Thread 42580209

Today marks 10 years since the premiere of Friendship Games

good? bad? mid?
how could it have been better?
favorite song?

SEX WITH SUNSET SHIMMER

>>42580209 (OP)
I thought it was good, having Twilight be the antagonist instead of an ally was an interesting way to introduce the non-equestria Twilight
I think it could have been better to have the shadowbolts be foils to the main cast rather than just being kind of similar sort of but not really
It's hard to beat Unleash The Magic for best song for that movie
Also
>>42580215

>>42580215
fpbp

Anyways I like it a lot. I think SciTwi acts real stupid when it comes to magic though, by the time she sucks off Fluttershy she'd witness first hand what happened to Pinkie and then just.. doesn't do anything? Sunset snapping at her is entirely warranted given how little she tries to "understand" what the thingamajig does.
Also the Shadowbolts kinda fall flat for me since they individually have like three lines each and thats it until Unleash the Magic.
Fav song? ACADECA, though I REALLY wished we had gotten the duet version for What More Is Out There

>>42580209 (OP)
The removed scenes are the ultimate kino ideas, and I wish they were implemented one way or the other.

>>42580209 (OP)
And people still are angry

>>42580209 (OP)
The main problem with this movie is that it focuses way too much on Principal Cinch, who we don't care about and never will, and how much she pressures Sci-Twi, who we just met and don't know that well yet.

If they had kept the storyline of Sunset not knowing where she belongs, singing that duet with Sci-Twi and finally deciding to stay in the human world with her friends to study magic it would've been much more enjoyable.

The Shadowbolts were nice and underused. The fact that people still draw fanart and write greens about them show that they were liked.

As expected, the songs, Midnight Sparkle and Daydream Shimmer were the best part of the movie.

The Sunset thread is prepping another massive collab for next week. I bet you my left ball that it's gonna be all Midnight Sparkle.

>>42580215
fpbp

>>42581120
I like Cinch. She was a better antagonist than Midnight Sparkle who came out of nowhere. Really unique for MLP, too.

>>42581133
Her motivation is extremely petty and childish.
Her personality is just snooty asshole.
Her evil actions are just pressuring Sci-Twi.
She immediately gets replaced by Cadance afterwards.

The worst part of it is that this could've absolutely worked if instead of Cinch they had used Sombra instead. Because Sombra had just as little plot and generic motivatrions in the show at the time, too.

Not ponifying the antagonists was a big blunder.

>>42581155
She's one of the more grounded villains in the franchise and that's why I like her. She was just extremely cynical and opportunistic to the point of unleashing eldritch horrors, that's realistic in a sense considering what greed and ambition makes people do.

She didn't have to leave us so soon. What's with EQ creating hot evil women and discarding the design five minutes later?

>>42581541
She haunted the narrative of the entire next movie though...

>>42581120
Sometimes I wish we had a couple of Cinch cameos around town.
Not like "I will return, Canterlot 6!", but more in the vein of "Well, that was a forced retirement. Now let's see what can I do to show these goofballs why they shouldn't have let me go."

>>42580215
fpbp
>>42581120
>>42581133
>>42581155
>>42581504
I must say that I like Cinch in that she is not a villain who tries to conquer the world or have more magical power just because she can, but rather a selfish adult who is capable of using children to gain and maintain her professional prestige.
Something that sounds... too logical and realistic, but in a good way.
She's not even that evil considering that all she did was maliciously force Sci-Twi to play some silly games, and in the end she was thoroughly humiliated.
A very believable antagonist in a school setting that is rarely used in this type of stories

as >>42580694 said, sci-twi is the villain, not Cinch, she plays a different role.
So it doesn't bother me that she isn't “something more” in terms of background, evilness, etc.

>>42580209 (OP)
Not as good as "Rainbow Rocks" but way better than "Legends of Everfree" it's a nice middle ground. I think to improve it? Maybe maybe get rid of the rival girls? Keep it just focusing on Scitwi and Shimmer. Granted this would make the Mane 5 have way less to do but I think make it tighter would be a good trade off. I don't remember any songs from this one.

>>42580215
Recently I read posts in the pattern of "sex with" or a "random word sex" are a class of bots trying to autonomously post like porn pf commenters on Youtube.

