Just want to ask is Starlight Glimmer a good character to watch. Since every time she has an episode base around her I always skip that episode. I don’t want to anger any Starlight fans, but I don’t find her all too great to watch and since the season 5 finale. Thought out season 6 beside the last two episodes. It seems she is not to guilty about her past till the finale and I dislike she was not punished of her action and Twilight let her off easy. To me, almost all of her episode is the same but different in some ways.
So, you guys can tell me some good reason why to like Starlight since I don’t find her all to good to watch.

7293524
It took some time, but she grew on me. Her reformation wasn't immediate or short, despite the finale. She struggles with a lot questionable behaviour and develops as a character over the next season or two.

To be blunt... NO

7293529
Thank you for the answer

To be blunt, she's shit. She's entertaining, but never faces any consequences for her dreadful behavior.

Also, she made Trixie cry after selling her wagon so she's an actual criminal.

7293533
Yeah, agree I find her bad

7293524
Honestly, I haven't watched anything past season 6 exept some episode where she appears. I'd say watch them at least to get the context of what this site has to offer for her (There are some really good stories out there centered around her), and if your opinion doesn't change, just stop and continue your life.

7293524
People seem to ignore that Twilight didn't punish Starlight becuase there was nothing to punish her for. All the fucking with time? Only Twilight, Spike, and Starlight lived through all of that. Nopony else has any memories of those timelines. Because to all of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, they never existed or happened.

You could argue that her messing with Starswirl's spell in the first place should get her something. But nothing ever said what she did to the spell was illegal. Same with Our Town. No one ever once said what she was doing was against any law. Probably becuase nopony ever thought it could happen.

If anypony is going to punish Starlight, it's Starlight herself. Her own guilt and remorse does far more than anything Twilight could've done. And Twilight is not one to force a punishment on anyone.

Besides, who do you think Celestia and Luna would believe? Some random scrub nopony on the street, against Twilight's own word Starlight had changed? Twilight has more than proven her worth compared to noponies complaining about anything and everything.

All that said, Starlight's episodes are worth watching. Not all of them are great episodes, but they give her far more character development than Season 5 ever did.

7293539
Agree

7293542
Thank you I would continue my life and to be honest I found season 6 a bad season even if it have some good episode

7293524
Starlight is great. She brings a breath of fresh air because she can be blunt and direct. Because she wasn't designed as a specific kind of character (the Mane 6 are all based on major tropes) she comes of as a lot more real. The mistakes she makes are more relatable to most people.

Also, Starlight x Trixie is life.

7293543
Season 5-Assault on a Princess, false imprisonment.

Season 6-Mind control.

Season 7-Assault on two princesses. (Equestria does not have les majeste laws apparently.)

Season 8-Larceny. (Sold Trixie's wagon without her consent.)

This would get anyone else fined or banished.

7293548
Agree

7293524
I start liking her at the ending of the show, and thinking about her whole process from a bitter fiend with a grudge to a hero. The fight between her and Chrysalis was like, she was fighting her evil self, figuratively speaking. But also she has a huge plot hole in her past. I don't think, she told Twilight everything everything what happened in her past as a foal.

Her father is too overprotective, and where is her mother?
Josh Haber said, that she was a "latch-key-kid", whatever that means. But it sounds like, her past was pretty rough.

7293524
I mean, if you've skipped most of her episodes, my first point would be... stop doing that, see what she's like for yourself and come to your own conclusion? Nobody else can really tell you what to like, so ultimately that's what it's gonna come down to. I personally liked her a lot more after her admittedly pretty ick redemption moment happened. I liked how she added kind of an extra personality to the Mane 6 that we didn't really have before. And I liked her and Trixie together a lot too. So, yeah, I'd say she's a good character to watch, but that's me.

7293545
No character will be liked by everyone, be it for stupid reasons or justifiable ones (Flash Sentry and Trixie respectively) so it's okay if you don't want anything to do with them. As long as you don't try to go around canceling anything that involves her, or degrading anyone that likes her, you are not in the wrong.

7293547

Also, Starlight x Trixie is life.

Agreed. Best ship.

7293554
I did watch her episode when season 6 aired. I do agree what you are saying. But her episodes in season 6 is not too great for me. But I do agree

7293524 I think she did ultimately grow into being a good character, but it took a while for that to happen. And at times she could feel like a writer's pet.

7293548

Season 6-Mind control.

This would get anyone else fined or banished.

