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Description

One of the other 2 frames of this face (from the trailer), this is frame 1 heh, both are amazing.

Comments

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Background Pony #A796
@ColdhardSilver
Motivation==belief, and there’s a shit-ton of drama surrounding her motivations. Her belief is that Individuality is Evil, and that belief is horrifically evil.
I actually don’t think that was really her motivation, to be honest. When we first meet her, the idea she espouses is more that special talents lead to disagreement and feelings of superiority, which drive friendships apart. Then we find out in the season finale that there’s a specific reason she feels this way.  
Starlight Glimmer: And just like that, my friend was gone. His family recognized his magical talent and sent him off to Canterlot. I never saw him again.
Spike: Well, why not?
Starlight Glimmer: Because of his cutie mark! He got his, and I didn’t! He moved on, and I didn’t! I stayed here and never made another friend because I was too afraid another cutie mark would take them away, too!
She may talk a lot about equality and sameness early on, but one gets the impression her actual motivation for everything she’s done comes from that one unfortunate childhood experience. It caused her to go a lifetime without friends to avoid felling that way again, and to try and prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else. It’s not exactly rational, but opinions and ideas influenced by traumatic events rarely are.
 
I know a number of people did not appreciate her backstory that much, but I always thought it actually made a fair bit of sense from a psychological standpoint. It also makes me glad that she’s possibly finally going to get a chance to discover the difference friends can make in her life.
ColdhardSilver
Thread Starter - Cartoon/Western Animation General

Culture Vulture
@Darth Sonic  
I was? Well sorry for the confusion there, DS. I was just making the case of the differing parts of Starlight’s time can be attributed to her belief and which apply more to Starlight herself.
 
I hope that clear things up.
ColdhardSilver
Thread Starter - Cartoon/Western Animation General

Culture Vulture
@Darth Sonic  
Motivation==belief  
>…Wasn’t that what I said? (well with more so with actions and the personal thought process behind it which influences motivation). Speaking of where did “motivation” in the comparison to belief come from; I was largely talking about personal action.
 
“Her belief is that Individuality is Evil, and that belief is horrifically evil”  
>Well yeah as I said:  
“I’d say yes and no. Yes it is horrifying and she will do do that, but I disagree with the use of word belief”  
I was making the case that the claims you made about Starlight speak more to solely her character and not her beliefs.
ColdhardSilver
Thread Starter - Cartoon/Western Animation General

Culture Vulture
@Darth Sonic  
“How is “Individuality=Bad” ever a good belief”  
Nani? When did I say it was?
 
“and how would Trixie or Twilight pull it off differently?”  
As I said before the big crux of Starlight’s action is Starlight herself. From her resolve, to the founding of Our Town, to her revenge against the 6; it all stemmed from Starlight’s own character traits.  
To give a slightly loose example, take Moondancer losing twilight compared to Starlight loosing Sunburst. Despite the similarities of the situation each pony went about dealing with such in different ways based upon who they are. Starlight grew to fix what she saw as an injustice in the world for not just herself, but for others. Moondancer crawled back into her shell to avoid ever experience such a feeling again and masked that with jadedness and emotional distancing.
 
Get what I mean?
ColdhardSilver
Thread Starter - Cartoon/Western Animation General

Culture Vulture
@Darth Sonic  
“At least with Lex, there’s a certain “nothing personal, it’s just business” feel to it, that if you just stayed out of his business you’d be fine.”  
>Ehhh, depends on the Lex. I mean one of his most famous quotes is his gloating over the fact that most Metropolis is working under his payroll whether they know it or not and the amount of pawns this gives Lex.
 
“That just makes her beliefs more horrifying”  
“Starlight believes it her moral duty to mindrape me and strip me of my individuality.”  
>I’d say yes and no. Yes it is horrifying (tis the point, hence having to be stopped by our heroines) and she will do (well would then) do that, but I disagree with the use of word belief. As I said before the show put grand emphasis on her actions, what was wrong about how they carried the belief not the belief itself. Apply the same beliefs to someone like Twilight or Trixie and they would carry out their message in entirely different ways, because that’s who they are; Starlight does as she did because those are the actions she personal finds to be necessary to achieve her goal and even then it is not without her compromising how closely she follows it (the fact she can’t take her own mark in order to take others).
Darth Sonic
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@ColdhardSilver  
That just makes her beliefs more horrifying. At least with Lex, there’s a certain “nothing personal, it’s just business” feel to it, that if you just stayed out of his business you’d be fine. Starlight believes it her moral duty to mindrape me and strip me if my individuality.
 
 
There’s a certain
ColdhardSilver
Thread Starter - Cartoon/Western Animation General

Culture Vulture
@Starswirl  
@Tragiclady  
I don’t see much of problem here if it does turns out to be such and this isn’t just a moment where she’s nervous or what not for the moment or as a joke.
 
For all the intended dark and ugly parts of who she, let’s not forget that she truly believes in what she preached. She’s not like Lex Luthor who fronts as a humanitarian as a way to hide his psychotic tendencies and his true intentions, Starlight (As we learn from the end of Cutie Map and all of Re-mark) on the other hand has no dark hidden goal, this is what she truly believes is what will solve what she sees as inequality and injustice; as she said “everything else I said is true” - Starlight and ”…stopping the rainboom is just a bonus”.
 
The character flaw that the writers keep harping on was not her ideals, it was her actions and now she has 7 other to act as buffer for her petty and vengeful coping mechanism/motivation that spawn and overshadow the sincerity of her belief.
 
Some say that ideal hands are the devil’s playthings, but there is something far far worse. An ideal mind is the devil’s playhouse; a stage for the most vapid and destructive stories to be made real.
Tragiclady
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You could be right about that. Perhaps if Starlight Glimmer got hit by the Elements of Harmony or I guess Rainbow Power, and if she seemed genuinely regretful and made amends, more people would be able to accept it.
Starswirl
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Starlight Glimmer is a weird character.
 
I feel like there’s little connecting the crazy cult leader and vengeful arch-sorceress with this nervous friendship apprentice. Like it’s missing the sort of turning point that getting hit by the Elements of Harmony normally provides—a catalyst for a change this radical.
Tragiclady
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
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@PonyPon  
Just like how DBZ stuffed Vegeta and Krillin down our throats huh? ;3
 
(I kid, Krillin is my BBF)
 
I’m sorry that you feel that way, but this is a dream come true for me :o