MLP villain rankings: Midnight Sparkle

0/10 - AWFUL (unsalvageable, never should have been made, wouldn't recommend to anyone)
1/10 - HORRIBLE/BORING (tedious, hurts to watch, a bore, no reason to watch him/her, whatever positive things about him/her are tiny and not enough)
2/10 - VERY BAD (slightly less terrible, maybe there were one or two things you liked kept him/her from being a 1 but still very painful)
3/10 - BAD (the kind of bad where you're checking your watch over and over to see how much time is left before he/she gets off the screen)
4/10 - MEDIOCRE (not awful but not really that good either)
5/10 - EH (average, didn't love or hate him/her)
6/10 - DECENT (the first positive rating on this list, fine overall, glad you saw him/her once but wouldn't watch him/her again)
7/10 - GOOD (enjoyable enough that you'd maybe watch him/her again in future, had some noteworthy flaws but is overall a worthwhile villain)
8/10 - GREAT (a solid, enjoyable villain, very entertaining)
9/10 - EXCELLENT (very engaging, awesome, you definitely recommend to anyone)
10/10 - MASTERPIECE (extremely engaging, an absolute must-see)

Midnight Sparkle

Source

I don’t count Principal Cinch as Friendship Games’ main villain because she was more of a tertiary antagonist than anything else. Y’know, a bully/jerk in the same vein as Trixie and Gilda before their reformations.

“But Midnight Sparkle only showed up in the last ten minutes!”

Actually she didn’t. Midnight Sparkle was onscreen the entire movie, in the form of Sci-Twi. She was ultimately a culmination of all the stress, peer pressure and bullying Sci-Twi had endured throughout the film. Basically the result of when you give a magical nuke to somebody who goes through constant emotional abuse. Let’s face it, that’s far more interesting than Principal Snobby von Persnickety-Bitch.

And Friendship Games' climax is a better-written version of the first movie's climax with higher stakes. Sci-Twi's innocent desire to learn about magic gets amplified to insane levels once she gets corrupted by her amulet's magic and is even willing to tear two worlds asunder in order to do it. And obviously she doesn't care after all the crap she’s gone through. She does in just five minutes what Tirek and Discord did in an hour. She doesn’t waste time planning or stalling, she just gets right to it. Nobody holds back or sits around in the movie’s third act. Sunset only fights her head-on when trying to reason with her fails. And Midnight only just loses because Spike distracts her with them big ol' eyes, reminding her that she would be giving up the only friend she‘d ever had.

Plus Tara Strong’s deliciously hammy “evil Twilight” performance is just the best.

9/10 EXCELLENT

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LINKS TO OTHER VILLAIN RANKINGS

Nightmare Moon
Discord
Queen Chrysalis
King Sombra
Sunset Shimmer
Lord Tirek
Adagio Dazzle
Starlight Glimmer
Midnight Sparkle (you're already here, you carrot)
Gloriosa Daisy
Juniper Montage
Stygian/The Pony of Shadows
The Storm King
Wallflower Blush
Vignette Valencia
Chancellor Neighsay
Cozy Glow
PostCrush
Grogar

Comments

[Vigriff]

Friendship Games was a pretty good movie, especially when "Unleash the Magic" played.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Sometimes I think that Midnight Sparkle might be my personal favorite EG villain. Just because of the fact that she's such a potent mix of tragic and terrifying. And as you said too, Tara's performance really adds to all of that.

Especially in regard to how CLOSE Midnight came to winning. If it weren't for that moment with Spike, she most likely would have triumphed... and depending on how you view it, very well may have destroyed the world (or both worlds) through her reckless desire to know everything.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Midnight Sparkle was so good that she lingered into "Legend of Everfree". And I personally would've liked to have her still linger deep down inside, the yang to Sci-Twi's yin.