Friendship Games review (spoilers, duh) · 12:44am Oct 2nd, 2015
Disclaimer: I've never done this before and it's doubtful I ever will again. Just as a note, if you liked this movie, if you're a fan of Sunset Shimmer, Great! I'm not trying to change your opinion, or say you're wrong and I'm right. I wouldn't want to do that anyway. Ignore this blog post and move on. And have no worries as it's doubtful I'll ever do another one of these. I also understand that negatively is generally met with more negativity. I will make no friends doing this and odds are good I'll lose followers by writing these words. So why am I doing it you ask? Well, the screaming monkeys that live in my brain will not shut the fuck up about it. I can't stop thinking about this fucking movie and I'm hoping that by putting my thoughts to words, I can move past it.
Spoiler: I didn't like this movie.
Second spoiler: I don't like Sunset Shimmer. To me she's the writers way of saying "Don't like alicorn Twilight? Our bad, here's a replacement."
Third spoiler: I give this movie a 4.5 out of 10.
That's kinda high for someone that didn't like it you say? Yes, I'll get to that later.
Okay, it's impossible to talk about this movie without first discussing all the other ones and the 'star's' role in each of them. However, I'm not here to go into great detail of the old movies.
Equestria Girls: 5.5 out of 10
This movie came out when I got into MLP. I liked it first time I saw it. However, it's flaws are many and as such it's become something of a guilty pleasure of mine. There are many faults, all of which I acknowledge, but I can still turn my brain off and enjoy it. Plus it has by far the most catchiest song in all three movies. The cafeteria song.
However, this movie is where we're introduced to two bland characters. The first being brad, whatever. The second was the movie's villain, Sunset Shimmer. She serves as the movie's main antagonist with a dumb plan and an I'm evil because I'm evil trope. Like I said, not going to go deep into it, as the movie's flaws are well documented. Suffice to say, macguffin, friendship cannon, made good, end. This has always been a sticking point for me, people say they love the redemption story, but she didn't redeem herself, she was redeemed. There's a difference, she was MADE good by the friendship cannon, she didn't realize she was wrong and change. It basically mindfucked her and made her into a new character. (Salty view I know)
As a villain, I found her uninteresting and she fell flat. The movie was a bad remake of the first two episodes.
Rainbow Rocks: 7.5 out of 10
I enjoyed this movie. It was fun, energetic, had great songs (albeit none as good as the cafeteria song) and all in all made for a good ride. Does it have it's faults? Sure. What movie doesn't? But still great for a re-watch.
I forget where I heard it, but I was told (somewhere) that when they created the plot, Sunset Shimmer was never meant to be in it. She added later because of how popular she (somehow) became. I didn't believe this at first, as I never saw her as all that popular. Then when I re-watched the movie with an analytical eye, I saw it. Sunset truly has three plot points she contributes to the movie.
1. She has the 'text' book.
2. She sees them fighting each other under the stage when Twi is holding her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth.
3. She helps in the final song.
Other than those three, she's an observer at best. Here's the problem.
1. Her keeping the book was 100% against her characterization from the first movie. Can you say contrivance?
2. Twi not seeing it, that made no sense. The Princess of Friendship should have spotted that.
3. She only had to help, because they didn't bring ammunition for the friendship cannon. In other words, she had to help, because the plot said she had to, to give her a role, a purpose in the movie.
Because you know what I really wanted to see from an MLP movie? The main character from the show appear, be absolutely worthless (rocking back and forth under the stage with her knees held to her chest), and then get upstaged by a movie-only character!
What? Just me?
Oh, wait, I didn't want to see that either...
My brother used to go to RMCAD Rocky Mountain Collage of Art and Design. When I visited one day, I saw a sign saying perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Change the contrivance of the 'text' book to something else, have Twi see them fighting each other, arm friendship cannon, and Sunset would have no role in the movie. You could write her out of it, and have the same movie.
So as a background/side character, she fell flat.
And yet... somehow got more popular.
Which brings us to this... let's call it a movie. Just to be nice...
Friendship Games: 4.5 out of 10.
