Was reforming Discord a mistake?

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

I'm torn. On the one hand, Discord was an excellent villain and it seemed an odd choice to reform a character as malevolent as Discord was; on the other hand, I think Discord's redemption was handled well (as it took three seasons for Discord to gain the trust of the Mane Six) and I've enjoyed most of the episodes he's starred in.

[Tropico 225]

i totally agree with some people here: i like him reformed cause it gives the show different possibilities. him being bad and returning again and again would be repetitive, so he wouldnt appeared so much more. maybe two more times (alternate time line & a revenge like chrisalys).

 

so reforming him we got the chance to see him more and in diferent situations. plus the fluttershy x discort friendship being super cute and powerful.

 

plus the reforming isnt thaaaaat rushed. and he had to deal for a long time with the trust issue.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Tropico

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

He evolved from evil tyrant into Fluttershy's love interest in just 5 seasons.

And Starlight went from pony Pol Pot to the Mane Six's new best friend in ten minutes. What's your point?

[Adachi 772]

They could've just toned down the old Discord a bit. Still a prankster, still a bit of a troll, just not destructive. Like Q from Star Trek: TNG. That way he gets to keep his charm AND he gets to stay in the show.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Adachi

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

They could've just toned down the old Discord a bit. Still a prankster, still a bit of a troll, just not destructive. Like Q from Star Trek: TNG. That way he gets to keep his charm AND he gets to stay in the show.

That's what they kind of did, though: Discord went from being the MLP equivalent of the Joker or Kefka to the MLP equivalent of Q or Mr. Mxyzptlk.

[RiseofSpectrum 359]

Really, the problem has to do with how Discord's power is portrayed. Barring something plot-armourish like the Elements of Magic or the Stony-thingy-whatever Chrysalis had, the guy was God, As in, completely unlimited in terms of what he could do.

 

Now everytime there's a new villain, the writers constantly have to come up with new ways of preventing him from defeating the villain.

 

I could only wish the guy had actual limits to what he could do.

[silvadel 1,393]

Well, all it takes is for somepony to potentially hurt Fluttershy and Discord is ready to take on Chrysalis under very disadvantageous circumstances. 

 

All he has to do is to get the least bit jealous and the object of that jealousy is in danger of being sent to sock puppet-land.

 

This clashes kind of interestingly with how he was with Tirek.  "I was given a better offer."  He certainly would have failed RD's test from Nightmare Moon.

 

---

 

Is he really reformed, or is it just in his best self-interest to mostly behave to keep Fluttershy's interest?

[BlueBrony 388]

I would have loved to see a little more of the antagonistic discord (he was my favorite villain), but I've grown accustomed to the reformed discord, and honestly his friendship with fluttershy is really cute.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

If you dont like the reformations, they are definately a mistake, simple as that  . 

[Confetti Nova 58]

I dunno, I'm usually for the bad guy reformed as a good guy thing. (Although the show can use it a tad too much.) Takes a strong and smart character to reform theirself. At least Discord can still act like his maniac self at times.

[SBaby 660]

They could've just toned down the old Discord a bit. Still a prankster, still a bit of a troll, just not destructive. Like Q from Star Trek: TNG. That way he gets to keep his charm AND he gets to stay in the show.

 

Well, that's pretty much what they did though.  He can still be a troublemaker at times (as we've seen), but he's just not a major villain anymore.

 

 

If you dont like the reformations, they are definately a mistake, simple as that  . 

 

So by that token, if I don't like the Pokémon anime, it means it's a bad anime?  And if I don't like Battlestar Galactica, it means it was a bad show?  And if I don't like Naruto, then it's a bad series?  

 

All of these examples come from shows that I am not very fond of.

 

 

And Starlight went from pony Pol Pot to the Mane Six's new best friend in ten minutes. What's your point?

 

The difference here and why people are ok with Discord and not Starlight, is because Discord has had 5 seasons.  Five seasons of going from being a major villain, to being a troll and finally getting to the point where he is actually on friendly terms with everyone.  The only thing we haven't seen him do yet is nobly stand up to evil (though I will admit, I'd prefer it if they had a character who wasn't insanely powerful and able to do a million things at once be given an arc like that).

Edited February 3, 2017 by SBaby

[Conred 274]

Discord need to be nerfed in order to get adventure episodes or else he will be ignored comepletely in order to not make him solve every problem with magic. I'm thinkin some kind of villain could transform him into a unicorn to weaken his absolute power or something.

This way he could participate in adventure and slice of life episode and act accordingly to the situatuon isntead always doing things his own way.

[SBaby 660]

Discord need to be nerfed in order to get adventure episodes or else he will be ignored comepletely in order to not make him solve every problem with magic. I'm thinkin some kind of villain could transform him into a unicorn to weaken his absolute power or something.

This way he could participate in adventure and slice of life episode and act accordingly to the situatuon isntead always doing things his own way.

