I’m perplexed by conformity. This desire by some people to fit in, and be the same.

Not that I don’t understand people wanting to be part of a group. That I certainly get. We all want friends, and companionship, and what better way than by being part of a group? We are social animals after all.

No, what I don’t get is people seeing a group, and deciding to fit into it by changing who they are. That is perplexing to me. And you see this happening all the time; people adapting and giving into peer pressure, particularly teenagers. A lot of social fears are heightened at that age and the fear of being ostracised can lead someone to change their entire personality. Adapt to fit the crowd. Of course, these people are young, so they’re allowed to be stupid.

But I still see this happening, even years after I left high school. People are encouraged, and oftentimes forced, to adapt to the crowd and do things the way the majority does it. For instance, I’m currently learning Computer Programming (well, technically I’m on break right now) at college, and because of that, I have to run Windows on my laptop, even though I’d much prefer Linux. I know it’s a minor point for some, but it matters to me! However, one could argue a practical limitation here. It’s very hard to develop Windows applications on Linux.

But that’s not the only pressure I experience. For instance, I prefer open source software, and whenever I mention I don’t use Microsoft Office, people look at me like I got a third arm growing out of my chest.

I know, I know. It’s a very IT-specific point to make. I’m sure most people couldn’t give a shit about my software preferences.

But here’s my point: You shouldn’t let that happen. You shouldn’t let other people determine what makes you, you. Mainly because if we did that, we would stop being. If you’re the same as everyone else, we wouldn’t need you anymore, because we have everyone else. Which sounds very nihilistic, but it’s not untrue. What makes us important, and gives us value, is what makes us unique and different.

And I’m sure I won’t get anyone to question that. I’m sure everyone can agree that we should cherish what makes us unique. Right?

Well, perhaps not everyone. Which brings us to the fifth season première of My Little Pony! Or as I like to call it: Adventures in Stepford!

Ehh… creepy…

Anyway, picking up where we left off, at the shit season four finale, Twilight and the gang finally unlock the Harmony Chest with the power of contrived plot points, gain new super powers, and a new crystal castle.

It’s shaped like a tree for reasons.

Anyway, time has passed, enough for a whole movie go by, the gang has settled in, and Twilight still feels like she’s missing something. Specifically, the goddamn point. Why was she given a castle!?

Best guess, after her last home was destroyed, the Tree of Harmony decided to build her a new one. But why the six and a half thrones? Why place it in Ponyville? If her job is to ‘spread the magic of friendship across Equestria’ (which my brain is translating into: Teach ponies to get along and not be dicks), why have them hole away in some castle?

Then, they all decide to sit in their designated thrones, and something weird happens.

Yes, all six ponies (and possibly Spike) sitting down in their thrones triggers a crystal map of Equestria to pop out of the floor.

Let’s assume that only a week has passed, and Rainbow Rocks occurred over the weekend, because otherwise I’m struggling to believe that they didn’t all sit down at some stage sooner.

Anyway, the map activates, and a bizarre marker forms over a small valley on the other side of the nation.

Yes, the marker is six floating cutie marks billboards. Which looks just as stupid as it did in season three.

But anyway, the gang of six decide to investigate, knowing there was a reason for the map, and the marker. So off to the other side of the country because a map told them to. Everyone except Spike, who stays behind for reasons that are too dumb to explain.

Anyway, they begin their journey by train, and once they reach the end of the rail, continue on hoof, cross a bridge, and arrive at their destination. You know, I think they built that up too much. Oh, this journey’s going to be so dangerous… Alright, we’re here.

Anyway, they arrive at their destination, which turns out to be a tiny, inconspicuous small town.

A town with only a few inhabitants, all of whom have the same cutie mark.

For those of you who forget, cutie marks are, ostensibly, supposed to be unique to each pony. This isn’t actually true, there are a few background ponies that share cutie marks. Colgate and David Tennant-pony came to mind. However we can just write that off as animation short-hand. Suffice to say, cutie marks are supposed to be unique. So what the hell is going on?

Well, as they enter the town, and meet some of the locals, it’s not long before they’re introduced to the town’s founder, Starlight Glimmer.

She is my new favourite character, and I’ll explain why in a bit. But the most important thing to note at this stage, is that she believes the ponies of her town embody ‘true friendship.’

