Friendship Games is out! (Spoilers inside) · 2:17am Sep 27th, 2015
...And I missed at least the first twenty minutes. It was supposed to start at 8:00 where I am, I think, I tuned in at 8:46, and it ended at right about 9:30, so it's possible I missed something important. I'm not going to review or summarize it, I figure some other people will do a better job of that than I care to, my interests lie elsewhere.
To be blunt, the Dazzlings got a pretty raw deal about this time a year ago and we haven't heard a peep from them since, as far as I know. As said, I missed the beginning, so can anyone that saw the whole thing confirm or deny for me whether or not we get the faintest glimpse of those three before the part where the blue lady gives her announcement in the gym, just before the first FG event? I'll be trying to watch it from the start as soon as possible, so no pressure. 
Anywho, right about here is where the spoiling starts.
----------------------Big ol' dividing line!----------------------------------------------------------------
So, pretty much every one of the Crystal Prep people but the other principal lady (who didn't anything too monstrous, really) get redeemed with ease, Sunset goes all let-me-do-for-you-what-they-did-for-me on Shadow Twilight, all is sunshine and rainbows. Or it would be, if I could ignore the little black stain the last movie left by completely skipping over this part back then.
Once more, I haven't seen the whole movie yet, so maybe I missed some precious context, but my thoughts going in were not addressed in what I caught. In short, Rainbow manipulated CHS with her song from the preview, led them to think that their 'wins' with Sunset Satan and the Dazzlings were a team effort. This is a bold-faced lie, they were never of any help in either situation, but wanting to win was treated with more importance... until the other principal (can't remember name, going with Blue Manipulative) signifies this attitude as evil by going overboard with it herself. Magic mayhem happens, the games are pretty much rendered void, none of the Shadowbolts seem to care anymore about what was once their primary driving force, and Celestia says "We're all winners!"
Everyone but the sirens, who were left out of the huggy, accepting friendship frenzy last time, not so much as given an offer. If there was just a 30-second scene after the battle where someone reached out to them and they flatly refused, be it out of fear or contempt, this probably wouldn't bother me quite as much as it does, but apparently some friendship lessons slip the net when our heroes (or the writers) don't feel like utilizing them.
I'm probably not the only one for whom selective enforcement of these things makes their stomach churn a little, and I've prepared something of an antacid, so to speak. I don't know if this makes sense to you, reader, but seeing Sunset reach out to Twilight while she was all magical-insanity wasn't touching for me, wasn't a bright, heartwarming moment, it just made me think "Gee, good thing she felt like it this time." If you only stand by your virtues sometimes, are they really your virtues at all? Fuck no.
But again, maybe I missed some important piece of context that would have made this okay and not make it feel like our protagonists' morality was based on a coin-toss.
Either way, that figurative antacid I mentioned is a story that doesn't plain leave the Dazzlings' fate in the air for some hypothetical future magic problem as Sunset alluded to at the end. I said somewhere that I'd write a story including those three on the sidelines of the canon events of Friendship games, mainly told from their POV as minor characters in terms of what goes on in the movie. Now that I've actually seen most of the movie, I'm looking forward to having them cheer in rhyme when the venus flytrap monster is making a mess of things. 
---
Dazzlings: "Watch the vines!
Watch the head!
Otherwise you'll end up dead!
Gooooo, plant-thing!"
Sunset: "Ah-hem?!"
Dazzlings: "Err... Ra-ra, don't get eaten?" *Innocent smiles*
Sunset: *Facepalm*
Aria: "Yeesh, we were hoping it would eat the other team. That counts as cheering for the Wondercolts, right?"
---
Oh, forgot, the plan is that they'll be CHS's cheerleaders. I'll need to go over the movie a few more times to really plan the whole thing out, but the first chapter, which was kept vague enough that I'm pretty sure it doesn't contradict anything in canon, was prepared weeks ago. I'd like to see the whole movie before publishing anything, but if anyone has any idea what the Dazzlings' canon fate was in regard to what we know from Friendship Games (rather than waiting another year), please let me know and I'll crank out the rest of the story whenever there's time!
See you then! 
