Alexlayer 
Eternal Flame
@Ilikeponywigs
I don’t even really know, to be honest. With Flash, I never had much of a problem with the character itself, since the guy is by no means unlikable. The real issue is what he is to the writing and how he’s been conceptualized. He’s about the blandest concept of a male love interest, mixing in about two and half stereotypes to attempt to make as widely appealing as possible, but ultimately only make him incredibly generic, and at best he’s just someone that you can project on (which tends to be horrible for fanfiction since then it’s not too different from a generic/bland OC).
On top of that, even today, you could totally remove him from all four movies, and nothing plot relevant would be lost. This is by no means helped by the way Twilight’s attraction to him feels either superficial (aka, attracted to him by his good lucks), or downright arbitrary (meaning, because the writing says so), one of which doesn’t fit how Twilight has been presented so far, and the other being just plain bad writing.
And then there’s Timber, whom you can tell that the writers tried to give more personality, which yeah, on itself, it’s a good thing and I respect the intention, but the execution is atrocious, largely evidenced by the fact that the Timbertwi tag still has less than 200 contributions in this website (specially since, this being a Canon ship, many of those “contributions” are just screencaps).
While presented as “charming”, Timber’s presentation either falls in “trying too hard to be cool”, or completely disconnected from what’s actually currently considered as cool. His own attraction to Twilight seems to happen just cause, or for downright creepy reasons (since it can be seen like he went for her because she was clearly the “easiest” target), and his way of flirting with her is largely just bragging about himself (which just screams inner insecurities), making him seem pretentious on top of all. The only trait they share in common - that they’re both nerds - feels also arbitrary, since it doesn’t connect with Timber’s character in any meaningful way. Why is he a nerd, anyway? Is he actually interested in any science fields? Is he aiming to pursue a career in such fields? Or what? Why is he a know-it-all nerd? The only real answer is so that he can flirt with Twilight and catch her attention in a way that’s more credible than just “good lucks” (specially since I’m not sure how many would actually deem his design as “attractive”). And on top of ALL that, what’s a camp supervisor doing flirting with a student under his charge? Even if he is really that close to her in age (the novel claims he’s a teenager, at least), that’s just creepy.
And like with Princess Twilight, Sci-Twi’s characterization just suffered from this forced plot tumor as well, since she switches back and forth between being traumatized because of Midnight Sparkle and triggered by anything magic related, to gushing over this guy who’s just giving her attention. So she’s either incredibly thirsty, or concerningly disingenuous.
And again, you could remove him from Legends of Everfree and nothing of value would be lost (and if anything, Twilight’s character wouldn’t seem so inconsistent), maybe not so easily, but you could in turn merge his character into Gloriosa, making one well-rounded character out of her rather than two half-assed ones, with the “romance” replaced by just a bonding experience between Twilight and Gloriosa as they become friends (aka, the theme of the freaking franchise!), who happen to feel a connection to each other because they’re both facing struggles that they can both relate to, even if they don’t fully understand why (and then go, surprise! It’s because just like Twilight did before, Gloriosa is messing with magic in ways that she shouldn’t), and wow, wouldn’t Gloriosa just be that much more interesting then, and the confrontation against her much more meaningful, as Twilight comes to face not just her, but her own fear of her own magic for the sake of saving her new friend from going down the same path and suffer the same consequences?
The only thing of arguable value that could be lost there is actually perhaps the only good thing about Timber’s character: His concern for Gloriosa, which is actually nice and about the only thing that got me rooting for him at one point, but even then… dude, if you’re so concerned about your sister, what are you doing chasing a pretty girl when your focus should be somewhere else!? So bottom line, not only does Twilight’s characterization suffer because of this shitty romance, but so does Timber’s.
And as if that wasn’t enough, his subsequent appearances have only served to highlight how disconnected he and Twilight are, one time illustrated by a date that just wasn’t enjoyable until Fluttershy’s gift saved the mood, suggesting this relationship can’t sustain itself, and further implied by the short that highlights that Twilight apparently can’t even properly communicate with him without the help of her friends, so at this point, it feels like Legend of Everfree was a trainwreck, and now we’re just watching Hasbro drag said trainwreck through rails it can no longer run through for the sake of reaching some imaginary finish line, when they’d be far better off just leaving it all behind.
On a personal level, I know I dislike Timber far more than Flash, and on observation, tags and fan content would suggest the fandom at large doesn’t favor him either. Ultimately, though, which one you feel is worse is up to your own judgment.
