Mirror Magic

[Rikifive 24,188]

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Magic, villains, destruction and ponies! - Yes, ponies!  
Mirrors or science - which one went too far?  

Seriously though, it wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. That's true there was one of the 'clichiest' (don't question that word) cliche stories, that could happen, but that's what this show is all about, so personally I can't really complain, what's more, I like how it usually goes. I can see why the 'happy endings' can be getting too obvious, thus boring for some people, but for the bad endings and stuff, real life is enough, so let's keep that balance.  
 

Literally, the first thing I was thinking of, when I saw where the plot is going was this one-

On 23.05.2017 at 3:23 PM, Rikifive said:

Just wait until Juniper becomes a serious villain.  

I can smell the desire to revenge...

Well, that went quickly! It seemed so obvious, yet I kinda thought it will not happen.  
Who would guess she'll get the magic to her hands and cause troubles? Oh right, that's what always happens.  

Oh those flashbacks... Once again we see somebody, who wants more power (fame in this case) then becomes a villain, destroys few things, gets defeated (-from some point of view) and receives a second chance in the end. A lovely well-known ending, that reminds me of the very first pony-content I ever saw - the first Equestria Girls movie. It brings back some memories...

Personally I really love to see things getting better like this, so I think I got all I needed.  

Maaaybe Juniper's motives weren't super serious, but what we can expect from a normal human? She's not from the magical world with ponies, so while being that young and unaware of magic - could she really want to rule over the whole world already? For me it was good enough, what's more - pretty realistic to our world I can't deny.
I know lack of all that magic can be quite boring, but I think I prefer this, than complete science, that doesn't make any sense. Though still, we got some, because where the magic came from in the first place? I don't think mirrors can do that. Just a random flow of magic randomly getting into the mirror at not random time? This is pretty suspicious!  But well, if not that, then what this all would be about? Let's pretend it's a totally normal thing. 

Sunset Shimmer coming back to Equestria was something that made me interested - many people were waiting for that aaaaand while it's not really what they would like to get, it's still close enough!  It was just a moment, but I agree I would love to see more of this. There's a whole story to tell about Sunset. I'd like to see her talking with Princess Celestia once again and stuff like this- that itself could be a nice episode or even a whole movie.  

The ending was cliche, that's true, but that's the ending I like, as I have mentioned before. I'm happy it ended up like this, not gonna complain. I don't mind how many times I'll get to see that kind of ending - it's always nice.  

So, generally - I think I really liked that episode. The more I think of all of those, the more I like them. At first I was kinda unsure of how it will go, but in my opinion it's going pretty well. I still feel the lack of normal Twilight Sparkle - for some reason I don't like Sci-Twi along with the whole Crystal Prep Academy from the very beginning (namely "Friendship Games"). That 'new' Twilight is absolutely different and more.. helpless? ~ unlike other characters, that are similar to their pony reflections. That's probably just me, I'm not going to judge anything, I just really can't get used to her.

Anyway, that was a really nice episode in my opinion. Totally looked like the first Equestria Girls Movie, but with different characters and much shorter length.

 PLOT : Juniper Montage acquires a magical mirror and seeks revenge on Twilight and her friends for ruining her chances to play as Daring Do in a movie and become a star. Sunset Shimmer makes a quick visit in Equestria and brings Starlight Glimmer to the human world. Juniper imprisons girls in her magical mirror, which later grants her more power and complete obsession on being a star. Starlight tries to convince her, that there are other ways and revenging is something she may regret. She offers her friendship and shares her experience with similar desires in the past, which makes Juniper fix mistakes she made and release Twilight along with her friends. She receives a 'second chance' and becomes friends with the others in the end.

 FOCUS : Sunset Shimmer; Starlight Glimmer; Juniper Montage (as villain; later- friend)

 SONGS : None

Edited May 29, 2017 by Rikifive

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

My least-favorite of the 3.

 

Starlight once again saved the day at the expense of everyone else being Worfed, and Juniper's my new pick for worst villain (in G4 overall, not just EQG).

 

P.S.: I'm not one of those Starlight-haters (in fact, her interactions with Sunset, and Human design were great).

Edited May 29, 2017 by A.V.

[Will Guide 21,360]

Saw the short with English Subtitles. Opinion improved when I could understand what was being said! It's just okay! Not good, not bad, just okay!

I thought the moral about "living in the moment" was decent, Pinkie's lines were funny, and the callbacks to being antagonists from 3 of our heroes made me smile.

In my opinion, I thought the animation of the cracking mirror world was pretty good though. Despite there being no walls in the mirror world, the cracks did look like they were cracking along a far distant wall!

