Alright, I made myself a promise that I wouldn't speak of Legend of Everfree again, but there are a couple of topics centering around that miserable excuse of a film that have been bothering me for the last three months, and since there's a lot of discussion on DeviantArt, I can't really vent out my frustrations there, so instead, I'm gonna be blowing off some steam here as to why they anger me so. The first on the chopping block is a character I ranked as the worst not only in MLP, but of all time. So let's find out why I feel that way about Timber Spruce, shall we?
Let's start with a question; what makes a bad character? No, I don't mean in terms of being an antagonist, but like, "bad" bad. Well, for me, what makes a truly bad character is if the character is an unlikable jerk without any redeeming quality whatsoever - Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter, for example - or the character is poorly written, like Hugo the rail zeppelin.
For other people, they may dislike a character because they're annoying along with one or both of the reasons I mentioned. Starlight Glimmer is a prime example of this, which I've already explained, but long story short, she was a discount Sunset Shimmer without any idea to how the latter's story arc worked.
Within MLP, there are characters such as Quibble Pants, Zephyr Breeze, and (yes) Gabby that people find annoying, but I have no issue with them because there are at least reasons for why they act the way they do - Quibble Pants is stubborn and snarky, Zephyr Breeze is a smart-aleck, and Gabby is a bit of a child. On top of that, they actually have reasons to exist in their respective starring roles in season six.
Which brings me back to Timber Spruce. First thing I'm gonna say about him is that not only is he a jerk, he's annoying and poorly written, and you better believe I'm gonna explain why he's all three.
First off, his "role" in the movie. Apparently, he serves two purposes for Sci-Twi - a "love interest" and "security blanket", I'm gonna get to the former in a bit, but as for the latter? Any character could have taken that role! If you gave it someone like, let's say, Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie, then not only would the plot be the same, but you'd also give one or two members of the Human Five some development that they desperately needed. I mean, why would you create a new character just to fill that role?
And that brings me onto the "love interest" portion of his role, as well as to why he's an annoying jerk. Whilst doing that, I'm gonna compare his dynamic with Sci-Twi's to Flash and Princess Twilight's, and how the latter gets right what the former gets wrong. To start with, here's two questions - what does Timber do to prove he's worthy for Sci-Twi and what does he actually do to make us root for him?
The answer for both questions is "nothing".
Whenever he interacts with Sci-Twi, rather than talk about her problems, Timber talks about himself, and it becomes grating. (Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Brian Doe's a nice guy, but after halfway through watching the film, I began wishing I'd rip his damn vocal chords out.) And it takes a few seconds to fall in love with her. A few seconds. Keep in mind that it took about a day or two for Flash to get a crush on Princess Twilight, as well as the fact that it was just that - a crush. Meanwhile, Timber just wants to go for it, because that's how you start relationships(!)
On a side note, I'd like to say that I hate characters who are self-centered for no reason whatsoever. With someone like, let's say, Diamond Tiara, at least there is a reason to why she behaved like a brat in the first four seasons; she's part of a wealthy family, and that's fairly reasonable, but it doesn't excuse her attitude. Timber constantly goes on about himself and never gives Sci-Twi a chance to give her opinion on him, and she agrees to a relationship after three days, because the ending demanded it.
Getting onto the Flash/Princess Twilight moments in the first movie, whilst both had interest in one another, they don't force it down your throats, and it genuinely shone when he saved her from being framed and asked her out. I liked that because Flash does care for Princess Twilight, even if she came from nowhere; he doesn't care if she isn't from his world. He wants to know her and doesn't want to draw much attention to himself. Oh, and even though the crush is plainly obvious, it doesn't overshadow the plot, and that's fine.
With Legend of Everfree, Timber's lust for Sci-Twi is forced so far down your throat to the point you'd probably puke it back out again, and you're like, "Okay, we get it; he's in love with her" instead of "Wow, he'd be a great boyfriend to her." The final nail in his coffin is that instead of thanking Sci-Twi for saving the camp, he calls himself the "hero" just for saving her from falling, which anybody could have done!
Which brings me onto how Timber did nothing to make us root for him. I know some of you are going to say, "but he tried to get Gloriosa Daisy to stop trying to save their camp; he wanted her to be okay, and it totally made him a hero!" But guess what? His constant flirting with Sci-Twi actually makes that worse! Why? Because he keeps doing so instead of actually caring about his sister's actions and made up a story to cover up what she was doing! And when they reveal that fifty minutes into the film (or however long it was, I don't give a damn about LoE), that was a point of no return for the movie, where it became unsalvageable (although, to be fair, it was at that point when Flash and Sunset first interacted in the film, but I'll get to that in the next post).
And I know I already mentioned that in my actual review for the movie, but Gloriosa was just as awful; not only does she come off as a cliched MLP/EG villain, but her motivations are completely stupid when you realize she should have held a fundraiser in the first place! (I know some will argue that if she did, then there wouldn't be a plot. But that's the point; if you know how the story is going to end before you even get there, you should scrap the story before reaching that point.)
For both characters, there are many unfortunate implications surrounding their actions. Who would ever want to go to a camp with incompetent counselors like them? Students just wouldn't feel safe! And on top of that, Gloriosa gets off scot-free with her actions because a happy ending demanded it, and it's almost like a police officer with a sibling who has a criminal background - would the officer let his family go because of bias? I certainly wouldn't! I'd have them arrested on the spot, regardless of their intentions!
Unlike Starlight Glimmer, who could actually be a great character with a few personality tweaks, Timber Spruce does not fixing whatsoever; it's not possible. Instead, they should've given his role to Flash, a character who is in desperate need of development. The film would still be bad, but at least Flash and Sci-Twi could've had a good chemistry with each other, and maybe you'd have a more heartfelt subplot with a point.
But no. They had to create a "new" character in response to some haters (a.k.a. people not worth giving a crap about whatsoever) and give that other character more flak, making poor Flash more sympathetic than the leading "characters" (I say it like that since they don't have any whatsoever). And when you couple that to the atrocious personality they gave Timber Spruce, I stand by my statement that he is the worst character in all of My Little Pony, and I hope to Celestia he never turns up again...
