Why I Dislike Cozy Glow As a Villain · 3:41am Jul 18th, 2021
Yeah, I think the title of this piece is pretty self-explanatory. Those that've spoken to me about the show know that I have a special place of vitriol in my heart for a certain pegasus villainess. Okay, maybe "vitriol" is a bit much. "Disdain"? Disdain works. Anyway, yes, I'm talking about Cozy Glow.
I am well aware that many people like her and to those people, I want to make it clear that I am not attacking you or your beliefs. If you like-or even love-Cozy Glow and think she's a fantastic addition to the MLP's villain roster, then that's good on you. I'm also not waging some hate-crusade against her voice actress or the show's writers and animators. I'm just going to talk about the issues that I have with the character and that's it. Are we all on the same page? Yes? Smashing! Let's get started!
When season 8 premiered and Cozy Glow was introduced, my first thought was, "She's the villain of the season, isn't she?" I just knew she was going to be a twist villain, which is usually what happens when a seemingly innocuous character is introduced in a kid's show. I was hoping that the writers were going to bring back another revamped G1 villain like King Lavan, Catrina, Arabus, or even Grogar. Instead, we got an evil filly. And that's it.
Now, having a child antagonist isn't necessarily a bad concept but they are nothing new and are rarely done right. Writing adults or teenagers as the villain or villains is one thing as they present a variety of different threats, all stemming from a wide range of motivations. Evil kids, on the other hand, are tricky as they are still young and in the process of mental growth, which often leads to them being evil either due to a mental disorder (a common reason) or just because that's what is required. A full-grown adult could tell you why it is that they're doing what they're doing, ranging from political, religious, or philosophical ideology, greed, revenge, or a thirst for power. A child, however, would have more difficulty on that front.
Cozy Glow just doesn't appear to have a clear motivation and that's frustrating to me. Am I saying that someone has to come out and explain their rationale in full detail? Should they launch into an hour-long soliloquy about their backstory? Of course not. We, the audience, shouldn't have to be spoon-fed information and can draw upon our own conclusions based on the information presented to us. And what information about Cozy Glow are we given? Let's take a look at what she says to a captive Starlight Glimmer in "School Raze-Part 1":
"Friendship is power! With Twilight and her lackeys out of my way, all of Equestria will bow to me! The future Empress of Friendship!"
Then, there's this bit from "School Raze-Part 2":
"I can't very well have the EEA running the school if I want to run it myself. Of course, that's just the beginning. You see, if there's one thing I've learned here, it's that friendship is the most powerful thing there is. And as headmare of the School of Friendship, nopony will have more friends than me! Making me the most powerful pony in Equestria!"
Finally, there's this exchange from "Frenemies":
"Ponies are supposed to do what I ask them to do! It's, like, my thing!"
Cozy Glow's defenders will often cite these quotes as proof of Cozy Glow's motivations but let's dissect them, shall we?
The first two make it obvious that Cozy Glow views friendship as an indication of power and status rather than a relationship of mutual respect and trust between two or more individuals. She operates under the belief that others are nothing more than tools and that with enough "friends", she'll be in charge of everything. Many of you might look at this and go, "But Edd, isn't this proof that Cozy Glow has a clear motivation? She doesn't get friendship and wants to abuse it to take over Equestria." And that would be fine, great even, except for one tiny issue.
It still lacks an explanation.
How and why did Cozy Glow come to such a conclusion? Why did she want to take over Equestria in the first place? No clue. We literally know zip about her, where she came from or the events that led to such a mindset. As there is no definitive information about Cozy Glow's background, all we have is speculation. Maybe she was bullied and had no friends to turn to or was an orphan that grew to resent not having a family.
Now, let's look at the third quote:
"Ponies are supposed to do what I ask them to do! It's, like, my thing!"
That right there is interesting. Is it a sense of entitlement, perhaps? An instinct to manipulate and control others? We know she's very bratty and expects to get her way, which could point to a privileged upbringing. This could explain her maturity and bratty behavior but as I've said before, it's all conjecture at this point.
