I mean, they don't come up with a good reason to hate her. Their reasons are one of the following:

1) Her backstory was bad.

2) Her reformation was rushed.

3) She was forced on us.

My thoughts on the complaints: 1) There was nothing wrong with her backstory; there are people in real life who only have one friend to rely on, and losing that friend can mean the end of the world for them, not to mention that Starlight didn't have parents in the flashback, which means she had no one to guide her.

2) Huh? Her reformation took half an episode in a two-part finale. Does anyone remember how long did the other villains' reformations take? And I mean the ones who became fan favorite. Discord was the only one whose reformation took a whole episode. But the others? Luna: one minute. Sunset Shimmer: one minute. Trixie: a few minutes. Diamond Tiara: also half an episode. Those all became fan favorite, but when Starlight got redeemed everyone lost their sh!t.

3) Also, huh? If any of you guys knows what do they mean with this complaint please tell me.

Also, I haven't yet met a Starlight hater who just hates her normally, no, they all hate her with PASSION and want her to be removed from the show. I mean...really?!

But guess what? When Equestria Daily made a poll about what people thought about Starlight's new status as the 7th mane pony, the majority said that it was excellent and that she fits right in or were just alright with it. The haters are the minority that whines so loud so that others would think that a lot of people hate Starlight, which is wrong.

Note: If I'm breaking any rules, I'll delete the thread.

people are mostly just pissed cause her reform wasn't anything super dramatic and they were expecting something else and blah blah blah blah blah. Personally I like her character a lot, she reminds me a lot of Sunset and so far in the season she is shaping up to be a good character. Would i have prefer Sunset Shimmer to come home instead? YES and I still want her too...but Starlight is a good character and deserves a chance just as much as any other character

5188207 I think the most ridiculous complaint is the third one. She wasn't forced into us, she came in the right time!

Remember the whole Princess Twilight drama? Guess what this made to the show? IT MADE THE SHOW GO ON. If Twilight didn't became a Alicorn Princess, we wouldn't have continuity, new things, new stories, new problems, etc. on the show! TL;DR: The show would've become boring, with no evolution. The Season 5 finale was another evolution. Adding Starlight into the cast and even more, as Twilight's pupil, was so important and some people don't see why!

The drama about her is ridiculous, and the show is just going on. Things change and some people need to learn that most of the changes are for the good of everyone and the show. Twilight now has a new challenge of teaching her own student about friendship and much more and Starlight needs to fit on her new life. This also gives the show writers more story/adventures to write about! In other words: Starlight Glimmer is just as important as Twilight becoming a princess and people should see that this opens a whole new chapter in the book (AKA MLP), a chapter that came for our good and is, by far, really good

5188207 Exactly. While I have met a number of people who hate on other characters with similar fires, I've never encountered such hate then Starlight haters which was rather excruciating and tiresome.
5188243 brings up a good point. It's not just with FIM. A lot of people aren't supportive of change and progression. When a show starts to evolve and grow, it's met with opposition that rather stand on shaky ground.

5188220 Possibly yes.
5188223 Yeah, I like Sunset a LOT, but the furious Sunset fans are refusing to give Starlight a chance.
5188243 This. Every single word you said! You're speaking gems!
5188280 Yet, if the show never changed, people would complain about it being stagnant and never changing, and I'm ready to bet money that most of the people complaining about the changes would be the same people complaining about the show never changing, because there are people in this life who just want to whine for the sake of whining, and it appears that Starlight is the new and easy target for them.

5188207 I used to dislike her backstory myself, until I thought about it a little and realized that her backstory actually made a lot of sense, like you explained actually.

I was happy that she joined the Mane 6, and I still am actually.

5188243 Yeah, another complaint I've heard a lot is that Starlight might ruin the formula between the mane six, which is kinda rendered useless with your argument. If we continue with the same basis and formula that season 1 had then what's the point in continuing the series?

5188207 I'm not sick of them.

They're good for a laugh.

