My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: FRIENDSHIP GAMES (Warning: SPOILERS!) · 1:33am Sep 27th, 2015
Na-na-na-na-na LET'S GO!
Preface: Throughout this review, the human Twilight will be referred to as "SciTwi" for short.
In the months leading up to the movie, I've gotten used to Sunset's new look. I still prefer her old look, though, and I think that green dress/top/camisole thing is REALLY unflattering on her.
I'm still amused by SciTwi's PKE meter. Also, SciTwi has some moves when she's panicked.
The intro/credits was good. Not as good as Rainbow Rocks, but good.
SciTwi's building an ARC reactor!
Okay, so to recap what we already know from the sneak peek: The Friendship Games are coming up, CHS always loses to Crystal Prep, Crystal Prep always gives CHS grief about it, and Sunset Shimmer's been tasked with investigating magical happenings at CHS and finding a way to prevent random magic from happening during the Friendship Games so that Crystal Prep can't accuse CHS of cheating.
The biggest plothole in the first act is the CHS girls knowing about the rivalry with Crystal Prep and feeling so heated up about it when the Friendship Games only happen every four years--meaning this would be the first time they've ever gotten involved.
This movie isn't doing Flash Sentry any favors...
And here's Rainbow's big pep number!
So the events for the Friendship Games are kept secret from the students who will be competing in them until the last minute. Because that totally makes sense, right?
Sunset is doubting herself in this movie much the way Twilight doubted herself in the one before.
Meanwhile, at Crystal Prep, SciTwi is making her way through the halls, an awkward, shy girl who bumps into everyone and gets bumped around...
Cadance is the Dean of Crystal Prep, huh? Interesting.
SciTwi wants to enroll in an independent study program. Cadance doesn't think that's the best idea for her, feeling she needs to...yeah, you know, magic of friendship. Anyway, the whole reason SciTwi is determined to investigate CHS is to guarantee her acceptance in the independent study program.
SciTwi gets a melancholy number...
And Shining Armor appears! As a Crystal Prep alum. Kind of snotty, too.
Principal Cinch is kind of...stuffy and hard-faced. She's also concerned that CHS is gaining in, well...every area. Academics, athletics. She's worried that her reputation might be in jeopardy if Crystal Prep somehow doesn't crush CHS.
Principal Cinch blackmails SciTwi into competing in the Friendship Games by threatening to hold her coveted application to the Everton study program hostage pending her cooperation.
What a bitch.
Sugarcoat has the most ironic name ever.
Poor SciTwi. Her fellow students just treat her like shit. 
SciTwi's walking around the halls of CHS and everybody's greeting her by name and being friendly and UH-OH.
Flash encounter. AWKWARD.
...even Derpy knows Flash is a hopeless dork.
...Twi's device is collecting and draining Equestrian magic. That's...that's bad.
And once again, Pinkie Pie is the exposition fairy!
I loved Celestia's reaction to her exposition.
...okay so Princess Twilight just...LEFT the portal open all this time. Wat. 
...aaaaaand SciTwi apparently just sucked the portal into her little ARC reactor.
Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis can't end well.
Love the girls' party outfits. Sunset's magenta dress and maryjanes. So cute. So sexy.
Pinkie finally built party cannons!
At the big mixer party, Pinkie ponied up. SciTwi's ARC reactor sucked up her pony, then spat out a portal into what appears to be the Everfree Forest.
...Principal Cinch is a BITCH.
The Friendship Games begin with an academic and vocational competition.
...why did they put Rainbow Dash in a spelling bee?
Flash, just...just stop. This is just sad.
After the first round (the Rainbooms advance, as does SciTwi), Fluttershy consoles a mopey SciTwi. Showing kindness causes Fluttershy to pony up, and SciTwi's ARC reactor sucks up all her magic...then spits out a bunch of portals, which disgorge a jackalope that Spike starts chasing back and forth through portals. When the whole portal tag thing ends...regular Spike the Dog can talk! SciTwi COMPLETELY freaks out.
Someone's gotta get that thing away from SciTwi before something BAD happens.
I want something REALLY BAD to happen to Cinch.