Twilight literally did that in "Lesson Zero" and wasn't punished. If anything, Starlight was actually more punished in "Every Little Thing She Does" because she had to clean up her mess, but Twilight didn't since Celestia did. Funny how that's overlooked SO often.

To be fair, the no punishment thing often happens with not just Starlight, but the mane 6 in general, with a very few exceptions (I.E. Rainbow in "Newie Dash").

The characters that do get punished when they screw up either the CMC or villains that won't reform or get away.

7293562
Agree. Her characters is a low to me but Later on she ok in my book

7293566
Except Twilight was going to be punished. We don't know what her punishment was going to be, but it was going to happen. The only thing that saved her was her friend's intervention.

7293524
I really didn't like how there were absolutely no repercursions for everything that she did. And at first it felt like she was getting special treatment from the writers. But little by little she became an okay character. Nowhere near a favorite of mine, point in fact I much rather if Trixie had been the one to become the seventh menber of the group, or Sunset returning, but overall not a bad character.

7293524
Starlight Glimmer was created because Princess Twilight Sparkle is not Twilight Sparkle. The fans of the old, anti-social, and most importantly snarky Twilight wanted her back. Plus Princess Twilight already knew all there was to know, so they needed a new protagonist to learn the lessons.

In short, Starlight Glimmer is nothing more than Season 1 Twilight Sparkle, slightly repackaged and re-titled.

7293570
Yea, I would like Sunset Shimmer to be the 7 member of the Main 6 then Starlight.

7293524 I think she's great.

I mean, I don't think she's nice. But I think she's interesting. She's easily one of the top spellcasters in the show, she's overly controlling, socially unaware, and easily one of the more flawed 'good' characters in the show alongside Discord. Her behaviour as she grows as a character matches the early levels of social ineptitude we see from the main cast in early seasons (they weren't exactly saints early on; frankly I'm amazed they stuck together at times!), but one of the most interesting things about Starlight to me is that her redemption rarely seems natural to her.

She's not like Twilight, who easily finds being nice and tolerant to others as something that comes to her naturally. I think Starlight, deep down, is a bad person, and I think Starlight knows that she's a bad person and doesn't really like that. Discord never really tried to redeem himself when he became 'friends' with Fluttershy; it was only until seasons later than he changed tack and became genuine. Starlight was genuine from season 5, but simply wasn't good at being good. She was putting effort in, but being a decent pony just was way, way harder for her than it was for basically anyone else, considering the effort she put in. That's interesting to me.

Despite this, she's invaluable to have on the heroes' side. Not only is she incredibly powerful (potentially outstripping Twilight in pure magical ability, friendship power-ups notwithstanding) but she has unique insight on similarly ambiguous and bitchey characters that none of the other characters have. It's no coincidence that in her own adventure she teams up with a redeemed changeling, a redeemed Discord, and an ambiguous Trixie. She's also a real test for Twilight, and a crucial one.

Starlight is basically a bad pony, deep down, that wants to not be. If Twilight can help her fit in, and that works, then that validates Twilight's own quest to spread friendship. If Starlight, despite all her many obvious problems, can be given a place in Twilight's world, despite not being suited for it, really, then basically anyone can so long as they give it an earnest go.

There's a lot of interesting stuff about her.

7293569

Doesn't matter, because she still wasn't. Keep in mind that Twilight's friends put some of the blame on themselves, but a similar thing can apply in "Every Little Thing She Does". Like how the rest of the mane 6 didn't see just how being tardy was bothering Twilight and it played a role in her eventually going to mind control, Twilight herself missed the signs that Starlight was nervous about her friendship lessons, which later make Starlight fall go to mind control. The chief difference is that Starlight went to it much quicker than Twilight in "Lesson Zero" did, but in the end, they both did it and only Starlight was punished, if we count "cleaning up her mess" a punishment. If not, neither was.

7293575
There's a difference between "one-time screw-up" and "habitual offender."

7293524 I could watch Starlight Glimmer all day.

Depends. Starlight’s voice actress is excellent, the animations for her are great, and she has some great comedic writing. Even if you can’t stand the writing around her, at the very least, the comedy factor is worth taking a peak at (post season 6).

I personally find her very aggravating, for three main reasons. The first is the massive double standard, where she’s the only villain who got instantly and freely integrated into the main cast with all her past actions immediately forgiven, and gets off scot free for multiple cases of mind magic shenanigans afterwards (she also tries to skip basically every friendship lesson from Twilight and never gets in trouble for it beyond having to actually complete a lesson she’s been throwing away, and graduates soon after). The second is that for most of her episodes, at least one character has to have a massive idiot ball glued to them so Starlight can be the one to solve the situation or be more “justified” for her reckless actions.

