I think it's safe to say we're all familiar with the Equestria Girls franchise, the "eh" reception of the first movie, the "ERMAGEURD, IT'S SO AWESOME" reception of Rainbow Rocks and the high anticipation for the third movie Friendship Games.

But there's one character who's stood out the most in terms of clichéd characterisation and hatred from the fandom, so much so that there was actually a deleted scene from Slice of Life involving him asking Cranky why nobody likes him. That being...

Flash Sentry.

Call him what you want, I can assure you we've heard it all before: Gary Stu, Mr Generic, No Personality, Pointless Love Interest, Perfect Boyfriend Stereotype, the Waifu Stealer and Brad.

And to top is off is all the generic high school boyfriend stereotypes all rolled into one: Bumping into his future girlfriend constantly. Taking one look at her and instantly falling in love despite barely knowing her. His generic super-understanding and nice nature. His punk hairstyle. His badboy jacket. The fact he's in a band where he plays electric guitar. His painful moments of acting awkward, shrugging his shoulders and having his hands in his pockets around girls. His cool Mustang that he owns. And him being completely okay with and never questioning the fact that Twilight is a pony princess from an alternate dimension.

So what I want to ask you guys is this:

If the MLP staff allowed you onto the writing team for Friendship Games and they told you "Give this guy a fully fleshed-out personality so fans will actually like him", what personality would you give him?

4530226 What would I give Flashie in terms of personality?

Just give him Luka's personality from Bayonetta. In which he's partially competent, but still unable to help in spectral matters, even though he's caught in the crosshairs and willing to fight for friendship.

Heck, Flash even sounds similar to Luka...

He looks like a chill guy but but more like

I am kidding in most of the movie he was smiling so happy, friendly guy who likes ponys that come from a difference dimension.

4530226

Mm. Make him a bit like Troy in Community, I guess? Play down the cool confident facade and have him turn out to be a bit geeky on the inside. (I think Twi would be interested in a bit more than looks, so it would help if we found out what Flash was into.) I'd like to see him have it out with Sunset Shimmer, too; not in an angry, soap-opera-y kind of way, but just to affirm that what she did hurt him. Hell, let's throw that into Friendship Games: he thinks about getting into a relationship with Twily - whichever version - but isn't sure if he wants to because he's a little bit suspicious now.

4530226

what personality would you give him?

The tragic, scrappy, inspiringly determined personality of a teenager with incurable leukemia, trying to live their days as their best.

Tears will be shed. Uplifting music will play in the background. A montage of scenes of the high school as Celestia breaks news of his inevitable death over the PA will be shown. Life will go on and everyone will blessedly forget the name 'Flash Sentry'.

4530226
Hmmmm, an interesting decision! Personally, I'd give him a constantly changing face mask and psychological issues of all kinds. He'd be a killer of criminal's trying his best to purge the school to create the land of do as you please with Allan Quartermain!....Annnnnddddd I've been reading to much Allan Moore.

In all seriousness, I'd characterize him as a nice guy who maybe tries to help a bit to much. His thing would be that sometimes since he buts in so much, he can make a problem worse OR not let a person resolve there own issues. Preferably the latter, I could see potential with that.. And I'd make him less clumsy, that's not a really good trait in my mind..

4530226 I'd make him like Sid Vicious.

4530226 Probably give him some anger issues, and perhaps make him afraid to commit to a relationship after what Sunset Shimmer did to him. I highly doubt anyone just forgets about being used as a means to an end, once the truth comes out.

4530226 Punk, very punk.
I think he would be a nice guy, with a streak of unluckiness. a bit of a calm cool and collected type, but with a wild side, like he could out punk/rock anybody he may come across.
also, given he's a guard, he's most likely a very competent protector type... then again, over half the stallion population are guards.

4530226 I'd probably make him a bit oblivious due to a focus on his job. Something akin to needing to prove himself for some ambiguous reason which allows him to have some character development, not to mention growth, at a later date

4530226 Timmy's Dad

4530254 okay, how and why? I looked up Dinkleberg, and found this pic.

WHY IS GOOGLE STALKONG ME?!

4530226 Give him the personality of Zelos from Tales Of Symphonia XD

I've written a bit for a fic where he's in the guard. I've written him as essentially being a bit pompous and myopic, because he doesn't grasp that things can be done differently outside of his experience, so it's like a military case of 1'st year student syndrome, or the "I know all about this this because I took a class on it once" disorder. In terms of personality, he means well but he's a bit dimmer than he realizes. He's one of those simple, too pure to baffle types; he's goal oriented and lets nothing but ethics stop him from pursuing an objective.

4530226 A complete dork that tries to be cool but fails in incredibly inventive and impressive ways.

4530226 Quick, give Flash a football so he can save every one of us!!

4530226
Give him a hopeless crush on Pinkie.
Make every girl want him, except Pinkie.
Also make everyone think he has a crush on Twilight, including Twilight (and even Pinkie).
Make Pinkie be completely clueless when it comes to recognising his advances.
Cue whacky scenarios where he tries to confess his feelings, but through the power of plot contrivance, it only makes everyone even more certain he's in love with Twilight.

Let hilarity ensue.

4530226
I fave him a personality in my 'verse. Hasbro might not want to hire me.

4530226

Oh, wait.

4530402
Somehow still has more personality than Flash.

4530226
There is this idea in the background of my mind...

"Flash Sentry versus Ming and his menacing menagerie of minions."

You know, sporty, winning personality, makes friends with princesses from other worlds.
Saves planets on occasion, permanent Queen soundtrack in the background...

4530226 Because reasons. Personality of...

Why? Again. Reasons.