SciTwi: Human Twilight
PoTwi: Pony Twilight
Midnight Sparkle: Twilight corrupted
Daydream Shimmer: Sunset shimmer empowered.
Macguffin: SciTwi's magical stealing, tech pendent.
Full disclosure, the day before watching the movie I saw a picture of Midnight Sparkle. And my first thought was 'I hope this isn't a bad repeat of the first movie with Sunset reforming Twi.' Spoiler: It was.
Okay first thing i saw the movie streamed on YouTube. Due to a poor internet connection I went through 2 laptops, an apple tv, and an iPad before finally watching it on my iPhone airdropped to the apple tv. It took me 2 and a half hours to watch an 80 minute movie. I've seen the movie one time, I doubt I'll ever watch it again, and I'm only going off those memories. So if I screw something up, got it wrong, or mix up the order, you know why.
I want my time back.
The first thing they did was the 'recap', where they retconned Sunset's character to realize she was in the wrong before the friendship cannon hit her. There are many, many, many things I'll buy movie, demon shimmer realizing she's wrong, that's not one of them. Way to drop the ball before the movie even begins.
The movie itself starts with an introduction to SciTwi. She has some ghost buster like shit and is examining the portal. Sunset spots her and chases after her. SciTwi easily outruns Sunset and boards a very convenient timed buss. Yeah... first problem. Who knows an in shape science nerd? Miner detail, whatever.
We then see Rainbow calling an emergency meeting for a guitar string. Yeah... isn't she the lead guitarist?
The girls start to pony up when they display their elements. Okay, that's cool.
Cutting back to Scitwi we're introduced to Cadance and Shining Armor, Cadance is the dean, but not the one in charge... umm... what?
Shining Armor is shown with a stick in his ass, gives SciTwi no love, no respect for the fact that even if school spirit is important, maybe she doesn't want to do it?
Sigh... Cadance, pull the stick out of his ass. Kinky sex is fine, but if you leave shit like that in there it might cause infections and loss of personality.
Then we get Cinch. The movie's antagonist and actual villain. She has the same trope as Sunset from the first movie (I'm evil because I'm evil) Why? Who da fuck knows. Why wasn't it Sombra? Would Sombra have made more sense? Who knows, and yes.
After being blackmailed, SciTwi goes to join the games, but first! She invents a random macguffin out of science stuff that can track, and capture, magic! How? Who da fuck knows.
Then SciTwi goes and meets the other mane 5.5. Where we see her confused but hitting it off with everyone. She obviously doesn't understand how everyone knows her name, but like a good scientist, is determined to find out! Kidding, she blows it off.
All the kids get together for a welcome party, where pinkie pony up. Then SciTwi's macguffin, by itself, opens up and steals her magic. How? Why? Who knows.
At this point, SciTwi knows she has an odd device around her neck that is doing things she doesn't want it to do. So she takes it off for study later. Kidding! She blows it off.
Later, Sunset is wondering why PoTwi hasn't written her back. She goes out to the portal with SciTwi on the other side and places her hand upon it. Where it starts reacting to her hand. Does this mean Sunset can cross through at any time? It didn't seem that way, but... who knows. I'd like to think if that was the case she would've just went and gotten PoTwi. Anyway, with the portal reacting to Sunset's touch, it starts being magical, and then that magic get's stolen by macguffin.
Now, SciTwi definitely knows it's acting strange and takes it off so it doesn't do anything else she doesn't want it to do! Nope, she keeps wearing it.
This is where I started having real issues with tech, so my memory is a little fuzzy.
Next thing I remember is a pet party with Fluttershy and SciTwi. It was rather cute and enjoyable. Then Fluttershy pony up and SciTwi's macguffin stole her magic right in front of them both. Leaving Fluttershy drained and SciTwi scared. Now that it's hurt someone directly in front of her, SciTwi takes it off? Nope.
SciTwi then goes and talks to her dog while examine macguffin. It gets open and portals start appearing, (she stole the portal's magic) through the portal threatening vines come out and Spike attacks one to get pulled through and come out another being able to talk. Panicking, SciTwi closes the macguffin which closes all the portals.
