Hey, everybody! Today, I want to wish a happy birthday to Andrew Francis. He's a Canadian actor whose voiced many great characters. Like Cole and Morro from Lego Ninjago, Xander from Beyblade Burst and many more. And even though he's great, that doesn't necessarily mean I like all of his parts. Now, he didn't ruin this character. Andrew was given a script that he read and played out really well. It's just that he was unfortunately enough to have landed the part of one of the most ignorant and stupid characters I have ever had the displeasure of meeting.

Shining Armor from My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.

Rundown...

Shining Armor has served as a reoccurring character during Friendship is Magic. He's the older brother of the MC, Twilight Sparkle and the Captain of the Royal Gaurd. He rules the Crystal Empire with his wife, Princess Cadence. And he was first introduced in the Season two 2 part finally, A Canterlot Wedding. Now that we covered him, time to get into why I hate him.

Reasons...

Now, to me, I say Shining Armor literally came out of nowhere. In any of Twilight's flashbacks, we never once saw him anywhere and she never once mentioned him. We never found out about him until the episode he was introduced in. Now, you might think that alone is enough to get me to hate him, but lots of characters are introduced this way like Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek and many more. Now most of Shining Armors negative actions are overshadowed by lots of other characters wrong doings, but that doesn't mean they should be overlooked. Now in the Season two final, we're at the preparations for his wedding with Princess Cadence. Everyone was given a role where Twilight was the best mare, that's nice. Though, Cadence, who is Queen Chrysalis in disguise, has been acting very terrible and demanding towards everyone, Twilight who used to be babysat by Cadence, instantly knew something was off and she called her out in front of everyone during the rehearsal. So, the bad guy was caught and the day saved, if not for one thing. A thing where show is better than tell. Role the clip.

And this is where my hatred for Shining Armor began. Now, yes. He didn't know it wasn't Cadence, but even if that was the real Cadence, how can you just choose your bride who is treating you and everyone else like garbage over your sister who was looking out for you?! And even if she was just stressed, that is not an excuse to act the way she did. I will give Shining Armor credit for at least trying to understand why Cadence was being that way, but like I said, the reason isn't an excuse. Now, you're all probably like...

"But he was being controlled, he would've never done that if was in control."

And yes, he was being controlled. But not in that moment.

This is him when he was under control. When he said that to Twilight, his eyes were normal and he still had full control over his actions! And look at his face afterwards. He doesn't show regret or remorse for what he did, he acts like rejecting his sister was the right thing to do and he's the good guy. A good guy who acts like a little bitch when nothing goes his way! A good guy who doesn't care about the ponies in danger or the mission at hoof, he only cares about Cadence noticing him as if she's his senpai! And mind you, he was suppose to be protecting Canterlot from a threat, and instead of just moving his wedding to a different date, which would be the logical thing to do, he decides to get married while there's a threat at large. Definitely goes to show out of the two, Shining Armor got the dumb genes. But wait, there's more. So, we fast forward. Twilight comes back with the real Cadence, Chrysalis reveals herself, the Changelings attack, Celestia gets put on fraud watch, the day is saved and the wedding resumes. That's right, after everything, Shining Armor faces zero consequences for any of this! Not even five minutes in corner! Not only that, but he had the guts, the audacity, the iron steel balls to marry the mare who he couldn't tell from a bug pony creature and have Twilight as his best mare, and Shining doesn't get scolded or at least the cold shoulder from either of these two?! He doesn't deserve either of them! If I was there, this is what I would have done the second Shining got free from Chrysalis' control!

(All of Yuri's lines.)

Shout out to Yuri Briar! Say what you will about him, but I find the devotion he has towards his sister very admirable. Back on topic. I'm not saying Shining Armor should've got on his knees and begged for Twilight's forgiveness, but at least have a scene where they have a heart to heart and he apologizes for being a horrible big brother. Hell, even Discord in the Season four final was given a Redemption moment. Discord, after being reformed, was manipulated back into his old ways by Tirek and together, they drained all of the magic in Equestria, then Tirek betrayed Discord and stole his magic. Now, I'm not trying to defend Discord for betraying his friends and going back on his reformation, but at least it made sense. When he was reformed, he could have friends, but had to keep his chaotic nature under control. With Tirek, he thought he could have companionship and fully be himself and when Tirek betrayed him, it showed Discord that a true friend isn't just someone who let's you have your way, it's someone who truly cares for you. And look at how he feels afterwards.

