It's been a whole year since The Cutie Re-Mark aired, and since then, there's been a big topic that has completely taken the fandom by storm - Starlight Glimmer herself. I was amongst those who sounded off against her redemption, but today, let's see how much my views on her have changed, shall we?
Oh, and before I begin, I'd like to say that I'll be splitting this post in two parts; one focusing on Starlight's roles since her debut, and the other comparing her to the other major villains (as in, threats to the good guys, and yes, that includes the EG villains).
Let's start off with this question; why is Starlight Glimmer given constant hate, even by the time of the season six finale? I've explained why in the past, but since that somehow isn't enough for some, perhaps I can summarize it like this; character development vs. lackluster writing.
First off, there's The Cutie Map. At the time of its release, it was highly praised for being different compared to the previous season premieres. It wasn't as "actiony" compared to, let's say, The Crystal Empire or Princess Twilight Sparkle, but it still understood how to tell a story, and it presented, at the time, one of the show's strongest morals.
Another reason the episode got praise was Starlight herself. Sure, she didn't have the most original of names, but what made her a unique villain was that instead of relying on brute strength or an army of her own, she relied on her intelligence. That, I feel, is something villains could use more often; who need muscle when you got a big brain?
Unfortunately, she crashed and burned as a character with The Cutie Re-Mark. Rather than repeat what I said in my After the Fact, I'll just link you to said review. To make a long story short, it was the point where My Little Pony began to lose some of its charm. At first, I figured, "oh, it's just a brief slump. I'm sure they'll get back on their hooves soon enough."
Except that it wasn't the case.
Instead of getting themselves out of the hole, they dug themselves deeper. Now, at this point, I'll only be focusing on the Starlight-centric episodes (or at least, feature her as a major/supporting player) in season six's story arc, so A Hearth's Warming Tail will not be considered.
The Crystalling was a very poor start to Starlight's character arc. They had this nice idea of reuniting her with Sunburst, as well as one for Flurry Heart, but they both suffer by being two episodes sloppily mashed into one, and the premiere as a whole suffered through sluggish pacing and a storyline that was creatively bankrupt from beginning to end.
It got worse with No Second Prances; again, Starlight making friends with a pony who went through similar problems is a good idea, but it's completely destroyed by Twilight's double standards to the point she's no longer in my Top 10 favorites. Not helping is that it's a blatant retelling of What About Discord, but then, that episode should never have been brought into production to start with.
For The Times They Are a Changeling - I think I may have missed this, but I could be wrong - Starlight doesn't openly welcome Thorax until Spike sings a "song" that not all Changelings were bad. Considering that she also went through similar problems the way Thorax did, why didn't Spike even think of introducing Starlight to him? Maybe then, she would've had a purpose.
Every Little Thing She Does was very much a dead on arrival retreading of Lesson Zero. Up to that point, the only pony Starlight has spent much of her time with was Twilight, and not the rest of the Mane Six, with (if he's counted as a member) the exception of Spike. However, if they did want Starlight to spend time with each Mane Six member, why cram it all into one episode when you could spread it out to five?
And then there's To Where and Back Again, which... I've moaned about enough already.
The point is, every time Starlight gets some degree of character development, there is a "but" immediately after, and because of that, fans may end up getting more frustrated than sympathetic with her. Every positive development for Starlight gets cancelled out by huge missteps in the writing; maybe if there weren't so many writers in one season or that there was quality control, perhaps fans like myself wouldn't be so annoyed by her presence.
Not only that, but Starlight's story arc was spread too thinly. Yes, we get that the Mane Six are the leading characters, and if you wanted to make Starlight a recurring character, fine, but there were better ways to get her to the point she's at! To Where and Back Again is supposed to be her big moment, but there were only four episodes (three if you consider The Crystalling as one episode) that actually connected to it, all of the aforementioned season six episodes barring Every Little Thing She Does.