Why can Spike now talk? What purpose does it serve the plot. I can only hope some, otherwise, it's was just done to get the voice actor a paycheck. (Spoiler, it serves none)
So... now SciTwi knows the macguffin is FLAT OUT DANGEROUS. It has mutated her dog, and threatened her life. She definitely quits wearing it around her neck, at least, right? NOPE. She's got a program she wants to go to! So she puts the proven dangerous macguffin back on her neck.
From here we enter the really dumb part of the movie. Motorbikes!
What school can afford insurance for their students to operate these things? Ehh, not a big deal, I can get over it, besides, it looks cool!
It start with an archery comp where we get a touching moment between SciTwi and AJ. AJ shows loyalty to a friend, honestly to her opponent, and valor in doing the right thing (This is coming from me, and if you know me, you know AJ is my least favorite). I loved this moment. Then AJ pony up, get's her magic stolen despite SciTwi trying to stop it. The result is macguffin gets dropped and opens up. This releases carnivorous plants that almost eat SciTwi's teammate. RD saves Sunset, pony up, stops the plant. Only to get magic stolen as well.
At this point, the games are over. Someone almost died, and Principle Celestia cancels the game because it's not worth anyone's life. SciTwi realizes macguffin is a bomb around her neck and removes it from the area ensuring that no one else may lose their life. HAHAHAHA!!!! Then we wouldn't have had a movie.
Nope, instead we get Sunset bitching out SciTwi. (pot/kettle have you met?) and SciTwi running away.
Cinch says 'The games will continue!' Because this is medieval times or something and who cares if a teenage girl almost died. 'Almost' doesn't count. Celestia agrees... why? who da fuck knows. Personally after that, I'd concede the fucking games, it's not worth it if lives are on the line.
Which brings us into the final act. Cinch knows macguffin's dangerous, SciTwi knows macguffin's dangerous, her TEAM knows macguffin's dangerous, the teammate that almost DIED knows it's dangerous, but they all say open it. SciTwi does so with her last words being, "I want to understand." When something happens seconds after it's foreshadowed, that's not foreshadowing it.
This is total bullshit. Not once in the movie does it show SciTwi as a 'lives don't matter' type person. Say what you will about her being a shut in, influenced by Cinch, this is bull. She's shown as a kind heart, she's shown as a nice person that cares about others despite being all of that. Yet, at the end, she presses the button on the bomb she knowingly wore around in her neck.
Fucking no.
just no.
Then, SciTwi is corrupted by the magic of friendship.
Wait...
Twilight Sparkle, is corrupted, by the magic of friendship.
wait...
The magic of friendship corrupts Twilight Sparkle.
Wait...
FRIENDSHIP MAGIC corrupts Twilight...
anyway I say it, it sounds dumb.
Which brings us to our most bad ass villain I've ever seen. Midnight Sparkle. Fully empowered by all the element's magic, she's a hoss. Her motivation... lacking. She want's to understand magic... it couldn't have been steal magic? Absorb magic? Nope, understand it. She does so by opening a million portals to Equestria.
The mane five have their magic back. How? Who da fuck knows. Didn't Midnight Sparkle absorb it? Yes. DId they have more? How? Who da fuck knows?
They give it all to Sunset. How? Who da fuck knows. She then becomes Daydream Shimmer the humacorn. Daydream fights Midnight. Midnight proves to be stronger until she sees Spike. This would have been a great time for him to call out, thus justifying his ability to speak, but no, he just whimpers like a dog, she sees, and gives in.
Sigh... Sunset you are not the element of magic, you should not be written that way, you are not a replacement for PoTwi. The writer who came up with this contrived ending needs to be fired.
I give the movie props for having Midnight still be stronger than Daydream. That's rare to see.
Sunset gets to give a 'They'll forgive you' speech to SciTwi.
