Author Archives: afolhusband

Hasbro Studios has just released the first trailer for My Little Pony:  Friendship Games.

The appearance of the human Twilight has long been anticipated. She was hinted at in the first movie when our Twilight met the human Pinkie Pie, then she was shown after the end credits in the second. In addition to this, dolls of the Human Twilight were shown off earlier this year at the New York Toy Fair.

I can see that half of my Christmas list this year will be Equestria Girls dolls! I want the Nerdy Twilight/Flash Sentry set, and I need a Sunset Shimmer. The other half will, of course, be Lego…I am the AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego) Husband, after all.

From here on, there are no spoilers: I don’t know any more than you do.  These are just my thoughts, comments, and hopes for the third Equestria Girl movie.

If you visit sites like Deviant Art and Derpyburu you will see that there is a lot of speculation that human Twilight is evil, a sort of mad scientist, but I don’t necessarily think that’s true.  From what we saw in the second movie, Human Twilight is a student of science, much like our Twilight is a student of magic. Human Twilight figured out that there was something strange going on at Canterlot High, so in this movie I think she’s going to take advantage of visiting Canterlot High for the Friendship Games in order to investigate what’s going on.  There is a shot in the trailer of her sneaking around the statue that is the portal between the two worlds that would seem to confirm this.

There is also a shot that would appear to be Sunset Shimmer facing off against Twilight.  Magic is popping up around Canterlot High, and I think Twilight, in her investigations, is going to tap into magic she can’t control, which another shot would seem to confirm. I think in the end Sunset Shimmer, being the only girl from Equestria, is going to have to save Twilight, and possibly Equestria, from disaster.  At least that’s the direction I hope the movie will go.

In “My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic,” Twilight is my favorite pony. As Xander from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” once put it, “smart chicks are hot!” In the movies, however, Sunset Shimmer is my favorite character…not so much in the first movie, but definitely in the second.  If you think about it, her path is similar to “Xena:  Warrior Princess”.  She was once evil, turned away from her ways, and now struggles to redeem herself and be accepted.

It would make sense if the third movie goes the way I hope.  Then this movie would complete a trilogy revolving around Sunset.

In the first movie, Twilight is the protagonist.  She starts with the fear that, “Just because I have this crown and these wings, it doesn’t mean I’ll be a good leader.”  In the end, she proves she is a leader by taking what she has learned about friendship into a strange world, making new friends, and leading those friend in defeating Sunset Shimmer. In the process, we learn that Sunset rebelled against Princess Celestia and went to the human world to plot her revenge. In the end, she is defeated, repents, and is left to learn about friendship.

In the second movie, Sunset is the protagonist.  Though she has repented, she still does not fit in because the students at Canterlot High still remember what she did. The five friends that do accept her have formed a band, but she isn’t in it.  So, even with friends  of her own, there is still the feeling of being an outsider. Then there are the Sirens, bent on causing division among the students, who remind her of her dark past.  In the end, the six girls need her voice to defeat the sirens, she has her magical transformation moment and becomes one of this world’s Mane Six – or should I say, Human Six.

An interesting side note: at the end of the second movie, Sunset writes to Twilight in the book that connects both worlds. It’s not a big deal in the movie, but it is in the Ponyverse.  Newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle now has someone writing to her about friendship in the same way she had been writing to Princess Celestia. It’s an underplayed moment, but it’s the moment where we see that the student, Twilight, has become the master.

I don’t know yet who will be the protagonist in the third movie. It could be Sunset, having to step up from just being accepted and helping save the world as part of a group to having to save two worlds on her own because she’s the only one who knows how to deal with magic. Or it could be human Twilight, wanting to investigate the strange occurrences at Canterlot High, where she gets in over her head with Equestrian magic and realizes there are things her scientific background has not prepared her to deal with.

Either way, there is one thing I feel needs to happen. After saving one or both worlds, Sunset needs to go back to Equestria and reconcile with Princess Celestia.  This would bring her character arc full circle: she rebelled against Celestia, went to another world to plot her revenge, repented, redeemed herself, became a hero in her new world, then in her home world, and returns to reconcile with the one she originally rebelled against. And from the first movie, we know that Celestia would welcome her back.

Now a few things I would like to see happen: Celestia welcomes Sunset back to Equestria, but after everything that’s happened with her friends who are about to graduate, Sunset decides to stay with her human friends as they begin the biggest adventure of their lives – adulthood.  And I think Celestia would grant her permission to come back and visit now and then.

The movies have always acknowledged the TV show, but the show has never acknowledged the movies.  I would love to see an episode of the show where Sunset is visiting Twilight in Ponyville.  You wouldn’t even have to explain where she came from, just that she’s a friend of Twilight’s that’s visiting.  Or at least a scene where Spike walks in on Twilight reading the book, “Hi, Twi, what you doing?” To which Twilight would reply, “Just reading a letter from Sunset.  She says hi!”

In the new movie I’d also like to see a moment between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Maybe Rainbow Dash coaching Scootaloo’s soccer team. In the end of the first movie, Rainbow Dash gets her wings during her transformation. Then what does she do? During the dance, she grabs Scootaloo, throws her on her back and shares with her this incredible new ability to fly. Those five seconds of screen time confirmed that the human Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo have the same kind of relationship that the pony pair do.

The only disappointment I see is that it appears Friendship Games is going straight to cable and DVD, as it has a premier date of September 26 on Discovery Family. The second movie was out in the theaters for only one weekend with limited distribution, so I missed it. When I saw the opening credits on the DVD, I thought to myself, “Man, I wish I’d seen this in the theater.” In any case, I am looking forward to another great Danny Ingram score.

So, in the end, Human Twilight is hinted at in the first movie, revealed in the second, and becomes a major character in the third. Doesn’t this all beg the question… isn’t there a second Sunset Shimmer?

-AFOL Husband