This is explained through a frankly horrid musical number. And I’ve said a lot of shit about the musical numbers on this show, but this is the first time I’ll say that I’m glad they went with something horrible. It’s creepy and unnerving, and it works because the entire town is creepy and unnerving.

Basically, every citizen had their cutie marks stripped from them, and because of this none of them have any special talent, they don’t compete for anything, and everyone is the same. This results in no strife, no anger, and no hatred. Which is exemplified in such gorgeous lines as: “You can’t have a nightmare, if you never dream.”

Yeah… this is something I’ll surely get back to.

And after all that, Twilight, failing to notice that there’s something dangerously wrong here that needs to be resolved, suggests they were sent there by mistake, and should probably just leave. But Starlight makes another suggestion, that instead of being sent there to help, they were sent to be helped.

“After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice.” – Starlight Glimmer

This is yet another thing I will get back to, in spades.

So regardless, they are to remain as guests in the town for the time being. And it’s not long before it’s lunchtime, where they discuss the situation before them. And they quickly start arguing and disagreeing about why they’re there to begin with, all thanks to their differing perspectives and priorities. But eventually they arrive on the same page, and realize that they were probably told to go there for a reason.

And this is all observed by one local, who remains confused. Since they were arguing, and now they aren’t. How does that happen? I mean, they act like they’re all friends, yet they have disagreements. What? That is so bizarre.

“Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery.” – Sugar Belle

Yes, she seems to have taken in the local propaganda like a champ. So, of course, she’s going to be completely unhelpful. That is, until she asks them to meet her in the basement of her little shop.

It is there, they meet her friends.

Three citizens who still kinda miss their cutie marks. They form what one might want to define as a type of resistance, except they don’t actually resist, they just have daydreams about having their special talents back. Of course Rainbow suggests just taking them back, but…

“Daydreaming is one thing, but you mean: actually having it put back on? That seems extreme…” – Clueless Idiot

Yes, and having it removed is totally mundane… Twit.

But anyway, it’s through this exchange that they learn where the town’s old cutie marks are kept. In the mountains, inside a ‘cutie mark vault.’

So, they ask Starlight to show them the vault, which she does. She also shows them the Staff of Sameness, which allows her to remove cutie marks. Oh, and then this happens:

Yes, now they’re surrounded on all sides, with no means of escape, and in the perfect location for Starlight to forcibly remove their cutie marks… so she does.

Twilight, you’re not allowed to act surprised.

Oh, by the way, this is the point where our villain becomes unquestionably evil. Because up until this point, it was presumed everyone who lost their marks gave them up voluntarily. To forcibly strip someone of it… that’s something else.

Anyway, now stripped of their cutie marks, the team is then placed in captivity, and forced to listen to a bland voice continually drone on and on about how great it is to be the same.

Attempted brainwashing as well, eh? Well, at least Twilight’s in good company. They’ll get along well, have something to bond over.

You like manipulating others thoughts? So do I!

Anyway, while trapped in the brainwash room, they have very few options.

Without their special talents, they have no way to actually escape. Applejack and Rainbow both lost their strength, Fluttershy lost her super-Blythe-powers, and Rarity lost her sense of design.

She’s not taking it well.

But it appears the one thing that isn’t lost is Twilight’s knowledge and intelligence. So she begins scheming, and by morning has a solution. A solution which all comes down to Fluttershy…

“Oh, bloody hell! We’re all doomed!” – Doctor Rush (from a different show)

You see, throughout most of the episode, Fluttershy has been raving about how nice everyone is, and how great the town is. Apparently she’s a fan of blandness. But because of that, she’s also likely to be the only one Starlight’ll believe took in the town propaganda.

So the plan is this: Fluttershy will claim to be converted, and once on the outside, will work to break her friends out. Bit nebulous, and simple, and it just makes me wonder why it took all night for Twilight to come up with it.

And as morning rolls around, it’s time for Starlight to ask our heroes if they’ve decided to join the land of the creepy.

GAH!

But of course, they refuse. And Starlight brushes it off by saying, “This is a perfectly normal part of the equalization process for those who haven’t… quite seen the light yet.”

So… she’s done this before? This isn’t the first time she’s taken a pony’s cutie mark against their will and held them captive until they agreed with her? Okay, in that case, how come there isn’t a proper resistance in this village? It also reminds me of what she said earlier:

“After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice.” – Starlight Glimmer

Well, obviously it’s not their choice, and obviously ponies did want to leave before, you just wouldn’t let them! So she’s a liar and a fraud. And we’ll learn just how much of a fraud, later.

