Equestria Girls: Holidays Unwrapped: Official Discussion. (Spoilers Within)

[Ganondorf8 11,285]

Since no one has made an official discussion thread for this, I might as well make one for you to discuss. After all, Equestria Girls is my specialty and this kind of thing is right up my alley.

Anyway, you all know what to do in this one. Please be aware of any spoilers should you accidentally come in here without having seen this first. Aside from that, away you go.

[Will Guide 21,360]

Me and my friend saw this special through an early release.

Six shorts of roughly 7 minutes each. The bad news is no names for them.

But each one featured some kind of premise in some way involving a Christmas/winter theme task

A Snow Day

Snowball Fight War

Outconning Con Artists that have been doing this every year around this time. (Despite the summer weather, it's still a surprising short that can keep you on your toes)

School Closed for Winter Break and Someone needs something.

Last Minute Gift

Photo Shoot for a Holiday Card (A subtle thank you message to the viewer is here at the end)

There, I summed up the shorts. Go out and watch them if you can

[Sparklefan1234 169,796]

 

I think Rainbow Dash mentioned Halloween, does that mean the Equestria Girls celebrate non-pony holidays?

 

(Nightmare Night, Hearth's Warming etc.)

Edited November 3, 2019 by Sparklefan1234

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Well, at the very least, we should also get a Series-Ending Equestria Girls Graduation Movie/Special that not only copy-pastes "The Last Problem" but also has Sunset going through a tough decision: Go back to Equestria with the Magic blocked off or live out the rest of her life with the Humans. Knowing Sunset would rather be with her friends, I think she'd do what Hercules did, and choose to live a normal life with her friends, and go off to Friendship College with them, and in the epilogue, we see Principal Sunset Shimmer of Canterlot High meeting with Human Luster Dawn about wanting to go the same path as Sunset, and we'd get a reprise of "The Magic of Friendship Grows," but with the closing of the Canterlot High Yearbook.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Edited November 2, 2019 by YoshiAngemon

[Sh Pie 65]

I was surprised that there was snow Equestrian magic problem to solve for once. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed this comedic collection of stories with separate narratives. It was interesting to see the human world's equivalent of Hearth's Warming and the Humane 7 dealing with normal friendship stuff like a typical MLP episode. All of the heist, Apple Bloom's pet worm montage and Zephyr Breeze actually being helpful were my favorite parts.

[bigbertha 414]

I like this. None of the stories are particularly great, but most of them are fun and cute, which is exactly what I want out of Equestria Girls. I especially liked Sci-Twi. She gets a lot of really good one-liners and feels the most like a developed character compared the the rest of the mane six.

Unfortunately, there are still some pretty big problems. The biggest one being the writers not understanding whether how to pace out jokes. There are so many gags that either go on for way too long or are cut off before they can land. Timing is one of the the most important parts of comedy, and there's a clear misunderstanding of it shown in many of these stories. 

 

 

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

Good bye pastel humans, you will be missed 

[RDDash 19,163]

I feel like every short had something really fun in it. Celestia canceling snow day, Twilight's seven recreation with Applejack wanting to use her powers. Rainbow Dash seeking a present for Fluttershy is a combination of the last year pony special + Twilight's Seven Zephyr helping Dash. Apple bloom likes her pet worm.  Trixie 'dying' in Fluttershy arms. Sunset 'dead' body as a casualty of snowball fight.

Edited November 2, 2019 by R.D.Dash

[Misty Shadow 7,844]

Like just about everyone, I was disappointed that this final special actually only turned out to be a short montage, but it was a pretty decent short montage. My favorite short was the one with the school "heist", since it was the funniest to me. Applejack getting tired of them not using their powers and imagining lifting up the entire school was pure hilarity.  The final short fills me with mixed feelings, immortalizing the characters dressed up as fruits and vegetables.  Though I liked the subtle "farewell message" and confirmation that Hoops is in Equestria Girls...and has a last name. 

[Megas 27,567]

Zephyr calling RD "M'lady" caught me off guard in a good way.

I still have yet to see two of the shorts(the last one because I'm too lazy, and the Flim Flam Bros one because fuck them), but the ones I watched were really good. The first 3, The Fake Snow Day, the Snowball Fight, and the Heist, feel like episodes of Recess in the best possible way, and the last one, the gift exchange, did the impossible and actually made me both like Zephyr Breeze and enjoy RD and Zephyr as a duo

The only thing I hate is that this is what EQG should have been from the start. 7 minutes is still short, but it gives them a lot more to be able to do than a measly 2 minutes

Edited November 3, 2019 by Kiryu-Chan

[Sparklefan1234 169,796]

5 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

Zephyr calling RD "M'lady" caught me off guard in a good way.

