Unpopular opinion time

@Background Pony #15DE  
One does not “learn” empathy, you can better understand it but you have to have it in the first place, which Starlight does not have. She has no idea about the thoughts and feelings of others. And Starlight was reset as well. Starlight got some montage and happy song, then bam she’s a good guy now. Oh there was no rainbow involved, great, still just as contrived and instantaneous. And I wonder what you think of Luna. Let me be clear though, Sunset and Starlight both retain part of their original villain design post reformation, Sunset in her people manipulation and anger, Starlight in her sociopathic traits.

@Tragiclady  
all, in general, upload some images, read some stuff, look at some art, all that kinda stuff, ill probably upload a fanfic that i had in my mind for like a year now… i dont know, but aside of than, i like seeing good art in this place, lots of creativity

@EotD  
Actually there are three kinds of empathy: Cognitive, Emotional and Compassionate and they have different degrees to which they can be learned depending on how you lack them so her being able to learn them is perfectly believable depending on her situation. And at least starlight got a song and montage to imply some growth as opposed to Sunset’s magical lobotomy, and no I don’t like how Luna was handled either but she at least had the excuse of partial possession to explain how she had such a big personality change. Sunset isn’t manipulative though, she has never been shown to manipulate anybody as far as I can recall and her anger only comes out once she has been pushed passed the point most people would find reasonable, heck in RR she was less easy to anger than literally all of the humane 6 for goodness sake!

@Background Pony #15DE  
Luna and Sunset are two peas in a pod. Both driven to embrace the darker, more sinful parts of themselves, they both consume magic which warps them into dark demons of themselves until the light of the Elements frees them.  
Sunset understands people, it’s how she was able to get the school to fear her, through using that information against people, knowing just where to put the barb. When reformed she still has that ability but like with the Humane 5 in the storage room and with their magic and with Sci-Twi, she’s now applying a band-aid. And Sunset is quick to anger, far more than the others are, and a much more intense anger. The Human 5 were annoyed at each other and it only came to a boil after being confined to a tight space. Sunset snaps and burns with it when she gets angry.  
And with the Empathy Starlight has none of those, she doesn’t think about it, she doesn’t have any emotional response to it, and she doesn’t take other’s feeling into account at all.
 
Side note: Are/were you BP#7601 or something similar to that? I feel like we’ve had this runaround before.

@EotD  
Why did the elements turn her into a demon anyway? That just seems such an odd thing for crystalized friendship to do…
 
Her skill at manipulation was mostly just pointing out the obvious in RR and was a complete failure for most of Sci-Twi’s arc in TLOE. And her anger doesn’t really snap or burn, after being treated like garbage for who knows how long after she destroyed the school she was mad for 5 seconds before turning meek again, as opposed to the humane 6 who were at each others throats in a matter of a couple days, and in FG she was only mad enough to give a mild dressing down to Sci-Twi before becoming apologetic again, she didn’t even get angry at all in TLOE so her anger really isn’t a factor at all. And what do you mean Starlight has none of those? If she literally had no form of empathy then she wouldn’t even be able to perceive herself as a separate entity from other ponies at all, you literally need some degree of empathy to even be sentient.
 
And I might be, I really don’t pay much attention to my number and it changes fairly often so I can’t say for sure.

@Background Pony #15DE  
At each others throats? More like ticked off and annoyed at each other more so because of stress brought on by the Sirens. They only snapped when they were locked in the storage locker. And like I said it was a far more intense burn, it was someone else who had to snap her out of it. And Sunset was a far better mentor and teacher than Twilight even remotely is to Starlight. Sunset talks with Sci-Twi and actually helps her, she interacts and counsels her, not just leaving her alone and then give a pat lecture and call that teaching.  
Empathy is about understanding the feelings of others. You can be self aware, sentient and sapient yet not be emphatic. Sociopaths due exist, which is what Starlight is.
 