The third is the blatant favoritism Starlight is shown. Her first new friend? Trixie, a fan favorite. Sure that works, they mesh well and she’s a good choice (barring Twilight suddenly being distrustful after ending Magic Duel on a good note). Next? Discord and Thorax! Um ok, another fan favorite and a character whom she sat around and did nothing while Spike did everything. Oh, and everyone is suddenly pushing her to be the leader in the season finale (not to mention two of those characters had way more to do with Spike and Starlight and Starlight showed zero issue with leading, to the point of using mind control to get her way in her previous episode). Next episode, she graduates (student six did not after doing way more). Next friend, Maud, another fan favorite! Ok, that’s really pushing it. Then she gets the first ever Celestia and Luna episode, and ends up being the one who solves the problem... Oh, wait, she also gets to be the focus character of the first time Sunset returns to Equestria, and gets to save everyone from the villain there by backflip kicking (after being human for maybe a few hours) and talking down a magic overloaded person (something that took Sunset using the whole Daydream Shimmer thing while the one character closest to Twilight tried to talk her down), while the rest of the cast literally just waits for her to save them (not one of them try to fly out or use Rarity’s diamond projections to climb out). Then, she gets to be the moral compass in the next finale and to be the one who breaks Twilight out of her funk in the next premier (while her friends suddenly reverted to doing what cheers them up, even though they’ve had that lesson more than once).

However, of the three, the only one that isn’t based on taste is the idiot ball problem, and that one is pretty bad throughout the show anyways. The double standard could be argued against and the favoritism thing might not even register or be considered a benefit (getting all those things because of Starlight). She does have some compelling struggles and some great chemistry with certain characters. Just for me, my suspension of disbelief was thoroughly shattered with her that I can’t unsee all the moving parts and my issues with her writing anymore. I just can’t enjoy her character in any serious situation, but I know plenty of people who love her.

7293581

7293524
Honestly, I kind of stopped caring for Starlight. Not someone I would look forward.

7293590
Agree

7293576

Fair point there. Then again, Starlight stopped doing mind control like that after "Every Little Thing She Does" (the hypnotic suggestions she did in "Starlight the Hypnotist" short doesn't count in the same way because she'll only do it if you want her to) so it proves that punishing her wasn't necessary anyway, just like punishing Twilight in "Lesson Zero" wasn't needed.

They both learned their lesson and punishing them further would have just been punishing them for the sake of punishing them.

The thing that rubs me the wrong way is how the CMC doesn't get that treatment but adult characters do, but I digress.

7293524
I like her a lot, in fact in later seasons I found often wanting more to watch her episodes and was less interested in mane six episodes in comparison. I enjoyed Starlight as a villain being utterly convinced that she was basically the hero until Twilight made her face her big fear, trying to make a friend. And then season 6 if I recall was mostly Starlight's redemption with her still being hesitant about putting an effort and just wanted easy fixes, bit off hit or miss. After reformation and redemption she was just one of the ponies, hanging out with her own circle of friends which was refreshing to me.

But all that is kinda irrelevant. I am I and you are you and I do not know what you like or dislike or how you look at the things in show. Like, you dislike that she wasn't punished and that she got off easy, something that I can't really relate with. So I can't tell you "Darling! You should, nay, you must watch Starlight episodes!" because you already have a bad impression of her and no amount of words can just erase your feelings. All that you can do is give Starlight another chance and watch if you want. At the end it is no crime to not like every character so don't feel pressured.

7293582

Next episode, she graduates (student six did not after doing way more).

I thought about that too when the season 8 finale aired. As much as we like to pretend the characters are real and aren't being controlled by writers, this is one of those times when it's clear.

Starlight didn't have to stay Twilight's student to have the roles she did in season 7 onward, so she could graduate, even if she wasn't really ready. The student/young 6 on the other hand, would be much tougher, if not impossible, to have many of the roles they had in season 9 if Twilight let them graduate, so she didn't. They were probably ready, but just so the show could use them like it did, they had to stay in the school.

I even thought about having fun with that in a story.

7293586 Sexy Starlight Glimmer is sexy:

7293524
Of course you should watch Starlight, she's great. Being a reformed villain makes her unique among the main cast. She's simultaneously a part of the team but also separated from them - she doesn't share the special bond that the Mane Six have, and she knows it. She falls outside of the idealized friendship that Twilight and her friends represent, and allows the show to explore some more relatable friendship problems (such as "my best friend is a massive jerk, is it morally wrong to vaporize her?").