That said, I am seriously getting tired of seeing so much negativity coming from a fanbase over what's supposed to a special and not a main episode. Look complainers, if it didn't give you want you want, just go online and find some fan fiction to read or write that has your "perfect story". 

What the writers did is just ONE way the story could have gone! We humans have limitless imaginations, so somewhere out there, there's a story close to what you wanted just waited to be told. Don't waste your lives complaining all the time; instead, just go out and search for better material that would please you! 

Edited May 29, 2017 by WiiGuy2014

[Megas 27,630]

While it's not to say I disliked it(I enjoyed it a lot) this was probably my least favorite of the specials(which sucks because I was looking forward to it the most), mainly because I have the most issues with it

The main attraction, Sunset and Starlight hanging out, was fantastic enough enough that I'm more than willing to forgive it. However it suffers much of the problems most major episodes with Starlight do, mainly worfing the rest of the cast so Starlight can save the day(though at least it's much better handled here than in TWABA). Also the climax was underwhelming, with Juniper herself being a weak villain(also her evil form is ugly ._. ) with a hasty redemption to boot(though the self awareness made it pretty funny). Most of all I think this one actually would've benefited more from being a full movie rather than 22 minutes

Still I liked it enough that I'm willing to watch it a few more times, and I hope they let Starlight show up more in the EQG universe in the future.

Also I don't mind them bringing back Juniper in the future if they can make her a more interesting character like they did with the Shadowbolts

My least-favorite of the 3.

 

Starlight once again saved the day at the expense of everyone else being Worfed, and Juniper's my new pick for worst villain (in G4 overall, not just EQG).

 

P.S.: I'm not one of those Starlight-haters (in fact, her Human design was great).

Climax notwithstanding, I'd argue Starlight was one of the better parts of this one

Edited May 29, 2017 by Whompy Whomperson

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

6 minutes ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Also I don't mind them bringing back Juniper in the future if they can make her a more interesting character like they did with the Shadowbolts

 

At this point, that's especially mandatory.

 

7 minutes ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Climax notwithstanding, I'd argue Starlight was one of the better parts of this one

 

 

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I am usually someone who dosen't give that much of a damn about EQG, but this was something that i really wanted to see, considering this seemed like a golden opportunity to bring Starlight and Sunset fans together.

Sadly though, it was kinda poorly delivered. It wasn't bad, but my main problem is that it's waaaaaay too short, almost feeling like it could have benefited from being an actual special. Also, the villain was the worst thing about this.

I liked the interaction that Starlight and Sunset had though, especially the first moments in the castle where actually very cute. And i just know that the animators loved to throw shipping fuel into it.

I also liked that meta ending, with showing how forgiving they can be, pretty much the writers telling that this franchise is very idealistic, so we shouldn't be surprised that villains get redeemed.

All in all though, it was meh for me. But it also has something to do with me not liking EQG much.

42 minutes ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Climax notwithstanding, I'd argue Starlight was one of the better parts of this one

Implying some antis won't blame it on her, for the special being so weak.

[Will Guide 21,360]

24 minutes ago, Mesme Rize said:

I liked the interaction that Starlight and Sunset had though, especially the first moments in the castle where actually very cute. And i just know that the animators loved to throw shipping fuel into it.

I also liked that meta ending, with showing how forgiving they can be, pretty much the writers telling that this franchise is very idealistic, so we shouldn't be surprised that villains get redeemed.

All in all though, it was meh for me. But it also has something to do with me not liking EQG much.

The first 2 paragraphs in the quote are close to what I thought about it.

I'm glad you can simply be indifferent to something. Not everyone needs to pick a love or hate side of every instance of media. For example,  I'm indifferent to the Marvel movies, or any superhero movies. I admit some of them can be exciting, but they don't appeal to me the way an Animated Disney Film does!

Edited May 29, 2017 by WiiGuy2014

[Rikifive 24,188]

2 hours ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

[...] (also her evil form is ugly ._. ) [...]

I had exactly the same thoughts right at the beginning, when I saw her reflection in that magic mirror. That's true she looked .. well.. not so good.   

 

2 hours ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

[...] Most of all I think this one actually would've benefited more from being a full movie rather than 22 minutes

I agree, that everything went kiiinda too fast. 22 minutes was just not enough.

 

1 hour ago, Mesme Rize said:

I liked the interaction that Starlight and Sunset had though, especially the first moments in the castle where actually very cute. [...]

Honestly? That's the part I liked the most. I really hoped to see it going further, but it decided to be like 'meh, let's go back to human world; *roll credits*'.  

