Starlight Glimmer: Yay or Neigh?

[TickySketchLots 11]

So Starlight Glimmer, previous villain was given a redemption arc. What is your opinion on this decision. Do you like the idea of Starlight studying under Twilight  as she learns about the magic of friendship, or do you disagree with having her as a new member of the main cast? 

Keep it civil ^^" 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

On the one hand, she has potential. On the other, a lot of people are worried that she's hogging all the spotlight (despite evidence to the contrary, seeing as she doesn't appear in that many episodes).

Plus, there's also a guy on Equestria Daily whose saying she's part of a plot by the writers to make bronies stop watching the show. What do you think? Does it sound crazy?

Copied and pasted for visual:

"I made this comment long ago, and looks like I have to do it again, because it seems to be coming to fruition, especially with this latest fiasco.

I have a crack theory: Starlight and Sunset are two beings created by DHX and Hasbro to eliminate bronies from the series. Starlight plays the heel, Sunset the face. These two are specially engineered to create a massive break in the fandom, making bronies hate each other's guts, making the show so unbearable that people quit en masse (which is already happening). Starlight and Sunset work together. all this time, for the sole purpose of making you quit.
The genius comes in their time of appearance. Sunset needs to first be accepted, be perfect wife, near but never quite within reach. Then when Sunset is at her peak adorableness, when fans really want her into the show, Starlight hits; taking Sunset's rightful place as Twi's pupil and "Mane7", causing riot and chaos. Starlight's timing was perfect, but it couldn't have been done if Sunset hadn't been doing a good job at being a strong fan favorite.
Some fans speculate that one day Sunset will return and take back what is hers. But what happened? Sunset let Starlight into EqG, a holy domain which is supposed to be a Starlight-Free, and then let Starlight save the day! This is a sure-fire formula to create hate, but that's the point. The more hate the better--that way only extremists will stay, because extremists have really high hate tolerance. All other moderate people will just leave. Furthermore, since moderates outnumber extremists by at least 3:1, this way, Hasbro / DHX can eliminate 3/4 of the bronies, easily.

Alicorn Twilight failed to break you, Flash Sentry almost made it, but ultimately failed. So now is the turn for Sunset and Starlight, DHX's most recent, cutest, most advanced super weapons, to try and eliminate you all.

How close am I?"

Edited May 29, 2017 by heavens-champion

[TickySketchLots 11]

I have never actually thought of that :0 That is a pretty intriguing theory, however seeing as bronies are their main source of income from MLP:FiM I could not see a feasible reason for DHX to attempt to break apart the fandom from a financial standpoint. Because, in a company's eyes, "money is money" 

[silvermoon15000 337]

6 minutes ago, TickySketchLots said:

I have never actually thought of that :0 That is a pretty intriguing theory, however seeing as bronies are their main source of income from MLP:FiM I could not see a feasible reason for DHX to attempt to break apart the fandom from a financial standpoint. Because, in a company's eyes, "money is money" 

I have to agree with you there bronies roll in the money more than any fandom "manely", pun intended, because we care more about the show than the parents of a seven year old kid who will try to get their kids out of the show as quickly as possible.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

46 minutes ago, TickySketchLots said:

I have never actually thought of that :0 That is a pretty intriguing theory, however seeing as bronies are their main source of income from MLP:FiM I could not see a feasible reason for DHX to attempt to break apart the fandom from a financial standpoint. Because, in a company's eyes, "money is money" 

Hehe. More like "money is the lifeblood of a company."

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Nay. nay hardcore.
Starlight feels like an utterly flat character; she really has no chemistry with the other 5; when she shows up, she's just... THERE. Its not like when rarity and AJ go at it, or we see Fluttershy and RD's Girly girl/tomboy relationship. Starlight just IS. She's like an obstacle that the others navigate around, not a person adding to the situation. She doesn't even seem to ENJOY being around the others. Compare and contrast Sunset, who feels 100% integrated to the group, has good interaction, bonds and bounces off the others in a good way, and 100% feels like someone who WANTS to be in the group.

Now, add in the many issues with her character (Unlikeable sociopathy and blandness besides "GOOD AT MAGIC") and issues with her power level (random pony trained by no one = Apparently more powerful than the element of magic herself and able to effortlessly blow two 1000 year old alicorns off their feet with magic and swap their cutie marks) and you have trouble.
Heck, Look at when she's USED in specials or two parters: The S6 finale where everyone conveniently gets taken out offscreen so she can be shilled to save the day, or, more recently, the Mirror magic EQG special in which

 

the others get chucked out the door literally HALFWAY THROUGH so it can be all about her saving the day.

Yeah. Not feeling her.

