Unpopular opinion time

@Anonycat  
I kind of get what you’re saying - I had to ignore the Season 5 finale, at least, and that brainwashing episode. But what one gets in return is well worth it IMO.

@Latecomer  
I think you’ll only need to ignore part of the final, since it is the thing that opened Starlight’s eyes to how far she has gone in a path she doesn’t want to be in, and at least in Every Little thing, she’s treated as being in the wrong and scolded for worring about why the spell went wrong rather than how she treated the Remane Five, which is more than any Fluttershy ep did with Shy. Also, you can’t deny that AJ’s out-of-context stories aren’t funny.

@Meanlucario  
Anything can look good if you purposely cherrypick and ignore its bad parts.

@Anonycat  

@Anonycat  
Like you have been to go against Starlight? And I didn’t say that Every Little Thing was good, just that it puts Star in a bad light when she deserved it, which is sadly more than some other episodes focused on the Mane Six. Also, did you find evidence to support your claim that the leaks saying that Star was meant to be the lead in season 7 onward is true?

@Vivace  
You can’t ignore good parts when there are none to ignore in the first place, though.  
Also, I see we already reached that special part of all attempts to have some Starlight criticism.

@Vivace
 
(also, y’know, it’s also possible [and perfectly okay, mind you] to enjoy something in spite of the flaws, as hard as it may be to wrap one’s head around that.)

@Anonycat  

 
That’s complete bullshit. And you reached that part hours ago when you made claims you refused to back up.

@AC97  
I think you’re misreading what he said, and the context involving Anonycat.

@Anonycat  
So they are able to be ignored when they are there. So stop ignoring.

@Meanlucario
 
Am I though? I was fully aware of what he did with the quote when I wrote that.
 
I do know that at least some people seem to have… shall we say myopia to some degree in understanding how others think.

@AC97  
He’s quoting Anonycat, who’s acting like we’re cherrypicking examples of Starlight being good and he isn’t. It’s not that he isn’t allowed to not like Starlight, but he’s going to inaccurate extremes to justify his hatred.

@Meanlucario  
He wants to hate. To “spread it around.”

@Anonycat
 
Antagonist Starlight is horse shit, but Protagonist Starlight is absolutely amazing (especially with The Great and Bimboish Trixie) and one of the best characters in the heavily-Flanderized later seasons.
 
While the basic idea of Starlight is “Twilight again because Twilight is not Twilight anymore”, she is not identical to early Twilight. Twilight was never a dark mage and didn’t rely on invasive necromancy to solve problems; she used perfectly normal and sane magic that she often lost control of. In addition, Twilight was extremely self-conscious and felt horrible the instant she messed anything up.
 
Starlight, on the other hand, is a complete nutcase who blasts unprecedented mind-control magic down people’s throats. There’s no malice behind doing it and she isn’t a sadist, she’s just completely off her rocker and legitimately does not understand why this is not OK. The primary frame of reference for “too far” for Starlight is Trixie of all ponies, and usually because Trixie risks getting Starlight in trouble, not because she’s actually concerned about the consequences of things like losing the Cutie Map.
 
All of this is hilarious.
 
Starlight is the embodiment of “you were so concerned about whether you could you did not stop to think about whether you should”.
 
Also, Starlight gets thrown a bone in that she is the first person to consider (correctly) that Star Swirl might be an utter piece of shit and everybody else ignores her.

@Meanlucario
 
What I’m trying to convey (poorly, unless I’m missing something else) is that I’m acutely aware of Vivace’s thoughts on the matter (not being one to dislike Starlight), and that they were indeed, doing a “FTFY” kind of thing with that, as in “here’s what you really mean by that,” and Anonycat is being themself, with the assertiveness, projection of their thoughts onto others, like “you have to try to not hate it.”

@AC97  
I see what you mean.
 
@Tirimsil  
They’re almost as flanderized as they were in season 1.

@Meanlucario
 
I see you do not know what “Flanderize” means.

@Tirimsil  
It’s dumbing down a character and making one of their traits the main one, like season 1 did with Twilight and books.

 
I do think it’s an underrated idea, having Sunset (or at least, villainous her, as… uncommon as such a portrayal probably is, nowadays, between how prevalent having her be good is, and how she wasn’t… the most popular villain) have a disdain for Cadance for getting to be an alicorn, when she didn’t, especially considering that that’s what she wanted to be, if you’re going off of the comics.
 
It practically writes itself, having her be angry that some nobody pegasus orphan got to be one.

@Tirimsil  
I recall you being a vocal detractor. What led to you coming around?

@Anonycat  

 
Been saying that for years, which is they the revelation of her only pretending to reform so she can find another way to get revenge could have worked well…at least within season 6. After that, it was too late. She was too far gone, so to speak.

@Spinny  
That twist could have made her more bearable, yes.

@Anonycat  
I heavily disagree.

@Meanlucario  
I just don’t like that finale, and we need a slot for an episode where she deals with her old followers.
 
@Anonycat  
And Starlight Glimmer has many good parts.
 
 
@Tirimsil  
Mostly agree, but Antagonist Starlight was very good the first time round IMO.
 
 
@AC97  
I’ve seen this a few times, and use it in mi own headcanon as well.
 

 
 
@Spinny  
Only if it ended with her being slowly won over for real, and maybe having to then dismantle whatever revenge plan she had set in motion already.

@Latecomer  
And that’s fair. Not everyone can/should like everything, especially things I like.
 
I think we only had Villain Starlight twice, so you like that version of her half of the time.
 
Her being won over for real would make that twist bearable, at least to me.