Anywho, lets start with Caramel. Caramel is one of the hundreds of background ponies seen throughout the series, appearing as Chance-a-Lot in the official merchandise, his first speaking role being in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, I think, does he speak in Winter Wrap Up? Either way that's kind of irrelevant, as much as I could wax lyrical on the all these little titbits I think it's time we got to the meat of the issue.
Caramel appears to change gender between seasons, yes really. Take a look at this convenient JPG=
But what is this really? It's one hundred percent pure fanon and while I love the idea this is clearly and instance of clonie-ism. What's a clonie? A clone pony of course! Animation usually requires a few short cuts to keep the budget low, Mallet Space, The Flintstones repeating backgrounds, the Hanna Barbera neck tie, and one of the many tricks up the DHX teams sleeve is repeated ponies, clonies. Got it? Good. Apparently they use a random generator to pick the characters colours and a cutie mark (that tattoo on their backside), there is also a few repeating characters like Lyra, Bon Bon, Colgate, Time Turner, Derpy Hooves and Berry punch who appear in the background frequently, often multiple times in the same scene, but have become firm fan favorites.
So yeah, nothing but fannon, another little smidge of over analyzing from the Brony community.
But does the show present any sort of pro LGBT values or play with any gender tropes? Not really, but not in a malicious way, it's just not addressed directly, regardless of what people will tell you about Rainbow Dash. But the show does function on a marvelously feminist level.
The main (mane) six characters, all female, function somewhat realistically for a cartoon, truly relatable emotional highs and lows, fun character interplay and heck even the fashionista Rarity (my personal favorite) has to work hard to achieve her goals, a far cry from the Barbie and Bratz 'flaunt it if you got it' instant gratification mentality that seeps into young girls television like an oozing mold.
Even after Shining Armour, a far more stereotypical strong male archetype is introduced at the end of season two the girls are still kicking butt and taking names, regardless of if they are talking the enemy down, kicking a dragon in the face or using the collective forces of friendship to magic blast their enemies into submission. Surprisingly Shining Armour doesn't turn up to save the day with burly manliness, instead he and Princess Cadance save the day against impossible odds using the power of love (yes really) and not resorting to violence.
I love this show, it honestly deserves its ravenous fandom and it really champions the idea that we are all awesome, all have a purpose and we are accepted for who we are and viewed as equals. Honestly, that's the idea isn't it? Acceptance? Equality?
Check the show out if you get a chance, I recommend 'Dog and Pony Show' as a fun place to dive in. Sorry this article isn't longer, I really could go on for a while but I feel that I'm already spinning it circles.
Oh, also, before I go I feel I would be amiss if I didn't mention this, the spa ponies, Lotus and Aloe share the same colours as the transgender flag, again, it means absolutely nothing in the show and has no real relevance to anything, it's just kind of neat.
Oh and one last itty bitty thing, this clip from the season three episode Magic Duel, but I will let you watch the full episode for context, I'm going to go before I shower you with extra random clips, come back next week for more nonsensical ramblings.
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