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What are your thoughts on Flash Sentry?


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I think it would be best if the show just didn't go into the area of romantic relationships for any of the characters.  It's likely to cause an unnecessary stir among the fandom.

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I hate Brad (no, I refuse to call him "Flash Sentry", it's ridiculous). I'm glad he had like less screen time than Sombra, and that the dance only lasted 30 seconds. I never liked romantic stuff so I hope he isn't in season  4.

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I hate Brad (no, I refuse to call him "Flash Sentry", it's ridiculous).

Wait, seriously? You refuse to call him by the name that the creators gave him?

 

That's like Applejack haters calling her, I dunno, SouthernChick and refusing to call her Applejack. Just... why? I know that Brad was his nickname before the movie premiered and we didn't have an official name for him yet, but come on.

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I have heard from semi-reliable sources (people citing reliable sources) that Flash Sentry will not be appearing at anytime in the future. I think it should be kept that way, I simply do not like him regardless of form. I suppose if he was developed correctly I wouldn't have as much of an issue, but that would almost certainly expand the romance between him and Twi and that is a no in my mind book.

 

This is mostly my thoughts on him as well. I'm REALLY happy that there wasn't a lot of focus on him at all in the movie (as far as intruding into the main plot) as I had worried but because of that....I don't really want him coming back. Twilight basically met him twice by bumping into him before suddenly FEELINGS and that moment quickly whisked away to make room for the main plot again.

 

So all things considered, I'm glad for that.

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My thoughts on Flash Sentry:

 

Why is he the only human with normal-looking skin?

 

Also, I would assume that EqG isn't canon, being a movie and all, but eh. Makes no difference to me, I'll still support TwiDash.

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I'm pretty ambivalent about him.

 

Pro:

 

1. He joined Twilight's super-awkward dance, which implies that he can relate to her adorkableness and is independent enough not to care about peer pressure.

 

2. He had one line that I got a kick out of: "Just one 'no' would have been enough."  His reaction after he asks Twilight to the dance, she finds out that it's about to be postponed until after the portal closes and says "Nononononononononono!"

 

3. If he got an episode, it would almost have to be a spoof of the Flash Gordon movie, and that could be hilarious.  "Flash!  Ah-ahhhh!"

 

Con:

 

1. He's way to generic to genuinely care about, and stallions don't get character development in FiM.

 

2. He was Sunset Shimmer's boyfriend.  Given that she's just dripping with Mean Girl tropes and has been the Queen Bee for years (so her personality wouldn't have been completely unknown to him before they started dating), WTF, Flash?  OK, she's "hot" (especially with that color scheme), so shallow dude is shallow.  Pony!Flash doesn't really get a mulligan for this because it's been shown pretty conclusively that personalities are the same on both sides of the portal.

 

3. He might be a traitor.  He was Sunset's boyfriend in HumanWorld, and given the exactitude of correspondences between human and pony counterparts, it seems probable that his pony version could have been Sunset's boyfriend also, when she lived in Equestria.  Sunset "Knows Too Much" about current goings-on in Equestria for someone who has been living in another world for years, particularly about things like the timing of Twilight's visit to the Crystal Empire.  Could Flash, a Royal Guard, have been her "inside source" for information? 

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First of all what is canon? I have no idea at all. But i think Flash might show up a bit in season 4 as it starts, and maybe the rest of the mane 6 would find a very special somepony before they started really showing twilight and him together.

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First of all what is canon? I have no idea at all. But i think Flash might show up a bit in season 4 as it starts, and maybe the rest of the mane 6 would find a very special somepony before they started really showing twilight and him together.

Canon is everything that happened in the show. Have you ever seen Dragon Ball Z movies? All those (expect for I think one) are non-canon meaning that in the show they never happened. That's my best why to describe it.

 

Also NO, giveing all the mane 6 love interest just no. Why add another 6 main characters to a show that already have 12 (If you include Luna and Celestia) main character? That would make 18 characters! Don't forget the love interest would all need 2-3 episodes to build character and backstory for each which would limit some of the already devlopted characters and you though Applejack was a background pony before?

 

Oh and Flash isn't going to be in season 4.