In the season six overview, Dark Qiviut (that's his user name) commented that there should've been more focus on Starlight so we know she's part of the cast. Much as the thought sickens me to an extent, I can see his point; Trixie and Thorax had one episode each before the finale, but we don't see any onscreen development for either, making their presence feel forced at best. The same could apply to Discord, who's had no interaction with Starlight beforehand!
To Where and Back Again might've worked better if A) it was held back and aired much later in the show, or B) (the better one for Starlight in season six) there was more development for her character, as well as her interactions with Trixie and Thorax, and maybe an episode with her and Discord. Some fans would've still complained about Starlight, but at least there would've been development that wasn't out of the blue.
And that brings me onto the other major villains.
You've heard me say it before, but what the heck - Sunset Shimmer has gone strength to strength as a character. Sure, she might not be as "edgy" as she was in the first film, but she can still be badass whenever she wants to be, but nine times out of ten, Sunset's presence on screen almost brings a warm feeling in my heart, and she knows that she can't just brood over her mistakes constantly for seventy minutes (*coughcough*Sci-Twi*cough*)
Discord is regarded as one of the best reformed baddies of the show, and it's easy to see why; his wacky sense of humor, the voice provided by John de Lancie, and most of all, bags of charisma and personality. Because of that, it attracts you to him and makes him hard to dislike... well, possibly except for What About Discord, but let's move on.
As a surprising twist of fate in the season two finale, Queen Chrysalis is by far the most well-loved baddie who still (thankfully) hasn't been redeemed, especially since her heart is so black, she's one baddie you'd love to hate. Josh Haber and Michael Vogel both understood her and Discord (somewhat) in the season six finale, making them highlights to what's otherwise the worst episode of the show.
You might not agree, but King Sombra, when introduced, was pretty damn terrifying. He didn't speak much, but why did he need to? His presence alone or the mention of his name is enough to scare you!
The same could apply to Lord Tirek. He captured three princesses, manipulated Discord into working for him, and he blew up a library designed like a tree! No one's rooting for that, and that alone makes Tirek a badass you do not want to mess with.
The Dazzlings were great in Rainbow Rocks, and the songs they sing alone are why along with their seductive tones - you cling on to every lyric they perform, especially if they're performed by Adagio Dazzle.
The only uninteresting antagonist prior to Starlight was Nightmare Moon; she was so dull a villain in the premiere that she was barely in a quarter the episode she starred in.
As for Principal Cinch? Well, to be honest, she was probably the only new character out of Friendship Games with a certain degree of merit. She did have a reputation to uphold at Crystal Prep, and you know to hate her when she blackmails Sci-Twi (making the latter worse than she already is), but otherwise, Cinch is a bit... well, dull. That being said, at least she had more character than the Shadowbolts.
So compare all of them Starlight, and maybe you'll understand why people hate her. Most of the aforementioned baddies had motivation that's at least halfway-meritful (in Discord's case, he probably didn't need a motivation, as his primary objective was chaos), but Starlight's motivations were not so good, and I've explained why constantly.
I believe I read somewhere that Starlight's reasons for behaving the way she did in season five were a lot darker than what we got in the final product. Neglectful parents? Sunburst separated from her by a (supposedly) tragic accident? Anything would've sufficed! And maybe then, you'd have a reason to make us sympathize with her, and it would've left a less sour taste in our mouths.
That said, the only major villain worse than Starlight is Gloriosa Daisy, for reasons which I've explained in my Legend of Everfree review.
Overall, I do honestly believe there was potential for Starlight to be a great character, but sadly, her development has so far been let down by poor writing choices which leaves fans frustrated. If you still like her even after all the issues I pointed out, fine by me. Just don't go round throwing hissy fits because someone says something like "She's a Sunset clone, and so she sucks!" or something to that extent, and same applies to the reverse. Having differing viewpoints is fine as it makes us who we are, so why get into a petty fight over an opposing opinion? It's better to discuss opinions than to deride them.
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