Why The Trope of Reforming Villains In MLP Is Tiresome
I loved MLP for A Long time during the Beginning, but the reformation of Villains is the biggest problem with MLP going back to the beginning of the show. So many and too many of the villains often get made sympathetic and are quick to be shoddily reformed with nary a second thought to give them consequences to their wrongdoings. Often their backstories don't give them any justification even to themselves for their actions when they come up and they come off more as parodies that we're supposed to take seriously.
One of the biggest problems with the theatrical movie from 2017 Is how thoroughly it pushes the idea that friendship can fix any problem, when in reality that's not how it works and that in many circumstances Friendship isn't the end-all solution to everything.
Tempest Shadow for how she's the only character who's voice and animation perfectly compliments the movie, ends up becoming a flimsier version of Starlight when you take more than 5 minutes to analyze her sob story.
Ok, so, because she got crippled by a starbear as a kid and two fillies got scared of her deformity she turned evil at a moment's notice. I'm not making this up, that's literally what we witness! Did she even like, TRY to go to a doctor to get her horn fixed? In order to remedy this, I'd have a lot more ponies ostracize Tempest for her disability and be scared of her for it, have the ability to do good magic rubbed in her face!
Have her own parents WHINNY IN TERROR when they see what their daughter has become and abandon her! Hell, have the Doctor be scared witless and just kick her flank out of the hospital telling her "there's no fixing the likes of you!" Is it cruel and mean-spirited? YES! But doing something to this effect would give Tempest a more valid reason to join the Storm King in the first place.
Starlights main problem isn't just how ridiculous and stupid her backstory is for why she becomes an omnicidal maniac, but how in-Universe she has to constantly remind us what a horrible person she is. With Shadow Play this could NOT have been put in a worse episode! Starswirl himself was handled badly enough in comparison to the comics, but this just makes him a complete asshole to everyone because of Starlight having never learned a single solitary fucking thing since her reform. It's a terrible idea to mention you're a terrorist in front of someone who is essentially the GREATEST HERO IN EQUESTRIA!
Again, if Hasbro is so intent on making us love Starlight by forcing her into so many episodes and down our throats, why do they have to keep reminding us of what a horrid character she actually is? How about making her, and I'm just throwing my shit at the wall to see what sticks: NOT HORRIBLE? Even the Pony of Shadows got hit with this bad with probably the worst redemption in the show, And he probably had the potential to be even greater than Tirek as a villain.
The only quick shot redemptions that have EVER WORKED in the series were Sunset Shimmer, Princess Luna, and Maybe Discord, the latter of whom isn't even directly involved with the main series! I've gone over how Keep Calm and Flutter On actually is a very good episode despite its issues and how reforming Discord worked out in the long run because while he was tamed he was still not a good guy in any sense of the word, but not truly evil. He's a troll and he's still a delightful troll even though he's mellowed out.
Sunset Shimmer is in every sense the perfect example of a reformed villain and everything they should be. Sunset doesn't have a tragic backstory or a woobie reason to have betrayed Celestia, she got jelly because she wasn't the chosen one and bitched off to human land. As weak as the first Equestria Girls movie was it did a great job of showing that Sunset wasn't malicious, but very very stupid evil and confused with her life. The subsequent movies give her major consequences for being a stupid bitch and she has to struggle and work towards proving she's changed after being hastily redeemed in the first film and she really has proven she's changed!
Whatever happened to just having villains who are evil just because? We had Tirek and then after that, they got fucked up! Saturday morning cartoon villains can be loads of fun like Lord Hater, King Koopa, The Hooded Claw, Simon Bar Sinister, virtually every member of the Legion of Doom, etc. I'm not saying sympathetic villains aren't good, they can be very good, but you have to know HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK! Characters like Jack Spicer and Mr. Freeze work because while you do feel sorry for them it's for the best they don't really become good guys because it would ruin what makes them so strong in the first place. They do evil things with their own reasons and goals in mind.
If what I've been hearing about season 8 is any indication I do not envy the return of Queen Chrysalis. In the comics, they've done well to show there really is nothing redeeming about her, how ruthless and psychotic she really is. I still don't think you can beat A Canterlot Wedding for having the best villain song and reveal of the entire show because of her!
Submitted March 27, 2020 at 07:04AM by jeffnumbers93
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/fpwkt7/why_the_trope_of_reforming_villains_in_mlp_is/?utm_source=ifttt
No comments :
Post a Comment