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(edited)
Also NO, giveing all the mane 6 love interest just no. Why add another 6 main characters to a show that already have 12 (If you include Luna and Celestia) main character? That would make 18 characters! Don't forget the love interest would all need 2-3 episodes to build character and backstory for each which would limit some of the already devlopted characters and you though Applejack was a background pony before?

They could get a special somepony that wasn't a main character. It could just be shown that they liked somepony in one episode, and maybe they'd try flirting with them or something. 

Edited by Golden Everfree
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The Flashlight shipping doesn't matter much to me, unless it goes into the show. Then it matters. I don't like the idea of Twilight going around with this Flash Sentry guy sucking up to him. That'd be horrible.

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I'm pretty ambivalent about him.

 

Pro:

 

1. He joined Twilight's super-awkward dance, which implies that he can relate to her adorkableness and is independent enough not to care about peer pressure.

 

2. He had one line that I got a kick out of: "Just one 'no' would have been enough." His reaction after he asks Twilight to the dance, she finds out that it's about to be postponed until after the portal closes and says "Nononononononononono!"

 

3. If he got an episode, it would almost have to be a spoof of the Flash Gordon movie, and that could be hilarious. "Flash! Ah-ahhhh!"

 

Con:

 

1. He's way to generic to genuinely care about, and stallions don't get character development in FiM.

 

2. He was Sunset Shimmer's boyfriend. Given that she's just dripping with Mean Girl tropes and has been the Queen Bee for years (so her personality wouldn't have been completely unknown to him before they started dating), WTF, Flash? OK, she's "hot" (especially with that color scheme), so shallow dude is shallow. Pony!Flash doesn't really get a mulligan for this because it's been shown pretty conclusively that personalities are the same on both sides of the portal.

 

3. He might be a traitor. He was Sunset's boyfriend in HumanWorld, and given the exactitude of correspondences between human and pony counterparts, it seems probable that his pony version could have been Sunset's boyfriend also, when she lived in Equestria. Sunset "Knows Too Much" about current goings-on in Equestria for someone who has been living in another world for years, particularly about things like the timing of Twilight's visit to the Crystal Empire. Could Flash, a Royal Guard, have been her "inside source" for information?

Your perspective is very interesting. I agree with your first 2 pros (don't have an opinion on the third), but I want to address some of the cons.

 

The first con makes sense to me, especially the point that male characters don't get development in MLP. However, I am hoping that that will change. But we will see if it will.

 

The second one about him dating Sunset Shimmer is definitely understandable. Dating the Queen Bee because you can is a sign of shallowness, for sure, and not taking romantic relationships seriously - seeing relationships as flings to raise your social status.

 

My best guess is that, by the movie, he had a change of heart. How he changed or how long it took him to change can only be speculated at this point, but I say that he had a change of heart because

1. He broke up with her, not the other way around

2. He looked at the beat-up gym and knew that Sunset Shimmer was up to something, and he needed to prove that Twilight was innocent.

3. He also never made fun of Twilight after Sunset Shimmer made that video of her. If he still cared about being popular, he would have never wanted to be around Twilight again.

 

From what little we know about him, Flash seems like an in-the-moment kind of guy. He does what he feels like when he feels like it. Not always a good thing, but if your morale is aligned correctly then there are benefits to living in the moment. He probably felt really cool being the boyfriend of the queen bee, but when he realized just how terrible she was, he broke it off because it didn't feel good to be with her anymore. It felt better not to be associated with the reason why the school is a miserable place. Just a hunch.

 

As for him being a traitor? Sounds interesting, but it also seems like a stretch. There isn't really anything that his character portrays that shows signs of betrayal, or at least intention of betrayal. I mean, if he is so good at tricking us then that would be quite the surprise, but he was intentionally written as the good guy at Canterlot High, so for the writers to decide That he should be a traitor later on in the canon would feel disjointed.

 

Anyways, nice to talk with someone whose opinions on Flash Sentry are not blown totally out of proportion. :) I do not understand how someone could hate Flash with burning passion if he was barely in the movie...

