Choosing between Sunset and Starlight?

[KH7672 1,604]

All across forums and comment sections there does seem to be a rift and almost sides having to be decided between these two. (Almost like we're back in the New Lunar Republic and Solar Empire days). Every fan is different and no reason to change your opinion but are fans letting love for one character overtake that of another?

I for one am a Starlight fan who likes Sunset. I will fight you on Starlight's backstory and reformation but I'd never want it to bring Sunset down in the process by comparing her because I enjoy her character as well and see them both as different characters who deserve the fans and love they get (Starlight just interests me more).

So have you looked at each character and chosen a side or have found a happy compromise as well?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,274]

I am sorta equal on my feelings towards them, I find both of them to have good qualities but I also find them to be more flawed than those positives. The thing that splits it is simply that Sunset is part of Equestria Girls, which I loathe at this point, so the winner for me is Starlight by default. Starlight has the potential for a far better backstory and she is okay personality-wise but she is still very overrowered for no reason, whereas Sunset is alright personality-wise as well and doesn't have the Mary Sue stench as much, but I simply cannot get over the bland and boring world she occupies.

[cmarston1 5,951]

I am more of a Sunset fan as I feel that her reformation in Rainbow Rocks was handled much much much better than Starlight's ever was.

But thanks to season 7 I actually do like Starlight now, just not as much as Sunset.

[Guest]

Of course I'm a huge fan of myself! (I've never seen EQG, it doesn't look like something I'd enjoy so I have no opinion on Sunset Shimmer.)

I am not a fan of Starlight. Her character seemed unnecessary and a little Mary Sue to me.

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

Starlight fan here, I generally prefer her. I think she's a more interesting character with a lot more flaws, and her redemption arc has been much more interesting for virtue of the fact that she actually struggles with herself. She messes up a lot and slips back into her old habits, and that's part of what's made me like her so much. While I like Sunset, her growth as a character seems much more rushed to me. While you could argue both their actual reformations happened a bit too fast, Sunset pre/post-redemption almost feels like two entirely different characters, while Starlight feels a bit more natural.

I think the thing is, Sunset struggled with gaining others approval and trust in Rainbow Rocks, while Starlight instead struggles internally with herself, her own bad habits and mistakes, her own trust, and I think Starlight's struggles are more interesting. Reformed Sunset is more "Immediately" likable, but Starlight grew on me greatly.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

49 minutes ago, Sunset Rose said:

Of course I'm a huge fan of myself! (I've never seen EQG, it doesn't look like something I'd enjoy so I have no opinion on Sunset Shimmer.)

I am not a fan of Starlight. Her character seemed unnecessary and a little Mary Sue to me.

Her entire character arc is about her mistakes and learning from them

That is literally the opposite of a Mary Sue.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

I don't see any point in comparing the two, really; they are both so different it is like trying to compare AJ and Fluttershy.

Sunset we encounter pretty much exclusively in EqG, as a teen girl, while Starlight is almost exclusively ponyside

Sunset was largely an ambitious, extrovert, power hungry girl who happened to come from ponyside originally; Like scitwi (and gloriosa) she became a power-crazed monster before being defeated shortly afterwards, but pretty much everything up to that finale could have fitted into a normal teen highschool "slice of life" movie without significant alteration.

Starlight was a powerful but lonely introverted unicorn who blamed cutie marks for the loss of her friend, when in fact he left her behind because of his own ambition.  She then proceeded to take control of an entire village, not for a few minutes, but for an extended period of time, ruling with an iron fist, and when Twi took that away from her, destroyed the whole of Equestria in revenge.

Sunset was given the Rainbow Bitchslap of Harmony by Team Twilight, pretty much literally "Boom, Done". Starlight was talked down by Twi who couldn't stop her, and I would argue THAT was her redemption moment. She herself clearly doesn't see it like that (she refers to Twi as having defeated her twice to Sunburst, but in fact it was Fluttershy who got the villagers to rebel against her, and her own choice to turn away from the path of destruction she had wrought) but yeah. You can compare this with Diamond Tiara's redemption in CotLM; given a choice between paths by the CMC, she chose a (literal!) constructive path rather than a destructive one.

Sunset actively made it up to the Canterlot High students, saving them from the Sirens; Starlight spent an entire season actively avoiding the village she had wronged (until the season finale of course) and we still don't know why they forgave her.

And finally - Sunset has fully integrated into her version of the Mane group; she may defer to Twi's leadership, but Twi isn't around much if any, meaning as second in command she is pretty much the defacto leader. Sci-Twi is much happier being the Velma of the humane group in any case. By contrast, Starlight is almost entirely outside of the mane group; her closest friend is Trixie, and you never really see her interacting with the group other than when the episode is ABOUT her.

So yeah, other than that both defer to Twilight, they are radically different characters with radically different personalities, histories and situations. I can like them both as characters, but can't see any reason to compare them specifically with each other.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Even though I'm a big Starlight fan, why should we choose between the two of them? So I picked the "Like them equally" one! :3

[CypherHoof 26,479]

2 minutes ago, MegaSean45 said:

Even though I'm a big Starlight fan, why should we choose between the two of them? So I picked the "Like them equally" one! :3

Can't see a point in "choosing between" any of the major characters, really.

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

I could never choose between them, Starlight is more relatable, but Sunset is more likeable. I like them both for different but equal reasons.

