How to improve Starlight as a protagonist?

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

Warning: This thread is about improving her as a protagonist, yet keep her in the show. If your suggestion is to eject her from the show somehow or kill her off, this is NOT your thread.

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Clearly, Starlight's path to redemption has had its ups and downs. Episodes such as The Crystalling really set the table to who she can be and where she can go from her beginnings, but her path hasn't been smooth. In Lesson Zero 2.0 Every Little Thing, she hypnotizes the ReMane Five and forces them to do her work. In To Where, DHX tries to tell us that Starlight really progressed and changed into becoming a better pony, but the two-parter relies on us trusting her as well as her really-sparse development in between. When you're adding a mane character to the cast and your transformation is that far apart, the quality of your arc degrades.

While her performance in season six isn't good, she's season seven's biggest highlight so far.

1. A flaw in her character arc (not connecting with others in Ponyville) was addressed in two episodes: All Bottled Up and Rock Solid Friendship. She talked with others in Ponyville and developed a kinship with Maud beyond the blatant rock-based gags. Later, when Pinkie was in despair, they talked with each other.
   
   In Fluttershy Leans In, she doesn't speak, yet actively worked with the rest to construct the animal sanctuary. Not all episodes should have her as a mane role. If it makes sense to use her, do so. To have her actively involved with them makes her a part of the community, a connection that severely lacked.
2. Apparently, she's more sure of herself. Her hesitance and self-doubt have ebbed away. As a character, she sounds much more self-confident.
3. ELTSD's biggest flaw is how they handled Starlight's reason for stripping the ReMane Five. Rather than showing absolute desperation and handling it when she was at her lowest, she performed this task when she was really self-assured and had a smirk. All Bottled Up inadvertently addressed this issue: Starlight physically bottled up her anger aimed at Trixie as a last resort out of fear that if she blows up again, they'll fall out again, this time possibly permanently.
4. She's showed up more often. Last season, after Hearth's Warming Tail, she was seen very rarely for the rest of the season. Some of those episodes where she was missing she could've been plugged in for a non-speaking role, e.g., Dungeons & Discord.

Despite an improvement, there's still a trust issue between her and many bronies, and for valid reasons. One eventual episode, A Royal Problem, could really plug in those worries:

Spoiler

Where the princess showed a lack of appreciation for each other, Starlight impulsively swaps their Marks. In TCM, Starlight traded their marks for her own curse, but a swapping of cutie marks by a pony has never happened before. As a devoted Starlight brony, I really worry that this will put her several steps back.

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So, this leads to this thread and question: how can we come up with ideas to improving her as a protagonist? How can she be written better?

Like I said, ejecting her from the Mane Eight in any way (i.e., return to the village, jail, leaving on her own) does NOT cut it. Starlight's part of the crew. Like it or not, we're stuck with her. To do so by DHX tells the audience that they quit and would rather take the easy way out and not put in effort to make it work. It'd be as big a disaster as Twilight returning to a unicorn. Mea Culpas belong to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, not this show.

My five suggestions to help improve her character would be as follows:

