...do I hate Equestria Girls? · 4:41pm Sep 4th, 2015
The other day, I was in a chat with a good friend of mine. She's a big fan of the Equestria Girls, particularly of Rainbow Rocks because of its presentation of Sunset Shimmer's redemption, and because of the Sirens. However, when I lamented in-chat that Sunset Shimmer would be an Equestria Girls-exclusive character, and then she commented that she prefers it that way... that's when the dam broke.
Sunset Shimmer is best human-shaped pony
I started to lash out, saying that she was essentially saying that Sunset Shimmer would die in the human world without ever seeing her mentor ever again, without ever properly apologising. I started to rant and rave about the fact that it's criminal that Sunset Shimmer, the fallen pupil of Princess Celestia, should have her potential wasted on what is effectively a high-school prom drama, rather than some genuine magical epic. She made it clear that if Sunset chooses to stay in the human world with her friends, it's her choice. I laid down the gauntlet, saying that a magical threat could arise that will definitely destroy one world or the other. Not choosing one means that both will be destroyed. No other options. That way, Sunset Shimmer can keep her human world friends, and be a pony at the same time.
That's when it became clear that I'd driven my friend to tears.
She was so incredibly distraught that I would throw an entire world under the bus just because I don't like the Barbie-girl look to Equestria Girls that she was actually crying for me.
Suffice it to say that at that point I stopped arguing altogether.
Sunset Shimmer could be best pony
It goes deeper than this, though. It goes beyond just not liking the designs. They could be the most original human designs I've ever seen, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that Equestria Girls is effectively a "My Little Pony" In Name Only production. There are practically no ponies to be seen anywhere, everyone is a pastel human, and the only reason we have it is because Hasbro is like "Oh hey, bronies do human fanart, that must mean they want a human pony movie~".
*sigh*
There are a myriad more interesting ways that they could have tackled the "ponies as humans" storyline other than 'high-school prom drama'. College, workplace, country... heck, they could've just had the Humane characters stuck in a ramshackle cul-de-sac in the middle of nowhere and it would've worked. Ed Edd N Eddy made it work for six seasons, four specials, and a movie.
And for God's sake, they could've made it work, without shoehorning in a watered-down high-school love triangle. Twilight Sparkle has shown hitherto zero interest in romance, so it strains credulity to have her suddenly swooning over a cookie-cutter high school cute-bottom whose only defining feature is that he's the first guy in the school who's shown a proclivity for music (which, as of Rainbow Rocks, means nothing now that practically everyone in the school does music). Having Sunset Shimmer be a part of that love triangle just makes it ache more; she's let herself fall down to such mundanity since leaving the tutelage of Princess Celestia? Even after her redemption, she still favours using human terminology like "can't put my finger on it" to any sort of equestrian equivalence. I was legitimately shocked in the first pre-Friendship Games short when Sunset referred to having 'hooves'; it's like "Wait, what? Hasbro is actually acknowledging that Sunset Shimmer was born a pony? Is this the Rapture?".
Sunset Shimmer will not be an anorexic human in The Elements of Friendship
I still don't forgive myself for making my friend cry, but my thoughts on Equestria Girls and its stranglehold on the character of Sunset Shimmer has not changed. I don't like the cookie-cutter Barbie-doll look of 98% of the cast of EqG, I feel like the character (minus Flash Sentry) and story ideas are wasted on high-school proms and band battles and sports festivals. I mean, come on, Hasbro. Aren't ponies more original than humans? Let Sunset Shimmer's insurrection stay in Equestria; give her a band of rebels who have a semi-legitimate cause to throw down Celestia; let her be the head of her own Red Lotus (see: Legend Of Korra Book 3 for more details). Show the Sirens as disguising themselves as ponies, dividing Equestria in twain with their hypnotic tones. Have the Shadowbolts come back and darken Equestria, under the thrall of the Pony of Shadows attempting to bring about NightMare Moon's Second Coming. It's borderline criminal that the first feature-length movies for Friendship Is Magic should force the ponies through human-shaped cookie cutters, and that it should, for one pony at least, seem like it's bound to be a one-way street.
I don't say that Sunset Shimmer should go back to Equestria because I don't care for her or her friendships. I do care for that. Believe me, I'm glad that she's managed to turn around as she did from being such a Card-Carrying Villain in the first movie. But, again, it seems to be terribly wasted potential to make her an Equestria Girls exclusive. Would it not be a genius stroke, Hasbro, to have Sunset Shimmer appear in a two-parter for Friendship Is Magic, as a way to cross-promote Equestria Girls for the little Barbie-doll-collectors who didn't catch it yet? I mean, the fallen student of Princess Celestia? What kind of epic story potential could that carry? Oh wait... no, it's just a high-school prom drama.
I guess, in the end, I think that stories about pastel ponies talking and acting like people and dealing with epic magical conflicts are more intrinsically interesting than stories about pastel people with mundane issues like proms and band battles that have magical issues shoehorned in.
Sunset Shimmer will be a Unicorn in The Elements Of Friendship, Book IIIS
I still hate that I made my friend cry over a moot issue. But I still think that Sunset Shimmer could do with more pony representation in official material. Make it a five-second scene in Friendship Games where she reconciles with Celestia, face-to-face. I don't care. I just want to know that she's not going to go to her very human grave without having ever made up with her teacher.
No humans in The Elements Of Friendship
AF
Not to be insensitive but your friend was a little bit overly emotional.
But for EqD yeah i too dont like it the whole thing reeked of badly written cash grab so hasbro could bring out barbie dolls for little girls. I mean the plot holes in it are big enough so you could drive a bus through it in the movie. Alone the age differences...
3369288
Well, this friend of mine (who will remain unnamed for the sake of her anonymity) has anxiety issues, and she doesn't like getting into arguments with her friends. It's now gotten to the point that I can't even be passive-aggressive about Equestria Girls without her saying STOP. I have pointed out the plot holes in conversation with her, and she wouldn't hear any more lambasting of EqG. Sunset Shimmer is one of her favourite protagonists, and Adagio Dazzle her favourite antagonist, so I can understand her trepidation with criticising EqG too heavily. But still, I wish that I could vent more substantially...
3369503 Well there are many people in the net who share your views if you dont know someone in RL find someone in the VL so for that.
Like i said in my last comment i share your views on the EqG Movies. Well we have to look forward to the first real MLP Movie which is in the making if have seen that right on the MLP wiki