EqG Specials - "Overpowered" "Finals Countdown" and "Star Crossed" · 3:25pm Nov 5th, 2017
Who’s ready for more pon... humans?
This is the short we saw previewed, where Sunset’s empathy magic is getting stronger and she can hear the thoughts of everyone around her. I’m surprised her head isn’t instantly filled with thoughts of every male student who lays eyes on her being in awe of her grace and beauty. Sandalwood/Eco Guy isexcited at randomly finding a jellybean in his locker, Trixie singing “Trixie is great, Trixie is powerful” in her head. I’d have written her singing Tricks Up My Sleeve myself but hey, it’s funneh. Also, Sunset has spiked earmuffs... what store is selling earmuffs with spikes on them? “I want to be tough and punk, but I don’t want my ears to get cold.”
Sunset asks the group if their powers have been acting up, and we’re treated to flashbacks as they muse on it and Sunset sees their thoughts. Fluttershy is followed by her own zoo, Twilight’s bike levitates for an ET gag, Applejack pulls the door off her locker, and Pinkie makes an apple she’s tossing around explode. And then Rainbow is here”I just ran here from the soccer field in three seconds! Hang on! *ZOOM* Forgot my backpack!” Speed aside she’s hyper and talking fast, and the geodes are glowing. Twilight is the nerd and she has a theory - if the geodes are all connected, using them more often could create a power surge in the others. And Rainbow just finished bragging about how much she loves her superspeed for everything. I don’t think that’s how even magic works but okay. Using them in moderation should be fine.
....oh fuck no. There he is, the douchy green-skinned lazy waste of animation. “He” asks Rainbow to the mall and Rainbow, under the disapproving stare of her friends, just walks away. He accepts this and walks off muttering. Well, that was a close one, got me scared he might have a presence in this short. Back in the hall Sunset’s powers are back to normal. Overall cute short, and while the amplification stuff doesn’t make sense to me, I do like that they show the girls can’t recklessly use their powers any time they want for anything. But let’s be honest, if we had Dash’s speed, we’d be doing the same thing. I’m just imagining being at work. “Uh oh, we’re out of McFlurry spoons! *ZIP* Got some!” And man the bus fare I’d save...
Next, “Finals Countdown.” First a brief moment of appreciation that the wall calendar behind Cheerilee has 31 boxes arranged in four rows of 7 with 3 left over. I know this seems an odd thing to mention but I’m still not fully over Lesson Zero’s dayplanner; what is that, seriously? Anyway final exams are in two weeks and everyone is worried, except for Sunset who looks bored and Twilight who is excited. Hey, a song! Cool, didn’t know these shorts would have songs but I don’t mind so long as they’re good. The group is bored and distracted during their study montage, so Twi finds a way to fold studying into their hobbies and get them prepped for a proper study session. They all pass with As.
Short is fine, not hilarious but it’s cute. The song is okay, it’s not annoying or amazing. Though Twilight’s voice sounded off, maybe it’s just been a while since I’ve heard it in a solo piece but it seemed higher pitched than normal. I do like the subtle cues that Sunset is not stressed at all, they remember she’s supposed to be really smart, just not up to Sci-Twi’s level. The highlight is Sunset being Twilight in chess, not sure if deliberate wink and nudge to Long Road to Friendship but it fits perfectly by accident anyway.
Now the third, “Star Crossed”. Twilight is going to “hang out” with Timber at the planetarium. Not sure why they pointedly avoid referring to it as a date but okay. She’s planned it out and scheduled it, of course. Fluttershy says she got her something special for the night “just in case”, reaches into her bags and pulls out a box of condoms. ...No, that would be hilarious but of course they wouldn’t dare do that. What she did get her was a jar of bugs. That’s the real item, Twilight is weirded out.
At the planetarium Twilight meets Timber and asks if he wants to go see the gravity exhibit, it’s really “pulling her in.” “on account of the gravitational pull?” Twilight laughs awkwardly and facepalms when he leaves; I just raise an eyebrow. Aaand human Star Swirl! Seems to be an astronomer, perfect. Twilight is confused that the exhibit isn’t here like the brochure said, and then goes to the planetarium show but finds it being closed, all shows are cancelled. So she takes Timber to drink cocoa by the telescope but it burns their tongues and is overcast with thunder booming. Twilight apologizes for things not going as planned and Timber shows off some astromony knowledge he Googled to try and impress her. At this point Twilight nudges open Fluttershy’s jaw of bugs and they fly off; they’re fireflies. The two hold hands and enjoy the view.
This one was meh. The “things won’t go as planned” schtick was obvious from the word go, but it isn’t clear why, was Twilight using an outdated brochure? Timber is fine, I liked the guy in Everfree but here he’s just kinda there and doesn’t really show much personality until the final lines, and his earlier awkward joke I guess is to hint he’s nervous too but otherwise doesn’t fit with him. Also, what was up with the ending? Why should Fluttershy save the day? Shouldn’t Timber be the one to make it okay by suggesting something else or just saying something nice and reassuring? Unneccesary chekhov’s gun was unneccesary. But still, cute.
I dunno, seems straightforward to me. The gems have a shared power supply that always powers all of them at once, so if one is in use the others accumulate charge, and if they accumulate too much they self-activate with max power.
Either they think real girls do play coy about their dates like that, or they think think someone (bronies? little girls in the boys-have-cooties phase?) will get turned off if they explicitly say that she's dating him.
Or it's what one might call straight-baiting and they believe they are leaving themselves an out to declare she and Timber were never more than friends.
Attempted point about your weird friend deserving a chance to try to contribute even though their attempt to help is creepy and not apparently helpful?
Well, someone was bound to make that joke sooner or later.
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rarity clearly made those earmuffs