Two down, one to go. It's the Equestria Girls special that I declared as the worst of the three. Now we can finally find out if I still think that in the review proper, and hopefully quell a non-troversy on DeviantArt regarding a certain "fan". Without further delay or ado, here's Mirror Magic!
Not only that, this special is practically a half-baked attempt at getting Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer to interact. I'm sure most of you know this by now, but there's been a fandom rivalry between both characters ever since The Cutie Re-Mark, and it doesn't look like it'll end any time soon. Also, Sunset's presence in Equestria is completely contrived to set up the "plot".
The dynamic between the two characters is very anti-climactic; they barely display any personality whatsoever. Sunset constantly stresses over magical dangers and Starlight is enthusiastic about the human world - that's as far as it goes, and it says nothing about either of them. I'd rather they get into an argument as to whose motivations were worse; yes, it feels like fan pandering, but I'd rather have that than what we ended up with.
And another thing - how do they even know each other? This is a case where the timeframe doesn't do the special any favors; Legend of Everfree was a 22 minute story stretched into a 73 minute "film". This is a 70 minute story squashed into a 22 minute "special". Because of this, we don't get any depth to any of the characters or motivations and it all just comes off as tired, shallow, and uninspired.
Which brings me onto Starlight Glimmer. Her role in Mirror Magic is completely redundant. I was willing to defend her presence in A Royal Problem, but I can't say the same thing here! Yes, she snapped Juniper out of her rage, but Sunset and Sci-Twi could've done so as well! Heck, any of the Human Five could've asked her to let go of her anger and you'd have the same end result! Just like the previous two specials and Legend of Everfree, the whole plot feels like it was contrived to make Starlight the hero, just like To Where and Back Again.
Actually, that's not fair; at least the season six finale had the dignity to have proper pacing, a real reason for the heroes to worry, and it was 44 minutes long, tops! That being said, it still reeks of bad fan-fiction, but I digress.
And speaking of rehashed ideas...! Starlight's arrival is basically Princess Twilight's from the original Equestria Girls movie, except it's used for a one-off joke and never brought up again. At least in Rainbow Rocks, Twilight was still struggling to survive being in a human body - it makes you wonder how Sunset handled being in one, doesn't it?
Then there's the ending, which is basically the one from The Cutie Re-Mark, except this is more illogical and stupid. Starlight convinces Juniper to wish to make up for her mistakes and like the season five finale, forgiveness is handed to her on a silver platter.
What makes even stupider is that the Human Seven were never in any sort of danger. Given how much they have survived in four movies, are we expected to think that they could end up dying? No, of course not. It just comes off as artificial, and the tension is completely nonexistent. Oh, and Pinkie saying how forgiving the group is was just groan-worthy. It's true, and you don't need to lampshade the problems in your script when your viewers and critics can see for themselves! And attacking the adult fandom for having legitimate problems with certain episodes makes you look immature and petty - and yes, I will get to that soon enough...
Along with the villain redemption and the main cast being in "danger", the other overused cliche by EG standards is the antagonist having a monstrous form. Seriously, do they have to make all these designs this tacky? And they only do five minutes' worth with Juniper's monstrous form!
But the thing I hate most about this special is that the plot descriptions lied to us. They implied that Starlight and Sunset would both fight against Juniper together, but instead, it's just Starlight who saves the day because of course it is. Even I would've preferred to see both former antagonists attack the villain of the week, but it feels like false advertising to gain artificial interest.
I'd make suggestions for improvement, but instead, I direct your attention to the first film and Rainbow Rocks. They have a similar structure to Mirror Magic, even if things didn't happen in the same order. The difference is both films combined did it better, and with a longer runtime.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Mirror Magic gives us nothing new. At all. It's also a sign that Equestria Girls has reached stagnation. Writing for it should not be that difficult; just write it with the mindset of the characters being ponies, turn them into humans, and you're done. How difficult is it for the writers to understand that? It says a lot that fan-fiction writers can do the world more justice than the actual writers of the series.
It's also a special kind of sad that the spinoff actually had a lot of potential hiding behind it. I'm serious; if they tried tackling more mature themes with the high-school setting, handle it in a subtle manner, and written by competent writers, that'd be great!
As it stands, however, they just continue to use an idealized view on friendship by sugarcoating the harsh realities, and if the Summertime Shorts and the digital series Better Together (most ironic title ever!) are anything to go by, Equestria Girls has nothing left to offer. It is officially dead. It is the Hasbro equivalent to The Fairly OddParents where they constantly force in stupid gimmicks to try and manufacture audience interest.
I know there are some of you EG fans out there who are gonna be screaming "U SUK 4 HATIN DIS SERIEZ ABOUT SUNNY AND TWILY!!! I KILL U!!!" or something like that. Look, I get your frustrations to those who hate it because of course they can, but there are people out there who have legitimate concerns about its current state, and I've listed a few myself.
Bottom line, you can't automatically declare the person is negative for hating something you like, you can't go off on some mindless tirade as to how "wrong" they are, and you especially cannot say that a specific person ruined your life because they were doing they right thing by telling you off for your stupidity and recklessness! (I'm looking at you, Nichole Williams! Seriously, she got upset with Thomas fans on Twitter "bullying" her when they were calling her out for her idiotic beliefs.)
So... yeah. Mirror Magic is awful, plain and simple. It's got no reason to exist, and is very much the culmination of every bad MLP cliche jammed into 22 minutes. If you're a fan of EG, stick to the McCarthy films... and maybe add Friendship Games if you want a trilogy (it's up to you, really). But now? The charm has been killed, and it's time we moved on and left the spinoff in the dust with whatever dignity it may have left.
It's also a special kind of sad that the spinoff actually had a lot of potential hiding behind it. I'm serious; if they tried tackling more mature themes with the high-school setting, handle it in a subtle manner, and written by competent writers, that'd be great!
As it stands, however, they just continue to use an idealized view on friendship by sugarcoating the harsh realities, and if the Summertime Shorts and the digital series Better Together (most ironic title ever!) are anything to go by, Equestria Girls has nothing left to offer. It is officially dead. It is the Hasbro equivalent to The Fairly OddParents where they constantly force in stupid gimmicks to try and manufacture audience interest.
I know there are some of you EG fans out there who are gonna be screaming "U SUK 4 HATIN DIS SERIEZ ABOUT SUNNY AND TWILY!!! I KILL U!!!" or something like that. Look, I get your frustrations to those who hate it because of course they can, but there are people out there who have legitimate concerns about its current state, and I've listed a few myself.
Bottom line, you can't automatically declare the person is negative for hating something you like, you can't go off on some mindless tirade as to how "wrong" they are, and you especially cannot say that a specific person ruined your life because they were doing they right thing by telling you off for your stupidity and recklessness! (I'm looking at you, Nichole Williams! Seriously, she got upset with Thomas fans on Twitter "bullying" her when they were calling her out for her idiotic beliefs.)
So... yeah. Mirror Magic is awful, plain and simple. It's got no reason to exist, and is very much the culmination of every bad MLP cliche jammed into 22 minutes. If you're a fan of EG, stick to the McCarthy films... and maybe add Friendship Games if you want a trilogy (it's up to you, really). But now? The charm has been killed, and it's time we moved on and left the spinoff in the dust with whatever dignity it may have left.
Rating: -10 out of 10
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