So, I kind of really hate the character of Discord in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. For the longest time I assumed the reason for that hate was just fan-scorn as I used to ship Dislestia back in the day and that ship didn’t happen. Anyway if you know anything about later season FiM you know that (implied) Fluttercord happened instead and I just presumed for the longest time that it was me being pissy at that that was the reason I hated Discord. And, I guess, in a way, it is…but I hate Fluttercord and Discord as a character for reasons that go beyond that fan shipping pettiness.

Nowadays I hate Fluttercord for Fluttershy’s sake rather than Celestia. ‘Canon!Dislestia’ is dead to me and Fluttershy deserves SO MUCH BETTER because I find seasons 3-9 Discord utterly loathsome and annoying. There really isn’t anyone to blame for that, of course. Writers liked Discord and wanted Discord in their show and also he was a fan favorite that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Cope.

But to TL;DR for a second: it’s very obvious they did not know what to do with this character at first, and then by the time they DID know what they wanted to do with his character it REALLY wasn’t done well.

All the beats they wanted to happen for Discord’s character: him realizing he doesn’t mind Fluttershy and suddenly really wants her as a friend but is clingy, possessive and not good at not causing chaos → betrays her because of insecurities but then gets betrayed himself and makes up for it somehow → slowly befriends the other mane 6 and others → evolving into his true form of ‘problematic reality warping friend’; all of that is great ON PAPER.

In execution, especially among the billion other things the series felt like cramming into single episodes or storylines, it fell apart. The episodes “Discordantly Conduct” and “Make New Friends but Keep Discord” should have happened in season 4 BEFORE his betrayal, as it would have shown Discord as both a potential ally and still also a powerful nuisance. It would have been a good set up but they didn’t do that. They did all that AFTER the fact. And no, that’s not some genius level writing cuz it’s in ‘reverse’ or something so lol ‘chaos’ -it’s just bad writing.

I hated Discord after he betrayed Fluttershy and the show felt like really delving into their friendship after the fact and forgiving Discord for that. It bothered me almost as much as the complaint that Fluttershy’s problem is that her ‘plot points always repeat themselves’ as if that critique doesn’t apply to ALL the mane six; Flutters deserves better. Discord’s face-turn had all the right pieces in place, but it was all so badly executed.

I get tired of other MLP fans my age thinking that because there are badfaith actors calling out those problems with the show you, have to support the writers and Hasbro NO MATTER WHAT THEY WRITE. Nah. I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to pester the writers like it’s their job to do what I want, but it doesn’t mean I have to like the show and all their decisions.

With Friendship is Magic being over six seasons and like five movies longer then the stuff I actually liked in season 1-3, I can’t honestly call myself a ‘fan’, I don’t think. Discord sucks and he deserved better writing than what the show did for him.

Here's slight rewrite!Fluttershy giving her new friend a hug for giving Angel back his loooooongedness that he missed so much from "Return of Harmony".


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