Is starlight glimmer that bad of a character

[Hierok 11,832]

22 hours ago, Midnight Blaze 98 said:

I don’t think she’s a bad character. Sure, she’s done some questionable things, but so have Discord, Luna, Sunset Shimmer, and many others. She’s learned some valuable lessons after being reformed, but that’s just part of life. Nobody’s perfect, so I don’t think that it would have been right for her to go from pretty much dooming Equestria to being a Celestia style protagonist who never puts a foot wrong. 

And she has of course saved Equestria a couple of times. 

She’s not my favourite character, and I wouldn’t want her to become another element of harmony but overall, she’s cute and I like her.  

Well, no character had to be perfect, but they should learn from their mixtapes, and Starlight was a slow learner, but she die it. That proves to me she isn't that bad of a character. 

[twilightfan 12]

am i the only one who honsty do not think starlight glimmer is a good character and should've never been in mlp because of the fact that she pretty much went from a dictator to not being a dictator this is why i think trixie lulamoon should've been twilight's student instead of starlight glimmer or sunset shimmer because trixie lulamoon is more relateable than those two it ain't just some blind hatred for a character i want that character away from the show she is ruining it for me

Edited February 21, 2018 by twilightfan

[EpicEnergy 23,223]

I think Starlight's a good character, she just makes some mistakes from time to time.

[Ring Team 123]

I'm perfectly fine with the thought that this character is not what the show needed. Friendship is Magic has changed its project goals over the years. The question is: Is Starlight that bad of a character?

Of course she's not Twilight. She's not Fluttershy. She's not Rainbow Dash. But is Starlight a good character? What does a MLP character need to be a good character?

My main question when I went back to finish the show was constantly "What is Starlight's motivation?". To me, Friendship is Magic was the embodiment of personal growth and friendship. However, since season 6 we got a unicorn with overpowered base-breaking powers, a manipulative attitude, a disjointed thought process that lead to some questionable things, she's a hypocrite and she lacks interest in getting better. Can a character from MLP work in the show? It could, if that was the goal of the writers. But it wasn't, the writers wanted to talk about compassion and empathy and redemption with Starlight. But the problem is that they weren't fully compromised to that goal.

So, in a desperate attempt to create a character about redemption, Cutie Remark was made. But even after that, their main approach for Starlight's learning process was using manipulation magic for her own sake as the main method of solving a friendship problem, belittling Twilight's actions to feel better about herself, being a hypocrite, trading Trixie's wagon, exterminating Discord and more things that invalidates her redemption arc. The fact that she's conventionally atractive and appealing and no one in Equestria questions her (not even Twilight) makes it much easier for the fans to like her.

But what about the people who don't like that dynamic? What about for them? Just a selfish manipulative hypocrite again. And since No second prances aired, the fandom took a real shift when it comes to the Mane 6. Since then, most people would say that "the Mane 6 are stereotypes and generic" as a reason to like and admire Starlight, which I find odd. A My Little Pony uncanny valley if you will. Yeah, the animation is better, the visual effects are better, right? But something is a little off.

I've learned to appreciate the Equestria Girls films since 2018 and, while it's not my thing, I think they have great ideas for stories. But the one thing, the one thing that I can't stop complaining about, if the way Starlight was written in the second half of Friendship is Magic. It's not the same as disliking the progression of a story or how characters are portrayed. It's not like that. If you don't like this stuff, that's completely fine. But complaining about Starlight Glimmer is not about "liking the old thing to dislike the new thing" (Tempest Shadow and Sunny Starscout are newer than Starlight and I absolutely love these two ponies). Complaining about Starlight is about understanding the value and fundamental aspects of redemption. Understanding redemption for the future. It's not about dictating the future.

I used to think that Starlight might change in the last 3 seasons back in summer 2020. Now, after watching her episodes and how she wants to solve everything with magic without considering that this might backfire, I think Starlight has no redeeming value.

There's sometimes a Twitter equivalent of rolling your eyes in the fandom whenever it's negative talk about Starlight Glimmer. "Stop nitpicking, hater", "who cares?", "she's not overpowered". Whatever. It's not about geek nitpicking. It's not about overpowered magic. It's about understanding redemption.

And the funny aspect is that it could have happened. It's not an impossibility because they kinda planned that for Sunset Shimmer in Rainbow Rocks, when the entire highschool hated Sunset for her previous actions. Why can't the TV show do the same thing for Starlight? They did that with Diamond Tiara, Babs Seed and Luna after all.

Because of all these things, Starlight Glimmer is the worst character in the show. I have planned a long rant about her portray in the show, but I'll save that for my blog and when I finish my list of favourite episodes.

After all, if it took decades for the people to realize that Speed Racer was a sociopath, then I think we'll get to a decade where people finally realize that Starlight was a distasteful character that completely ignores any sense of heart and responsibility.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Ring Team