flash sentry What are your thoughts on Flash Sentry?

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I totally understand why people would be irritated by the fact that he exists just to be a romantic interest for Twilight. I do agree that it's annoying, actually.

 

I don't dislike him though. I actually don't dislike the ship either, in fact I think it's cute and I'd like to see further development on it. I just think that it's annoying that we won't get to see him developed as a character away from Twilight though.

 

Well, for the most part.

 

In Rainbow Rocks we did get to see some flaws, and an ugly side to him. It was propagated by the sirens and their spell, but all that their magic did was bring their negativity to the front lines, so what we saw of him under their spell, I believe, was Flash at his worst in those particular circumstances, rather than Flash acting out of character (especially if you consider Trixie's character during the movie - she was definitely acting like a worse version of herself too, not unlike her character in Boast Busters). From the looks of it, he has a bit of a temper. Granted it's not a wholly unique character trait, but in the MLP universe, we haven't seen a male character throw a fit over something. Look at the way he reacted to losing the competition. Listen to how he reacts to Twilight while she tries to talk to him while he believes that she is trying to sabotage him. Again, in themselves these aren't completely unique character traits, but I am still glad to see that, little by little, pieces of his character can be discovered, so he doesn't have to remain in a box of stereotypes.

 

I think that the only way to solve the issue of him being boxed in or stereotypical, though, is to accept Flash Sentry into the fanon.

 

What I mean is that fans have taken background characters and given them whole personalities and relationships based on tiny quirks. People say stuff like, "Background characters have more personality than Flash Sentry," I don't think that's a fair statement, because background characters have personality not because the writers wrote these background characters this way, but because the fans made up personalities for these background characters.

 

I'd say that Flash Sentry has about the same amount of personality as Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, from what we can see of them. All three of them could be developed more fully, but it just hasn't happened (yet).

 

If fans could take what we know about Flash Sentry and flesh him out, we could make him a better character. The only issue I could see with this is that fans would disagree about particular interpretations. Another solution that would solve THAT problem would be if IDW made a comic featuring him and developed his character themselves.

 

If anyone wants to know why I'm not annoyed by the Flashlight ship - it's because it's just a crush at this point. Yeah it may be shallow, but they aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, they just friends who have known each other briefly and are attracted to each other. I agree that blushing isn't a "relationship," but it's not supposed to be. I WOULD be annoyed by them if they became boyfriend and girlfriend without knowing more about him, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

[Singe 2,111]

I totally understand why people would be irritated by the fact that he exists just to be a romantic interest for Twilight. I do agree that it's annoying, actually.

 

I don't dislike him though. I actually don't dislike the ship either, in fact I think it's cute and I'd like to see further development on it. I just think that it's annoying that we won't get to see him developed as a character away from Twilight though.

 

Well, for the most part.

 

In Rainbow Rocks we did get to see some flaws, and an ugly side to him. It was propagated by the sirens and their spell, but all that their magic did was bring their negativity to the front lines, so what we saw of him under their spell, I believe, was Flash at his worst in those particular circumstances, rather than Flash acting out of character (especially if you consider Trixie's character during the movie - she was definitely acting like a worse version of herself too, not unlike her character in Boast Busters). From the looks of it, he has a bit of a temper. Granted it's not a wholly unique character trait, but in the MLP universe, we haven't seen a male character throw a fit over something. Look at the way he reacted to losing the competition. Listen to how he reacts to Twilight while she tries to talk to him while he believes that she is trying to sabotage him. Again, in themselves these aren't completely unique character traits, but I am still glad to see that, little by little, pieces of his character can be discovered, so he doesn't have to remain in a box of stereotypes.

 

I think that the only way to solve the issue of him being boxed in or stereotypical, though, is to accept Flash Sentry into the fanon.

 

What I mean is that fans have taken background characters and given them whole personalities and relationships based on tiny quirks. People say stuff like, "Background characters have more personality than Flash Sentry," I don't think that's a fair statement, because background characters have personality not because the writers wrote these background characters this way, but because the fans made up personalities for these background characters.

 

I'd say that Flash Sentry has about the same amount of personality as Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, from what we can see of them. All three of them could be developed more fully, but it just hasn't happened (yet).

 

If fans could take what we know about Flash Sentry and flesh him out, we could make him a better character. The only issue I could see with this is that fans would disagree about particular interpretations. Another solution that would solve THAT problem would be if IDW made a comic featuring him and developed his character themselves.