1. Continue to give more frequent, yet sensible, appearances. If it makes sense for her to become a part of the story, use it. Integrate her into the community. She doesn't have to speak or even be merely a tertiary character. Make her do something. But don't pull a S1 Twilight and plug her in just because you can or have to.
2. Talk more with the rest of the Mane Eight. She had many conversations with Twilight and Spike. In Rock Solid Friendship, she and Pinkie talked. But this connection and communication are really missing for the most part with the others. And in a talk with @Jeric on Discord, there's no positive interaction between her and the ReMane Four. There's nothing to connect. No casual dialogue, humor, smiles, hobbies they share. Give them something to connect. Why is this important? Because DHX swears that they're all friends, but they don't show it very well or not at all. Give us something so the audience can watch it and say, "Yeah, they're friends. I buy that."
3. Expand her friendship palette with other characters. Maud is one such case, and it was done very well. Pay attention to their scenes objectively; focus on how both of them are able to organically grow a connection. What started as an awkward beginning evolved into a friendship. Show the writing confidence to grow that friendship with others in Ponyville and beyond.
4. Continue to focus on her biggest character flaw: her temper. Established back to TCM2, she has trouble channeling it. Give her sensible trials to deal with her anger so we can understand where she's coming from. Remember, the mane characters are supposed to connect to children as role models. Sometimes when kids get angry, they don't understand how to channel it constructively. Starlight can be that vessel of constructive solutions. Give her plots where she may have to talk to someone to help her; give her ideas. If When her anger causes problems, have her correct it herself. Why's that important? Because it shows contrition to us; she caused the problem and wants to prove to be a upstanding, proactive citizen of Equestria.
5. Give her an episode or two where we can see her teach others a lesson. Season five really evolved the show by making the characters teachers sometimes. Even when the episode isn't well written, they're the biggest strengths. Pinkie in Party Pooped, Rarity in Rarity Investigates, the CMCs in Lost Mark, AJ in The Mane Attraction, and Twilight in Re-Mark all led in some way. This leadership role plausibly molded them to where they can help others. Except Gauntlet and Viva Las Pegasus, this leadership role's been missing, and Starlight can fit in that role at points. Ever since she became a protagonist, all of the episodes she's in shows her having to overcome an external or internal conflict, and if you continue this cycle, you risk dragging habits that should've been long resolved. Starlight has a ways to go, but that doesn't mean she can't use the lessons she learned to help others.

If you have any ideas, plug them in this thread.

Edited May 12, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[Megas 27,624]

Have her show up more in the background, having her absent in most of the episodes is a bad idea if they want to push her as a main character, especially when, at the same time they keep throwing her into the most important roles and give her all the important episodes. Speaking of which they should stop doing that, it's just gonna make people reject her more 

On top of that, make her interact with the remane 5 more instead of exclusively Twilight. The fact that she doesn't even interact with them much, but is given so many pivotal roles really just trivializes them and in turn, makes people resent her more. Rock Solid Friendship was a step in the right direction, but there obviously needs to be more

Edited May 12, 2017 by Whompy Whomperson

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

Continue giving Starlight more connections to pull from when making new friends other than being a reformed villain. That worked great with Trixie, but it has to end with Trixie. Because as Discord learned when Fluttershy chewed him out for thinking she abandoned him for Tree Hugger, a character's capacity for friendship comes from having different friends for different things.

Starlight's off to a good start so far. Sunburst, Twilight, Trixie and Maud all connect with her in different ways. Now they just have to continue this trend and find other assets of her personality that other ponies can relate to.

This is especially important for the new EQG shorts, because....

.... when Sunset comes back to Equestria, it'll be a disappointing step back in development for both her and Starlight if they keep talking about how badly they fucked up. Neither of them feel insecure about the things they did in the past anymore, so they need a better reason to become friends. We know they both have anger problems. That's something they can help each other resolve. Or perhaps they can admire each other's leadership skills, and their ability to pull through tough situations.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I think Season 7 mostly did a good job with her, especially Rock solid Friendship was a really good effort in my opinion, considering the way her and Mauds friendship worked so good, with Maud telling her why she likes Rocks so much.

 

But they need to continue with it. Have her appear in more episodes, even if it's just in the background, showing that she is indeed a part of the group. The writers obviously want her to look like a very important character, so they need to write her like one. Not that they already do, but they could do it more.

[Hierok 11,831]

She needs to begin losing her past. They is always thinking about it and it keeps her distracted. She needs to function better with the mane 6.

[LeafFerret 3,382]

Have her interact with more ponies and getting involved with what the Mane 6 do like Friendship activities. Also have her go to places that we have yet to see in the show like Baltimare, Vanhoover or Fillydelphia. I'll also have her do stuff that Twilight never got to do when she was an unicorn.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Give her some actual interactions with members of the mane six outside of Twilight so we can actually believe she is friends with them.  Also quit with the whole schtick of her using powerful magic on ponies without their consent.  Stop giving g her the main focus for premiered and finales, and have her appear in episodes where she isn't the main focus.

