Discussing Sunset Shimmer

[Wardaddy 470]

Having taken a look at the final 13 minutes of Equestria Girls, I was like "Holy Celestia, I knew I was right about her!". At first, I theorised that Sunset Shimmer would appear in FiM Season 4 as a new enemy of Twilight who had come back from exile to take back the crown she felt she deserved. Her backstory was that Celestia had asked Sunset, then her protégé, to help her on an important task which involved travelling to different worlds through teleportation. Just as Sunset stepped through a portal, something went badly wrong and the portal closed , trapping Sunset in the world she entered. On Celestia's part, what happened was a total accident. She did not intend for the portal to close, and attempts to re-open it failed. As a result, Celestia was forced to consider the project a failure, and deemed Sunset as irretrievable. However, on the latter's part, Sunset was shocked to find the portal had closed, however she resolved that it was an accident, and thus began efforts (and a hayloft's worth of study and practice) to re-open the portal. When she did, however, she was horrified to hear from Celestia that she was replaced and that Twilight was the princess of magic instead of her. This made Sunset incredibly angry and she swore revenge on Celestia, blaming her for trapping her in the alternate world while she went off to find a new protégé. In the process, she also swore to find Twilight, and take the crown from her one way or another.

 

While its a shame that this theory did not materialize, I'm happy that it did happen in a different way. Sunset would appear in Equestria Girls as the villain, and she was indeed sore at the fact Twilight had become the princess instead of her. And after watching the clip on Youtube, I was happy to see my suspicions confirmed. Sunset turned out to be as bad as I thought. On a side note, remind me if EG is canon, and if you believe Sunset will make an appearance in Season 4

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I don't quite understand why the crown turned Sunset into a demon, can anyone explain why that occurred after she put the crown on? That part sort of confused me.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I don't quite understand why the crown turned Sunset into a demon, can anyone explain why that occurred after she put the crown on? That part sort of confused me.

I'm guessing the crown amplifies the power of the one wearing it.  Since she is a cruel person the crown had an adverse effect on her, thus turning her into a demonic terror monster thing.  The reason Twilight doesn't transform is because she can handle the effects of the crown.  (mind you this is all guessing)

[Wardaddy 470]

I don't quite understand why the crown turned Sunset into a demon, can anyone explain why that occurred after she put the crown on? That part sort of confused me.

Perhaps the magic within the crown identified Sunset as a bad person and therefore it had a negative effect on her, or Sunset didn't didn't know what kind of power she was dealing with and the crown had a mind of its own.

 

Or..........perhaps Sunset wanted the crown to turn her into a demon. After all, she wanted to take over Equestria, the first step would be to acquire enough power to conquer the hearts and minds of others and lead them into the conquest of Equestria. To do that, she had to become a demon. For all we know, Sunset could've been planning this from the beginning. Use the crown's power to give her leadership over everybody and then use them as an army against the pony who took her place as the princess of magic in Equestria. But there's something I don't get.......why did Sunset try to use high school teenagers as her army?! Sure, turn Snips and Snails into demons and use the rest as mindless, brainwashed zombies! Don't bother trying to seek out an armed force or something to march into Equestria and wreak havoc! Seriously, I bet everypony can tell this was another attempt by Hasbro to rake in the millions. No wonder it got such bad reviews

[NavelColt 22,881]

A rather bland villain with a rather predictable outcome and reformation that seems a bit sudden and rushed, but given what the movie was trying to aim towards and accomplish, she did incredibly well versus every other villain in any other high school teen setting, or anything at all relating to that theme or age group, Imo.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

I was really intrigued by Sunset Shimmer, as she has one really awesome design. I enjoyed her character, but she definitely could have been fleshed out better, as she's a bit generic. Her change of heart at the end would have felt better if she had actually shown some redeeming qualities throughout the movie. It's confusing to see her act so evil and then suddenly cry out and plead for forgiveness after turning into a demon. That part of the movie felt "rushed" to say the least. However, with Sunset now focusing on learning about friendship in her own right, it will be interesting to see the character grow over time, assuming Equestria Girls will continue. We know there's chapter books and a comic book adaption on the way, so we may see Sunset again in some way, canon or otherwise.

