Toon4Thought

It was briefly mentioned at a Thailand convention. And yet nothing else has been heard about it since, with one cast member even posting a Tweet that acted as if she never heard about it being a thing (yeah, I know about the NDA and all that, but you'd expect a much more straight "I can't tell you" response). But truth be told, most of why I bring that up is specifically because I'm hoping to see a series or another set of specials rather than a fifth movie. There's just too many opportunities for the latter to cover, and I really don't want the crew to blow them.

Which is exactly why I'd much rather see this have a series (or at least, more specials) then primarily sticking with the movie format. "Dance Magic" was my favorite of the three specials specifically because most of what it did were things that you wouldn't have seen the TV movies do, making it stand out so much more. And I really, really hope they're going to announce something like that soon, because the specials have to me proven that one movie a year simply isn't enough anymore given all that's going on now.

The concept has surprisingly grown on me more and more over time, even if the quality doesn't necessarily increase. Even though the first film was kind of messy in terms of plot, I do find it still had a lot of charm to it with all the nice little touches it added. Just seeing the ponies' personalities get translated to human form and getting a taste on how they'd function in a society that resembles our own is something I actually find very fascinating and is something I always enjoy seeing in each installment. It helps that all the later installments did a far better job at making me engaged in the environment. And of course, Sunset Shimmer is probably one of the single most interesting characters in the entire G4 franchise. In fact, I think they've established a lot of ideas and concepts so well, especially in "Legend of Everfree" onward (I really like them basically asking the question "What if our type of society was suddenly contaminated with foreign magic?"), that I think they could easily make a really solid show out of it. Dare I say, possibly even on par with FiM. The specials weren't perfect or anything, but they've certainly proven that it could work. In a strange way, I am actually kind of more engaged in EqG than FiM as of now. And they can only do so much more with the TV movie format before it becomes a hindrance, especially given all the fascinating opportunities they now have after "Mirror Magic".

The Cutie Re-Mark - Great ideas and fantastic visuals. It's just that a few things could've been conveyed better, like Starlight's reformation (I get the impression her motives were supposed to come off as petty, as a follow up of sorts to Zecora's river analogy, but it doesn't really come off that way) and I can't help but feel like they could've gone more all out with seeing the Mane 6 living different lives. They didn't really explore that at all after the Sombra timeline. The Crystalling - This one's very middle of the road for me. There's nothing I can say I truly disliked in it, apart from Flurry Heart being the cause of the problem, but apart from a handful of minor touches I can't say that much really grabbed me either. The highlights were definitely most of the stuff with Flurry Heart and Starlight Glimmer, but a lot of the rest feels competent yet lukewarm (much like what season 6 as a whole wound up being for me). To Where and Back Again - I wish more of the elements here were better built up prior to this, like Starlight's progress and her friendship with Trixie, but the episodes on their own are fairly enjoyable. The characters work off each other pretty well, the story is fairly interesting, and it's one of the better Starlight stories we've gotten.

Really, I'm completely fine with this as long as Lewis & Songco remain the story editors next season, as I think they've done a far better job in that role than Haber did in season 6 (not that it was by any means a bad season; it just seemed to play things a little too safe for me to remain engaged). That, and I feel Haber's writing style typically works a lot better in instances where the idea is already interesting by default, which should be the case here given all that will be established before this.

To me, while season 6 is by no means a bad season, it is my least favorite of the series simply for not really doing much to keep my interest. With a handful of exceptions, most of the eps seemed to leave little impact on me and largely appeared to play it safe. This most likely stems from Josh Haber being the story editor for that season; not that he's a bad writer, but his work on the show to me typically seems to do little more than hit the necessary beats in a competent enough manner. This works in instances like Friendship Games where the idea is already interesting by default, but when it isn't they typically end up being eps I only see once and don't see much reason to revisit. It's serviceable, yes, but wouldn't you much rather see something with more imagination and thoughtfulness put into it? IMO this air pretty much lingered over most of the season, even though there wasn't really anything in it I could consider horrible. Apart from Starlight Glimmer (who, even then, I think could've been used better, since she really didn't appear very much in the middle) and eps like "Gauntlet of Fire" and "Saddle Row Review", not much new ground seemed to be broken. Meanwhile, season 7A has brought us two actually interesting Celestia appearances and both of the previously unseen sets of parents. Again, I don't think season 6 wasn't without its high points, but the thing for me is that it did not seem to really push things as far as the other seasons did (barring maybe the first one, but even that's more excusable in such regards), making it more lackluster and lukewarm. It was enough to lead me to lose a lot of my interest in the show for a period of time, only really regaining my love a couple months ago.