Yeah, this doesn't work, here's the thing, beyond giving into blackmail SciTwi did nothing wrong. She was forced into doing everything, blackmailed into doing it even. So there's nothing to forgive. She wasn't evil, she wasn't a bitch, she wasn't doing it on purpose, she was simply made to. (Well, other than wearing a bomb around her neck that is. I guess we can all have stupid moments?)
The definition of a contrivance.
We then cut to the end where they're all gathered around the portal (a broken statue, safety? In this school? what's that?) and PoTwi shows up and drops a possible season finale spoiler, about her stuck in a time loop. Which, IMHO would have been more interesting to see then this movie.
But even that, if she were stuck in a time loop, how'd she lose time? Eh, minor bitch.
Oh, she doesn't bring spike this time. Interesting. Her jaw drops upon seeing her human self. The end.
I heard there was a great song at the end, I didn't stick around to hear it. I was very happy to be done.
Okay, so this movie is exactly what I thought it would be. A rather bad rehash of the first movie with roles switched, which in and of itself was a bad rehash of the first two episodes (Bad + Bad = Good?). Sunset gets to play the hero, SciTwi the big bad (albeit not the villain). Yeah... this doesn't work. SciTwi was never shown evil, bad etc... and Sunset... she's not PoTwi. Again, just like in Rainbow Rocks, they shoehorned her into the main character spot where she acted as nothing more than a replacement PoTwi.
There were a few other ways this could have gone to make it work.
1. Make SciTwi an actual shut in. Have her not give a shit about others, and want to steal the magic for her study even seeing what it does. This would make her opining it believable and subsequent corruption understandable. Of course for this to work you'd have to show the hero of the series as a bad guy.... But hey, you already made her into one with Midnight Sparkle.
2. Have Cinch open it when SciTwi refuses. She could be the big bad. Downside, no Midnight Sparkle, and still have to explain why she knowingly and willfully wore a bomb around her neck.
3. Have it be SciTwi vs PoTwi. Wouldn't that have been something? The princess of friendship has to try and teach herself friendship!
Of course, can't do any of that, 'cause Sunset couldn't be the hero then!
And not a single Twidash moment anywhere in the fucking movie.
Sunset Shimmer as the 'main' character: She's not, they wrote her as a replacement for Twilight, and she's not. She doesn't fit in that role, she's NOT the element of magic, and she was a hypocrite.
As a main character, she fell flat by being nothing more than a replacement PoTwi.
As far as her role, I could write her out of the second movie and have the same movie. I could write her out of the third and have a better one that made a little more sense without having someone be a replacement PoTwi.
I have no doubt this will just make her that much more popular...
So why'd I rate it a 4.5 and not lower? Because for all it did wrong, it did a lot right too. I enjoyed some moments, and the songs, while nowhere near as good as Rainbow Rocks, were okay. Plus SciTwi cockblocking brad at every turn was classic!
I hated the movie, I don't like HATE Sunset Shimmer, and will now cringe whenever I hear of another thing to do with EQG. Something I used to be a fan of.
I'm sure there were more things, both good and bad I could say about the movie, but this is all I can think of right now. So, hopefully, much like Rainbow Falls, or Leap of Faith, I can accept this as part of the overall plot, but put it behind me forever. Hopefully, like those episodes, it's not a sign of things to come. Hopefully this was nothing more than an AJ episode, and now I can simply shake my head and try and forget it.
I wondered why there was no theatrical release, I don't anymore.
And maybe, just maybe, the screaming monkeys in my brain will shut the fuck up about it, and let me move on with my life.
I just gotta stay off the front page for a while.
You do bring up some valid points about a lot of the faults in the movie. In another person's blog about it, I noted that, 1, Cadance is the Dean, and last time I checked, Dean outranks Principal, and 2, there could have been a lot of trouble missed if Twilight would've just gone to Cadance and been like "Yo, the principal is literally blackmailing my future academic career all because I don't want to be a part of this whole contrived inter-school rivalry in the so-called 'Friendship Games'" (the school board and ethics committee would have a field day with that principal's ass). I think that would have improved it significantly. I mean, she was still gonna go over to the school so that she could investigate, that would have freed up time for her to just hang with the girls, find out WTF is going on, and possibly grow as a person. But does she do that? Nope. Principal is threatening my school application, best do as she says and not bring it up to anyone.
