Top Ten Best New Characters of Season 8 · 4:21am Oct 21st, 2018
Not everything about Season 8 was bad. Contrary to what you might all believe, I don't absolutely despise Season 8, there are episodes I like that no one else seemed to enjoy (like "The Maud Couple", "Surf and/or Turf", "Molt Down", and "The End in Friend"). And not every new addition to the cast was a terrible one. Heck, if you'll look back to my list ranking the second half of Season 8 compared to the other second halves, adding up the totals left Season 8 in a surprisingly close second to Season 7 and more popular seasons like Season 2 and Season 4 fell behind. Season 8 did have good things going for it, and I'm not just saying to sound apologetic. Season 8 started out fine, and there were times when it seemed like it knew what it was doing. It's just that the last three episodes or so were one of the worst consistent track records in the show's history, and never before do I recall a two parter or season finale that I outright didn't like (even "The Best Night Ever" and "The Return of Harmony" as much as I find them underwhelming, did have some good moments and a sign that with a little tweaking they could've been great). But I'm going to do something positive for Season 8 for a change, something no one else seems to be doing. A list of the Top Ten New Characters from Season 8.
Obviously, the characters had to make their debut in Season 8 in order to qualify, so any characters that got better this season that were previously introduced to us won't qualify. And of course, needless to say, this list is purely the result of my personal opinion so please respect it.
10. General Seaspray
He seems to have more or less become the show's substitute for Queen Novo since the show could never hope to lure back her voice actress (though oddly enough I think Novo's VA is the one that actually could be imitated or emulated on the show, Zecora's VA or Sapphire Shores' VA could probably be a close match with the right direction). It is interesting that the hippogriffs have a navy despite also being seaponies, but as any nation that's not landlocked will tell you, having a strong navy is just as important as having a strong military. Seaspray never actually advocated war as far as I know, but he did seem angered when the students disappeared. Of the leaders I think he's the only one to have anything close to an excuse, the student from his nation is the niece of Queen Novo, his nation's leader. So of course a student like that would carry greater priority than the students who as far as we know were chosen at random (or in Gallus' case they just decided to throw him at the ponies to get them off their backs).
9. Jackpot
Jim Miller has more or less confirmed in a tweet that he's Trixie's father, but in said tweet he added "Does he know that?" so it raises the possibility that he might have left before Trixie was born and thus doesn't know he's a father. I get the feeling the show would never even dream of touching that topic, but it might still be interesting if he ever cropped up again and we got some insight into whether or not he had any influence on Trixie. His partner is named Big Bucks, though we have no clue as to whether the two have any ties off the stage. And no, just because he's probably roughly the same age as the golden horseshoe gals doesn't mean him hitting on them was any less disturbing. Then again, it seems like the gals wanted to be volunteers (go figure).
8. Ocean Flow
I just have one question for her, how the heck do pictures and parchment work underwater? Wouldn't they get all wet and sloppy? There must be some kind of magic that makes it possible for seaponies to preserve documents and photos underwater. The show runners have stated that Ocean Flow is Queen Novo's sister, and as I've mentioned before she doesn't have a Pearl of Transformation necklace, so that means if her family wants to stay with her it has to be as seaponies and not hippogriffs. I still don't quite see a divorce angle from that though, because she and the next pick on this list are just way too comfortable and friendly around each other for a divorced couple (you'd expect at least a little awkwardness).
7. Sky Beak
What's most interesting about him is that he's voiced by Brian Dobson, the youngest of the three Dobson brothers (the eldest is Paul and then Michael) making him one of the last big holdouts from the Vancouver allstars VA pool, and making this show one of the few to use Vancouver voice talent that includes all three Dobson brothers (Michael Dobson has roles that include Bulk Biceps and Dr. Caballeron, Paul Dobson voiced a villager and Captain Ironhead). Compared to Ocean Flow, I can see how he might unintentionally be putting pressure on his son to be a hippogriff. He doesn't outright say that hippogriffs are better and seems more than happy to spend time on the beach with Ocean Flow, but he clearly takes great pride in being a hippogriff and showing off Mount Aris to newcomers. So indirectly he could be making his son feel like he wants him to remain a hippogriff instead of a seapony.
6. Autumn Blaze
Now here's a shocker, I bet most of you expected her to be number one, especially when she was the only kirin we ever got a chance to be invested in. But therein lies the problem. Throughout all of "Sounds of Silence" it feels like Autumn Blaze is being paraded in front of the audience as if she's the only character that matters. She already knows the answer to the problem, she just can't convey it properly because the plot says so. And all she had to do to fix that was to go beyond the plateu, which you think she would do after her exile. I still do like her, but they way overindulged on her to the point where everyone else might as well have been invisible. The show has had celebrity characters before, but it always felt like they were natural inclusions, even Cheese Sandwich and Countess Coloratura weren't so in your face about how they were voiced by a celebrity. I also have nothing against Rachel Bloom, but I know nothing about her and while it seems she has done voice work before, it appears that her Autumn Blaze is almost a direct knock-off of a character she already voiced just less crazy. Like with so much else about "Sounds of Silence" I get the feeling she was supposed to be something different originally, but when the new writer got brought on after the song was written that vision got tossed out and they had to hastily come up with a plot to meet the deadline.
