justthefangirl:

mlpwishywashy:

mylittlenanaki:

I like how nobody was ever questioning Starlight’s incredible powers when she was an antagonist, but now that she’s a protagonist, everything from her powers to her motivations are under intense scrutiny, and a small (but VERY vocal) portion of the fanbase that has written her off as nothing more than a “canon Mary Sue”.

And by that I mean wow, the discourse following Every Little Thing She Does has been awful.

which has been one of my favorite episodes of this season.

Starlight is mah bae.

What bothers me is that lots of fans hate Starlight Glimmer, even though she’s JUST LIKE Sunset Shimmer from EQG; she’s a powerful unicorn on par (or even more powerful) than Twlight, she’s an antagonist to start who wants to get back at Twilight for ‘ruining’ her ideal, and then becomes Twilight’s friend because Twilight had the heart to reach out to her.

Same story. Different characters entirely.

So why does Starlight get so much hate? I hear a lot of fans (people who like EQG mostly) complain ‘But Sunset did it first, so she’s better!’

No. She’s not.

Sunset was an entitled bully who didn’t want to admit that she failed at something; she failed to learn humility, kindness, selflessness, and other aspects that made Twilight ultimately worthy of Ascention. And what do the entitled do when they’re denied something? They throw a fit and steal what they wanted. Sunset wanted to be a Princess to prove her power and worth, so she stole Twilight’s Element of Magic crown. She thought by taking the Element of Magic, she could gain Twilight’s powers, and thus become a princess instead. But that’s not how Alicorn Ascention works (at least that’s not how it’s supposed to work, anyway).

Now, flip and look at Starlight. She isn’t self-entitled. She’s embittered by a system she didn’t entirely understand and falsely blamed for her biggest trauma. When Sunburst got his cutiemark, he, like many kids who end up moving away from their childhood homes, didn’t keep in contact with his old friends. This hurt Starlight because she clearly suffers from social anxiety. I mean, she hung out with ONLY Sunburst as a foal. This is typical of kids with social problems. And because he was her only friend, and suddenly he was gone and appeared to not want anything to do with her, her mind (a child’s mind) made the correlation that his cutiemark made him think he was better than her, so now he didn’t want to be friends. That tainted the idea of cutiemarks for the rest of her life. We don’t know how Starlight feels about her own cutiemark. Maybe she hated it? Maybe she felt that she didn’t want it, even though she loved magic? Who knows! But she still thought that cutiemarks were something that made ponies develop feelings of superiority over others. “If I’m good at X, then I want to be around only others who are good at it, and no one else” or “But I’m good at this, and you’re good at that. Why should I talk to you?” Starlight’s misappropriation of what cutiemarks represent and her belief that cutiemarks cause friendships to break made her into what she became, and even though she’s learned that she was wrong, it doesn’t solve her initial problem.

Social anxiety. And we see that in “Every Little Thing She Does.” Magic is her fallback because magic is what she understands. Social interaction with other ponies is scary and confusing to her, and so why not solve that problem, that issue, with magic?

Sunset is getting over her self entitlement and her selfishness due to her friendships. But so too is Starlight learning that magic can’t solve her problems, and she can’t force friends to do what she wants just because she’s afraid. 

Both characters have similar stories, yes, but why is Starlight’s hated? Why is this pony with a problem that many people, including many MLP fans, possess, so villified and absolutely despised by people who should be more sympathetic?

Maybe we just don’t want to admit that we see more of ourselves in her than we like. Maybe we’re afraid to admit that we’re all a bit more like Starlight Glimmer than we want to.

Starlight spent most of her life exploiting her magic and controling others. Of course she’s having trouble understanding what she’s supposed to be doing, this is the first time she’s ever tried to do the right thing. But what is important is that she is LEARNING and helping clean up her messes.