@Background Pony #A459
 

 
Psh! A decoration is exactly what he is. That’s the entire problem.  

 
No, it would have made sense with any of the HuMane Five. It wasn’t a secret that Sunset Shimmer slandered people, and she had already done it to Twilight once with those youtube attack videos. I’m sure any of the HuMane Five would have instantly realized that those photos were Sunset’s work.  

 
What I expect is for a supporting character to actually, y’know, support the story. I expect it to be at least a little difficult to write out a supporting character without altering the plot in some way. With Flash, you can remove him completely and nothing about the story changes. Y’know who was a much better supporting character? Vinyl Scratch in the second movie. And heck, she only made her supporting character status known during the eleventh hour!

@Background Pony #A459  
Apologies for my spelling but if a third of your argument against my analysis is my spelling and the number of traits I named then go duck yourself yourself.  
(Whoops poor spelling again, but I can hardly be banned for asking you to become a mallard)
 
Anyways dispute how arbitrary it may or may not be, you listed, so let’s have a look…  
His being patient exists only to service his roll of love interest.  
Reasonably inteligent is just another way of saying not dumb but not smart… So bland.  
Skilled guitar player is not the hallmark of character (ask every guitar douchbag on every college campus everywhere) laid back and hard to offend seem like offshoots of patients… So okay.  
Where did you get outgoing? Just because he is in the story?
 
Everything else is speculation that can be given to any background pony.
 
And if flash is just a twilight accessory, then he is just a more orange ken with a bland highschool leather jacket, and bland highschool “cool” haircut.

@Background Pony #6190
 
*clumsy
 
Ya can’t even spell, but here you are attempting a critique of story-writing. Kids these days!
 
Why should I list “five things” I know about Flash? I could easily do so, but that’s just an arbitrary number you pulled out of thin air. Your platform doesn’t pass muster.
 
From what we’ve seen, Flash is generally patient, reasonably intelligent, a skilled guitarist, laid back, outgoing, and hard to offend. He may not be terribly strong-willed though, as he, like the others, has been brainwashed more than once. He also has a klutzy side, and may be a little bit of a goof.
 
There are plenty of aspects to Flash’s personality already, and they haven’t even given him a much time in the spotlight.
 
 
@LanceOmikron
 
First of all, Flash has served as a means of showing a side of Twilight you don’t get to see otherwise, and potentially, of introducing a male character who isn’t merely a decoration like all the others.
 
Flash’s exposure of Sunset was only possible because he knew Sunset in a more personal way than the others. You’re dismissing that scene out of hand merely out of prejudice, without giving it any thought. It would NOT have worked as well with another character.
 
And Flash is hardly mentioned at any time, except once as an introduction in the first film, and once in Rainbow Rocks to inform Twilight that yes, Flash still thinks about her. There’s nothing wrong with that either, since he wasn’t especially critical to either plot. He has what is known as a supporting role. What on earth did you people expect?
 
You put little effort into analyzing Flash’s portrayal, and seem to be more about trying to find reasons to dislike him.
 
Personally, I do not suggest that Flash has been implemented as well as he could have, but I rarely get to talk about any real, substantial objections, because it’s so hard to get past the blatant bias people have for him.

@Background Pony #6190  
That would be clever.
 
But we all know Twi is too good a friend and Flash is too good a Sentry for that kind of thing to happen.

@SeraphimDawn  
Know what would be clever?
 
I’ve said it before but if flash came between twilight and her friends in some way. How many friendships have been killed by some dating nonsense?

@SeraphimDawn  
Yeah. Ah well, I trust them.

@LanceOmikron  
Staff should just do whatever they see fit in that case.

@SeraphimDawn  
Well, they can’t please everyone. >_>

@LanceOmikron  
People complain that Flash is underdeveloped, which is true. But on the other end, you’d have people who complain if they even touch Flash.
 
Yeah complain that he’s underdeveloped. At the same time, complain if they even work on him.

@LanceOmikron  

 
Excellent. We can call it the Flash test.