I really hope we won't have to keep waiting for any official announcements of a series, more specials, or whatever for much longer. In a sense, I'm actually more into this than the main show at this point, as weird as that may sound, and the franchise is at the point where there is no telling at all which direction they will take from here. Not to mention when we'll start getting those YouTube shorts is a complete mystery. They don't even seem to have any EqG panels at Hascon, which both confuses and kind of worries me.

Really, I think each of the Humane 6 should get at least one story to themselves. In Dance Magic, it was quite refreshing to see EqG Rarity take the lead for once, and IMO it worked out very well. Even though that portal thing you mentioned doesn't necessarily sound bad, it would make things a bit... confusing in terms of the main show's continuity. I personally think it could be interesting for Sunset to hear the portal will be closed for good, essentially forcing her to choose between the two worlds. And if they foreshadow her starting to become homesick or ponder her ties to Equestria in general, I feel this could be the perfect way to send off Sunset's character arc.

One thing I really, really hope they do is explore Sunset's ties with Equestria more. I always found it fascinating just how someone who has spent most of her life as a pony seems happier in the human world, to the point where she is now fully integrated as a human. So, with all that in mind imagine what would happen if she encountered her old life again; will she see some charms about it that she couldn't before? Will she start to become homesick? Will she ever have to choose between the two worlds? I don't know, this seems like an idea that practically writes itself, and I think would be a waste if they never did.

I have absolutely no doubt that we haven't seen the last of EqG. I would definitely prefer a more full series over more TV movies at this point though. I feel like, with all that's been established about the world and the various opportunities that have been opened up (especially in Mirror Magic), continuing to rely on the latter format will become a hindrance if used much longer.

Considering how successful their minis have been (which, for some reason, I only noticed recently), yeah that definitely makes sense.

To me, it makes the most sense for them to take place mid-to-late Summer, with the girls being rising seniors. At the very least, much of what is seen going on very strongly suggests it takes place during that time of the year. Apparently even the crew typically doesn't have the specific timeline in mind when they're making these though.

I certainly feel that way by this point, and I'm sure a lot of others do as well, but what makes you say Hasbro does?

Me too. In fact, if anything I think the specials established too much for it not to merit one. A fifth TV movie would only be able to cover so much, and thus would be sure to lead to some level of disappointment.

Yeah, that had a lot of truly passionate expressions that sadly didn't translate as well when put to Flash. If only that went to a better animator (but they were probably saving their A-tier staff for the Cutie Remark).

As of this point, apart from the very-broad fact that we're getting YouTube shorts (and even then we don't know much apart from their mere existence), we know basically nothing about what's coming up next for Equestria Girls, right down to which format it will take. And unfortunately, the specials gave me so much that I didn't know I wanted until I got a little bit of it, and thus they only left me wanting more. So, what do you think will we see next from EQG? I've heard a few state they'll be a fifth movie, but I haven't seen anything official that says this. I would personally prefer a full-on series at this point, since not only did the specials alleviate any doubt I had of that working out, but they seemed to open up so many possibilities that I think not taking that route would inevitably lead to a lot of them not being fully realized, and certainly not as promptly. And to be honest, with what's been established with that and Legend of Everfree, part of me thinks we actually will get that. Yeah, I really hope Comic Con doesn't disappoint in giving us news, even if it isn't necessarily what I really want them to do. The ending of Mirror Magic pretty much gave me the same effect a cliffhanger would.

It's really hard not to tear up at "The Magic Inside", largely because of how incredible Lena Hall performed it.