[Megas 27,630]

6 minutes ago, Rikifive said:

I had exactly the same thoughts right at the beginning, when I saw her reflection in that magic mirror. That's true she looked .. well.. not so good.   

Eh, her reflection was actually pretty I thought. It wasn't until she transformed where things took an ugly turn  

[Rikifive 24,188]

21 minutes ago, Whompy Whomperson said:

Eh, her reflection was actually pretty I thought. It wasn't until she transformed where things took an ugly turn  

That's true, but she still looked much worse than um.. normal? Just much less cute.. if I can compare it that way.   Either way, that's just probably me. Generally, I'm not a fan of that kind of stuff. I mean - these 'wallpapers' on face and that kind of thing. I really like how natural characters look by default. Any makeup makes them look kinda weird.  Also, I knew where it was going - after transformation the effect was multiplied by x5000 or even more.

[King of Snake 54]

My god, how didn't I know this was out already out?!

 

I'm going to go and watch it right now.

[King of Snake 54]

Well, I watched it and it was the best of the three. As has been said though, this story needed more time than just 22 minutes. I would have loved this to have been the plot of the next Equestria Girls movie.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Polsky should be kept off actiony episodes.

Im gonna ignore the fight of most of the fandom of if it was okay for Starlight to be the main hero or whatever, cause frankly Im at this point used to one character getting to shine WAAYY more than the others in episodes like this (ironically enough one of the episodes most criticzed for it in To Where and Back Again actually does it the least IMO, it's just that the mane 6 get shafted but all 4 main characters within the story of the episode get significant contributions moreso than most adventure episodes) So I kinda just go in expecting it.

Basically what im saying is, Polsky while his record is mixed can do slice of life well, and he's damn good at slapstick. And lo and behold, the first 2 thirds of this special were great, strong characterization and good humor and Sunset and Starlight play really well off each other.

The last part though was just boring, you have a rather boring villain in Juniper, with a rather boring transformation who then just stomps around for a few minutes and throws some stuff at Starlight... and is then basically just told "Stop being evil" and is like "k". though the Meta bit right after was funny and something the people who are kinda punishment crazy in the fandom need reminding of, the show's fundamentally idealistic, it shouldn't be surprised that most characters end up being good deep down even if they start as villains.

Overall I liked it due though the strength of the first 2 acts, but man the third act drags it down from a 9 or 10 to like a 6 or 7, still it's the second best of the specials after Dance Magic.

Basically I wish they just didn't feel the need to have a big villain in any of these and the whole thing was just more of the fun Starlight/Sunset Shinnanigans of the first 2 acts. Hopefully they get another oppertunity to just hang out and be friends without a pointless villain plot taking over the last part of the episode.

Also can we please get the M6's designs updated in EQG? Get rid of those giant boots? Seriously Starlight and Sunset's designs look so much better almost entirely because of the lack of said giant boots.

Edited May 29, 2017 by M'gann M'orzz

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Powered-Up Juniper: *Transformed because the Mirror stole the HuMane 7's combined magic for her.* *Never even uses a single spell.*

 

 

[BritishBrony2012 811]

 

I like it. Good to see Starlight as Human she was great and also good looking and also good to see Sunset as Pony. Also begin to like Juniper Montage never expect her to reform, but what to  expect what will happen if she didn't reform in the end?

Wonder what Human Sunset and Starlight in Equestria Girls World look like?

It annoyed that some dislike the Special but it not everyone will like it.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Adam Burt

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

To be fair, Sunset's interactions with Starlight were the highlight.

[The Nth Doctor 662]

Still waiting for Sunset and Celestia to reconcile

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

Problem with this special, is that it felt to be good in everything but the climax, where it shows that the short length worked against it's favor this time

[Jeric 46,851]

I have mixed thoughts about it. Like others I feel the antagonist was not completely executed well at times. I enjoyed the Sunset and Starlight interactions, and like others thought that the limited 22 minute format and various contrivances hurt the short. 

This would have been possibly better if it was just a focused 22 minute slice of life episode. That said, I enjoyed watching this one and that is really all I want when I watch these. 

I do want to see this with the main VA's  with non translated dialog before I give it a proper final stamp though. It was good. Not great, but good.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

11 hours ago, M'gann M'orzz said:

though the Meta bit right after was funny and something the people who are kinda punishment crazy in the fandom need reminding of, the show's fundamentally idealistic, it shouldn't be surprised that most characters end up being good deep down even if they start as villains.

I know right? I mean, we should expect this since forever now, but people are still upset about Starlight. What should they have done? Chop of her head with the guillotioe? That's not what this show is about, considering this is a show with a positive message.

I wouldn't be surprised if they reform chrysalis by the end of the season.

