What's your thought of 'Starlight and her friends'?

[Sepul-Coloratura 765]

Starlight and her friends.

What do you think of the characters, intriducrions, chemistry, buildup, story arc, individual episode qualities, dynamics, the whole concept and execution?

[TotallyNotNyx 15,572]

In terms of her friends, I actually like her choice of friends (the ones from the season 6 finale). Each of them are really different from each other, and I'm pretty sure that a lot of them won't get along together without Starlight. If anything she brought them together, so for that I really feel that she did a good job. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, shes's an amazing team leader. 

[Emerald Heart 25,174]

7 minutes ago, Princess of Hearts ❤️❤️ said:

In terms of her friends, I actually like her choice of friends (the ones from the season 6 finale). Each of them are really different from each other, and I'm pretty sure that a lot of them won't get along together without Starlight. If anything she brought them together, so for that I really feel that she did a good job. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, shes's an amazing team leader. 

I completely agree ^^

 

[Thrond 3,271]

I came to like Starlight in the last two seasons, when she seemed to finally have a distinct, stable personality. I like her most when her judgment is just slightly off - she can be weird and sketchy in a way I find really funny, and eventually she stopped doing things that endangered everyone around her, which was a plus. She's still not one of my favourite characters, but she's slightly edgier than the others and I find that refreshing. 

Trixie and Maud both grew on me significantly in the latter half of the show. Trixie can be kinda annoying, but over time she mellowed out and developed in ways I found endearing. By the end she came across as one of the most well-rounded characters in the show, maybe even on the same level as the mane six. She also has a really funny dynamic with Starlight. Meanwhile, Maud is one of my favourite characters in the show. That might be because she only appeared once or twice a season, so we saw a new side of her every single time she appeared. But she's also just a very unique and fleshed-out character. 

Thorax was only prominent for a couple seasons so he hasn't accumulated as much nuance as Trixie or Maud, but I've always found him incredibly charming. Sunburst is also charming, but for how close he is to Starlight, he's not actually that prominent in the series. I found his anxiety very sympathetic in the season 6 premiere, but his later appearances don't stand out as much to me. 

Starlight paired with Discord in the season 6 finale, but I dunno how close they really are. She also convinced Spitfire to help the school in season 8, but I don't know how well they know each other. 

[Sepul-Coloratura 765]

4 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Trixie and Maud both grew on me significantly in the latter half of the show.

I think Trixie and Maud are more realistic characters than most people give credit for. Those two don't usually directly express how they feel or what they think. (even Maud hides most of herself while saying those things) Most of us have met those Trixies and Mauds in real life.

[Megas 28,137]

It was really obvious they were only paired up with Starlight to desperately get people to like her so much by getting her attached to returning popular characters, much more so with Maud

[Sepul-Coloratura 765]

2 minutes ago, Megas said:

It was really obvious they were only paired up with Starlight to desperately get people to like her so much by getting her attached to returning popular characters, much more so with Maud

Yeah. I haven't seen Starlight being interesting without any other characters attached to her.

[Thrond 3,271]

19 minutes ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

I think Trixie and Maud are more realistic characters than most people give credit for. Those two don't usually directly express how they feel or what they think. (even Maud hides most of herself while saying those things) Most of us have met those Trixies and Mauds in real life.

They just slowly accumulated more and more traits until suddenly they were as three-dimensional and relatable as the main characters. 

[cuteycindyhoney 13,339]

I actually love that they show ponies being so radically different as being good friends. My BFF (RIP. Miss you!) was so totally different than me, that she puzzled all my other friends!

LOL!

[Splashee 28,599]

I have to first start off with the most important Starlight episode that I know of: "Rock Solid Friendship"

The way that episode mixed Starlight and Maud together as friends was perfect, and they fitted so well. The episode has one of the most funniest meta humor, with the fact evil Starlight asked Maud how to enslave a town, basically.

 

But when it comes to Starlight's village, or old town, or whatever the name is? "Capital of Evil Starlight"? All the ponies there were friendly towards her when she returned, but that was it. If she was truly reformed, she should have had friends from her village in later episodes.

 

Starlight was over used, in one season, and then thrown away for the Student 6. In every Starlight magical fight, she was showing off great magical power, almost too powerful. Potential wasted, I think.

 

Oh and her friendship with Sunset Shimmer was way too short and forced (as well as her human design)

[FlareGun45 2,221]

I liked the pairing in Student Counsel better than To Where and Back Again. We know of her chemistry with Sunburst, Trixie, and Maud, cause there was alota built-up towards them. Discord and Thorax look like they have better chemistry with Spike, rather than Starlight, due to their history. I'd love for more stories based off Starlight's friends though!

[TotallyNotNyx 15,572]

29 minutes ago, Super Splashee said:

 

But when it comes to Starlight's village, or old town, or whatever the name is? "Capital of Evil Starlight"? All the ponies there were friendly towards her when she returned, but that was it. If she was truly reformed, she should have had friends from her village in later episodes.

