TotallyNotNyx

You would think the extended runtime of an actual movie would have given them enough room to tell their story - given they managed well enough in a double episode during FiM, in literally half the time.

But I can see how the first movie is introduction to the world and sunset's defeat, leaving the second movie to do the heavy lifting of her redemption (and the third to bootstrap SciTwi and bring her into the fold)

that leaves the fourth movie to really integrate SciTwi, establish Sunset as the group's defacto leader, and pivot them from slice of school life to magical girl anime

Yeah, the costumes they got when they power-uped got more interesting as the films went on. I loved the ones in the 4th movie

Songs got better too. "midnight inside" is great, and Gloriosa has an epic villain song