Sunset's Backstage Pass - Official Discussion.

[Solar Power 234]

I just gave this a second watch after watching it the first time nearly four months ago. It's fantastic. I liked it even better this second time - it's my favourite of any of the Equestria Girls movies and specials.

[Solar Power 234]

And I forgot to give mention to the funniest part of this special - Pinkie acting crazy with her self-made Sunset Shimmer doll. A fantastic moment. 

[DubWolf 16,565]

Saw it earlier today. Was glad to see Sunset make Pinkie so happy and appreciated  . It was cute, the bonding.

Also Lul all the rewinds.

[North Star 4,444]

Really liked this one  I was wrong to discount EQG. Plenty of pony fun here.

 

I have missed evil Sunset >:3 too blissed out to care Pinkie.

 

"That song's called Find the Magic. Human scum."

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,395]

I loved this one! I think it might be my favorite one out of the four TV specials.

• Having Sunset stuck in a Groundhog Day style time loop was such a brilliant and hilarious concept.
• It was so awesome that we finally got to see the Dazzlings again. Even if they've lost their magic and weren't the villains this time, their personalities are still the same.
• The security guard was really fun. He may be a big tough guy who takes his job very seriously, but he's a softie deep down.
• I really liked the moral that having fun is more important than being perfect. Since I've always struggled with being a perfectionist myself, it really hit home for me.
• I love Supernova Zap, she's so cute!

Yeah, everything about this special was pretty much perfect.

[Moony the Cat 3,695]

This special was entertaining, even though it wasnt really Sunsets fault that everything did go wrong and she had to learn something, it really was Pinkies fault if we are being honest here.

The Song was good and the message still nice and the concept was interesting, so it was good in my eyes.

[nightshroud96 116]

On 2019-08-03 at 11:53 AM, Sh Pie said:

I haven't discussed Equestria Girls content before. However, I think this special and most of the other specials were really cool and necessary to expand on the lore and characters of the human realm following the first 4 movies. Sunset has been one of my favorite characters since her first appearance as a good guy in Rainbow Rocks and although Native Twilight seemed pointless in the last 2 movies, I appreciate these specials giving her some purpose and making her feel like part of the team. Native Spike is still just your average talking dog, unfortunately.

That sensitive security guard is now one of my favorite background humans. So many problems can be solved with kittens.

The plot with the temporal loop reminded me of Edge of Tomorrow and it was interesting to see how Sunset used her chances. She got to see Post Crush on her third attempt but it wasn't the perfect day she thought it was since she was a terrible friend to Pinkie, who didn't even know she would get them kicked out.

I didn't expect the twist that Post Crush were resetting the day and not the Dazzlings. I liked the climactic scene with Sunset destroying the Time Twirler and convincing them that having fun is more important than perfection. I think the moral had better execution than Rollercoaster of Friendship since the villain wasn't just trying to be perfect, she was abducting people and had no respect for their free will. Sunset also learned her lesson as she finally got to see (and perform with) Post Crush with Pinkie like she planned, without actually following the plan. She humored Pinkie's distractions and they both got to enjoy their perfect "Day 1" together.

Those crowbar churros look way more edible than they actually are though.

Nice observation about Post Crush. I enjoyed their song.

Like you and Twilight, I also thrive on order. Even Pinkie is a party planner. To live in chaos is to accept uncertainty which can be very difficult. But you're correct. That's why Pinkie always finds a way to make it work, she can plan and improvise. Sometimes, the shoot first, aim later approach just works. "Never let plans and schedules distract you from living." is profound and someday, I will learn to navigate the chaos. Thanks for the inspiration, dude.

They really screwed Spike's potential by making him a dog

[SunsetShimmerStan 20]

On 2019-07-01 at 9:01 AM, Oleks said:

This special was not as forgettable as the previous two. What I took from it:

EG conflicts are still about "because magic, and we ain't gonna explain nothing".

Pinkie has a serious addiction problem. 

The Sirens still exist, and have fans even among people who know what they did.

Sunset has a weird obsession with teenage-oriented bands, even though she's technically an adult horse. Also, Equestrian musicians are superior.

The creators of the special rewatched Groundhog Day a couple of times before making it. Even the puddle was there.

To be fair, it's never stated Sunset is an adult. I don't think Sunset's that old. I don't think Sunset is supposed to be that old in her 20s. She did date Flash before the first movie without anyone commenting on a weird age gap between them and I doubt Sunset is a pedophile. Plus she still looks the same age and height as the other Rainbooms, which I doubt would be possible if she was in her 20s/30s where she'd be closer to Celestia, Luna, and Cheerilee in height and age. Time likely just passes differently between worlds where Sunset could've been 13-ish when she first arrived and then in the 16-18 range when the movies/specials happen.

On 2019-10-14 at 8:09 PM, Thrond said:

But Sunset was so aggressively rude over something ultimately so petty that I couldn't sympathize with her, and it didn't help that the special was constantly underlining how wrong she is to lash out. Both characters only act in extremes here, and I found them both very annoying because of that; Sunset was right to be frustrated, but it doesn't seem like a good enough reason to treat Pinkie so badly. Maybe this would have been less of an issue if this special weren't so predictable and simple. 

I didn't really like Pinkie in a lot of this either. I found her apparently debilitating addiction to inedible churros pretty funny, but I also felt like it made her look incredibly stupid, which I was really annoyed by - essentially, my reaction to this special in a nutshell. But I couldn't really get behind Sunset's joy to be rid of her either, because it just seemed so petty and immature. Isn't Pinkie supposed to be her friend? I dislike this special in general. 

It would have been so much more interesting if they had done away with the time loop entirely and just had a shorter story about Sunset getting increasingly frustrated with Pinkie, and eventually the two of them learn to better accommodate each other. 

On paper I admire that they doubled down with this one, but the way they went about it feels like one of those Friendship is Magic episodes where someone does a bad thing for a bad reason and we all know it's bad from start to finish. It's disappointing that we won't get to see what a more nuanced story about Sunset's anger would look like. 

I can't be the only person who thinks that's the best Equestria Girls special.

If they took the time loop away from the special, then what would even be the entire plot of the special? Like, is a time loop story really a bad idea in theory?

And what would be the conflict of why Sunset keeps getting frustrated with Pinkie and the circumstances of them learning to accommodate each other if the time loop was gone? Like, if you had to still do a 44 minute special on Sunset and Pinkie's dynamic, how could it have been done better?

On 2023-08-09 at 9:28 PM, nightshroud96 said:

They really screwed Spike's potential by making him a dog

And what would Spike have even done in this special if he was a human? If Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rairty weren't doing much in this special, what makes you think Spike would've been any more prominent even if he was a human?