this was a wild ride from start to finish.  
also this:  
@Philweasel

@Ebalosus  
I’m a composer. What the fuck is Centrelink.

@Ihhh  

Centrelink isn’t a job.

@CronoM  

 
It’s one thing to hate Starlight, but are you honestly that thick? You aren’t exactly doing any favors for your argument by acting this ignorant.
 

 
Haters have always been the minority, and as we learned in “Suited for Success”, attempting to please every single person ultimately ends up with no one pleased. Also, exactly what constitutes valid writing? The only objective factor we can go on is if the writing makes for a coherent story, and this condition is met in all of Starlight’s episodes. Whether or not those stories are good or bad is largely a subjective matter.
 
@Tavi959  
 
My thoughts exactly.
 
@LeoNero  
I honestly wish the mods would.

@Alexlayer  
Cool. >:D

@Hakirayleigh  
Yeah, never mind. I’m not bothering with you any longer.

@Alexlayer  
Only analyze, you don’t need “LAERN GRMMAR PLZ”

@Hakirayleigh  
Dude, go back to school and re-learn some grammar, please. I can’t even tell for certain what you’re trying to say.

@Alexlayer  
And wht said Applejack??? “Plz Twilight tell to Celestia the truth”…see only Twilight or the map with its random wisdom is so great entrusting Starlight to destroy royal stubborness.
 
And of course Mirror Magic achieved her goal…sell toys, that’s the most important, so you aren’t a valid person about if a character is necessary in a plot as long as the main message was clear and the goal was materialized.

@Paradox_Brony  
Wait, what? Did you upload this?

@Philweasel
 
@Chuy Ryu
 
@DarkObsidian
 
@cloudkicker108
 
@genervt
 
@Alexlayer
 
@ILoveMyoozik
 
I’ll be honest I’m legitimately surprised that once again I got what I wanted, 350+ comments. Gonna quit while I’m ahead and not push for 400+.
 
 
But if it happens,  
I’ll be back.  
>>1653993t (merged)

@LeoNero  
is not easier just unsubscribe?

@Philweasel  
It’s sad, but you’re absolutely right. I remember when the CMC were regarded as the spotlight stealing squad. When Rarity was regarded as a selfish asshole for deliberately upstaging Rainbow Dash to feed her own vanity. I remember Twilight being called out by the fandom over Feeling Pinkie Keen and Lesson Zero.
 
We are quick to forget those early days when the latest Coco Pommel or Maud Pie comes along. The fandom adores these characters and forgets the Mane 6. Best pony arguments frequently exclude the Mane 6 nowadays (worst pony is Twist, worst pony is ALWAYS Twist) and yet, as you say, if someone mentions Starlight it starts an argument immediately. Same with Sunset Shimmer. And how about the debate BETWEEN the two of them?
 
It makes me sad that the fandom has sunk to the point of blaming others for things they don’t like. There have always been some who do this, but it has gotten noticeably worse. There are those who literally get violently angry if they learn you don’t share their opinions.
 
I’ve stood up for Flash Sentry fans even though I don’t like him much myself because everyone should be allowed to have their own opinion.

@LeoNero  

 
I am afraid that it will never stop.

@CronoM  

 
This is super depressing, and illustrates something that I’ve noticed a lot of lately.
 
…you think this has never happened to the Mane 6? Seriously? You’ve been here 6 years, and you think the original cast has never been controversial, that people haven’t boycotted the episodes of particular characters, that fights haven’t started over ‘best pony’ and ‘worst pony’? I remember when vast portions of the audience despised Rarity, loathed the CMC. And those were just the most vehement opinions.
 
You know what the most depressing thing is? The simple fact is no one seems to care about the Mane 6 anymore. You start any sort of conversation about them, and you get a scattering of unenthusatic replies before someone inevitably mentions that ‘Starlight sucks!’ and starts a three thousand page discussion of her relative quality.
 
Have you noticed that all your recent comments are about Starlight? When was the last time you mentioned anyone else at length?

