Scratch that- I am, but I still want to talk it out.

I'm sure we're familiar with the term Draco in Leather Pants, where basically fans romanticize a villain or otherwise ambiguous character to the point where they basically possess no flaws in the eyes of said fans. Mainly happens with male villains (Those goshdarn fangirls!), but really, any morally controversial character can fall under this. And I've gone through the TvTropes example subpages, read about the various ways villains are excused for their actions or twisted into a "good" person to the point where I either or laugh internally at the delusions;

And then I watched Rainbow Rocks...And we bronies became acquainted with... HER.

Somehow, I couldn't just wrap my head around the fact that she was portrayed as being on an equal level of evil as the other Sirens. I don't think a lot of us did prior to watching the full movie. I still remember seeing a bunch of fan theories regarding a potential reformation, which, alas, never happened. Lo and behold, she eventually gets slapped with the "Draco" label on that website, and you can read it under the animation folder on the "Film" subpage for the trope. Well, I did, as well as most of the tropes featuring her in the character page and the YMMV page for this movie, which include "B in Sheep's Clothing" (coughcoughLIEScough) and "Affably Evil". Long story short, whoever's editing these pages really loves to hammer in the fact that "she's just as evil as the others", or something among those lines.

And I feel really stupid whenever I read those descriptions. Not to mention it ruins my creative mojo, because I have gotten more inspiration from Sonata, and the Dazzlings as a whole, and reality just kinda KILLS them. Yeah, I personally feel like those editors kinda want to make us feel bad about making her out as anything more than a villain, but it's not like they're WRONG... technically. She did participate in the World Domination plot, after all, even if she wasn't into it as some might say she was, or even that mean spirited. After all;

Janis Ian: There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don't try to stop it.

Look, I acknowledge what they were doing. I know we're supposed to "Love to Hate" them without actually loving them. So WHY do I insist on seeing good in Sonata, yet still don't feel the slightest of remorse for most of the characters usually given the "Leather Pants" treatment? Do I have to go back and consider THEIR points of view? Do I shove Sonata out of my mind, telling myself she's just as bad as everyone else, if not WORSE somehow? (Janis: God! See, at least me and Regina George know we're mean! You try to act so innocent like, "Oh, I use to live in Africa with all the little birdies, and the little monkeys!" ) If so, where does that leave me in terms of character interpretation and my personal headcanon? And if I DO stay in my apparent delusions, how will I handle it if the Dazzlings come back and canon portrayals shatter my dreams? WHAT AM I GONNA DO!?

(Side note; I'm technically also giving Aria this treatment in my headcanon, despite having LESS proof of possible goodness, but Tv Tropes tends to single out Sonata fans in particular, so she's the one I feel most guilty about now. )

3867458 She reminds of the witch Draggle in M.L.P. G1, Draggle was really just bullied by her mother and sister into doing bad things. While we see no obvious such signs in Rainbow Rocks, it does seem to be implied in the way that Sonata is treated by Adagio and Aria.

3867458 I always believed the reasons for Sonata to be with Aria and Adagio all the time was because 1. They're her only friends(or as close to friends as they can get) 2. They're the only other living Sirens that she knows, so it's likely that she wants to stay with her own kind, and 3. Having created negative energy with Aria and Adagio via singing and using that energy to survive for so long, I believe it's the only way she knows how to survive. Thus why she does what they do, creating disharmony and feeding off the negative energy from it.

It's like how Changelings need love to survive, they didn't choose to be that way, it'd just how they are biologically! Yet they fail to use alternatives like love for each other or make deals with other specials to get the love they need(though I suppose a hive would have a lot of problems doing any of these things...). So the Sirens need the negative energy they create from their singing to survive, it helps keep them young and powerful(which we already knew thanks to Adagio talking about power and magic a few times). I'm probably wrong about it all but it's the best hypothesis I could come up with for why Sonata does the evil things that she did.

3867458 How about ignoring what TVTropes, which is kind of a cesspool these days, says, and doing whatever you want to do with the characters you write about/enjoy reading about/clop to?

That's what, you know, people who aren't sheep do.

I think its a lot easyer with Sonata because she is portrayed as naive. Most villans who fall under that trope have no hint of a 'good' side in their sorce material.

TV Tropes is, no matter what they like to portray themselves as, a little time-waster that should only be enjoyed "just for fun". It's not suited for serious media analysis and you should never ever judge you stories based on it. Besides, they have the mantra that tropes are not bad, acknowledging that even "inherently" bad ones can be put to good use.

That being said, it's certainly true that many give Sonata the "Draco In Leather Pants" treatment. However, it might be more justified for her than for other characters, because she doesn't actually seem really intentionally malicious. Sure, she does and goes along evil stuff with no apparent remorse, but a big ditz (if not an outright idiot) and oddly "affable". That makes it questionable whether she is even fully aware that she does evil things. Or why it's bad to to do evil things. That's a double-edged sword, though, as a potentially flawed understanding of morality could prevent a possible reformation. She might be pretty friendly and get along with her "enemies", but she might never understand what she did wrong.

Contrast with Silver Spoon, whom many like to think of not being that bad and possibly reformable too. Unlike Sonata, it's pretty clear that she knows what she's doing is intentionally nasty. While I like the idea of her turning good, I don't like what some writers do with her, portraying her as actually good from the beginning or already doubting so much, that she turns against Diamond Tiara nearly instantly.

We don't know if they're reformed, any of them. The Rainbow Blast they got was different from Sunset Shimmer's, due to the addition of her own magic, plus they still attempted to continue singing and controlling the populace after the hit. It appears that the magic was designed as a 'destroy the amulets' spell rather than a 'Heel-Face Turn' spell like the usual wave.

Sonata's a ditz and is probably more Affably Evil. If you feed her, show her affection, and take her for walks, she may be very much like a golden retriever.

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Sure, she does and goes along evil stuff with no apparent remorse, but a big ditz (if not an outright idiot) and oddly "affable". That makes it questionable whether she is even fully aware that she does evil things. Or why it's bad to to do evil things. That's a double-edged sword, though, as a potentially flawed understanding of morality could prevent a possible reformation. She might be pretty friendly and get along with her "enemies", but she might never understand what she did wrong.

This is actually part of my personal headcanon for her. She's been with the others for so long that this is the only way she knows how to survive/ avoid being alone. And that she's developed a rather twisted sense of morality- she doesn't really have a true concept of right and wrong, at least in the normal sense- so long as Adagio and Aria are up for it, it MUST be okay for them... right?
Also, Adagio may or may not have been her mother figure for a time, so...

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Can I just cast a vote for "Sonata in Leather Pants"? Because 'daaaaaamn!'.