What really bothered me, though, is the whole thing of "Hey, let's keep the magic on the down-low" but then everyone and their mother are just exuding magic left and right (at least, that's how it seems with how rapid fire it went). I mean, really, you don't just grow a pair of pony ears and your hair gets magically longer (I think they're channeling their inner Super Saiyan 3 really) without someone noticing. But, nope, everyone just looks the other way.
Not to mention the whole "triathalon" thing. Really, what sort of public school has an archery, roller derby, and motocross clubs/activities that they can literally be like "Yo, we got this thing to do, go do the thing". What if the 6 chosen from each school don't have anyone that can ride a dirt bike? Or roller blade fast enough to actually race? Or even knows how to properly and safely use a bow and arrow (for reals, those arrows had to be sharp to embed in the targets like that)? That's very nearly criminal negligence toward minors. And I work in a prison, I know what happens to people locked up for any sort of mistreatment toward kids/teens, and it ain't pretty.
The biggest fault of the movie, though, is that it didn't flesh out Sunset Shimmer or the human Twilight. I mean, you have a character for 3 movies now, and all we know is that she was the former student of Celestia (which that alone makes my head hurt trying to figure out how that fits into the pony timeline), she used to have "evil" ambitions, and Twilight "saved" her and hooked her up with the others of the Main 6. And the human Twilight was pretty much a more doormat version of pre-season 1 Twilight, with barely any development. I mean, they were able to develop Moondancer's character in 24 minutes, they had over 80 with human Twi. They dropped the ball so hard there, Miley Cyrus wants to ride on it. And they could have developed the characters of what I expected to be the "rival 6" instead of them being more bitchy versions of the Main 6. So much potential, wasted.
Anyway, lastly, maybe I can shed some light on the popularity of Sunset Shimmer. I think it mostly has to do with the openness of the character. Like most characters that are in the side or background of the main show, people are able to create expanded worlds for her as a character. I personally like her as a romantic interest for any of the Sirens. It's sort of like how the fans created backstory and character quirks for Vinyl and Octavia, but with a bit more info to work with. I also like her as a way to expand on Celestia's side of the story. There's been some amazing fics out there about their past, with great use of drama and actually capable of fitting her into the timeline. I personally would like for them to just fully realize the characters later on instead of having these movies as they've had them, where it's like an hour of buildup followed by 10-20 minutes of something interesting, then end.
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All very good points that could easily be added. Although, personally her as the first student of Celestia only fucks up Celestia's already fucked up background.
So largely... Sunset is poplar because she's a poorly defined canon character with a speaking role?
3435902 I think it's more like she can be used as an exploration into different aspects of the show, from Celestia's past, to possible influences in the pony world. But, really, her being a former student still messes up the timeline. In the first movie, she appears to be around the same age as Twilight, who both must be High School age, but not Freshmen, so at least 16-17. But, she has to have left before Twilight became Celestia's student. I'd place the age of getting one's cutie mark around the time of puberty hitting, so maybe 11-12, but the portal only opens every 2 1/2 years (if by saying "30 moons" would equal 30 months), and we only have proof of Sunset being in the human world for roughly 2 1/2 years before, due to the number of high school dance crown pictures she's in, leaving at least another 2 1/2 years that we don't know where she was. And I highly doubt Celestia would have taken her as a student, then rapid-fire she did the things she did and ran away, much less Celestia letting someone who's essentially still a kid run off on their own without having someone follow her. Plus, she knows how to teleport, which Twilight just learned in Season 1, meaning it must be a high level spell that takes time to get correct.
But, I digress. It really doesn't match up at all with the timeline we're presented with and what we know of Celestia and her character. I think it's safe to say that we can just keep the movies separate and non-canon. At least, until they inevitably decide to have the two cross over in the main series, then my head is just gonna hurt so damn much... I'm gonna need a lot of rum if/when that happens.
