Top Ten New Characters of Season 6

Season 6 introduced us to plenty of new character, some more memorable than others. So now it's time to take a look at the ten best new characters to grace us with their presence in Season 6. A quick word of note, Sunburst doesn't count since he was technically established as a character at the end of Season 5 (albiet as a colt). And like all my lists, this one is by no means official, so feel free to disagree.

10. Petunia Paleo
Reason: It was hard to think of ten characters to include on this list, especially since I knew Flurry Heart, Zephyr Breeze, and Sky Stinger weren't going to make the cut (and Angel Wings couldn't make the cut either as she's an O.C. brought into the episode courtesy of the Make A Wish Foundation), but while Petunia may have only appeared at the beginning of "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks", I think she had enough of a presence and personality to justify making the list. It does sort of beg the question of what happens to ponies that get cutie marks that can easily be misinterpreted, considering what Petunia's parents thought of her cutie mark (and given their cutie marks, it's not surprising they'd think their daughter was a pirate. After all, what else would you associate swords and a pearl with that is related to a skull and bones?).

9. Gabby
Reason: I really harp on Gabby a lot, but I do like her. She's kind of like a blending of the personalities of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, if they were a griffon instead. it would be interesting to see her interacting with Gilda, as Gabby would be more cheerful to Gilda's more snarky and synical behavior. And GabbyLoo has the potential for a next generation GildaDash (friendship or even romance, at least once Scootaloo comes of age. It's anyone's guess as to how old Gabby is, she's probably at least a teenager but likely is closer in age to the mane seven). Heck, I'm surprised people haven't written fanfics involving Gabby and Derpy since Gabby works as a mail carrier in Griffonstone, and Derpy works as a mail carrier in Ponyville.

8. Dragon Lord Torch
Reason: What a ham! Seriously, everything about this guy screams "Large and in charge!" and he loves every second of it. You have to wonder though how a dragon so massive could have a daughter so small, but I think that contributes a little to his refusal to let her participate in the gauntlet. Sure, the overprotective parent and rebellious teenage daughter is an overdone cliche (especially if you go the dead parent for the mother angle) but hey it can work well enough.

7. Coriander Cumin
Reason: He's as stubborn and pessimistic as they come, but you can't deny he truly does love his daughter even if he rarely shows it. Perhaps the biggest problem with "Spice Up Your Life" is that Coriander and Saffron get pushed to the side while Rarity and Pinkie argue about what the restuarant needs to succeed, yet the problem is said to be a friendship problem between Coriander's pesssimism and Saffron's optimism. It's an interesting contrast, there's always that debate about whether it's better to have an optimistic or pessimistic approach to life (I'm more for the former myself but a little dose of reality never hurts, dream big but know when your dream is out of reach).

6. Vapor Trail
Reason: While I still can't really bring myself to care for Sky Stinger or see myself shipping Vapor Trail with him, Vapor Trail is an interesting Fluttershy clone that we seem to be required to get once a season now. I think Vapor Trail provides the most realistic look at what Fluttershy would be like if she never met Rainbow Dash and learned to stand up for herself, she'd keep holding herself back and not be able to realize her full potential, convinced she was meant to be in the background and just be a pillar of support. Rainbow Dash's plan succeeded in getting Vapor Trail to see her own self worth, and realize that she couldn't help Sky Stinger if she wanted either of them to succeed. I still don't really think the backstories for Vapor and Sky match though, I'm sure there are real life cases like it, but it's usually the only child or the oldest or youngest child in a multi child family that gets used to getting all the attention and thinks they can get whatever they want, while the middle child in a multi child family often struggles to stand out and gets used to be ignored.

5. Thorax/King Thorax
Reason: While his design as the king of the new changelings is absolutely awful (the color pallets chosen just don't mesh well, green and orange may make brown, but that doesn't always mean they blend well together) and his transformation may have come out of nowhere (on top of his backstory being a lot like those dime a dozen changeling redemption fics the fandom wrote after "A Canterlot Wedding"), but Thorax was an interesting character for his appearances this season (even if he was mostly used for exposition in "To Where And Back Again"), and his disguise as Crystal Hoof was actually rather impressive. Plus, Thorax proved changelings can disguise themselves as more than just ponies, they can even turn into a rock if they so choose.

4. Tender Taps
Reason: The poor kid continues to be ignored and overlooked by the fandom, and it really isn't his fault. He really needed more screen time than he got to establish himself, so that way the audience would truly get attached to him and probably ship him more than they really have. There's not really much I can say about him that I haven't already said though.

3. Saffron Masala
Reason: Saffron became the new waifu for a lot of people after her appearance in "Spice Up Your Life" and she's gotten at least one fanfic with her as a lead character. Her Indian accent was even better than her father's, though it does get a bit grating when she raises her voice in anger or frustration. It's especially interesting that she works as the chef at her father's restuarant, and her father (who likely built the place and runs the business) tends to the tables.

2. Quibble Pants
Reason: He's a blabber mouth, but he's just so hilarious to listen to. He plays off Rainbow Dash and even Daring Do quite well, and he's got plenty of varied expressions (though his face when Rainbow Dash is tugging on his tail makes it look like he's enjoying it a little too much). I'm not sure how well his manner of speaking would translate to the IDW comics, and surprisingly it seems like attempts to ship him with Rainbow Dash never really went anywhere (I guess SoarinDash doesn't really have any major competition after all).

1. Princess Ember
Reason: Was there ever any doubt? Sure, the rebellious teenage daughter isn't anything new, but Princess Ember just works so well with what she has that you forget we've seen her kind of character before. Heck, she's even kind of like the pony equivalent of Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman's mother forbid her from participating in a tournament, but she did so anyway in disguise and won, then revealed herself and obtained her outfit and lasso). Part of what made "Gauntlet of Fire" so good was because of how great Princess Ember was, both on her own and when playing off of Spike. And EmberxSpike is a ship that, while it may have died down a little, is still going strong.

And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we rank the writers of Season 6 from worst to best.

Comments

[superfun]

For me, it goes:
1. Thorax
2. Vapor Trail
3. Sky Stinger
4. Gabby
5. Tender Taps
6. Ember
7. Torch.
8, Quibble Pants
9. Saffron Masala
10. Coriander Cumin

[The Bricklayer]

Here's my top five:
1: Quibble Pants
2: Princess Ember
3: King Thorax
4: Saffron Masala
5: Zephyr Breeze