5189749 They're a little funny before they go on full hater mode and become annoying.

5190024 Then they become even more hilarious.

5188207 Well, I don't know. I think her haters do have some valid points of criticism, they just get wrapped up in their hatred and thus ruin the arguements they're trying to present. Starlight's backstory DEFINITELY wasn't good considering the horrible things she'd done up to that point, it really doesn't explain how or why she became such a monster. If Sunburst had just been the latest in a long line of friends who left Starlight's life because of a cutie mark, then at least that would've explained (but not justified) why she became evil. As for her reformation, I really hoped this season was going to show more of it, as it is I think they kind of skipped over most of the process, but there's still the finale in which she's going to save the day so who knows? Lots of people complained about the lack of Twicorn in Season 4, and then "Twilight's Kingdom" showed that the writers had planned her lack of focus on purpose for the sake of the finale, so hopefully lightning can strike twice and the writers will show us that there's a reason we didn't see most of Starlight's reformation on-screen (though it would take a lot to make up for "Every Little Thing She Does", that didn't exactly make her look good for someone's who supposed to be reformed). As for her being forced onto us, if anything fandom backlash against her has resulted in her getting less screen-time (assuming the writers knew people wouldn't like reformed Starlight when they started writing Season 6, which doesn't seem likely as many Season 6 episodes were probably started on before Starlight's return aired).

5518542

though it would take a lot to make up for "Every Little Thing She Does", that didn't exactly make her look good for someone's who supposed to be reformed

Yet no one bats an eye when Discord is a dick to all the other characters in every single episode of his. At least Starlight saved the day once (The Crystalling) and became friends with Trixie, reforming the latter completely. But Discord hasn't saved the day even once. The only time he was supposed to save the day he teamed up with Tirek and made things even worse. Did anyone rage about that? Did people demand Discord to be removed from the show? No, because "LOL, it's Discord! He's just a troll! And he's voiced by John De Lancie!". I'm sorry, I don't "hate" Discord, but the amount of hypocrisy by which people treat Discord and Starlight is pissing me off. I just had to say that. And finally, say whatever you want about Starlight's past but at least she had a motivation when she was evil, but Discord was evil just for fun. He tormented ponies for fun, not because he believed he was good or even to get revenge, he was having fun. And yet you see someone who says that Discord deserves a throne and Starlight must be thrown in an asylum

And I just wanna say something about Starlight's back story. Maybe you found it lame, but different people react to the same thing differently. Let's say two men were bitten by a dog. One of them may still like dogs and raise them as pets, while the other may stay scared of dogs for the rest of his life. That's why Starlight turned evil, but Moondance didn't.

As for her being forced onto us, if anything fandom backlash against her has resulted in her getting less screen-time

That's very unlikely. I remember one of the show staff saying something that implied that Season 6 has been under development long time ago. Not to mention that the haters are just vocal minority.

5519291 Trust me, lots of people wrote accusation fics calling out Discord after "Twilight's Kingdom" but he DID repent and give Twilight the final key needed to unlock the chest, I just wish the show and not the comics had devoted an episode to Discord's guilt over what happened with Tirek. And even then, it's debatable whether or not he alone was to blame when Celestia sent him alone to face Tirek knowing he was a wild card, and when all of his so called "friends" talked badly about him behind his back and treated him as if they expected him to completely change who he was. I still don't think he deserves a throne or anything remotely close to it. The thing with Starlight is, she's not a monster or some great evil that can't be contained or destroyed, and as someone pointed out in their own blog post a lack of a backstory isn't always a bad thing as it opens up fandom interpretation, whereas an explained backstory may sometimes not be enough of a justification for a character's actions.

5519815

Trust me, lots of people wrote accusation fics calling out Discord after "Twilight's Kingdom"

Yes, but where are they? I barely see any. But in Starlight's case, there's a huge wave of hate that came out of nowhere. People bash her whenever she's mentioned, even on EQD posts about PMV's and toys!

And even then, it's debatable whether or not he alone was to blame when Celestia sent him alone to face Tirek knowing he was a wild

I heard that before. Some people say it would be a bad idea to send someone with him. Why? Let's say Celestia sent Fluttershy with Discord, that would be an opportunity for Tirek to say something along the lines of "Look how they're treating you!" which would make things worse.

5520324 That much is going too far. If you don't like a character that's fine, but there's no need to harass others over it. But as I said before, her haters do have some valid complaints, they just get so wrapped up in their hatred that they come across as petty and immature. There are people out there who don't outright hate her, but still say she could be handled better, and I'd say I'm one of them. Last episode especially indicates they need to do more to define her, because right now she doesn't have traits to distinquish herself from Discord and Twilight (about the only things she has in common with Sunset Shimmer are the name themeing and them both being reformed villains as well as Twilight Sparkle foils, comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges).

5520373 Where did I harass people? I said what is actually happening when I mentioned the PMV and toy posts on EQD.

5520400 I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to the haters. Sorry if you misunderstood.

5520465 Oh, sorry. And lucky for you that you met haters who actually have points, I on the other hand only run into trolls jumping on the hate bandwagon and shouting "Starlight should be killed!", "Starlight is overrated!" or "Starlight's fans are brainwashed!"

