IDW 2013 Annual (Equestria Girls) Review · 12:05am Dec 28th, 2023
Well, the disappointing news for G5 just keeps on coming. IDW is apparently wrapping up the comic series for good with the most recent issue, a run that lasted only twenty issues consisting of two lackluster arcs, and two filler issues in-between focused on Izzy. I wouldn't be surprised if G5 as a whole wraps up for good in 2025 when interest in "Tell Your Tale" inevitably wanes.
But putting that aside, I finally managed to pick up this comic from IDW which was made to concide with the then newly released film "Equestria Girls". It actually consists of two separate stories: One focused on Sunset Shimmer, and one focused on the Rainbooms. Comics like these have become increasingly hard to find in recent years. Given the fact that "Equestria Girls" ultimately became the launching pad for a side series that blossomed into a short lived spin-off series, has this annual managed to stand the test of time? Or did it only prove that the Equestria Girls franchise only really took off because of "Rainbow Rocks"? Well, let's find out.
The first story is called "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer", and is more or less the canonical backstory for pony Sunset that was only implied and vaguely eluded to in the Equestria Girls movie. We don't get to see how Sunset Shimmer became Princess Celestia's student or if she had any family (most fanon portrayals have depicted Sunset as an orphan taken in by Princess Celestia, though there's apparently a popular fanon of her being related to Sunburst though that feels like a stretch) before being taken in by the princess. We see that Sunset Shimmer is arrogant, vain, and full of herself. She takes great pride in her abilities, but thinks that other ponies are beneath her and not worth her time. We also see the same ponies who would go on to be retconned as Twilight's old Canterlot friends apparently at the same age as Sunset now, and the old design for Moondancer before her depiction in "Amending Fences". We also have a cameo of filly Twilight playing with Cadence and Shining Armor. So the canoncity of this depiction now is probably questionable. I might also question how Twilight could not at least know about Sunset Shimmer as a filly if she (Twilight) truly dedicated herself to learning about magic after being inspired by Princess Celestia.
Anyway, Princess Celestia calls Sunset Shimmer for a private audience, not so subtly trying to get Sunset to understand humility and accept friendship. To that end, she shows Sunset a magic mirror that I guess is supposed to be a reflection of one's true potential or true self (it's not exactly clear what Princess Celestia was hoping to accomplish here). Sunset, however, sees herself depicited as an alicorn princess for a brief second, and thus takes an unhealthy interest in the mirror. She keeps nagging Princess Celestia about it, and Celestia ultimately tells Sunset that "you're not ready". Naturally, Sunset being the now disgruntled and disobedient student decides to go behind her mentor's back and study forbidden spells anyway. And naturally, she gets busted. Princess Celestia scolds and berates Sunset for thinking that she (Sunset) should be made a princess on command, and tells Sunset that their studies together are over. She then orders guards to escort Sunset away, now tinged with regret in much the same way as with Nightmare Moon.
However, Sunset Shimmer somehow manages to overpower the guards off-screen, power up the portal (or knew that the vague "30 moons" time window had opened up), and slip away. Princess Celestia then orders the mirror to be moved to the throne room as to serve as a reminder of a mistake, and I guess this is implied to be what led her to consider taking Twilight in, perhaps hoping to get right what went wrong with Sunset (in a sense, Sunset Shimmer was the Jason Todd to Princess Celestia's Batman, and Twilight became the Dick Grayson with hints of Tim Drake. And yes, I know Dick became before Todd and then Tim came after). We don't know how the mirror would ultimately end up in the Crystal Empire though, or in Twilight's castle. Instead, the story ends with Sunset Shimmer emerging from the portal in the Equestria Girls world as a human.
The second story doesn't have a title, but it's focused on the Rainbooms during their freshman year. We first get to see how they all met each other whilst considering different after school clubs, or on the first day of school. Most noticeably: Human Pinkie Pie tried out for a wide range of different clubs, but none of them felt right to her because she felt that they couldn't help her bring happiness to others. Human Applejack was hoping to fit in and be accepted, human Rainbow Dash was only interested in trying out for the soccer team (and unsurprisingly, she made it), and human Rarity started making friends with the popular students: Including Applejack's cousins Babs Seed and Sunshine, who proceed to shun everyone else not part of their very small social circle, even going so far as to tell Applejack to completely change who she was only to tell her that she should make friends more on her level instead of trying to fit in with them.
