>>25233531Character development can refer to the change a character goes through during a story, but generally it's used to refer to things like appearance, personality, mannerisms, relations to other characters and their place within the world, etc. Especially in such a disjointed show as MLP, if MLP was a book we might look at things differently.
For example Cheese Sandwich has extremely little character development:
- He has a single-faceted personality quite similar to Pinkie's
- He has an affinity for songs, I guess?
- His only meaningful relationship is with Pinkie Pie
- All we know about his past is that Pinkie Pie inspired him to earn his cutie mark.
A future episode might show another facet of his personality, or have him build a relationship with Dash, or introduce his family, thus developing his character.
A character with far more character development is Big McIntosh
- He's mostly silent and quite calm, but will speak up if necessary. He's afraid of growing apart from Applebloom, he can be playful or stern.
- He's a good singer in a band, enjoys Hoofball. Maybe he's into theatricals? He's clearly enjoying taking on another role in Brotherhooves Social.
- His relationships include the Apple Family (3 important ponies), Cheerilee, and to a lesser extent Spike (offscreen)
- From the flashbacks we know he's been working hard on the farm from a very early age and lost his parents long ago.