I bring that up because if so then I figure we’re just going to go around in circles, neither of us able to really convince the other, each thinking the other is full of nonsense and going on ad infintum until one of us leaves for a while due to sleep,work, school, etc, only to bring it back up when someone mentions it at the right time and place.

@EotD  
How was her burn intense at all? She just got mad enough to almost yell at Trixie and then immediately went back afterward, nobody snapped her out of it at all. Sunset may be a better mentor and teacher than Starlight but that is my entire problem with her, she was a douchebag that never cared about anyone but herself until she was hit by a rainbow beam and now she is suddenly the guru of empathy and understanding? Like what the heck is up with that? And you don’t seem to know much about psychology so I will assume that by sociopath you mean anti-social personality disorder since that word has had no scientific meaning for quite a while now. And no there is more than one kind of empathy, for example an autistic person who cannot understand what people are feeling based on nonverbal cues but would feel bad for them if they did know lacks one form of empathy while somebody with anti-social personality disorder can perfectly tell what others are feeling but cannot share in that feeling lacks another type, empathy is not just a single trait and if you had none of the different parts of empathy you wouldn’t have a perception of self and would be by definition non-sentient. I cannot be certain how much or what types of empathy Starlight’s warped mind lacks but I highly doubt she has anti-social personality disorder.

@EPPony  
Crackle especially. It appears DHX intended for him to become super popular, but failed. If that’s what they intended with Strawberry Parchment or Purpura Phlox, then they failed harder than a player of Paper Mario dying during the first battle against Jr Troopa, except DHX wasn’t even trying to fail. Maybe Buttongate killed off the ability for fans to love new background characters… Is the cutoff point before or at Buttongate? Maybe EQD should hold a poll…
 
Not helping is S11’s changes were just despised anyway. Killing of a tertiary character, removing a secondary character’s defining character trait (can you imagine Pinkie having her hyperactivity, silliness o fourth wall breaking removed because she thought it was a problem?) and octuplets. Just, octuplets. Mike Scully is worse at showrunning than Apple Bloom is at beekeeping.

@Meanlucario  
they feed on love, not lust  
Thorax got all sparkly from Friendship, so it’s probably safe to assume they can feed on any strong emotion, and love is just the one they aim for because it’s the most nutritious or whatever.
 
@Background Pony #15DE  
I love Starlight due to being one of the best portrayed redemptions in the whole show  
I was talking to Kelly Sheridan at Nightmare Nights Dallas earlier tonight, and she said she tries to play Starlight like someone who’s finally managed to sober up after a long drug addiction, and is having to re-learn how to be a person again. It was so perfectly apt an analogy for Starlight’s desperate terror at the thought of going back to No-Name Village, which is abso-bloody-lutely what it’s like to reconnect with people you were horrible to while you were in the bottle or on the Horse or what-have-you. Also Sheridan is fully aware that the abruptness of Starlight’s apparent redemption at the end of Season 5 wasn’t terribly well received in the fandom, and is suuuuuper glad that Season 6 gave her the oportunity to show that it was in fact a difficult and ongoing process.
 
@PonyPon  
don’t think the tree had any real reason to go in the first place  
They murdered a library, man– I would have been less distraught to see Fluttershy get vaporized, it was a hell of a heavy thing for a kids’ cartoon. My wife literally cried when they killed Golden Oaks, it was a brutally effective dramatic suckerpunch especially because it was so unexpected.

@TexasUberAlles  
Did anything actually survive the destruction of the library besides the owl?

@Wiimeiser  
Yeah, it seems like they wanted the fans to have them become loved in a similar fashion to Dinky and Ruby Pinch respectively too, if that is what they were aiming for.
 
Edit: Thinking about it a little more, I think they were also trying to do the same with Dipsy and Chirpy too, likewise for Cloudy Daze and Bubblegum Blossom.

