Mane Six Ranking (G5/G5 Spoilers!) · 7:48pm Jun 12th, 2023
If you haven't seen Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark yet and don't want to be spoiled, please click elsewhere right now and come back when you've either seen Chapter 4, or learn about what happens in it. I'm posting this warning just to be safe.
Now, for those of you staying, you should know that there's been a change to the group dynamics since I did a list for the mane five shortly after "A New Generation" came out. Not only has the group expanded to six members now, but I feel like there are some things to consider even for those we already know. And I'm sure many of you who saw my original rankings list are curious as to where I'd put Misty and whether my opinions on the others have changed. Well, they have, sort of. If you want to see what I thought of the mane five back in 2021, you can find that list here. As always, this list is purely the result of my personal opinion so please respect it.
6. Pipp Petals
Why she stayed on the bottom: Poor Pipp, she even has an entire FiMFiction group dedicated towards making her lovable. I really do hate to pick on her, but she still remains the least interesting of the group in my opinion. She is very one dimensional even now that we've had so much more content to focus on her and give her the spotlight she was denied back in "A New Generation". She still remains defined solely by social media, and almost nothing else. Even her saloon, Mane Melody feels less like her place and more like somewhere she just happens to be employed at even though she's supposed to have been the one who founded and opened it. Like I said in my review of "Bridlewoodstock", she's a trend follower and not a trend setter. At the very least if they showed more of her actually creating videos, maybe then she could develop more. But if anything, she seems to be practically addicited to social media, she can't live without it. And that is a huge problem for her character that so far it doesn't seem like it's going to be addressed, even though it would be absolutely vital for fleshing her out.
5. Sunny Starscout
Why she moved way down: Sunny does seem to have dropped her "White Savior Complex" attitude that she had throughout "A New Generation". But now she seems to be a rather passive protagonist, she seems to let things happen to her rather than actively try to seek out new challenges and conflicts. They have toned down her "activist" ways, making her something more of a community advocate, but that only kind of comes into play. She mostly feels like the voice of reason within the group, whenever that role's not being occupied by Zipp. She's something of the anchor, the glue that holds the team together. But as Applejack can attest, being the everyman is not a good personality or character for a leading protagonist, it makes them uninteresting. The sad thing is, there was a way to fix this. Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark tried to showcase some of Sunny's inner dobuts and tie that to her alicorn powers, but it only cropped up a little in three episodes and each time it did it was quickly resolved with very little fanfare. Basically, Sunny went from being the Twilight of the group to being the Applejack of the group, much to her hinderence as a character.
4. Hitch Trailblazer
Why he moved down: Hitch just hasn't been the same since "A New Generation". Gone is the competent, sensible but still prideful sheriff that everyone looked up to. Gone is the Hitch who was willing to believe Sunny, but not without proof. In his place, Hitch might as well be an entirely different character. This was especially apparent across the first three chapters of Make Your Mark, when he seemed to be absolutely passive and unconcerned, even when confronted with problems. The one time they tried to make him do something with his position of power, they turned him into a flanderized version of himself that basically just told earth ponies not to do anything, even though I'm sure movie Hitch would see the folly in that. Chapter 4 does show some signs of trying to fix this, to reverse the rot. But we still had "The Jinxie Games" where he was basically doing whatever. It even feels like Sparky was added solely to mold his character to be more in line with the girls, making him do more feminine things. But he had no trouble doing that with his old personality. We need to see more of Hitch's pride and clumsiness tripping him up, rather than see Hitch just doing whatever the plot calls for.
