Ranking the Equestria Girls Films/Specials (From Worst to Best), Version 3 · 3:35am Oct 14th, 2020
How did I not do this before? It's been almost a whole year now since the Equestria Girls franchise abruptly had the plug pulled on it and I haven't updated this list since "Spring Breakdown". Well, in the time since we got both "Sunset's Backstage Pass" and "Holiday Unwrapped" so the list definitely needs updating to include them at least. So, where did these new specials end up and how did the other movies/specials fare as a result? Well, let's find out. Here's the previous version, from well over a year ago. As always this list is purely the result of my personal opinion so please respect it, and remember that it is not official by any means.
12. Rollercoaster of Friendship
Why it stayed on the bottom: This is a low point the franchise never quite recovered from. Take everything people already criticize "A Canterlot Wedding" for but make it worse, add in an even more insufferable antagonist than the one from the previous low point and rely solely on fanservice to plug up the many holes. The end result is a recipe for failure that was just insulting to watch. At times it feels like they were trying to go for an almost self-parodying angle, but if that was the case they played the rest of the special way too seriously for that to be the case. Vigenette Valencia isn't even a good control freak villain, and she's destined to be forgotten when her late 2010's lingo inevitably becomes outdated.
11. Mirror Magic
Why it moved down: The last time any part of the MLP franchise would really try to shill Starlight Glimmer ("Shadow Play" overplayed her role but it didn't feel like it was completely shilling her at the expense of everyone else), apparently done because of stipulations about how Kelly Sheridan could be used as Starlight Glimmer. I still don't know when this could possibly take place in the FiM timeline because there's no really big emergency during Season 7 and I doubt it occurred during that three day period of research in "Shadow Play". It really feels like they just wrote Starlight in when they planned to use pony Twilight and only slightly bothered to handwave the change. Even then, would it have really changed much if Sunset Shimmer had to save the day while Starlight Glimmer ended up trapped in the mirror? I'm sure they could've found a way to make the climax work. And I just can't take Juniper Montage's monster form seriously, it doesn't look threatening or other worldly even the slightest.
10. Sunset's Backstage Pass
Why it's in the bottom three: So they decided to wisely shift the focus back to Sunset Shimmer here, which was a good thing since she was the only character in the whole spin-off franchise they bothered to develop into something besides just a substitute for some pony character. But then they decided to pair her up with Pinkie Pie and make human Pinkie completely insufferable. It's like if you took the worst pony Pinkie Pie portrayals and made them ten times worse, as if the writer was inspired solely by modern Patrick Star and other bad comedic relief characters. It's amazing how one bad character can make so much of the special so hard to watch, and the return of the Dazzlings here amounts to nothing since they're not the villains and know nothing about them. They're there to be a red herring, but they're a painfully obvious one. Why couldn't we have had Sunset teaming up with them instead? That would've made for a much better special instead of watching the same cringe comedy of human Pinkie getting Sunset into trouble because of her stupidity. Yes, I know Pinkie did apologize eventually and Sunset came to realize she was being maybe a little too harsh, but it's not like Sunset was asking for much to enjoy a music festival she probably paid good money for.
9. Holiday Unwrapped
Why it's so low: This "special" really only consists of a bunch of shorts that are loosely themed around the holidays (most likely Christmas since they do mention Halloween here), that's it. And just like the countless shorts throughout the Equestria Girls series they're not long enough to actually sustain our interest with anything, except for "Saving Pinkie's Pie" which actually does manage to get a basic rule of comedy down (a simple situation exaggerated for comedic effect). The others either accomplish nothing or have some of the insulting endings I've ever seen in any kind of media that make characters look dumb, selfish, shallow or sometimes a combination of the above. To think that this was what they unfortunately had to offer for the last ever Equestria Girls content, even if it wasn't planned to be that way. Maybe if that big movie hadn't taken so long to produce Hasbro could've found the time and resources to give the Equestria Girls franchise the spin-off series fans truly wanted instead of a half hearted gesture.
8. Dance Magic
Why it stayed the same: So when they decided to push this back to take place after a movie instead of before one, why did they not take the time to maybe spruce up the story a little? All this amounts to is a poor man's "Rarity Takes Manehattan" with four of the Shadowbolts (even if they had no role for Indigo Zapp and were saving Kelly Sheridan for Starlight they could've at least come up with an in-universe explanation like Indigo was sick with the flu or something) taking the role of Suri Polomare. Heck, the Rainbooms inexplicably pony up during the music video but it's never acknowledged in-universe. This one has almost no connection to either of the two specials it was billed alongside as a "movie" even though it really wasn't.