5188207

I'm honestly a little annoyed of the fact that even though Starlight Glimmer has repented for her actions back in season five, there are still people that consider her to be worst pony/character in the show ever. Mainly from Sunset Shimmer fans that find Starlight to be a Mary Sue, Sociopath (despite the fact that she has an actual conscience and felt remorseful of her actions in the season five finale), etc and to say that they don't like her very much is an understatement.

So yeah. I like Sunset Shimmer, especially from EqG Rainbow Rocks and onward but I like Starlight Glimmer as well (both in villain terms and heroic terms). I just feel that the writers should've done a better job at Starlight's reformation with better pacing.

5533360

I just feel that the writers should've done a better job at Starlight's reformation with better pacing.

At least it was better than Sunset's. Don't get me wrong, I love Sunset too, but any Sunset fan who hates Starlight because her reformation was rushed is a total hypocrite. Besides, 'rushed reformation' isn't a complaint anymore. All reformations in the show are rushed. The longest reformation so far took a whole episode (Discord's) and people still complained about it. We must keep in mind that each episode is only 20 minutes long.

Also, off-topic, your bio cracks me up

5533455

True that.

BTW, thanks. ^^

5533524 No prob.

5533455 Don't know about that, Sunset had an entire movie. It wasn't focused directly on her reformation as she'd already turned over a new leaf in "Rainbow Rocks" but the big selling point was Sunset Shimmer's struggle for forgiveness and that she had to earn her happy ending. I just don't think that should be the standard by which all other reformations should be judged, a movie has more time to focus on a character than even a two parter so there's only so much that can be done in the span of one or two episodes.

5533870 What I mean is how fast Sunset turned good. She was just blasted with the Elements and suddenly turned good. And at the beginning of Rainbow Rocks Sunset was a completely new character. On the other hand (or hoof, whatever) Starlight had to be talked down, and even now that she's good, she's still the same character, she still resorts to magic to solve all her problems, and she still doesn't know much about the world because she spent all her life in that village (that's one of the things I like about her the most. The moment when she told RD that she didn't know what a Wonderbolt was made laugh so hard ). Again, don't get me wrong, I love both Sunset and Starlight, but I hate when some Sunset fans treat Starlight hypocritically.

5533896 Honestly, at least prior to "Every Little Thing She Does" reformed Starlight felt largely like a completely different character, despite the nods to her villainous ways. And to an extent I can't help but feel like she would've worked better if she truly was a different character compared to her Season 5 counterpart (at least premiere wise, she was already kind of different as it was in the finale).

5188207

2) Huh? Her reformation took half an episode in a two-part finale. Does anyone remember how long did the other villains' reformations take? And I mean the ones who became fan favorite. Discord was the only one whose reformation took a whole episode. But the others? Luna: one minute. Sunset Shimmer: one minute. Trixie: a few minutes. Diamond Tiara: also half an episode. Those all became fan favorite, but when Starlight got redeemed everyone lost their sh!t.

Here's the thing. Starlight went above and beyond being evil. She screwed with the timeline and almost destoryed Equestria due to her actions, all out of petty revenge. All the other villains, even the small antagonists like Diamond Tiara, didn't do that.

3) Also, huh? If any of you guys knows what do they mean with this complaint please tell me.

Their reasoning for this is the fact that she was in a majority of episodes in seasons six and seven, which isn't true. I counted and Starlight only appeared in twenty-eight episodes out of seventy-eight (seasons 6-8). They claim that the writers do this deliberately as a means of shoving her down our throats. "You're going to like Starlight Glimmer, and you're going to like her more than anything."

5533360

(despite the fact that she has an actual conscience and felt remorseful of her actions in the season five finale)

Uh, no, not really. Even when Twilight took her to the future, she was still evil and only decided to turn over a new leaf when Twilight talked her down.

5533360

(despite the fact that she has an actual conscience and felt remorseful of her actions in the season five finale)

Uh, no, not really. Even when Twilight took her to the future, she was still evil and only decided to turn over a new leaf when Twilight talked her down.

5518542

(though it would take a lot to make up for "Every Little Thing She Does", that didn't exactly make her look good for someone's who supposed to be reformed)

I personally loved "Every Little Thing She Does." It shwoed us that Starlight, despite being reformed, is still a pony who has flaws and has to overcome her shortcomings. Had they just made her completely reform, thus transforming her into a completely different character, that would not have been nearly as affective.