A lot of people dislike the idea of her just being instantly forgiven and welcomed after doing evil things, but I've never quite understood why. Bad writing, maybe, but it's Twilight and her friends who did the forgiving, so surely the hate should be directed their way. Starlight just accepted what she was given.

Personally I think she fits the friendship student role much more naturally than Twilight ever did. She's bad with people. She doesn't know what's the right thing to say, or do, or how you can tell the difference between good and bad interactions. Her power level is off the charts, and it does nothing to help her with something as simple as having a good time with a friend. I find this very relatable. If anything, the show's mistake was graduating her from that path too soon.

7293524

One problem I found with Starlight is that it felt like the show staff were trying way too hard to make her into the main series' substitute for Sunset Shimmer. There's a term on TV Tropes called Character Shilling where a piece of media goes out of its way to convince the audience how awesome a character is, and I swear if you look under its Western Animation category, Starlight is the very first example.

Honestly, if you were to ask me what I'd personally consider to be the quintessential "Shilling Starlight Glimmer" story, it would be Equestria Girls: Mirror Magic for how it blatantly nerfs Sunset and the Humane 6 just so Starlight could be the hero and save the day.

Overall, I do believe Starlight can be a good character, or at the very least tolerable, when the show isn't going out of its way to glorify her.

7293524
I like her. She’s like that one powerful character who can break the rules you’ve had set through the season for a ton of fun.

It’s amazing to have her around and watch her break the rules.

7293524
I think she's a solid character and one of the better additions to the show. She gave a great example of a former bad-guy working at becoming a good-guy, much like Discord, but I think they did even better with her. There's struggles and missteps, but she's actually putting in the effort and trying, instead of just being *poof* "now you're good." She wasn't punished because punishment wasn't Twilight's goal. Twilight's goal was to help Starlight become a good pony, and I think the process of that was one of the more subtle but satisfying arcs in the show.

I think Hap did a good job detailing many of the same reasons I find her an interesting character.

7293582 That was pretty much my problem with Starlight for the first two seasons she was involved. Season 7, looking back, did try to offer an explanation for how overpowered she was and did start slowly toning it down (more in her non-focus episodes). Come Season 8, aside from the premiere and "Road to Friendship" I think they finally learned how to integrate Starlight into the main cast better, which just made her omissions for most of Season 9 more jarring.

7293524
I find her rather amusing a lot of the time, even if her redemption arc was poorly handled.

7293561
Her episodes in Season 7 and onwards are better IMO.

Also, how do you feel about Trixie?

7293747
I dislike her. the only time I like her when she defend Gallus

7293750

7293747 Starlight and Trixie's friendship may have started out alright, but by the end it just devolved into a toxic one where we only ever saw the two getting each other into trouble.

7293750
Well then odds are you won't like most of Starlight's focus episodes, as they often share them.

7293811
I already know your opinion and have made clear that I don't fully agree.

7293552
A latchkey kid is a child who is at home without adult supervision for some part of the day, especially after school until a parent returns from work.

7293524
Starlight Glimmer is a great character to watch because she's real.
People don't just (literally or figuratively) magically get better. It takes a lot of work. It's not always a straight path, and there are setbacks along with forward progress.
Starlight Glimmer is a great character to watch because she's the first character (and maybe the only one) in the series who really goes deep into looking at this process.

And when she gets there in the end, having seen how long that road was and everything she learned on it really makes the journey worth it.

She may actually be the best character in the series, to me.

7293574

I'd say that Starlight grew to be a better person than Discord, in a shorter period of time. The latter was supposed to be reformed in S4 onwards, and he still pulled what he did in S9. (He is a Q expy, after all, down to being portrayed by John de Lancie; this short video kinda breathes his mindset in S9).

The payoff for her character development is just nice, to see how she used to be impulsive, irresponsible, quick to jump the gun with magic, to have those traits fade into her actively trying to be responsible, to the point of working herself half to death, and her being the one to call others out for their blase irresponsibility, and have high ground to stand on, even if she still has her temper, and she has much more restraint with magic than she once did.

She went from not seeing how the group of friends she hated could possibly matter that much, to being willing to sacrifice herself for them, period, even when they gave her their blessing to escape herself.