7. Spring Breakdown
Why it moved down: Watching human Rainbow Dash ruin everyone's vacation because she's obsessed with fighting some great evil isn't funny even on an ironic or self-parodying level. This is "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" and "28 Pranks Later" levels of shallow and selfishness that the rest of the Rainbooms unfortunately have to suffer through for most of the special. And all of it really just equates to filler in the grand scheme of things, because the real meat is when Sunset Shimmer, Sci-Twi and human Rainbow Dash end up in Equestria sometime between Seasons 7 and 8 and just pal around with pony Twilight for a while. "Wasted potential" doesn't even come close to describing what they could've done here, especially when the special ends where it probably should've begun (it could've easily been made into a "How we got here" kind of story told by Sunset). And for the record, please don't ever take a lifeboat off a cruise ship into stormy waters to try and "rescue" someone.
6. Equestria Girls
Why it moved down: It turns out that this was apparently going to be the original grand finale for all of FiM for some reason. There was going to be a different ending credits song to signify that the story had ended. I'm glad they decided against that, though it's kind of ironic that what started out as a film no one asked for would go on to lay the foundation for something people couldn't get enough of. The big problem is in Sunset Shimmer as an antagonist, she's supposed to be this former student of Princess Celestia and she's also supposed to be the stereotypical mean girl at school. The two don't really mesh well, creating an antagonist that is somehow "popular" even though no one actually likes her. And her entire plot hinges around the human counterparts of the mane six being too dumb to actually talk things out or ask questions. This entire movie seemed to be more for admitting mistakes and giving Spike a bit of a chance to shine as a satilette character rather than an honest attempt to make something unique. The knowledge about it being what the entire FiM franchise could've ended on is what drags it down, this wouldn't have been a good way to conclude it or honor its legacy (by becoming that which it sought to defy).
5. Rainbow Rocks
Why it moved up: It's still very rushed in my opinion and it still made the mistake of leaning on its parent franchise with pony Twilight instead of trying to stand on its own. Sunset Shimmer was easy to make into a more rounded character here because her character prior was virtually non-existent. And while everyone talks about the Dazzlings, Adagio Dazzle is really the only one who actually is fleshed out enough to command attention, the other two members are just bland and uninteresting (Aria Blaze is always grumpy and gets a throwaway line about a power struggle that never gets brought up again, while Sonata Dusk is almost as annoying and stupid a comedic relief villain as Grubber from the movie is and keep in mind that Sonata willingly goes along with everything the other Dazzlings do). They did give this a better reason to be a movie, but would it have really cost us anything if Flash Sentry's band had been brainwashed into going against the Rainbooms? It could've added more emotional stakes instead of just watching everyone harp on each other over various conflicts that don't feel necessary (arguments about costumes, painfully obvious sabotage and what song they're gonna play when). It did improve over its predecessor, largely because its predecessor set the bar so low and so it was surprising to have some things that were actually done better.
4. Movie Magic
Why it stayed the same: Everything's the same from here on out so if you've seen the linked prior list you can skip to the end from here. There's not really anything new to say here. This is just good at being what it is, a Scooby-Doo parody. And even then it feels like it could do more: Add those famous connecting doors, have the villain mention "meddling kids", have there be a costume or illusion for the villain with an elaborate trap for them that backfires, have the gang split-up and get chased. You know, stuff like that. I mean, who wouldn't wanna see the Rainbooms act more like the Mystery Inc. of old (I'm sure Spike and Sci-Twi could easily pull a Scooby and Velma dynamic, and Rainbow Dash is an obvious modern Fred Jones).
3. Legend of Everfree
Why it stayed the same: It was weird to see Sunset Shimmer take a backseat and become a mentor hero while shifting the focus to Sci-Twi so soon. I do like how they did what Sunset didn't get to do and have Sci-Twi worry about whether she was truly over her inner demons. It's kind of sad that Flash Sentry got to do something here and this was the last time he'd really be relevant (the poor guy deserved more, I would've loved to know about that band of his). Timber Spruce isn't bad, but the relationship they're trying to develop between him and Twilight is very rushed and potentially problematic (Timber could just be starting out as a camp counselor at seventeen years of age, but Sci-Twi can't be much older than fourteen or fifteen years of age). And it's obvious Gloriosa Daisy is gonna be Gaia Everfree, they're not even subtle about the foreshadowing. The Rainbooms getting super powers was probably the most unexpected and entertaining aspect of the whole movie, especially with how they seem to have drawn on inspiration from X-Men with things like seeing into a person's memory or making certain things explode.