>>42582028
She's boring and forgettable. The worst traits you want a character with so much screentime to have. It's what made Gloriosa and Timber such weak parts of EG4 too.

Just focus on what people really want. The real reason people watch Equestria Girls.

>>42581574
Why is Twilight so damn adorable and sexy for!

>>42580209 (OP)
I hate how they wasted the Shadowbolts' potential.

>>42582028
It's a shame to have a character like this in a teen school drama.

She should have been the villain of a rival school in Season 8, tasked with destroying Twilight Sparkle's school.

>>42582248
>a character with so much screentime
I don't think she gets that much screentime desu
I'm not saying she's great either, and she's not even the villain.
It would be worse if she were pure evil

>>42582677
She gets enough to be showcased in the actual opening titles with name and VA. Which is what they didn't do with the Shadowbolts.

>>42581120
>If they had kept the storyline of Sunset not knowing where she belongs, singing that duet with Sci-Twi and finally deciding to stay in the human world with her friends to study magic it would've been much more enjoyable.
This.

>>42580215
You're famous now.

>>42582349
At least we had Dance Magic.
Too bad they decided to assume that Zappie didn't exist

>>42581574
Even that wasn't enough.

>>42580209 (OP)
>good? bad? mid?
Not as good as Rainbow Rocks but still obviously a huge step up from the first movie. I like Friendship Games but the stakes never felt as high as they did in the last movie, I like Sci-Twi but I felt like they would use her much better in the next movie, and I liked Sunset's continued development into a leader figure and especially the role-reversal in her helping save Twilight from herself like the original Twilight did for her. Other than that I found the villains to be really lacking, I know they have their fans but Shadowbolts don't have a fraction of the presence/memorability of the Dazzlings and Cinch likewise was underwhelming. I still rate it a solid 7-8/10 though
>how could it have been better?
Definitely think it would have improved from keeping in the deleted 'Sunset is homesick' plotline, the cancelled duet with her/Twilight was magical and it still makes me mad not so much that this idea wasn't just cut from the movie but NEVER revisited in general.
Other than that I think it needed better villains or more build up to Midnight Sparkle to help build it up
>favorite song?
'More That's Out There' (especially the duet version) but also the Decathalon song is really catchy

>>42583397
>>42581120
I recall reading an interview that this idea of Sunset being homesick and wondering if she really belongs in the human world was cut because it would be 'distracting' from the main plot of the movie, and I don't really agree with that but I could see how it might be a concern. Still though that they would never touch upon it again is the real crime, Sunset having doubts about being satisfied with the mundane human world and wondering if she'd be better off back in the wonderous land of Equestria would be better for her (and also I imagine just missing home in general) would be such a cool idea that's brought up all the time in fanworks and they just never jumped on the opportunity.

>>42581541
>villainess whose goal is knowledge even at the destruction of entire universes
she was potentially the most destructive MLP villainess, was willing to tear apart two dimensions just to learn more about magic and I thought that was sort of metal

>>42580209 (OP)
10 years...

>>42582028
I will give Cinch this much in that her motivations are believable/relatable - she is concerned about CPA's reputation because if CPA, a prestigious academy that people pay quite a bit of money for their kids to attend, loses in even one event to a cheap public school, wtf are those parents paying for? I could understand her drive to make sure CPA is unbeatable not just because of generic evil school head-mistress taking what is meant to be a fun event WAY too seriously (though I do think she is that to a degree) but I understand the lengths she goes to to see CPA remains on top because if it isn't on top, it suddenly loses any reason to attend.

>>42580215
This but specifically before she entered the portal

>>42583644
Considering how underutilized the topic of nostalgia and immigration is in fiction and how many people feel like they don't belong in their worlds and would rather go to Equestria, adding it would've immediately made her go from fandom favorite to symbol and icon.

>>42583397
Posting the duet itself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4E3KPiha_Y

>>42585129
If they had kept this this movie could've been almost as good as Rainbow Rocks.

>>42584730
It's just such a good concept for drama that isn't utilized as much as it could have been, if at all - beyond the culture shock of being born a magical pony in horseland to living as a mundane human in a more modern world, there's the topic of her family she left behind too I felt could always be explored. I'd really love for this idea to have been fleshed out with Sunset contemplating what all she left behind when she came here and weighing what she's gained since - her friends - against that

>>42585129
Kino..

