Unpopular opinion time

@Jarkes
 
I thought that was the angle when she screamed “I CREATED HARMONY!” That left a kind of “in” for them to pull the ‘misguided’ angle towards an eventual redemption.
 
And that’s how they did it.

@Twi_Clown  
well I mean got most of history nobody did any thing about war criminals mainly due to diplomacy
 
it’s why the ICC is so powerless as unless if a major power has a grudge against a war criminal they can’t do anything , then you have cases where the war criminals are a world power themselves
 
the Nazis are more of an exception rather than the rule in terms of war criminals being punished
 
all of this makes Chrysalis “getting away” with what she did kinda realistic

@Jarkes  
yeah, we just really don’t know. i’m inclined to believe the latter just because of how last-minute and (no offense to them) effortless the reformation feels. i wonder actually if they intended to kick off season 6 with her starting her reformation and had season 5 end on an ambiguous note, but were told “no, the season needs to be close-ended”, so they said “go-go-gadget montage!”
 
i mean, they threw away about 12 different potential episode plots that could have been used in season 6 during that montage. they can’t have thought that was the best way to do it.

@DanielTepesKraus
 
Yeah, the montage was not the best way to do that, I’ll admit. Oddly enough though, much like Twilight flying at the end of the season 3 finale and then struggling in the season 4 premiere, it felt like aspects of season 6 addressed that.

@DanielTepesKraus
 
I think they ended season 5 that was because that’s just how the seasons ended back then. Season 2, 3, 4, 5. All end with a happy go lucky feel good moment or song of sorts. They’ve eased off on that in later seasons. Hell, Season 8 ends on an ominous note.

@DanielTepesKraus  
The evil expressions throughout the episodes (Both Map and Remark) tends to lean it more towards villainy for me

@gingerninja666  
Because they knew they were getting renewed for another season by that point.  
Like you all know I hate the season 6 finale, but regardless of however you felt about that episode, if it had been the series finale that would have been a terrible way to close out the series

@EotD
 
Yeah, beginning with season 6, they start working on the next season while they’re still working on the current season, so that there’s less time in-between seasons.

@Jarkes  
her fully reforming during a montage and starting season 6 fully reformed where all she had to do was deal with a bit of guilt, instead of her actually having to work her way up having to slowly win people over, get to know the mane six, face her town, and ultimately shake off her past completely by defeating chrysalis and saving the country, is the reason i hate that character instead of love her.
 
@gingerninja666  
thing is, they could have had a totally happy-go-lucky feel good ending without the montage. have twilight sing a song about how everything will be okay and starlight can escape her shadow and be the person she wants to be, and then end it with them going to meet the rest of the mane six. hell, that would have left the viewers in a far warmer place i think because it would have left you rooting for her instead of just feeling “wow that was easy. good job, i guess?”

That ending montage in Cutie Remark is still bullshit considering the potential episodes they could have had with Starlight and the rest of the six ala Zuko in the end of Book 3 of TLA, especially considering some of the bullshit that actually made it into S6 instead

@DanielTepesKraus
 
One of the things that sets Starlight apart from Sunset to me is that Starlight really isn’t treated as one of the Mane 7. She has her own group of friends, and a particular relationship with Twilight. Her relationship with the others is clearly pleasant but she’s not a true companion to them like they are with each other.

@DanielTepesKraus  

 
That is the problem. How do you root for someone when the shows over? If S5 was the last there would be no point to have a setup where you root for her.

I’m fine with the ending montage

@ILoveMyoozik
 
I love the ending shot of that song.

@gingerninja666  
i’ve always felt that worked against her. it’s like she exists outside the show’s narrative. i think that’s even the reason why you get that disparaging “oh it’s just a starlight episode” sentiment from so many people (myself included), because that’s how it feels when she’s the star: everything else takes a back seat and everything is either for or about her, even at the cost of portraying other characters negatively.
 
@Background Pony #6DB3  
sometimes less is more. i’d have rather been left rooting for a resolution i’d never see, then the mediocre resolution we got.

@gingerninja666
 
I do appreciate how seasons 7 & 8 have had her interact with other Mane Six members though.

There’s an interesting contrast in Sunset and Starlight that I rarely see anyone make note of.
 
Sunset had to be accepted and forgiven by the rest of the student body.
 
Starlight doesn’t have much of that, but it feels like a key part of her season 6 arc is basically her having to forgive HERSELF for the things she did.
 
Admittedly, this aspect is also present with Sunset, but it’s more understated rather than being a focal point of her character.

@gingerninja666  
Which one, the one with the Ponyville crowd looking at the camera?

@DanielTepesKraus
 
I feel she’s more in the vain of a CMC who has a connection to Twilight.
 
I feel like the opposite happens too though. Where people put more emphasis on Starlight’s role in an episode than she has.
 
Like, Celestial Advice is about Starlight, but the emotional core is a Twilight episode. Starlight is heavily involved in Shadow Play, but Twi and Starswirl are the ones who learn the most. Rock Solid Friendship is a Pinkie/Maud episode. Royal Problem focuses almost entirely on the sisters in the back half (Starlight is a damsel)

@ILoveMyoozik
 
Yes. That one.

@gingerninja666  
I love that shot

@Jarkes  
i feel that wasn’t near adequate because she was so predatory in intent and motive. everything she did was aimed directly at others; harming others was integral. “i’m going to enslave this specific group of people and torture them if they get out of line”, “i’m going to ruin this specific person’s life because she crossed me”, “i’m going use this princess to entice others to follow my ideology” kind of thing. i feel that’s why forgiveness should have been such a bigger part of her story; forgiving herself should have taken a back seat to being forgiven by others since it wasn’t really about her in the first place.
 
ironically sunset was the opposite. she wronged people, but more in a “means to an end” kind of way. i feel like she probably should have spent more time trying to forgive herself rather than winning over the crowd.
 
@gingerninja666  
i think celestial advice was very much all about starlight just because she was the focus, the subject, and the conflict. not to mention the narrative really sucked her off hard with how amazing twilight thinks she is.

Honestly though, I really do tire of Starlight debates sometimes. I just like enjoying her.
 
 
@DanielTepesKraus  
She just isn’t involved in it enough for me. She barely appears as a character. And I say this as someone who wasn’t a fan of that one line.
 
That’s kinda the thing about Starlight. I get so many reasons why someone wouldn’t be a fan of her. I see the arguments that certain things could’ve been done better. It just never amounted to anything nearing a dealbreaker for me. I just find her really cute, and likeable, and her story is a hopeful one.

@gingerninja666
 

 
Yeah, that just about sums up my feelings as well.
 
And I also rolled my eyes at the line you’re referring to.

@gingerninja666  
you gotta admit this was at least a good starlight discussion. how many times have people just been complete douchebags when the topic has been brought up?
 
to me, it’s very much just of her flaws just choking out her likeability.