2. Friendship Games
Why it stayed the same: The biggest thing I praised this for and still praise it for is not depending on ponies at all, aside from a cameo from pony Twilight after the end credits there is no connection besides Sunset Shimmer. Of course it's known by now that there was an entire deleted subplot involving Sunset Shimmer being homesick, and an alternative ending where Sci-Twi would stay at Crystal Prep. But this film ended up overcrowded and chose to spend much of its time on the titular games, the rivalry between schools and making Crystal Prep the worst place on Earth to attend (Principal Cinch is an effective villain for much of the movie, but when everyone is either in on her schemes or is looking the other way when she does things like blackmail it doesn't do a lot to make even the supposed "good" characters sympathetic). The Rainbooms were okay here but it was starting to become apparent that they were poor imitations of their pony counterparts and were in desperate need of fleshing out. I still do think this was where the franchise truly had a chance to take off and become known, and it's really saying something when with one exception it never quite got back to this level ever again until EQG was cancelled.
1. Forgotten Friendship
Why it stayed on the top: Yeah, Sunset Shimmer coming back to Equestria to finally make amends with Princess Celestia was probably enough to make this a strong special as it was, and that alone likely would've put it at the top for a lot of people. But it's not like what we got besides that was bad or forgettable because it wasn't. This did a good job of showing how far Sunset Shimmer had come as a character but also where she still had to improve. Human Trixie, once she was done serving as the red herring antagonist gave us a chance to see behind the mask. She and Sunset bonded and actually worked together well. Even the Rainbooms had a few decent moments, particularly Sci-Twi's selfie drone that became a chekhov's gun during the climax. None of the deleted scenes were truly a loss since they were all just extended versions of certain scenes or just added more jokes that weren't needed. Wallflower Blush was a good antagonist, once you look past her initial motivation making no sense (at what point did Sunset ever show signs of being a bad girl again?). It's not quite flawless but it's the closest the EQG franchise ever got and that makes it worthy of the top spot.
And there you have it.
Here's how I rank them:
Mirror Magic
Sunset's Backstage Pass
Spring Breakdown
Forgotten Friendship
Legend of Everfree
Friendship Games
Movie Magic
Rainbow Rocks
Holidays Unwrapped
Equestria Girls
Dance Magic
Rollercoaster of Friendship
Even though Forgotten Friendship is arguably the most well written special, it's also kind of hard to watch at points.
Spring Breakdown, Backstage Pass, and Mirror Magic, while not as strong writing wise, are a bit more entertaining for me.
How many versions are you gonna make?
5377511 This one won't be updated again because there will be no more EQG movies or specials to consider.
Basically, Movie Magic is the best of the three Magical Movie Night specials because it's the only one whose plot isn't a rehash of an episode from the parent series (Dance Magic is a poor man's Rarity Takes Manehattan, as you said, while Mirror Magic is a poor man's To Where and Back Again). Speaking of which, if you were to group the Magical Movie Night specials together as one entry like the Holidays Unwrapped shorts, where would they end up on your list?
5378418 If I had to consider the three as one package it would probably end up between "Sunset's Backstage Pass" and "Holiday Unwrapped". One of the three is good at being what it is, but it's sandwiched between a very medicore start and a disappointing finish.
5378427
So then as a Top 10 ranking, your list would look like this:
10. Rollercoaster of Friendship
9. Sunset's Backstage Pass
8. Magical Movie Night
7. Holidays Unwrapped
6. Spring Breakdown
5. Equestria Girls
4. Rainbow Rocks
3. Legend of Everfree
2. Friendship Games
1. Forgotten Friendship
5378504 Yes.
Here is how I would rank them:
1. Forgotten Friendship
2. Rainbow Rocks
3. Friendship Games
4. Legend of Everfree
5. Sunset's Backstage Pass
6. Movie Magic
7. Holidays Unwrapped
8. Dance Magic
9. Mirror Magic
10. Equestria Girls
11. Rollercoaster of Friendship
12. Spring Breakdown
Looking at how many aren't a fan of Rainbow Dash's behavior in Spring Breakdown, do you think this rewritten version of Rainbow Dash and Sci Twi's argument in the movie would've helped making her a bit more likable or at least give her a better reason for her paranoia behavior?