But anyway, as I said, the gang refuses to join the pod ponies. But they do it without even trying to explain why. Without trying to convince them how horrible their philosophy is. Which is something I’m going to do now.

You see, the town seems to be based on the theory that being different causes bitterness and resentment. Which is bullshit. Being a bitter and resentful git causes bitterness and resentment. Oh sure, others being better than you at something may trigger a vein of bitterness and resentment, but that’s a problem with the bitter and resentful. If you think the solution to this is to make everyone the same, that’s like saying the solution to racism is to get rid of anyone that’s of a different race.

In fact, the racism comparison is more apt than you might think, because they are literally saying that anyone different cannot be a part of their town. This is something that has actually happened, and is, oddly enough, still going on in one South African town. However, I’m not calling Starlight racist, because A: one cannot change their race, and B: race and cutie marks are not the same thing.

But back to the whole failing-to-identify-the-root-cause-of-the-problem… problem… that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that no one in this town is good at anything. Now they do establish this in the episode. Local cuisine consists of bland muffins, and local fashion consists of beige cloaks made of sackcloth.

But this is minor. What about construction and architecture? They mention that when one joins the town, they all get together to build the newcomer a new cabin. I don’t know about you, but I would not want to live in anything anyone in this town built. Because if they don’t know anything about structural integrity those homes are likely to fall apart if someone coughs at ’em.

Also, what happens if someone gets sick? What happens if someone catches a serious bug and can’t recover on their own? What if somepony gets cancer or something? Without any doctors, they’re just gonna die. Oh, I’m sure they have someone designated as the local doctor, but they wouldn’t be any better at it than anyone else. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how to treat someone for a severe heart condition.

And look at this town. Sure, everyone’s friendly, everyone’s nice, and they seem happy; but what do they do for fun? They seem to just wander around, smiling, doing their business, saying ‘hello,’ and going back to sleep again. This is a town with no strife, no anger, and no hatred. It’s also a town with no joy, no excitement, and no fun. Everyone just exists with a level of mundane blandness every day of the week. What’s the point? What’s the point of a life like that? Not striving for anything, no goals, no ambitions. Everyday’s the same as the last. So why even continue? And their entire society is like that. Nothing’s ever going to evolve, nothing’s ever going to change. It’s just going to be. The entire town is in a state of living death.

You know what that reminds me of?

That’s right! The Cybermen! John Lumic’s Cybermen from the new series of Doctor Who. And as you can see, almost everything David Tennant-Time Lord says about the Cybermen can apply directly to Starlight’s town, which I’ve taken to calling, Stepford.

Oh, it’s needs to be a pony pun, doesn’t it? Umm… Clopford.

And the reason I call it this is because the entire town is horrifically friendly. It’s hard to explain exactly ‘how’ if you haven’t seen it. But if you haven’t, what are you doing reading this? To put it best, they act like some type of creepy hive mind. Or like they’re clones of each other. None of them seem real. It’s horrifying just how unreal everything is. And because of that I’m guessing this town was founded in the Uncanny Valley. But given how friendly they act, it actually surprises me that Fluttershy finds it so endearing. One would think, with her social anxieties, she’d be the most put off by their tenacity.

But back to the Cybermen. They’re both societies that shun individuality in favour of their idea of peace. They desire to repress the good parts of life, along with the bad. They’re societies that will never advance, in any way, ever. And they both want to spread this philosophy throughout the land, whether the population likes it or not.

The only real difference, really, is that the Cybermen are super-intelligent, and immortal. The worst that’ll happen is they’ll experience a mechanical failure, which they can repair, or replace. Can’t say that for the ponies of Clopford.

So basically, I’m saying that Starlight Glimmer is crazier and less rational than a man who wanted to have his brain cut out and placed in a robot.

But anyway, back to the episode, where everyone refuses to join their creepy commune… except Fluttershy. Which, as I mentioned, is part of their master plan. But first, before she’s accepted into the community, Fluttershy has to reveal who was part of the pseudo-resistance I mentioned earlier. The ones who claimed to be unhappy with their meaningless existence.