(Skip to minute 3:30 end 4:43.)

Discord was truly remorseful for his actions and even when Twilight and Fluttershy forgave him, he still felt unworthy of it. And you know what makes it better? Him being manipulated didn't serve as an excuse for his actions, he still did them and he's still the one to blame! And to top it all off, he made up for it by giving Twilight the key to Rainbow Magic and made a promise to not only the Mane six, but to himself that he would take his reformation more seriously. And what was Shining Armor's reason for turning on his sister? He wanted to get laid! You wanna call Krillin out for not deactivating 18 and putting everyone in danger he wanted "cyborg cheeks", well this asshole literally did something similar. Now onto Season three and four, not too big, but somethings to help get another point across. In Season three, he fought against Sombra's weakened shadow form to try and protect the Crystal Empire and got his horn crystallized which nullified his magic and in the Season four final, he fought against Tirek and... roll the clip.

I'll tell you, when Tirek grabbed Shining Armor's muzzle like that and called him weak minded, he became my favorite villain. The only thing that would've made it better was if he broke Shining's jaw. These two fights alone show just how useless this guy is. Now, you could definitely make the argument that Sombra and Tirek are strong and dangerous enemies, but he didn't even put up a fight! And we're supposed to believe this guy is the strongest guard in Celestia's ranks. If you want to show he deserves his position, at least make him put up some kind of struggle! You might think how he got handled in these fights serve as a punishment for what he did, but if you compare him to Vegeta and Megumi, who definitely don't deserve the treatment they get on their shows, you can tell Shining Armor's getting off easy. Now we get to seasons five and six. Season five isn't too bad, but it just further shows the immaturity of this guy. Roll the clip...

There is no reason he should be this exciting. Now, if Shining Armor showed a little excitement and gratitude, that be okay, but he's literally acting like an 8 year old seeing the inside of a candy store for the first time, and even though I don't know how old this guy is, I'd say he's at least 30. And mind you, this is the episode where Shining surprises Twilight by revealing he knocked up Cadence, and this is the last thing I'll praise Shining Armor for. I know there are some people who like Flurry Heart, others who don't like her. For me, I edge into liking her, so as much as I hate to say it. Shining Armor, good job. Ugh, I feel like I need to wash my mouth out with soup. Now to Season six, Flurry Heart's born and is revealed that there's a rogue Changeling in the Crystal Empire. This Changeling is named Thorax and he's actually a good Changeling that defected from the hive. Spike would end up befriending Thorax and when he introduces him to Shining Armor and everyone else, well. Roll the clip...

You may be a bit lost, so allow me to explain. Spike defends and befriends a Changeling and they're acting like that's one of the worst things he could've done. Yet, Shining Armor tries to bang the queen and that's okay!? If he acknowledged that he was in the wrong for doing so in that scene, like how Zuko from ATLA acknowledge he was in the wrong for hiring Combustion-man to kill Aang in LOK, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. But he didn't, so  I'm like, "oh, okay. So it's okay for you to defend a Changeling, but when someone else does it, they're entirely in the wrong." And this is my final reason for hating Shining Armor. He's pretty much a hypocrite in this scene! And I forgot to mention it earlier, but he also had a hypocrite scene when he called Discord a traitor even though he literally gave Chrysalis the power she needed to overthrow Celestia!

Conclusion...

I hate Shining Armor just as much as Kendrick hates Drake. He is by far the worst stallion in all of MLP. Worse than Zephyr Breeze, worse than Blueblood, and definitely worse than Big Macintosh. He's immature, a brain dead idiot, pretty much a hypocrite, acts like he's something, when in reality he ain't shit. Andrew, happy birthday and I am so sorry you had to voice this guy, as Shining Armor isn't just someone I hate, he will forever be pathetic in my eyes. Shining Armor needs a Sukuna level ass beating. And one more thing, Shining Armor! If the day ever comes where someone other than me writes a story where you get put in your place, I'm grabbing a bowl of popcorn and eating away at your suffering! That's all, folks.

End of part 1.

Next up is two people...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug.

And...

Thomas Astruc the writer/director of Miraculous Ladybug.