[Meeps 297]

Starlight's character still feels flat to me. I enjoyed seeing her interact with Discord and Thorax a lot, and feel like she could be a standalone character quite easily. I feel one of the big problems with her is the way she appeared and then was made to be a main character, but I feel that her personality shines best when she's interacting on her own; no Twilight around to act as mommy. I'd personally think it would be very cool if she returned to her town and started her own journey, similar to how Cadence and Shining Armor are very central to the Crystal Empire. This would take away a bit of screen time for her possibly, but I feel her interactions would be more meaningful off on her own.

[Thrond 3,263]

19 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Give her an episode or two where we can see her teach others a lesson. Season five really evolved the show by making the characters teachers sometimes. Even when the episode isn't well written, they're the biggest strengths. Pinkie in Party Pooped, Rarity in Rarity Investigates, the CMCs in Lost Mark, AJ in The Mane Attraction, and Twilight in Re-Mark all led in some way. This leadership role plausibly molded them to where they can help others. Except Gauntlet and Viva Las Pegasus, this leadership role's been missing, and Starlight can fit in that role at points. Ever since she became a protagonist, all of the episodes she's in shows her having to overcome an external or internal conflict, and if you continue this cycle, you risk dragging habits that should've been long resolved. Starlight has a ways to go, but that doesn't mean she can't use the lessons she learned to help others.

Literally anything but this. This nearly ruined the show for me at the time, and I am infinitely thankful that it's declined heavily. Furthermore, as I am about to express, I don't believe she has a strong enough personality to carry an episode where she does nothing wrong and learns nothing. Such an episode would be horrifically dull. 

This is Starlight's current problem: she's boring. In season 6, she was ultimately hollow but got by because her mistakes were severe enough to be novel and her insecurities were sympathetic. Now, she needs to become an actual character, and there are a few things she must demonstrate for that to happen:

First, she needs a distinct personality with a unique set of quirks. At the moment, she often comes across as little more than a watered down, less bookish Twilight with a shadier past. Her anger issues aren't especially charming, and her snark is fairly generic, so the show needs to develop her beyond that, especially now that her insecurity is mostly gone now. She doesn't work as a straight mare because of her past, so she needs a unique set of traits to make her feel like she adds something the show wouldn't have without her, and those traits need to be funny enough that she can hold her own against other characters at their best. Her interests don't stretch far beyond magic, and while the kites are a step on the right direction, they feel kinda random and not especially essential to her as a character. They have potential, though. 

Second, she needs minor flaws which don't inevitably cause a big magical incident. This will help keep her from repeating the same mistakes and lessons over and over, and will significantly contribute to making her a likeable, sympathetic character. To make us comfortable with the character, you cannot allow her to come across like a ticking time bomb. Starlight's irresponsibility is a consistent part of her character so far and it makes her harder to get behind, and although her temper may suffice, it's nowhere near mundane enough to make her work within the show's parameters. 

The above changes willl lead to the third change: moving past the same points we've already seen with her. We don't need to be reminded of her past anymore. We don't need to see her use magic poorly anymore (at least, as long as we're supposed to trust her), and we certainly don't need her to talk about feeling misunderstood soon after she uses her magic poorly. These storylines have been done, and we need more from her than those same three ideas over and over again. Giving her a stronger personality and smaller flaws would help with that.

Right now, she's simply not up to the task of taking space from the other main characters. If she is going to continue having significant roles in premieres and finales, incorporating her more successfully into the mane group would be helpful, but she also needs to add something to that group dynamic. A good way to develop that might be, as many others have said, giving her more interactions with the mane six, but there are other ways to make her sufficiently compelling.

However, the best way to include her without it coming at the expense of other characters would be including her in that friend group, as while it's genuinely interesting that she doesn't relate to the mane six as much, it leads to the frustrating feeling that she's replacing the group rather than being a part of it, and it doesn't really justify her feeling of being misunderstood. I don't agree that premieres and finales are more important, but they are the first and last impression of a season, and seeing the characters we're here for in those slots would be nice. Aside from helping with that and more easily allowing her to develop distinctive traits, it could also help her temper feel more mundane and less dangerous or alarming as a character flaw. 