@team blueplant  
To be fair, there are more ep’s that I enjoy in the new seasons than the older ones, as well as the main characters acting more mature (for the most part). Flurry isn’t as bad as people try to make her out to be, and try to get over them destroying your headcanon, since it feels like that is where most of the hate for her is coming from (I suggest seeing it like Super Saiyans fro, Dragon Ball, and/or Twi, Cadance and Flurry as having the power of alicorns, but not the long life). As for Thorax, he’s a typical White Snowflake, and is the only “good” changeling from an evil race. Also, please wait or use spoilers until after the final airs to talk about it, since it comes out today, and there are those that are waiting to see it. Speaking of that, it was a very solid final, except the last five minutes.

@Wiimeiser  
I really liked Crackle Pop, Petunia Paleo, and even Tender Taps, though I keep mistaking him for Scootaloo. I’m not a content creator or an indicator of popular opinion though.
 
@Meanlucario  
Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of the last 5 minutes either. While I wouldn’t say I’m super optimistic, I am looking forward to seeing what the next season brings.

@Tragiclady  
Speaking of him, I like to pair Tender with the boys rather then Apple Bloom.

@Tragiclady  
All I ask for is an explanation, but seeing as they never told us why there weren’t any Element Bearers since Luna became Nightmare Moon, I won’t hold my breath.

While I like that the show has decided to have a recurring villian, they could of chosen a better character other then Chrysalis.

@ice1517  
Ah, are you talking about shipping, or just having him hang out with the other colts?
 
I’m a fan of that too, actually :D

@Villain Pony
 
Like whom? Tirek again? His modus operandi is kinda predicable at this point, plus I doubt he could escape unnoticed.
 
Chrysalis was chosen to establish her as a recurring villain, like what they did (and most likely should’ve stuck with) for Starlight Glimmer. Yet another new threat would’ve just hurt the series’ depth even more than it already is. A show, especially a long-running one needs recurring villains, because introducing new ones that just end up being offed every single time gets old real quick, and sets a precedent. Why care about “Tartatus Monster #3” when he’s got the personality and design of Sombrero? Of course he’s not going to stick around in a world in which seemingly anything non-pony that isn’t either pretty or a magic-using prodigy is on the list for deportation/extermination if it does anything un-Friendship.

@Tragiclady  
Both ones.
 
It seems that I can only ship the boys with eachother.

@Poison Trail  
Recurring villains are good but I feel it’s time for some new blood as well, not including Star herself Tirek was the last newcomer.

@Meanlucario  
her name was flurry? i dint know that, sounds like a macdonals ice u cream for me… aside from that, in the past eps there were stupid humor that i like and always makes me laugh, did you saw any of mel’s brooks movies? (i thint that was his name) like spaceballs or top secret? that kinda of stupid and unespected humor always maked me laugh, and i feel the show has lost it over time now its like “hey, im a princess living in the dumbes castle in equestria in a very little town, oh look, the map disapeared ecept for one part, lets check it out! one friendship mision later we solve this problem, dear princes celestia bla bla, friendship this leson that end of episode i just dont find interesting most of the episodes, or when they force songs (if you know what episode im referring to) when there was no need for song in the first place, the show is not perfect, i know, but i have the feel that is not the same show as before, maybe im not the same as before…

@team blueplant  
They don’t do the “Dear Princess Celestia” part anymore :\
 
That has bothered me for a while, but I got over it I guess.

@Tragiclady  
oh, i didnt know that, i guess i didnt pay too much atention, such a shame do, that phrase was iconic for the show

@team blueplant  
DYEWTS

@team blueplant  
Also, there are only a handful of Map Episodes, and one of them were from the season 5 premiere and final. Most of the ep’s are more slice of life and feature the main cast reaching their goals, like Rarity moving up in the world, RD becoming a Wonderbolt, and Fluttershy developing a spine and encouraging her brother to do something with his life. Sure the newer seasons have their problems, but it’s more enjoyable than AJ and Rarity acting like children, or Winter Wrap-Up just popping for the soundtrack.