I don't think approaching this development from a skeptical point of view is entirely unreasonable. Other works that were designed to appeal to the demographic this is aimed at are not exactly known for there quality.

I don't think anyone's saying you can't, but there's still too little to go on.

That's the problem though. They can't. These are archetypes that have been done hundreds of times, and what sets them apart comes right from the setting. Without that stuff, it's just The Breakfast Club with wacky hair. Hell, it may even be watchable or well-written, but it wouldn't really have any business being FIM.

edited 12th Feb '13 6:21:52 PM by Pykrete

The sports jock doesn't necessarily have to be the stereotypical anti-girly mean person. (e.g. Sue from the new LPS series.)

Azudai? Well, I was more hoping for Hidamari Sketch or Nichijou, but Azu is fine too

cue human!Luna driving like Yukari-sensei

edited 12th Feb '13 6:20:49 PM by AceOfScarabs

Professor Luna was a drill sergeant for several years. Now she always talks like she's barking orders, even when she's saying something nice.

"YOUR SCORES HAVE IMPROVED! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, MAGGOTS!"

Partially true. I am part Irish, though only enough that it's still noticeable. I mainly named myself Irish Zombie because I'm a Fighting Irish fan.

human!Octavia needs to be a deadpan troll like Mai from Nichijou.

Time Turner is the timekeeper for track meets.

edited 12th Feb '13 6:28:37 PM by edvedd

No, Luna has to be the stern and strict Vice Principal! So students can say she's a real nightmare!

...I miss my Vice Principal. I'm convinced to this day that the only person in that school he liked less than me was my best friend. Ah, the old days....

I mentioned it before, but we could have Derpy as the Almighty Janitor, or maybe an eccentric art teacher. Time Turner is clearly an Equestrian Teacher. Spitfire is the PE teacher. Who else?...

Vinyl does morning announcements over PA and runs the school radio station.

@Mio: Oh, I am skeptical; I'm just saying we shouldn't declare it a lost cause until we have enough info to say that it is.

@Pykrete: We're just gonna have to agree to disagree, because I think the characters have a lot of depth beyond the core archetypes. I honestly don't think they need the fantastical setting to function; a lot of episodes are based on things that could easily be transferred to a mundane setting.

@Turtle: I'd guess they'd go the same route as FIM, base them on stereotypes, but subvert it by giving them additional depth. I.e. Rarity is based on a stereotypical fashionista, but she has a lot of substance beyond being obsessed with fashion.

Anyway, Octavia teaches music. Mr. and Mrs. Cake run the cafeteria (or teach Home Ec.)

edited 12th Feb '13 6:32:00 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Fancy Pants breaks the stereotype of the snobby cool person by having his popularity based on the way he's actually nice to everyone despite differences in social circles.

And Fleur is rumored to be his girlfriend, but who knows?

Im also going to say that if that picture of the M6 as humans is real. I am disappoint that there is no body variation among the characters. They look like they were done in one of those paper doll generators where you just stick hair and clothes on the same body type.

It was ok to do with the ponies, since they were ... ponies... but with humans it just seems lazy.

Berry Punch...I don't know what to do with Berry Punch.

Most of which comes from an adult professional skill in an industry that in any other setting has impossibly high barriers to entry.

Rarity could not exist in any other setting. Outside it, she's just Audrey Hepburn with French curls.

edited 12th Feb '13 6:37:35 PM by Pykrete

What's to prevent her from being the same way in a high school setting? It's just as fictional as Equestria; just because they're human doesn't mean the world necessarily has to resemble ours that closely.

@Edvedd: She's that one teacher that always shows up hungover and doesn't really teach much of anything, but all the students like her because she's cool.

edited 12th Feb '13 6:37:48 PM by JapaneseTeeth

She gets drunk on Kool-Aid.

Mayor Mare (or whatever her name should be) is the ineffectual student council president. They let her keep the position because while she doesn't accomplish much, she doesn't royally screw things up like her predecessor did.

Heh, that would work pretty well.

I'm sure they'll have to make up a 'reason' she's like that all the time.

Probably something like "Doesn't get enough sleep" or something.

And we're like "Riggggggghhhhhtttt"

edited 12th Feb '13 6:44:29 PM by edvedd

Being that the TV Movie is being made by DHX/Top Draw, they're probably doing the same thing with the main show in that most characters have the same body type to make it easier for the animators. Imagine being asked to convert most of if not the entire cast of Friendship is Magic into humans. Lauren Faust herself wanted variety among the Mane Six, but knew the animators were working hard enough as is.

Also...something tells me Hasbro only wants to make so many doll molds.

Sounds like my old art teacher. We didn't get along either! Ah, to be young again...

edited 12th Feb '13 6:43:45 PM by Calnos

According to that article, it's more that the girls are being sent on a mission to a strange new world where they take on a different form.

Which makes me think that it's less "what would these characters be like if they grew up in a world like this" and more "Remember the Prime Directive. They can't know we're not from here"

I understand why they did it I just wish they didn't look like those paper doll things.

It would be like if all the ponies on the show looked like Pony generator ponies.

Oh hey, I did not notice that factoid. That essentially means that they'll still have the right personalities then, doesn't it?

Of course, RD is gonna stand out because she's BLUE.

edited 12th Feb '13 6:46:43 PM by edvedd