The g5 fandom is way too hard on Sprout.
Sprout was a villain. One that was brainwashed by his mother and shaped by the society that he lived in. He didn’t even make a grab for power until it was thrust upon him. It’s funny that we all forget the entire Maretime Bay was perfectly fine with what Sprout was doing, but Sprout catches all the blame.
Anyways, Sprout redeemed himself at the end of the movie. The crystals don’t reunite until Sprout joins the circle, so it’s obvious that he’s changed his mind about his pony racism.
It’s clear that the writers softened their stance on Sprout, too, because they cut their original storyboards. The ones where Izzy grabbed him with telekinesis, everyone treats him like a mastermind, and his mother says he was a bad sheriff and forces him to apologize.

I personally think Phyllis was the real villain in the movie, embodying the societal prejudices that are the status quo that gets taught to Sprout and Hitch. But she gets a pass from the other characters that feels extremely undeserved. I would have loved it if at the end of the movie Sprout called Phyllis a bad mother. But alas, the writers decided to keep him a mama’s boy.

@Background Pony #2339
Even the conman eh?

G5 villains also are Phyllis Cloverleaf (Sprout’s mother), Discord, Fet Lockland and Milkyway.

Lovely drawing, I think Sprout should definitely be considered a villain for nearly starting a war for no good reason but he is not really evil, Opalin is the only evil pony here (and hopefully we will see her more in action in the following episodes). Posey while obviously not taking change well and lashing out on others, she still did not do anything particularly bad. Misty is an antagonist, but its clear that its the circumstances that put her in this role, she is a person. My favorite of the antagonists so far is Posey (followed by Misty), not for really what she did but for her character.

Sprout is the absolute best of these!

@Phoenixflambe
Yep. Probably in Chapter 4 or 6 (5 probably will be disconnected from the main story, like 3).

@GoodVibesGorgeous
I just think that I feel Misty is going to have some redemption arc given the context and that Sprout simply was thrown away the moment he served his purpose.

In other words, Misty was slated and setted up to be the sixth.

@Background Pony #6EFA
I don’t think Sprout will join the main cast. Seeing as how almost all of G4’s mane cast share coat colors with somepony from the G5’s mane cast (except Rainbow Dash), it’s likely that the sixth member will be a blue pony. Which means that Misty, whether people like it or not, is the most likely choice. And there’s the fact that there’s only one unicorn in the group (Sunny’s alicorn transformation is akin to G4’s Rainbow Power or the HuMane 7’s Pony Up, that is: It is something more or less temporary).

@Background Pony #6EFA
It’s not because she’s female…

@Background Pony #403A
Exactly! What was the point then… I love Sprout and I still hope (but those hopes are getting low) that they will bring him back and give him full redemption. Like the game did. There are Sunny and Hitch! His childhood friends, especially Hitch was like his brother. Now it feels like that they don’t even know each other… And he needs to meet Zipp, Pipp and Izzy.

@Background Pony #D8D0
Misty?? NO! She’s just an intruder and she’s evil. (Just my opinion). They want to ruin the series completely with her… I’m not a fan of her and she’s not cute. She only gets attention because she’s a female character… If Sprout was a female it would be totally different and easier for him. Hopefully they bring Sprout back, give him a chance and that he will officially join the cast. Like in the game.
And, it needs another male character! It would be so much better. Only 1 is nothing and doesn’t fit anywhere…
Sprout, Hitch, Sunny, Izzy, Pipp and Zipp.
No offence.

@Background Pony #D8D0
Hmmm… Maybe, But I think Sprout would totally hit if off with Zipp. I think they are a like.
But like I said just my views.

@Softy
Speaking of which, there’s a sixth seat too of the Marestream.

What’re you guys talking about? We already have six characters! There’s Izzy, Sunny, Hitch, Pipp, Zipp and Señor Butterscotch.

@Background Pony #403A
It’s jarring.

@Background Pony #D8D0
i hope no one joins the mane cast. why y’all so willing to add another character to the group so they could make another mane6. do you not like number five or what 🧐

I really hope sprout doesn’t join the main cast. But I can see if he and poesy met they’d totally hit it off. After all (in my opinion) they are pretty much alike.

I am not a fan of sprout. But he and poesy weren’t Villains. Opaline on the other hand is a Villain. But when it comes to Misty I totally love her! She isn’t a Villain. She can’t even menaical laugh. Her laugh is pretty cute though. Anyway misty doesn’t seem to want to be a Villain. Hopefully she’ll reform and join the main cast.

@Background Pony #6EFA
lol, i forgot that sprout was also friends with hitch and sunny. why make them childhood friends in the first place if it didn’t affect the story arc or character development in any way. they didn’t even tried to add some conversation between these three after the ivents of the movie. they’re not strangers or neighbors, regardless of whether he’ll change or not, that should’ve been shown. it’s just so unrealistic. he’s an antagonist just to be one, to make a conflict in the movie, then they threw it away. this is called lazy writing. i bet Opaline’s here for the same reason.

@northern haste
Yup! He is a good pony

@Background Pony #403A
Sadly I agree… They are wasting his potentials. There is so much potentials and stories to do for Sprout, but now they just… I don’t know what do they want… Will they give him back and made him full redeemed? He has 2 childhood friends there… What are they waiting for… This series is a big disappointment… We need more male characters, especially in the main cap. And Sprout is perfect. He is the member of the new mane 6 for me, they did this in the game, it was perfect. So what are they waiting in the series? Sprout is the best, but sadly they are wasting his potentials. The way how it looks now, it would be better if they would never add him at all… :(

And he isn’t a villain! He never was! He just lost his mind

@Softy
Sprout just didn’t want things to change. He did a bad stuff, but because he was brainwashed and taught that way. He is a good pony. So as Posey

Misty and Opaline on the other hand aren’t. They are villains.
Sprout isn’t

@Vinylshadow
Dude, Sprout is not a villain and he never was! He was just brainwashed. Guess you don’t know what a villain is. Misty actually is.
Misty and Opaline are villains, Sprout and Posey aren’t. They are both good

@northern haste
that’s not obvious. they should’ve done something serious with him instead of throwing into the series like a wrapper. what’s the point of his character then? he has no role — not a villain, not a hero, not even a comic relief. if you add a character, especially(!) mane character, you must write him well. take puss in boots 2 as an example, a lot of absolutely different characters with different stories, and they’re all lovable and loved by fans, even the villiany villian Jack Horner. and what do we have here? absolutely wasted potential. better pretend he doesn’t exist at this point.

@Background Pony #403A
Pretty sure we saw him on community service in the show

@Background Pony #6EFA
damn bro, chill. i love sprout too, but i ain’t blind to see that he definitely was a villain. he literally destroyed his friend’s property.
too bad there was no evolution of his character, no redemption, no punishment, he’s just there.

Sprout was 100% a villain. He literally made himself dictator and started a war for no reason against ponies who didn’t even want to fight him while using his own citizens as unarmed cannon fodder just to feed his own stupid ego. There’s no grey area here. Sprout was the bad guy.

Posey just wants to live her life the way she likes it without crazy ponies messing it up all the time. She’s an atagonist to the main characters, but she’s no villain.