Bonus Features: The Search for Sunset Shimmer

Feels so good to be back! For those who don't know: since Empathy chapters are releasing every other day, on off days we have bonus features. Bevin and I both are total nerds for commentary tracks, so this is our version of that!

Q: No Other Sunset??? What? How? Why?!
MARVEL: Yeah, this one might take some explaining. No spoilers, of course, there's still so much more story left! But I feel like I need to say that I've always loved the idea of our Sunset meeting her double. I tend to love doppelganger stories, the paralells you can do, it just seems rife for story potential! I think it was even confirmed by one of the EG writers that they were interested in doing that had Hasbro not screwed them over.

I made this choice for two reasons:

1) There are so many great interpretations in fanon already of what happened to Other Sunset or what she's like. There's Albinocorn's criminal Lamia, Oroboro's dead human Sunset, or even the Everton AU where she's off taking the scholarship. In fanart and fanfiction, so many unique and awesome interpretations that I encourage you to check out if you haven't! Those stories have been told! and more importantly

2) As much as I love the idea of Other Sunset existing, oh man, how many questions does it raise if she doesn't exist? That breaks the rules we know so far about the multiverse, and more relevant to our story, how would Sunset react to that? What would that mean?

Any and all questions people have at this point are the right response.

BEVIN:Growing up, I was a big superhero comic nerd, and one of my favorites was the original run of Excalibur by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. In one storyline, the team ends up traveling through different dimensions and they meet their alternate selves, only one character never had a duplicate. I don't think the explanation for this was ever written, though I do think it was originally leading to something before the creative team changed.

The open-ended question just interested me so much, and the idea of what that might be like for that person to be confronted with this idea. So of course, getting to explore that here with Sunset was just too exciting to pass up.

MARVEL: Yeah, exactly! Granted, full disclosure: when I made that decision, I never intended for there to be a Part I and Part II of Empathy, and I definitely didn't know we'd end up taking two years in between! It was worth every second, but I've always been a little nervous that the break would set expectations high that I knew we were going to subvert. People don't always love when that happens to an idea they love!

But regardless, we had a story we wanted to tell, and I don't regret a thing. Even if we did end up leaving off on a huge cliff-hanger. Whoops!

Every road trip needs a road trip playlist! Big list of tracks this time, they're now added to the Empathy for the Devil Soundtrack on Spotify:

• Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears – Sunset’s Theme
• Highway to Hell by AC/DC – “I'm on the highway to hell/On the highway to hell/Highway to hell/And I’m going down”
• Are You Gonna be My Girl by Jet – “I know we ain't got much to say/Before I let you get away, yeah/I said, are you gonna be my girl”
• Real Gone by Sheryl Crow – “Look out babe you got your blinders on/Everybody's lookin' for a way/To get real gone, real gone”
• Viridian City by NateWantstoBattle – “I'm on my way, I'm on the road, I'm on the road”
• On My Way by Phil Collins – “Tell everybody I'm on my way/New friends and new places to see”
• 4Runner by Rostam – “First time it took me down/I went down swinging”
• Circles by Sheryl Crow – “Seasons change and our love went cold/Feed the flame 'cause we can't let go/Run away, but we're running in circles”
• The Passenger by Iggy Pop – “Get into the car/We'll be the passenger/We'll ride through the city tonight”
• I’ll Make a Man Out of You by Mulan Soundtrack – “Tranquil as a forest/But on fire within/Once you find your center/You are sure to win”
• Save Me by NateWantstoBattle – “I'm useless, lazy, perverted/And you hate me/You can't save me/You can't change me/Well, I'm waiting for my wake-up call/And everything, everything's my fault”
• God Only Knows by Kina Grannis feat. Imaginary Future – “If you should ever leave me/Though life would still go on believe me/The world could show nothing to me/So what good would living do me/God only knows what I'd be without you/God only knows”

I can't tell you how crazy it feels to be back and posting these chapters! This chapter, for instance, was finished back in 2020! Finally getting to share the stuff we've been super proud of for years is so special, and Bevin and I are so eager to see reactions.

We hope you enjoy the ride. See you tomorrow...

Stay empathetic,
Marvel
P.S. I can't tell you how nervous I was that people would rage-quit when there was no other Sunset. Valid, if so! But man, there's so much stuff ahead I'm excited for