Most of all, though, she needs comedic episodes, and she needs to be a primary source of comedy in such an episode. This is the one thing which would convince me of her potential, as most of the humour derived from her in past episodes has been either disturbing ("Every Little Thing She Does") or incredibly light ("Rock Solid Friendship"). Convince me that she can be funny on her own merits, and you'll come a lot closer to reviving the interest which season 7 has lost from me. 

[Singe 2,111]

One the best things about Starlight is that she's making new friends instead of the Mane 6 fixing their problems.

[Ganondox 899]

 

Regarding point 2, I think the reason we never see much between Glimmer and the mane five is because she isn't really friends with them (just acquaintance with Twilight as a mutual anchor, Starlight is basically to Twilight what Maud is to Pinkie Pie when it comes to the group dynamics), and Every Little Thing She Does emphasizes that point. I actually like that aspect, as it's much more realistic than the trope as not everyone's gonna click, and it makes Glimmer's introduction much more natural and less cliche. Her actual friends are Trixie and Maud, and kinda Twilight as she's her mentor who also makes her interact with her personal friends. Of course the shows gonna say she's friends with all of them because that's the nature of this show, but we know they really aren't. 

[ManaMinori 4,145]

On 5/12/2017 at 7:34 PM, AlexanderThrond said:

Literally anything but this. This nearly ruined the show for me at the time, and I am infinitely thankful that it's declined heavily. Furthermore, as I am about to express, I don't believe she has a strong enough personality to carry an episode where she does nothing wrong and learns nothing. Such an episode would be horrifically dull. 

This is Starlight's current problem: she's boring. In season 6, she was ultimately hollow but got by because her mistakes were severe enough to be novel and her insecurities were sympathetic. Now, she needs to become an actual character, and there are a few things she must demonstrate for that to happen:

First, she needs a distinct personality with a unique set of quirks. At the moment, she often comes across as little more than a watered down, less bookish Twilight with a shadier past. Her anger issues aren't especially charming, and her snark is fairly generic, so the show needs to develop her beyond that, especially now that her insecurity is mostly gone now. She doesn't work as a straight mare because of her past, so she needs a unique set of traits to make her feel like she adds something the show wouldn't have without her, and those traits need to be funny enough that she can hold her own against other characters at their best. Her interests don't stretch far beyond magic, and while the kites are a step on the right direction, they feel kinda random and not especially essential to her as a character. They have potential, though. 

Second, she needs minor flaws which don't inevitably cause a big magical incident. This will help keep her from repeating the same mistakes and lessons over and over, and will significantly contribute to making her a likeable, sympathetic character. To make us comfortable with the character, you cannot allow her to come across like a ticking time bomb. Starlight's irresponsibility is a consistent part of her character so far and it makes her harder to get behind, and although her temper may suffice, it's nowhere near mundane enough to make her work within the show's parameters. 

The above changes willl lead to the third change: moving past the same points we've already seen with her. We don't need to be reminded of her past anymore. We don't need to see her use magic poorly anymore (at least, as long as we're supposed to trust her), and we certainly don't need her to talk about feeling misunderstood soon after she uses her magic poorly. These storylines have been done, and we need more from her than those same three ideas over and over again. Giving her a stronger personality and smaller flaws would help with that.

Right now, she's simply not up to the task of taking space from the other main characters. If she is going to continue having significant roles in premieres and finales, incorporating her more successfully into the mane group would be helpful, but she also needs to add something to that group dynamic. A good way to develop that might be, as many others have said, giving her more interactions with the mane six, but there are other ways to make her sufficiently compelling.