EDIT: Well, I'll be darned, I actually found the whole stream on Youtube just a few hours after it aired. Thought it'd be at least a few days!
Oh, well. The issues I had with all this weren't really addressed and the only mention of the sirens I found was that they needed Sunset (and a conveniently-placed near-deaf girl with a magic car out of nowhere) to stop them, so I'm going ahead with the cheerleader thing. May include a song parody or two. 
I like your plan. I hope the reason the Dazzlings didn't get offered redemption or friendship was because they literally booked it out of town before anyone could find them, not that they were ignored.
Also, Sunset's an alicorn now right? That's what the Fire Wings and weird princess dress mean, right?
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Indeed. Heck, just someone saying that nobody had seen a single trace of the trio since the Battle might have been enough for me, because it would at least suggest that they got away from the town that probably hates them now and could start over somewhere with a clean slate. Maybe there's a deleted scene on all this that'll be revealed Oct 13th, but as chances seem slim, here we are.
Now there's food for thought: Sunset gets wings much faster than Twilight. The catch? They're made of FIRE! Or, maybe they just do the ethereal effect thing, like Luna and Celestia's manes, which would might still be enough to make Twilight a little jealous (and maybe even insecure, seeing how much quicker Sunset picked up her place in things than Twilight herself did) for a partial role reversal from the first movie. Maybe. That's a fic I won't be writing, however.
3423423 I suspect all the "deleted scenes" that were missing are just the many teasers and trailers that have been released. Those mostly showed how the non-Mane 6 got picked for Canterlot's team, and Sunset experimenting with magic, exactly the stuff that seemed missing from the movie.
The movie aired in Canada 4,5 hours earlier than in US and it was non-cut version, unlike US version that has a couple of scenes missing. So, there's that.
P.S. I thought about going into a huge rant about numerous reasons why sirens didn't happen but it's rather pointless at this point.
Looking forward to cheerleader shenanigans.
Goddammit, after 3 attempts I finally was able to watch the whole movie. The dominant thought that occurred afterwards:
"Wow. I waited for this movie."
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The sad thing is, disappointment comes not just from the lack of certain characters (your stories allowed me to make amends with that), but from overall drop in quality in pretty much every department. I would have understood if we were a fans of some dead or dying franchise, and Hasbro was throwing some kind of pity bone out there, but S6 is coming, 2017 movie is coming, something else © Larson is coming – it's a bit too soon "to bless" us with a movie that feels more like a TV-specials.
Now I'm even more looking forward to cheerleader shenanigans...
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) but as what I'm doing with that is pretty much the definition of 'fix-fic', (is that term considered as arrogant as it sounds? 
) I'll try to fill in holes left by the movie. For instance, the Shadowbolts won't get a ton of screentime, but I'll at least try to take a stab at characterizing them a little more than maybe getting two lines each.
I have no idea when the next chapter will be, (still need to watch the movie a couple more times to get everything mapped out, and time is something I'm short on these days.
3429711 "Fix-Fic" in this particular contex sounds very appropriate, so good luck with that.
FG was fun. Its biggest problem is there is no real villain pushing the story. They just put "magic" in place of an actual villain with motivations and personality.
Movie canon is apparently they ran away after the Battle of the Bands and are listed as missing in some kind of yearbook. I can't find any actual info from Hasbro on it though, its all hearsay I read somewhere.
The movie didn't have time to devote to the sirens, nor were they needed. The movie had a large cast, trying to juggle thirteen characters. {Not counting other minor characters.} With the time the movie was given, many of the newer characters weren't given the time to flesh them out and some, such as Sunny Flare, weren't given really anything to work with. Adding the sirens would have stressed the already short time and wouldn't have been needed.
While yes, it would have been nice to see the sirens, but then again, they weren't needed. The movie wasn't about them, they wouldn't have served a purpose unless they were the opposing team, but the Shadowbolts were already set up as them. There was no need to have them in there.
As well, Twilight was given the chance of redemption because she wasn't evil. She was corrupted against her will, forced into this by peer pressure. The sirens were evil because they chose to be. As did Chrysalis and Tirek. So the circumstances weren't the same to warrant the same reaction.
