Background Character Diversity

Discussion in 'General MLP Discussion' started by Crestfallen Meerkat, Sep 25, 2011.

  1. Crestfallen Meerkat

    Crestfallen Meerkat Practically Part of the Site Itself

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    ...needs a tad bit of help.

    There are SO. MANY. BACKGROUND PONIES.
    And i dislike it when they will unnecessarily repeat background ponies SEVERAL TIMES OVER in one scene.

    I dunno. I think it's just me. I'm picky.
    But it bothers me a bit. :I

    What do you ponies think about it?

    I mean, i understand that it's less work to repeat the background, and a lot of other shows do it, too. But... i mean... seriously?:
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Double Rainbow "Dash"

    Double Rainbow "Dash" The Legendary TwiDash Shipper

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    Not like some people pay attention, but I heard that they are going to incorporate people's OC's into the show now.

    Not sure...and I need an OC... someone make twin RD's lol.
     
  3. zora-heart

    zora-heart A Pony Every Pony Should Know

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    Well, is not So bad see repeated background ponys, is something that really dont bother me =)
    and, that they put OC ponys sounds great!!
     
  4. Frost

    Frost Would You Kindly?

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    There was one scene that was up on the brony memebase, it had derpy in the background 5-7 times in one scene.


    I'm not a fan of it either, but its not a big deal. They're background characters.
     
  5. Echoax

    Echoax Greed Probably
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    I have no problem with it, I only notice if people point it out to me.

    Maybe they could recolor them, it wouldn't be as much of a problem then. I guess.
     
  6. Derpy Hooves

    Derpy Hooves Former Derpministrator

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    One of the show's animators that's pretty in touch with the community put up a thing on EqD asking for OC ponies
    So far he hasn't said exactly what for though, so I wouldn't be so quick to assume they're going to put OC's into the show

    As for why some are repeated in the background, it's all about resources and money - the show doesn't exactly have the biggest budget and while I'm not sure exactly how everything works, I know that's why they tend to repeat the BG ponies because it's somehow cheaper and it's not like their expected audience pays attention to that sort of thing.
     
  7. ParanoidPenguin

    ParanoidPenguin A Pony Every Pony Should Know

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    I don't personally care, I've seen worse screwups in movies and TV. Also, is it really that wrong to have two Rainbow Dash's in Running of the Leaves? It just makes things 40% cooler.
     
  8. Crestfallen Meerkat

    Crestfallen Meerkat Practically Part of the Site Itself

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    WHAT? THEY'RE INCORPORATING OC'S? :ahh:
    I HAVE TO PERFECT MINE QUICKLY THEN. o3o

    Yeah. That was in Sonic Rainboom. I was going to make a comment on that, but i forgot.

    Well, yeah. They say it saves money.
    What i don't understand is, HOW does it save them MONEY?
    I understand that it can save TIME, but... how money? :dunno:

    Wait. Are you saying they had Rainbow Dash twice in one scene, or did you just want to say "40% cooler"? xD
     
  9. Rarit E

    Rarit E *clank*clank*clank*clank*
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    Time IS money.

    If it takes them less time to complete an episode, it'll cost less money in the long run.


    And there's the fact that more than half of the audience is watching the show for free, so that doesn't really help.

    But still, i think it should be free for people who live in countries where they don't air it. It's not like they can help it, right?
     
  10. I_Ride_Ponies

    I_Ride_Ponies A Pony Every Pony Should Know
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    I've noticed a few changes in animation so far in season two. For one thing, the variation and quality of expressions of the ponies has been vastly improved since season one. Some of the animation effects too, such as at the beginning of episode two are improved as well, when the background shifts from side to side during the scene in the crater with Discord.

    I tend not to notice the backgrounds unless I pause the show, so I'm happy for them to keep the quality that they had last season, but I'm sure the animator's attention to detail in the backgrounds in season two will have improved with everything else.
     
  11. Luprony

    Luprony Retired Staff
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    The 'clones' are a pretty effective technique that only causes a problem if you actively seek them out. I have never once passively noticed identical background ponies without searching for them, and I have a pretty keen eye for these things. The way I see it, the more time they invest rectifying this problem, the less time gets spent in more prominent and important areas.
     
  12. Parker Izing

    Parker Izing Well known member. NOT.
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    Well, characters actually lack detailed face features, like pimples, zits, 2 day beards and so, the complexion is a matter of just coat color+mane color/style and eye color
    Consider how much white people whe can see on street, the let's see how much of them share the same style of hair-do, then imagine people got eyes the size of a cantaloupe and find people with matching irises. 2 people, with same hair style and same eye color are clones? no, there are many small details, the sort of details ponies lack. (clothes and complexion mainly)
     
  13. Pulse Wave

    Pulse Wave Background pony

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    I see that classic scene (also includes about eight Daisy instances) and raise this. Nine Bon Bons. Eleven Cherrys. Eleven Linkys. For such a large number of ponies, there are actually quite few ponies in this scene.

    But sometimes it looks like it could have been avoided. For example this recent scene. It's good to see less than five Colgates (namely only one) for a change. But how about replacing one of the two Cherrys with Rainbow Day who isn't in the scene at all? Or exchanging one of the three Lemon Hearts (sorry to all you Lemon Hearts fans) with Diamond Mint or that still nameless Lyra colour swap in Cloud Kicker colours who premiered in that episode? Or giving us Holly Dash back, for Luna's sake?
     
  14. Scootaloo

    Scootaloo A Pony Every Pony Should Know

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    I actually find the background repeats to be funny, so they don't bother me at all. I remember seeing someone point out a scene that had a bunch of Trixie characters scattered around off in the distance, and to me it's just a silly Easter egg kind of thing.

    Thought it doesn't bother me, it wouldn't hurt to include a larger variety of background ponies, since I'm sure they have a pretty large arsenal of them by now. Like some others have said, it's all about reducing the amount of time spent on each episode.
     

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