I don’t even really know, to be honest. With Flash, I never had much of a problem with the character itself, since the guy is by no means unlikable. The real issue is what he is to the writing and how he’s been conceptualized. He’s about the blandest concept of a male love interest, mixing in about two and half stereotypes to attempt to make as widely appealing as possible, but ultimately only make him incredibly generic, and at best he’s just someone that you can project on (which tends to be horrible for fanfiction since then it’s not too different from a generic/bland OC).
On top of that, even today, you could totally remove him from all four movies, and nothing plot relevant would be lost. This is by no means helped by the way Twilight’s attraction to him feels either superficial (aka, attracted to him by his good lucks), or downright arbitrary (meaning, because the writing says so), one of which doesn’t fit how Twilight has been presented so far, and the other being just plain bad writing.
And then there’s Timber, whom you can tell that the writers tried to give more personality, which yeah, on itself, it’s a good thing and I respect the intention, but the execution is atrocious, largely evidenced by the fact that the Timbertwi tag still has less than 200 contributions in this website (specially since, this being a Canon ship, many of those “contributions” are just screencaps).
While presented as “charming”, Timber’s presentation either falls in “trying too hard to be cool”, or completely disconnected from what’s actually currently considered as cool. His own attraction to Twilight seems to happen just cause, or for downright creepy reasons (since it can be seen like he went for her because she was clearly the “easiest” target), and his way of flirting with her is largely just bragging about himself (which just screams inner insecurities), making him seem pretentious on top of all. The only trait they share in common - that they’re both nerds - feels also arbitrary, since it doesn’t connect with Timber’s character in any meaningful way. Why is he a nerd, anyway? Is he actually interested in any science fields? Is he aiming to pursue a career in such fields? Or what? Why is he a know-it-all nerd? The only real answer is so that he can flirt with Twilight and catch her attention in a way that’s more credible than just “good lucks” (specially since I’m not sure how many would actually deem his design as “attractive”). And on top of ALL that, what’s a camp supervisor doing flirting with a student under his charge? Even if he is really that close to her in age (the novel claims he’s a teenager, at least), that’s just creepy.
And like with Princess Twilight, Sci-Twi’s characterization just suffered from this forced plot tumor as well, since she switches back and forth between being traumatized because of Midnight Sparkle and triggered by anything magic related, to gushing over this guy who’s just giving her attention. So she’s either incredibly thirsty, or concerningly disingenuous.
And again, you could remove him from Legends of Everfree and nothing of value would be lost (and if anything, Twilight’s character wouldn’t seem so inconsistent), maybe not so easily, but you could in turn merge his character into Gloriosa, making one well-rounded character out of her rather than two half-assed ones, with the “romance” replaced by just a bonding experience between Twilight and Gloriosa as they become friends (aka, the theme of the freaking franchise!), who happen to feel a connection to each other because they’re both facing struggles that they can both relate to, even if they don’t fully understand why (and then go, surprise! It’s because just like Twilight did before, Gloriosa is messing with magic in ways that she shouldn’t), and wow, wouldn’t Gloriosa just be that much more interesting then, and the confrontation against her much more meaningful, as Twilight comes to face not just her, but her own fear of her own magic for the sake of saving her new friend from going down the same path and suffer the same consequences?
The only thing of arguable value that could be lost there is actually perhaps the only good thing about Timber’s character: His concern for Gloriosa, which is actually nice and about the only thing that got me rooting for him at one point, but even then… dude, if you’re so concerned about your sister, what are you doing chasing a pretty girl when your focus should be somewhere else!? So bottom line, not only does Twilight’s characterization suffer because of this shitty romance, but so does Timber’s.
And as if that wasn’t enough, his subsequent appearances have only served to highlight how disconnected he and Twilight are, one time illustrated by a date that just wasn’t enjoyable until Fluttershy’s gift saved the mood, suggesting this relationship can’t sustain itself, and further implied by the short that highlights that Twilight apparently can’t even properly communicate with him without the help of her friends, so at this point, it feels like Legend of Everfree was a trainwreck, and now we’re just watching Hasbro drag said trainwreck through rails it can no longer run through for the sake of reaching some imaginary finish line, when they’d be far better off just leaving it all behind.
On a personal level, I know I dislike Timber far more than Flash, and on observation, tags and fan content would suggest the fandom at large doesn’t favor him either. Ultimately, though, which one you feel is worse is up to your own judgment.