@Tavi959
 
(\ You’re welcome. :-)

@DarkObsidian  
A brohoof for you, sir /)

@CronoM  
I am agreeing to disagree. You keep putting words in my mouth though. I have not ever in anything I have said suggested that I believe her to be a well-received character. Base breaking characters aren’t poorly written by their nature. It’s not the job of the writers to make you like her because not everyone is going to like every character ever written. The biggest reason nothing I said makes sense to you is because you choose to view it from a perspective in which I am a blind defender of Starlight when I am not. For someone who doesn’t want to continue debating, you keep making an awful lot of assumptions based upon your personal opinion.
 
Please do everyone a favor and actually read, in entirety and without bias or assumptions, comments before responding with suggestions that people are arguing based on bias. I like Starlight, sure, but twice now you’ve put words in my mouth in forming your replies and I do not appreciate it. I understand that a lot of people don’t like Starlight. I also understand that most of the reasoning for it has a lot to do with how she’s seen compared to other characters. A matter of personal opinion. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
 
What I fundamentally disagree with is the notion that she’s poorly written while everyone else is some kind of literary masterpiece. That’s not the case at all. There’s nothing wrong with how she’s written. It’s how people interpret her character that varies so much. And again, that’s a matter of opinion and is perfectly fine. But don’t call an apple an orange when it’s not. I think Luna is a boring character and she wins popular opinion polls all the time. I could easily suggest she’s a badly written character that’s as flat as cardboard, but that would be my opinion, not fact. I do not expect to like every character the show puts out, that doesn’t mean they are badly written.
 
You blame the writers for not making Starlight compelling enough to you. I blame nobody because it’s your right not to like her. But it’s not fair to blame the writers for creating a character you don’t like.

@Tavi959
 
(bring in two cups of coffee, reaching you one) At least some people understand you. Relax. It was a good post, even if CronoM didn’t understand literally anything. Starlight would be proud of you. ^_-
 
Here a little picture to cheer you up. :-D
 

I’m just gonna, drop this here. No reason:  

@LeoNero  
I wish. Im unsubscribing this minute as I promised, but I half expect a week from now for this to be another pointless extended chain.

Can we just lock this already?
 
Do people know when to stop?

@Tavi959  
Like I said, we can argue personal preference and perspective till the cows come home and achieve squat. Almost nothing what you said made the least bit of sense to me. Almost completely backwords logic in many aspects. Not to mention a truckload of accusatory and narrow minded assumptions of her critics.
 
And, as I said, I have no desire to continue this conversation.
 
So let me give you my final thoughts on the matter before I unsubscribe…
 
What is “valid” is subjective, and if the writers have NOT managed to make her writing valid in the eyes of a lot of viewers, that flaw is on the writers for her character, not the viewers. Your ability to rationalize your personal like for Starlight in your own head doesn’t miraculously make her a highly well recieved (instead of mixed) character in the entire fandom.
 
Once again…
 
Let’s shut this discussion chain down. All these arguments have been done to death, and its gone on for far too long. Let’s just move on and agree to disagree.

@CronoM  
Starlight’s writing isn’t bad. There’s just a LOT of people who refuse to accept the way she’s written as valid. There are a lot of people who willingly refuse to accept that Twilight offered her friendship, and that reneging on that to punish her wouldn’t have made her a very good Princess of Friendship. There are people who refuse to accept that anyone could have magic on the level of Twilight’s because she’s supposed to be special and alicorns in particular are considered all-powerful despite the show itself never having suggested such a thing. There are people who don’t understand that making mistakes and learning from them is a process. There are lots of people who think that designated heroes can’t be Worfed without explanation. There are people who think that nobody new can be a hero. And there are lots of people who apparently don’t appreciate what it’s like to be a lonely introvert who has trouble making friends. Apparently, nobody’s allowed to be impulsive and do things without fully considering the outcome. Apparently all of this is a consistent problem of bad writing.
 