The second round of the games is the Tri-Cross: Archery, speed skating, and motocross.
Rarity is prepared for EVERY eventuality.
Fluttershy and Applejack excel at archery. Apparently.
After Applejack helps SciTwi hit a bullseye, she ponies up...and the ARC Reactor From Hell sucks her dry, then starts sprouting a HUUUUGE vine.
Two Rainbooms left.
Meanwhile, Rarity and Pinkie are winning at speed skating, and SciTwi is trying to chase down her rogue reactor right across the track.
And Sunset and Rainbow are in the motocross. Sunset on a motorbike...wonder where we've seen THAT before...
The out-of-control plants growing out of the reactor take over the motocross track, and Rainbow Dash saves Sunset Shimmer after she wipes out. Sunset takes over on Dash's bike while Dash ponies up, and the vines on the track are making things...a little confused.
SciTwi approaches the Rainbooms to apologize...while Rainbow is still ponied up. Her ARC reactor sucks up Rainbow's magic, and opens a BIIIIIG portal.
And Sunset finally SNAPS and goes off on SciTwi, yelling and ranting at her about messing with things she doesn't understand and causing chaos before snapping the reactor shut and closing the portal.
When Cinch rails at Celestia about CHS's "performance enhancements", Sunset feels guilty and apologizes to Celestia. Celestia tries to reassure her, but Sunset finally expresses her true fears and anxiety:
That, when all is said and done, all of this is HER fault, for coming through the mirror in the first place and bringing Equestrian magic with her.
The final event is a find-the-flag race, but the Rainbooms' hearts are no longer in it.
Meanwhile, Cinch bullies Twilight into using the stolen magic against CHS.
Aaaaaaand we get a villain song.
Twilight gives in to the pressure from her principal and peers, unleashes the magic...
...and turns into a demon, just like Sunset did!
She starts opening portals to Equestria all over the place, destroying CHS in the process!
Sunset recovers the ARC reactor, which somehow becomes the Elements of Harmony 2.0. Sunset Shimmer transforms into a phoenix alicorn angel and seals all the portals, then battles Demon Twilight. At first, it seems she might lose...but then Spike gives Demon Twilight the puppy-dog eyes, distracting her enough for Sunset to get the upper hand! Sunset uses the magic of friendship to return SciTwi to normal.
In the aftermath, Cinch gets her comeuppance...of sorts, and SciTwi decides to enroll in CHS.
THE STINGER:
The Rainbooms and SciTwi are hanging out by the Wondercolt statue when the portal opens, spitting out Princess Twilight, who rambles an apology about why she's so late replying to Sunset Shimmer's messages, going off about being stuck in a time loop...and then screeches to a halt when she sees SciTwi. 
MY TAKE:
This one bookended the first movie nicely. Overall, I still think Rainbow Rocks was a better film than this? But this was definitely a fun watch, and I can't wait to see it again tomorrow.
And I especially can't wait to see it on BluRay in October.
Cinch created a monster, then she tried to pin it on CHS; talk about a witch. Also, mind fart at the end with both Twilights meeting up. Overall, not bad.
I'll just wait to get the digital copy and get the scenes that were cut from the T.V. version. I guess my dream was correct with how the movie would be.
3422763 Cinch, Witch, Bitch. They did this on purpose.
Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one who had such a low opinion of Ms. Cinch.
(My own mini blog sums up my thoughts on her perfectly.
)
But glad you liked it, Mythril Moth.
Yeah, Cinch was a real biddy. Honestly, if I was talking to her, and she said some of the things to me that she said in the movie, I don't know if I could resist the urge to tell her off. As in, "Shut up. Shut your fucking mouth, or I'll break it."
Sunset is a Princess now. Dieing of happiness.
This movie can be best described as a third roller coaster made with parts from the previous two roller coasters. Outside of a few new spins on the track, it still felt like a familiar ride.
Also, Wilhelm was on the roll call sheet. Again.
I love how the climax is the opposite of what happened in the first movie, and it was MUCH better than the first one. Also, Twilight slamming Spike like in the pilot (although it's arguably worse here, as he is a DOG).
