I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the girls are the 'best' at anything. Twilight's a special case (and isn't that made obvious by the finale), but Pinkie isn't the "best" at Pinkie because she's the only one who can do it. Applejack's supposed farming skill varies wildly according to the needs of the plot, Rarity's only the "best" in designing until next season, and being fast doesn't make you the best flier.

One thing I really like about One Piece, which you've cited as an inspiration before, is that while the Straw Hats kick ass, they are massively outclassed by other crews. They're 'the best at what they do' because they're the ONLY ones who do what they do, and while they're a really strong crew and good people to boot, they have to train like crazy to even have a chance at making it into the big leagues, let alone find the One Piece.

Why? Water spray is how rainbows usually form. Admittedly that particular picture is a rare occurence, but you'll find some kind of rainbow at most waterfalls.

JT explained it better than I did.

I can?

Uh... uh... nopesorryneedtowork!

Okay, but more seriously, while best may be hyperbole or a bit odd, the fact of the matter is in a shonen series the main characters need to be best by definition - when the crux of plots revolve around fighting people, if you aren't the best, then you aren't the hero. They don't have the start the best, and it's always good to keep a powerful figure ahead of them for comparison - Zorro has Mihawk, Naruto has/had the shinobi gods, Fairy Tail has the guild masters, etc. But, we have these figures so that the heroes can eventually overcome them - in most series the big figure tends to be a big bad. Zorro will eventually be a better swordsman than Mihawk, for example. That's simply a given. So Apple's characters might have someone to overcome, but in the end they will have to overcome them. So calling them the best might be hyperbole, but in the context of the story it's necessary and makes sense.

I think you can only really say that about Twilight.

Emphasis on practice too.

OK, for example, my doc might be stumped by a mysterious disease, and would need to heavily research it before he could even begin to work on a cure...the strongest equine alive might be outmatched by a Minotaur or a hog...or an opponent who can run rings around them.

Personally, I'd just avoid making any narrative statement about their ability level when compared to others. Just say "they're good at what they do" and let the story itself decide exactly how good. That's one things I've never liked about Power Levels; it's an attempt to quantify something that can't really be measured well. Case in point for the mane cast, aside from Twilight (who's a special case as Red pointed out) I tend to not think too hard about their relative skills and just leave it at "they're very very good at their areas of expertise".

Take Rainbow Dash, for instance. She's an awesome flier. Is she the best, or the fastest, or the most skilled? Don't know. We do know that she's up there, but it's not like there's any objective scale of how good a flyer somepony is. There could be somepony out there who's faster but can't do the fancy maneuvers, or who's slower, but has a bigger repertoire of tricks. It's best to leave that sort of thing unsaid until the story requires you to demonstrate it.

edited 28th Feb '13 7:56:53 AM by JapaneseTeeth

We can say that about Twilight and Rainbow Dash, but I'm not even sure about the others. We don't have a good way of comparing what they can do with what a pony is expected to be capable of doing.

@Kegi: Not every Shonen series ands with the main character as the most powerful character.

@Yeller: Not normally with that level of intensity :V

"Most powerful" is kind of a crapshoot, because it's not quantifiable. A character who's wimpy can still win via Awesomeness by Analysis or Weak, but Skilled or because Worf Had The Flu. This is why I avoid any quantification of power rankings. They always end up being inconsistent. There's no linear scale of ability where "if X is ranked higher than Y they're better all the time". There are bazillions of factors that might cause X to be better than Y only some times, and only in certain ways.

OK, for example, my doc might be stumped by a mysterious disease, and would need to heavily research it before he could even begin to work on a cure.

This.

Heck, even Dr. House, who was supposedly a brilliant doctor, typically misdiagnosed his patients numerous times before hitting on the correct problem. He also was a very flawed character.

I've copied and pasted what you guys have said. It's that useful.

I most confess...I've never even seen or read a Shonen before starting this apart from the start of One Piece (which I only started because of this), so I'm a bit clueless...and it might be presumptuous of me to declare anything.

OK, best in the world is the wrong phrase I guess...let's just say...my guys are highly talented at what they do...and they can go far...after much training, and working to overcome those initially better at them.

Humanized scene from S3E13

Yeah, JT is right about that. There are many factors involved in comparing certain abilities, overal power being an exceptionally difficult one to pin down because of how many things are involved and due to certain things like rock-paper-scissors effects.

EDIT: The thing is to make what your characters can do make sense for the setting. Now, with MLP, you know that ponies can get very powerful from King Sombra, but he's kind of an unusual case. That said, Pound could already bend plumbing at a month old and he's not even an earth pony. Really, saying where they rank in the world isn't that important as has been said. Just bear in mind what they can do, have them impove over time and send them up against appropriate threats.

edited 28th Feb '13 8:20:13 AM by Sereg

My power level is about 9.

No, not 9, 000. Just 9.

(shrug) I prefer loser or everyman heroes, myself.

Regarding "power levels", the mane cast are talented but I don't think they're anywhere near the best. I mean, AJ can't possible farm the whole orchard by her lonesome.

@ Sereg

Sure thing.

@Dalek

Last time she tried she almost killed herself.

And every plant Pinkie touches dies.

edited 28th Feb '13 8:33:06 AM by edvedd

EDIT: Oppsie. Wrong thread.

edited 28th Feb '13 8:34:04 AM by PurpleDalek

Only to be replaced in no time once AJ gets back on the job.

Pinkie is death incarnate.

Pinkie is Laughter incarnate.

Wait....

New gif for the Reaction Repository, JT.

@Purple Dalek: Loser, everyman heroes aren't very shoneny. There's nothing wrong with them, but that's a different genre. Unless you're counting minuses who are so insanely powerful because they're losers (sort of. Medaka Box is complicated.).