 

I think I spotted a dude in a fedora on a sign behind Zephyr as he said that. 

[Will Guide 21,360]

I always find Whiz Kid and Curly Winds to be my favorite duo of background Characters to look out for.

They're always so adorable! 

[Toon4Thought 274]

(Blatantly copying this from the other thread, but I don't care)

Okay, now that I've seen this, I can now feel fully confident in saying that this compilation is what the digital series should have freaking been.

Most of the stories are very in-line with what you'd likely see in the 2-minute digital series shorts, but the fact these are 7 minutes each allows for SO MUCH MORE substance it's not even funny. The extra attention put into character motivations, mileage per setting, and overall scope allows the audience to become much more invested in what is happening, despite the actual situations being on the same scope. Because of this, most of the segments work very well IMO.

My favorites were definitely the souffle/snowball fight and school break-in ones. Even the weaker ones have great stuff in them though, enough for me to want to revisit them at some point.

This kind of makes the direction the digital series took more frustrating to me. Because now I have actual proof as to how good and entertaining it could've been, how it could've been full of fun and sometimes emotional adventures with characters a lot of us are very familiar with but in a different and more relatable setting. But no, Hasbro had to take the cheap route and basically force it so that most of the material is just nothingness.

I suppose it's better late than never, but it really is a testament to just how screwed EqG really was as a series, especially after 2017. Sure, there was still great stuff after that point (this being among them), but it could never achieve its full potential like they proved they could. I'm always going to stand by that, and I pray to Celestia that someone at IDW, Boulder Media, or what have you will give this the conclusion it deserves.

Until then, I wrote a fanfic that's basically my idea of a finale as close to canon as possible. I encourage anyone to read it if they really want to see a proper ending, even if it's not even close to the same as an official one: https://www.fimfiction.net/...

And with that, I close out with this statement: thank you Nick Confalone, Ishi Rudell, Katrina Hadley, and the others for making EqG as great as you could, despite Hasbro's meddling and everything.

[Dawn-Sunlight 1,228]

For the stories I actually remember, the one where their trying to fake a snow day, it was OK, the one where the Apples and Sci-Twi are trying to stop the Flim Flam brothers I wasn't a huge fan of, the one where they were planning a heist was OK, the one where Rainbow is trying to get a gift for Fluttershy was fantastic, the one where their taking a picture being cornucopias was OK, and my favorite one was the one with the snowball fight(Gee, I wonder why. . .)

Overall, it was great, not a proper ending, but a better one than Sunset's Backstage Pass, and I wish, like most people on this thread, that the Digital Series had been 7 minute episodes instead of 2 or sometimes 3.

I will miss you, Sunset.  At least I and other people can watch the older content again.

[Solar Power 294]

This was really good. Seven minute shorts work so much better than the 2 to 3 minutes that we got in the web series.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

23 hours ago, YoshiAngemon said:

Well, at the very least, we should also get a Series-Ending Equestria Girls Graduation Movie/Special that not only copy-pastes "The Last Problem" but also has Sunset going through a tough decision: Go back to Equestria with the Magic blocked off or live out the rest of her life with the Humans. Knowing Sunset would rather be with her friends, I think she'd do what Hercules did, and choose to live a normal life with her friends, and go off to Friendship College with them, and in the epilogue, we see Principal Sunset Shimmer of Canterlot High meeting with Human Luster Dawn about wanting to go the same path as Sunset, and we'd get a reprise of "The Magic of Friendship Grows," but with the closing of the Canterlot High Yearbook.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Yes this totally should have been the EG finale. They could have all the EG characters trying to decide which college to go to while Sunset decides whether or not to return to Equestria. 

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

17 hours ago, Toon4Thought said:

(Blatantly copying this from the other thread, but I don't care)

Okay, now that I've seen this, I can now feel fully confident in saying that this compilation is what the digital series should have freaking been.

Most of the stories are very in-line with what you'd likely see in the 2-minute digital series shorts, but the fact these are 7 minutes each allows for SO MUCH MORE substance it's not even funny. The extra attention put into character motivations, mileage per setting, and overall scope allows the audience to become much more invested in what is happening, despite the actual situations being on the same scope. Because of this, most of the segments work very well IMO.

My favorites were definitely the souffle/snowball fight and school break-in ones. Even the weaker ones have great stuff in them though, enough for me to want to revisit them at some point.