This movie was the best of the trilogy, and I LOVED IT!!! It also had a better musical score (in my opinion), which is funny, seeing as how Rainbow Rocks was a musical, but whatever. I especially loved Twilight's song.
I did think that it was funny that Cinch was told: "Yeah tell the school board about you holding a students acceptance letter hostage to keep your over inflated ego still up, and all the magic people, demonic creatures, and talking dogs running about, lets just see if the men in white don't take ya to the Funny Farm." Wished the cops would've showed up but hey, beggars cant be choosers
I agree, good movie, but Rainbow Rocks is still the better, why does the sequel always do better then the third?
Anyways what caught my interest the most was Sunset's super pony-god-phoenix-angel mode. Which ever the fandom will end up calling it I would like to see the peoples' reaction to this form of Sunset. As well as their thought of Sunset being another alicorn.
I'm currently writing an analysis paper (more of a short paper) about the polar reactions between Twilight and Sunset, and their ascension. However I have no idea where to post it, or if I could even post it on this site time to check the rule book.
Pretty much my take in a nutshell.
...as much as I'd like to write a paragraph about it, I have my own blog post to write, and it's gonna be a lot of the same.
Agreed. I groaned when Hasbro pulled out the 'ol hallway bump.
"Cool, I broke her brain. "
Ehh....I don't mind her new look though I do agree I kind of miss her old clothes....certainly the jacket.
Actually I believe she absorbed Sunset's magic through the statue. How does this effect the portal? Well, maybe like you said....she absorbed that too. The other theory could be that without Equestrian magic Sunset can't access the portal.
3422781 Eeyup, and she is just a manipulator that'll do anything to get what she wants.
3422830 I think she's got a little bit left to go.
Yeah, Cinch was a real b*tch (hey that rhymes).
You know what? I think I hate her more than pony Diamond Tiara. And I hate pony Diamond Tiara A LOT!
But I actually think this movie was better than RR.
For most of the movie I was trying to decide which one I liked more, but then that song with the Crystal Prep students convincing SciTwi to release the magic came on, and that gave this movie the edge.
That final confrontation between Sunset and SciTwi secured that edge.
3423243 And I haven't even seen it yet, and I can tell that she is a bitch, and that is an insult to bitches everywhere.
I can't see it till October 13th.
3423255 I have no trouble saying that this was better than Rainbow Rocks. Rainbow Rocks, at least to me, had a really wonky pacing, and it seemed like they just dragged pony Twilight back because they were too afraid to try and stand on their own. Sunset Shimmer was the best thing about it, and I think it's safe to say, that after this movie, she's going to become everyone's new waifu (except for me, because I don't do waifus. They're nothing but trouble).
3423306 Actually, the pacing of Rainbow Rocks felt fine to me.
And while Sunset has improved greatly as a character (and she has become my new favorite EQG exclusive character), I don't think I'll ever be able to like her more than either version of Rainbow Dash.
If I had to rate it the movies:
1: Rainbow Rocks
2: Friendship Games
3: Equestria Girls
Not to say that the first movie was bad, but compared to the other two I think it could've done a lot more. That being said it was still enjoyable and helped get this part of the franchise off the ground.
Rainbow Rocks took everything from the first movie and improved it in my opinion.
And as for Friendship Games, I feel that it was entertaining and enjoyable but there were a few missed opportunities here and there, not enough to make it bad by any means but I just feel Rainbow Rocks brought more to the table in terms of development, mainly for the rival team. For a group that was supposedly built up as the anti-six, they really didn't get that much development outside from their base personalities.
Plus I'm kind of disappointed that Pony Twi didn't meet up with Human Twi until the end. There was a total missed opportunity for a joke there.
Human Twi: "Who are you!?"
Pony Twi: "I'm you from another world."
Human Twi: "But that's not scientifically possible, YOU'RE not scientifically possible!"
Uhh... Princess Twilight mentioned something about getting stuck in a time-loop. I sense Season 5 Finale spoiler.
3423265 K.
3423458 Ya never know.
Say MythrilMoth, on your post-Rainbow Rocks fics like (Mis)taken Identity or Oops! I'm Equine Again, do you plan to incorporate stuff from Friendship Games as background material? I'm not asking when you'll update or anything like that.