Mainly, for me, I like her because of the potential of storytelling and character developments that she can be a part of. I'd really like her to be better fleshed out, and some context added to her past. Was she an orphan, and looked up to Celestia as a mother figure? Was she just powerful with raw magic with an over-eager ambition? Did she get jealous of Cadance for her ascension, and felt like it should have been her and not a pegasus (possible racism?)? Really, there's so much potential to be had, if only they'd actually give more backstory to her. These movies frustrate me because of how vague and generic the characters in the movies are. What happened to the Sirens? Whatever happened before that she was able to make the other 5 split their friendships?
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My point of view has always been if you want a character like that, make your own. Sunset fucks up the timeline and doesn't fit the lore of the show. Forcing us to have two versions of the show that do not jive together. Undefined characters are great if they're not main characters, and getting an entire movie staring one is just... bad.
Also, when that movie fails to define her, even after two other movies of background? Well... that speaks for itself.
The sad thing is, I was an EQG fan. Now? Much like the new Transformer movies, I'm going to wait and read the reviews before watching the next movie.
I don't want to see the Sunset Shimmer movie. I want to see more of the characters I've watched for 100 episodes as another version of themselves.
3435937 I tend to have hopes for projects like these movies because there is so much potential. Unfortunately, the writers just don't seem to be able to do it any justice. Generic villains being evil for evil's sake, followed by an hour of no real plot advancement, with a quick 10-20 minute wrap up seems to be how they've been going about these movies, and it really hinders the fans. I really liked Rainbow Rocks, but there's just no reason as to why they aren't actually developing the characters' stories. They're given an hour and a half to tell a singular story, but fail to deliver. I'd rather watch 3 episodes of the actual main show with 3 different character focus, because they can get the 30 minute episodes just fine, and spread out character development between episodes.
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Agreed!
I used to like them as 'popcorn fics'. I can't even enjoy that anymore. This just... no.
3435979 What this movie did that really turned me away from wanting to watch any of them in the future is what they did to Twilight. I know she'd be like she was in the beginning, but they just essentially took her and the worst parts of Fluttershy, jammed them together, and now you have Human Twi. My disappoint meter skyrocketed. So much could have been avoided if she would have, you know, used logic instead of just cowering in fear.
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SciTwi needed to be smart, or immoral.
Those were the two options, and they went with dumb...
3436002 Ah well, chance missed. Now, what I'm curious about is if they'll use that whole part at the end as some part of the season finale. As a Doctor Who fan, I'd love to see a time-loop with Twilight.
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I've heard the season finale is going to be Starlight Glimmer traveling through time, the mane 6 try and stop her.
What I heard anyway.
3436022 That already sounds amazing. I love time paradoxes. And I love Starlight Glimmer as a villain. She makes sense. She wants to (forcibly) make everyone equal, with no one being better than anyone else, and she'll go through great lengths to do so. We don't know her motivation just yet, but I have a feeling we'll find out. And at the beginning of the season, when Twilight starts to go into a friendship speech, and Glimmer just interrupts her, I just loved it.
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Anyone who interrupts Twilight gets props lol
I just hope that when/if she is defeated, they can hold off on the redemption trope anymore. I'm tired of that story.
Some people are just assholes and they should stay that way
3436049 I say like Chrysalis, just flung in a random direction and banished there. Can't have a pony esploding like Sombra in a kid's show. Though, I do wish they'd explore more with the changelings. We know there must be some, there was one at Cranky's wedding.
3436061 that was such a cocktease moment lol
Just begging the fanfic writers to write something about him
Although, they do push it to far with things like Sweetie Drops....
I know it was a shout out but still...
3436071 If there aren't any changelings sometime soon, I'll just blame Larson
3436074 he's always good to blame lol
3436078 But, really, one of my most favorite subject for stories is Changeling/Chrysalis Redemption. I just love the way some authors portray it
3436085 If it didn't feel like the show redeems every damn villain, I'd be more open to it. It's just... played out, you know?
