FlashLight debate thread

[Forlong 1,726]

Well, it looks like Flash Sentry is here to stay.  And since the haters have calmed down a bit, I think this is as good a time as any.  As an added bonus, Equestria Girls is no longer canon, so you don't have to talk about it.

 

Do you think something will happen between these two characters?  Should something happen between these two characters?

[mars 4,863]

I love the Flashlight ship! They need to fix his character first, then explore this relatiobship between them.

[Pastel 7,630]

I guess Flash Sentry will make more cameos in the next seasons.

A whole episode about this pairing seems a bit too much, but maybe we'll see them talking to each other in some episodes. (or some allusions like in Three's a Crowd)

I like this pairing, but I don't think it will be explored a lot in the show.

[Megas 27,989]

I can't really judge the pair yet, the only interaction they've had is usually

>Twilight bumps into Flash

>Flash is nice to her

>Twilight Blushes

 

Granted, I still like his pony version more than his Human version, but he needs some development before I consider this ship

Edited May 19, 2014 by Megas75

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

I openly support this ship!

 

...Just fix up Flash's character first. Pony Flash is not Human Flash, give him a fresh start!

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

I don't know why this shipping has gotten much hate. They are a cute couple, yet hasbro for some reason doesn't want to do it...

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

I don't know why this shipping has gotten much hate. They are a cute couple, yet hasbro for some reason doesn't want to do it...

 

We have the Great Fandom Shitstorm of 2013 to thank for that.

[Zekromic 1,054]

I don't mind the shipping, but I hope they don't make it a main issue for the whole show. An episode with one or two hints is fine by me, and I wouldn't definitely mind to find out they're married at the show finale

Edited May 19, 2014 by Zekromic

[PoisonClaw 8,172]

I actually think this pairing is rather sweet, but I highly doubt anything will be done with it in the future, especially now that Equestria Girls is no longer in canon. To put it another way, this is pretty much a branching timeline between Season 4 and Equestria Girls. Since Twilight never encountered Flash in the show, there's nothing between them so besides a few cameos here and there, Flash won't be Twilight's special somepony anytime soon.

 

 

I don't know why this shipping has gotten much hate. They are a cute couple, yet hasbro for some reason doesn't want to do it...

 

Two reasons I can come up with off the top of my head:

1) Flash is related to Equestria Girls and since a lot of people didn't like that movie, they also don't like the implication and the idea of Flash and Twilight being together by extension.

2) Flash is a "Waifu-Stealer", so people who would rather pair Twilight with Big Mac/Celestia/Rainbow Dash/Luna/Shining Armor/Trixie/ect. are angry (for reasons that baffle me to no end) and see Flash Sentry as an unwelcome usurper. I'm not kidding when I say there are groups of people who go around looking for any FlashLight fics and down-voting them on principle alone. 

Edited May 19, 2014 by PoisonClaw

[Nulln 755]

I WISH they would be together, but I doubt he'll even be in the show besides some random background roles.

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,178]

I don't really think they even have real chemistry..... Yeah I don't see them getting into anything too serious... Maybe some spoof romance....

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Oh man, no one wants Twilight to be in a relationship. I think it's because Flash is the epitome of a Gary Stu type character, and very few guys that I know, if any, care about that sort of character.

[Ace O. Jade 122]

1) I've supported this pairing since Equestria Girls

 

2) Equestria Girls is still canon, still confirmed to be canon, and a bumpy storyline nitpick without much grounding behind it doesn't nullify that.

[Forlong 1,726]

1) I've supported this pairing since Equestria Girls

 

2) Equestria Girls is still canon, still confirmed to be canon, and a bumpy storyline nitpick without much grounding behind it doesn't nullify that.

The show contradicts it clearly, and the show trumps the spinoffs.  I don't see why this is such a problem.  Not like Equestria Girls brings any new depth to the FiMverse.

[Ace O. Jade 122]

The show contradicts it clearly, and the show trumps the spinoffs.  I don't see why this is such a problem.  Not like Equestria Girls brings any new depth to the FiMverse.

 

Without trying to turn this into a debate thread about this instead of FlashLight (mainly because there's already one going around), this instance doesn't make the movie not canon. The writers of the show said specifically Equestria Girls was canon, and additionally they said it FIRST, so unless they publicly denounce their previous statement and say it is not canon (which they won't), then Equestria Girls is still canon. Besides, the show has over a hundred episodes. Taking a single line from a single episode that doesn't fit in perfectly with everything else and saying, "Well, this must nullify this other huge event that was confirmed to happen because it's worded in a way that we can nitpick." is not how it works.

