The way MLP Redeemed villains at first with Discord & Sunset Shimmer was decent and I thought they were enjoyable characters to watch after their reformations, but when Starlight's "Redemption" happened...The trope just started to annoy me because The Season 5 finale started the annoying trope of undeserved villain reformations for scumbags hell-bent on harming people and destroying Equestria who then turn out to have a Terrible Excuse for their actions. Don't even get me started with Tempest Shadow from the 2017 movie...
I'm not saying sympathetic villains aren't good, but you have to know HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK! And Starlight's redemption never really worked for me for these 7 reasons of mine.
1.) Starlight was A Hypocrite
We already started to get this confident pony with this philosophy, and she supposedly believes in equality and holds on to the belief that she's actually doing good. I'm aware that some Starlight fans believe that her heart was in the right place, and that she represents justice but I 100% disagree.
Let me ask you all something, If some of you thought Starlight's heart was in the right place, then why would Starlight's house be separated from the rest of her citizens, why would she be seen smirking & smiling devilishly when she robs Twilight & her friends of their Cutie Marks? Why would she be enjoying every last second of the pain The Mane 6 had when their cutie marks were removed?
Why would she hell-bent on severing the friendships of Twilight and her friends if she's the so-called Element of justice? All these points I disagree with and Starlight to me were a deceptive, dastardly, wicked & egocentric pony who doesn't represent righteousness and fairness! I consider this yet another case in which a villain gets treated like they're the victim/good guy when they're not and should pay attention to how evil their actions were. Starlight started off As a cult leader and She took control of the main character's minds along with the ponies of an isolated Village. In my opinion, she was A darker villain than Tirek because of that fact. No other villain in the show was equal to her power. Where Discord and Tirek only took away strengths and one's right mind, she takes away a pony's entire purpose. A cutie mark is a special thing a pony earns once they've discovered who they truly are and what makes them themselves.
That talent is then weaved into their very DNA and exposed in the form of a cutie mark, literally becoming a part of who they are. This is why the Mane Six experienced such excruciating pain when their cutie marks were taken, it felt like someone ripping your very soul out. Now if that isn't dark for you despite it being A kids show, then I don't know what is. Some people think The character has leadership because she led a village, But she led it BADLY. She STOLE their cutie marks away and forced everyone to smile and do everything the same. That's NOT leadership at all.
2.) Her backstory was poorly written and & excuse was stupid.
When I saw Starlight's "backstory" for how she became so twisted...and it turned out to all be because of some old friend from her childhood getting his cutie mark first and moving away, It was one of the most stupid excuses for her becoming A villain.
Starlight's backstory reminded me of Moondancer in some way due to their experiences of losing friends, but at least Moondancer didn't decide to practice enslavement, strip other Ponies of their free will & deciding to destroy life itself just because one friend left, in fact, a person with that mentality has a serious mental illness!
Starlight did all these dishonorable and despicable acts all because a friend who got his cutie mark from SAVING her went off to magic school and seemingly forgot all about her. Moondancer had a similar problem and it was worse, but we don't see her pulling off the same crap Starlight tried a good reason why many people sympathize with her over Starlight.
This makes Starlight one of the most scornfully pitiable characters in the entire show, if not all of fiction history. Worst of all, when we see Starlight immediately become completely forgiven and accepted by everybody upon restoring the timeline, not just by The Mane 6, but also by the exact same Equality town villagers that she emotionally/mentally abused & controlled for who knows how long?
3.) Instant forgiveness and She didn't earn It
Every other antagonist got punished or had some bad karma thrown at them. I used antagonist and not villains because many fellow Starlight haters look mostly at the evildoers instead of the selfish jerks. Let's see, Gilda, lost Rainbow Dash as a friend, Diamond Tiara gets humiliated and ultimately loses Silver Spoon as a friend, Lightning Dust, gets evicted from the wonderbolts, etc. Although Starlight gets some karma in her first run as an antagonist, she ultimately gets a slap on the wrist in her second episode when she has done arguably, the most monstrous acts in all of the show.
