Zipp Storm Thread

[CoffeeHorse]

In this thread we talk about Zipp Storm. She's one of two sisters we were asked to introduce last Siblings Day before the site outage took down my article… She's the older one and heir to the throne. She's the only one in the Mane 5 who doesn't have an accessory yet. And most importantly, she's very cute and you should say it until she stops denying it.

 

[Caldwin]

I have to admit, I honestly, truly thought she was a guy until I saw the movie.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

She's the new Rainbow Dash, it seems.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

You know, out of everyone in the movie, it seems like she has the most interest in history. Sunny has her dad's journal, but Sunny's really more focused on improving the here and now, and getting the ponies to cooperate with one another. Zipp seems to have some real reverence for the past, or at least the Wonderbolts.

Personally, I'd like her to take over Daring Do's old job. Let her be the "adventuring archaeologist" of the group, focused on figuring out what, exactly happened all those years ago to lead to all of this. I feel like that would give her a interesting role in the group.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

So Zipp and Pipp didn't get to do much in the movie (especially Pipp) but they do have something interesting going on.

I can see it.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

 

[blueskyscribe]

She's not really much like Rainbow Dash IMO, aside from both of them being athletic. Zipp is an analytical introvert, RD is a rash extrovert. Pipp is more like Rainbow Dash. She loves attention, she's self-confident, she has her own fan club, and she wants to be recognized as the best at what she does. I mean, it's not one-to-one, but they share more traits.

But anyway, yeah, I love Zipp and her family. The contentious relationship with her mom, her struggles to understand her sister and vice versa . . . Great stuff. "Zipp's Flight School" is one of my favorite Tell Your Tale episodes. Baby Zipp learning to fly parkour!

A nice design element is that Zipp has silver hooves while her sister has gold hooves. Pipp is the golden child of the family, even though Zipp is the heir to the throne.

 

[Shadewing]

Zipp loosely fills the same role as Dash, both being the athletic headstrong tomboy of the group, which is good for representation showing its okay for girls to not be all pink and girly. Personalities are totally different, yes, but you can't deny that the follow the same archetype. Just like Pipp is very much Rarity being the generous diva that wants everypony to look their best, and Izzy is Pinkie Pie being the easy to get along with playful agent of chaos, even if Izzy is imo Pinkie Pie done right as there is more method then madness in how she operates. None of them are the same characters, and all of them could exist in the same place without feeling like they are copies of each other in the least.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Dash and Zipp are both eggheads. Zipp just doesn't try to hide it.

None of these characters are 1:1 replacements for the G4 cast, amazingly. The dorky future alicorn is now an earth pony and the cutest creature alive. The critter magnet oozes confidence. The athletic tomboy pegasus is the biggest nerd and introvert of the group. The silly one isn't insane, just optimistic. The diva is famous from day 1 instead of being on a quest to make it, and she's the little sister this time. In more ways than one.

And then they forgot Applejack entirely.

 

[Caldwin]

Wait fot it. There hasn't been a generation yet that hasn't had some form of Applejack.

 

[Shadewing]

And then they forgot Applejack entirely.

Oh, you mean that orange background pony that showed up every episode?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Interestingly there was concept art for an Applejack themed food truck, so maybe the Apple family farm did eventually make it big.

 

[blueskyscribe]

Sadly G2 didn't have Applejack. The closest pony would be Bright Bramley, who was orange and had an apple symbol. But apples are pretty common as a pony symbol so I'm sure that was unintentional. From what I heard, the Kenner employees (who had just had their company bought up by Hasbro) purposely made G2 MLP and Beast Wars very different from their predecessors as a way to assert themselves.