And now Starlight Glimmer is attempting to crush any and all dissenters. Ponies, this is the textbook M.O. of a tyrannical dictator! Why they still support her after this is beyond me.

Oh, maybe she’s not going to crush them, maybe she just wants to know because… I don’t know, reasons. Well that theory is quickly crushed when she throws one of those ponies in with Fluttershy’s friends.

Oh, don’t worry; Fluttershy didn’t grass him up. He gave himself up, and said he was the only one. Which saves Fluttershy the pain of having to do it herself, and betraying those who trusted her, or lying and saying it was some random pony who wasn’t truly involved in any of it. Yeah, that was an option I thought of, and it would be especially effective, because the pony would deny it, and Fluttershy would just say, “Oh, of course you’d say that.”

So with that swiftly dealt with. It’s smooth sailing for Fluttershy to retrieve the cutie marks from the vault, and end this. Assuming they’re still in the vault.

Yeah, this complicates things. Basically, as Fluttershy is on her way to the cutie mark vault, she sees Starlight’s chief lackey deliver the gang’s cutie marks to Starlight’s house because… I’m not really sure. She doesn’t trust the vault’s security? Then again, I don’t think the vault has any security, so that might be it. Pretty shit vault in that case.

Anyway, obviously Fluttershy can’t just nick them if Starlight’s keeping a close eye on them. And as she spies on Starlight storing them away, she notices this:

Yeah… she lied. Turns out Starlight didn’t give up her cutie mark, she faked it using water-soluble make up. And looking back, it’s actually bleedingly obvious. Mainly because she’s the only one with a unique haircut.

Yes, I counted, and with the exception of Starlight’s mane, I’m pretty sure there are only three haircuts in this town. Which I recently found out is also done in North Korea. So you know this town’s in good company.

But back to Fluttershy, and now that she has this juicy piece of information, she might finally have a plan.

Day two. And it’s time to check if our heroes have finally given in.

Well, that’s a ‘no.’

And you know what? Something just occurred to me. Why do they think this would work? Do they expect Stockholm Syndrome to kick in? If it were me, I’d say, “Alright, I accept your philosophy. You’re right, cutie marks are horrible. Now can I leave this town? Because regardless, I don’t really want to be your friend. I mean, if this is how you treat your friends, I’d rather just be alone. Plus, you’re all really creepy, and Starlight, you’re just mean.”

Not only that, isn’t their philosophy based on the idea that differing opinions cause nothing but strife? I assumed that also meant they believe ponies can’t just convince each other of anything, and everyone’s point of view is somehow etched in solid Minecraft-grade bedrock. I mean, we saw Sugar Belle at the beginning act shocked that they were agreeing after disagreeing. So why do they think anyone would be turned at any point if they weren’t there to begin with? They’re going to have to explain their philosophy in greater detail at some stage.

Anyway, to the task at hand. The only one to give up ends up being Clueless Idiot.

Apparently, he broke while surrounded by the gang of five. What with them talking about how different they were; how strong their friendship was; and how everything was lollipops, rainbows, and mint-chocolate ice cream. Yeah, I’d snap as well!

Meanwhile, Twilight also decides to join.

Okay, she doesn’t really give in. She just pretends to as a pretense to asking a few crucial questions, such as: “Are you sure no one is allowed to keep their cutie mark in this town, under any circumstances?”

Starlight confirms this, and Fluttershy appears with a bucket.

Remember, I said Starlight’s makeup was water-soluble. But it doesn’t matter, because Starlight dodges it.

You know Fluttershy, if you didn’t warn her, that could’ve worked.

But enough water splashes onto her, that at least one pony notices.

And now, with her deception revealed, she tries to talk her way out of it.

It doesn’t work, but she gives a valiant effort, mainly by mentioning that she needed her cutie mark so she could still use the magic that allows her to strip cutie marks. Turns out the Staff of Sameness wasn’t real. It was just a piece of driftwood.

However, she then says that they’d still think they were better than everyone else if it wasn’t for her being better than everyone else! Which makes her an idiot.

And now that that happened. Cue mass rebellion!

They break out the cutie marks, which then fly immediately to their original owners, restoring their special talents and hairstyles.

Yes, apparently their manes are also a part of their cutie marks.

Anyway, with everyone’s cutie marks now released, it’s over right? Well no, because Starlight still has six marks in her house.