Twilight mind controlled the whole town of Ponyville and made such a mess that Celestia had to come fix it. And she did it for the express purpose of making a mess with the idea of fixing it so she could write to Celestia about it as though she learned something! Starlight gets nonstop grief for doing it to five ponies in the name of expediently completing a series of tasks that were never properly explained to her.
 
The only reason people like you think she’s badly written is because you don’t like change and she’s something different. I don’t expect everyone to like her. I don’t expect everyone to like me, either. But is it really necessary for everyone who doesn’t like her to complain endlessly about how much they don’t like her? I think Pinkie Pie is annoying to the point of being absolutely grating sometimes, and I’m not out there throwing a fit over how much she annoys me every single time she’s even on the screen. You want legitimately bad writing? Why does Pinkie have it in her to be a genius, yet so often forgets everything she’s learned because her being an annoying, hyperactive idiot is plot-critical? How about the seemingly impossible task of giving Applejack a conflict to resolve that isn’t about her family or her own stubborn pride? And they could have given us an indication of Rainbow Dash learning to stop being lazy once she had a shot at living her dream. Instead, she was just suddenly more disciplined for no discernible reason.
 
The fandom forgives and forgets so often for the main cast, and Twilight in particular. I remember when “Twilight screws up a spell and bad things happen” was a standard fanfic plot and we used to lambast her for being powerful but unskilled. Then she became an alicorn and suddenly we all forgot that this same character known for power incontinence was now in charge of something and allegedly more powerful to boot.
 
I love Twilight and I am this critical of her. Starlight has her faults too, but neither of them would be interesting at all if they were actually perfect now would they?
 
I don’t pretend to know what the percentages are in regards to who likes her and who doesn’t. I don’t care, either. And I sure didn’t suggest people should leave the fandom if they don’t like her, I suggested that perhaps people are spending way too much time complaining about a character they don’t like. Don’t put words in my mouth. That being said, there are people who have been whining about everything since Lauren left back in 2012 and make it pretty clear that they apparently don’t like the show anymore. They do grow fewer over time, but the fact remains that some people seem bound and determined to complain forever because the show has evolved and it’s not season 1 anymore. I don’t understand this attitude; if I stop liking something, I move on. MLP has almost lost me a couple of times, I will admit, but I am still here and I do still enjoy the show.
 
Lastly, the problem with Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry arguably had more to do with two things. One was a massive prejudice against Equestria Girls at the time. The other was the absolutely bullshit way both characters were inserted into the story. They have done a lot to remedy both characters with some development, and I do love Sunset myself, but her back story still has a TON of gaping holes in it compared even to Starlight at this point. Chiefly among them is what, exactly, happened between her and Celestia that drove her away. There’s also the unexplained plot hole of the first movie regarding how utterly contrived her plan was, given she had no way of knowing the factors involved. She had no way of knowing about Twilight having succeeded her, no way of knowing why she was a princess and no way of knowing that the Elements of Harmony had been found by Twilight. Twilight had only just arrived at the Crystal Empire that day, another place Sunset has never been. Yet somehow this all came together and worked out for her. Worse still, she later laughs at Twilight for not knowing what effect bringing an Element of Harmony to an alternate world has, as if she knows. It has since been suggested that she had no idea either.
 
This giant plot hole is forgiven because in Rainbow Rocks we see Sunset suffer for her actions and it makes us sympathetic to her face turn. It doesn’t change the fact that the plot that kicked off her story to begin with has a hole in it so big that they’ve deliberately avoided bringing it up ever since. That’s not good writing. In fact, it’s justifiably worse than anything about Starlight and one of the frequently cited sources of scorn for Equestria Girls as a whole.
 
It is possible to appreciate something without endlessly complaining about the things you don’t like. I forgave EG’s plot before most did, but I still acknowledge it as a weakness despite my enjoyment of the series. I apply the same logic to lots of things, including the Movie, because on the whole I still enjoy what I’m watching and I don’t feel the need to complain about things I don’t like for longer than a week or two. Nothing is perfect, after all.