Edited August 5, 2017 by ShootingStar159

[DonMaguz 1,023]

I'm a Trixie fan and therefore have a predilection towards her best friend. But I like Sunset a lot too, couldn't choose between them if there were no bias to rely on.

[KH7672 1,604]

1 hour ago, CypherHoof said:

I don't see any point in comparing the two, really; they are both so different it is like trying to compare AJ and Fluttershy.

 

28 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

Can't see a point in "choosing between" any of the major characters, really.

That is exactly what I'd like to see. Hopefully it is just this vocal minority who feels liking Sunset means you use her character against Starlight and vise-versa. Like you said with Applejack and Fluttershy, you can dislike AJ and you can dislike Flutters but would you really compare say their friendship with Twilight or with RD to justify how one is better? Anyone can look at Sunset and Starlight unbiased, on their own and easily see there are positives and negatives with each characters. (For instance Starlight's reliance on magic and Sunset's lack of external impact in her group dynamic are each things that bug me).

[Thrond 3,257]

I don't think they're really comparable at this point, as much of what I've liked and disliked about the two has been fairly different and they're not overly similar character, but I'll bite. I'll be nice and compare my favourite appearances from them, even though I've not really liked either lately. My more negative take is in this thread. Anyway:

In general, I like Sunset more simply because she was consistently sympathetic for longer. It was easy to sympathize with both her attempts to fix her reputation in "Rainbow Rocks" as well as her feelings of inadequacy and struggles to fit into school life in "Friendship Games," and the latter especially built up a lot of potential for the series to build on. (Still waiting, frankly.) She's extroverted and proactive, and watching her take steps to prove she's a better person was hugely admirable, and I also like how she wasted little time in knowing when she needed help to understand the human world's magic.

Starlight is a bit rockier, and part of what makes her interesting - her clearly underdeveloped sense of ethics - can also make her unrelatable or hard to sympathise with. At the same time, her struggles with insecurity, which in the season 6 finale turned into an outright lack of trust in her own judgment, are very sympathetic, and her tendency towards panic and uncertainty makes her generally a more relatable character than Sunset. Still, she also has a tendency towards self-pity which I have a much harder time relating to, and considering that Starlight gets off pretty easily for what she's done, I wish she would spend less time moping about how nobody understands her. I mean, you can hardly blame them. 

Both were among my favourite characters at their peak, but Sunset's the one I'm more frustrated with lately. Starlight's lacking characteristics have always been a little too apparent for me to grow as attached to her, even with as much as I enjoyed her in season 6's two-parters; as a consequence, I've found my recent impatience with her has overwhelmed most of the fondness I had for her in the past. But I really do see potential in both of these characters, and wish I liked them more. 

Edited August 5, 2017 by AlexanderThrond

[Goat-kun 2,498]

Buck this noise, I choose Fizzlepop Berrytwist! I for one wanna be the very best like no one ever was!

[CypherHoof 26,479]

33 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

Buck this noise, I choose Fizzlepop Berrytwist! I for one wanna be the very best like no one ever was!

But then catching them will be your real test....

[Goat-kun 2,498]

11 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

But then catching them will be your real test....

And training them will be my cause! I will travel across the net searching far and wide. Teach my waifus to understand the power that's inside!

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Why you have to choose? Why not both? If you find both of them enjoyable then why you have to choose anyway... 

[KH7672 1,604]

Just now, Lambdadelta said:

Why you have to choose? Why not both? If you find both of them enjoyable then why you have to choose anyway... 

That's actually the point of this thread (hence the question mark in the title). It's just my curiosity if this mindset of choosing between both is really a thing or just something in a vocal minority. So far I'm liking the true love for both these characters. 

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Just now, KH7672 said:

if this mindset of choosing between both is really a thing or just something in a vocal minority

Ok, fair enough.

If i have to choose between Sunset and Starlight to be my best character right now, i choose Starlight. Yeah, Sunset is so nice, best waifu no doubt, but NICE is not enough for me, i like flawed character (heck, even the despicable one) because there are rooms for developments. I can see Sunset is great when combine her with the mane 6, Starlight is great when combine her to non-mane 6 characters.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

I like both of them, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer.

Both were misguided until Princess Twilight help them understand and went from enemies to allies. 

[Steve Piranha 28,773]

Not sure who I would like more. Starlight feels like she was made into a main character as a response to Sunny, but she's a totally different character.

[FalloutBrony 137]

for me its starlight, I'm not a very big fan of EqG anyways.

I just like starlight's character more.

Edited August 6, 2017 by DatBronyGuy

[Prospekt 10,984]

I'm a Starlight fan who likes Sunset. Starlight has always been the more relatable one for me, and I see a lot of myself in her. She's probably my 2nd favorite character on the show right now.

Sunset would probably be the more fun one to hang out with. I love her reformation in Rainbow Rocks and I see so much potential in her character. Though she has less of those relatable qualities IMO. *shrug*

[Philweasel 139]

Yay. The poll is correct!

Sunset makes a great big sister to Starlight. She certainly seems to be able to handle her better than Twilight can.

And like when she's with Sci-Twi, protective big sister Sunset is best Sunset.

[Hierok 11,829]

I am more into Sunset, cause she had a better reformation and is more independence on Twilight. Sunset is after all third in my list and Starlight is fourth. 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Hierok