I think you're being a bit too harsh on something for not living up to what you wanted, Starswirl. Not saying anything bad. I love your stuff and you got me to like Fluttershy/Adagio. I just think you might be blowing it out of proportion.
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I agree that the sirens weren't needed, but really? Neither were the Shadowbolts, Cinch, or anything to do with the Friendship Games. The main source of noteworthy conflict was Twilight and her device, the games themselves rendered moot by the end because of it. It could have just been Twilight either transferring in or posing as a student to get a better look at the source of all those strange readings she'd been getting, the magical chaos proceeding as before up to the point that something else triggered the device and set off Midnight Sparkle.
So, if we're talking about what's strictly 'necessary,' I don't feel like a quick cameo showing that the sirens were doing fine now is much to ask.
Interesting that you leave out Sunset Shimmer here. As I recall, Sunset was turned into a demon because she very willfully picked up the Element of Magic with evil intentions and was changed accordingly, having broken away from Celestia at all for entirely selfish, self-interested reasons. Would you say her circumstances warranted the reaction she got? She apologized in tears right out of the crater, is that what makes the difference? Do they have to grovel at someone's feet to have a chance? Because Discord did nothing of the sort, betrayed them later, and seems to have gotten off scot-free so far. (though he did have the decency to apologize for jeopardizing the entire world again)
If it sounds like I'm overreacting to a cartoon about magical horses, it's because if we're to take any measure of the thing seriously (and there do seem to be some serious messages to take in, usually once per episode), it proves worth reacting to, if you see what I mean. I don't mean to condemn the protagonists, the writers, or anyone else, just point out that the message of friendship and forgiveness rings a bit insincere when it's only applied selectively, and possibly at random. I'd like to think someone has at least tried to talk to Tirek while he's locked up, possibly even Scorpan himself, as the image of those who literally sing and dance about the magic of friendship saying "Eh, screw it, not my problem anymore" is a little disconcerting.
Do you see what I'm getting at here? It's not the sirens being left out specifically that bothers me, it's the apparent hole in pony-Twilight's own philosophy occasionally passing without comment that I mean to point out. (I'm hoping Cinch comes around by the next movie too, as it happens)
I vaguely recall Twilight even saying something like 'maybe someday she'll learn her lesson' in regard to both Trixie and Starlight Glimmer, which gives me the impression that she does care to see them learn the error of their ways. Why would that suddenly not apply? In the former's case, she understood what she did was wrong when the amulet was removed and then everything was fine, with the latter, Twilight tried to explain how normal friendships were formed and was verbally shot down, but she at least tried. As said in the post, even that much would be enough for me; just have them give it a shot and they'll have at least made the effort, not treated beaten enemies like just another notch in their belts.
Rainbow loudly boasting about having 'come out on top' certainly isn't helping.
3443932 Well to have that, you'd have to scrap the games plot entirely and we can't have that because the EG writers want to use every cliche circumstance of teen movies. First was a prom, then a music competition. A series of games was mandatory. {Yes, I agree the game portion of the movie was obsolete. } However, I have to say I surprisingly like Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest. {Sour's duo responses were hilarious and sadly underutilized and I really liked how Lemon seemed to be nice in her own way.} The movie certainly didn't use them properly as they were supposed to be foils but the time was given to sci-Twi.
I left out Sunset mostly because I was watching Age of Ultron when I was writing that response so I kind of forgot to add her.
I honestly didn't have much of a problem since the sirens were akin to Chrysalis herself. {Which is why I decided to come up with the headcanon that they are her daughters.......Trust me, I'm strange like that.
It does explain where Adagio got her personality from.} Do I believe they deserve the chance for redemption? Yes, absolutely. I do believe everyone deserves that. Could they have fit? Yes, trying to use Twilight's amulet to get their magic back. Would I have enjoyed it? Possibly. Recurring antagonists are something I wished this series used more of.
However, I don't think this goes against Twilight's philosophy nor those of the show. I think it's obvious pony Twilight or Sunset would have given the Siren's another chance, even if they don't have to explicitly tell the audience. The sirens didn't give them a chance to try friendship. They ran the moment things turned against them and the movie ends shortly afterwards.
