Character Evolution

[Lux]

Every great character goes through an evolution of their personality.

In MLP this is clearly seen withing the mane six.

So, who of the mane six do you think evolved the most from the start of the series until now?

Who evolved the least?

Let the debate begin!

[Saren]

Hmmm, out of the Mane Six?

All of them, are very much the same as they were after the Nightmare Moon episodes.

But, id say the most evolved over time is most likely Twilight. With her going crazy and all

Least evolved?, That is a hard one. But I would have to say Pinkie, She still is the same party animal that she was when she was first intoduced

[Rosewind]

I think Pinkie has developed the most. Fluttershy would probably be next, then Twi, RD, Rarity, and AJ. (Also throw Spike in there for good measure, he got a few good character-centric episodes!)

[SirShadowdeath]

Generically, Twilight. Learnin' lessons and such every day is SUPPOSSED to evolve her character.

However, analytically, I'd say Fluttershy. Even though she's still shy and isolated, she has proven to have grown up multiple times. Even though she's reluctant to do it, she's been "assertive" multiple times in defending herself and her friends. She was clearly shown to be quite weak and somewhat helpless in S1 Ep1, but I believe she's beginning to mature gradually.

[Thoth]

Most-developed?

I'll go with a dark horse pick (CWATIDIDTHAR?), and say Rainbow Dash.

Let's look back. In the beginning, she seemed rather cocky of her abilities, was rather rude to whatever pony seemed to irritate her, and was generally not much for the aspects that we see from Fluttershy or any of the other Mane 6, that being kindness or any intense caring for anyone besides her friends.

However, she's seemed to quickly change. Now, she seems quite a lot more concerned about how her friends feel (Hurricane Fluttershy is a massive example), and has been shown to be more caring of more than herself in any situation.

Least developed?

...*Opens umbrella*

...Applejack.

I mean, she hasn't changed a bit. Sure, that might not be a problem, but one of her Friendship Lessons was that she DID NOT LEARN ANYTHING. Let's be frank, the only lessons she's received was to "always accept a helping ha-hoove" and that her friends will love her no matter what. While those are both VALUABLE lessons, it seems to me that she just hasn't gotten anything big behind her in the two seasons we've seen. We've yet to learn about her parents, yet to learn how deep her and Apple Bloom's relationship goes (Sisterhooves Social in how it went into Rarity and Sweetie Belle's), and we honestly just don't get any big developments to her character and how she acts towards things. I'd say she "accepts help more willingly", but no situation has called for that in any of the proceeding episodes so far! (The closest I can think of is "The Last Roundup", and that's A BIT of a stretch, considering she doesn't even accept her friends knowing what happened at first!)

I love AJ. I appreciate her character, and would love to see more episodes with her....but she seems to be the victim of being undeveloped and frankly the least likeable of the Mane 6....to me, at least.

[RarityDash]

Yeah. Most is Twilight, considering where she started at (which was pretty much entirely antisocial). Rarity (who always seems to learn big lessons about pride and learning to change her expectations) and Pinkie (who's become noticeably more mature and responsible) are good runners up. Dash could probably still learn a few lessons, and I guess I can sort of see some progress with Fluttershy, but it's really not as apparent.

Least evolved is Applejack, but then again, she probably had the least lessons to learn to start with.

[Thoth]

Least evolved is Applejack, but then again, she probably had the least lessons to learn to start with.

Exactly the problem here.

[EquestrianScholar]

Twilight and Rarity, next being Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and then Applejack.

Now I have a question, perhaps a silly one but still, has Princess Celestia evolved at all? Luna has a bit but she only had one episode....

[weesh]

No one has evolved as much as Angel Bunny. Pre-Iron Will, Angel was a mess. Impolite, mean, demanding and contrary for the sake of being contrary.

After Iron Will, we have seen nothing but kindness, obedience, and even the willingness to stand up for Fluttershy when she was unable to do so on her own.

[Rosewind]

No one has evolved as much as Angel Bunny. Pre-Iron Will, Angel was a mess. Impolite, mean, demanding and contrary for the sake of being contrary.

After Iron Will, we have seen nothing but kindness, obedience, and even the willingness to stand up for Fluttershy when she was unable to do so on her own.

I didn't even think about that. Thanks for doing it for me, Weeshy!

[SirShadowdeath]

No one has evolved as much as Angel Bunny. Pre-Iron Will, Angel was a mess. Impolite, mean, demanding and contrary for the sake of being contrary.

After Iron Will, we have seen nothing but kindness, obedience, and even the willingness to stand up for Fluttershy when she was unable to do so on her own.

Duuuuuuuuude. My mind is, like, totally blown now.

[weesh]

A possible explanation for why I could notice such a thing:

I am pretty big into kids honoring their parents. I think I just naturally notice obedience and disobedience at a more acute level than other people do.

[elsporko]

As an owner of bunnies I can tell you they will go from being a jerk to the sweetest most loving thing ever and back to a jerk roughly every 30 seconds. Keep an eye on angel, lets see if his behavior stays nice.

For ponies I have to agree with Thoth. Rainbow Dash has evolved the most. Looking at the change in how she treats Fluttershy in Dragonshy verses Hurricane Fluttershy really demonstrates this. She has grown up alot and is definitely more comfortable with herself. Can you imagine season one Rainbow Dash being okay with just doing a job rather then breaking a record?

Applejack has evolved the least, but she was also one of the most mature ponies at the beginning of the season so its not really a fault of hers. She has still grown, being more willing to accept help and becoming closer to Rarity, but she already was a step ahead of the other ponies from the get go

[Lux]

For me the most evolved pony was either Twilight or Fluttershy.