>>42583617
The main issue was that Indigo sounds just like Starlight.
I know is the same VA, but they couldn't retcon that in time.

>>42582349
i agree, would've liked to see more of them.
of course I would've liked to see a whole lot more eqg in general.

>>42586088
all we needed was just one more special and a final movie
...and a few more specials
...and an actual TV series
is that too much to ask!??!

>>42586139
It needed to introduce less new characters and develop the ones they already had.

>Indigo was Starlight
HUH, I know Indigo doesn't have the most lines but I had never heard the similarity before. They were that close in tone?

>>42581574
Why did they animate her like that

>>42580215
HOLY ZASED

>>42586448
Because they knew exactly what they were doing.

>>42586553
When I rewatched Rainbow Rocks, I noticed the animations where way better than I remembered.
You guys should rewatch the movies, you'll be surprised with what you'll notice.

>>42580215
I like this post.
It's a very good post.

>>42583644
>it would be 'distracting' from the main plot of the movie
How would be "distracting" for the movie to have a subplot? I feel like what this really means is that they thought they needed to keep it simple or else the kiddos wouldn't be able to follow

>>42585129
If you watch the DVD commentary when they get to "More That's Out There" all they can talk about is how sad they were that they had to cut the duet version

>>42580209 (OP)
Was this movie also released in theaters?

>>42587314
No it premiered on TV, I remember watching it live

>>42587314
It premiered on DiscoveryFam while the 2nd half of Season 5 was airing (I think after Made in Manehattan or another episode around there)

Also "Right There in Front of Me", the song used for the end credits, was clearly written with the context of Sunset's cut story arc because it's a duet between her and Twilight and in her verse she sings about "not knowing where she belonged". But I guess they decided not to change it

Anybody else remember the delusional shitposting claiming Sunset wasn't the leader of the group and was getting replaced with SciTwi?
Man that aged terribly

>>42587373
Ten years is a long time, I'm struggling to remember exactly what people were guessing would happen with Sci-Twi's involvement. I don't remember the idea she'd be REPLACING Sunset being that prevalent, but I do remember thinking people would think she'd just be a one-off rather than join the main cast which I also thought was too far in the opposite extreme

Josh Haber made this movie.

>>42587605
Which is a good thing. Josh Haber did many good things for the franchise.

>>42586553
Friendly reminder that curves is girls' "cool" aka giga chad women.

>>42587605
Yeah, and that's a surprise, he actually did a decent job.
Like, this movie doesn't feel entirely like mlp, but it's a nice change to something a little more psychological.

I've noticed that all of the EqG stuff was better animated that the mainline FiM stuff.. also do you think Sunset has a horse dildo collection?

>>42587605
>>42588163
Ishi Rudell was still directing the movies at the time, I'm willing to bet he had a handle on tard-wrangling Haber
But also as much credit as I will give Josh Haber of the time is he didn't start out awful. At worst I'd say his episodes (Castle Mane-ia, Simple Ways, etc) were mediocre, it wasn't until he was handed executive writing power he fell from grace

It does make me wonder though, is this how Twilight would have acted if she never became Celestia's student?

>>42588618
Isn't that the point of moondancer?

>>42588643
No she's Twilight without the autism

>>42588650
With twice the autism*

>>42588618
Sci-Twi I think is best scene as an example of someone of Twilight's asocial/studious nature in a world without magic.
In Equestria, magic is everything. A nerd enclosing herself in a library learning how to weave the fabric of reality to become a mage is something worthy of respect.
In the human world, there is no magic. There is science but a nerd enclosing herself in a library to learn how to STEM is going to be met with a lot less immediately impressive results hence why no one respects Sci-Twi the way ponies respect Twilight

>>42588177
some scenes were pure animated kino. like check out this scene from 37:05 to 37:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph5dTmFvH8s&t=2225s
the music, the effects, the animation of the symbol appearing on the sky, the accompanying sound effects, how the girls use the staff to seal all the clouds inside, the animation again, how the symbol forms a lightning-like arms before it's being pulled, and so on and so on...
straight from a superhero cartoon

>>42589089
If only they weren't just fighting some angry weather and were fighting the ghost of the Storm King like they initially wanted to

It would've given the special SO much more weight