Welcome to a new edition of Alicorn Reviews as this is a story that's needed its own episode for a while. Forgotten Friendship as I have mentioned for the last month came from an Equestria Girls book called "A Friendship to Remember". The story is the first to become adapted into an episode/movie rather than after its release as there are novelizations of the previous stories. The plot is about Sunset going through life with the HuMane Six as they help put together the school year book. However, after planning a day at the beach to not only take pictures for the year book but to hang out, something strange happens. As Sunset approaches her friends at the beach they act weird as if they weren't friends at all. She immediately tries to investigate what has caused the HuMane Six to suddenly shun her. Forgotten Friendship came out of left field upon its announcement and would be turned into a 45-minute TV special. I will admit that the book the episode comes from hardly interested me at the time of its release. I do know the IDW EQG comics are not canon to Gen 4's main timeline but I'm not sure if this is the case for the books. Regardless, this still was another home run for DHX as they took an adaptation and made a great episode. We get introduce to a new area that was never from the map on the official website for the beach. I'll never understand why it's taken Hasbro so long to get that up for the Human World. However, the story isn't centered around that at all but acts as some parts for the plot. I find it hilarious how Meta Gen 4 has become recently as DHX are starting to turn this series into an anime. Starting with seeing the HuMane Seven in one piece bathing suits or bikini like beach appeal... Uh does Hasbro realize this is a kid show? Let's not go into that for apparent reasons... We actually get two songs from this special with one from Sunset and another from a new character called Wallflower Blush. Sunset's song is obviously not her best she has sung so far when compared to her sole in Legend of Everfree. It just seems to lack that same feeling Daniel Ingram is known to put into these songs but this was overall pretty decent. I also love the part where Wallflower mentions how she was trying to get Sunset's attention during her song. What makes it even more funny is Sunset wasn't even singing openly but the song was still background music. Another one is when Wallflower was singing her own solo as Sunset looked for the memory stone. Of course, this causes Wallflower to stop in the middle of the song. Just like in episode 14 of S7 from FIM. its a few things like this that makes the meta moments entertaining. Let's talk about Wallflower Blush, and I actually found her very relatable for a character that didn't get the same screen time as Juniper Montage. In comparison to Starlight from FIM, it's mentioned that she had a past friendship problem with Starburst. Yet Wallflower was still written a lot better compared to Starlight since this came off believable and wasn't shoehorned into the backstory. Wallflower was actually being ignored by the HuMane Seven and the CHS students by accident which in turn made her come off invisible. As you can see, we finally get an antagonist with legit reasons (even when they were bad) to erase the memories of the HuMane Six of Sunset. For once, I could sympathize with an antagonist as none of them had this same feeling (even with true bad intentions). Unlike Sunset's new solo, Wallflower's own called Invisible sounded good as it highlighted how she really felt about truly being alone. Is it the best song in EQG? Maybe not but this truly made Wallflower come off relatable, something I can't say for Cinch's "Release the Magic". Surprisingly enough the auto-tune wasn't out of place around the lyrics when it reached that pitch. Another thing Hasbro didn't rehash again was the "she-demon" transformation, a writing trope they usually used during the climax. Wallflower wasn't brainwashed by Equestrian magic since she was using a relic. It's good to see the writers do something else instead of turning the next antagonist into a near world destroy being. Remember the loose end that was never truly explained when we got introduced to Sunset. The writers who after several entries into this series have finally addressed Sunset's reunion with Celestia. We don't exactly know what really transpired between Sunset and Celestia before the first film. However, I love the hint they gave at the end when Sunset's memories gets erased from her time as a human. It was the way she acted by asking where Celestia was as it's possible that Sunset didn't exactly run away to the Human World. We can't use the EQG comics as they are not canon in any way as seen with IDW's FIM. The scene where Sunset enters the Human World for the first time is a contradiction. It's actually possible that Celestia might have banished Sunset to the Human World because of her attitude. If I recall, someone brought up a good point from Equestria Daily's forums and maybe when Sunset was her student Celestia was more firm. Think about it, this was a time when Luna was still Nightmare Moon and remained banished to the moon. Perhaps Celestia was trying to avoid another evil transformation that Sunset would've taken if she was given the Element of Magic. Just look at what happened in the first film