@MegaAnimationFan
That’s an interesting question. Well, I admit, I had never actually any problems with her background story, but probably for reasons other than others. First of all, I was 35 years old in 2015. It might sound a little stupid now, but with age you are usually more willing to accept certain things. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was used to plot holes in cartoon shows, and if we’re honest, they were already plentiful in MLP at this time. I remember very well, for example, the Canterlot Window Incident in Season Four Finale. The one that makes Lord Tirek aware of Twilight’s existence. And the fierce discussions in the fandom back then about this. It is precisely these little things, these details that perhaps do not seem important or insignificant to the writers, but often cast a great shadow.
Well, I found Starlight and her Equality Philosophy very sympathetic with the season five Premiere. I’m more fond of the bad characters anyway. In any case, I was very impressed at that time. Who would have expected to see a PoW situation and a quasi totalitarian cult in a kids show? So I was very excited about season five. And I wasn’t really disappointed, except for a few exceptions. The Season Five Finale belongs to my Top 5 to date due to its concept of alternative timelines. And I was lucky to see it relatively spoiler-free.
Well, and then came the sequence with Starlights (cough) backstory. I admit, at the first moment I hadn’t seen it so critically. It was actually a little short (too short, but I had this opinion only later) and I myself had already lost friends, so I was able to understand Starlight’s trauma a little bit. Only then did the shitstorm go through the ceiling and I had to rethink my opinion.
To this day, I think that the criticism of her backstory is justified, but also very exaggerated. Many of the fans I talked to back then and all the years later – and to be honest, I have also had a lot of fights with others – met me with open hostility and let their hatred of Starlight run wild. The only way I can explain this is that there were several factors that came together here.
Until the flashback in Starlight’s childhood, the finale was brilliantly written in my opinion. In the end, however, it seemed that there was not enough time left to go into more detail about Starlight’s trauma. That the villagers forgave her just like that was really rushed. This has counteracted the message of how important repentance can be.
It was already again this bad habit of the show to forgive every opponent immediately. Well, please don’t get me wrong. I love giving characters a second chance. But I can understand the displeasure of many fans that once again everything was good with just a snap of the fingers. The epic battle between Twilight and Lord Tirek has given many fans hope for a slightly different outcome. But that may not be the issue now.
A second important point in my opinion was the striking similarity between Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer. And that unicorns were once again established as the master race, who can do anything. That Starlight was also equally strong with Twilight, as far as the power of their magic is concerned, that was too much for many fans. Personally, this may not have been so important to me, but indeed, the show has handled Twilights Counterparts very badly so far. And why Starlight Glimmer instead of Sunset Shimmer was made the seventh ranger was not really understandable for most fans.
Personally, I already knew that, since Hasbro/DHX repeatedly emphasized that they wanted to keep EQG and MLP as separate as possible. But it was precisely through Rainbow Rocks that Sunset gained immense popularity. In the logic of the Starlight Glimmer opponents meant that: why do we still need such a character like that, who at the first moment is much less sympathetic? Well, I didn’t see it that way back then. And I don’t think I need to mention how ridiculous the comparison between Starlight and Adolf Hitler was. Especially as a German, I felt relatively offended at that time. What annoyed me more was the fact that some fans and also well-known Bronies actually used this as a legitimate argument not to want to forgive Starlight Glimmer at least for season six and seven.
To sum it up: Starlights’ far too short backstory caused a kind of schism in the fandom for several reasons, which lasted for relatively long years. It is not without reason that there were two very controversial threads in the Derpibooru forum that had been dedicated to this topic. Thank God that time is over now. However, I miss it a little bit already, to argue passionately from time to time. Especially when I have nothing to do on the weekend and a bottle of whiskey is next to me. Har har har! Just kidding. ;-D
At that time and as today, I was definitely always on Starlight’s side.
To the question of what I would have done differently, well, I can answer relatively briefly: almost nothing. If anything, I would have expanded the sequence in childhood with some impressions of her later years of life in complete seclusion. And how much she studied magic, but never dared to go to Celestia’s school. And I definitely would have mentioned that Starlight tried to contact Sunburst, but he never answered. And I would have deleted the scene with the villagers’ forgiveness and postponed it to season six. It would have been better if Starlight had tried to make contact with the villagers throughout the entire season, but she always lost her courage until she finally got the invitation in the season finale.
Actually, I can live very well with Starlight’s background story, although of course I still have to ask myself, what happened to her mother? I’ve never been a friend of how MLP handles the (meaning) death of characters. Except for the death of the parents of the Apple family. At the very least, I would have liked to have had the slightest hint, so that I do not always have to resort to pure speculation during any discussions. In my headcanon, Starlight is a latchkey child, the parents live apart. I wouldn’t have needed another explanation, but how dramatic it would have been, for example, if you had seen in the flashback in Starlight’s past how her mother left the family. In this sense, I would have written the script differently and tried to convince the show staff. After all, we saw the pony version of a world war. Given that, you’d think a much more tragic past of Starlight isn’t too much for a kids show, would you?
Well, sorry, if I’ve written a little too much now. I enjoy sharing my thoughts with the fandom from time to time. I hope we will have such moments again with G5. ;-D