 

That, and we may get a sequel or a TV series.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[fimdash 1,196]

Sunset Shimmer's design is what captivated me when I saw her for the first time. When I later found out that she was to be the antagonist of Equestria Girls, I was pretty surprised (since I always saw her as a good character). She was pretty interesting in Equestria Girls, especially in the beginning. I liked her backstory in the movie, and how she was jealous of Twilight becoming a princess (which reminded me of Antonio Salieri's jealousy of Mozart in the movie Amadeus). She was a decent villain in the movie, but she was too much like Trixie. Heck, she even had the same minions. I think she would've been a more formidable foe if she were different from Trixie, since Twilight had already defeated Trixie in the past. Although it's stated that EQ Girls isn't canon, I wouldn't mind seeing Sunset Shimmer in season 4. We probably won't, but I could be wrong.

[Wardaddy 470]

Sunset could be fleshed out a little more, I won't deny. But if she were to appear in Season 4, perhaps her pony self could appear looking for Celestia, eager to see her again. However, the princess is less than pleased to see her. In fact, she is quite shocked! She believed Sunset could never return after the portal incident in which Celestia's latest project went wrong. The portal connecting another world (not EqG) which Sunset walked through suddenly closed, trapping both ponies on the opposite sides. As calmly as she can, Celestia explains to the confused Sunset that she presumed the latter to have been trapped behind that portal which she couldn't re-open, and so she was forced to seek out a new protégé, which turned out to be Twilight. Angry and outraged, Sunset swears revenge on Celestia, believing her to have closed the portal behind her so she could abandon Sunset for someone else. In the process, she also swears to look for Twilight, and one way or another, she'd have the crown she worked so hard for. 

[Jammo 986]

Honestly I think she was about as good as Nightmare Moon was in the FiM pilot. I know it's kind of blasphemy to suggest this but here me out.

 

Nightmare Moon was a very generic villain who didn't have much going for her till she returned to Princess Luna. Luna has a ton of fans. Show of hands, who's a huge Nightmare Moon fanboy? She's a simple villain to move the plot forward with most of the focus on introducing the premise and characters.

 

In fact I'm noticing a lot of similarities between EQG and the FiM pilot.

Not many huge laughs in this but works at getting us comfortable with the setting.

Exposition heavy establishing character relationships

Yeah..

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I found it weird for Twilight to forgive Sunset Shimmer so easily. not even 5 minutes earlier did Sunset fire a death lazer at her; only for her friends to come in and save her. Not to mention she trolled her all the way from beginning to end.

[Metemponychosis 1,261]

Even if EqG is made canon, she is not going to appear on Season 4. The ending with Twilight putting her on her new friends care made that clear to me. But, I guess it can be excused if she appears.

 

I actually liked her. The idea for the character is interesting, but she seems to know more about the Element of Magic than Twilight. I'm not sure how that makes sense, if we keep in mind that the driving force behind the Elements of Harmony is friendship and that she just didn't had it in her... Anyway... Maybe the Elements are something more.

 

My opinion is that when the lore starts contradicting itself like this, it's a clear sign that the universe is losing it's internal logic and the overarching story is losing it's narrative coherence. It's "jumped the shark". It happens because they are trying to expand the universe without taking the care to make informed decisions within the context of the universe. (Mass Effect 3 ending, anyone?)

 

I've gone a little off-topic... My point is that Sunset Shimmer is a good idea that could have been a lot better.Part of it is also her forced realization that she is wrong. It was too fast to be seem as sincere. The whole "fight" against her made me think about Hearth Warming's Eve, as she is like the Windigos and the girls defeat them with the power of their friendship (entirely forced too, as they seemed to like Twilight simply because she was standing up against Sunset Shimmer).

 

Wasted potential.

