I've been busy the last few weeks trying to isolate the problem and fix it on a fairly tight budget.Season 5 premiere and Starlight Glimmer-SPOILER ALERT · 3:42pm Apr 8th, 2015
So, I've finally managed to wrangle up the free time to catch the season 5 premiere.
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Overall, it was not most impressive of season-openers, but that's because I think we're going to be a narrative shift this season. This premiere seems to be meant for setting up a longer, arcing story-line, rather than serving as an epic, but enclosed event. We saw more interconnectedness between episodes last season, and even a bit of it in the season before last. So, I think this season will build off the foundation set by this episode. The notion of being sent to far-off lands, at the guidance of the tree of harmony, the mention of magical artifacts, and the first of the premiere villains to straight up escape has me hopeful for this season.
More interestingly, I think I can work with the ideas presented and incorporate them into the background headcanon I have for my stories.
But, all that aside, what I really want to talk about is Starlight Glimmer.
An interesting villain, if there ever was one. Allusions to certain political ideologies aside, she's bucked quite a few trends as far as villainy is concerned in the show. Starlight isn't the extreme evil of King Sombra or Tirek, but she still showed a disdain for Twilight's own philosophy that was interesting.
Already, I've seen the suggestion that we can count Starlight Glimmer among the ponies that serve as Twilight's counterparts and foils, along with Sunset Shimmer and Trixie. But, I rather think that's a bit backwards: I don't think she's best represented as the counterpart to Twilight, but rather Trixie.
From what I saw, Starlight Glimmer seemed to be a very capable magician; not up to Twilight's level, but capable of tangling with her briefly. And yet, she barely utilizes her talent, perhaps in-part to maintain her cover and perhaps because she did otherwise want to hold to her philosophy where she could. In any event, until she was forced to, she did very little to show-off and indeed seemed to be underachieving. Contrast this with Trixie, whose personal skill seems to be not as great, but is very determined to be noticed for her talent and is quite ambitious about being a powerful magician. Starlight gets by with the barest use of her not-inconsiderable talent, but wanted to use Twilight's status as a princess to strengthen her cause. Trixie milks every bit of her more modest talent, and was willing to go to great lengths to increase her own talent, even though she ended up similarly relying upon an outside power (The Alicorn Amulet).
Both built themselves up, or perhaps down in Starlight's case, through lies and a bit of exaggeration. And both seemed to need the validation of others, and became very angry, bordering on unhinged, when it was taken away from them.
Both of them ran away, rather than accepting their own mistakes. And in both cases it might have been best if they had pursued, rather than left to their own devices.
For Trixie's part, while she did lie during her shows to aggrandize her own accomplishments, it could be said that she played the part of the performer; using lies to inspire, entertain, and uplift. Yes, she may have been fluffing up her own ego, but a mutualism could be seen between her in the audience, where she gets the validation she desires and they get to be entertained.
Starlight runs in the opposite direction, for while she was still seeking some form of validation, she did it by using lies to grind others down and force them to be dependent upon her. She was supporting her own ego like our favorite showmare, but where Trixie seemed to genuinely entertain and inspire others (Even if she inspired Snips and Snails to do something stupid), Starlight pushes any notions of standing out or excitement away.
Starlight also seemed very intent on making the Equal-ponies dependent upon her, to the point where many of them patently didn't know what to do without her guidance. Contrast with Trixie, who as mentioned before desires outside validation, but is also by most portrayals a very independent pony. The fact that Trixie travels by wagon, and seemed fairly well-traveled already demonstrates that she doesn't want to be tied down, while Starlight didn't seem to have any intent on leaving her village. They both wanted all of Equestria to know of them and what they did, but where Trixie goes and spreads her own word, Starlight seemed to expect that ponies would flock to her on pilgrimages and the like.
And the most obvious point between the two of them, is both seem to have attached some personal enmity to Twilight, refused to claim what blame was theirs for their respective situations, and both rejected Twilight's initial attempts at outreach.
I can't help but wonder if Starlight will follow a similar path to Trixie's, or if she will ultimately subvert it somehow...
...Or maybe this all sounds ridiculous, and I'm just looking for any reason for more of the Great and Powerful Trixie.
You decide.
I cannot speak to Starlight Glimmer because I have not gotten around to watching the premier yet (although I do at least plan to now even if it does sound like Cold War-era anti-Soviet propaganda
), although I did notice something you seemed to gloss over with Trixie which puts her in a very interesting place. While she did most definitely have an issue with Twilight before her return, the two of them seem to have made up at the end of the episode which means that Twilight would be quick to accept Trixie if she showed up again. This is not terribly interesting in its own right, but the fact that the rest of the cast still has very bad memories of Trixie and no resolution means they would most definitely have a problem with her if she made a reappearance. This naturally adds a lot of room for potential conflict and character development all around which could translate to some very interesting stories if the writers (or fanfiction authors) decide to take advantage of it.
2961937 Dude, did you not see the parts where a put 'Spoiler Alert'?
Very sorry if you wanted to avoid that. I really didn't want to cause that for anyone.
And...actually, I don't want to cause anymore spoilers for you, by saying anything else at this point.
2961975 I saw it and didn't care. I have already gathered at least the bulk of what is going on (hence the propaganda comment) and am making no effort to avoid more because I am not sure when I will get around to watching it. It is just not a high priority after the clusterfuck that was the season 4 finale so I am not worrying about it.
2962120 Well, fair enough. And if it helps, it's less communist, and more of a textbook cult scenario.
2962130 Yeah, they slapped a different label on the cold war-era anti-Soviet propaganda. That does not change what it is.
Also, note that I never said communist because the propaganda did not conform to the actual political beliefs, it just created a ridiculous straw man to attack.
This is a fantastic point! I think you could make the case that Our Town was suppose to represent Communism to the same degree that Ponyville under Trixie was supposed to represent fascism. I think Our Town was supposed to represent a commune, which is basically a combination of a communist society and a cult anyway.
But yeah, Starlight's extreme anti-individualism contrasts perfectly with Trixie's extreme individualism. The point about Starlight deliberately making herself seem less powerful and impressive is a really good one, what other villain have we seen that would do such a thing?
I think the moral of the story is: Some awesome writer needs to write a "what-if" fic where Trixie's traveling magic show visited Our Town under the rule of Starlight Glimmer.
2962951 That would be an awesome idea for a story.
I just read your post. Got to know it, agreed with it, fell in love with it and then married it.
Any reason that gives you more of the Great and Powerful Trixie is a good thing.
YES!!
So glad I'm not the only one that got a very strong "Trixie" vibe from Starlight. And totally agree she does make a near perfect foil to Trixie.