when she transformed into a corrupted dark form. I found that more interesting than the reunion itself between the two because this showed there was more to the story then Sunset being rebellious. Unless Celestia is lying about the way Sunset acted or the writers' retcon this, we don't know for sure. Regardless, it leads to an interesting theory that Celestia possibly isn't the loving and smiling leader that she leads us to believe. About the reunion, it would've been critical if more emotion went into the scene. Sunset has grown so much since the first film that the writers should've made our favorite mare shed some tears. They could've done the same for Celestia as she was a little saddening that Sunset left all those years ago (whether she ran away or got banished). These are only preferences I would have written and I don't think these are flaws since we still got the reunion. Just a little more emotion for the scene would have really made this a heartfelt and memorable moment. Another big surprise is how Trixie received some spotlight since the only time she ever had any was either for a couple of minutes or in shorts. There isn't much difference between the pony and human counterparts with their personalities. However, Trixie was still given attention considering this is the Sunset show. I also noticed something funny and we finally have the EQG version of StarlightxTrixie (I mean that in friendship). Human Starlight has yet to appear in this series so Sunset acts in her place in more ways then one. For once human Trixie didn't come off completely selfish and actually wanted to help Sunset. It's true she was doing this to earn a spot in the year book as defined by her personality. The fact she took the time to want to hear Sunset's problem is a character growth. The reason we never saw Trixie get character development in EQG is because her pony counterpart was already getting that. That's why I keep bringing this up that EQG should use a seasonal format and that's because characters like Trixie would benefit from it. Human Trixie getting some personality development isn't as good as her FIM version, but it definitely helps to see others receive this treatment. We move on to some funny and interesting moments with the usual humor from the HuMane Six. I'll admit this wasn't the funniest written gags seen so far as they played on the typical beach tropes. The best one was Rarity claiming how the white towels she had on the sand had differences between them. How are these towels different when they all look white? For the gags when Sunset was in Equestria like Luna speaking in her old regal tone (while Sunset quietly snickered), most of them didn't have me laughing. Even though I got the jokes like Sunset mentioning teacher's parking, these could've been written a lot better. They are no doubt entertaining but nothing in these scenes caused me to even chuckle. As for interesting notes, we started learning more about Clover the Clever, who's mentioned a few times in the past. It's the first time his backstory was ever explained since we've only known him by Twilight's references. I did find it interesting he wasn't the only one to come to the Human World. I'll give him props for chasing the evil unicorn even through another world to retrieve a magic relic. Of course, someone now needs to say this but those ancient Equestrians are starting to come off like jerks at this point. If you know said relic or being is a problem then, why send them to the Human World when you already have a dark dimension called Tartarus. It's like Starswirl and Clover didn't think these through especially when later the Dazzlings and Wallflower started using these powers. There was one last unique thing about how they left this off and they never explained what happened to that evil unicorn. I can see this leading to the next special when it's possible she got stranded in the parallel world. That was another EQG entry and as mentioned before was another home run by DHX. The premise of this book was a lot better compare to my first impression of the plot. Never had the chance to read the novel yet but after seeing this special I will definitely take a look at the book to find any differences. The plot showed how far Sunset was willing to go to help her friends and not lose precious memories or become forgotten. What made this episode unique was how relatable Wallflower came off. There was never an antagonist that had me sympathize with her not even Gloriosa came this close. Of course, we finally got the reunion between Celestia and Sunset we've asked for since Rainbow Rocks. Even though this scene could've been written a little better than what we got, it still tied up a loose end for Sunset. By adding a little more emotion would have made this an even better moment. Let's not forget the development Trixie finally got and I never anticipated it. I honestly never did read the book nor did I know Trixie was this big of a help in the story for Sunset. If anything, it was about time this Trixie saw some development even though it's not as good as her pony counterpart. Forgotten Friendship continues to prove that EQG has become a quality show in a much different way compared to the main show. Rating: 8.7/10 Great
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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