She gets to be the Student of the princess of friendship! Yay!! Even the ponies from her old village suddenly forgive her without the slightest hint of suspicion when she returns, sure they aren't happy to see her but they suddenly forgive her?! Becoming the Student of a princess is like a really big honor/reward, how the hell does Starlight come to the closest to deserving that? Oh yeah because her magic is strong.
4.) She wasthe Creator's pet
They are really pushing her character to be liked and they really like her, they have her more powerful than Twilight and other unicorns (probably excluding Starswirl), they put her in everything even when she doesn't truly belong, they want her to be the next princess, they show her as easily befriending everyone, they have her constantly steal the spotlight, ugh. It's all like "Starlight Glimmer is the most amazing unicorn, she's very best pony, bow down to your future majesty. Honestly, many people responded by leaving the show.
5.) Her less than admirable flaws/personality/character
A character needs flaws to be interesting but Starlight's doesn't do her any justice. She constantly uses her magic to fix problems, even forcing it on Big Mac just because she can't befriend quiet ponies, the princesses just because they can't get along and the mane 5 (to dodge friendship lessons) (and wasn't she given a lesson on not using her magic for coercion and bad?)
Her anger is no good and she's obnoxious (of course not if she's going to destroy the planet because you ruined her philosophy) take all bottled up for example, is that healthy anger? Even in episodes in which she appears in, she's not interesting, like she has to be stapled to another character like Trixie just to look good and her personality is a worse version of Twilights. She has no real defining quality other than, kites, or just being there.
6.) Upstaging The other characters of the show
Starlight Glimmer is my least favorite character in the entire MLP Series because to me, she resembles a terrible character trope which Is beingThe Creator's Pet.The Role involves her stealing the spotlight from every single main character in the series while she continues to shine but Starlight really doesn't. In The episode "Every Little Thing She Does" When Starlight becomes overwhelmed with so many Friendship tasks to fulfill, she resorts to using a brainwashing spell over the other Mane 5 to get the job done quicker. A pretty controversial episode and I can't even disagree either. While I get that it'd be a bit hard for a reformed villain to get completely used to the life of good, so few slip-ups now and then are to be expected, the way that Starlight was literally brainwashing Twilight's own friends just to sneak out of some bonding activities made her look both hella lazy and super sketchy for someone who's supposed to be "redeemed".
Not to mention the way Twilight just didn't seem to give a crap that her own friends got mentally hurt like this and let Starlight go Scott-free just pissed me off too much. And it's especially damning when you consider what happened back in "What About Discord?" where Twilight was SO quick to think Discord was up to some dire brainwashing plot after he and the other Mane 5 simply had a good time hanging out together without her yet when Starlight here actually DID commit literal brainwashing against Twilight's friends she just brushes it off like it was no big deal and even laughs at the thought of her friends getting hangovers from the incident...and It was terrible characterization for Twilight to just brush it off.
Following her redemption, to me, she just slowly started to become less of a charming new-addition and turn into more of an annoying nuisance. From shoehorning her dark past all rushed and forced-like into nearly ALL of her episode appearances, to her never seem to stick to certain lessons like how to NOT use her magic to solve a problem, and just by personality-alone, she seems to have lost a lot of her so-called "edge" that made her so interesting & entertaining in her first appearance. Starlight's influence wasn't a good example at all, and it leads to the show to go into an unfortunate Seasonal Rot as of Season 6 and 7. Season 7 did have a Few great episodes like The Perfect Pear for instance, But during the Season 6 and 7 finales, she once again takes the center focus away.
As far as her"Redemption"and character development goes, It feels all over the place. she was kind of a spoiled brat and terrible friend and If she were a true friend to Sunburst, she'd have been happy for him when he went off to magic school. Her backstory felt like A poor excuse for a motive who committed terrible crimes and was given a very shallow Heel–Face Turn presented through an abrupt two-minute musical montage while other former villains like Princess Luna, Discord, and Sunset Shimmer took TV seasons/movies to earn redemption and were arguably less evil.
