Does Flash Sentry REALLY Deserve the Hate He Receives? · 5:55pm May 14th, 2014
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This is a question that I've been wanting to ask for quite some time. And since next month will mark the one year anniversary of the release of Equestria Girls, why not ask it now?
So...yeah. Flash Sentry. Even before the movie came out this character has received vast hatred from the fandom. And even now I still find myself coming across the occasional overly negative comment about him. I swear that I've seen more visceral hatred in comments directed at Flash Sentry than I have in comments directed at Diamond F*cking Tiara! And the big question here is, obviously, does Flash really deserve all the hate he gets? Personally, not only is my answer "no" but his extremely negative reception downright confuses me.
Before I continue, I want to state here that I don't think Flash is some amazing character who's been horribly misunderstood by the fanbase. While I'll admit that I found the "romance" between him and Twilight a bit cute in the film, Flash overall is just not that interesting of a character. We didn't really spend enough time with him in the film to get to know his personality. All we know about him is that he likes to play guitar and that he's a nice guy. That's Flash Sentry's character in a nutshell. He's simply a bland character. But it's for that exact reason why I find the hatred directed at him so damn confusing.
From what I've seen, the most hated fictional characters tend to either be extremely annoying (ex. Skyler White from Breaking Bad) or extremely despicable (ex. Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones). From where I'm sitting, those two qualities are nowhere to be found in what little personality Flash Sentry has. Flash is, as of now, simply a bland character. So what is it about him that drives people up the f*cking walls? I personally think it's really stupid and unnecessary to waste energy directing hate at a character who has barely any character at all. As far as I can remember, this is the first bland character I've come across to obtain so much negativity. Again I ask, what is it about Flash that makes people so angry?
Is it because he adds a romantic interest cliché to Equestria Girls? Maybe but the "romance", and Flash Sentry in general, hardly had any effect on the main plot of the film. Is the fandom just excruciatingly against romance being introduced into MLP? Well that would be a load of hypocritical nonsense. Nobody's thrown temper tantrums over Spike's crush on Rarity or Rarity's initial pursuit of Prince Blueblood. Shining Armor and Cadance's romance is nowhere near the top of the list of reasons why the people who don't like them...don't like them. The love poison-induced romance between Big Mac and Cheerilee in Hearts and Hooves Day didn't seem to obtain a whole lot of extreme backlash. And the recent partial love triangle between Rarity, Trenderhoof, and Applejack in Simple Ways didn't receive anything close to hatred as far as I can tell. At worst, Trenderhoof was seen as just a forgettable character. Is it because people think the "romance" between Twilight and Flash hurt the main plot of the film? I would have to call bullsh*t on that one because the "romance" in the film barely affected the events of the main plot. And there's a reason why I've been putting their "romance" in quotation marks. What happened between Twilight and Flash in Equestria Girls was hardly a full-on romance. It had about as much romantic tension as the scenes between Spike and Rarity in Secret of My Excess. Could it be that; in a show full of vibrant, colorful, complex characters; a bland character sticks out like a sore thumb? Going back to an earlier argument, why even waste your breath hating on a character with next to no character when you could be hating on a character who actually deserves it? Like Diamond F*cking Tiara?!
So...yeah. I think the hatred Flash Sentry receives is pretty much unwarranted. I'm not saying you have to like the guy (as I've said, I'm personally not all that impressed by him myself) but I think it's quite unnecessary and incredibly odd to hate on a bland character such as Flash Sentry when there are other characters in MLP that deserve visceral hatred far more than him. With an Equestria Girls sequel a few months away, and with it having a focus on bands, I'm sure the guitar-playing Flash Sentry will be making another appearance. Hopefully, this will give the writers a chance to give him more of a personality. But I guess people will continue to waste time hating on him for the simple fact that he exists.
Haters need to get their priorities straight. That is all.
I got to agree with everything you said, there is little or nothing to go by with Flash part from the movie with a high school crush and the two pony appearances in the season 4. I was at a finale in London and a few cried out when they saw him for that second speaking out to introduce the ponies that arrived at the Crystal Empire at the start.
I am not completely sure what people got against that stallion. My only guess is the fact Twilight got feelings towards him and Hasbro might be doing something more between him and Twilight in the future.
Overall I think many haters just going a bit OTT.
I don't hate Flash, but I dislike how he's one big cliche(Guitar playing pretty boy who serves as protag's love interest). I would like him more if he had more of a personality, that's pretty much my stance on him.
Someone doesn't like Diamond Tiara. I've nicknamed her and Silver Spoon "Tweedle B and Tweedle C*nt". Guess which one is Tweedle C*nt.
I totally agree with everything. Flash totally does not deserve the hate he gets though he is totally a bland character. I've always figured the writers of Equestria Girls were like "We don't have time to flesh out Flash Sentry's character. Let's let these 'Bronies' do it." I mean look at Derpy. Derpy is less than a bland character. She has no character. Look what we have done with her! I say Flash's character is an empty vessel that can be filled in by us. I've already seen it done pretty well in stories like A Guard and a Princess and The Order and its sequel What Hath Joined Together. I plan on doing it myself eventually.
All I am saying is give Flash Sentry a chance.
I could say that some of the hate directed towards Flash is because some Bronies have dubbed him "waifu stealer,"
but then I would get slapped in the face for bringing it up.
I liked Equestria Girls, but I did not like Flash Sentry. Seeing the romantic interactions between him and Twilight was very odd to me. I can definitely understand the hate towards him. A lot of people absolutely adore Twilight (myself included), so seeing her in that situation with Flash Sentry was unpleasant.
