We are a couple of days away from the Equestria Girls YouTube series starting and this time I'll be reviewing the third movie. Friendship Games released in 2015 continues a few months later, after Rainbow Rocks as the HuMane Six prepares to face Crystal Prep in competition. The third film would not get a theatrical release this time and instead aired on Discovery Family as a direct video release. Friendship Games, unlike Rainbow Rocks, did receive mixed reviews (mostly from the purists) but regardless the franchise was still a success to continue the brand. It also marks the first time the writers attempt world building as we get introduced to this parallel world's Twilight and the Crystal Empire. Right from the start, we get introduced to Human Twilight and I just loved the way she acts so different from her counterpart. Ever since the first film, we always wondered if Twilight's human counterpart would act the same way. I mean considering that the HuMane Five was similar to their pony counterparts from Season One. Twilight's personality being different was enjoyable as she came off timid, scientific and lacked social skills. It was a great way for the writers to introduce the EQG version of her in this style because it's a different world and would've been lazy to make her have the same personality. Throughout the story, Twilight's development has her trying to socially fit in as she encounters the HuMane Six. She slowly discovers that through her interactions with Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack about what friendship can do for her. I also love the scene where she enters her private office at Crystal Prep, Spike was at the door and slams it open on him just like Pony Twilight did in the first episode of Season One. Sunset's role in this was fantastic and it's awesome how far she came from that crappy villain to now the leader of her friends. Her personality was the strongest it has ever been as she continues evolving into a leader with confidence. For once the studio addresses the outfit designs and now Sunset and the Crystal Prep students have believable clothes. Sunset's new outfit has become the best design so far with no bulky boots and the overused skirts. For the Shadow Bolts, I will admit, this did take me a while to get into them as I didn't realize what their personalities meant. Sugar Coat was blunt, Sour Sweet is dishonest, Indigo Zap is passionate, Sunny Flare was inconsiderate and Lemon Zest was wildly happy. Are they on par with the Dazzlings' personalities and roles? No, they are not, but for a new cast of characters, they are interesting as a complete opposite to the main heroes. The writers made some modifications to the story's format and there was no magic being who came from Equestria that wanted to capture or hold over a city. The narrative this time was about Twilight investigating the unusual events at CHS from the last two movies. It, of course, precedes her into inadvertently stealing the magic of the HuMane Six away using her device. I also loved the way they built this up with her not knowing how to handle the power. Twilight showed that she didn't want the device to steal their magic and had no intention of doing so once she understood. Likely the most interesting thing was how this Twilight is easily pressured by Cinch and her peers to employ the magic. It's interesting because this makes you wonder what if Twilight in FIM didn't know anything about friendship. Turning into Midnight Sparkle was a serious role reversal not only for her but even for Sunset. I also found this surprising that Sunset would use the device to capture her friends' magic only to turn into a light form of Daydream Shimmer. Talk about coming a long way since transforming into a "She-Demon" which shows how amazing Sunset's development is for the series. The climax wasn't as good as the Battle of the Bands from Rainbow Rocks. However, I find it engaging to see Sunset in a light form facing off against Midnight so she could stop her from destroying the school by opening portals. Despite its length, the climax between Sunset and Twilight was good and still put together a lot better than the finale of the original movie. There is one thing I always liked about these movies is the end credit scene as this time both Twilights meet each other. Hasbro didn't wait for that which ruins a potential story arc, but it also proved that EQG was in fact canon because of Twilight mentioning the Season Five finale. For all you purists that keep this stuck up notion that EQG is not canon, two of the writers from the actual studio has claimed the series was canon recently. So do yourselves a favor and grow up, if the writers are telling you purists are wrong then that's it. You may hate this truth (just like how I can't stand Starwars Episode VII being canon) but it doesn't change the fact that EGQ no matter how you spin it is canon. There are some problems that still affect the movie and the series as a whole. The HuMane Five's wardrobe is still the same design as the first Equestria Girls. Sunset gets a new outfit, but for some reason, no one decided in the creative department to conceptualize any art for the other girls. It comes off very lazy that no change, especially with the horseshoe design for the boots, hasn't changed yet by the third film. Another issue with the writing is that the HuMane Five still acts like their