"I could write an entire essay on why Marionette is bad and why her existence is like a septic pipe filling Tamers' fandom with the worst sort of nigger brained human garbage alive"
Fuck it, to live up to my name; Marionette is one of the worst characters to've ever been put to paper and I'll explain as best as I can. Marionette's introduction first of all does not paint a good picture. Starting us off on lecture about 'sexism' and some sort of 'stallion privilege', something completely lopsided to Tamers' world(s) that was never established anytime before. This isn't to say women couldn't take on a more aggressive or front-and-center role, but Marionette makes little sense from Tamers or MLP's point of view. In MLP we follow the exploits of majority female characters, the rulers of many important nations are female, I cannot say how 'pony society' is structured in MLP because I've never watched it beyond what colleagues blab about, but frankly it doesn't appear to be a patriarchal society hidden in the wings of Canterlot. Meanwhile in Tamers' MLP we don't see the pro-male sexism present in Tamers SU property, if anything we see it balanced between the sexes if not slightly more 'matriarchal' given Celestia's homophobia which seems to lessen in the face of lesbian couples she likes. Marionette quickly establishes herself as a mouthpiece for an ideology that does not belong in Tamers' work.
Marionette also resets the tone forever from her presence. Again, this isn't to say Tamers MLP didn't do 'serious' before, but as said; "the parts we were asked to take seriously weren't overdone at the time." Marionette sets the scene for a new more 'dark' and 'serious' MLP that isn't possible (without becoming infinitely cringe) and shouldn't happen in the first place. Back to her debut episode, the last 20 minutes or so is literally nothing but a serious episode whinging about her sad upbringing and now she's 'finally' found a family or some shit.
In the next episode we see her, which is the SU-MLP crossover, she once again comes out full force with 'my tragic sad life' and it eats away at the episode like whatever cancer she's implied to have. Frankly if this were a different show, a different author, a different topic, I would probably care about Marionette struggling to find herself and trying so hard to not be a literal puppet. But that's the problem, this is Tamers MLP, written by a guy who does not do serious drama well, Marionette thankfully tones down the annoying sexism, but it seems to just spread to other characters like Glimmer. Again, we can appreciate a character who's horribly sexist, like Uncle Chuck and Mindy's dad because the sexism they have is hilarious. Uncle Chuck and Mindy's dad don't halfway lecture the audience; they turn up their actions to 11. Despite this being the second episode we watch with Marionette in it, it seems like her character has already encompassed Glimmer, making any discussion of Marionette require talking about Glimmer. Glimmer would require another essay, so on we go.
The most recent episode meanwhile tries to paint Marionette as a caring and thoughtful 'parent'? The relationship dynamics of how Marionette, Glimmer, Twilight, Flawless, and Trixie are never actually explained thoroughly and frankly I wouldn't care in the slightest, but Marionette is presented as someone who cares about Flawless. And hey the annoying no-jokes sexism is back with Glimmer and Marionette. Yay. She's boring, brings nothing to the table, and seems to exist solely to get people's attention. She's there because people see the burned pony and go 'OMG MAI WAIFU, TANK YEW TAMERZ!!1!' Despite everything she protests against about 'getting dick-havers hard' she exists to get dick-havers hard. Notably in both episodes previously she doesn't play as big a role as her debut episode, where she ate up half the run-time with her presence, but this could also be due to the fact we're having to juggle 5 or so protagonists at once. But it's about what Marionette 'releases' that I want to tackle for a bit more on this long-winded journey.
After Marionette's episode we get two very infamous episodes- even without her presence. Arenos's debut episode and the Infection movie. More heavy-handed drama, more attention-grabbing of 'LOOK THESE ARE YOU WAIFUS/FAVS, DON'T YOU LIKE YOUR WAIFUS/FAVS? LOOK AT THEM!' with sexually charged shots, with attention on their boring relationships, on their 'tragic backstories' I don't give a shit about, and I assume many of us don't either. The famed 'Hazbin-Hotel-ification' of Tamers begins with Marionette's introduction. Before hand yes there were 'serious' episodes, and just before Marionette's debut was Apple Bottom and Care Package- who were fucking annoying in thier own right, and maybe the 'HH-ification' of Tamers truly begins with them, but one cannot deny that Marionette took the lead with having her debut be less focused on jokes and absurdity and more on a 'down-to-earth' tragedy, something that is wholly incompatiable with Tamers' worlds and his style.
TLDR: Marionette
in any other setting would probably be fine, but she isn't. And thats the problem. If Marionette was as brazenly sexist as Uncle Chuck, we probably wouldn't have as many problems with her, but she isn't. If Marionette was in a different show more focused on drama like a proper soap opera or anywhere that isn't MLP Tamers, she'd be fine. And it's from Marionette we get the start of 'Nu-Tamers'. A show that's dipped in quality that has broken the proverbial red curtain for many, a show that focuses not on making people laugh but on shipfaggotry, a show that seems to revel in cringe but with all the tact and grace of previous works seemingly sapped out. Marionette isn't a character, she's an embodiment of nearly everything wrong with Tamers work now, perhaps only seconded by Apple Bottom and Care Package.