[Will Guide 21,360]

22 minutes ago, Mesme Rize said:

I know right? I mean, we should expect this since forever now, but people are still upset about Starlight. What should they have done? Chop of her head with the guillotioe? That's not what this show is about, considering this is a show with a positive message.

You're right about that, Mesme. Some of the more over-critical Bronies keep forgetting this show and its franchise are supposed to be an idealistic show, not a realistic cynical world where everything goes wrong to the point that our heroes would think there's no point to living! Sorry for putting that thought in your head, but you get my point, right?

Edited May 30, 2017 by WiiGuy2014

[Rikifive 24,188]

1 hour ago, Mesme Rize said:

I know right? I mean, we should expect this since forever now, but people are still upset about Starlight. What should they have done? Chop of her head with the guillotioe? That's not what this show is about, considering this is a show with a positive message.

I wouldn't be surprised if they reform chrysalis by the end of the season.

40 minutes ago, WiiGuy2014 said:

You're right about that, Mesme. Some of the more over-critical Bronies keep forgetting this show and its franchise are supposed to be an idealistic show, not a realistic cynical world where everything goes wrong to the point that our heroes would think there's no point to living! Sorry for putting that thought in your head, but you get my point, right?

Count me in - I agree.

Honestly, that's exactly why I love this show. It's just nice to see positive things and that's why I value MLP for that.  

I don't care how many times I'll get to see these obvious endings - it's always nice.

Besides, it's called "Friendship is Magic" for a reason, duh! 

[Chrylestia600 1,307]

Yeah... I was considering checking this one out, but it doesn't really sound like there was enough in it to warrant my attention, so... yeah. I don't think I will. At least, not right now. :/

On another note:

1 hour ago, WiiGuy2014 said:

You're right about that, Mesme. Some of the more over-critical Bronies keep forgetting this show and its franchise are supposed to be an idealistic show, not a realistic cynical world where everything goes wrong to the point that our heroes would think there's no point to living! Sorry for putting that thought in your head, but you get my point, right?

^Seriously. This, like 1000 times. THANK YOU.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Chrylestia600

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

1 hour ago, Mesme Rize said:

I know right? I mean, we should expect this since forever now, but people are still upset about Starlight. What should they have done? Chop of her head with the guillotioe? That's not what this show is about, considering this is a show with a positive message.

 

But I like Starlight's head.

 

At worst, just give her probation via one of those anti-magic scanners from Equestria Games, or something.

 

Geez.

 

1 hour ago, Mesme Rize said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they reform chrysalis by the end of the season.

 

 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

1 hour ago, WiiGuy2014 said:

You're right about that, Mesme. Some of the more over-critical Bronies keep forgetting this show and its franchise are supposed to be an idealistic show, not a realistic cynical world where everything goes wrong to the point that our heroes would think there's no point to living! Sorry for putting that thought in your head, but you get my point, right?

 

There is a difference between "KILL THEM ALL!" and wanting villains who are VILLAINS, stay villains, and Have to be beaten by magic instead of just reforming because someone gives them a sugary speech and holds out their hands.

Season one, Luna was BEATEN first before she reformed-- she wasn't just lectured to and she said "Oh, i'm evil!" and reformed. Discord was defeated with the EOH and stoned in S2 and the changelings were blown away with a magical force field, not a single bit of talking/lecturing them: and yet not a single one off those fights against the villains, or their violent defeats, went against the themes of friendship and love.
Emphasizing "Friendship" DOES NOT mean "Stop everything with a speech!" often friendship can just mean the bonds between individuals giving them the strength to overcome others who lack said bonds: for example, One piece has friendship as probably the biggest strength of the heroes in the bonds they have between each other, with a very big focus on the friendship of the strawhats, but that doesn't mean that it spits on friendship that they punch in the faces of the villains.
Hell, Lauren was AGAINST everything just being solved by befriending everyone and hated how many girls cartoons had the bad guys stop just because someone started crying or whatnot and was for the idea that not EVERYONE can be befriended: Remember Gilda the Brush off? the episode was there for the purpose of showing that you cannot befriend everyone, even if you try.
Having villains get beaten and retreat to fight another day isn't going against friendship so long as you show that they were beaten by the forces of friendship leading to their downfall. there are many ways to emphasize friendship, and to say the the ONLY way to do so is by befriending everyone seems to be an oversimplification. We need more villains like Tirek or the dazzlings, who are defeated by the bonds of the mane characters working together and are then imprisoned or banished in some manner.
 

 

I'm not against the occasional Reformation, but it shouldn't be the go to response for every single person.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Unlikeable Pony