 

If anyone wants to know why I'm not annoyed by the Flashlight ship - it's because it's just a crush at this point. Yeah it may be shallow, but they aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, they just friends who have known each other briefly and are attracted to each other. I agree that blushing isn't a "relationship," but it's not supposed to be. I WOULD be annoyed by them if they became boyfriend and girlfriend without knowing more about him, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

 

The Flash Sentry/Twilight Sparkle shipping goes against the stay away from stereotype vision that Faust had originally set for the series. Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle shipping is very stereo-typical. Sunset pointed out in RR that he was a popular guy and he wants the popular girl being Twilight Sparkle.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Singe

[Jeric 46,851]

The Flash Sentry/Twilight Sparkle shipping goes against the vision that Faust had originally set for the series. Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle shipping is very stereo-typical. Sunset pointed out in RR that he was a popular guy and he wants the popular girl being Twilight Sparkle.

Authorial intent only goes so far (especially in a group creative piece like film or television).

[Singe 2,111]

Twilight had to be stripped down to bare minimum and work with the high school setting. A cardboard cut out who knows nothing about Twilight's life doesn't say he's good enough for the FIM Twilight.

 

For characters who have depth, they should also have standards on the ones they want to be with rather than simple infatuation. Even Rarity adds some depth to the guys she's chasing after.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Singe

[Jeric 46,851]

Rarity adds depth to every scene she's in.

 

Not that I'm biased. But yes you actually made a decent point there. Even with Trenderhoof, arguably as bland as they come, Rarity's reactions around him did at least help to give him some characterization. Fancy and Blueblood are better examples of that.

 

Good freaking point!

 

Though the writers may want to start fleshing out Pony Flash if they want any characterization to carry over to EQG 3

[Singe 2,111]

Rarity adds depth to every scene she's in.

 

Not that I'm biased. But yes you actually made a decent point there. Even with Trenderhoof, arguably as bland as they come, Rarity's reactions around him did at least help to give him some characterization. Fancy and Blueblood are better examples of that.

 

Good freaking point!

 

Though the writers may want to start fleshing out Pony Flash if they want any characterization to carry over to EQG 3

 

I just take Faust's vision mainly as more like a characterization standard for the FIM series. Viewers should expect the characters given the screen time to have a certain minimum amount of depth that makes them stand.

 

Fancy, Blueblood, and Trenderhoof have just enough depth that to know who they are and some personal tastes.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Singe

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I totally understand why people would be irritated by the fact that he exists just to be a romantic interest for Twilight. I do agree that it's annoying, actually.

 

I don't dislike him though. I actually don't dislike the ship either, in fact I think it's cute and I'd like to see further development on it. I just think that it's annoying that we won't get to see him developed as a character away from Twilight though.

 

Well, for the most part.

 

In Rainbow Rocks we did get to see some flaws, and an ugly side to him. It was propagated by the sirens and their spell, but all that their magic did was bring their negativity to the front lines, so what we saw of him under their spell, I believe, was Flash at his worst in those particular circumstances, rather than Flash acting out of character (especially if you consider Trixie's character during the movie - she was definitely acting like a worse version of herself too, not unlike her character in Boast Busters). From the looks of it, he has a bit of a temper. Granted it's not a wholly unique character trait, but in the MLP universe, we haven't seen a male character throw a fit over something. Look at the way he reacted to losing the competition. Listen to how he reacts to Twilight while she tries to talk to him while he believes that she is trying to sabotage him. Again, in themselves these aren't completely unique character traits, but I am still glad to see that, little by little, pieces of his character can be discovered, so he doesn't have to remain in a box of stereotypes.

 

I think that the only way to solve the issue of him being boxed in or stereotypical, though, is to accept Flash Sentry into the fanon.

 

What I mean is that fans have taken background characters and given them whole personalities and relationships based on tiny quirks. People say stuff like, "Background characters have more personality than Flash Sentry," I don't think that's a fair statement, because background characters have personality not because the writers wrote these background characters this way, but because the fans made up personalities for these background characters.

 

I'd say that Flash Sentry has about the same amount of personality as Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, from what we can see of them. All three of them could be developed more fully, but it just hasn't happened (yet).

 

If fans could take what we know about Flash Sentry and flesh him out, we could make him a better character. The only issue I could see with this is that fans would disagree about particular interpretations. Another solution that would solve THAT problem would be if IDW made a comic featuring him and developed his character themselves.

 

If anyone wants to know why I'm not annoyed by the Flashlight ship - it's because it's just a crush at this point. Yeah it may be shallow, but they aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, they just friends who have known each other briefly and are attracted to each other. I agree that blushing isn't a "relationship," but it's not supposed to be. I WOULD be annoyed by them if they became boyfriend and girlfriend without knowing more about him, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

 

Honestly, I want to like Flash Sentry and the possible romance he may have for Twilight as it's pretty much a crush, but so long as he's still held back from being developed as well as others, I can't really like him. There is hope as from what they did to Sunset Shimmer in EQG 2, it's very well within their skill to be able to turn things around for him.