[DITR 180]

I thought she was a bland, underdeveloped, and most of all, cliche character. What the movie really needed was a flashback scene where you saw some interaction between her and Celestia. Than we could of gotten a closer look at her morals and personality before she entered the human world

[Wardaddy 470]

Jeez, there's a lot of hate for Sunset's character. I understand it totally, but what I'm concerned about is while she didn't follow my theory exactly, it did come true in another way. All that aside, it would seem Sunset's flaws are another result of Hasbro's corporate greed. Just shove the kids what they want and take the bits they'll happily pay for their entertainment. Luna help us all.

[Forlong 1,726]

I found her to be painfully predictable and her evil plan stank.  Yeah, a school of teenagers will do great against unicorns and the Wonderbolts.

[--Thunder Bolt-- 534]

NOTE: I'm assuming that people reading this thread have either seen Equestria Girls already, or do not care if they read spoilers.  There will be spoilers in this post, and I am not using spoiler tags because the whole thing's kinda spoilery. 

 

I found her to be painfully predictable and her evil plan stank.  Yeah, a school of teenagers will do great against unicorns and the Wonderbolts.

 

Not to mention Q--I mean, Discord.  It would have been better if she wanted to use her crown to take over Not Quite Earth.  As the possessor of the only super-powerful magic item in a world without them, she would have had a massive advantage, at least relative to any other teenage girl with dreams of world domination.  If she could zombify people through technology (imprinting hypnotic imagery into YouTube videos, or projecting zombifying power through news cameras that came to report on the big demon attack) and/or through contact or proximity to current victims, she could have been a significant threat.  We also don't know what else she could have done with the Element of Magic in a world without magically-empowered adversaries to counter its power.

 

I thought one of the better moments of the movie was when Twilight called Sunset's bluff about destroying the Portal, willing to give up any hope of returning to her own world in order to save the one she was in.  I wish they'd gone with that, and had Human Dash save the portal by kicking a soccer ball at the hammer and knocking it out of Sunset's hands, or something like that.

[Wardaddy 470]

I can tell that one of the main reasons why everypony is so outraged at Sunset is her face turn at the end of the movie. At first, she was the perfect Alpha B*tch, stealing Twilight's crown, breaking up friendships in the human world, driving the Human Six apart, turning into a demon through the power of the EoM, demonizing Snips and Snails, brainwashing the school student body, threatening to smash the portal (even though it was a bluff) and even trying to kill Twilight (as some versions of the film showed her saying), when moments later she emerges from the crater a remorseful, tearful wreck, regretting her actions based on her not knowing of the other way, or even how to make friends. Its real simple Sunset! Just go up to someone that shares the same interest(s) as you, say "hi, how are you? whats your name?" talk to them about the interests you share and of course, love and tolerate them! I personally don't believe Sunset is as repentant as she says she is. In fact, I'm beginning to think she'll return, next time enlisting the help of the lesser villains in Equestria (Gilda, Trixie, Lightning Dust, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and the like) in a bid to swipe the crown again. No one acts as evil as that and suddenly goes crawling up to the hero crying and begging for forgiveness just like that. As for S4, I'm not so sure as before that she'll make an appearance, however I'm not giving up that ghost yet.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Scootalove 10,689]

I can't really say much since I don't know much about Sunset Shimmer's character besides what Celestia told the Mane 6 about her. '' She used to be my student before Twilight, until she started to turn evil and corrupt. We tried to help her but, instead she abandoned Equestria to never return again.'' Basically, we never knew about her until the movie. Nothing much left to say.

[Tall_But_Short_37 233]

Really random, but when Sunset turned into the succubus/demon/whatever thing, did anyone else feel like they were watching one of the old Scooby-Doo movies...?

 

Aaaanyways, I have a theory on her sudden change of heart at the very end. I think that when Twilight's magic (which was purely produced from friendship) connected with the crown and blew a big hole in the ground, it showed her just how mean and cruel she had been to everyone, and how much she hurt everyone around her. It showed her her true self and how perverted and corrupted she had become after leaving Celestia and Equestria. I think the demon she transformed into was a representation of that true self. In that moment, she saw how far she had strayed from the good path, and decided she wanted to change.