However, the best way to include her without it coming at the expense of other characters would be including her in that friend group, as while it's genuinely interesting that she doesn't relate to the mane six as much, it leads to the frustrating feeling that she's replacing the group rather than being a part of it, and it doesn't really justify her feeling of being misunderstood. I don't agree that premieres and finales are more important, but they are the first and last impression of a season, and seeing the characters we're here for in those slots would be nice. Aside from helping with that and more easily allowing her to develop distinctive traits, it could also help her temper feel more mundane and less dangerous or alarming as a character flaw. 

Most of all, though, she needs comedic episodes, and she needs to be a primary source of comedy in such an episode. This is the one thing which would convince me of her potential, as most of the humour derived from her in past episodes has been either disturbing ("Every Little Thing She Does") or incredibly light ("Rock Solid Friendship"). Convince me that she can be funny on her own merits, and you'll come a lot closer to reviving the interest which season 7 has lost from me. 

I hate to say it, but since she doesn't work as a straight mare, her best bet would to be paired with Spike more often, because he has most often played the straight man. Secondly, quit having her regress and using her freaky op magic to mind control. brainwash ponies, and messing with cutie marks. Give her real goals that she can work toward without falling back into her past self and using magic for the wrong reasons. As of now, she's WAY too "Our Town" Starlight to be teaching ANYPONY lessons

[Thrond 3,263]

15 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

I hate to say it, but since she doesn't work as a straight mare, her best bet would to be paired with Spike more often, because he has most often played the straight man. Secondly, quit having her regress and using her freaky op magic to mind control. brainwash ponies, and messing with cutie marks. Give her real goals that she can work toward without falling back into her past self and using magic for the wrong reasons. As of now, she's WAY too "Our Town" Starlight to be teaching ANYPONY lessons

In theory, I have nothing against Starlight being dangerous and making bad decisions, but the show is never gonna commit to the darker tone needed to make that work. An alternative to Starlight moving on from misusing magic would be having Twilight & co. treat her a lot more cautiously, because often she still seems quite emotionally immature. Which would be fine if the show ever acknowledged how concerning that is, but "All Bottled Up" basically lets Twilight keep treating her as a graduate despite her really, really not seeming ready. It's not all that funny. Her struggles to be a functional member of society could be part of what sets her apart, but the show won't commit, hence why I'm starting to wish for it to move on. 

Mostly, though, it just needs to continue showing her moving on from that, and for a confident Starlight to warrant my investment and sympathy, those points I mentioned in my first post would go a long way. Hence real goals to sustain her growth, but a strong set of character traits would be enough on their own. 

[ManaMinori 4,145]

4 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

In theory, I have nothing against Starlight being dangerous and making bad decisions, but the show is never gonna commit to the darker tone needed to make that work. An alternative to Starlight moving on from misusing magic would be having Twilight & co. treat her a lot more cautiously, because often she still seems quite emotionally immature. Which would be fine if the show ever acknowledged how concerning that is, but "All Bottled Up" basically lets Twilight keep treating her as a graduate despite her really, really not seeming ready. It's not all that funny. Her struggles to be a functional member of society could be part of what sets her apart, but the show won't commit, hence why I'm starting to wish for it to move on. 

Mostly, though, it just needs to continue showing her moving on from that, and for a confident Starlight to warrant my investment and sympathy, those points I mentioned in my first post would go a long way. Hence real goals to sustain her growth, but a strong set of character traits would be enough on their own. 

i they're going to do that, then they need to just quit having her toe the line between good, reformed friendship student graduate, and a pony who has never heard of morals, when it comes to magic. Its lng since gotten old. If they're going to make her do morally stupid things to her friends and friends of her friends, then just have her go full evil and unable to return. Twilight learned her lesson after the first time, and a scolding from Celestia. Apparently, it's not getting through to Starlight, even after several attempts. Make her darker and keep her darker if that's what they want do go for. Bend to the will of dark magic, and think she can get away with it, if they must. (and have her face the consequenses for it- maybe being unable to keep from using it, even after friendshp speeches and friendship beams. just have it auto on, as punishment, unable to be purged of the real evil within her)

at least the mane 6 having to struggle with having a friend who uses dark magic, keeping her around, in spite of that would be more interesting that the back and forth tug of war they're beating into glue for the past 2 years with her.