 

But if we want to debate that, we can go over to the other thread.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Ace O. Jade

[Forlong 1,726]

@Ace O. Jade

 

You are right that we shouldn't discuss if the movie is canon here.  I should have let well enough alone.  Go on and post your opinion on the appropriate thread, if you want.

[Ace O. Jade 122]

@Ace O. Jade

 

You are right that we shouldn't discuss if the movie is canon here.  I should have let well enough alone.  Go on and post your opinion on the appropriate thread, if you want.

 

My entire point of posting here was to say I support FlashLight

It's also partially my fault we got into this tiny argument, as I mentioned it first, but the topic has been annoying me so much for the reasons I mentioned and your mentioning in the OP set me off.

 

Sorry.

[a Pegasus Pony 138]

The ship seems like a really worth while ship and I mean in my opinion it is corny but hey it fits Perfectly.

[Shanks 10,816]

If it happens I am okay with it so long as it is done properly in other words he is fleshed out considerably more and the relationship evolves naturally but if it dosen't happen then I am not going to be upset over it because that is what shipfics are for.

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

I don't have a problem with the idea of Twilight finding romance, or any of them doing so for that manner. Yeah, the argument can be made that show about friendship should focus exclusively on the relationship between friends, but there's enough room to explore any relationship the writers want to home in on. As long as they are willing to give it a go and try to give the romance the same amount of care they give everything else, it's cool with me. I don't even have a problem with characters created with being a potential love interest, as long as they're written as characters with personalities that add to the plot like any good character should. Also, no love triangles, because those suck.

 

Not to mention that I don't ship Twilight with anyone, so there's no danger of Flash being a waifu-stealer. Not that it matters, as arguing that people only dislike Flash because he steals waifus is terrible and unfair to people who have a legitimate problem with the ship.

 

Which, keeping in mind what I just said, I do. FlashLight sucks. Flash is a bland, one-dimensional character whose only role is to be the love interest. He doesn't add anything to the proceedings besides being handsome (or about as handsome as a flash-animated teenager with sickly yellow skin and Edward Cullen hair can be) and being unoffensive enough that he'd make a good boyfriend. A annoyingly boring and uninteresting boyfriend. Any personality he does have has been invented purely by the fans after the fact. Flash is a glorified background pony.

 

A character as developed as Twilight deserves better than this nonsense. Sure, it's cute, but on a purely superficial level. I'm not thinking about how great a couple they are, because there's nothing to admire on any deeper level than the two both being attractive and therefore suitable for a relationship. The best I can say about the ship is that purple and gold go together.

 

It isn't like the writers really wanted to do this; this comes in the middle of EQG, the ultimate in "We had to do this." Hasbro gave them a note about romance and they just threw it in there, with no investment or interest in making this aspect of the film not feel tedious. And god is it tedious; their interaction boils down to blushing and accidentally touching hands when they reach down to pick up books, and it's obnoxious, no matter how many times they do that over and over again.

 

At least in those Disney movies that people accuses of being shallow there's some amount of evidence as to why the couple becomes a thing. You see them having fun together, or one person represents a better life to the other, or something, anything at all. Here...there's nothing. Nothing.

 

Of course, this wasn't so much a full blown romance like in Disney so much as it's just a mutual crush. As of right now anyway. They had Flash cameo twice in S4 after they said he wasn't going to, which doesn't really matter by itself, but he's coming back in Rainbow Rocks, so colored me nervous this trite crap is gonna pop back up.

 

So basically, regarding Flash:

 

[Edgeworth1001 648]

I like the idea of Twilight having more than just a regular friendship or BBF with somepony, it could potentially be a decent, if not good way, to open (a) new door(s) of Twilight's character.

 

Flashlight? Thanks, but no thanks.

 

Unless they have plans for him doing something other than nonspeaking cameos in the next season or if he actually gonna have something interesting about him in RR, both of which I doubt, I prefer for Twilight to have an romantic relationship with someone else, like Braeburn.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

Interestingly enough, my mind has changed a little bit about this couple. Last year I was a pretty big defender of Flash Sentry as a character, but the more I think about it, the more I sympathize with the haters (although I still think that most of their reactions are extreme).