[alicorns 5]

Really you have watched equestra girls as well!How come i cant watch it I've looked online everywhere so please tell how to watch it cause i really want to!

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Really you have watched equestra girls as well!How come i cant watch it I've looked online everywhere so please tell how to watch it cause i really want to!

Psst... it's a secret. Basically, go to youtube and put in a search for "Equestria Girls Full Movie". That's how I found it. Somepony sneaked a video camera into the cinema so the quality is a bit shaky but well worth a look!

[Wardaddy 470]

Really random, but when Sunset turned into the succubus/demon/whatever thing, did anyone else feel like they were watching one of the old Scooby-Doo movies...?

 

Aaaanyways, I have a theory on her sudden change of heart at the very end. I think that when Twilight's magic (which was purely produced from friendship) connected with the crown and blew a big hole in the ground, it showed her just how mean and cruel she had been to everyone, and how much she hurt everyone around her. It showed her her true self and how perverted and corrupted she had become after leaving Celestia and Equestria. I think the demon she transformed into was a representation of that true self. In that moment, she saw how far she had strayed from the good path, and decided she wanted to change.

That's a good theory, to be sure. In fact, that's actually quite good..........I guess I was too distrusting of Sunset to realize she really did feel bad for committing such terrible deeds. I suppose if I were her, I'd feel the same way. While I probably wouldn't be crawling on my knees, I would be in tears and I would be asking Twilight for another chance (after the obvious punishment of rebuilding the school's front door). It was impatience that perverted Sunset's course towards princesshood, and while she mightn't get the chance now, she can always redeem herself, I guess. But would that warrant further appearances in FiM Season 4? (Unless Sunset were to remain in the human world, looking after the Human Six and ensuring their friendship stayed as tight-knit as ever) 

Edited June 25, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[WonderColt 23]

So did anybody else notice the similarity between the names of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmers.

 

I mean, Sunset is the time when the sun sets (Duh) while Twilight most commonly occurs before the rising of the sun.

While obviously Sparkles and Shimmers are clearly two forms of reflective decoration.

 

Yeah . . . Not really anything big, just something I noticed that doesn't seem to be brought up a lot.

[alicorns 5]

what i would like to know is why she turned evil and left cleastia i mean was it cause she felt she never got the respect she deserved or because she felt neglected by cleastia?   

[Dark Horn 430]

That's a good theory, to be sure. In fact, that's actually quite good..........I guess I was too distrusting of Sunset to realize she really did feel bad for committing such terrible deeds. I suppose if I were her, I'd feel the same way. While I probably wouldn't be crawling on my knees, I would be in tears and I would be asking Twilight for another chance (after the obvious punishment of rebuilding the school's front door). It was impatience that perverted Sunset's course towards princesshood, and while she mightn't get the chance now, she can always redeem herself, I guess. But would that warrant further appearances in FiM Season 4? (Unless Sunset were to remain in the human world, looking after the Human Six and ensuring their friendship stayed as tight-knit as ever) 

Yes, a good theory, but in all honesty, my real shock comes from Snip and Snap. They weren't being mind controlled, or forced to do things, yet they still engaged in evil, even after they realized who Twilight really was, and that an entire kingdom hinged on her success.

[Justin ZW 396]

I was severely disappointed by Sunset Shimmer. She was a rather "Meh" villain with little character depth besides a desire to control everything. And the ending of the film was even more of a letdown. I mean, come on. Sunset Shimmer barely got any chance to wreak havoc before she was stopped. They should've spent less time on the screwing around part of the movie and actually had Sunset transform earlier on, with Twilight and her friends being forced to find a way to stop her. It would've been more enjoyable.

 

I am disappointed by how rushed Sunset Shimmer's character felt, as well as how rushed the film felt. It had potential, but they shat on it. Not saying I hated the movie, because I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as it could've been.