3436091 True, but it does make for some interesting reads. Not saying they have to do it in-show, though. I'd just like to see what happened to them after the love bomb
3436091 https://www.fimfiction.net/story/67362/hard-reset for your twi time loop you said you would like if you have not read this that is. read your review you make many good points will you lose me as a reader nope (just like that rash you cant get rid of
) my only real problem with the film was no info on what happened to the dazzlings.
Boo! Sunset Humanlicorn is best. You suck. Twidash is so lame. Like omg. Go back to the hole you crawled out of. SciTwi is just misunderstood. Cinch is best Princess. All hail SunDash. Applejack is best main character. Best movie ever 100/5.
To everyone but TDF, this is a joke. Don't kill me for the words said above.
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i.imgur.com/jN1mrbv.gif
Keep that up and you'll break it lol.
You know, after a little thought a few weeks ago I honestly had no idea why I actually liked Sunset Shimmer so much. She was never very well characterized, her arcs weren't particularly interesting or original, and there wasn't much about her that stood out in hindsight. From the very first movie I loved her character, and before now I really couldn't have told you why. I really think it comes down to Rebecca Shoichet's performance as that character. I recently went back and watched the movies to try and put the third one in perspective and realized that she really nailed the emotional connections where it mattered. Every time I hear her voice is just satisfying now.
As well as that, Sunset's a very malleable entity. Since we don't have much to go off of with her, we're more free to move her around to fit into what we would like her to be. I think right now she's in that sweet spot of not so characterized that we can't have fun with moving her character around, and not too open-ended that we don't have a likable character to work with already. Right now she's a sweet girl that's ended up being a social outcast and she's trying to better herself in the eyes of her peers. I'm sure a lot of people in this fandom especially can relate to a character like that, so I can definitely see how after the second movie her popularity increased dramatically.
As for the movie:
You and me both, man.
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I guess since I never found her interesting in the first movie (dull, unexplained villain trope isn't interesting for me.)
Never believed in her redemption. Hit by the Friendship Cannon and mindfucked into being good is not really redeeming yourself, it's being changed.
And I found her nothing more than a side/shoehorned character in the second movie (see above)
Seeing her as a replacement character for my FAVORITE character was just... well, it pissed me off.
The general feel seems to be she's popular because she's ill-defined with a main role. I'm wondering that if she was defined, if we knew almost all there was to know about her, if people would start to lose interest.
Part me me isn't surprised by this, when new characters drop the fandom seems to jump on them like cats in heat. (Night Glider, Party Favor, etc...) Even if they are one-shot characters with little possibility we'll see them again. When we get a character like Sunset who comes back, it's...
Well, I've heard talk of people wanting to give her a seventh element.
If that happens, if they retcon the whole fucking show to give a poorly defined side character that started off as a poorly defined dumb villain her own element?
I'm out.
3439611
Heh, I seriously doubt the writers would go as far as to give her a seventh element. They've already stated that Equestria Girls isn't going to tie into the main series much if at all, but considering the level of writing in this latest movie, I wouldn't be 100% on that.
Personally, I would've liked to see Sunset a lot more characterized and her arcs explored a lot deeper. I was part of the crowd that thought Twilight shouldn't have been in the second movie at all, let alone pretty much take over the main role. That would've given Sunset a lot more room (albeit in a 72 minute movie) to expand and really grow as a character. I think just a little bit more really proper characterization would've made her character shine past the honeymoon popularity of the first two movies, and the inclusion of Twilight just ruins that. It's like they wanted to go with one character or the other, but in the end just chose both and now they're both worse off for it. But I hate EQG Twilight in just about every sense since they messed her character up so much going from the show to the movie, so that's just me.
3439690
To me, to remove Twilight from RR you'd have to change the vast majority of it AND explain how the elements reacted with a suddenly new character, thus putting Sunset in Twilight's role for the sole purpose of doing it.
To remove Sunset from RR, you have to change 3 things, all of which were a contrivance anyway.
And at that point in time, she had been nothing more than a badly written villain with a poorly defined character arc. Like or hate sunset, I believe the writing on the wall speaks for itself.
