The Friendship Games · 4:56am Sep 27th, 2015
Needless to say, spoiler warnings all ye who continue to read.
Anyways, I'm not one for long-winded reviews. I enjoyed watching Friendship Games. I feel it was certainly stronger than the first movie, but it felt a bit weaker than the second. I think a stronger villain could've helped things along, but I may be a bit biased in thinking that Sombra would've made a better principal for Crystal Prep (I still think that's a lame name for school) than Cinch.
The movie makes for a nice full-circle with Sunset going from being saved by Twilight to saving another Twilight. Midnight Sparkle was pretty awesome. The pacing could've been better, and I found it a bit odd that somebody so scientifically minded seemed quite casual about accepting the concept of magic. I was hoping for at least one 'not scientifically possible' moment from Twilight...but you can't have everything. Unless you write it yourself.
It was refreshing to see my portrayal of Sunset Shimmer hasn't diverged wildly from the canon persona. You still got that uncertainty and doubt, as well as a quick temper. Oh Sunset, never change.
Now what does it all mean for A New Sun Rises? Honestly, not much. I mean I could worry about how there's a number of elements in Friendship Games that I had in store for my work, but I'm hoping that after a year of writing my audience will enjoy the story regardless of how many parallels there have been. Now either Hasbro has found a way to steal my thoughts or hack my writing notes, or we just both reached the same logical conclusions. Or I am a genius on par with their writers. I'll go with the option that inflates my ego.
Obviously I can't comment too much with specifics since I don't want to spoil things, but do expect shenanigans.
Still, how Cinch's threat of going to the school board was met by Celestia and Luna made me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy.
Guy, I'm going through the same trouble with my stuff. Do your thing, I'll do mine, and let's both take comfort in the fact that we're both as smart as the writers.
So, no one's going to mention the 'time loop' Equestrian Twilight mentioned at the end?
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Well I've heard people mention that it's a reference to a future season 5 episode, so I'm generally just refraining from talking about it too much as to avoid spoilers about that.
You're writing is strong enough to stand on its own. I wouldn't worry about how much it parallels the movies or not. You already know where you are going and how you'll get there. That alone will strengthen your work's continuity.
The ending confrontation with the principles and deans made me smile too, haha.
I don't care that there's now a canon version, I'll still enjoy reading yours.
Also agree with you fully on Cinch. Sombra would've been a perfect fit for the role and instead we get a villain even more cliché than EQG1 Sunset Shimmer. And that last confrontation was priceless.
What I think is interesting and possibly universe-changing about Friendship Games is that it establishes that the girls can now call on their magic on demand; it just requires that they reach into that fundamental part of themselves at a time of need. Given that AJ has a strong sense of righteousness, Sunset has a 'saving people/redeemer' thing and Rainbow Dash is an adrenaline junkie, this could have some interesting implications:
Young Anthropony Justice?
I'm only now reading The Sun Rises, and I'm somewhat astonished that you had Sunset catching Twi snooping around the statue with a geiger counter eight months before DHX did. At the rate things are going from where I am, I expect the parallels only get weirder from there.