 

As for IDW doing Flash Sentry, I may not like that idea mainly because they did shipped Celestia with AU Sombra in the reflections arc and well...let's just say those who hated Meghan for writing Twilight's crush for Flash had an epiphany that they should be bowing to her for her handling of it because at least the crush hasn't wrecked Twilight's character like Celestia's romance did with her own.

[CT-1138 3,182]

I like Sentry. I liked him since I first saw him and I think he would be a really interesting character if we saw more of him and his character were to be fleshed out more.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

 

 

Celestia with AU Sombra in the reflections arc

 

 

...clearly I am missing something here. lol I better catch up on the comics.

 

I do appreciate the fact that they haven't made the ship more than just a crush with the little time that he has had on screen. It could be so, so much worse.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

...clearly I am missing something here. lol I better catch up on the comics.

 

I do appreciate the fact that they haven't made the ship more than just a crush with the little time that he has had on screen. It could be so, so much worse.

Trust me as a fan of celestia, and likes a good romance, AU Sombra/Celestia was written terribly to the point that I wish to pretend it never existed in FIM.

[Singe 2,111]

Romance plots being added to a non-romance story are generally tough pills to swallow. They can get out of control and hijack the characters, like the love triangle Legend of Korra and Thundercats had for example.

 

Twilight's first romance should be no less than Shakespearean quality, which will never happen.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Singe

[MrHaru 217]

It looks like the second movie made him even more useless than in the first movie AND THAT IS SAYING A LOT.

 

Rainbow Rocks is a damn near perfect movie and an ultra amazing sequel; it blew my mind how great it was but Flash STILL irritates me.

 

Continuously acting awkward and "oh em gee I hope I don't bump into Twilight again we might actually TOUCH HANDS UGUU" and just adding nothing.

 

He does nothing. Why does Twilight find him so interesting?! I don't get it! Have her fall for someone who attracts her mentally first before simply being her human off-again-on-again crush.

 

It's dumb. He's dumb.

 

I want them to drop his character entirely if they're not going to do anything meaningful with him. God. I'm usually not this upset over a single character but the absolute potential wasted and turning him into a "OH MY SHE LIKES HIM TOO TEE HEE ;)" character just throws a complete monkey wrench into the gears that is the well written movie and lore of the series.

 

Ugh!

[RockinRarity 1,605]

He does nothing. Why does Twilight find him so interesting?! I don't get it! Have her fall for someone who attracts her mentally first before simply being her human off-again-on-again crush.

 

I don't think that interesting is the right word.

 

It's infatuation, plain and simple. He was the first person in the human world to acknowledge her existence as someone with feelings by helping her up when she felt extremely vulnerable in a strange place. It started with an act of kindness on his part and it just stuck.

 

As a smart woman who isn't prone to swooning over every single hot guy in existence, I can relate to that kind of experience. In the past whenever I have felt vulnerable and a guy was there to offer a kind word, it would spark attraction, and if I dwelt on that attraction, I was hooked, sometimes for several months or even years. The guy didn't have to be interesting. I just needed to trust him, and an act of kindness during a vulnerable moment was all that I needed to gain that trust.

 

It's not rational. It doesn't have to be. It's just one of the ways that women are wired.

 

Which, by the way, is why Twilight cried when Flash yelled at her instead of defending herself. Someone who she had strong feelings for had betrayed her trust. And the last thing that she wanted to do was fight. The scene at the end when he went up to hug her was a moment of reconciliation so that the movie didn't end with him still being an asshole.

Edited October 9, 2014 by RockinRarity

[Cherry Bomb 51]

Flash seems like a very good character. I liked how he was in Rainbow Rocks. It was interesting see be mean to Twilight. Though I would very much like to see more of him within the series. Also from many forums I have seen quite a few Bronies just don't seem to like him and I also just don't understand why. Flash has much potential beyond that of a love interest if the writers put a little more effort into the show.

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

he exists...that's about it..

[RockinRarity 1,605]

 

 

Also from many forums I have seen quite a few Bronies just don't seem to like him and I also just don't understand why. Flash has much potential beyond that of a love interest if the writers put a little more effort into the show.

 

 

As I read/listen to people who give constructive critiques about his character (instead of just yelling and moaning about waifu-stealing), and also seeing the situation from a flipped-gender perspective, I'm beginning to understand the dislike and animosity towards his character.