 

I don't know about that.  The thing is, just about anything they do to nerf his powers is going to feel artificial and forced, regardless of how they go about doing it.  Not to mention, you have the risk of plot holes being created for previous Seasons, as was the case in the Season 6 finale.  It not only felt forced and artificial, but it also left a gaping plot hole in Season 2's arc, when logic takes over and the fans think:  'Say, if her throne could do that, why didn't she just transport it into Canterlot like a Trojan Horse during Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding and disable all magical power?'.

 

The only way it would really work is if he was willing to give up his powers to do something extraordinary, that only he could do.  Like if some truly evil villain descended on the world, and the only way to defeat it was to exhaust all of his powers to the point where he lost them permanently (or at least lost them to the point where he was reduced to only being power-wise on the level of a normal pony or Unicorn going forward).  But even that's a stretch, because it would have to be a villain that is more powerful and more monstrously evil than anything we've ever seen in the series, and we would have to be shown that there is absolutely no other way to defeat it.  That would be a way to give him a sort of 'Discord's Finest Moment' scene in the show.

Edited February 4, 2017 by SBaby

[TheBronyFan24 0]

On 2017-01-11 at 4:53 AM, Megas said:

Maybe, all I do know is that ever since they reformed him and made him a recurring character, I've gotten sick of him quicker

Agreed.

[Misty Shadow 7,067]

My feelings are conflicted, though I wouldn't go so far to say it was a mistake. I don't care for what he did in the last season, but I still find some of his antics in the episodes about him amusing. He was even once one of my favorite characters and I feel the G5 comics could ironically redeem him by making him a villain. 

[Props Valroa 25,979]

I like the idea of him being a villain more than a hero. I found the way he was written to be very improper and it wasn't well done either. He was amusing but him being Grogar was the worst mistake of him. 

[EpicEnergy 22,066]

He was helpful in some episodes, though that alone doesn't mean it was worth reforming him. I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer to this, but in my opinion, as annoying as Discord is, reforming him was not a mistake.

[Megas 27,052]

Absolutely 100%. Most of the show’s biggest mistakes can be traced back to his BS, and I feel they really got at its worst with the final 2 seasons. If I had the chance to change anything about the show his reformation would be one of the top things I would change 

[Props Valroa 25,979]

45 minutes ago, Megas said:

Absolutely 100%. Most of the show’s biggest mistakes can be traced back to his BS, and I feel they really got at its worst with the final 2 seasons. If I had the chance to change anything about the show his reformation would be one of the top things I would change 

Exactly. Discord being reformed is something that felt strange to me. Him being friends with Fluttershy isn't a decision I would have made. I am not a fan of it myself.

[RDDash 18,848]

I don't remember now but I think I've heard somewhere that reforming Discord in G4 was a mistake and I think it would have been better if he was replaced with the Beezen the lord of all the furniture. For now at least I am very happy how the comics had been writing Old man Discord and he feels just right to me. A lot of things kind of changed from the season 1 and many characters weren't the same now as they were before or what people 10 years ago thought they are going to be. 

At one point in the series they had been reforming unicorn antagonists left and right and I just got tired of it in general. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by RDDash

[Astralshy 23,459]

I know many people who think the reformation of Discord is one of the biggest mistakes FiM ever did. So this is indeed a very widely hold opinion.

Personally I don't agree with this. I think Discord works best for what the show displayed him to be: A mischievous, pretentious and very powerful character who goes through a progress of character growth. It is just when I watched the Season 2  opening (introduction of Discord) then I don't see the same malice like with Tirek or Queen Chrystalis. In my eyes he has always been different from these two real villains of that show.

So I like to see him reformed and this is (for me at least) one of strongest decisions of FiM.

Though ... in I have to ssay this this too .. reforming this very powerful (not all powerful) character brought also problems with it. He would be able to almost always resolve a situation and ends an episode. So the creators either didnt put him into an episode or stripped him of his powers, which feels cheaty to many. Also it lead to this moment in season nine when Tirek and the others are suddenly to afraid to absorb Discords magic, while Tirek did exactly this in s4 ending all by himself.

[Splashee 28,537]

You can only do so much with a character. If the character is chaotic and random, but also an evil, then there isn't much that can be done other than writing random episodes with random plots about doing something evil. With Discord being a good guy, there were more options, and Discord was a fan favorite, so that option kept the character there all the way till the end of the series.

[Ring Team 119]

On one hand, I can see why someone wouldn't like that detail.

On the other hand, it could have been worse.

[Evil Pink One 12,953]

40 minutes ago, Ring Team said:

On one hand, I can see why someone wouldn't like that detail.

On the other hand, it could have been worse.

One of my theories is Starlight glimmer is still evil and still plan to do her goal... But in a better and easier way... Dun dun duuuun

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

No not at all. It really opened the doors to show how he could be utilized to teach lessons, like "What About Discord" or "Discorded Harmony".