On Friendship Games, "Brotherhooves Social," and "Crusaders of the Lost Mark"

I fell behind a little. Time to play catch-up, starting with Equestria Girls 3.

I'm not riding the "I HATE EQG," "I HATE FLASH SENTRY" or "I HATE SUNSET" bandwagons. I mean, Flash isn't a memorable or well fleshed-out character, but The Equestria Girls movies are a step in a different direction from the rest of the show (even if the concept itself feels like a ride on the coattails of Monster High) and I ADORE Sunset Shimmer, even more so now that I caved in two months ago and watched Rainbow Rocks. And I will be good and goddamned if this movie didn't just reinforce and justify that adoration because HOLY FUCK. For one thing, I'm extremely happy she's not being given as hard a time as she was in the last one and her contribution to the Sirens' defeat meant something to the school. For another, Sunset. Phoenix.

And the human Twilight was pretty refreshing with her more innocent motivation. It's weird seeing a back-to-square-one Twilight, but hell, that's part of why I loved Moondancer in "Amending Fences." But holy shit that magic-sucking device is accidentally evil and what she's pressured into doing with it in the end is ultra not cool. Morally, I mean. It's eye candy.

Other one-shot notes:
- Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck Abacus Cinch. I wanna punch her in that smug reputable mouth of hers.
- Have to love the irony and juxtaposition of Sugarcoat's name and first line of dialogue.
- Anyone notice how Sour Sweet's "sweet" sounds really insincere most of the time?
- Nice little reminder that Sunset's got some brains in her. It can be easy to forget she was Celestia's student before Twilight.
- I'm invested in the characters here so I love hearing them sing no matter the context DO NOT JUDGE HOW I GET MY FEELS.
- Tara Strong has a REALLY nice evil voice.
- Oh my god, for however brief it was, the Twilights meeting was actually pretty cute.

Overall, I think I liked Friendship Games so much more than the previous ones. It was the perfect conclusion to Sunset's little self-discovery arc, the human Twilight was as great a character as the pony one in her own unique way, and I liked how subdued the stakes were up until the last act.

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Alright, that's that. Next up is last week's "Brotherhooves Social," which has been all the buzz this past week even by episode standards.

Like many, I was dreading the implications and assumptions that follow "man in drag" comedy. I honest to god don't think I've seen it handled in a proper, tasteful manner since Monty Python (there probably ARE other examples, but consider my exclusion of them as my having never seen them). Surprisingly, though, it was handled VERY tastefully, and the LGBT and transgender groups on here were abuzz with praise, for good reason.

But that was hardly the best part of the episode. There were two I found much better. The first aspect was the WORLD of depth it gave Big Macintosh, who was admittedly a flat character mostly defined by his body type and soft-spoken nature. This showed him as a real family man who cares really deeply for his kid sister and will do anything, and it's clear I mean anything, to make her happy, which ties into the second wonderful thing: the emotional core. That's why I'm more of a sucker for "Castle Sweet Castle" than some others seem to be, and a huge part of why I was IN LOVE with the way Friendship Games ended. I'm more of a softy than I like to let on, and shit like their hug at the end really gets to me.

Also, how does someone as baritone as Mac pull off such a good falsetto?

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And now, the one from today, the one everyone's raving about and the only one I'll be spoiler-marking. "Crusaders of the Lost Mark." And... I think I have a new favorite this season. And maybe a contender for favorite in the entire series' run.

First of all, Pipsqueak's in it. Kid's a cutie, has been since he first popped up, and it's hard to go wrong with more Pipsqueak.

Second of all, WOW were there a lot of songs. I really like those three's voices, so I'm happy when they get songs. Didn't expect Diamond and Silver to sing, though, but their voices are absolutely amazing too.

And oh my god can we please murder Spoiled Rich. If nothing else, it gave us a gigantic amount of development for Diamond Tiara, garnering sympathy she would never have gotten in season one and making her a much more likable character that I've actually grown to appreciate.

Finally, the meat of the discussion, the giant revelation that actually shakes the foundation of the status quo... the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their cutie marks.

First of all, this was absolutely not as out-of-the-blue as a few people were suggesting. The girls have been doing their fair share of helping people for a bit now, including this very season when they helped Troubleshoes discover the true meaning of HIS cutie mark. On top of that, I think the ultimate culmination of their mark-related insecurities in "Bloom and Gloom" served as foreshadowing for this moment, which I'm THRILLED to have been right about. As far as groundbreaking changes go, it was also much better paced than "Magical Mystery Cure" and Twilight's ascension.

I also think it's very fitting that the girls all got similar marks. It surprised me, certainly, considering their individual skill sets have been well established. But considering they do so much together, it's really not a stretch to imagine that their ultimate calling would be shared by all of them.

I actually shed a tear, you guys. This episode was beautiful.

Good luck beating this, "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows." (Just watch, Cadance is preggers.)

Comments

[Waterpear]

Dude, your spooky username is great.

And I 100% agree with your thoughts on the latest episode.

[jbwjr]

Crusaders of the lost mark

have you notices its almost completely song? just saying there nice but still.

Td's Mom oh you have no idea.

There marks are a mixed bag for me now that the shock of them getting them has warn off, checking on a few other posts about this, well I look at it this way, the shields are they are a trio (see "flight to finish song") the thing that gets me is the mark in the middle, Sweeties makes sense the song note, but what the buck do the apple and lighting bolt mean? I mean really...

Anyway the pacing I don't necessary agree with but it did feel natural, but at the same time, that was quick. like the last few episodes had nice pacing or something interesting going for them making them feel longer. I mean you start with a song before the intro no less, after intro, another song a moment with Diamond being blown off by Silver spoon (we all where waiting for this day), you have dimond sulking song, her chat with her mom (wants to bitch slap, I don't care if Cheerilee is a teacher, yell at her, the children will side with you.) then we have the CMC chatting with tiara and at the club house, then after a quick insentive from Pipsqueak, we have another song, Diamond tells off her mom, then another song. the CMC get there marks, then another song. most of those where songish. still it works,

I'm just finding there marks a mixed bag, I don't dislike them, I just want answers for why they look like they do ya know?

[Csquared08]

and I ADORE Sunset Shimmer, even more so now that I caved in two months ago and watched Rainbow Rocks.

I told you~

- Anyone notice how Sour Sweet's "sweet" sounds really insincere most of the time?

That was the whole point :/