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As for him being a traitor? Sounds interesting, but it also seems like a stretch. There isn't really anything that his character portrays that shows signs of betrayal, or at least intention of betrayal. I mean, if he is so good at tricking us then that would be quite the surprise, but he was intentionally written as the good guy at Canterlot High, so for the writers to decide That he should be a traitor later on in the canon would feel disjointed.

 

Agreed, that was some fairly wild speculation given the paucity of actual data we have about him.  It seemed like an interesting (if low-probability) angle to bring up...given the paucity of actual data we have about him.  IOW, there's not a whole lot to say about him at this point.

 

Thinking about a canon ship for Twilight or any of the other M6, I think I'd actually rather see a new character brought in, developed, made into somepony the audience knows and likes, before making a love interest out of him.  Heck, it could be a neat surprise if we see Twilight struggling over some complex and scary equation, and Big Mac comes in and says, "We'ell, you could try inserting a Fourier transform right about here..." ;)

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From what little we know about him, Flash seems like an in-the-moment kind of guy. He does what he feels like when he feels like it. Not always a good thing, but if your morale is aligned correctly then there are benefits to living in the moment. He probably felt really cool being the boyfriend of the queen bee, but when he realized just how terrible she was, he broke it off because it didn't feel good to be with her anymore. It felt better not to be associated with the reason why the school is a miserable place. Just a hunch.

 

I would agree that Flash is more of a shoe in character. Story didn't need him to advance the plot (it could have been either of Twilight's human friends that find out about the fake photo or that VP Luna should have been smarter and figure out the photos were fake) and I think Hasbro wanted to add a romance plot to appeal to cheap heart string pulls. Despite that, Flash is too underdeveloped to really speculate on his character. All we know is that he's a nice guy that helps out once in a while.

 

If he does show up once in a while in the episodes we could extrapolate more on him as a pony. Currently I'm indifferent towards this character, nothing great, nothing terrible.

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I think it would be quite interesting to see where the writers go with it if they use the idea in the show. I don't think a shipping would be THAT bad, and they don't currently have a primary male pony in the show. I guess it could work quite well if they can pull it off!

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i think Flash sentry is going to play a large role in season 4 as not only twilights guard but as her personal guard, that's why he was introduced in EG and that's why he helped twilight.

But i also believe he should have a Big mac style role of appearing now and then with a few lines.

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I'm glad that they didn't overplay the romance angle in the movie. That's one of the things I was terrified of. And I want it to STAY that way. Twilight does not need a love interest. None of the mane six do. They are perfectly fine without it. We have Cadence and Shining Armor. That's enough for me.

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(edited)

I ran into an odd thing about him I hadn't noticed before, on a different site (Roundstable):
 

Dexanth: And as an aside, I find it interesting that just as Sunset is parallel to Twilight, so Flash Sentry is Shining Armor run through a thesaurus - it feels like there's a deliberate dynamic that someone set up there, yet one we see utterly no sign of in the movie itself, as the relationship between Sunset & Flash is given no more than 1-2 lines.

 

"Flash Sentry" being a deliberate parallel of "Shining Armor" seems kinda skeevy to me.  It almost makes the Friendship is Witchcraft "Canterlot Wedding" spoof deuterocanonical...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Mkiw9TDiE

Edited by InvisiblePinkUnicorn
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i think Flash sentry is going to play a large role in season 4 as not only twilights guard but as her personal guard, that's why he was introduced in EG and that's why he helped twilight.

But i also believe he should have a Big mac style role of appearing now and then with a few lines.

Meghan McCarthy has confirmed that Flash Sentry will not be appearing in season 4. At least not as a speaking character.

 

It also seems like EqG is supposed to be its own entity without its actions influencing the show itself. That doesn't mean that Flash Sentry could NEVER return, but we would have to wait until at least season 5 and he would basically need to be introduced in the show in a way where if people didn't see EqG they would still understand who he is.

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I think it's a shame he didn't get enough screen time to have a chance as being portrayed as anything more than a 2D personality.
If he does come back in S4 then I would like to see more personality... or even any personality, but hey being a blank canvas that means he has potential right so lookin' on the bright side.

