Unpopular opinion time

AC97
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
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My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

@Latecomer
 
I personally think that thing with Sunset is ripe for use in say, AUs, where she didn’t go through the mirror, if you wish for her to be a villain, redeemable in the end or not. And for that matter, she could resent the hell out of Twilight as well, for that very reason.
 
I wouldn’t mind ignoring that human world, in terms of AUs, while we’re at it, I think it can be… limiting, in a way
 
ETA:
 
As for the “faked being reformed” talking point, in regards to Starlight, probably would only be bearable if “Becoming The Mask” was involved, though as far as something I’ve seen suggested before, I don’t know how well say, colluding with Chrysalis would hypothetically work, her being her.
Latecomer

@AC97  
Well while Sunset may be very entangled with the human world in canon, it’s only one of many paths she could have taken- some as a villain, others as a heroine, and more besides.
 
Speaking of the human world, I was fine with it until it dissolved into a blizzard of shorts containing a precious few quality pieces among much dross. Even the specials got worse towards the end.
AC97
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

@Latecomer
 
Adhering 100% to canon is a crutch in a lot of cases, really. A lot of interesting stories in fanon wouldn’t happen if they all stuck to it.
 
As one hypothetical example might go, Sunset and Starlight have never gone through the motions of a magic duel in canon, regardless of who was on the villainous side, if it’d either of them.
 
EQG did have entertainment value to it, mind you, but Equestria is probably… a more interesting setting overall vs… a high school setting, teenagers. It didn’t help that nothing that ever happened in EQG would affect the status quo, in the actual show, a “blink and you miss” cameo aside.
 
(I haven’t even bothered watching most of those shorts, should I even bother? Well… I think your opinion there is clear, lol.)
Latecomer

@AC97  
“What might have been” will always inherently hold more potential than what was.
 
And the other side has it’s own potentials for perhaps that reason, for less of note happened there than Equestria. (Even among the shorts, there are gems.)
AC97
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

“What might have been” will always inherently hold more potential than what was.
 
Especially because with fan stuff, you have no obligation to stick to being like TV-Y, beyond your whims, and no 22/44 minute limitation. Just the nature of it.
 
And come to think of it, speaking of that topic, to be entirely fair, the main series definitely wasn’t a stranger to having SoL stuff that didn’t affect much in the end. (did Ponyville stay destroyed by Parasprites? hmm… no, no it didn’t)
Background Pony #FF5F
Sunset is shitty waifubait garbage. Nothing original or notable about her character before and after she was reformed. “Just make her super important and talented at everything at the expense of others, people like that right?.”
Latecomer

@Background Pony #2220  
It’s true she’s defined more bi her history and style than having a full character than the Manes, but she has enough history and style, plus the leader role, to fill out her relative few appearances and leave us wanting more.
Philweasel
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.

Right About Everything
@Latecomer  
She has barrels of style.
 
You know, I have a beef with the writers because of Sunset. Because she looks great, she sounds great, and she has a great backstory in potentia. The animators give her style for days, Monday Blues packs so much characterisation in without a single word of dialogue.
 
The fact that she’s a directionless Mary Sue who wrapped up her character arc in the second movie and had a villain phase that ranks as one of the worst in the series is… upsetting to me.
Meanlucario
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Time to get spooky
Honestly, Gamer Luna and New Luna Republic were dumb, since Luna was likely still learning about indoor toilets and would likely be more in-the-past than Celestia with the latter (if the comic I read years ago saying that gay marriage and weed are legal in the NLR but not Equestria is any indication).
Philweasel
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.

Right About Everything
@Latecomer  
Both. I certainly think better development out of the gate would have helped her feel more believable, and give weight to future character beats. She always struggled to confront her past because her past was badly written and didn’t connect very well to her subseqent characterisation.
 
Though I’m loath to compare the two, I have to bring up Starlight. Starlight wanted friends who accepted her and obeyed her, and relied on brainwashing them to force them to confirm to her liking. Her subsequent character development revolved around making friends with oddballs who forced her to change and grow as a person, and her eventual development led her becoming an advisor to help others make friends and solve their problems in a productive way. Those two goals overlap and complement each other, which helps that sense of organic growth.
 
Starlight’s villainous motives are… vague. She seems to desire power and conquest, and these extremely generic goals fail to relate to her future persona in anything but the most basic ways. The show defines her redemption as ‘I never realised that friendship could be a good thing!’ which is not exactly unique for the franchise, and once she’s had that realisation there’s nowhere really for it to go.
Vinylshadow
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
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@Mildgyth  
Ah, back when MLP fanfiction was new and interesting and wasn’t bogged down by people demanding you adhere to the show’s continuity and characters.
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