 

 

 

I doubt she's going anywhere, as her prominence and use in the EQG special (Where she has NO REASON to exist except that they want to push her--- Apart from, of course, the possibility that this will be the canon reason for her absence from the movie), but D***ed,  if she isn't really someone that I wish would get kicked into the background and get AT MOST 1 episode a season ala how cadence got throttled back after S3.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Unlikeable Pony

[Pasha Florence 41]

I preferred her as a villain! Or maybe not a villain, but perhaps an enemy. Somepony that they cannot get along with, rather than pushing the everypony can be changed message, since it simply isn't true. 0:

[Phirun Natela 77]

Plans for this weekend include turning wine into water.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Phirun Natela

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

10 minutes ago, Pasha Florence said:

I preferred her as a villain! Or maybe not a villain, but perhaps an enemy. Somepony that they cannot get along with, rather than pushing the everypony can be changed message, since it simply isn't true. 0:

We're kind of starting to run low on antagonists, truth be told; Everyone keeps being reformed or making up. Even big "BIG" villains like the changelings or Discord have been reformed (and sombra got reformed in comics too). Kind of wish we had a bigger stable of Rogues to antagonize with.

 

bringing EQG into this here, but I think that's one reason the dazzlings are so much more liked than the other villains: they were PROPER villains. No "Oh, I'm just insane! I'm not truly evil" or "Oh, sad backstory!, not actually evil!" crap: the dazzlings were funny but they were STILL evil.

And they didn't just make up, they were beaten, and beaten PROPER, and like a good set of villains, ran away with their tails between their legs.
Faust wasn't opposed to this kind of stuff, she wasn't Insistent on reformations: Faust LIKED villains and villains being villains: one of her big gripes about girls shows after all was conclusions where the villains just made up with the heroes due to someone crying or whatnot. Look at S2's villains: They FOUGHT and beat Discord and the changelings, they didn't beat them with a speech that made them do a heel face turn. The ONLY reformation was luna, and they BEAT her first with the EOH. Heck, Gilda the brush off was about that some people you CANNOT be friends with even if you try hard.
So all this reformation going on is just really reeking of Lowest common denominator conclusions to me.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Unlikeable Pony

[Pasha Florence 41]

Just now, Unlikeable Pony said:

We're kind of starting to run low on antagonists, truth be told; Everyone keeps being reformed or making up. Even big "BIG" villains like the changelings or Discord have been reformed (and sombra got reformed in comics too). Kind of wish we had a bigger stable of Rogues to antagonize with.

Don't remind me about Discord. I AM SO SALTY ABOUT IT. I want Discord to like...unreform. Or, maybehaps, instead of a villain, just some... bad ponies?

Like, take a group of students who hate the government and have them rebel or something! 

[GiFTGewEhrSCHutzen-4 8,828]

I like reformed Starlight Glimmer. Never did like her a villain to be honest. That's just how I personally feel about it in this case.

[Phirun Natela 77]

Edith could decide if she should paint her teeth or brush her nails.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Phirun Natela

[Zachary 5,521]

I really Like her both as a Villain and Reformed, She is my 2nd Favorite Pony with Trixie!

Edited May 29, 2017 by Zachary

[cmarston1 5,959]

Somewhere inbetween.

I really really didn't like how her super rushed reformation was handled in the season 5 finale, and I don't feel like season 6 did very much to improve that, especially given the events of Every Little Thing She Does only adding to the list of problems I had with her reformation.

But so far season 7 has been doing a decent job making me like her a little bit, so I can't say that I hate her.

[ErisPegasus 56]

Didn't like her reformation, but from the Season 6 premiere onwards she's easily been more interesting than the Mane 6 other than Twilight.

 

Can't say if that's praise or criticism of the writers.

[Phirun Natela 77]

The gloves protect my feet from excess work.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Phirun Natela

[Photon Jet 5,491]

4 yays! Starlight Glimmer tagging along with the Mane Six was a great choice as it opens up new story possibilities. Plus, her fantastic potential and her lovely reformed personality made her be in my third best pony spot.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Photon Jet

[Splashee 28,563]

I wonder whose idea it was to make Starlight Glimmer a mane character instead of just writing her off like they did with the CMCs?

 

I say Yay!

[JMTV99 1,353]

Neigh for me. Moving on...

[Savy 5,077]

A big giant YAY for me. She's honestly one of the best. (I can only name one character better than her)

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

I like her because she shows inner conflict. Knowing both sides of reality, light and dark, gives her more potential than the dualistic concept twilight embodies with her totalitarian understanding of friendship. Which makes starlight into a figure akin to the hidden thirteen in the cycle of twelve. A master of both light and dark.

In a cohesive symbolic creation, which the regressive royalist propaganda of the show is not. Starlight has the potential to master reality. To traverse this beautiful and terrible ring of fire and remain unscathed, and imperceptible, under the watchful eye of the capstone. I like her because of this. Because she is the closest to understanding the original neutrum and the deceptive nature of polarity in both its positive and negative.

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

On 2022-01-04 at 6:58 PM, Ocean Breeze said:

A big giant YAY for me. She's honestly one of the best. (I can only name one character better than her)

Fluttershy is probably that character  (well, at least to me it is)

I’ve always liked Starlight for her cool manipulation tactics as a villain and her comedic magical shenanigans as a main character.

[Tom Gallagher 33,587]

Yay. I like her a lot.

[Stancet 688]

Love Starlight very much. I almost liked her more than Twilight Sparkle, but I guess I can't easily abandon my favorites when they've become my favorites.

[Cash In 22,290]

Yay. Starlight served as pretty good villain throughout Season 5 and while I think her redemption was a bit rocky, I feel like she eventually turned out as a solid addition to the cast.