As for human Fluttershy, the most we get of her is that she notices Sunshine's dog looking sick, but can't work up the courage to tell her about it. And when she's not doing that she's trying to thank Rarity for giving her a new outfit. Ultimately, everything comes to a head during the first soccer game of the year: A showdown with the Shadowcolts. And of course, Spitfire is the team captain. Human Rainbow Dash initially believes she can singlehandedly win the game all by herself, only to inevitably discover that she most certainly can't. Meanwhile, human Pinkie Pie ropes human Fluttershy into an abrupt pep rally, and when Babs Seed and Sunshine tell Fluttershy off for speaking up, human Applejack and human Rarity stand up for her and join human Pinkie Pie. Together, they all cheer loudly enough to inspire human Rainbow Dash, who passes the ball along to Spitfire for the game winning goal. And this entire event is being told through flashback and interview. Who's doing the interviewing, you ask? Why, none other than Sunset Shimmer, who at the end states that she has everything she needs to know about them. I guess she realized at some point that they would pose a threat to her plans, and that she needed to know more about them if she wanted to break them up. Kind of think it would've been interesting for this to have come up at some point during Sunset's redemption, because I don't think the Rainbooms ever found out or realized that Sunset used the interviews to her advantage.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? Well, the two stories are connected solely through Sunset Shimmer, but even then she's more of an observer to the second one and ends up taking a backseat. This mostly seems like it was filling in the gaps that the first Equestira Girls movie couldn't be bothered to be fill in because it was more interested in ticking off every teenage human school drama cliche in the book. Chances are that the pony Sunset Shimmer stuff has been largely uncannoned by the events of "Amending Fences", which established that Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Lyra were all fillies at the same time as Twilight, whereas here they're shown to be presumably the same age as Sunset. I do think this story could've been expanded a little bit, because we never got an answer as to how or why Sunset became Celestia's student, let alone if she was always so arrogant or if she became that way later on as she got addicited to the fame and praise she received. The stuff with the Rainbooms actually ends up being the stronger of the two stories, even if we've seen these cliches before about the popular students who think they're better than everyone else, and the whole "be yourself" aesop that FiM would do in "Simple Ways", "Discordant Harmony", and "She's All Yak". Although the Rainbooms do feel a bit like one dimensional copies of their pony counterparts, they don't feel completely pigenholed into those roles like they were in the first Equestria Girls movie and most of the subsequent movies and specials. I kind of have to wonder why they used Babs Seed and Sunshine for the bullies when we saw human Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hanging out with Rarity and got all of one scene of human Diamond Tiara scaring off human Fluttershy. It's kind of interesting to go back to this earlier comics timeline, back when they took more liberties with continuity and characters. All in all, I'd say this annual is worth picking up, but I really wish we could've gotten a follow-up to some of the things we saw here, or a revistation down the line as a result of "Amending Fences" retconning some pretty big details.
Well, there you have it.
When I borrowed the IDW Equestria Girls comic from my local library , it had the second story you talked about. And the Christmas story where the human CMCS secretly became Aaon Miss, posting all of the Canterlot student's deepest darkest secrets on social media and let/made everyone believe it was Sunsest Shimmer. Leads to the humam Mane 5 to completly abadon their friend and everyone else hating on Sunset. I guess I just picked up and read a later issue.
I think, at the very least, they should renew “Make Your Mark” for another season or more. Mainly on the grounds that Allura coming to Equestria is the only point of interest for such a thing.
5761112 They should, but they won't. Hasbro has given up on "Make Your Mark" because it's not "profitable". They have learned nothing from the success of FiM, profits shouldn't be the only thing that matters.
5761115
Agreed. And it really makes me wonder this very thing:
What was the point behind “Secrets of Starlight” or Allura coming to Equestria if Hasbro wasn’t gonna renew the show anyway? Especially considering “Tell Your Tale” has shown itself to have zero relevance in the continuity of “Make Your Mark” anyway?
Good job on the review and on your points concerning G5. While, yeah, it DOES provide some really good fan fiction fuel, it's rather frustrating when the fan fiction writers consistently do a better job than the supposedly actually professional writers. I mean, yeah, there were/are a few fan fiction writers (including yourself) who do a better job than the professionals even concerning FiM, but at least with FiM, they're fewer and farther between. The fan fiction writers consistently seeing and exploiting more potential than the professionals just goes to show just how much the professionals waste that potential.
5761116 Apparently "Secrets of Starlight" was going to be Chapter 7 of Make Your Mark. probably as a second season premiere. Then a Chapter 8 would've been focused on Comet adapting to life in Maretime Bay and Allura coming to Equestria. I guess they didn't want all their work to go to waste and decided to attach it to the end of Make Your Mark.
5761177
That makes sense.
Of course, now I just want to see them finish what they started. Not because I like the show, mind you, but because I have a crossover-fanfic planned that’s openly dependent on launching after a more conclusive ending from “Make Your Mark”.
Curious if there was a way they could have made the Rainbooms better characters in a way that would make it so you aren't dreading it whenever any of them are the main leads of any of the EQG stuff, seeing how I get the vibe you think EQG's specials got worse when they began focusing on the other five Rainbooms outside of Sunset and Sci-Twi.
Anyway, good review and wonder if you're gonna check out the other EQG extended media like the infamous Anon a Miss comic, the March Radness comic, the shorts, Choose Your Own Ending stuff, and the books.