Commencing reaction report.
 
Initiating d’awwing sequence in t-minus 3 seconds.
 
…
 
D’aawwww.
 
Report concluded.

@Millennial Dan  
Just to squeeze in commercials so we’ll be forced to buy more from Hasbro. >_>
 
Same deal happened when that Zoroark movie aired on Cartoon Network the first time, scenes were cut. The Pokemon Company was PISSED.

@HighRollerHydra  
A short movie made even shorter!

@Millennial Dan  
I’m more annoyed that Trixie’s scene was cut from the TV airing.

@JeremyStorm  
I have often said that if anything bugged me about the movie, it’s that it was too short. Seventy-two minutes just isn’t quite enough to get all that deep into things, at least not with no less than nine prominent characters running around.

@HighRollerHydra  
Indeed there is.
 
@Millennial Dan  
I don’t actually dislike the guy. I have no problems with the Flashlight ship existing. I just thought it was disappointing that the first real romantic endeavor on the show involved someone so nonexistent. It could have been so easily remedied, too.  
Just give them a scene where they actually talk. He could have played her a song, or something. Easy to slip in, and would have gone a long way to establishing some sort of rapport between them.

@JeremyStorm  
Somehow, I think you’re just being overly negative about the dude. What did we need, anyway, the most outstanding cartoon character of our generation? That’d be nice and all, but it’s asking a bit much.

@JeremyStorm  
There’s always fanfics.

@Starswirl  
I don’t feel I ever amended my opinion of him in the slightest. He has no personality. We know a few quirks about him, but none of those things beyond him being a generic decent guy are personality traits. Quirks about him, sure, but nothing that says anything as to what type of person he is.  
And of course no one really talked about Big Mac. He has very little personality either. But he’s a side character, one used to fill in the gap in the background with a red pony. He’s never been a major character. His personality has never been terribly important.  
Flash was a romantic interest. I just think that having some idea who he is as a person would be nice, because otherwise he could have been replaced by a brick wall and the movie wouldn’t have changed.

@JeremyStorm  
Don’t you find it strange that you have to amend your position? I mean, first it was “zero personality”, then it was “yeah he like music, but nothing else”, then “yeah, he likes music, he can be a clutz, and a decent guy, but other than that..”
 
Flash Sentry had more characterisation than Big MacIntosh during his first and second appearance in the series (Friendship is Magic and Applebuck season), yet I don’t remember people going to such lengths to argue he was bland.

@Millennial Dan  
I wasn’t being negative. I actually support FlashLight, and I’ve grown fond of Princess Twilight…and I actually liked Equestria Girls. (especially with Trixie’s cameo ♥)

@WinterCutieMark  
Pastel pony psychological profiling…
 
Pass me some of those popcorn.

@Turbotowns  
I don’t know but I’m liking it.  

@HighRollerHydra  
Now now, no need to be negative. Don’t forget, we’re all only here to pursue our interest in cute little pastel ponies anyway.

@Turbotowns  
People just have nothing better to do.

@JeremyStorm
 
@Background Pony #94F8  
When did this comment thread become a “Think-Tank” about who Flash Sentry is?

How can one be THAT specific in degrees?

My heart’s gonna pop.

I’m making a note here: Huge Success.

@JeremyStorm  
I didn’t say he was a “complete” klutz, only slightly one. His traits are all like that; kind of minute, and not very over the top, and that’s one of the things I liked about him. Subtlety is something I’ve always looked for in FIM.
 
But in the final analysis, the movie wasn’t about him. He had a supportive role in a very short movie, and it worked for me. I thought his moments with Twi were cute.
 

 
To speak entirely in speculation for a moment, I bet one thing that could really plunge their (potential) relationship into interesting waters is if we are not only given more info about him, but if we also get see him learning the truth about Twilight. How would he respond to that? How could he? Would he instantly surrender to the fact that it’d never work out, or would he try to find a solution? I doubt they’ll attempt a story like that, but I wish they would.

@Background Pony #94F8  
Okay, yeah, he eats lunch with other kids that play instruments. That still doesn’t say much. Why does he play? What interests him about music? Is it even important to him, or just something he does for fun?  
And okay, he walked into a door that one time. I don’t remember it, but I won’t argue it didn’t, because it probably did. But yeah, walking into a door one time totally makes someone a complete klutz. Yup.  
Again, I just don’t feel like any of this actually defines who he is. It’s just generic romantic interest cliches so they didn’t have to give him an actual character.  
But this is getting pointless, because we’re never going to agree.

@JeremyStorm  
>He may be passionate about music, or he may just play to impress the chicks.
 
That’s why I specified who he hangs out with. He’s not just a cool loner with a guitar, he’s part of a vibrant musical group.
 
As for him being a little clumsy, you couldn’t have forgotten that amusing moment when he walked right into a closed door, or the fact that he wasn’t exactly Don Juan in his invitation to the Formal. Twilight had made him a little preoccupied, which goes against the classification of him as a “Ken” type, really.
 
By far, your most unwarranted claim is that the interactions between him and Twilight are “lifeless”. Even allowing for opinion and bias, that’s pretty bad.

@Jarkes  
I looked into Shining Armor. Pretty much loved him as the brother he was from the get go. I always saw his late introduction to the show at the end of season 2 as a way of showing us how estranged Twilight has become with her own brother. That empty feeling of who this pony was was also felt by Twilight, who we could see barely knew him at the point of singing “BBBFF”.
 
It’s also a convenient plot device, but I prefer my version.

@Background Pony #94F8  
He plays guitar, but we have no idea why. He may be passionate about music, or he may just play to impress the chicks. That’s a hobby, not a personality trait.  
I will admit he does seem like a laidback person. But again, its hard to be sure.  
I don’t really know why you say he’s a klutz. Nothing stands out in memory that really supports that. And having cash isn’t a personality trait either. Being a hardworker is, but you admit that we don’t know that. He just has a nice car.  
So, I still reiterate that we know nothing about him as a person. We don’t really know how he interacts with others, because he pretty much hasn’t beyond Twilight, and even that was generic and pretty lifeless and said nothing about who he is as a person.