Were the Shadowbolts truly bad?

[dragoonanime 39]

In certain scenes in the movie it showed the Shadowbolts having a good time and being nice to the Wondercolts. It seems like that their mean personalities only showed because of Principle Cinch.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

No. They aren't bad. Their principal is bad though. Actually, she's evil. She will manipulate and brainwash her students. Most of them are mean, but not bad. 

[Hovershy 3,814]

No they weren't entirely bad. Cadance and Twilight weren't bad at all, it was really only Principal Cinch that influenced them to be jerks. 

[Gestum 2,493]

I wouldn't say that they were bad at all. All they did was trying to win a competition.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

I'd say no, they weren't evil or bad per se, but they were really motivated by their desire to keep up their reputation. When they realized that their world was being destroyed by portals, they even tried to help.

[Megas 27,555]

I agree with everyone who said they were mostly influenced by Cinch. They still helped everyone when the portals popped up, and I could see them changing for the better if they stopped letting Cinch influence them and act on their own accord, and not let their pride and reputation get the best of them

Edited September 29, 2015 by LAZENGANN OVERLOAD

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,298]

I do think they are somewhat to blame, but I would not call them bad. They were just very stuck up, and this was probably as a result of their upbringing and the school they go to, which was quite...pressuring. They were victims of terrible influence and manipulation. 

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

The kids themselves didn't seem to have bad intentions except for maybe Sugar Coat and Soury Sweet, and even then it can be argued that it was definitely because of Cinch. Unfortunately, we didn't see enough of the other characters to really get to know them, except for Cadance and Shining Armor, who don't seem much different from their Equestrian counterparts.

 

In a way, you could take Cinch's pride and arrogance as a front for a genuine fear that a prestigious prep school such as hers could be shown up in such a public exhibition as the Friendship Games by a "lowly" public school like Canterlot. However founded the fear for her job could have been, it definitely would have added another layer of depth to her motives for being as overbearing she was. If Crystal Prep was shown to be in a sort of enrollment crisis and actually felt threatened by Canterlot's resurgence, it definitely would have made more sense than Crystal Prep just being a school full of snobby, uptight stuffed shirts.

[Malinter 3,064]

The real question is. Do they actually exist at all? XD

[Castle Bleck 19,319]

Only in the sense that Gilda and Trixie were "bad."

 

But Sour Sweet pretty much summed it up when she admitted that they were partly to blame, but that most of the blame should go to Cinch.

[Evil_Emperor 176]

I thought Sour Sweet was pretty bad. Sugar Coat wasn't really but so much as just being disgusted with Twilight's lack of a spine. I think Lemon Zest was the only Shadowbolt who showed literally no hostile tendencies, which unfortunately may have merely been a side effect of her simply not doing or saying much in the film. I think she had two lines, and those lines involved her trying to share her music with Twilight, which made her seem actually kinda nice to me.

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

They aren't bad, they just didn't have the magic of friendship in their lives.

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

They weren't bad, but their principal manipulated them and caused them to act the way they did.

[KillSh0ck4 102]

They weren't bad at all it was just principle cinch that made them that way to get really competitive for the friendship games so they wouldn't lose.

[King Sejong 859]

   I would say they were corrupted, mostly to make their Principle Cinch look good, to the press and bureaucrats, from what I can assume, given that she was put in charge of a elite academy. Manipulation can either work in favour, or against your better feelings, and in the case of the Shadowbolts, they were borderline psychopathic, since they peer pressured Twilight Sparkle to unleash the magic contained in her spectrometer, of course the Principle was leading the charge, and abandoned Twilight Sparkle to her fate, however, the Shadowbolts realised their guilt, and reconciled with the Wondercolts, and even helped out, so they had the capacity for good, they just let the ambition run amok, nevertheless, I hope we get to see the Shadowbolts again, and I hope we will see them at their finest.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

They aren't bad per say, just jerks because of the environment Principal Cinch instills at Crystal Prep, which is to be the best no matter what and make sure people know it. It's also why I don't feel them helping out at the end is a rushed heel face turn.  They're regular kids, not supervillains, which is why I feel them helping someone in dire need is a perfectly fine. 

[GiFTGewEhrSCHutzen-4 8,828]

Not bad, because of Cinch' influence, the Shadowbolts were bad. But in the last part of the movie when all hell broke loose and things got out of hand, they helped the CHS students away from harm. Geez, how does Cinch sleep at night for all I wonder. If Cadence was promoted to Principal heck, I'll gladly enroll in CP.

[Steve Piranha 29,414]

They are not bad persons, as they saved students from Midnight's rampage without a second though, but they're still kind of douches, no deny about it, both by Cinch's influence, and their envy to human Twi 

[best poni 1,518]

I don't think so. They were just a little stuck up.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Not at all really, Sour Sweet was the only one who really even came off as particularly mean (Sugarcoat just felt like she lacked tact). Lemon outright seemed nice in the very few scenes she got and Indigo never really seemed mean ether, just competetive.

[Partialgeek514 5,002]

They certainly weren't very nice people, but I wouldn't call them bad. I mostly just found them annoying in a funny kind of way.

[Shimmer Down 668]

They were pretty much fundamentally high schoolers. Even Cinch wasn't really "evil" for evil's sake.

 

Except when she did that whole song convicing Twilight to unleash a torrent of arcane energy and transforming her into a demon and nearly destroying all of human reality as we know it. That was kinda evil.

[cider float 2,537]

Of course they are bad. They just weren't as strong as Cinch was. If they were good they wouldn't have been so cold to Twilight nor would they have really been so moody. Just because they have to be winners doesn't mean they have to neglect their own. They pressured Twilight to use her magic mirroring Cinch's orders. If they were good they would have either disagreed or not get involved. The greatest evil is people doing nothing when others are neglected. Is bullying caused by one person? Of course not.

Edited October 3, 2015 by cider float

[PROJECT: Simon 3,953]

They weren't bad ^^

 

Twilight explains everything  

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

No, the Principal is evil, like others stated. She put them in the elite state of mind, making them unfriendly, unkind and generally mean to one another. Once they witnessed the magic of friendship, they changed. Sadly, as witnessed in the movie,m Cinch didn't change...but who knows...she may change...