Nerd Moment: Becoming a Princess Crippled Twilight

Yeah yeah another nerd moment.  I've been unable to sleep so I'm bored.

This was something I thought on ever since the 'Crystalling' episodes, and I realized that while I have no actual problem with Twilight as a princess, the entire 'turning into an alicorn princess' thing basically crippled Twilight as a character.  Now, this isn't so much because she has wings or a few extra inches of height, but rather that Twilight herself has ceased to have as much depth of character as she once had.

When the series began, Twilight was grouchy, blunt, occasionally sarcastic, and not above a frantic outburst or a crazy plan.  She was friendly, yes, but she was also flawed, imperfect.  She felt real... once you look past the entire 'magical talking horse' thing.  She was a fun character who would make sandwiches talk for her.  It was all kinds of entertaining.  Then she became a princess.

Since her ascension, Twilight's flaws and quirks have either been weeded out or forgotten.  As a character she hasn't just matured, rather she has become idealized, as if to help her better fit the stereotypes of a princess.  She's become much less interesting than she used to be, and she appears much less often - nowadays seeming more like a supporting character than the main protagonist. Twilight's transformation was much more than a pair of wings and a title; it was a change in personality, and the first step down a path of turning the show into something more typical.

Of course, Season 4 offered promise; her transformation didn't have any real effect by this point beyond making her a celebrity.  It was enough to give hope.  So, what happened next? The Library is blown up.  The Library, which summed Twilight's character into the form of a house, was blasted to pieces.  Not only did this push her further away from who she was at the begining of the show and deeper into her  new role, it was also essentially the severing of the last connection Twilight had to her past self, the final death of everything she was up to Season 3.  At this point, her history almost feels meaningless.

Now, it became easier to see how much Twilight had changed.  She was no longer quite as manic, as grouchy, or as sarcastic.  She was much calmer, much more open-minded, and much less prone to wacky magical mishaps.  Even the way she talks somehow feels different, and with each new season another unnecessary big change is made.  By season 5 we see much less of Twilight, who has surrendered to the princess role and almost never leaves home unless the map tells her to.  By season 6, Twilight seems to have no more importance in the show than Celestia, and Starlight Glimmer seems to have taken on the role of the main protagonist.

And all of it stems from her transformation.

I am not formerly an Anti-Twilicorn guy, but in retrospect it is easy to see that her transformation did major damage to the character, perhaps even the series.  On a creative level, Twilight essentially peaked way too fast, her future no longer a mystery.  There was not much more to achieve for her.  They could have easily moved her up in the world without this transformation, having her graduate from school, become a wizard, I don't know.  Of course, Twilight probably could still grow as much, but with the direction the show is going it doesn't seem the writers really care about her anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the show, but on retrospect I feel like they damaged a character with so much potential.  Looking at Sunburst gives an idea of what Twilight might have been in another reality - minus the inability to actually perform magic of course - and honestly I feel as though it would have been much better for her and the show as a whole.  Do little girls like wizards any less than they like princesses? Twenty years ago I would have said 'Ew, girls have cooties', but nowadays I feel as though boys and girls like many of the same things, with the irony being that My Little Pony had a big hand in that.

Maybe this is all just my opinion, but I think that in the end, Hasbro pulled a George Lucas.  They did not truly understand what it was they had, and instead of building something strong, something epic, they sold it down the river to sell more toys.