 

 

 

Flash is a bland, one-dimensional character whose only role is to be the love interest. He doesn't add anything to the proceedings besides being handsome (or about as handsome as a flash-animated teenager with sickly yellow skin and Edward Cullen hair can be) and being unoffensive enough that he'd make a good boyfriend. A annoyingly boring and uninteresting boyfriend. Any personality he does have has been invented purely by the fans after the fact. Flash is a glorified background pony.

 

I can't really disagree with you regarding most of this. Let me explain.

 

Back in February, after hearing rave reviews about The Lego Movie from friends, I went to go see it.

 

And it was a fun movie. It wasn't the masterpiece that people were making it out to be, but it was still fun.

 

There was something in the movie that bothered me, though. The female lead in that movie was introduced in the beginning as a glamorous tough chick that the protagonist immediately became attracted to. It was obvious at once that she would eventually become his love interest. And while she ended up being a decent character and they made the trope not gag-inducing, but it was still there. And it bothered me a little bit that they seemed to make a female character merely for the sake of giving the main character a love interest, even if they tried to disguise the trope.

 

Then, I realized that Equestria Girls did the same thing with Twilight and Flash Sentry.

 

And it made me wonder, "So, why is it not OK to create a female character just to be a love interest to the hero, but it's completely fine to create a male character just to be a love interest to the heroine?"

 

I don't think that it's wrong for Twilight to have a love interest. In fact, introducing a male character, knowing that he would eventually become a love interest to one of the female characters, but spent time developing his character before making it obvious that it was the plan from the beginning to stick them together, that's a bit different. Then again, there isn't really time for that kind of character development in a movie a lot of the time.

 

The thing is that, even after realizing this about Twilight and Flash, it's not ALL bad. Take the following into consideration:

 

- Twilight's character was not compromised because of Flash (she didn't become helpless without him or anything like that)

- There wasn't all that much focus on the relationship - it didn't detract from the plot

- And I say that as a good thing this time around because if it's going to be there at all, it should be minimal, otherwise it's stupid

- The most they do is blush, he asks her out, and they dance. Then she leaves. That's it.

 

I think that for how little they interacted with each other, it's OK that he was created just to be a boy for her. The trope is still annoying, but what rescues this couple from cliched horribleness is the fact that they DON'T "get together at the end." They share some moments, and then she leaves. Life goes on.

 

You are right that Flash is a boring, flat character, and that any interpretation of his character beyond what was shown in the movie is simply fan interpretation. Hard to argue with that. But I don't think that makes him irredeemable. There are tiny quirks that set him apart from other stereotypical hot guys (the dancing at the end and his clumsiness is different from what one would normally see from characters like that). The quirks aren't enough to make him totally different from other stereotypical characters, but they can be used as building blocks if they want to expand his character in future episodes/movies.

 

Also, as others have said, Pony Flash is not Human Flash. He could get a fresh start in the pony world as a potential love interest for Twilight.

 

There is no way in the world a real relationship between Flash and Twilight could work with just what we have seen of him in the show and in Equestria Girls. His character would need to be expanded upon significantly, seeing him interact with characters other than Twilight, finding out what makes him tick, what sets him apart from other fictional characters... then we can evaluate whether or not a relationship between them would actually work. I am keeping an open mind for now.

 

But, I do have a question...

 

Why is it that people are saying that Equestria Girls is "officially" not canon? I have seen no such announcement by anyone anywhere. Some posts on the first page insinuate that people are reading into a part of the show that doesn't match with what Meghan McCarthy said about Equestria Girls having happened to Twilight... what was said that makes people believe that EqG is not canon? I honestly cannot figure it out.

[Banul 3,831]

I like the idea of some kind of romance subplot in the show. I don't mind it being with Twilight and Flash either, but if they are going that way I think a few things need to happen.

 

-They need to develope Flash's character more. Right now he's just "cute boy" in human land and a background pony in Equestria.

-They need to develop Twilight and Flash's romance using more than "they bump into each other a lot"

-They'd need more than one episode together. If not episodes devoted to them, than little character moments sprinkled across the show.

 

I really don't think that they're gonna go the romance route, though. I feel like if they were, they would have done SOMETHING with it by now. Unless they're just gonna save it for the EG spinoff.

[Adorkable 2,737]

Noooooooooooooooo!

 

Twily is my waifu, hands off, Flash. xD

[Castle Bleck 19,405]

Human!FlashLight is somewhat tolerable, but Pony!FlashLight?

 

Edited May 22, 2014 by A.V.