3439745
Well the thing is, Twilight serves the exact same role in both movies and doesn't grow as a character at all. She's still pretty much the exact same person when she goes into the portal as when she goes back home, and to me that isn't interesting in the slightest. Not to even mention they cut out any actual flaws she had for any meaningful internal conflict. In EQG she never was and probably never will be an interesting character because of that.
Sunset on the other hand had that opportunity. She was at a starting point that gave her a lot of potential to build off of, and even though they definitely mismanaged it, she did show much better arcs than Twilight ever would. I honestly think Rainbow Rocks wouldn't have been half as interesting as it was if Sunset wasn't in it and it was only Twilight, while the opposite would have created an opportunity for a new character to grow and garner more interest. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight in the show, but in EQG she is a much more one-dimensional, uninteresting character there to basically just hit the "explain everything and eventually led the group to victory" button.
3439773
True....
RR needed to be an
all or nothing, one or the other.On second thought, no. Again that's nothing more than trying to replace Twilight with Sunset. Again, they're not the same character and should not be used for the same role. As it stood, and with the way the plot was written, Sunset should have gone. (Thus giving creadiance to she was never meant to be there in the first place)However, she was also the one with the most possible growth. As Twilight is the 'borrowed' character, they can't grow her, because anything they do will be forgotten in the show.
As it stood, both characters suffered, Twilight for being underused and made stupid. Sunset for failure to grow and basically not doing anything for the plot.
Whoa. I never realized that SciTwi's device started creating portals because she absorbed the portal magic. As much as you dislike this movie, I think you may have made me like it a teensy bit more.
Also, out of curiosity, what didn't you like about Leap of Faith? I always found it really standard and run of the mill.
3440428
Well, first I'm not an AJ fan. She's my least favorite pony. Not mane 6, pony. She lacks characterization, defined flaws, hopes, ambitions, ideas, etc...
The episode itself is boring for the most part. The question at hand, "Should I tell the truth this time?" Much like all of AJ's problems, is self imposed and repetitive... very repetitive. It's the only problem she ever fucking has.
I don't so much hate the episode like Some pony to watch over me, rather, I forget about it. The episode itself leaves almost no impression on me other than Granny Smith's actions. And largely, the lack of an impression is the worst thing an episode can do. Even a bad episode is one that you will remember. Movies, Shows, etc... they're all art. And art only truly fails when it doesn't leave an impression.
rub some more salt in my open wounds why don't you lol jk
That was a great recap of the EQG movie(s) and reflects my own opinion, exept for: I don't hate Sunset, I just find her "meh".
You said anything and I really have nothing to add or discuss.
I've always seen the EQG movies seperately from the MLP-series. I just watch them once or twice, add some songs to my playlist and put the movies in a folder, never to be seen again.
PS: I really liked Rainbow Falls and how Twi was mentoring Dashie in this episode.
3454546
Sunset...
I didn't used to hate her, I found her meh as well. I hate her now because of the pedestal everyone put her up on. They worship the ground she walks on, and THAT'S why I hate her now. Well, that, and the writers wanting to use her as a replacement Twilight with a bullshit redemption story.
There's some deleted scenes from the movie. And they share a theme: Sunset's thinking about returning to Equestria.
Not sure if this removed plot would explain anything else in the movie, but I think it's relevant enough to share here.
3456417
I just watched them on EQD, the first thought I had was 'Yeah, 'cause the issue was the movie didn't quite focus on Sunset enough.' The deleted scenes even had her bogart SctTwi's song. You know, because having the same characterization just wasn't quite enough of a 'this is our replacement Twilight' feel.
I've become kinda jaded about her, I don't feel she's that interesting a character, and much like a castle built on quicksand, her story falls apart under the smallest scrutiny. It wouldn't be quite so bad if everyone wasn't jumping on the 'we love Sunset' bandwagon.
Fortunately that train only departs once a year.
3436061
I'm beginning to think someone at Hasbro is out to screw with me. Not only did they do EXACTLY what I didn't want them to, but they also did it in the most shoehorned nonsensical way imaginable.