 

Starlight was over used, in one season, and then thrown away for the Student 6. In every Starlight magical fight, she was showing off great magical power, almost too powerful. Potential wasted, I think.

 

Oh and her friendship with Sunset Shimmer was way too short and forced (as well as her human design)

Yeah, but the thing is her village and Ponyville are quite distant from each other. So it makes sense that they didn't appear much. Such an appearance would only occur if Starlight went back to her old village, but how many episodes can you really do with a village that small.

As for the second part, it just reaffirms my belief that the Student 6 were overused and were not needed.  Starlight should have been used more in the last two seasons, and would add more to the plentiful amounts of mane 6 episodes that we see. She did seem to be really powerful, but that's what I like about her. There's some who don't like the fact that she's as powerful as Twilight but I don't see anything wrong with that.

I would have liked to see more of her friendship with Sunset Shimmer, since it was quite abrupt and ended quite quickly. Though that might just be due to the fact that further EQG shorts were cancelled.

Her human design is actually quite nice, quite different from the the human 7.

[Sepul-Coloratura 765]

10 hours ago, Super Splashee said:

she should have had friends from her village in later episodes.

I wonder how Starlight and Sugar Belle would get along. I imagine that they would be extremely uncomfortable just together, but I want to see an episode of them trying to be friends in a right way.

9 hours ago, Princess of Hearts ❤️❤️ said:

but how many episodes can you really do with a village that small.

I think it would be at least three or four episodes of it since there were multiple Daring Do episodes, Wonderbolts Academy episodes, School of Friendship episodes, Rarity's Boutique episodes, Crystal Empire episodes. I think they should have included it for Starlight.

9 hours ago, Princess of Hearts ❤️❤️ said:

As for the second part, it just reaffirms my belief that the Student 6 were overused and were not needed.  Starlight should have been used more in the last two seasons, and would add more to the plentiful amounts of mane 6 episodes that we see.

I think if they replaced the entire Student Six members with Luster Dawn, it would have been more efficient. There would still be plenty more tume for Starlight, Mane Six, and if they needed a student episode for the School of Friendship, they just could have used Luster Dawn (and some minor two or three friends like Twilight's friends from Canterlot). The last episode? Just make it several years, not decades.

9 hours ago, Princess of Hearts ❤️❤️ said:

She did seem to be really powerful, but that's what I like about her. There's some who don't like the fact that she's as powerful as Twilight but I don't see anything wrong with that.

I think the problem isn't just about how much she's powerful. (and partially it is) The problem is that all of the sudden, she was like sucking all the practical mindsets and problem solving abilities of all Mane Six and put it in one pony, then she could single handedly solve all the problems from episodes. Usually fixing things with magic was Twilight's position in the show, and Starlight replaced that role. And it's less interesting because of less character development, less nuances of the character, less of Twilight being Twilight, leas of Mane Six dynamics.

[TotallyNotNyx 15,572]

2 hours ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

I wonder how Starlight and Sugar Belle would get along. I imagine that they would be extremely uncomfortable just together, but I want to see an episode of them trying to be friends in a right way.

I think it would be at least three or four episodes of it since there were multiple Daring Do episodes, Wonderbolts Academy episodes, School of Friendship episodes, Rarity's Boutique episodes, Crystal Empire episodes. I think they should have included it for Starlight.

I think if they replaced the entire Student Six members with Luster Dawn, it would have been more efficient. There would still be plenty more tume for Starlight, Mane Six, and if they needed a student episode for the School of Friendship, they just could have used Luster Dawn (and some minor two or three friends like Twilight's friends from Canterlot). The last episode? Just make it several years, not decades.

I think the problem isn't just about how much she's powerful. (and partially it is) The problem is that all of the sudden, she was like sucking all the practical mindsets and problem solving abilities of all Mane Six and put it in one pony, then she could single handedly solve all the problems from episodes. Usually fixing things with magic was Twilight's position in the show, and Starlight replaced that role. And it's less interesting because of less character development, less nuances of the character, less of Twilight being Twilight, leas of Mane Six dynamics.

More of Luster Dawn would have been nice, although the show would have needed to be careful, so that it doesn't just copy what Twilight went through in the first few seasons. I have no problem with the Student 6 being there, but the problem at hand is that they were just put in so many unnecessary episodes where other characters could have taken the spotlight.

Several years would have been better.  The 20 years in a show is a huge jump, although Harry Potter did have a similar sized time jump, and that worked well 

Yea, I get your point about Starlight, but her whole character is built up as impulsive and she always turns to magic to solve her problems, while the mane 6 at least attempted to use other means to solve problems. Sure she can solve the problems, but it often takes her a while to find the right way to do it. 

But yeah, I did find that she was like a copy of Twilight at times (which Ember pointed out in the show ) and that did make her quite boring at times. I think the show did miss the opportunity of adding a seventh main character who had a completely different personality and abilities to the rest of the mane 6.