I think the reason why Rarity x Blueblood or Rarity x Trenderhoof don't really bug people is because neither of them worked out at all, so there was nothing for people to get upset about. There are a lot of Spike x Rarity moments, but Spike is still far too young, so that won't work out on the show either. As for Cadance and Shining Armor, they were introduced as a couple from the beginning, so that's easy to accept.
With Flash Sentry, although he and Twilight did not end up dating, there were no "this won't work out moments". If there were then I wouldn't dislike him as much as I do.
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So you're saying that your disliking of Flash Sentry stems from your desire to never see Twilight have any sort of romantic relationship. That's what you're saying, right?
2233406 Eh, it's a little more complicated than that, but I guess sort of? I don't like when shows introduce a character that hasn't been around since the beginning to be the love interest of one of the main characters.
Honestly Flash Sentry is one of the VERY few characters I dislike on MLP (I even like Diamond Tiara!), but I'm cool as long as he remains fairly unimportant.
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I see.
Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with a character being brought into the show to be a romantic interest for one of the Mane 6 as long as said character had an interesting personality and good chemistry with the other characters. As of now, Flash Sentry is just a basic blueprint of a romance character. I have a feeling that if Flash Sentry were to gain a bigger role on the show, the writers would take several steps in expanding his character and giving him more of a personality.
Here is the difference, the love poison spell was broken with Big Mac an Cheerilee, so everyone knew nothing would happen there. Spike's crush on Rarity is just something cute to add to the show. We all knew that Rarity an Blueblood wouldn't happen. Why do people hate Flash? Because in the movie he is the typical, stereotypical perfect male high school character. He is a pretty boy, popular, plays the guitar, used to date the high school bitch and a love interest develops between him and the MAIN CHARACTER. What makes matters worse is that once she returns to Equestria, she bumps into pony Flash and blushes, indicating a possible crush. That would ruin her if they hooked up. No longer would she focus solely on friendship, she would also have to focus on making sure some dumbshit man was happy, basically making her worthless. Good female characters are strong, independent and have no need for a man to make them good.
Also, this sends the wrong message to the target audience, which is young girls. It sends them the message that to be perfect you have to have a damn husband. I would rather see Twilight and Celestia get it on than see Twily even sitting down to dinner with Flash, much less hook up with him.
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I agree that good female characters should be strong and independent without the need of a man. But, with that said, how would Twilight gaining a "coltfriend" in Flash Sentry, or any male character for that matter, ruin her? That statement reminded me an awful lot about how fans were screaming about how Twilight becoming an alicorn princess would ruin her character and turn her into a Mary Sue. Well, after seeing Season 4, I can safely say that becoming an alicorn princess had no negative effects on Twilight's character. She's still the relatable, adorkable, three-dimensional, entertaining character we've all come to know and love over these past few years. What I'm getting at is that if Twilight can still remain herself after becoming an alicorn princess, I think it's safe to say that the odds of her being ruined by entering a romantic relationship are drastically low.
And what's really so bad about the focus not being solely on friendship anymore and bringing romantic relationships into the mix? If anything, it would provide a new set of obstacles for Twilight to overcome and present her with new lessons to learn about not just friendship and romance but life in general. I'm not saying I'm praying for Twilight (or any of the Mane 6 by extension) to up and get into a romantic relationship. I'm just saying that I'm not really against the idea, given the execution. Right now, Flash is practically a blank slate. This is mostly because he wasn't really the main focus of Equestria Girls and thus the writers probably didn't really put much thought into developing his character. If he were to be added into the main show, that would give the writers more time to expand upon his character and make him a fitting companion for Twilight.
Also, your comment about Twilight becoming worthless due to entering a romantic relationship really rubbed me the wrong way. To me, it sounded like you were saying that women are only strong, independent, and good characters as long as they remain single and stay far away from romantic relationships. And, personally, I think that's just not true. I can name several female characters who got into romantic relationships and still remained great characters. Amy Pond from Doctor Who. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Daphne Blake from Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. Gwen Stacy from The Amazing Spider-Man. Princess Fiona from Shrek. Korra and Asami Sato from The Legend of Korra. Belle from Beauty and the Beast AND Once Upon a Time. Shall I continue? Like I said earlier, Twilight was a great character as a unicorn, she's still a great character as an alicorn princess, and I'm sure she would still be a great character if she were in a romantic relationship.
No. I really don't think it would send that kind of message. I once heard someone say that the Mane 6 and their diverse personalities show not only different ways of being a girl but also different ways of being a person in general. And people do have to encounter romance at some point in their life, whether it be a crush, a date, marriage, etc. Twilight getting into a romantic relationship wouldn't push the idea on girls that they have to have a husband to be "perfect" and happy. It would simply provide the writers with new opportunities to give Twilight (and the young audience, by extension) lessons in regards to romantic relationships and how it's a team effort. Under the scenario of Flash being introduced into the main show and getting into a relationship with Twilight, the show could show Twilight and Flash dealing with the everyday obstacles that couples face as well as show their combined effort in making the relationship work. Romantic relationships take effort and Twilight and Flash Sentry, if executed properly, could give young audiences good lessons about that.
Basically, in my opinion, all I would need is for Flash's character to be developed and fleshed out more and for him to have enjoyable chemistry with Twilight and I'd be all for them getting into a relationship in the main show. But that's just my stance on it anyway.
2273097 Well we're all entitled to our own opinions but I think part of what makes MLP so great is that none of the Mane Six are in relationships. The show has done perfectly fine without any of the main characters in a romantic relationship so why mess with success? There is an old saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
And regarding Alicorn Twily, I absolutely love her. I think turning her into an Alicorn was one of the best things they ever did.