[gyashaa 252]

I'm sorry but what's the ReMane 5? I know you're talking about the Mane 6 minus Twilight, but why?

Edited May 14, 2017 by gyashaa

[Thrond 3,263]

10 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

i they're going to do that, then they need to just quit having her toe the line between good, reformed friendship student graduate, and a pony who has never heard of morals, when it comes to magic. Its lng since gotten old. If they're going to make her do morally stupid things to her friends and friends of her friends, then just have her go full evil and unable to return. Twilight learned her lesson after the first time, and a scolding from Celestia. Apparently, it's not getting through to Starlight, even after several attempts. Make her darker and keep her darker if that's what they want do go for. Bend to the will of dark magic, and think she can get away with it, if they must. (and have her face the consequenses for it- maybe being unable to keep from using it, even after friendshp speeches and friendship beams. just have it auto on, as punishment, unable to be purged of the real evil within her)

at least the mane 6 having to struggle with having a friend who uses dark magic, keeping her around, in spite of that would be more interesting that the back and forth tug of war they're beating into glue for the past 2 years with her.

I am not against the slow burn. I want to like the slow burn. But many aspects of Starlight's arc are actually quite fast-paced, which is arguably more of the problem. I'm cool with her slowly developing proper ethics, but the mane six act as if she's already there. 

[gyashaa 252]

My main problem with her is that her personality is very weak and too apologetic. She doesn't have any strong or defining personality traits. Nothing interesting, whacky, out of the ordinary. It's like when someone always agrees with everyone to not offend anyone but ends up just being boring. In fact, I think she had more personality as a villain. My hope is that Starlight gains the confidence to act like herself just like Trixie and Discord have been able to this whole time, despite being reformed. As AlexanderThrond has said before, some interesting personality traits and quirks will go a long way. And the kite thing, although small, is a step in the right direction.

Edited May 14, 2017 by gyashaa

[Marimo 555]

On 5/12/2017 at 2:45 AM, Dark Qiviut said:

but a swapping of cutie marks by a pony has never happened before.

Magical Mystery Cure

[cmarston1 5,959]

11 minutes ago, Marimo said:

Magical Mystery Cure

I mean you could argue that it was more a result of the actions of the spell messing around with the elements of harmony, and giving the mane 6 different elements, and different destinies, rather than a clear cutie mark swapping spell.

But than again, Starlight was able to remove cutie marks using her magic, so I guess theoretically speaking, she could be able to swap cutie marks.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

8 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I am not against the slow burn. I want to like the slow burn. But many aspects of Starlight's arc are actually quite fast-paced, which is arguably more of the problem. I'm cool with her slowly developing proper ethics, but the mane six act as if she's already there. 

its too cringey. I wasn't against the mane's 6 development slow burs, because they didn't do morally questionable, and downright unacceptable actions every other day. But Starlight does, which makes the "slow burn" more like a slow roasting alive. I don't even like what screen presence she has, because I know it'll be focusing on abuse of magic and nothing else, unless its in the background, and 3 seconds (like in Fluttershy Falls In)

[Marimo 555]

17 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Fluttershy Falls In

Fluttershy Leans In

[Singe 2,111]

8 hours ago, gyashaa said:

My main problem with her is that her personality is very weak and too apologetic. She doesn't have any strong or defining personality traits. Nothing interesting, whacky, out of the ordinary. It's like when someone always agrees with everyone to not offend anyone but ends up just being boring. In fact, I think she had more personality as a villain. My hope is that Starlight gains the confidence to act like herself just like Trixie and Discord have been able to this whole time, despite being reformed. As AlexanderThrond has said before, some interesting personality traits and quirks will go a long way. And the kite thing, although small, is a step in the right direction.

Spoiler

I think being the outsider is working for her. The scene between Pinkie Pie and her in her bedroom after Maud left was pretty good. Straight forward saying the food would be terrible and saying Maud was weird.

