Thoughts on Equestria Girls · 3:26pm Dec 12th, 2015
I don't usually post about this kind of stuff, but I have a lot of thoughts and this is as good a venue as any.
I finally saw the Equestria Girls movies. I had avoided watching them - and avoided most discussion of them - for a long time basically because I didn't think that they should exist. However, the end of season 5 and being faced with an unfathomably long hiatus caused a craving for more pony, so I changed my mind without too much hassle and watched them.
I can say, with some qualifiers, that I liked Equestria Girls. I regret not watching the movies as they came out. I still don't think it should exist though.
The main thing for me is that Equestria Girls captured the warm and fuzzy feelings that I enjoy about MLP. My Little Pony is a franchise unmatched in its ability to mix corporate diktats and the most generic sentimentality imaginable together into something sincere and wonderful. I think that tone and general sense of fun carried over just fine, and the quality of presentation was very good. I wanted more pony and I basically got it.
All in all, there are virtues and vices, problems and redeeming elements. Even though I enjoyed spending time with the characters and there were quite a few funny bits, the first movie especially is kind of a mess with its distracting plot holes, contrivances and shortcuts. From there on out, I think each of the three movies improves on the last. The enthusiasm was there and I'm used to recognizing and accepting some plot problems in the series as well. I've had some songs from the movies on repeat since watching them, just like with the show.
The one thing I'm having a really hard time justifying and forgiving is the enormous waste of potential in Sunset Shimmer. I know every single aspect of Equestria Girls has been complained over by now, so this is probably not a novel idea, but it's also the single biggest peeve I have.
As a character concept, Sunset Shimmer is perfection. Ever since that first description and image of her pony form leaked way back when, I was sold on the idea. She's so good and such a great addition to the cast and universe, that anyone reading this can think of a dozen better stories to tell with her than what we got. Don't get me wrong; she's certainly become a likable and worthwhile character, but the whole is still so much smaller than the sum of its parts.
One of the reasons I disliked Twilight becoming an alicorn was that it broke the symmetry among the Mane Six: two of each pony race become two earth ponies, two pegasi, one unicorn and alicorn. I would have been thrilled if a new unicorn had been introduced as a seventh member of the party, perhaps a new student of friendship without the development of Twilight and her friends. Perhaps this new character could have been introduced as a recurring villain, someone whose experiences and ideals would have made her a foil to Twilight, but who ended up redeemed in the end. If this character had also been a former student of Celestia, perhaps her previous candidate to restore the Elements of Harmony, well, that would have been even better. In addition to the awesome relationship dynamics, it would have given more of an opportunity to feature Celestia and give her some pathos.
Sunset Shimmer should have been that character. So what's she doing in a spin-off sideshow? Why were all the interesting things about her discarded in brief flashes? Again, I think some of her conflicts in the second and third movie are decent, but the actual moment of redemption was ridiculous, and I keep thinking about what could have been.
I actually like Starlight Glimmer less due to watching Equestria Girls. She feels like a do-over, like an attempt to recapture some of what was wasted with Sunset Shimmer, who's been stuck in side materials as part of a "secondary" ensemble instead of becoming a true member of the Elements of Harmony. Yet Starlight Glimmer also marks a point where it becomes impossible to transition Sunset Shimmer back to Equestria proper. It would be too repetitive.
On the whole, this is the reason why I still kind of regret the existence of Equestria Girls. It represents... a split of creative energies that has siphoned something off the series and its mythology. I don't generally concern myself with this sort of thing in MLP (you know, what I would have done), since I think that while it misses some opportunities, it also grasps others I've never considered. But in this particular situation, it's all I can think about, and I do think my expectations were better than the reality.
In the end though, we should look at things pragmatically. If Equestria Girls is financially worthwhile for Hasbro and helps keep the franchise healthy for a while longer, then it justifies its existence with that as well. I'm going to watch the fourth one as soon as it's released. Despite this, uh, failure with Sunset Shimmer, my outlook of the series is positive and I look forward to the next season and the movie quite a bit.
