Why do people hate Starlight?

[FlareGun45 2,221]

I don't see any reasons for people to hate her. I see reasons for people to dislike her, but outright hate her? Thinking she shoulda never been on the show? I wanna know the reasons why you or people yunno hate her. I respect your opinions, but I just wanna know the reasons.

[Megas 27,654]

Her redemption was handled poorly, and Season 6 handled her poorly as well

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

I don't hate her, but I've heard people say she was just shoehorned into the show and her "redemption" was poorly handled. 

[Ayvid_Reader 77]

I love Starlight! That being said I do find it odd that she enslaved a whole town and gets to walk free "because she learned her lesson" whereas creatures like a bugbear has to sit in Tartarus (sorry if it's spelled wrong). I get that those creatures were probably there to make certain things able to happen. I get that's probably the only reason the animators put them there so that the Mane 6 would get the opportunity they did. I think they could have done a better job with Starlight's redemption. Everypony just seems to accept Twilight's word that she's OK now. Then she's given a big important job in later seasons whereas Discord is left to the side feeling left out.

With all that said though I love Starlight. She's one of my favorites because I can connect with her on a personal level. She does seem the most flawed out of the rest of them. We also need to remember it's a children's show and we can't expect them to do a story line just for the older audience when this one works well with the target audience. I mean my niece sees nothing wrong with Starlight so it clearly worked for who it was supposed to work for I guess lol.

[gingerninja666 487]

Big Starlight fan here.

 

The general reasons I see are:

1. She's shoehorned into episodes she doesn't need to be in.

2. She's percieved as a massive karma houdini

3. She doesn't have as strong a personality as opposed to other characters.

4.She makes other characters dumber when she's around.

 

I don't really agree with all of these, but I can at least understand where it could come from. I do think that over time legit criticisms of Starlight have become somewhat mutated for certain people, such that she's sometimes blamed for stuff that didn't actually happen and reads on her are made given the most uncharitable interpretations possible.

 

Honestly, the ones who simply don't find her interesting I'm more ok with than those who outright hate her. Post season 6 and especially in season 8 she really hasn't been all that prominent.

[Jeric 46,851]

Silver Quill touches on Starlight very well in his recent episode

 

Relevant to the questioned posed in the title, assuming it is a genuine search for answers and not an attempt to erect a fortress of debate, is the concept of what may have gone wrong in the character’s original arc. I personally find it pretty on point, and even agree that subsequent appearances have done wonders for Glimmer. 

[ChB 18,557]

2 hours ago, FlareGun45 said:

I don't see any reasons for people to hate her. I see reasons for people to dislike her, but outright hate her? Thinking she shoulda never been on the show? I wanna know the reasons why you or people yunno hate her. I respect your opinions, but I just wanna know the reasons.

I agree with you that she's over-hated. That said, some dislike her because her background was not particularly deep, her reformation in Season 5 was not welcomed, and her antics the following season made some feel like she didn't change much. While I disagree with those arguments, I can understand why they think that way.

[MangoFoalix 24,961]

Why do people hate any character?

I think people hate Starlight basically because she is a mary sue in many ways. This including that she is as powerful as Twilight and in many ways can just be seen as a bootleg Twilight.

[JetPistol 32]

To be fair, I haven't seen many people voicing hatred for Starlight recently, but I'll wager a guess at why some people still dislike her. Starlight enslaved a town of ponies for many years. They lived under her tyrannical rule against their own will. Perhaps when they initially joined her cult, they were doing so consensually, but it's pretty clear that many of them had been wanting out for quite some time if their desperate attempts at getting the Mane 6 to help them are any indication. I'd imagine Starlight instantaneously being forgiven of her crimes without any real consequences doesn't sit particularly well with some people... which is even more unforgivable if we take into consideration her extremely weak backstory as to why she went down that road to begin with. I personally find it rather humorous that the writers consider it perfectly acceptable to incorporate such a disturbing concept as a deranged cultist leader enslaving a bunch of ponies, metaphorically castrating them of their Cutie Marks, and disallowing them to partake in any activities deemed inappropriate, etc, etc. But they are unwilling to actually give Starlight a dark enough backstory to at least somewhat justify her actions. And on top of all this, we now have literal Elementary Schoolers getting imprisoned in Pony Hell for arguably less heinous crimes than that of Glim-glim.

^DISCLAIMER: I actually freaking love Starlight Glimmer as a character post-S5. From seasons 6~8 she has been the most consistently enjoyable character to watch and I generally look forward to any screentime she gets. I simply cannot turn a blind eye to obvious narrative shortcomings which paint her in a far less flattering light than she would be otherwise. If you ask me, she could've used a little... *ahem*...  punishment before ascending to Mane 7 status. 

[Megas 27,654]

Bear in mind I actually love Starlight and I think the hate for her nowadays is hideously overblown, but back when she was first starting out they made it really rough with them doing too much yet not enough, giving her the mother of all pushes she starred in both the premiere and finale of S6, yet the actual meat of the season does jack with her by not having her as a sort of supporting role of any kind and giving her 3 main appearances, one of which was a retelling of A Christmas Carol that has her playing a different character, another that wants you to like her because she has a popular character attached to her now rather than by her own merits, and one that has her brainwashing the main 6 without realizing how terrible of an idea that was. The season goes out of it's way of making her the big star but does it without ever earning it, especially with the two parters, is done at the expense of the original main characters. Season 7 fixed a lot of problems with her and felt like what S6 should have done by actually giving her a big presence without compromising the other characters people love, with S8 only keeping the trend going

 

That's my two cents

[Goat-kun 2,527]

It all comes down to this: Don't make a character for your issues, make issues for your character. It's the epic ancient war between the lore masters and writer mercenaries.

 

P.S: Yes, all my OCs are more powerful that Twilight too. Are those objections I hear? 1v1 me you wooby cuddler square go like. I'll hook you in the gabber, and then I'll go against my promises and unload a whole essay on why Starlight is a bad character on top of you. Yeah, you better stop typing.

[Misty Shadow 7,900]

Starlight is hated because people don't like the feeling of her "replacing" Twilight. I can't blame them too much for that feeling with the complaint of the show focusing too much on the main characters from a certain crowd and it also stems from dislike of how her reformation was done. Nevertheless, she's a fine character the way she is in my eyes. I also feel that she is more loved by her fans than hated by her haters. However, that is just me. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by CloudMistDragon
Minor rewording