Unpopular opinion time

@Brass Beau  
Have we even seen much of him outside of that? Because I’m using it as my main tool to read him (and admittedly, parsing it as a dream so I can psychoanalyze him even more).

He’s made small appearances in the background and been seen hanging out with Sunset but he hasn’t been in focus like he was with that short. Interpreting it as a dream? BIG OL’ SIMP BOI!  
As something that actually happened? He’s a brave and loyal friend to the girls.  
And I think that’s the key, though. The girls don’t interact with the opposite sex that much. In the CYOA shorts for the Starswirl Festival, you see Applejack excited about a male singer and Twilight briefly hangout with Micro Chips. Hell, Vynil did a performance with Big Mac. That’s about the extent we get and canon is muddy for that.

@Brass Beau  
Yes, and I think that’s kind of a flaw? I mean, why can’t Flash be part of the group? Cause he’s not magic enough?

@Latecomer
 
In any case, I rather doubt Sweetie Belle would be putting much focus on mind manipulation spells, and maybe she’d not really care for the transfiguration side of things. Most of it seems to be on the “practical” side of things, things she could benefit from in a fight, or some such.
 
I don’t think her being a generalist of sorts is problematic in and of itself, personally, because I think that it ties into Marks and Recreation well, if she wasn’t overly restricted by her talents in that regard… on the other hand, that sort of thing could involve having Lyra factor into something, especially as someone who went to Magic School with Twilight… would’ve possibly been nice, because it would’ve given her a bit of depth, perhaps.
 
(I don’t think anything along the lines of musical magic was explored beyond Sirens and EQG, really, on that note)

@Latecomer  
Doylist answer: He’s a token boy and (adult) fans didn’t react well to him.  
Watsonian answer: He’s not a Rainboom nor was he magically chosen to fight against invading Equestrian magic.
 
 
@AC97  
Generalists are frequent in MLP (Twilight, Sunset, Starlight, even Trixie) so Sweetie Belle specializing like most unicorns would be good for world building. Plus, through Sweetie Belle, we could get a look into not only Celestia’s school for unicorns but also into magic, and music magic specifically. It provides a chance for world building while also developing a character. At the very least we could have gotten some shorts out of it.

@Brass Beau  
So only magically awesome girls can be their friends?
 

 
@AC97  
It’s a problem when unicorns are supposed to be specialists, but we only see mages and background NPCs who use generic spells.

@Latecomer  
Sometimes not even then. Besides Sunset and Sci-Twi, have they maintained friendship with any of the people they’ve fought against? I can think of one time and that was when Rarity called Vignette for advice in a CYOA short. It’s a problem with the writing, to be sure. It even happened in the main series. How often did Moondancer come up after Twilight apologized?

@Brass Beau  
Well, not all of those girls are worth keeping in touch with IMO…
 
And if the show is determined to keep Flash in a distant orbit, then yeah, he comes off as kind of simpish.

@Latecomer  

 
cuz he brings the quality down. the fucking simp.
 
 
@Brass Beau
 
@Latecomer  
EQG should have gotten a full show. that way we’d have more chances of returning characters and more interplay between the human 7.

@Angrybrony  
Well, obviously it needed to be a series. Half the villains got a lot of love from the community. and I kinda ship Flash and Wallflower. Don’t judge me.  
The limited format it got really screwed with what they could do. And it didn’t even get a proper send off. That’s the definition of injustice!

@Brass Beau  
if wafflower i getting with anybody it’s sunset shimmer. simps get no puss puss.

@Angrybrony  
They do once they stop being a simp.
 
Unpopular Opinion: The FiM movie was boring and Tempest was a boring, cliche villain.

@Brass Beau  
once a simp always a simp.

@Brass Beau  
That’s unpopular?
 
And Flash has serious issues that are not helped by namecalling.

@Latecomer  
Guy worked hard on a persona that got him two girls out of his league before going through a depression after realizing he’s technically a furry. There’s no easy way to recover from that. Pretty sure he’s scared to even look at a woman half the time.

@Brass Beau  
I think he’s less concerned about the furry thing, and more that one didn’t even bother to dump him while the one he has to see everyday surrounds herself exclusively with magical superheroines like herself. Of course she has no time for him, as a friend or more - he’s just a normal guy, after all. (And he knows he’s not entitled to her in any way, which means he’s kind of in denial about how much he wants to be close to her anyway.)

@Latecomer  
By the sounds of that, the second he realizes another girl is into him (the guy is supposedly very popular, hence why Sunset dated him) he’s going to either cut Sunset and her friends out of his life or have a severe crisis of conscience. Neither is gonna be good but he’s a teenager so it’s not like he knows what he’s doing…  
I feel like I just got roped into writing fanfiction. How does that keep happening?

@Brass Beau  
Another girl might distract him, but his interest in Sunset isn’t just romantic - he wants to be part of the whole “magical superheroines” thing too, even as a sidekick. (Really, it’s a wonder he hasn’t caught a random wisp yet.)

@Latecomer  
Dammit, I knew this sounded familiar. I already wrote that fucking fanfic.

@Brass Beau
 
That why the flim has mixed reviews

@Bluepenn15  
I use Tempest as evidence for my “Scars are sexy and if your character sucks just add one” stance

@Brass Beau  
tempest is good horse.

@Angrybrony  
She is @Brass Beau
 
Yeah there alot of reviews say that character are different and Litt rush

@Angrybrony  
Tempest: Wah! I’m a danger to myself and others because I can’t control my magic. Wah! I refuse to accept the dramatic change in my life so I’m gonna be bad! Wah! I’m gonna lead a maniac around the world and possibly cause the deaths of millions and even genocide so I can have my magic even though I’ve adapted well without it!
 
Tempest is a nutter. And one that was forgiven easier than the villain of the following season. Tempest got a pass by the fandom based almost solely on character design.

@Brass Beau  
no dog, you’re the nutter. there’s no evidence of death or anything is all in your nut brain. glimmer still did worse shit and for worse reasons.