 

[Thrond 3,263]

10 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

its too cringey. I wasn't against the mane's 6 development slow burs, because they didn't do morally questionable, and downright unacceptable actions every other day. But Starlight does, which makes the "slow burn" more like a slow roasting alive. I don't even like what screen presence she has, because I know it'll be focusing on abuse of magic and nothing else, unless its in the background, and 3 seconds (like in Fluttershy Falls In)

 

She was a villain before so I like that they kept her warped ethics. There is a lot of potential in her slowly working to develop a strong ethical code on par with the mane six, but the show goes a bit too far with the "getting better" part and never seems to fully acknowledge just how dark her actions often are, instead rushing her development and not letting anyone dare be apprehensive about her in-universe. 

9 hours ago, Singe said:

  Hide contents

I think being the outsider is working for her. The scene between Pinkie Pie and her in her bedroom after Maud left was pretty good. Straight forward saying the food would be terrible and saying Maud was weird.

 

 

 

I don't understand why she sees herself as an outsider. We rarely see her trying to interact with the mane six, and on the rare occasion she does, she's casting mind control spells on them without their consent. Considering that, I think they've been awfully patient and accepting of her, so as far as I can tell this idea that she's an outsider is one of her own creation. It's also not really a strong personality trait, because there's no other reason why she's an outsider. Personally, I think this direction isn't enough to support her. 

[Batbrony 16,055]

@Dark Qiviut I agree with most of your points, so I'll just chime in one that I raised back when "All Bottled Up" premiered.  A very simple way to make Starlight a better protagonist is simply to continue differentiating her from the Mane 6, which I believe the writers are doing.  She doesn't need her own main group of friends (the "To Where and Back Again" group doesn't count, they'll stay connected to each other by that, but that was an emergency response on short notice), and I don't think that's her personality either.  Starlight seems to prefer deep, personal, intimate connections between a limited amount of individuals; she's not somepony who wants to be the glue of a group of friends like Twilight is, she's far more content working things out with specific individuals like Trixie or Sunburst as she learns how to be a better friend.  I do think she may be a natural leader of ponies some day, but that won't change her friendship habits; right now, she still seems fearful of befriending too many ponies in a close sense because that would mean she'd run a greater risk of hurting more ponies if she failed them somehow.  Starlight has more explicit failures and mistakes on her resume than Twilight did at the start of the show, and she's very conscientious of them, they've definitely stuck with her quite closely ever since her reformation.  But again, I say keep it this way, keep her distinct in how she makes and builds friendships in her own life, in her own way, from how the Mane 6 work as a group.  It helps also illustrate that there is not just one way to have friends or interact with them.

[Jeric 46,851]

On 5/15/2017 at 9:52 AM, Batbrony said:

Starlight seems to prefer deep, personal, intimate connections between a limited amount of individuals; she's not somepony who wants to be the glue of a group of friends like Twilight is, she's far more content working things out with specific individuals like Trixie or Sunburst as she learns how to be a better friend.

I came in here to finally chime in and lo and behold I see you already said what I was going to say. Starlight Glimmer, from her days as a filly, to her present, is a non-shy introverted individual who craves deep close intimate friendships. She had developed curious quirks this season that I love. She can be sarcastic and salty within being mean spirited. That should continue to be a trait that will help to distinguish her from the Mane Six. I think that can tie into her impulsive nature well, because we now see how she second guesses her self ... ALL THE TIME! 

It's rare to see impulsiveness married with indecisive refection. I want to see an episode where she is invited to a party and struggle with not wanting to go because large parties aren't her thing, but knowing it would be rude to pass. 

I want to see her in more quiet one on one moments with different cast members. They don't have to be seen as close friends, but this interaction is important to making her feel fully realized. 

I want to see her be a bridge to secondary characters like Maud so these characters are better explored and the world made to feel fully alive. This season has been freaking fantastic at showing us the changes in supporting cast and background characters lives. Starlight can easily help that trend continue. 

Her saltiness can also be used as a voice to deconstruct the absurdities and flaws of other FiM characters without coming off as a jerk.