And she is thirsty for revenge; because yes Starlight, how dare they come to your town and get kidnapped by you. Yes, it’s entirely their fault.

So, she absconds with the cutie marks, through a secret passage that leads downward from the second floor… somehow.

Cue epic chase sequence through the nearby mountains, where they have to catch up with her before she reaches the complex underground cave network. But sadly, without their marks, our heroes are useless.

So it’s up to those newly re-marked ponies to save their cutie marks. Which they do. And I’m not going to go over how, though I will say I find it quite disturbing that Party Favor appears to conjure balloons from his genitals.

So they save the cutie marks, and with our heroes restored, they finally confront Starlight personally, with Twilight bringing out her old, ‘my friends made me a princess’ speech. Alright, she doesn’t use that exact phrasing, but it’s implied; and regardless, I still find it annoying.

But of course, Starlight shoots Twilight down and says: “I gave these ponies real friendships they never could’ve had otherwise.” Which I don’t think is true. They weren’t real friendships. They were fake friendships if anything.

But then, her former chief lackey and current leader of the opposition, finally gives a better put down than anything Twilight could’ve ever mustered.

“How do you know that!? You never even gave us a chance!” – Double Diamond

Then Starlight, with no rebuttals left, makes a break for it.

So with Starlight gone, and joy finally returned to Clopford, the adventure is over. Which the ponies are informed of by this:

Yeah, everyone’s cutie mark does that for some reason, which I think is a bit heavy-handed, and fucking bizarre.

And so, with all that, the episode comes to a close, with nothing left to say but… That was amazing!

One of the best things about the episode has to be the villain. Starlight Glimmer ranks as my number one favourite villain at this stage. She has to be! No other villain has caused more damage with so little. All she had was a spell that could strip a cutie mark, and she managed to take over an entire village. She’s also not some ancient god, or ultra powerful sorcerer, or starry smoke demon, or insect queen. She’s just a pony, an average pony. And that appeals to me because we haven’t seen that before. (I know some may mention Trixie but the only time she ever did something like this was when she was under the influence of an evil Lovecraft pendant, so that doesn’t count.)

In fact, I had a similar idea for a character, which I might as well talk about here since I’m unlikely to ever actually write it. The story involves a major disaster striking across Equestria, and thousands of ponies going missing. In the end, the main villain is revealed as just an average earth pony, who was really smart, really clever, and wanted world domination. He wouldn’t have some super amazing powers on his side, just his own wits and some amazing resources. He’d be almost Bond-esque as a villain. And Starlight reminds me of that character. Not someone amazingly special, just someone who’s really clever and has big plans.

Would I describe her as ‘Bond-esque’ though? Well, let’s say ‘yes.’ But it’s been a while since I’ve seen any Bond movies so I’ll have to go back. Nonetheless, the point is, she’s not some Eldritch horror, but just an average pony; the kind our heroes might see on the street, and never otherwise take notice of. Which also makes her a bit more relatable than any other villain before her. And I’m assuming that means she has some amazing back story we’re yet to see. What caused an average unicorn to go to such lengths for such a batshit cause!? What caused her to believe in it in the first place!? My guess is that she had real friends, but either she got good at something or one of her friends did, and either they or she got jealous and resentful of the other’s success, and their friendship broke apart as a result. Of course, Starlight thought it was the success that caused the breakup, not just one of them having a shit personality. But regardless, it inspired Starlight to come up with this new utopian philosophy of conformity, and she developed the mark-stripping spell, and formed the town of Clopford.

It would make for a good story, and I really hope it means we’ll see more of this character in the future. It’s not like this show has any other recurring villains. And no, Discord doesn’t count.

And the episode over all? Loved it. Some great gags, great plot, and a great overall lesson. Of special note to me are the two instances where Twilight begins a cheesy speech about friendship, only to have Starlight shut her down.

Twilight: Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other, that’s how we-
Starlight: QUIET!!!