Twilight for discovering friendship and with trying to work with all her friends and assisting in defeating numerous enemies.

For Fluttershy, she went from being scared of just about everything to confronting her enemies and overcoming her fears.

Worst - I'd go with Applejack. Besides learning that her friends are there for her, she didn't learn much about herself.

[elsporko]

Twilight has had a bit of an odd evolution compared to the other ponies. While the others seem mainly to be moving forward towards being stable and well adjusted Twilight has gotten more prone to nervous breakdowns. In season one you can tell she is high strung but the second season with episodes like Lesson Zero and Its About Time definitely knocked it up a notch. Looks like we're going to need an episode about proper stress management

[DrMaxwell]

Imo:

Twi->RD->Fluttershy->Pinkie->Rarity->AJ.

Twilight definitely still has a long way to go, though. They cant develop too much though, else they'll lose their personalities.

And people keep saying angel went from mean to nice, but angel has been on fluttershy's side from the beginning, starting with ticket master. He pushed her to try for something she really wanted. Yeah, hes a spoiled brat(to put it mildly) sometimes, but he's got his itty bitty rabbit heart in the right place sometimes.

[weesh]

Twilight definitely still has a long way to go, though. They cant develop too much though, else they'll lose their personalities.

That's kinda depressing. I want to disagree with that just to stop from feeling bad. By becoming a better individual you sacrifice your personality?

[DrMaxwell]

That's kinda depressing. I want to disagree with that just to stop from feeling bad. By becoming a better individual you sacrifice your personality?

To an extent, yes. Though sacrifice might not be the right word. Your faults are part of who you are. Take them away, and you're no longer the same person. Similar, perhaps, but not the same. Some faults can be changed a bit, like Dashie's growth in MMDW, but if you compare her to the dashie of season 1, shes not quite the same pony. Yes, she changed for the better, but she can only change so much before she's no longer the dashie we love and remember.

Or for instance, Fluttershy. Progress her out of her shy, quiet, timidness, and you're stuck with a pony who looks like fluttershy, and still loves animals, but she just isnt fluttershy. She wouldnt interact the same, and it would be glaringly obvious that it wasnt fluttershy.

[weesh]

Who we are is constantly in flux. To stop changing it a metaphorical death of character. To say that beyond a certain parameter you are not you anymore is also scary. If Fluttershy changes, it might not be popular or organic, but she would still be Fluttershy.

[DrMaxwell]

Who we are is constantly in flux. To stop changing it a metaphorical death of character. To say that beyond a certain parameter you are not you anymore is also scary. If Fluttershy changes, it might not be popular or organic, but she would still be Fluttershy.

That is indeed true. But how far can the changes go before we become unrecognizable? I'm not denying it, its just that there comes a point where the changes supercede the original personality traits, and the original personality is gone. Though with the quality of writers FIM has, I doubt we would ever see that happen. But progress for progress' sake is detrimental to a character. That doesnt mean that they have to stop learning though. You can continue to gather experience and knowledge to create tools to use following your personality, that is an endless process.

[Rosewind]

I think there's a difference between a character trait, a character flaw, and growth of a character -- all things we have to look at when deciding whether or not any changes actually took place. I think we've seen a lot of this in S2, probably because the focus was intentionally shifted away from Twilight, and on to other characters.

I'd rather keep the characters in flux and inconsistent, because it's organic and interesting -- just like the behavior of a real person.

Example: AJ nearly worked herself to death and learned to accept help from friends, but she can still be stubborn.

[elsporko]

To an extent, yes. Though sacrifice might not be the right word. Your faults are part of who you are. Take them away, and you're no longer the same person. Similar, perhaps, but not the same. Some faults can be changed a bit, like Dashie's growth in MMDW, but if you compare her to the dashie of season 1, shes not quite the same pony. Yes, she changed for the better, but she can only change so much before she's no longer the dashie we love and remember.

Or for instance, Fluttershy. Progress her out of her shy, quiet, timidness, and you're stuck with a pony who looks like fluttershy, and still loves animals, but she just isnt fluttershy. She wouldnt interact the same, and it would be glaringly obvious that it wasnt fluttershy.

In the first season Fluttershy is too shy and timid to tell the others she is afraid of dragons and goes with them. By the end of season two she is able to stand up to her friends and refuse to see the dragons. In both instances she still acts like Fluttershy but her growth has led her to act like Fluttershy in a different way

[HopeFox]

Twilight and Rarity, next being Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and then Applejack.

Now I have a question, perhaps a silly one but still, has Princess Celestia evolved at all? Luna has a bit but she only had one episode....

I don't think Princess Celestia has developed and changed as a pony over the course of the series, but that's unsurprising, since she's over a thousand years old and the series has covered maybe a year so far. However, from an out-of-universe view, we've seen more characterization and expression from Celestia in Season 2 than we saw in Season 1. In Season 1, she was basically just the infinitely kind and patient mother figure and benevolent ruler - which is awesome, but not that interesting. In Season 2, we get to see her panicked (The Return of Harmony), angry (Lesson Zero), deeply concerned for Twilight (Lesson Zero), nomming on cake (Ponyville Confidential), stern and disappointed (A Canterlot Wedding) and aggressive, then helpless (A Canterlot Wedding). I don't think that she's changed in-universe, but we've been treated to a much greater range of expression from her, which is one thing I've really loved.

[EquestrianScholar]

Thanks for the reply, almost forgot about this thread

[Jane]

What about the CMC? Does anypony think that any of them have evolved as characters?

Of the mane six, it's definitely Twilight who's chaged the most, and I'd say Applejack the least.