Considering she doesn't appear very much outside of her own episodes (which, even then, she really doesn't get any more of than at least half of the Mane 6), I really don't think she has been shoved in our faces. I think her getting a central role in The Crystalling and To Where and Back Again were justified in that she seemed to take up the big arc in season 6. In fact, you can definitely tell throughout that season that the writers were really trying to hit a good balance between giving her enough of a presence for it all to matter but not so much that it takes away from the Mane 6. And Celestial Focus is more a Twilight episode than anything else. As for Mirror Magic, while I do feel like the others should've contributed a little more than they did, I think it makes sense for Starlight to be the one to reason with Juniper Montage since they were both willing to go to extremes for the sake of petty revenge. (Also, let's face it, her EQG design alone made bringing her there worthwhile) Not to mention I honestly think that entire special opened up a lot of great ideas in terms of her connection with Sunset that I would definitely want to see explored. In short, while I do think maybe some of her focus should be moved to another mid-season ep, I never got the impression that they are intentionally giving her more focus than the others.

This Tweet explains the aura color:

As much as I would love to see something like that, sadly I get the impression the fact the two now have separate crews might make that a little complicated (particularly in terms of animation). There would also have to be a bit more of a framing device and/or purpose to it. I do legitimately have to wonder how they could reasonably have Sunset spend an extended period of time in Equestria though, especially with that aforementioned detail in mind. Because it is something we really should get in some form.

I did come around to enjoy Mirror Magic on its own terms, but yeah even I admit that there were definitely a fair amount of things I would've done differently: -Change up the pacing. It feels like we don't get enough of Starlight and Sunset interacting while the scenes focusing on Juniper and the mirror prison usually went on a bit longer than they really had to. If those scenes were trimmed, we could've easily gotten much more great stuff between the two, which I think should've been the real focus here. -Have Starlight and Sunset team up for at least part of the climax. I was much more ticked off they didn't do this when I first saw it than I am now, since I now get why Starlight had to be the one to talk her down, but even then I can't help but feel like them showing both their strengths against her (even if Sunset does still end up in the mirror anyway) would've fully embraced the concept of putting them together. It also could've very well fixed the issue of Sunset not really having much of a reason to put her worries aside, and possibly even have her reassure Starlight not to be too afraid of what Juniper could do, essentially connecting back to the scene we did get where the opposite is true. -Convey why Juniper turned like she did. Here, I'm mostly referring to when she said what she did was unforgivable. It just feels like there was nothing to truly convince her to admit that. Her wishing the girls out made more sense, but even then it's not conveyed nearly as well as it was in the novel, where it's made clear that she saw the girls afraid and in danger. Maybe show that right after Starlight offers her as a friend or something, and possibly a few more facial reactions from both. -Make it more clear what we could expect to see next. I always found myself a little bugged that it doesn't really feel like it ended, especially given we have absolutely no idea what's to come next and all of the various ideas this opened the door to. It makes it extremely hard to tell whether or not they'll follow through with some of them. Will we see more of Starlight in EQG, Sunset in Equestria, or Juniper interacting with Starlight? I feel like at least one of these should've been properly telegraphed. I think the only thing that actually was foreshadowed is that some larger threat is coming, and even that is kept quite vague. I don't know, this is obviously a matter of preference, but it does suck not knowing which threads are actually going to come back.

Personally, I think they should go for a series. Sure, the specials weren't fantastic, but they clearly showed what great things EQG could pull off in a 22-minute format, especially given what's established. And, a lot of the time, I think they succeeded. Granted, I do think the TV movies are a little better quality-wise, but at this point I do think a change of pace and direction would be very greatly appreciated. Also, with just how many things were established in the specials (especially in "Mirror Magic"), many of which feel like we are going to see and more that I really want to see, part of me kind of thinks that's just what they will do. Honestly, I just really hope Comic Con gives us some idea on what we can expect next. Apart from the rather vague fact that we are getting YouTube shorts, we literally have zero idea on what it will even be, right down to what format it will take. And that especially sucks for me because "Mirror Magic" just left me wanting more.

Not going to lie, that sounds like a dang near perfect route to take. And considering exactly what was established/set up in the specials (and even "Legend of Everfree" to an extent), part of me actually wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that is what they are actually going to do.