Ranking The Movie Characters · 3:27pm Apr 7th, 2018
The movie introduced quite a few new characters to us. Some more memorable than others. And now it's time to rank them, all nine of them, from worst to best.
Needless to say, this list is the result of my personal opinion. Chances are you're going to feel differently about some of the rankings than I do. But like all my rankings, this one is not official by any means. You're free to disagree, so long as you respect my opinion. Now let's begin.
9. Grubber
Why he's on the bottom: If there's one thing fans are in conseus about when it comes to the movie, it's that Grubber is absolutely pointless. The only scene he's actually useful for, is when he uncovers the pirates hiding in the cake and alerts the guards. But anyone could've done that. All Grubber ever does otherwise, is undercut any tension Tempest is supposed to have, or make some kind of comment about food. It makes even less sense when you consider the fact that the Storm King was already a more hammy villain compared to Tempest, so why did they give her another one?
8. Songbird Serenade
Why she's second to last: I don't really know anything about Sia, so I have no idea how much Songbird Serenade is like her (if at all). She's just there for the pop song at the end of the movie, and one scene where she's singing inside her cage. She has a nice design, but she doesn't actually amount to much. We don't even see her rehearsing or anything to really symbolize her popstar status. And as I mentioned when reviewing the movie, you could replace her with Countess Coloratura (or even Sapphire Shores if you really wanted to) and nothing would change.
7. Verko
Why he's low: No one really talks about this guy when discussing the movie characters, and I can kind of see why. It's easy to forget he was relevant when he only appears for one scene and is quickly taken out by Tempest. He's apparently a crime boss, and that's about all we know about him. But it feels like he has some kind of personality or character to him, and it feels like he had a reason to be in the movie.
6. Captain Celaeno
Why she's not in the top five: While it's cool to have a pirate captain character, Captain Celaeno doesn't have as much of a personality or character compared to her unnamed crewmates. Unlike Capper and Princess Skystar, we don't really get the benefit of seeing her at her best, the mane six don't spend a whole lot of time associating with her before they have to flee the ship. The best thing about her might be her duet with Rainbow Dash in "Time to Be Awesome".
5. Queen Novo
Why she's in the top five: While she's not the first good queen to be introduced to us in the show ("Crystal Empire" mentioned that the Crystal Fair was started by the empire's first queen, but she was unnamed) she's the first one to appear on screen and actually have a role. Of course, she gets upstaged by her daughter, but it does feel like her position and title amount to something other than ceremonial. Perhaps the only thing to dislike about her, is that when she revokes the transformation of the mane six, she does so while they're underwater and then sends them back up to the surface, gasping for air. It's not hard to imagine how that could've gone wrong.
4. Princess Skystar
Why she misses the top three: Some of her appeal gets taken away by the fact that we've had Pinkie Pie expys already (Cheese Sandwich, Minuette, Somnambula) and they don't exactly do anything new or original with her character beyond that. But for being a Pinkie Pie expy, she's quite enjoyable. She actually demonstrates a bit of seriousness early on in her appearance, when she's skeptical of trusting the mane six until she learns they're being targeted by the Storm King. And to give credit where it's due, she proved to be a valueable combat ally during the attack on Canterlot. I just slightly prefer the remaining characters over her.
3. Capper
Why he's in the top three: Of the allies the mane six make during the movie, Capper is the one who gets the most screen time, and thus the most development. He starts off as a con artist, and develops into a more heroic equivalent of it. He demonstrates an ability to get out of any scrape no matter what, and he also happens to be the ally who lasts the longest in the fight to reclaim Canterlot. He makes it all the way up to the palace steps with them before the Storm King summons a tornado. And yes, people have been shipping him with Rarity and making jokes about Pinkie's prediction about Rarity becoming a crazy cat lady.
2. Storm King
Why he's not number one: In terms of a villain, I like him more than my number one pick here (which you can probably guess who it is). But in terms of an actual character, he's significantly underdeveloped in the movie. Yeah, there's the fandom jokes about him being Hasbro, but aside from that he's really got nothing beyond a man child personality with hints of an underlying psychopathic nature. We're never told just why he's such a threat, let alone why he's supposed to be this all powerful foe that warrants the Hippogriffs to flee from him, and Celestia to seek out Queen Novo's help to defeat him. Interestingly, during the end credits, his crystallized remains are seen being put back together by one of his minions, and his eyes glow, indicating he might still be alive. But his remains fall apart because they're not assembled properly. With there being talk about a possible sequel to the movie, it could be that they left that in there in case they decided to bring the Storm King back. And now, by process of elimination, you can probably tell who the number one entry is.
1. Tempest Shadow a.k.a Fizzlepop Berrytwist
Why she's number one: While I wish she would try to smile a bit more before the finale, I will admit that she has a good presence. And her development, despite her rehashed backstory (more a fault of what came since than any knowledge Meghan had), is pretty good. There's a bit of hypocrisy to her trusting the Storm King yet lecturing Twilight on not depending on others, and aside from a line about showing everypony what she can do, she never seems to even once consider betraying the Storm King until he reveals his deception to her. She may have been put on a bus in the show, but an upcoming two parter in the IDW comics is going to focus on her, and it'll be interesting to see where they take her character. Ultimately, I put Tempest at number one largely because in terms of overall character she's more enjoyable. Storm King outranks her in terms of villany, but Tempest has him beat when it comes to character.
And there you have it. Expect the review of "Fake It 'Til You Make It" in the near future. And then tomorrow come back to see my rankings of the movie's songs.
How I'd rank them from least to most favorite,
Verko - Doesn't really leave much of an impact.
Songbird Serenade - Everytime I see her, I keep getting reminded that the movie is just a cash-in. There's no personality at all, and her presence and song just make the film dated.
Queen Novo - Mostly just the typical queen who doesn't want to help for reasons because potatoes. And I don't get that hug with Celestia at the end. She left Celestia to suffer and did nothing to help.
Tempest Shadow - While better than Starlight Glimmer, it's not saying much. Her motivation is pretty weak, along with a gap of her losing a horn to joining an evil ruler, and you make a good point on how she only reformed once she was betrayed. She had too much fun causing misery throughout the movie and looking back, it makes it hard to sympathize with her.
Captain Celaeno - A pretty fun pirate character and Zoe Salanda does a pretty good job.
Capper - Though the design is kind of uncanny, he still has a lot of charisma.
Princess Skystar - Very likable and sweet and voiced by the talented Kristen Chenoweth, one of the best actresses currently living.
The Storm King - I love this guy and he would've gotten the number one spot if he got more screen time.
Grubber - I still stand by that Grubber is the best thing in the movie outside of the animation. I found his presence welcome because Tempest is too serious of a villain and while they could've used The Storm King instead, he's scary too outside of being funny. I felt Grubber was what helped balance the tone of villains. You know that puppy who's trying to act scary but is too cute and funny you can't be scared by him? To me, Grubber is that puppy.
YEAH BABY!!!! Tempest Shadow is my favorite MLP Movie Character as well! :D