Ranking the Equestria Girls Films/Specials (From Worst to Best), Version 2 · 3:59am Mar 31st, 2019
Well, now that "Spring Breakdown" has come and gone I think it's time to update this list, largely for the sake of explaining where the new special ends up. As always this list is purely the result of my personal opinion so please respect it, and remember that it is not official by any means.
10. Rollercoaster of Friendship
Why it stayed on the bottom: It seems that the series unfortunately has proven that only Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi are at all worth focusing on even now. The Rainbooms just haven't developed enough compared to their pony counterparts to hold an entire movie/special. Again, it really does feel like at times they were going for a self parodying angle with lines from Sunset about Equestrian magic and the blank, white room being a room somewhere in the park. But again, the rest of the special plays it too seriously for the self parodying angle to work. Interestingly, early promotional material hinted at the theme of selfie mysteries, which we ultimately got in the shorts series itself. I feel like that could've been a much better angle to explore.
9. Mirror Magic
Why it moved down: Starlight has definitely grown on me since this special, I just don't like how she repeatedly seems to get special treatment from the writers all the time. Apparently, this is because of how they use Kelly Sherdian due to budget restrictions, she can only be involved if Starlight has a big role to play, not a minor one (which might explain why she was absent from non focus episodes in Season 6 and at times seemed to take over roles meant for Spike in Season 7). She does have a good human design, but she should've been the one imprisoned in the mirror, not Sunset. Nerfing Sunset to make Starlight look good is a cheap writing ploy that does nothing to dispel the criticisms of her being a "Mary Sue". And of course, as I've previously mentioned, Juniper Montage is an insufferable villain who lacks any sort of threat to her.
8. Dance Magic
Why it moved down: A.k.a the poor man's "Rarity Takes Manehattan". This special really should've utilized the extended lease it got when it was pushed back from being a tie in special for "Legend of Everfree", not just changing one small detail and calling it a day. I don't even know why they used the pony up designs other than for the sake of selling toys, and of course there's the hard to ignore absence of Indigo Zapp (it's like they couldn't even come up with an excuse). If you're gonna be low budget, at least work with your limitations instead of just ignoring them, that's what the Deadpool movies did.
7. Rainbow Rocks
Why it moved down: I still can't get over how rushed everything seems to be here, so much happens that despite a longer run time it just doesn't seem to have enough to focus on what's important. I mean, did we really need a pointless subplot of human Trixie as a puppet of the Dazzlings? Wouldn't it have had more of an impact if it was Flash's band they were manipulating? And again, putting pony Twilight into the movie was a mistake, it made the franchise seem like it was afraid to stand on its own two legs and had to drag its parent franchise along to hold its hand. If not for Sunset Shimmer's character development, the climax, and the Dazzlings themselves (mostly thanks to Adagio Dazzle) there would be nothing going for this movie. And it's still jarring that the Dazzlings fate hasn't been touched on even now, are they still out there? Are they still a threat? Have them maybe learned how to transfer their abilities to natural singing? Maybe they've even struck out on their own instead of as a trio? We may never know (just as we may never know what happened to the human world's Sunset Shimmer, assuming there is or was one).
6. Spring Breakdown
Why it's in the bottom half: It was hard to decide if this should be above or below "Rainbow Rocks". I think I've pinned down what went wrong with this special, it feels like everything up to Rainbow Dash going out on that island was just filler that dragged on and on for far longer than it was needed, and to make up for it the stuff after we got to the island was rushed. The Storm King's staff was odd, and the timeline of this movie seems to suggest it takes place right after the 2017 movie (Spike apparently doesn't have his wings yet here). I think those little pony bits were what might have lifted this special, and if we'd gotten to see more of them maybe it would've been good. Ironic isn't it, that this special has the inverse problem of "Rainbow Rocks" in that it needed pony but didn't really use it.
5. Equestria Girls
Why it stayed the same: All ratings from here on out are the same, so you can probably skip to the end if you want. It still feels like this movie was more an admittance of mistakes than an actual attempt at a pilot for a spin-off series that we've now half heartedly gotten. As far as villains for Equestria Girls go, I'd say Sunset Shimmer is still the weakest simply because she lacks any sort of real connection to the world other than being a generic mean girl character. Her plots never move beyond that until the very end, and her demon design is undeniably hideous. I feel like they could've done more with Sunset and the school if they weren't so focused on cliches and pointless plots that didn't contribute anything of real worth.
4. Movie Magic
Why it stayed the same: Like I said before this is more or less a Scooby-Doo type of plot and how much you like this special is gonna boil down to how much you like Scooby-Doo plots in general. They don't really do anything new or necessarily creative with it, it's about as basic a Scooby-Doo plot you can get. But sometimes predictably can be a good thing, every story you can think of can be boiled down to basic elements and tropes if you really think about it. Being original sometimes means just putting your own take on what's already been done. Of course, I still think they could've embraced the nature of the plot more. Give us a proper Scooby-Doo chase scene complete with the famous connecting doors (you can't have a Scooby-Doo chase without 'em), have the villain say something along the lines of "Meddling kids", maybe even have Spike do some Scooby-Doo antics.