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No. I can't deal. The only reason this character exists is to give Twilight a boyfriend and that is beyond unnecessary. I have too much respect for this show to believe that they'd introduce someone that'd reduce Twilight into a drool fangirl or whatever. Especially, since Flash Sentry is bland as fuck.

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No. I can't deal. The only reason this character exists is to give Twilight a boyfriend and that is beyond unnecessary. I have too much respect for this show to believe that they'd introduce someone that'd reduce Twilight into a drool fangirl or whatever. Especially, since Flash Sentry is bland as fuck.

 

Yeah, this is one of the several reason of my hatred towards Equestria Girls. Twilight is not a pony that gets in love by simpe clash into the same dude three or more times and gets freakin in love. The romance thing is just unnecessary and also worthless. Heck, the fact that Flash was the ex-boyfriend of Sunset Shimmer is not even used, is almost like she wasn't giving a damn about it. And what about the fact that she seems to fall for the pony version of Flash Sentry for me she almost looks like a skank, if i can say it.

Only because he is the pony version how would she say it to the human Sentry if she ever is gonna come back (hope not)? What is she gonna do. Date both human and pony version? That's just stupid, for not say worst word.

And i must agree to those who say that he kinda remind of Shining Armor, at least in the pony version.

1) He is a royal guard, Shining is captain of the guard, but in the end, rank aside, they're both soldiers;

2) Both have for cutie mark a shield;

3) Both have blue hair;

4) And both are overly sugar cotted on Twilight, Shining like brother and Flash Sentry like boyfriend.

So, i really hope that EQG is not cannon and that Flash Sentry Aka boring love interest gets forgotten like the forgottable character that he is.

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He reminds me of all the other stereotypical boyfriends I've seen on countless tv shows where they make him so bland and perfect so he wont accidently steal the focus from any of the main cast.  I don't hate him, I hate everything he is and the stereotype he represents that it doesn't matter if you have the personality of a slug as long as you look fabulous.  Again, don't hate him, just how he's portrayed.

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I don't see any issue with him. He's never struck me as a Gary Stu character and pretty much all of his actions can be explained reasonably rather than be dumbed down to "he's just perfect" and he helped whenever it was convenient for the story to move along in any given direction. He got too little screen time, certainly, so he wasn't given a proper chance to be fleshed out but I can't expect anything more from a 1 hour long movie where romance isn't even the primary, secondary or maybe even tertiary focus. But I'm here thinking:

 

- What's wrong with him being a nice guy?

- What's wrong with him being supportive of Twilight for no reason?

- What's wrong with him being the cool guy in school?

 

I can see how those things would be bad if he had a more important part to play in the movie. But here's the thing. He didn't. He barely had any screentime. He barely had any time to get any kind of development. And heck, he could even be a bit of a clutz himself (remember how he banged on the door at the end?) and that could be why he was attracted to Twilight. He related to her. That's how people are attracted to others......right?

 

I think it's less to do with the writers' incompetence in fleshing him out and more to do with the writers deliberately choosing not to because there was no reason. Twilight having a crush on him? Let her. I mean really, it doesn't change anything in the story, so I see nothing good or bad in her having one. Besides, it's natural. I can see why it would rub some people the wrong way but I really don't mind.

 

Confession time: Twilight's expression when she saw he was under Sunset's mind control was kinda......ngggh!

Edited by Freedan
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Now in my opinion, I think Flash Sentry would be a nice addition to the family and its other guys. I totally understand how some of the bronys don't want Twi to get a love interest but we cant just expect Twi to grow into an old lonely pony without children of any sort. To speak figuratively we should all want what makes Twilight happy haha. Plus Hasbro will eventually run out of good ideas to keep us watching the show and a few episodes with Flash Sentry won't kill ANYONE to at least keep the ideas flowing for Hasbro. So i think that he should be included in the show even if its only a few episodes. Hasbro would have to otherwise make an episode introducing hm again.

As for his human role i didnt quite get enough info about him of screen time to really fall in love with the character himself. He did grab the 9-12 year olds attention and if a sequel is to be made i wouldnt mind twilight going back through the portal after 30 moons to see her second world friends and maybe something happen to get her in a bit of a pickle.

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