Sometimes Friendship is Magic shows some self awareness and they show some consequences to a character because of what they did in the past. In Luna Eclipsed, everyone is scared of princess Luna because of her previous actions in season 1 as Nightmare Moon. In Crusaders of the lost mark, Diamond Tiara realizes that she’s not liked by no one, even Silver Spoon, but then we realize that not only she’s being mean because of the influece of her toxic mother, but also Diamond Tiara can change for the better. She learns that being good is not only two words, it’s a possible goal. And since season 3, Discord is constantly questioned by Ponyville, not only the Mane 6. And in season 7 there’s a funny episode where all Ponyville represents some absurd complaints about the show from the fans, like the granny who said “Twilight was great without her wings”.
So, they’re gonna do the same thing for Starlight, right? In a TV show that sometimes talks about redemption, it sounds great, right? It’s possible, it isn’t like it’s a technology issue or a narrative problem that would severely affect the TV show from a dramatic point of view, right?
Yeah, it doesn’t matter at all.
Whenever Discord is planning something, it’s ok to question him because he can be crazy. Whenever the writers want, they show some Ponyville characters to critizice some mainstream opinions about the show. However, nobody, absolutely nobody in Ponyville questions Starlight regardless of her actions during seasons 6 and 7. It’s a selective self awareness that doesn’t translate very well in the context of the show.
I don’t think Rainbow Rocks is a good film, but one thing that the movie did right is that it shows some consecuences to Sunset Shimmer because of what she did in the first EG film. The entire high school doesn’t want her as a friend. That makes sense. However, she receives the right treatment after saving her high school and her friends. I wish the story was more organic and funnier, but it was something, it’s not like it’s impossible to show some consequences in a kids TV show.
If you think I’m very nitpicker, you’re not wrong because I’m a person who’s losing his sanity in a house where people are not the best confident in the world. But the reason why I’m saying this is that, even more than Sunset Shimmer, Babs Seed or Tempest Shadow, Starlight really wants to talk about redemption. And people who love this character praises her story.
So, if everyone wants to talk about Starlight’s story, I’m gonna talk about Starlight’s story.
There’s a popular film called Iron Man, where we see Tony Stark, a playboy millionaire who wants to protect the world by using dangerous weapons. After having the revelation that his weapons are dangerous in the wrong hands, he escapes, he decides to close Stark Industries and he starts working on a suit designed to destroy weapons and to punish enemies if necessary. The film isn’t perfect, I think the last 20 minutes are focused on convenient power fantasy, but it’s not too distracting and it’s still a solid film.
And that movie came out in 2008.
Let that sink in.
Some people don’t seem to have a problem with that because it’s more about redemption in a reformed villain. But, I don’t know, I have the feeling we saw two different shows. Many people would argue it was risky and rewarding to create a character like Starlight, but that’s not risky or brave or rewarding. Besides, most of what Starlight had said or done don’t indicate that she wants to redeem herself.
You know what would have been brave? A TV show where the new character doesn’t depend on insane crazy game breaking magic to talk about redemption as the main gimmick of the character.
Starlight’s arc characters reminds me of Weathering with you. Like that movie, the TV show made the decision to highlight the insane magic and powers as the core part of the story as a way to emotionally manipulate the viewer but commit to none of these themes in an organic way. It’s mindless power that doesn’t mean anything. If I really wanna see that, I’ll go and watch a Dragon Ball episode without caring about the story.
I don’t say with this that violence is bad or anything like that, I actually like it. I’m one of the few people who acknoledges the existence of Elfen Lied, and that’s the most violent bloody story ever. I’m talking about showing some consequences of certain actions. Here, that doesn’t happen, at least to Starlight.
It’s not like The Last of Us Part II, where the story shows some consequences of some mean decisions made by some specific characters (which is one of the reasons why I love this game). Or Undertale, where everything you do has some consequences. Or Marie Antoniette’s story, where not only she had an affair despite being married, but also she used public money to buy unnecessary stuff (like beautiful dresses) in an era where the citizens were suffering because of hunger. She was abusing her power in a childish way that she indirectly proved the point that the Ancient Régime was outdated and the social division was so extreme.
Friendship is Magic had shown some consequences because of character’s actions with Putting your hoof down. In that episode, Fluttershy wanted to learn how to be assertive. But we slowly see her going too far to the point where she insulted her best friends, which leads up to a really emotional moment where Fluttershy realizes it was all her fault.
What I’m saying is that this is a very hollow, forced and hipocritical approach for a TV show that wants to tell this specific story with this specific character and this specific way of redemption and empathy that people who love Starlight seem to keep saying that the show is trying to get you to understand.
And I agree with them. I think the TV show is trying to do that with Starlight, because if it’s not… what is the point of this scene to being with?
If you wanna talk about redemption, that’s ok. I love Crusaders of the Lost mark because of that. And I love the MLP film because of that. But most of Starlight’s actions and lines conflict with this idea.
At this point, I still haven’t seen a change for the better in Starlight. And one of the reasons I wanted to say all this long overdue explanation is because I don’t wanna repeat myself when I finish the seasons 8 and 9.
DISSONANCE
One of the biggest problems this TV show has is that the more seasons it gets, the stupider their characters are going to get. If you’ve been in the Internet for many years, you might be familiar with the term flanderization. It’s a term to describe a writer abusing one feature of a character in an exaggerated way to the point where this feature is all the character. Easiest example: Ned Flanders was not as fanatic and controlling in the golden age of The Simpsons. Ned Flanders is suppose to be the opposite of Homer Simpson a good respected family guy. He was religious, but his extreme fanatism was only shown in very few but very funny moments. Right now it’s a fanatic controlling person.