I loved that, because let’s be honest, those speeches, and the old Letters to Celestia, were always a bit heavy-handed. Which I guess we can excuse given that this is still a kids show, and kids are pretty stupid. But I’d like to think they’re smarter than that! Plus, they’re also boring, and irritating, and as a great man once said:

“I’d rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds.” – Jimmy McGovern

But it is a staple of the show, isn’t it? Still, I’m sure there are better ways to get their message across. Besides, Twilight’s speech about how her friends helped her learn stuff about herself or something, shouldn’t be the most important take away from this episode. The most important take away is… pretty much everything I’ve said in this piece, to be honest. But more than anything, it’s this: You shouldn’t change yourself to fit the ideals of another. Primarily because if they do ask you to do that, to put it bluntly, they’re jerks. They’re jerks who aren’t worth the time of day. Just leave them behind, they aren’t worth it.

But that aside, this episode was really good. But one of the reasons it holds significance for me specifically, is that I finally feel vindicated, since it seems they finally retconned my least favourite episode. Or at least, that’s what it seems like.

You remember Magical Mystery Cure? That was the episode that featured Twilight’s transformation into Twilight with wings. But more irritatingly, it opened with a frankly stupid plot thread where the entire gang, minus Twilight, had their cutie marks rearranged. Of course that in itself wasn’t stupid; In fact, it could’ve been pretty damn interesting. What was stupid was how it was handled; what the after effects were. See, all the cutie mark switch did was alter our heroes memories so they thought they always had that cutie mark, and the related special talent; but they didn’t actually get the talent. We had Rarity rearranging the clouds, saying she always rearranged the clouds and was amazing at rearranging clouds. Meanwhile, she was shit at rearranging clouds. Pinkie was so shit at farming Sweet Apple Acres started suffering from a blight; Fluttershy couldn’t make anyone laugh, which resulted in the entire town ending up on the brink of civil war; I think Applejack started making clothes from sackcloth (I can’t remember and can’t be asked to check); and Rainbow’s animals wouldn’t stop running amok!

Compare that to this episode, where our heroes lose their cutie marks and their memories are unaffected, but they do lose their special talents and I think part of their personalities as well.

“Laughs don’t come in barrels, they come from inside you as your body’s response to delight.” – Pinkie Pie

You know, I prefer this Pinkie.

Anyway, the point is, since this episode clearly established that cutie marks are directly connected to one’s special talent, whatever was implied by the first half of Magical Mystery Cure seems to have been rendered non-canon. And that makes me happy. I know it’s still ridiculous to be banging on about it two years later, but that episode was shit.

So I feel vindicated, because this episode feels like a response to that. But it also feels like a response to another problem I saw with Twilight’s transformation overall:

“Twilight is going to become a princess. … Is she an equal with her friends anymore? The show’s characters were always pretty balanced. They were all equals. … Now, with Twilight being the super alpha of the group, again. It sorta messes things up a bit.” – Me

And after looking at this episode… well… I think I’ve been shot down. And I have to say: Kudos! Because it was an excellent rebuttal to what I now realize was a really fucking stupid argument. Though honestly, if that was their intention, it was unnecessary, because this was already covered by the last season première, when everypony learned that Twilight being a princess doesn’t really change anything.

Nonetheless, if they intend to react to criticism in the future by writing entire episodes in response, I’ll have no problem with that. In fact, that’s probably the best way to do it. Either devoting entire episodes to the idea that the argument is bunkum, or to acknowledge the criticism and build off it. It’s much like how Five Nights at Freddy’s, the popular jumpscare game, came into being. The story goes that the game Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. was posted on Steam Greenlight, and got some heavy criticism from many people, specifically Jim Sterling, for how creepy and unnerving the characters were, when it was supposed to be a wonderfully jovial family-friendly game. In response, the creator decided to roll with it, and used the same general character designs for the enemies in a proper horror game. That’s the way to handle criticism, my friends; with dignity and humility.

Of course, he could’ve also taken an alternate route, and made a game where a beaver bludgeons Jim Sterling to death with a steel mallet, but that would’ve been much less classy I feel. Actually, it would’ve been childish and abhorrent, but I was trying to be diplomatic.

Anyway, if the writers want to keep this up, I’m all for it. And if they want to bring us more interesting villains like Starlight, I’m all for that as well.

I wasn’t kidding when I said she was my favourite villain, and I honestly hope to see more of her in future episodes, because it’s obvious her story’s not finished yet. Mainly because she managed to escape like a Batman villain, only so she could appear in a different comic later on down the line. I would also love to get some back story from her; it could even be used as part of her redemption story, where the friend she had a falling out with tries to reconcile with her, before hitting Starlight upside the head and telling her to stop being a prat!

I want to see that.