Sunset is my favorite character. I too was really hoping that they would find a way to bring her back to Equestria. But with the addition of Starshit, I have pretty much lost hope.
I mostly agree, although the 2nd and 3rd movies convinced me that the human world as a dumping ground for magical flotsam has potential as a series. But I agree with you that Sunset should have joined the regular pony cast instead of Starlight. I can't help thinking of Starlight as "Sunset Lite."
Sunset has really grown to become a favorite character of mine. It's just a shame that she'll only ever appear in EQG stuff.
Oh ponyfeathers... Starlight Glimmer makes the Mane
SixSeven equal again.Also, your user icon is really similar to Knighty's right now and it confused me for a moment.
I disagree with you. Sunset's redemption is one of the best ones done. It's one of the most believable 180's out there. It's magical and it's made clear that it has completely destroyed Sunset's personality. Unlike with Starlight they don't try to add sympathy to her.
My main problem with Alicorn Twilight is that it will come at the expense of Twilight's character.
I'm very against adding Starlight as a new character. for 1 it makes no sense because the mane 6 are bonded by the elements of harmony and 2 adding a new character to a group will almost always disrupt it unless you do it very carefully. With the recklessness and incompetence the writers have shown in season 5 I don't think they still have it in them to do it.
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I don't understand that perspective. Sunshine became a good person apparently just because she was defeated. You can say it's because of magic, but having the Elements of Harmony reprogram her is not compelling to me. Starlight's redemption is superior by the virtue that it involved an actual appeal made to her. Her mind was changed by emotional and logical arguments. I like that.
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Sunset respects power and cares about power. She sees the incredible power of the elements and of friendship and wants that. She says that she never knew about the power of friendship. However it was the way they presented it that made it so believable to me. They showed Sunset being a shell of her former self and in Rainbow rocks she had to build herself back up.
I had hoped in Friendship Games to see more of the old Sunset with her again being ambitious, manipulative and aggressive. Less mean of course than the original but seeing a combination of her personality in the original and the one of Rainbow Rocks.
My main problem with Starlight is the pathetic backstory. I mean I was expecting so much more. Also a large problem is that Starlight all of a sudden is a happy unicorn while Sunset actually was destroyed and had to build herself back up from scratch. Starlight is just perfectly fine all of a sudden, she also is treated by the mane 6 like a child and is acting like one while before she was so much more than that. I also hoped for Starlight to become a recurring villain and her being a previous student of Celestia. She is also older than Twilight so that makes sense. Also her behavior in the opening hinted towards that, that she became absorbed by the prestige of being a student of the highest pony in the land. She had taken the ideas of harmony to heart but applied them in the wrong way.
I also like the idea behind it but it wasn't done well. The only way to do a 180 turn is to make it magical, like they did with Sunset. If they do it without magic the character should maintain their hostile personality and slowly change over time. Discord maintained his mischievous nature and the mane 6 had to compromise their morals to reform him. They more blackmailed him with friendship rather than actually reforming him.
The thing is that Starlight's lame backstory wasn't even necessary, just the shock of what she was doing to equestria would have been enough.
About EG, I really support it. It allows the writers to elevate the pressure from the fans by adding fan material without it damaging the main series. They create a separate series where they can put in anything the fans want and unlike the main series it get's better from it. It expands their audience and because the relationship with the main series is one way it can do that without upsetting purists.
I hope Sunset Shimmer never appears in the main series. She only belongs to the EG sub-franchise.
Sunset is a petty bully and that's all she ever was. A petty character being made very interesting.
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I disagree, they should remain separate.
3617292 Why do you think that? I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm genuinely curious.
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because humans can bring quite a few problems for many purists fans. Also EG is a bit of a dumping ground for all the fan service and that's good because it can do that without it affecting the main series.