Friendship is Magic had that problem many years ago and it still has. Probably the example I used to mention the most was Pinkie Pie. Since season 3, her appearances were only for screaming, telling unfunny jokes and trying to quickly guess the plan of one of her friends. I was so oversaturated because of that. In season 7, almost all her episodes are an excuse for Pinkie to go insane or creepy for 22 minutes, like Secrets and Pies and Rock solid friendship. Rainbow Dash also had that problem. With the exception of Parental Glideance and It isn’t the mane thing about you, she was mean for the sake of being mean. Despite loving her turtle Tank, she still gives cake to a turtle (which is not good) and she doesn’t even care about it. I know some people would find that funny, but, I don’t know. I think you can create funny situations without unlikeable elements, unless that is the point, like the animated show Villainous.
UNNECESSARY RETURNS AND REPETITIVE CONCEPTS
Some episodes are very similar to other episodes. All bottled up is Every little thing she does, but with Trixie as the main character. Daring Done is like Stranger than Fanfiction, which was also like Daring Don’t but with an extra plot. Shadow Play is as fanfiction as To where and back again. Hard to say anything is like Top Bolt, but with a character from that town in season 5 I don’t remember its name and a story that passes even less the Bechdel test. Sassy Saddles is like Coco Pommel, but thiner and, unlike Coco Pommel, now she can be used as a complementy character for Rarity.
Speaking about characters, everyone returns. Every character in the show (the Flim Flam brothers, Trixie, Sassy Saddles, Maud Pie, Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara, Nightmare Moon, Thorax, the yaks, Sunburst and finally Iron Will) is back. But when Chrysalis is back, it’s only for a few minutes after waiting for four years. Plus a complete redesidn of the changelings.
Yay…
THE NEW CHANGELINGS
Man, the new changelings are really ugly, right? I just needed a place in this text to say this. Damn, they don’t have a lot of charm compared to other characters in the show. The silhouette, the design, the color palette (too many saturated colors when the rest of the characters are fine with 2 or 3 colors). It’s a mess
FINAL THOUGHTS
Despite its problems, I still like season 7. I think the first two episodes were a bit more annoying than I expected because of the lack of self awareness, including the rest of the Starlight episodes. As a result, and a list of other issues (like wifi connection or finding the right episode with the right aspect ratio), it took me six months to finish it. Out of all my favourite episodes from season 7, I think Campfire Tales would be one of my 20 favourite episodes in the whole show. It has a lot of content and likeable characters that makes My Little Pony so fun, inventive and enjoyable to me.
There are three reasons why I went back to the show. The first reason is that the MLP film made me love all these characters and all this magical world again. I remember being so active in that thread back in 2017. The second reason is that Legend of Everfree was the Equestria Girls movie that made me really like Sunset Shimmer.
And the third and most important reason is that, as much as I like the show, Friendship is Magic is a procedurally-generated story getting more and more off the rails. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic isn’t supposed to have a concrete planned-out logical storyline. If there was one, it would be there, clear as day, including a consistent arc character for Starlight, that’s for sure. The writers didn’t think of the idea of writing stories for nine seasons. Pinkie Pie had 2 sisters, not 3. Applejack now has fear of big crowds in a time where we already see her in Manehattan without that fear of big crowds. The show has a lot of moments like that. Because of that, I can’t be mad at the redesign of the changelings, or Pinkie Pie’s flanderization. Or Starlight’s inconsistent arc character.
I’d say My Little Pony is as inconsistent as Kingdom Hearts, but what makes the TV show so great is not its overall consistency. It’s the episodes and their respective stories regardless of the consistency of the show. Putting your hoof down, Party of One, Rarity Takes Manehattan, Crusaders of the lost mark, the MLP film, Campfire tales, Call of the Cutie, Cutie Mark Chronicles, A Canterlot Wedding, etc.
Because of that, instead of Kingdom Hearts, I compare My Little Pony to Metal Gear. What people love about that series is not the series itself (trying to chronologically connect all these games in a logical sense is impossible), it’s some games that have some interesting stories, such as Metal Gear Solid 3. I can see the same thing in My Little Pony.
I guess the lesson here is that, if you are severely disappointed to a movie or a book to the point where you are angry, try to be cool about it. Try to take it easy. Try to focus on the things you know you can change. Try to take the negativity on a different spin to make it more fun and enjoyable. ¿Was I disappointed to some creative decisions made in My Little Pony? I try to look at the individual episodes as if they are their own thing instead of a part of a bigger story.
As much as I love A Canterlot Wedding, I accepted that I’m not gonna get an episode where Twilight and Chrysalis are gonna fight like I used to dream every single day since 2012. The closest thing we got was an official comic and some fanarts, and that’s enough for me to be happy and satisfied.
If I have this mentality, I might finish the seasons 8 and 9 this year without realizing it. I don’t wanna have high expectations and say “I want 18 really good episodes”, I just want for the season 8 to have at least 5 good episodes. Because I know that, even for unexpected reasons, some of the episodes are gonna be really cool.
Take care everyone.
PD: I hope most of us can agree that praising a character or a story just “because it wants to say something to us” is a pretty boring way to talk about movies, shows or books. It’s also equally important to talk about what stories might say in an unintentional way.