Then with her newfound status as Twilight's pupil in Friendship, essentially making her a new addition to the Mane Six, It makes things for the show extra rough, And to top it off she's a blatant Sunset Shimmer copycat, with the exact same role Sunset Shimmer should've had. Starlight was starting to replace the current main characters and was a borderline Mary Sue.
She took away everything that makes every individual main character special by topping their magic capabilities, talent, knowledge, and just isn't unique. All she was is A OP fusion of the characters we love and she didn't really learn much.Unlike Sunset Shimmer, Starlight didn't really develop all that well. Starlight being shown to be very good at complex magic at the beginning and during "Every Little Thing She Does" was treated by some people first, as a good setup for her knowing how to combine several spells to achieve the effects of Mind Control.
Of course, the rift only got worse when the plot essentially involves the entire cast, that is all the royalty and the Mane Six, being thoroughly Worked without explanation. It validates complaints that the narrative is shilling Starlight Glimmer by weakening or making other characters look worse. Speaking of making another character's worse, Starlight Once again does this in the season 7 finale, where every single member of the main cast is given the l and absurdly powerful for seemingly no particular reason and her "Social Anxiety" isn't big enough of a character flaw to balance it all out.
To add more fuel to her being a Creator's Pet/Spotlight Stealing Squad during the Season 6 finale Starlight became even more of a base breaker when it was revealed she is taking center stage to rescue the mane six from "the return of Equestria's greatest threat" having a fourth premiere/finale centering around her is simply too much, especially considering the Season 5 Finale was focused entirely on her and Twilight Sparkle with the rest of the cast getting bit parts at best and how much prominence she has already been given in Season 6 and that her getting to take the main character slot for an entire two-part finale above the official main characters just reeks of favoritism. Of course, the rift only got worse when the plot essentially involves the entire cast, that is all the royalty and the Mane Six, being thoroughly Worfed without explanation. It validates complaints that the narrative is shilling Starlight Glimmer by weakening or making other characters look worse.
Speaking of making another character's worse. Starlight Once again does this in the season 7 finale, where every single member of the main cast is are treated like Complete Idiots to make Starlight the hero during the entire thing. The Mane Six, and Twilight, in particular, seem to be treated like Idiots through most of the episode. They were so preoccupied with rescuing the Pillars that they don't even stop to think about the possibility that they could unleash the Pony of Shadows in the process. Even Starlight, the only pony who objects to this plan, just has vague concerns about the dangers of space/time magic, rather than anything about the Pony of Shadows specifically.
It is implied that they thought that the sealing of the Pillars was a separate thing done to ensure the Pony of Shadows was sealed, and thus they thought they could free the Pillars without freeing the Pony of Shadows.So those are all the reasons why Starlight isn't one of my favorites In MLP, Starlight started off fine with her cunning, manipulative attitude playing well against Twilight in their struggle for power-up until the whole time travel arc...but after being offered unconditional friendship & forgiveness (following a lame backstory to explain all her "villainy", basically it just being that she was salty that her childhood friend got his cutie mark first and moved away) just went way off the rails for Starlight's development.
After that, Her character consisted being some OP goodie-two-shoes who pretty much stole Twilight's role now as the snarky nerd of the group, and has most of her past villainy being played off either as half-hearted jokes or just brushed off entirely without so much as a little comeuppance for evil acts. I still hate Starlight's redemption to this day because it was rushed, her backstory was poorly written, she was an annoying character when she became a good guy, & It started the annoying trope of MLP Having undeserved reformations for scumbags hell-bent on harming people & nearly destroying Equestria who have Terrible Excuse for being a Bad guy.
Sure, she may sometimes improve a little more depending on who she's interacting with mostly Trixie, Spike, and sometimes Sunburst but still, even thatalonecan't save her from being a badly-executed "redemptive villain" cliche that really overstayed her welcome in the MLP Show.