Another issue I have with Cozy Glow is her status as a pegasus filly. What do I mean by this? She doesn't have any traits that are especially intimidating. She's still so young and small so she lacks any kind of physical strength and can be easily taken out with a single hit and doesn't appear to be a fast flier or particularly quick or nimble. She lacks magic so she can't be a mystical threat and can't put up a fight should she end up in a physical altercation.
But Edd, that's the whole point of her character! Cozy Glow is the last pony you'd expect to be evil! Her appearance and physical attributes require her to rely on her cuteness and intelligence!
Hold on there, straw-man debater. Yes, Cozy Glow used her status as an innocent little filly to get others to underestimate her and allowed her to sneak around undetected. Once her true nature is revealed, however, she has nothing to fall back on. Like I said, no strength, fighting ability, speed, or magic. This makes her-and I do intend the pun-a one-trick pony.
As for her intelligence, I'd say that was more situational cleverness than cunning. Cozy Glow took advantage of her age and size in order to adopt a cutesy persona and trick the Main Six into going to Tartarus, take over the School of Friendship, and blindside Chancellor Neighsay. Other than that, she's never shown to be particularly strategic or manipulative, relying more on other ponies' ignorance of her true nature and planning accordingly. During "The Summer Sun Setback", she helps to sabotage the Summer Sun Celebration and sow distrust amongst the ponies but it's never established whose plan that is and could've easily been either Lord Tirek or Queen Chrysalis' idea, given their experience and history of manipulation. Apart from acting as the mediator of the trio, encouraging teamwork and structure, she seems to take more of a backseat role to her adult contemporaries.
Now comes the part I've been itching to talk about: Cozy Glow and Tirek's initial alliance. In "School Raze", the Main Six decide to enter Tartarus and interrogate Lord Tirek about the vanishing of Equestria's magic and he reveals that while he wasn't personally involved in the plot, he did take an advisory role. Here's the conversation:
Tirek: "What a pity. Well, for you. Sweet revenge for me. It seems my little protégé's plan worked after all."
Applejack: "Which little protégé?"
Tirek: "Oh, we've never met. We're pen pals. Each letter had so many questions about draining magic."
Whoa, hold it, let's pump the breaks. "Protégé"? "Pen pals"? This doesn't make one iota of sense once you stop and pick it apart. How and why did Cozy Glow come up with the idea to write to Lord Tirek in the first place? Does the Equestrian Postal Service send letters to Tartarus, because there's no other way he'd even be able to get a hold of Cozy Glow's letters. You'd think the princesses would monitor any correspondence between an imprisoned villain and a minor. Also, Tirek doesn't appear to have access to paper, ink, or quills so how could he possibly be able to respond? How would his letters be delivered? You may think I'm looking way too far into it but the pen pal revelation is the official explanation that we get and we're supposed to take it seriously.
Overall, I find Cozy Glow and the writing behind her to be pretty lackluster. It's a classic case of concept versus execution, one where I feel that the writers believed that they were being far more clever than they were about a twist villain and subverting expectations by making them a child. Judging by the controversial "Discord-Grogar Twist" in season 9, they really appear to enjoy that even if the logic doesn't add up. In a different reality, perhaps Cozy Glow would subjectively be a better-written character and there's a version of me singing her praises. Juuuuust not this one.
This is MisterEdd, reminding all you colts and fillies to stay groovy!
This is a little something involving Cozy Glow I want to show you:
Proverbs 20:11 (In Picture Form)
If I am being honest, the only substance of enjoyment I have found in Cozy Glow’s character is not that different from the likes of Prince Blueblood. Now, how can these two characters be related, simple: fanfiction.
I literally have found these characters majorly enjoyable only for the fact that writers, to which I shall remind us that are ones not on the show’s writing team, to fill in the many holes that the canon left behind. The very basis for Cozy’s motivations to desire power, especially via friendship, and why she sees control as her whole gimmick have only really been explored via the headcanons demonstrated by authors inside fics on this website. The most notable example I can think of being the Interview with Equistrians by Jmaster49.
Overall, Cozy is just an example of something that had potential, was tried, but not brought out to its fullest capability.
My problem with Cozy Glow is that she's based on Shirley Temple, and Shirley Temple 1) had no say in how she was portrayed and marketed (she was just a kid, remember), and 2) she was abused and exploited by the film industry.