This kind of makes the direction the digital series took more frustrating to me. Because now I have actual proof as to how good and entertaining it could've been, how it could've been full of fun and sometimes emotional adventures with characters a lot of us are very familiar with but in a different and more relatable setting. But no, Hasbro had to take the cheap route and basically force it so that most of the material is just nothingness.

I suppose it's better late than never, but it really is a testament to just how screwed EqG really was as a series, especially after 2017. Sure, there was still great stuff after that point (this being among them), but it could never achieve its full potential like they proved they could. I'm always going to stand by that, and I pray to Celestia that someone at IDW, Boulder Media, or what have you will give this the conclusion it deserves.

Until then, I wrote a fanfic that's basically my idea of a finale as close to canon as possible. I encourage anyone to read it if they really want to see a proper ending, even if it's not even close to the same as an official one: https://www.fimfiction.net/...

And with that, I close out with this statement: thank you Nick Confalone, Ishi Rudell, Katrina Hadley, and the others for making EqG as great as you could, despite Hasbro's meddling and everything.

Great fan fiction with a really sweet ending for the series. Reminded me of my college graduation.

[ggg-2 3,552]

M'lady? Cat Noir, Zeph most certainly is not.  And the Apple family pouring apple juice on snowballs. I know they're treating it like actual war, but what is that referencing? Gunpowder?

[RDDash 19,163]

7 minutes ago, ggg-2 said:

M'lady? Cat Noir, Zeph most certainly is not.  And the Apple family pouring apple juice on snowballs. I know they're treating it like actual war, but what is that referencing? Gunpowder?

I am interested myself in that question. Poisoned bullets? Alcohol bottles shaped like weapons?

Edited November 4, 2019 by R.D.Dash

[Oleks 1,993]

So, the special turned out to be a series of short stories. Well then. I enjoyed some references, especially the "Saving Private Ryan"-ish scene, but generally it was nothing extraordinary. And after seeing the battle for Equestria and all the epic stuff in the main show, all these school test avoidance things seem just silly and pointless to me.

[ggg-2 3,552]

I'll say it again, why does Wiz Kid's laugh sound like a five year old?

[Ganondorf8 11,285]

Now it's my turn to reply to my own thread. It wasn't until today (As of me typing this.) that I finally got to watch Holidays Unwrapped, and I've got to say that these were some of the best shorts that Equestria Girls created. The long length for each one allowed for many characters to shine, provide conflict, resolution, twists, and even comedic moments. I also liked how there was a consistency throughout, namely each short focused on the holiday season. I can also tell that the staff and animators had a field day with the one short involving Sunset leaving her keys behind for that storage locker. The same with the snowball war as that was inspired by Saving Private Ryan. Oh, and kudos for them referencing previous EQG specials through both dialogue and visual references.

The last short feels like a final send-off especially during those last few moments. Did I cry? Of course not as I don't that kind of thing with a cartoon... on the outside. In my heart, I feel sad knowing that this was the final hurrah for MLP generation four. I mean, Hasbro could always task Boulder Media to work on some more EQG content but I don't know if they will be allowed to do so. For what's worth, Equestria Girls was a wild ride from start to finish and I'm glad I was a part of it.

One thing does come to mind. I know people would prefer an animated conclusion, but what if the IDW comics could do something about it? EQG has been heavily underrepresented when it comes to the comics so perhaps this could be an opportunity?

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

21 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

I am interested myself in that question. Poisoned bullets? Alcohol bottles shaped like weapons?

I think it’s a reference on throwing snowballs filled with pee 

[Sky Serenade 60]

On 11/4/2019 at 6:19 PM, Ganondorf8 said:

One thing does come to mind. I know people would prefer an animated conclusion, but what if the IDW comics could do something about it? EQG has been heavily underrepresented when it comes to the comics so perhaps this could be an opportunity?

Yeah, that Holiday Special 2014 IDW comic was terrible.  The Spring Annual was Comic was pretty good though, developing the Mane 5 and even shedding some light on Sunset's backstory when she was Celestia's student.

The special IMO was just okay at best, (Applejack transformation sequence was awesome!) though it is a shame that Fluttershy didn't get to star in any of the shorts, especially considering how she is the only member of the Rainbooms that didn't have a special centring her. Applejack and Rarity got Rollercoaster of Friendship, Rainbow Dash has Spring Breakdown, and Pinkie Pie has Sunset's Backstage Pass. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Sky Serenade
I added some more stuff that related to the thread more.

[Will Guide 21,360]

1 hour ago, Sky Serenade said:

The Spring Annual was Comic was pretty good though

Which issue are you talking about. Please give me a year or something so I can see for myself