5. Student Six minus Sandbar
I was debating where exactly put the five of them (if you saw my student six ranking you'll know why I don't particularly care for Sandbar. Hard to even hate him when he was almost never relevant even in the student six focus episodes) since we saw them so infrequently not only as a group but as individuals. At one point I even thought about giving them the top spot, but I feel like that would be a cop out, rewarding Season 8 for the thing it no doubt wanted to really focus on but ultimately didn't. I really wish that we'd gotten more episodes focused on these characters, and at least one where they were with the mane six where the mane six didn't come across as ineffective teachers (we got the occasional glance at that when the mane six were in pairs). Still, they weren't bad. Gallus and Silverstream in particular started out as some of the weak links in the cast and by season end they were able to claim the top two spots in the group and even launch their own ship.
4. Firelight
While the "Overly Embarrassing Parents" trope is starting to become played out, Firelight succeeds where the show failed with Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles by having the embarrassing parent actually be called out on their behavior. Jim Miller confirmed that Starlight was a latch key kid, but it's not known if this was at all connected to Firelight's behavior in "The Parent Map". Lots of parents are I think indirectly guilty of what Firelight does, wanting to hold onto the memories of their child from when they were young and needed help, and having a hard time accepting that their child has grown up and has their own life to live. Supposedly, there's a line that could imply Starlight's mother is dead, but outside of one fic I've seen nothing exploring that concept.
3. Stellar Flare
She seems to be pretty similar to Twilight even down to the need to have plans. And Sunburst seemed a lot less restrained in his anger dealing with her compared to Starlight with Firelight. I could see how Stellar Flare's behavior in "The Parent Map" including her snapping at the fake friendship problem for not rehearsing, could leave an impact on Starlight as a child, especially if her mom was either dead or not around. Though really, all Sunburst would've needed to do to get Stellar off his back, was to write to her and tell her he was Flurry Heart's crystaller. Maybe it's not the most glamorous job in the world for an ex-magic student, but it seems to pay well considering Sunburst still lives in the Crystal Empire and doesn't appear to have any money issues. I'm actually super bummed we never got to see that roadtrip between Firelight and Stellar Flare, it was something I actually though they might do. Though people who try to ship Stellar Flare and Firelight are crazy, especially since Stellar at least in Sunburst's flashbacks had a husband (plus if they did marry that would make Starlight and Sunburst siblings).
2. Terramar
His name literally means earth and sky, so already we can tell his conflict is going to resolve with him being free to go between two worlds. But it's what he established in terms of lore and world building that really puts him on here. He gave us a chance to see how the hippogriffs rebuilt their lives and kingdom after the Storm King, and how it's possible for them to keep in touch with their seapony friends and family in Seaquestria. Plus, at the end, when he jumps between his parents in celebration, you really can't help but smile. Much like his sister, it's hard to say whether he looks better as a hippogriff or a seapony (to which my answer is: "Why not both?"). So who could top him for the best newcomer of Season 8? Well, you're about to find out.
1. Hoofar
Think of Hoofar as a slightly more subdued Star Tracker, but for Trixie and with a Saddle Arabian design. Immediately what stands out is that although he's a Saddle Arabian, he's a unicorn, so that means the nation doesn't just consist of earth ponies. He never comes across as a bad guy or even stubborn. You have to like how he seems to be almost not disturbed by Trixie and Starlight's antics until their bickering becomes painfully obvious to everyone. Some wonder why he wanted to trade away his more luxurious wagon for Trixie's old cramped one, but considering what we saw Starlight go through with the wagon on her, I think we can see why Hoofar may have wanted to be rid of it (it's a lot more of a hassle to haul by yourself and there's a lot of empty space if you're traveling solo). I'm actually kind of surprised no one's given though to shipping him with Trixie, he only got one clop fic with her and it was by no means romantic. In my opinion, he's almost criminally underrated, there's a lot he brings to the table that makes him unique. And so ultimately, he ends up on the top spot.
And there you have it. Come back tomorrow morning when we'll look at the Top Ten Worst Characters of FiM, and then tomorrow night we'll rank all the writers of Season 8 to determine who did the best and who did the worst.
Here are my picks:
1. Cozy Glow (again, thanks to the finale. If she had turned out to be a red herring, she'd have been among my least favorite characters in the series)
2. Smolder
3. Gallus
4. Autumn Blaze
5. Stellar Flare
6. The Mean Six
7. Firelight
8. Ocellus
9. Silverstream
10. Terramar
With Ocean Flow and SkyBeak's situation, I think it's misinterpreted as a divorced couple, and is actually more of a loving family, that the two parents have important jobs that can't keep them in the same place all the time. I have an uncle who's away almost half the year from my aunt, and they are still happily married, going stong, and gave me 4 cousins in the process. So yeah, that's how I percieve this couple, that the arrangement is job related, and not the parents being divorced.