 

I still think that most of it is unwarranted, since I don't think that he's worse than Shining Armor or Cadance.

 

The main issue, I think, is that Flash Sentry was created just to be a love interest for Twilight. That in itself is irritating. I don't think that this ruins him as a character, and their romance doesn't irritate me because it's still in the awkward infatuation stage so it's OK that they don't know each other very well yet (it's not SUPPOSED to be an all-out romance, people). However, when I think about if the tables were turned - if Twilight were male and Flash were female, and Flash was the female character created just to be a love interest for the mane character, that would be very irritating to me. In fact it irritates me when it does happen in several other franchises.

[Spagem 505]

 

 

I still think that most of it is unwarranted, since I don't think that he's worse than Shining Armor or Cadance.

This right here, man.

 

You got to love how Flash Sentry gets all the hate for being bland, but Shining Armor and Cadance get hardly any. ( Well, to be fair... Cadance isn't THAT bad. )

 

Come to show the hate is mostly for waifu stealing.

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Hitler's reaction to Flash Sentry (made by me): http://meemsy.com/v/22465

[Dattebayo 2,850]

Many thoughts.

Most of them on how to hate him.

[Vox 870]

A complete waste really, the movie would've been no different without him, however, i can't really say i "hate" him.

[Dattebayo 2,850]

This right here, man.

 

You got to love how Flash Sentry gets all the hate for being bland, but Shining Armor and Cadance get hardly any. ( Well, to be fair... Cadance isn't THAT bad. )

 

Come to show the hate is mostly for waifu stealing.

This old post of mine is relevant to your post:

 

Ah yes, the stereotypical "reason" as to why bronies hate Trash...Sen...damn it, one day, I will find a good nickName.

 

I hate the sh*t out of Flash Sentry because he was a plot device, a poorly made one, at that. A romantic interest because the script called for it. He had zero bbackground, and was there for the sake of being THERE.

 

In terrible movie, he somehow the worst thing about it.

Not because Twilight is my "waifu". I'm indifferent about Twilight (sue me, Arty ;o ), but because he's a terribly badthought-out charActer in a terribly thought-out movie.

[KokuraiNoSenshi 3,463]

This right here, man.

 

You got to love how Flash Sentry gets all the hate for being bland, but Shining Armor and Cadance get hardly any. ( Well, to be fair... Cadance isn't THAT bad. )

 

Come to show the hate is mostly for waifu stealing.

 

For the record, not a big fan of them either. Nor is Twilight my Waifu, I just don't like boring, underdeveloped characters, though I do admit the romance between them IS a pretty stupid idea

[Spagem 505]

This old post of mine is relevant to your post:

Ah yes, the stereotypical "reason" as to why bronies hate Trash...Sen...damn it, one day, I will find a good nickName.

 

I hate the sh*t out of Flash Sentry because he was a plot device, a poorly made one, at that. A romantic interest because the script called for it. He had zero bbackground, and was there for the sake of being THERE.

 

In terrible movie, he somehow the worst thing about it.

Not because Twilight is my "waifu". I'm indifferent about Twilight (sue me, Arty ;o ), but because he's a terribly badthought-out charActer in a terribly thought-out movie.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know he was a pretty lousy character. Like you said, he's only there for the sake of being there, and because they wanted to provide a love interest for Twilight.

 

My main point was how hardly anyone complains about Shining Armor, when he's just as bad. When people are fine with Shining Armor and despise Flash Sentry, it just raises a big red flag to me that they are hating Flash for other reasons.    ( But I don't know your feelings on Shining Armor, so... this may or may not apply to you. )

[Dattebayo 2,850]

Don't get me wrong, I know he was a pretty lousy character. Like you said, he's only there for the sake of being there, and because they wanted to provide a love interest for Twilight.

 

My main point was how hardly anyone complains about Shining Armor, when he's just as bad. When people are fine with Shining Armor and despise Flash Sentry, it just raises a big red flag to me that they are hating Flash for other reasons. ( But I don't know your feelings on Shining Armor, so... this may or may not apply to you. )

He's alot more developed than Trash Disentry, I'll tell ya that much. x)

He also served a purpose...unlike Flash.

 

EDIT: I DID IT

I CAME UP WITH A NICKNAME FOR HIM

Edited October 11, 2014 by Dattebayo

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

I don't hate him, but in EqGs 1 he was entirely useless in the plot. You could take him out and the story would still be the same. He isn't a cool guy either, which is what he's supposed to be. He seems too goofy. The point of his character was to be twilight's love interest yet that wasn't needed in the story at all and it was done poorly. I haven't seen Rainbow Rocks yet, so idk if he's changed since then.