3. Legend of Everfree
Why it stayed the same: It's a school field trip but it definitely has elements of a Spring/Summer Break type of plot and setting. I might have liked to see Sunset's home sickness crop back up here just a little, so as to build somewhat for "Forgotten Friendship" down the road, and Sci-Twi taking the lead here does feel a bit abrupt after two movies where Sunset was the character of focus. But those are minor details, and for the most part this film is good at being low key with lower stakes. Gaia Everfree needed some work though, because her antics don't match her justifications, and the foreshadowing of Gloriosa Daisy as Gaia Everfree is painfully obvious. It's sad that this seems to be the last time Flash Sentry gets any kind of a role, and it's around the time when he was actually starting to become more of a character besides a bland love interest. I still don't think he and Sunset should get back together though, even if Sunset has changed for the better. It would send the wrong kind of message to the target audience.
2. Friendship Games
Why it stayed the same: There's really not much I can see here, the Rainbooms haven't developed much (if it all) from this movie which was starting to make that fact obvious. It was the one that convinced me Equestria Girls could work as a spin-off series and stand on its own, but looking back on it it really seems shameful that the trappings and problems on display here didn't get better with subsequent installments. Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi definitely carried this special, especially since Crystal Prep is shown to be the absolute worst place on Earth and everyone is either in on Cinch's corruption and illegal activities, or does nothing to prevent them (yet apparently the original plan was for Sci-Twi to stay there, someone must've realized that made no sense even with Cadence now the principal).
1. Forgotten Friendship
Why it stayed on the top: If there's one thing that this special could've and should've done better, it was give the Rainbooms more time to actually do stuff. The most we got is the beginning and the scenes of them on the beach with Sci-Twi's selfie drone that becomes a Checkhov's Gun towards the end. It probably wouldn't have hurt to cut Trixie as the red herring villain, or even just trim her scenes since it was so obvious that they wanted us to think she did it. When they stopped doing that, I think that was when this special really started to take off. Yes, pony Sunset Shimmer apologizing and making amends with Princess Celestia was great. It was everything we'd always hoped for and I wish they'd expanded on it for just a little bit longer. But at a time when pony Trixie was becoming intolerable to an alarming degree, it was nice to have her human counterpart avoid falling into the same pitfalls. It would've been great if they could've had Flash Sentry be on it too. As I've said before, Wallflower Blush's initial reason for targeting Sunset doesn't make much sense and it should've been cut (just her being resentful that Sunset has what she doesn't and becoming addictied to the Memory Stone should've been enough). It's a reminder that redemption is an ongoing process, and that even for a character like Sunset there are still wrongs to right and past mistakes to atone for.
And there you have it. Now, with Season 9 proper slated to begin in less than a week, and with news that the writers consider "Best Gift Ever" an episode, come back on Friday to see how all 196 episodes stack up and where "Best Gift Ever" falls among them.
For me it's:
Mirror Magic
Forgotten Friendship
Legend of Everfree
Friendship Games
Movie Magic
Rainbow Rocks
Spring Breakdown
EQG 1
Rollercoaster of Friendship
Dance Magic
Spring Breakdown is where it is because it's not as much of a mess as the first EQG film or Rollercoaster of Friendship, nor as dull as Dance Magic.
In regards to Spring Breakdown, Nick Confalone did apologize on Twitter to the fans who were let down by Equestria not being focused on enough. He explained that the entire focal point of the special was Rainbow Dash and Sci-Twi coming to terms with being superheroes, and the trip to Equestria was merely a transitional chapter. However, San Diego Comic Con overhyped the Equestria aspect by making it seem like that was going to be the main plot. Here's the link to his apology if you want to see for yourself.
I found it. And your list does make quite a lot of sense.
The problem with EQGs is that it wastes so much damn potential. It depends pretty solely on FIM to the point where you have had to have watched it in order understand what's happening.
They need to develop the Damn Humane 5. Yes, they are basically our ponies if you were to throw them into the human world, but the writers can change that. They can develop the backstories of these characters, and since they aren't the same as their pony counterparts, they can totally get away with making them different. The writers assume that because the Humane Five are similar to the Mane Five, they don't have to put effort in to the Humane Five. Like, was Fluttershy bullied by others like she was with Sunset? Sure pony counterpart did, but we can only assume that human did too. Was Rainbow childhood friends with her still? Is Applejack's parents dead in this world? Heck, since EQGs is targeted for a older audience, they have no excuse to not tell us how Applejack's parents died and the details. How. Did. These. Five. Meet for crying out loud.
They can also improve it by removing the freaking dues ex machina aka the Rainbow Lasers. Or, just barely use it, cause that's sort of annoying and puts their gained powers to waste. Also, stop with the whole "friendship defeats everything" thing, they literally had a very unlikable character in Rollercoaster of Friendship, and they try to "redeem" her at the very last few minutes of the special, and by then, it was too late for anyone to sympathize her. 'I don't care if you nearly tried to delete everyone with your magic phone, because you have no friends, you get a free pass.' Has got to stop, please, stop redeeming characters like that writers.
Wow, that turned into a mini rant, didn't it?