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Which is not enough but is there a stated number anyways?

@Dustcan
As many as it can have.

How many episodes is TYT supposed to be?

I really want an episode where Izzy finds out Posey doesn’t like her.

I’m half hoping we get Marcel sometime in the future.

I need to rewatch this special. I’ve only seen it once as a blind reaction and I want to be even more fair to it and try to catch any details that I’ve missed

Knowing Ring Team, one of the characters he’s referring to is Starlight Glimmer (not sure who else he’s referring to, and I’m not sure I want to find out). However I know some people will disagree with that.

@Background Pony #201C
I agree on that one. I noticed that character diversity in season 5, particularly in Made in Manehattan.

@Ring Team
It sounds like if you gave a pony a gryphon rig it would at least be identifiable, lol. The good thing though is it sounds like it shouldn’t be too difficult to have good identifiable characters in the background. One thing I liked about G4 was as the show went on it seemed to have more personality there, which will help with people finding new characters to like.

@Background Pony #201C
If the characters are the same models, then yes. In the case of Make your Mark. I’m assuming they would have like five different models for male ponies and other five models for the female ones just to avoid technical issues such as clipping or one part of a rig too sensitive for the 3D model. You can’t pick a rig and then give it to another model that has different proportions.

In other words, it would be like giving a Ganondorf rig to a Pikachu model in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

You can see why I think they probably have made 5 male models and 5 other female models with their respective rigs.

@Ring Team
Once you have a pony rig can you just apply it to background characters?

@Background Pony #201C
Rigging is essential for a 3D model because it’s basically the skeleton of the character. A great rig is not easy to program (when I studied 3D production, it was the hardest thing of the subject by a very long shot), but it can be helpful to create exaggerated and appealing poses, especially when the character was modelled for that purpose. And when you combine it with great appealing haircuts with specific quirks, the audience might be attracted to that character.

@GoodVibesGorgeous
To me, it was the haircut. Very teenager.

@Spoopygirl
If it’s the colt, I think he has no name. If it’s the adult pony who looks like the colt, he very probably has a name but we don’t know it yet (if the non-English dubbing credits of the MYM special are any indication, there are three male characters whose names respectively are Sander, Dapple and Diggy).

@Fanstar
I really like them. They make the world of G5 feel “lived in”; like there’s a status quo beyond “everything’s normal”.

I like the bruno looking pony
idk what his name is

I think these two background ponies might be teenagers. I don’t know how to properly explain why, but the way they both carry themselves and the earth pony’s tone of voice give me that impression.

@Ring Team
Strawberry Parchment and Violet Spark really stood out, as did the camper foals, and Teal Shores was the first non-flashback unicorn colt to use the standard model. Then there are the technical issues. Evidence suggests that until Season ~5 the colt model was incompatible with the horns and wings. And also that they had to superimpose scenes chroma keyed over one another. Cyclops Noteworthy and Derpy are the biggest pieces of evidence for this. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s why it took so long for S5 to come out.

Who are the two characters who weren’t questioned?

@Ring Team
I feel like much of the love of BG characters has been through little details like facial expressions and movements. I don’t know much about 3D rigging and all though. Would adding those details in the animation be relatively easy or difficult?

Posey didn’t do it for me in the special, but maybe in the series itself she can win me over.

@Wiimeiser
That’s possible, although I was thinking on something like Maya 3D (for modelling and rigging) and Substance Painter (Painting the 3D models and adding different kinds of texture), not Skyrim.

For a background character to be noticeable for the fan or the viewer, the design has to be unique and striking, which is why some of the background characters from Friendship is Magic were very appealing. Vinyl Scratch has this hip modern haircut and glasses with her music DJ table, Derpy Hooves was originally an animation error, Lyra Heartstrings was sitting on a bench like a human, Bon Bon had many different voice actresses, etc. That type of details.

But don’t worry. Eventually there’s gonna be a background character who will look amazing. And it’s not like it’s a big issue in the first episode (my problems with it are on saturated colors and small details related to occlusion and rig).

@Ring Team
With point A you could probably fudge it a little by using a character creation system similar to Skyrim to manipulate a base model set’s flexes, so it’s just randomizing sliders until you get something passable.

@Fanstar
I think they’re ok. They serve their respective purposes.

If what people really want are more defined background characters, that’s gonna be difficult because:

a. It would require to make a character based on a specific 3d model, and even with shortcuts, it’s a time consuming process.

b. I think we need to wait until we get an episode that has these types of characters, some equivalents of Vinyl Scratch, Derpy Hooves, Octavia, Lyra Heartstrings, etc.

If I have to complain something about the background characters, it’s that there’s something about the model that feels off in some shots. Maybe it’s related to the use of textures, the use of shades, the use of occlusion… I don’t exactly know, but hopefully the next episodes are gonna have a better production quality. Not necessarily in the second episode, but in five episodes or something like that.

@Fanstar
I like Posey, she’s like grumpy but relatable. Can’t help but feel bad whenever Izzy’s around. Also being totally different than who she usually is portrayed to be.

Also are Rocky’s wings artificial?