I have to say, I have only discovered this show for a few days now, but Twilight Sparkle is already connecting with me in a rather strong way... You see, as you might have noticed if you read my intro thread, one of my strong passions is cartoons, of all kinds... My favorite type of characters are girls that down to earth and friendly, but also intelligent. From Gadget (Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers) to Raven and Terra (Teen Titans) to Blossom (PowerPuff Girls) to Numbuh 5 (Kids Next door) I can go on and on... But one of my very favorite heroin characters of all time so far in my life is Sally Acorn: She's the epitome of tough spirits and wisdom. She ALWAYS helps people and never loses her head! Now, how does she compare to Twilight? - Both are some form of royalty or very close to royalty. - Both are always the voice of reason. - Both are natural leaders by instinct. - Both are gentle at the same time and have warm personalities AND they are both voiced by similar voice actors. Sally by Kathy Soucie, and Twilight by Tara Strong (I Believe.) Both are two of my FAVORITE female voice actors as well. They almost literally put themselves into each of their roles. I'd love to see a crossover between these two strong characters...I respect them so much, and if Twilight were here, I'd GLADLY shake her hoove. ^_^ Am I the only one who sees the striking similarities?
I can definatly see some similarities. I also like Twilight, she reminds me of me a little. She also reminds me of Lisa Simpson, if she were a pony that is.
I am glad you and I share our admiration for Raven, Terra (BBxT 4 eva) and Sally-hime (Sonic and Sally 4 eva). Twilight is a unique character in deed, and very well rounded.... for some reason she just didn't stand out all that much. However, you articulated yourself well enough that I might reconsider...
The thing about Raven, though, is that she keeps to herself only because she has to. However, she's just wise enough to realize that excessive isolation can cause harm. She has that certain "I'm only quiet because I care about you and don't want you mixed up in my problems" quality to her. Come to think of it, Twilight was that way too once, don't you think? She was at one time so focused on her studies (As Raven is on maintaining control of her emotions, and her power as a result) that she lost the ability to live her life in a way that was healthy and good for her. She has to LEARN to trust--LEARN what friendship is. Not unlike Raven, who has to learn to express emotion if she's going to save herself from a life of being misunderstood and alone, forced to live with her assumed fate of summoning her father into the world (Just as her mother inadvertently did in the comics.) Ah, but unfortunately, this is one of the areas the show is far less in-depth than Teen Titans. Where Raven has a deep back story that makes you see her EVOLVE from episode to episode with a lot of conflict in between for her character, Twilight figures out her problems far more easily. Imagine if her character WAS given a steeper development curve, and she actually found it hard to be the person everyone leans on all the time? Maybe she feels pressure trying to live up to Celestia's expectations? Maybe she too is destined for a certain fate that worries her, and her friends are the only ones she has to turn to? Maybe she has a hard time understanding her magic and what her gifts were meant for, and she can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen with them? No, I'm afraid it's just "I learned something today, Celestia! Everything's fine and sunny, no problems with THIS pony!" Though we all know that's not a problem...I just think of what the show COULD be and I sort of feel bad for her character. It's going to take a while to develop her with such quick problem resolution all the time! It seems like squandered opportunity for her to grow, y'know? (Though she is in her own way, of course.) The difference between her and Lisa though is she is far less critical of everyone and less prone (Prone-y?.......naaaaah! =p) to be a wet blanket whenever she disagrees with something. She never tries to bring others down for "THE SAKE OF SCIENCE!!! *LIGHTNING*" like Lisa has done. Lisa has her soft moments, don't get me wrong, but she's so left-wing at this point in her character that she comes across as a know-it-all who's out to "Convert" everyone. I don't see that from Twilight...I think she will always be more humble and on-level with things than Lisa, but that's just me. Now how's that for character analysis? lol!
As a superficial note, *smirk* Sally and Twilight got similarly shaped eyes and hair/mane, to the point that in some episodes Twi looked like a recolored Sally for a sec. No doubt Sally was a near inspiration.
Whats funny is that I've always thought Tara Strong could do a Sally rendition if she was hired to do so. I guess MLP is just that! ^^
Twilight is a great character indeed. The way that she's written, as a bookish, even nerdy star student, but extremely down to earth and very well down the path to being sensible and rational well beyond her (apparent) years, is just flat out some GOOD character planning. We have seen a glimpse of the potential magical power she has, as seen in the episode "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and this is going to make for some very interesting character developments. With such phenomenal magical power potential (possibly the greatest of any pony ever in Equestria), she will NEED to develop a strongly grounded and well rounded personality (and skill set) in order to handle such incredible powers in a responsible and constructive fashion. I can guarantee that there will be episodes where her power grows faster than her ability to control it. Those episodes will be a great deal of fun to watch. My guess is that in those episodes, Celestia, Luna, or both (both being very powerful in magic themselves) will be very important to Twilight as they guide her in the use and control of those powers. It's my opinion that Twilight is actually the central character of the whole show. The show is ultimately about Twilight Sparkle's growth from a novice at magic (and many other aspects of life, primarily social interactions with others) into an emotionally and socially mature, supremely powerful magical unicorn. All the other characters are there for the ultimate purpose of helping to mold her personality and skills into that mature personality. That's how I see it. My guess is that this series is well planned out for several seasons to come, pretty much following what I've outlined. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'll enjoy finding out.
What makes her a great character is that every one can relate to her in some way. She has so many sides and dimensions to her personality it makes her a great all around character.
I adore Twilight Sparkle because she reminds me so much of myself. We both spazz over school. Poor Cupcake has to put up with me when it is finals week. I turn on psycho mode and am just SURE that even though I have a 94% in the entire class, somehow I will fail the entire class just because of the final. Of course, I tend to get the highest grades in my courses, so there is NO reason for panic. Yet I still do. She struggles with the idea of friendship, as do I. We both can be a little anti-social at times, though we do try, and we do have our core group of friends. We are both very logical, and we hate when something is not explainable. Once again, poor Cupcake. He has to constantly field my, "But WHY?" and "That makes no sense!" type of questions.