Starlight Glimmer: Oh, next I suppose you'll tell me that "the fate of all of Equestria hangs in the balance"!
Twilight Sparkle: It does!
Starlight Glimmer: Spare me your overblown ego! No group of friends, not even Princess Twilight's, is that important!

Twilight Sparkle: I've seen it a dozen times! Things don't turn out well in Equestria without my friends!
Starlight Glimmer: Ugh! What's so special about your friends?! How can a group of ponies that are so different be so important?!

- The Cutie Re-Mark, part 2

Applejack: Get Twilight!
Starlight Glimmer: No way! She's always needed you guys!

- The Ending of the End, part 2

I generally like how she comes across as protective, and I like to envision her as someone who would kill you if she had to, for the sake of protecting others, post-reformation, and she has the combat skills to back it up, given her power, tactical prowess that she isn't above fighting dirty with, and her rather consistent skill at dodging. (she's not the type you'd want to hate you, the way she gets when she's pissed off)

7293592

I feel like there's a double standard where Starlight catches flak for things the others get a free pass on; for example, how Twilight didn't apologize onscreen for the aforementioned case, whereas she did, or for something else, how Rainbow Dash didn't get anyone to call her out for sabotaging a weather factory, in Tanks For the Memories.

It's also notable that people tend to not weigh the context for her actions throughout. ELTSD? She was doing it out of fear of how to handle social situations. All Bottled Up? It's Trixie's fault the bottle broke, even if it was a bad idea for Starlight to bottle it up instead of talking about it. A Royal Problem? She didn't resort to magic immediately, she did it in a panic after her attempt led to a shouting match. A Matter of Principals? Discord was being an asshole, even if Starlight wasn't doing herself any favors by being dismissive, determined to keep her promise to Twilight, and the ideal approach would've been "give him something to do that would get him bored so he goes away." Road to Friendship? Starlight did not know that Trixie attached any sentimental value to the wagon, because Trixie didn't communicate that to her, and so in her mind, trading it for a better one would be a win-win. (Hoo'Far did specifically wait until Trixie stormed off to approach Starlight with the offer)

...the moral of the story for Starlight in a lot of cases is "communicate," although I should note that it's a recurring thing, that Trixie is rather bad at getting the point, the way she is, across multiple episodes, seasons.

Starlight Glimmer: Trixie, that's not exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. You can't get into a shouting match with parents or guardians. For the final stage of the interview process, you'll each have to put together a field trip. And if you really do want the job, I need yours to be exceptional. Because if I had to pick a vice headmare right now, it wouldn't be you.
Trixie: Oh, I see what you're doing! Obviously you're not going to give the job to somepony else, but you want to see my best. Well, message received! Wink.
Starlight Glimmer: [groans] Trixie, I—
Trixie: The Great and Powerful Trixie is about to pull out all the stops! I hope you're ready for the most exceptional field trip to ever grace this school!

(On a different note, it'd also be odd for Trixie to be particularly good, when she's the same pony who took "Twilight saved me and the town from an Ursa Minor" as "she upstaged me by defeating that Ursa Minor, I'll show her by putting on a power-boosting artifact and humiliating her in a magic duel," because she's kind of a narcissistic pony. She's not that far fundamentally removed from who she was, much like Discord, in some ways, and people probably do whitewash her in that regard)

7293895

...you basically said it more succinctly than I, but yes. Starlight is an interesting character to me because she feels more... "human" than say, Sunset Shimmer does, the way she mostly had herself together after the first movie, didn't really fail morally, and when her backstory involved her just being some ambitious power-hungry asshole of a unicorn seeking to be a demigoddess who didn't care about friendship (an attitude which extended to the movie), whereas at least Starlight was an idealist who cared about friendship in a way, if a self-deluded one (no, I'm not saying "Starlight's backstory is strong if you're only going by what's shown onscreen, no other factors," but then again, it's not used to justify anything, so much as "explain," and it's not like this show is usually stellar with backstories anyway). Starlight could've possibly used more external pressure in her arcs, like Sunset did (doubting her), but then again, she was hanging around the Mane Six, who acted a similar way with Sunset, their human counterparts, so they're rather forgiving overall.

(I'm not saying that I dislike Sunset as a character, I just think she could've been handled better in that regard, personally)

I should also note that her former cult only turned against Starlight when it turned out she lied to them about giving up her mark, not anything else she did, regarding why they didn't seem to resent her when she was coming back, contrite (probably helps that she wasn't going to stick around the village for the "rehabilitate" part).