The Shadowbolts

Not too long ago, I posted a journal on DeviantArt sharing my first impressions on the next episodes of season six (which will begin airing tomorrow) as well as the fourth Equestria Girls movie, Legend of Everfree. This actually sparked some inspiration in me to write about the "characters" introduced in Friendship Games. Well, the group of them, anyway. So, my views on the Shadowbolts!

It's fair to say that in the last five years, people have wanted to create an anti-Mane Six to serve as foils to our heroes. Heck, even I wanted to take the idea and run with it! The Dazzlings probably come close, but they only consist of three members rather than six, but you could feature the likes of Trixie, Lightning Dust, and Suri Polomare to complete the set. In the trailer for Friendship Games, it looked like we might actually get an anti-Mane Six (Five if we exclude Sci-Twi) in the actual series, even if it was in a movie and the characters were humans rather than ponies.

But... no.

Instead of having an anti-Mane Five with actual personalities, we got five dolls on the shelf that just stand round looking pretty - I'm sorry, but good looks don't automatically make a good character (*is later seen gushing over the looks of the likes of Axel and Gina, hoping they make a return to Sodor*)- with the odd snide comment. On top of that, they were overshadowed by Principal Cinch as a villain, and by Sci-Twi as a character. (Not that Sci-Twi and Cinch were actually appealing, but still.)

Sour Sweet was probably the closest to being an actual character, coming off as a Jekyll and Hyde-type character, but that was it. The others have even less character - Sugarcoat's just a blunt snob, Indigo Zap is essentially a Lightning Dust recolor (even the persona is the same, just made blander), Lemon Zest is a music fanatic, and Sunny Flare... Oh, she's the worst offender, because she has literally nothing!

Look, just because a character appears only once, it doesn't mean you have to be lazy when it comes to giving them personalities (I'm looking at you, Colin!). You have seventy minutes to work with, so there really is no excuse especially when you spend so much time focusing on Sci-Twi! Character balance you could add to the list of problems Friendship Games faced. If you keep focusing only on one character, leaving everybody else to the sidelines (even Sunset suffered by being sidelined), then how can we feel for everyone else, especially when some (i.e. Shining Armor) are just featured as afterthoughts?

What makes a good movie is that even when your main characters are the primary focus, there's other characters involved that, whether their roles were big or small, they become memorable by the end. That's what I loved in Zootopia; even though the story was mostly focused on Judy and Nick, characters like Chief Bogo, Clawhauser, Mr. Big, and even Smellwether - eh, sorry, Bellwether - had moments that made them charming in their own way.

With the Shadowbolts? We got nothing. (Before you bring up Twilight's Sparkly Sleepover Surprise, remember that I'm focusing solely on the films themselves.) Even their redemption comes off as half-baked.

All in all, whilst the inclusion of the Shadowbolts was a good idea in theory, the execution came off incredibly sloppy, almost like the appearance of the Moopets in the 2011 film The Muppets - whilst they were pointless as Tex Richman could've sabotaged the studios by himself, the story was a lot stronger and the songs were memorable. That wasn't the case with Friendship Games, and it comes off as the biggest disappointment under MLP's belt (I'll still consider it that until either I die or stop being a Brony, whichever comes first).

If it wasn't for Svengallop, Plaid Stripes, and Starlight Glimmer breaking their fall, I'd definitely have ranked the Shadowbolts worst of the worst (Sunny Flare especially). It's also rather telling that fans can succeed at the concept where supposed professionals can't; somebody in the writing staff should figure out that something's wrong! (That is, if their name isn't Josh Haber...)