3423617 I'd say it's inevitable. Same thing happened with all my other EG fics after Rainbow Rocks came out.
( My opinion on the Friendship Games will be copied and posted to multiple places. Will Contain Spoilers.)
All in all, I'd say I like this movie. Sunset's character is still great and Rarity's has been really good in this and in the tv show this season. The other Human6 are good too. Sadly I'm not very good at expressing why something is good to me, so this is all I've got on why I thought the movie was good.
Now on to the bad, which I am able to express. I'll start with the small, obvious stuff.
The Crystal Prep Counterparts( or what ever you what to call them) were disappointments after the what the intro showed.
Cinch was a f**king c**t. Being a snobby bitch is one thing, but she was just too bad for no reason.
Spike the dog now talks for no damn reason. He isn't the mascot for the EQG world. Why couldn't they just make both Spikes a real boy in RainbowRocks? F**k the people in charge of that.
Cadence is the dean? That makes no sense. And she doesn't seem as close to SciTwi as their pony counterparts. Also she looks several years older that I think she should be. I like that she's buddies with Luna though.
They half-assed it with the events for the Friendship Games. The motor cross was cool, but really we all just want Sunset to have a cool motorcycle.
The masses reaction to magic. In the first and second movies, when the flashy Magic was being thrown around everyone was mind controlled. So I thought magic wasn't completely recognized and accepted, and would be something CHS talked about in whispers with people who wouldn't think they were crazy. And in public they would refer to what happed at the Fall Formal or the Battle of the Bands as the "events" or the "excitement".
But no, CHS is all cool with magic and other worlds. And apparently so is Crystal Prep. Rifts opening in the sky? Plant monsters trying to EAT People? A girl growing wings, flying, and fighting said plant monster? Talking dogs? All no big deal and quickly assimilated into their worldview.
Now the big one, SciTwi's character. Maybe it was the lab coat at the end of RR, but I thought that SciTwi would be aloof, cool, dispassionate and a person who logic is paramount. Kind of like the Vulcan from Star Trek( I think. I haven't seen much Star Trek.) Instead we get a wimp, a pushover. When SciTwi walks the halls, people should get out of her damn way! Instead she's pushed and sneered at. By the way, what is up with that? What the hell did she do to you, you little assholes?
Now for Evil Twilight. I'm not a fan. I like that SciTwi was the climatic problem, but I don't think she should have become a villain. It came out of nowhere. SciTwi wasn't shown to be mean or bitter or petty, so there was no reason for her to become evil after absorbing the magic. In my opinion, SciTwi should have experienced a magic surge like Pony Twilight did at her entrance exam. But unlike a scared little filly, SciTwi would have the will and focus not to be overwhelmed by the power. She would however, be enraptured by it and start pulling for more and "diving into the deep end", not realizing that she was hurting herself and breaking the boundary between Human world and Pony world. Then Sunset pulls her out of it with the magic of friendship.
Also, while I did really like Sunset's ascended human form, Sunset should have turned into a pony at some point after entering the light. Maybe keep flipping between pony and human. I wanted to see the Shimmercorn. And her wings better have a wicked cool phoenix motif.
I did like this movie, but as others have pointed out, the writers could have done better.
3423713 I couldn't help but notice that Abacus Cinch is kind of a parody of Atticus Finch. Just sayin'.
I'm back from FINALLY watching the movie, so I figured I can see the review now.
I didn't realize that until you mentioned it. You'd think she'd be called "Brutal Honesty" or something
And yes, Cinch is a Bitch.
Hey, MythrilMoth, I found this. It's an older version of "What More Is Out There?", and it's a duet of sorts between Sunset and SciTwi. It's from an earlier version of the script where Sunset was homesick, among other differences.
Edit: Nevermind. The video was taken down. Oh, well. It'll be on the DVD, I now hear.
3434764 Seen it over on DrakeyC's blog, but thanks
Here's something you might find amusing, MythrilMoth. Be aware that it's a GIF of over 15MB in size. As for why I'm posting it here, well, this is the best place I can think of to do so.
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