 9 ultimately gave us two more celebrity characters (along with a couple of returning ones, not counting Discord who has been a reoccurring one since Season 3), so this list needed to be updated. Like the first version I'm only counting celebrity guest stars on the show and not the movie, the movie's "celebrity" voices seemed to mostly be professional actors or well renowned VAs with only Sia being different (she's a musician, apparently from Australia). I don't hate any of these characters though, this is purely the result of my personal opinion. Here's the first version, from a season ago. Let's see what changed.
9. Autumn Blaze
Why she stayed on the bottom: Apparently "A Kirin Tale" was meant to be a lot more somber originally, a recently popped up demo version performed by Shanon Chan-Kent indicates that they originally tried to stay close to what the episode title was based on in terms of feel. But when Rachel Bloom was cast for Autumn Blaze they retooled the song to fit her, and from there it seems they just sort of let Rachel Bloom steal the show. But it feels like we're talking about modern The Simpsons levels of writing, the kind where they get a celebrity just to prove they can get a celebrity and then don't really do much other than shove that celebrity in your face. The fact that Autumn Blaze is similar to a character Rachel Bloom voiced with the only difference being that Autumn Blaze is less insane, as well as her being yet another Pinkie Pie expy, really doesn't help. She basically knows the solution already, but because of the plot she is unable to convey this to the others. She's a big part of why I don't care much either way for "Sounds of Silence", it's basically just the Autumn Blaze show. And one good characters does not a good episode make.
8. Countess Coloratura a.k.a Rara
Why she stayed above the bottom: If Autumn Blaze is so obviously in your face about being voiced by a celebrity and stealing the show as a result, Rara/Countess Coloratura is the exact opposite. You really wouldn't know just by hearing her that she's a celebrity, let alone a celebrity musician in the form of Lena Hall. She really gets upstaged (no pun intended) by Svengallop, not that she doesn't have a good personality or presence when the episode does focus on her. But you could swap her out for just about any random musician or even just someone from the show who can sing really well and you probably wouldn't lose much. Heck, I'm surprised Amy Keating Rogers didn't voice Rara herself considering "The Mane Attraction" was her last episode, and she was often fond of singing at conventions.
7. Discord
Why he moved way down: I have nothing against John De Lancie, especially considering they originally didn't even plan to have him voice Discord and were just going to get a poor man's sound alike (it's not known who they had in mind). Heck, Discord originally was so poorly defined that they likely wouldn't have thought to make him into a variation of Q if not for Lauren Faust being on such a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation binge at the time of planning. The problem is more what Discord ultimately became, what he never managed to move past. Several times he acted like an antagonist in all but name while claiming to be reformed. Several times he acted like a jerk who would endanger others or mess with them (especially Twilight) just because he could, or because he was trying to teach them a "lesson". Yet no matter how many times it backfired on him, no matter how many times it made him look bad, he never stopped doing it, he never learned his lesson. You know it's bad when Applejack can say it's like he learned nothing, and we the audience can actually agree. If they hadn't second guesses themselves on their original plans for Season 9, Discord probably would've come out of it looking better than he did. It still would've seemed reckless and short sighted of him, but at least in that draft he was partially aware and concerned about what he was doing.
6. Grand Pear
Why he moved down: It was definitely a surprise to hear William Shatner in a role, especially one void of his usual "Shatnerisms" where he's either being overly hammy or overly dramatic. It was a nice reminder that yes, Captain Kirk himself can in fact voice and do it without playing it up. Him being able to handle all three iterations of Grand Pear (young, middle aged, old) is a definite testament to how great he is in the role, and I wish they'd have let him reprise the role one more time in Season 9. Ultimately though, he's not the celebrity character focused in "The Perfect Pear".
5. Pear Butter a.k.a Buttercup
Why she stayed in the middle: Even if the flashback in "Going to Seed" was confusing due to the animators using the wrong models, it was nice that we ultimately did get to see Buttercup as an actual parent. Prior to hearing her as Pear Butter/Buttercup I'd never even heard of Felicia Day before, but she absolutely knocked it out of the park and turned in a fantastic performance. I just wish I knew more about her, is she a country singer because if not she sure could've fooled me with how beautifully she managed "You're In My Head Like a Catchy Song".
