@CronoM  
I completely agree, word by word.
 
One of the reasons why I stopped watching the show was because of the Starlight episodes and her redemption approach back in season 6. Three years later, I went back to finish the last 3 seasons just for curiosity. And while the last seasons have pretty good episodes, they also have episodes where Starlight was basically a jerk with everybody, but there are zero consequences because everything turns out ok at the end of each episode.
 
Starlight Glimmer is a prime example of what happens when a group of writers from an animation studio just thinks of a gimmick and rolls with it before thinking up any worthwhile stories for it.
 
And, to be honest, I’m not as angry or furious as I was back in 2016 because, and I know I said it again and again in other threads, I think MLP:FiM was not very consistent or coherent to begin with, which is one of the reasons why I recently finished the 9 seasons. Twilight didn’t have a brother until the season 2 finale. Pinkie Pie had 2 sisters instead of three. And Applejack didn’t have any kind of fear of huge crowds until an episode from season 5. I think most of the problems this show has is because of a tight budget, time constraints and a lack of focus for ambitious ideas because of the statu-quo of the show, where everything turn out ok regardless of the possible consequences of any character.
 
Because, believe me, if MLP:FiM was actually consistent, we would have noticed that. And we wouldn’t debate about Starlight and her character arc for many years. We would have said instead “hey, Starlight was pretty good” instead of… picking camps or whatever?
 
It’s a topic that I mention sometimes, but it’s not something that makes my skin crawl nowadays, because not only many people have noticed Starlight’s shenanigans (I used to think that I was insane because I haven’t met someone who didn’t like her), but also because of the lack of consistency in the show.

@Ring Team  
Exactly.
 
Redemption arcs are good, but just like with anything, they have to be handled with proper consideration.
 
Bad writers focus too much on the destination and not enough about the journey.
 
You want a villain to be a good guy? Sure. Redemption arcs have good potential.
 
But what’s the plan?
 
What was the personality of the character when they were a villain?  
What was the motivation of the character becoming a villain, and does it tie in well with their actions, in reason and in scale?  
How does the personality of the character as a villain blend into their personality as a reformee? Does it match at all?  
Does the character experience consequences? Guilt? Motivation both internal and external to change for the better?
 
(Or do they go to their past village they manipulated and suffer no hard feelings at all, or place a cutie mark switch curse on the rulers of the land and barely feel bad about it?)
 
The writers were too eager to create a token reformed character, that they didn’t put much thought into the journey itself. Thus, the writing is so poor and the disconnect with the character is so wide, something that is stuck with that character forever, that they might as well have not reformed the character in that way at all, and gone back to drawing board until they crafted a well written story and arc.
 
If your going to write a redemption story…actually WRITE one, don’t simply force one into the narrative without a proper story or journey.
 
@Ring Team  
Like you said, redemption at any cost is not a good plan for a story. In fact, its the very antithesis of having a well thought out plan at all.

I think these kinda show the problem of having Starlight as a reformed villain with a redemption arc character in the context of a TV show like MLP Friendship is Magic.
 
I believe in redemption, and I like redemption stories. That’s why I love Diamond Tiara in Crusaders of the Lost Mark and Tempest in the MLP film. But not at any cost.

AND THE THREAD IS GOING AGAIN. I AM SHOOKETH. THIS NEVER HAPPENS WITH STARLIGHT DRAMA.

And then it turns out she’s not a teacher after all.

Most of those can’t be used against her due to the circumstances under which they occurred.

She has come a long way.  
Good choice.

@Background Pony #B251  
It’s not about “getting hurt”. It’s about pointlessly reigniting an argument (usually a pretty bitter one) that people have already walked away from. There’s a reason we have the saying “let sleeping dogs lie”, after all.

I honestly dont understand whats wrong with necro threads. If you dont want to be in one: unsubscribe. If you do: who exactly id getting hurt here?

@Background Pony #B251  
How to stop a necro thread:
 
Lock against all further comments

@cloudkicker108  
I agree, villain Starlight and her current self have good and bad things, the importance is recognize those mistakes and getting will and heart to the change. Starlight is a great example like human being only animal that trip over the same stone twice. A failure story, but with great lessons.

How to stop a necro thread:  
Step 1: see that someone is partaking in necro  
Step 2: ignore, and dont comment on it
 
(Unlike me)

@CronoM  
I appreciate the response and I’m glad this was resolved. Even if this wasn’t the best place for it, I have to admit those were some interesting observations you brought up. Hopefully none of us will get banned :)

@cloudkicker108  
My apologies. It was only stream of consciousness typing on the realization that s5 starlight was good with kids in her own odd way.
 
My purpose was more to highlight s5 starlight then throw shade on s6-s8 starlight.
 
In all honesty, I think Starlight will faulter a little just like any other character would in this position, but eventually do fine. :)
 
But on impulse I wanted to bring up the positives of Starlight’s character even when she was a villain in relation to this picture, in contrast to starting up old arguments. But I can see how it could be taken more as the latter then the former. Like I said, I was rambling.  
@Princess Luna
 
Again, sorry about the necropost.

@Background Pony #69AB  
@CronoM  
I thought the mod already made it crystal clear not to necro this thread.

@Background Pony #69AB  
Heh, worst case scenario’s are pretty high with her afterall?
 
Heck, she might even be tempted to do something of the like if she got stressed and lost her patience to not take the easy route.
 
But nah, she’d stop herself before she did something like that. (Most likely) When around kids she usually…she usually…
 
….
 
???!!!!!
 
That moment.
 
That moment when you realize that s5 starlight might actually be more useful in this situation (in some ways) then current Starlight.
 
Don’t get me wrong. She was a villain. She was filled with low moral standards, ambition, and spite. But she was also smarter, older (in personality), and understanding, even if that understanding wasn’t used for the side of the angels.
 
She was the machevellian, determined, no easy route ideologist who, in one of her plans, used a toned down version of her ideology to make fluttershy and pegasi bullies friends in just a few minutes. Cult leader Starlight was obsessed with learning friendship and empathy to get people to see things her way even when the result was sometimes moral. Lawful evil with high understanding.
 
Thing is, while her more extreme methods and her end goals didn’t match the current system of people suffering like Troubleshoes, people being imbalanced on the opposite end like early teen pony Sunset, or unicorn high society no doubt, she wasn’t limited to just mind control. But the steps on the road to that in terms of people getting along at least from an early start was not so different. And in a class with a lot less cutie marks and more on comparable merit…
 
 
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just rambling, but I find the thought very interesting. Now I’m imagining similar situation like Fluttershy and the pegasi bullies where olderesque S5 starlight handling situations the other Starlight dealt with if she was convinced not to peddle off her full extreme ideology, but just the basics with her high charisma and high understanding stats.

Hypnotised students:Ah,yes, Starlight Glimmer, we WILL learn this new spell you taught ua today :D Also, brainwashing is magic and magic is friendship :D

OK, I gotta hand it to ya, I chuckled. Upvote for you!

@Princess Luna  
I was joking; sorry.

@Yet_One_More_Idiot  
Do not rely on us monitoring new comments, make a report when you want our attention.
 
Next person to restart the argument gets a ban.

=Invoking a mod to come and shut down this necro argument=
 
(as using the word “mod” is practically like a friggin’ bat-signal to some of the moderators here xD)

Suddenly I’m reminded of Goliad from Adventure Time.  
That’s exactly how I imagine she’d be as a teacher.