Top Ten Stallions, Version 7 · 2:06pm Oct 21st, 2019
There weren't too many more stallions introduced to us in the final season, but we did get more screen time for some fan favorites, former place holders came back in spectacular fashion, and a couple of newcomers joined the list in various places. By now, you know the drill. Here's Version 6.2, from just after "The Best Gift Ever". Let's see who moved up, moved down, got added, and got removed.
10. Firelight
Why he moved down to the bottom: It was nice to see a cameo of him in "The Ending of the End" within Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but I kind of would've liked him to put in more of an appearance. I imagine he'd be quite thrilled to see Starlight as headmare of Twilight's school. Ultimately, that little cameo is the most he could manage.
9. Sans Smirk
Why he was added: The best new character of Season 9 had to end up on this list, there was no way I could refuse. As I said it would've been so easy to make him another Svengallop, make him the corporate talking head who must be proven wrong and the one who's delibertly sapping Cheese Sandwich of his laugh. But no, he's a nice guy. He legitimately is concerned about Cheese and about the factory even if he shows it in different ways (he's kind of like the Maud to Cheese). And as I said in my top ten new characters of Season 9, I can't be the only one who thinks of Baymax with the way he talks, right?
8. Sunburst
Why he moved way down: Ouch, poor Sunburst fell from grace hard in this season. First he was just there for "Student Counsel" though that in and of itself wouldn't have sunk him too much. No, what hurt him was "A Trivial Pursuit" were he was just as much of a-hole as Twilight, obsessed with winning to the point he'd delibertly get his own teammate disqualified even though he already saw Twilight do it to hers. And then he was hastily tossed into the ending of "A Horse Shoe-In" because the episode decided to just contradict everything it had previously said about neoptism. And I find it kind of disheartening he left the Crystal Empire and thus isn't there to see Flurry Heart grow up. They really seemed to just treat him as an afterthought in this season, even Starlight at least made the most out of her limited screen time.
7. Night Light
Why he returned: Of all the mane six fathers, Night Light is easily the best. "Once Upon a Zeppelin" shows that he's supportive of his wife's thrill seeking nature even if he teases her about it, and it also implies that he's where Twilight picked up her OCD from. This season, while he didn't speak, he got to appear in a flashback in "Sparkle's Seven" which was nice, but then he really stood out when he and his wife were helping to power up a protective shield in "The Ending of the End Part 2". Not to mention them both being there to see their daughter's coronation in "The Last Problem". Those appearances were worthy of bringing him back.
6. Fancy Pants
Why he returned: Was he a jerk in "Between Dark and Dawn"? Maybe a little, but think about it from his perspective. He was eager to help and Twilight immediately rejected his offer, claiming she had everything under control even though she didn't. I'd say he had every right to be upset in that situation. And even then his reaction to everything going wrong was more a gentle "I told you so" than anything really nasty. The only thing really jerkish he did was mock Rarity's choice of decorative fabric, having interacted with her before he's the last pony who should be doing such a thing to her. That's really the only thing that hurts him, though I kind of have to wonder if his role was meant to be given to Prince Blueblood, especially since Fancy Pants was accompanied by Jet Set and Upper Crust.
5. Snap Shutter
Why he was added: A pony so strong he can wrestle a cragadile with ease, yet he seems to be more of a gentle giant than anything else. Those little facial hair spots are most likely actually his scars, or it's possible Scootaloo was exaggerating (or maybe the scars are covered up by the shirt he wears?), and the hat looks great on him (wish we'd gotten to see Scootaloo wear it a few times). He had some pretty good logic when presented with the photos of the CMC's cutie marks, though you have to wonder how he's not the least bit upset his daughter and her friends borrowed his camera without asking.
4. Quibble Pants
Why he returned: "Common Ground" was a fantastic return appearance for him even if he was trying way too hard to impress Wind Sprint. The dilemma of wanting to connect with a child when you're in a relationship with their parent is something that can be very difficult, and it actually reflects a lot of the struggles Patton Oswalt had with his daughter Alice. Interestingly, he and his new family appeared at Twilight's coronation in "The Last Problem" and we finally saw him without any clothes on (kind of surprised he'd chose a coronation of all events to go without them).
3. Shining Armor
Why he moved down: At least this time he wasn't treated like he didn't exist all season long. He got "Sparkle's Seven" to give him one last outing in the spotlight, and he did not disappoint there. It's just that his security was still way too easily thwarted in "The Summer Sun Setback", the royal guards still turned out to be a joke, and after "Sparkle's Seven" he wasn't seen again until briefly during "The Ending of the End Part 2". I really don't get why they couldn't have let him, Cadence, and Flurry Heart join the final battle. They've proven to be more than capable of fighting on their own, heck "The Best Gift Ever" made them into a fantastic battle couple.
2. Cheese Sandwich
Why he moved way up: Cheese's return was fantastic, everything we'd been hoping for for the most part! The biggest issue is how serious they played his depression, it's the kind of depression you don't just get over (and in some cases you may never fully get over it). It's an understandable dilemma that every artist can go through at some point, but the Cheese Sandwich we know and love took a while to show up in "The Last Laugh". Still, cudos to him for hooking up with Pinkie Pie and having a child. I'm sure he makes a fantastic father (if a little on the goofy side, I think Weird Al is actually a father in real life). Ultimately though, he just falls shy of the top spot.
1. Big Macintosh
Why he stayed on the top: "The Big Mac Question" was a wonderful episode for him, you can tell how much he really wanted to impress Sugar Belle and make the proposal perfect. It does make a little sense he'd be over romanticizing his parents' love story, and tying them to his dilemma with Sugar Belle was great. It more than made up for all the times he was ignored, particularly by his sister Applejack. And ultimately, thanks in part to "The Big Mac Question" he stays on the top.
And there you have it, come back tonight when we'll update the rankings for the Top Ten Earth Ponies.
I couldn't agree more. I like fancy's character, equal to others dispite His Elite Status
I’m kinda curious who you would add if this list wasn’t just male ponies, but also male changelings, dragons, etc. Like where would Thorax and Pharynx fit in? Gallus? Spike?
I mostly agree, though I heavily disagree on sunburst for two major reasons:
1. it has been shown the crystal empire has the fastest trains, and with a royal servant salary, he could likely afford the trips, and on top of that I doubt he's the only one who cares for the little doomsday weapon.
2. While its easy to see sunburst as a huge jerk in trivial pursuit, i think he was actually trying to teach twilight a lesson, he being like her in many ways, saw the only way to get her to understand how badly she messed up when she was in one of her moods was to make her go through what pinkie had. This is given credence on how he talks about bringing cranky back into the game after he wakes up and twilight realizes how badly she bucked up, in my eyes this is not only not a bad sunburst moment, but a great sunbust moment, he knew how to snap twilight out of her craze and teach her a lesson at the same time.
5143198 2. If that was their intent they never conveyed it.
1) Spike the Dragon
...Shut up.
5143200
I feel like they really did, just not with direct words
wow Big Macintosh, Cheese Sandwich, Shining Armor been at top long then any other male chacarter
5143517 Probably because two of them have been the most consistenly appearing male characters on the show, and the third was among one of the most popular one off characters from his debut.