4. and 3. Clear Sky and Wind Sprint
Why they're in the top half: Clear Sky is voiced by Patton's second wife, Meredith Salenger, while Wind Sprint is voiced by his daughter, Alice Oswalt. It really is sweet that the whole family got to be in an episode with Patton, and that they chose to base it on Patton's real life family situation. Alice being a big fan of the show probably helped, she conveyed Wind Sprint quite well and is one of those child voices that you'd be hard pressed to believe wasn't done by a professional (most child actors don't tend to have the best performances in many works). Meredith I believe has some prior voice acting work, so she was well equipped to handle Clear Sky. And both characters were specifically based on what Meredith and Alice wanted their characters to look like, even down to the freckles on Wind Sprint's face since Alice has freckles herself. The only thing that holds them is back is that we don't know what happened to Wind Sprint's dad (and Clear Sky's husband): Did he die or did he just divorce Clear Sky and left her with Wind Sprint? Real life subtext implies the former but we'll never know for sure.
2. Quibble Pants
Why he moved up: If "Stranger Than Fanfiction" was all about how Patton Oswalt could ham it up and really deliver on his comedic talents, then "Common Ground" was all about how he could be serious. It probably helped that the script was hitting close to home for him, when it was written he'd probably only just married Meredith and was still getting over his first's wife unexpected passing. The idea of trying to fill a gap left by someone else, especially for a child, is quite compelling. And not many in either real life or fiction would care about the child or children of the family they're going to be part of, even though they really should. I'm not sure if Patton did any improvising in "Common Ground" like he did in "Stranger Than Fanfiction" not that he needed to. I still can't help but wonder why he looks so much like Daring Do if she were a stallion? "Common Ground" meant it couldn't be cosplay, he always looks like that. Are we sure he and Daring aren't secretly related without either knowing it?
1. Cheese Sandwich
Why he stayed on the top: This is the one role that never could've functioned even the slightest without the celebrity behind it, Weird Al Yankovic. Cheese Sandwich was meant for Weird Al and Weird Al alone. They sprinkle in some references here and there to his works, but it's never completely in your face about it and they never build the entire episode solely around him even when he sings. And it seems that Cheese Sandwich did so well that it got other shows and shorts to take notice of Weird Al's talent and hire him. Since Cheese Sandwich debuted Weird Al landed a starring role in Milo Murphy's Law (the spiritual successor to Phineas and Ferb), got a reoccurring role as Captain Peanutbutter in Bojack Horseman, voiced The Riddler in a DC Nation short, and most recently voiced The Gentleman Ghost in Teen Titans Go to the Movies (he also voiced Darkseid in Teen Titans Go!, probably one of the better casting choices in the show although I have to wonder if he could naturally get that low or if they had to pitch shift it). Despite all of that and despite his busy music career, he still found time to reprise the role of Cheese Sandwich in Season 9, and he proved that he hadn't lost his touch. So I'm happy to keep him on the top by a clear mile.
And there you have it, come back tonight when'll we update the rankings for the Story Editors of FiM.
Agreed. Clear Sky and Wind Sprint were a nice addition, plus the real-life based off situation. And while the KIrin could have been more, I loved her voice and character.
For me, the top 3 would be:
Cheese
Clear Sky
Wind Sprint
imo swap the positions of rara and autumn blaze
because let's be real here, i honestly kinda forgot coloratura even existed, but Autumn Blaze? she's very memorable
5145544 I mostly agree, though I feel like he rips on autumn blaze WAY too much, yes she changed the intended tone of the episode, but I think that was for the better, t made her WAY more memorable, and made her peppy and outspoken nature clash way more against the other kirins, and thus made her seem like more of an outcast, the role she was meant to fill.
5145548
and the song was far better than the other song her va's known for
Important fun fact about Felicia Day: she also got voice roles for two supporting roles in the underappreciated Cartoon Network show The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange (which is based off if Daneboe's popular Annoying Orange YouTube series). In that show she prominently voiced two female fruits named Peach and Ginger.
Plus I agree that Cheese Sandwich definitely deserves the top spot on this list.