3. Zipp Storm
Why she moved up: If nothing else, Zipp becoming the smart one of the group is line with what was established about her character in "A New Generation". Granted, that wasn't shown much, but it was established that she was smart and knowledgable, and curious about what might be out there. So her becoming a detective and trying to solve "mysteries" does make sense. Thankfully, they've largely avoided making her fall into the same pitfalls that Rainbow Dash often fell into, only once or twice has it felt like they've played up her attitude to make her into a jerk. I just wish she wasn't the only one who ever asked obvious questions or seemed to take any real interesting in finding out more information. What she's doing is something the whole group should've been doing at least a little. Also, I feel like they haven't done much with her sine she became a detective. If nothing else, she's the character whose show voice actress hems the closest to her movie voice actress. The difference is there, but it's not as noticeable compared to say Hitch or Izzy.
2, Misty Brightdawn
Why she was added so high: Dr. Wolf posted a video a ways back calling Misty the G5 character with the most potential. No offense to him, but I feel like that's a dissservice to the rest of the mane five who still have lots of untapped potential that could be explored. Yes, Misty is still the character we know the least about now. We know she's an orphan and was taken in by Opaline, and now she has defected to become the sixth ranger we all expected her to become. But what sort of group dynamics she'll have with the rest of the main cast have yet to be seen. Will she have the same self-doubts that Starlight Glimmer and to an extent Sunset Shimmer had? Will she have to prove herself the way Sunset did? Or will her arc be more like Starlight Glimmer in that she'll have to convince herself that she's not who she used to be? How will she adjust to having magic and a cutie mark? And what, if anything, does she know about Opaline that could be of use to her new friends? I feel like it's not fair to make her number one when she's only just joined the group. Depending on what they do with her across the next chapters of Make Your Mark (I'd say we've got at least two or three more chapters to go before everything comes to a head), she could move up or move down.
1. Izzy Moonbow
Why she stayed on the top: If we only had Tell Your Tale to go on for Izzy content post "A New Generation", Izzy would definitely not be on the top. Tell Your Tale far too often seems to have opted to make Izzy a flanderized Pinkie Pie or a modern Patrick Star, to the point where she's harassing innocent ponies and being a nuisance to her friends. Thankfully, Make Your Mark has avoided those pitfalls. Even though Izzy's voice is still the most noticeable change from movie to show, Make Your Mark Izzy has retained a lot of the same attributes and character quirks that made her stand out in "A New Generation". She still has her bubbly personality and cheerful optimism, but they've shown that her crafting/unicycling isn't just something she does on the side, it's pretty much a part of who she is. The implications are pretty strong that she was an orphan and an outcast growing up, Alphabittle may have been the closest thing she had to a friend before she met Sunny. They made her similar to Pinkie Pie, but different in ways that make her feel unique: She's like a more kinetic and less hyperacticve, in your face kind of Pinkie. And she has the strongest of the G5 ships in terms of content: SunnyxIzzy (as well as one of the best crackships in the form of IzzyxSprout).
And there you have it, I'll post a list updating the G5 secondary/side characters ranking tomorrow. That's one going to be very interesting considering who qualifies for such a list.
-glad of seeing Izzy Moonbow staying in the No. 1 spot- X3
Hopefully, they won't pull the "Character Shilling" trope on Misty like they did with Starlight.
5733082 Kind of doubt it since Misty not only just got her cutie mark, but her magical power and potential is nowhere near what was established with Starlight from the beginning (Starlight was capable of at least matching an alicorn for a brief amount of time).
I find Pipp Petals much more interesting as a character now, honestly. With Chapter 4, they’ve really managed to flesh her out and move beyond her social media addiction and explore other facets of her personality like being a horror fan and being a book nerd like her sister. Heck even before that, the Make Your Mark series has already introduced other aspects of her character that unfortunately get overlooked, such as being impulsive sometimes and just wanting to be a supportive friend and sister. I think we’re well beyond her one-dimensional portrayal in A New Generation, so I really don’t get the continuous hatred for her character still.
5733164 Pipp is still defined by being a social media pop star. That, unfortunately, is the problem, especially considering social media is coming under greater scrutiny in regards to how it markets to and targets children. There's actual talk of government legislation and regulation of social media, and many of the founding social media platforms are falling apart because of controversial policy decisions.