If the writers completely jettisoned the love interest angle and turned Flash into a platonic helper character who hangs out with the HuMane six and supports them on their adventures in the same way that Spike does in Equestria, I honestly think his character could be salvaged.
 
(And yes, I know Spike himself always accompanies Twilight to CHS, but he can’t exactly do all the luggage-carrying and other such things that he normally does on account of being a dog)

What I like about Flash Sentry is that he joined along side Twilight Sparkle’s Seinfeld dancing, defend her with the pictures that Snips and Snails cut out, he didn’t seem to hate her after Sunset Shimmer’s attack video, and he did ask her out to Fall Formal after arriving in a pony car and jumping all those stairs. In Rainbow Rocks he started showing an adorkable side where he’s clumsy where he backs into the wall, like how he bumped into the door, like Twilight Sparkle did, on the way to Fall Formal.
 
As for Friendship Games, I’d like to see him interact with Sunset Shimmer as friends only, the same with pony Twilight Sparkle from Equestria. I’d also like to hear him sing for once, since Trixie and Rainbow Dash got their own solo songs in Rainbow Rocks. He probably won’t be in a relationship with the real human Twilight Sparkle, but I would like to see them interact together. Trixie will probably also come in between him and Sunset Shimmer also, like with Twilight Sparkle at the end of Rainbow Rocks.

@LanceOmikron
 
@Background Pony #6190  
+1

@Background Pony #0227  
@Background Pony #9E51
 
Flash’s existence baffles me. He literally serves no purpose except to be some sort of half-baked love interest character. He has no business being in those movies.
 
Tell me one single thing that Flash has done to affect the story of either movie in any way. And no, that stupid cut-and-paste photo doctoring scene from EqG1 doesn’t count, as that role could have been filled by virtually any other character (seriously, if you replace Flash in that scene with a member of the HuMane Five, I don’t think you’d even need to change a single line of dialogue).
 
On top of that, show me a scene from either movie where any character talks about Flash and doesn’t in some way make reference to him being a love interest. This is impossible, because there are no such scenes. Whenever another character talks about Flash, it is always in reference to him being a love interest.
 
I’m convinced that Flash Sentry and his status as a love interest only exist due to executive mandate, and that Meghan and the other writers have only been including him as much as is strictly necessary. Nothing else makes any sense.

@Background Pony #0227  
Tell me five things about flash.
 
He play guitar? He’s nice? Hes clumbsy? He’s… Uhhhh…
 
Now tell two character flaws that he has rendering him relatable?
 
Clumbsy? And… Ummmmmmmm… Huh.
 
He is not like a background pony where we anthropomorphism them into something amazing.
 
He is a love intrest character… With zero personality thus far.
 
Anything about him, you are adding in in your own head. Because so far, he just does nothing. To make him a good character would take more time than he’s worth. Because he was introduced poorly, and is now just disliked.

@Background Pony #0227  
I just dislike the feeling I get in my forehead as my eyes roll.

@Killian_Joy  
Which is?
 
@Background Pony #E57D  
There are a LOT of “generic” things in FIM that you’ve already chosen to overlook. And there is nothing wrong with Twilight having a “love interest”, although it sounds like you’re misunderstanding Flash’s character somewhat. He’s just a nice guy with a crush on Twilight, who more or less feels the same about him. You act like that’s so terrible.

@Killian_Joy  
You mean the mandatory generic love interest without any real personality which FiM had avoided so far?

@Background Pony #9E51  
It’s not him, it’s what he represents.

@LanceOmikron  
@Ms. Harshwhinny  
There was never anything worth “loathing” in Flash. And yet, when the character is made worse, you like him better.
 
Some people.

Good guy Flash Sentry is secretly a super nerd that wore braces once and is probably also a Daring Do fan.

@LanceOmikron  
Same here. It’s almost endearing c=

@Background Pony #6190  
Aww… ^_^
 

 
Back on topic, I find Cocky Flash to be rather interesting. I normally loathe Flash Sentry, but when he’s acting like a total jerk as seen here, I simply can’t take him seriously enough to hate him.