I'm just bored right now. I don't really know all that much about Flash Gordon.

4530264 A guy that hated needs a rival of some kind, someone he can hate even more. Since he's the poster colt for "Swiggity Snifu, I'm coming for that Waifu" the only way for him to be less hated would be to pass the hate onto someone even more hated for no reason at all. Someone who makes him look bad, the equivalent of Gary Oak combined with Ned Flanders that is the evil of… Dinkleberg.

A huge nerd pretending to be "cool" because he's scared of being an outcast.

4530226

I tend to think of him as sort of the "swashbuckler" type (in contrast to Shining Armor's "white knight" type), but with a slightly awkward side. In a way, he's sorta like Spiderman - prone to cracking jokes and acting flippant, but that is at least partially a facade. On the outside he's the cool, popular ladies man, but deep down he's an idealistic, almost naive boy who just wants to do the right thing.

That is not to say he lacks confidence - Flash Sentry is incredibly confident and fairly optimistic, believing that things will work out as long as he tries his best earnestly. He also has a very strong self-image, and doesn't really care what anyone else thinks of him as long as he stays true to himself. He tends to act on feeling rather than reasoning. Because of these traits he may come across as kinda impulsive or careless. This is mostly a good thing, what with his tendency to go out of his way to help others, but can sometimes get him in trouble.

While he is fairly talented in physical fields (sports as a human, flying and fighting as a pony) he considers himself a musician first and foremost.

4530226 This.

Something people don't seem to realize is that Flash actually does have a personality. It's just boring. The reason this is is because he was designed in particular to fill the role of a love interest character. He doesn't need to be entertaining, he just basically needs to exist, so they endowed him with every trait of perfection or endearment they can and built him into this ideal character.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him Twilight Sparkle's future boyfriend either, because the likeliness of the movies having even the barest hint of an impact on the tv show is fairly low. This is probably why Flash Sentry was even made to begin with. If they had ever intended it to have an effect on the show, the chances are they would have pulled some character actually on the show and made her fall in love with him in order to give people something to truly invest in.

4530226 I would have Flash Sentry look and act like this guy

4531227

Something people don't seem to realize is that Flash actually does have a personality. It's just boring. The reason this is is because he was designed in particular to fill the role of a love interest character.

Like Shining Armor, basically.

He doesn't need to be entertaining, he just basically needs to exist, so they endowed him with every trait of perfection or endearment they can and built him into this ideal character.

Again, like Shining Armor.

And while I know some people find their similarities a bit creepy, the fact is that Shining is the only stallion we know for certain that Twilight genuinely adores. So it's not that strange she would have feelings for someone with similar traits.

If they had ever intended it to have an effect on the show, the chances are they would have pulled some character actually on the show and made her fall in love with him in order to give people something to truly invest in.

Wouldn't that sorta require such a character to actually exist in the first place, though? Seriously, there aren't really any male characters on the show who would make a credible love interest for Twilight. Certainly non with more personality than Flash.

We have to keep in mind, these people aren't writing fanfiction - they don't "ship" their existing characters unless that was the idea from the beginning. If they want to use romance as a plot device, they will create a love interest specifically for that purpose. They did that twice with Rarity, in both cases by introducing characters we've never heard of before. Likewise, there was no mention of Shining Armor and Cadence until it was time for them to get married.

Flash Sentry isn't any different: They wanted Twilight to have a crush on a boy, so they introduced one. And if they seriously wanted her to have a pony boyfriend, there no reason they wouldn't use pony Flash or introduce some other new character for that part. That's just how they do things.

4530226

Andy Dwyer, I guess.

4530226
His personality?
Just this picture.

Maybe add in a red cap, backwards, a skateboard, and a bottle of Pepsi Max.

Wouldn't that sorta require such a character to actually exist in the first place, though? Seriously, there aren't really any male characters on the show who would make a credible love interest for Twilight. Certainly non with more personality than Flash.

Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Soarin, Prince Blueblood, Fancy Pants, Bulk Biceps, Doc, Doctor Stable... there's actually a few male characters in the show. Granted it's not a big list, any one of these characters would offer a better ship than FlashLight.

We have to keep in mind, these people aren't writing fanfiction - they don't "ship" their existing characters unless that was the idea from the beginning.

Not only is that not true as many shows develop relationships that weren't planned from the start, but incidentally FlashLight as shown in the movies is written worse than most fan fic ships. For all intents and purposes Flash is built like a Gary Stu self-insert, minus having 80% of the screen time.

If they want to use romance as a plot device, they will create a love interest specifically for that purpose. They did that twice with Rarity, in both cases by introducing characters we've never heard of before.

You say that like Rarity got into a relationship with either one. In both cases the characters Rarity crushes on are used to portray Rarity being unrealistic in such a way that even her friends roll their eyes at her expectations.

Likewise, there was no mention of Shining Armor and Cadence until it was time for them to get married.

And how often does Shining Armor have an impact on the show? His existence seems more to justify Twilight's history with Cadence than anything. After the Canterlot Wedding episodes, it's often easy to forget he even exists. Love interest characters demand attention. They are literally nothing without it. This is why every time he either appears or is mentioned in the films, FlashLight invariably comes up as well, usually accompanied with yet another cliche.

And if they seriously wanted her to have a pony boyfriend, there no reason they wouldn't use pony Flash or introduce some other new character for that part. That's just how they do things.

Very few cartoons will actually adopt movie characters canonically, usually only making exceptions when the character has a lot of positive feedback. Flash Sentry is easily hated by at least half the fandom, and even the writers acknowledge that he's a Scrappy. For this reason, his appearances are likely to be limited to cameos.