If the sirens were given another appearance, I don't think a cameo would have sufficed, at least for me. It's either have them and give them their arc, or not, because a cameo would have left me frustrated at wasting a shot at something great.
I think the best case for a movie would have been the sirens using Sci-Twi, tricking her into a partnership {perhaps even a pretend friendship} with their knowledge of magic and getting her to create a device to collect it. Cue friendship lesson along the way. Certainly breaks the cliche circumstance and would have been a more fun movie. {Because honestly, this movie was rather sad with how pushed around Sci-Twi was without any real support...Except for Lemon, but they didn't use her enough!}
I'm not saying the movie was superb like the second movie, nor was it terrible. I'm just not bothered, personally, with the fact that we aren't told that Twilight believes they can change. Given how the writers are getting better at continuity, it's no doubt that they'll use the sirens again so I'm not going to hate Friendship Games for not having them nor finishing their redemption arc so soon.
If the writers explicitely said that the sirens weren't to appear again, then I would take offense.
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Pretty much. If they weren't shoehorned in to sell dolls, we might have gotten something more substantial out of the Shadowbolts. I did grow weirdly fond of Sugarcoat, though, so I'm not completely against what we got.
I-
That-
...Hmm. There are definitely parallels between Chrysalis and Adagio. No idea how that anatomy would work out the way it must have, but still...
Quite true! I'm wondering if anyone'll point out that if Twilight made that little gadget, there's probably not much stopping her from making another one. That does sound like a more interesting resolution for the trio than the quick cameo, but it's probably a Hell of a lot harder to sell dolls for, so I'm not sure they'll go that route.
I don't think I ever actually said it, but I don't hate Friendship Games, I'm just annoyed about the heroic apathy thing (though I think you're right in that they'd probably give anyone a chance if given a clear opportunity to do so) and having to wait another year (or more) for closure on the Dazzlings being dealt the equivalent of having their cutie marks stolen or destroyed. (Not sure I mentioned that in the first post either. Need to outline my thoughts better.
)
Unless we're to understand that those are just their natural singing voices, even if the gems were apparently part of their bodies (imagine having your nose turned into an emerald, and if you lose it, you can't smell anymore) back in Equestria? Not sure, but either way, what they were apparently left with makes me think of crippling Rainbow Dash's wings as penance for that factory stunt she pulled in Tanks for the Memories and telling her to start all over if she ever wants to be a decent flier again. It's a long time to be left to languish, you know?
3444014 Well, Chrysalis is a 'Changeling' Queen. It's safe to say that she's like the mother of monsters. {I can actually see her being an overly doting sort. Adagio kind of carried herself like she believed herself to be the center of the universe, just like dear mom.}
"Mommy, can we suck the ponies dry?"
"Just make sure to save some for desert. We're having donkeys tonight."
"But I hate donkeys."
"You can't be eating junkfood all day, Adagio. Ponies are far too sweet to constantly drink all day."
As for the post...Eh, perhaps you did come off across a bit harder than you intended and perhaps I'm just a tad bit of the type to read far too much into it.
Kind of how I came up with this headcanon. {But I'm a strange person. I mean, I shipped Applejack/Discord and Smaug/Celestia.}
I would also have to say yes, they seem to be a natural part of their bodies. Something of a magical harmonic tuner and letting them filter through emotions and store extra energy in case of hard times. Without it, they'd have to rely on traditional foods unless they go back to Equestria. {I'd wager that if, given the chance to return to their true forms, they'd eventually regrow them. As humans...yeah, they're going to have to relearn how to sing but their power of manipulation won't be as strong.}
3444014 derpicdn.net/img/2015/4/19/878043/large.jpeg
Yes, I do plan on writing it, especially since I got someone to draw said such. I mean, it's too fun to pass up.
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Good thing! If you didn't, I might have, and I'm doing far too much with those three already!
3444062 Well good luck to you on them. {Though, I bet you'd do a great job on it. Perhaps one day you could.} Until then, I hope I can deliver.