Shirley Temple grew up to be a damn cool person who, among other things, consistently told the flat truth about abuse in Hollywood long before #MeToo
If you want more details, here are some horseblogwords: "Cozy Glow Suffered for Our Sins."
5556588
Yes, that's what I'm saying. It was implemented poorly.
I never once tried to "logic" that plot point because I'd honestly forgotten about it. Now that you bring it up, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Again, I forgot about that. Honestly, it's been a long time since I last watched season 8 so there are bound to be things that slipped my mind. Like the previous point, I 100% agree with you.
I think Cozy Glow was meant to be the season 8 secret villain and that her actions in "Marks for Effort" was a poorly-written attempt at misdirection, to make her seem good. It doesn't add up when you think about it but I see what the writers were attempting to do. Attempting poorly, mind you. I think there's a degree of misunderstanding between you and I.
5556593
Absolutely. Like I said, good concept, poor execution.
5556664
That's a good post and thanks for sharing it
5556590
While I don't necessarily disagree with that point, I can't fully agree with it either. Yes, anyone can decide to do good or bad regardless of background or age but it's never as simple as someone waking up one morning and deciding to rob a bank. There are multiple factors that go into it, such as mental/emotional disorders, environment, learned behavior, life circumstances, personal goals and aspirations, et cetera. The reason that Cozy Glow doesn't work for me is because the writers present this character to us as being "just an evil kid" and accepting it.
5556726
That’s understandable.
For me, I’m mostly neutral towards Cozy, but I do wish that they had taken the time to give the character a greater amount of depth. There’s one fanfic on here that I thought did a great job at doing just that and aligned with the character brilliantly, and it makes me wonder if it could be made into an IDW comic one day.
5556730
Really, which one?
5556738
This one:
- MLP: FiM
- Dark
- Adventure
- Drama
Cozy Glow ventures into the caverns beneath the School of Friendship, looking for the Tree of Harmony. All alone. Completely alone. At least, she's pretty sure she is...5556741
I'll have to give that look-see. Thanks.
5556746
You’re welcome.
5556754
All valid criticisms. I didn't see the point in having a twist villain but the writers did, pulling another twist in season 9 when Grogar was revealed to be Discord and the Terrible Trio were the real antagonists. The season 8 twist of *gasp* Cozy Glow being the main antagonist was not only obvious-as-hell but completely unnecessary. And why even have her as the main villain? I see her more as a second-in-command for another villain.
Beef
5556588
It her hair style friend legitimately she reminded me of that rich kid form the movie cats don't dance.
5560043
Yeah I know but she reminded me of her.😅
In my opinion..... Chancellor Neighsay should of been the main villain for the Season 8 finale just like what he did for at the start of Season 8.
I mean.... it would help better if a villain was an adult and of course.... it would make the heroines look less bad in making Cozy Glow suffer the two fates she ended up getting in the finales of Seasons 8 and 9 respectively. :/
5564362
Good points but maybe a G1 villain would've been better.
5564367
For sure. I mean... we had Tirek before his fall from grace in Season 9, so..... hmm..... I don't know much about past MLP gens.... so what would be a good G1 villain? (Smooze is out of the question cause we saw how different his G4 counterpart is in Episode 98.)
5564373
There's also Catrina (cat-woman/witch that served as the inspiration for G4's Abyssinians), King Lavan (fire/lava monster), and Arabus (smoke monster that steals shadows). Any one of them could've worked.
5564376
Oh that would of been a great ideal female villain! Especially given she is a cat. X3
5564378
Right? Plus there weren't enough female villains in the show and another non-pony antagonist would've been interesting.
5564381
Indeed. =3
Say..... mind sharing an image of her so I can see what she looks like? :3
5564382
static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/7/77/Catrina.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160506180323
5564383
Now that's one fancy outfit for her =3
5564384
I would've loved to have seen a revamped version of this character, as well as the real Grogar and the others I mentioned.
5564392
Indeed =3 Hopefully her outfit would look even more amazing. X3
5564395
Same here. Love me a cat-lady.
5564406
Heh X3
Frenemies and Summer Sun Setback are the only episodes where she actually showed some development along with Chrysalis and Tirek but the writers decided to retcon that in Ending Of The End for some reason.