pony counterparts from the first season of FIM. There is no excuse for keeping their personalities the same with hardly any development aside from Sunset and Twilight. Of course, Jar Jar Flash has to return once again, but this time it's worse. The only reason Flash was even there in the last two films was to be Twilight's love interest, but now that she has no part in the plot, he's basically just there for the sake of it. For once the writers got this through their hard heads to get rid of this crappy shipping that wasn't needed in the first place. As for Jar Jar Flash, if he's not going to contribute to the plot, then why have him there if the writers have no plans to develop him any further. The only thing they could do is to keep him as a background character with no lines and appears at random. The soundtrack is not that great this time compared to Rainbow Rocks and some tracks felt like it went back to the theme of high school. I recognize that the theme this time was a competition between two high schools but it came away a bit generic. It's obvious that this wasn't Daniel Ingham's (and the other creative people involved) best work for Gen 4. I won't list Music through the Ages, Life is a Run Way, My Past is not Today or Dance Magic. The reason is the first three songs aren't in the film, but in the epilogue shorts to Rainbow Rocks. As for Dance Magic, it's not in the film or its cartoon shorts and in fact the track isn't used until the Dance Magic episode. The worst tracks in the movie are Unleash the Magic sung by Cinch as a typical villain song and Right There in Front of Me (the end credit theme). The CHS Rally Song, Friendship Games and Acadeca were the obvious high school theme tracks. Before you rush at me, by no means am I saying these were terrible songs as they are still more beneficial than the original Equestria Girls soundtrack. The song titled What More is Out There was missing something that could have made it special. If you are unaware, this song was obviously meant for a duet between Sunset and Twilight. According to the Blu-ray DVD, there is a deleted scene where Pony Twilight awaits Sunset at a cafe after the events of the movie. In the original duet song, Sunset sings about being homesick from Equestria and how she doesn't recognize herself any longer. Frankly, this is a missed opportunity as we don't get a duet between Sunset and Twilight again until the Monday Blues Summer short in 2017. At the same time, I see why the writers changed this, and the end credit scene didn't make sense because Twilight comes back for a random visit. The final matter to bring up is the lack of logic in some of the scenes. During the action sports event, I can't understand why the principals didn't stop the event when there are magic plant monsters coming out of the portals. They all saw clearly what happened in the opening so why wasn't the principals trying to stop the event and getting every student away from the course. I don't know what the writers smoked, but the scene made no sense when no one was reacting realistically to the situation. Then there is the newest threat the HuMane Six must overcome and no, it's not Midnight Sparkle. The new big threat is a principal named Abacus Cinch, a complete downgrade to what we got in the previous film. Cinch is by far the crappest villain in the series and a petty principal is the last thing I would have thought of as a threat. Truly pathetic how we went from the Dazzlings with a competent leader of Adagio Dazzle and her colorful friends to a villain with no powers named Cinch. Friendship Games wasn't Hasbro's best film in this series, but with that said the flick was even more enjoyable than the original movie. The writers finally addressed world building and did a great job writing the Crystal Empire as a private high school. The main five Shadow Bolts came off like a true else-world HuMane Five which was a little interesting. The story of Human Twilight accidentally capturing the magic, understanding a few of the main characters from her interaction with them and then the climax was well thought out. It gave us a glimpse of the possibility of Pony Twilight turning to the darkside and acts like a what if scenario. Sunset's development as I have said already, was fantastically written and she has come a long way from that bad girl to a proficient leader. However, the film's flaws needed some cleaning up a bit starting with the villain who felt like a major downgrade from the Dazzlings. Cinch as a villain was the last thing the writers should have thought about and I can't take a principal as a threat seriously. I still have some issue with using the same cloths and boot design since the original film for the HuMane Five. The music while not bad wasn't as good as Rainbow Rocks and a few of the songs did have that generic high school theme. Then there are moments that weren't written realistically as seen in the action sports contest. It may have a few flaws, but compared to the first film; it still was following the quality standard set by Rainbow Rocks. Rating: 8.2/10 Very Good
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Retro Gamer has been an avid fan of the My Little Pony Series since the debut of Gen 4 in 2010. Whenever she isn't talking about gaming, Retro will give her thoughts on MLP and other pony themed brands.
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