Equestria Girls: The History of Hasbro's Beautiful Mess
Summary
TLDRThe Equestria Girls franchise, launched by Hasbro in 2013, reimagines the characters of My Little Pony as teenage human girls, sparking a unique subculture. Despite initial skepticism and mixed reactions to the fashion doll line and movie series, the franchise carved its own niche with memorable characters, engaging storylines, and high-quality music. However, the line faced challenges in translating the animation's designs into dolls, leading to a shift in strategy and eventual decline. The franchise spanned various formats, including webisodes and animated specials, before concluding with a series of short holiday-themed episodes. Equestria Girls remains a notable chapter in the history of My Little Pony, reflecting the creativity and dedication of its team despite the commercial and design challenges it encountered.
Takeaways
- ð The Equestria Girls franchise, launched by Hasbro in 2013, is a spin-off of the popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series, focusing on the main characters as human teenage girls.
- ð¯ââïž The franchise includes a fashion doll line and a series of movies, aiming to appeal to both the young girl market and the adult fanbase, known as 'Bronies', of the original series.
- ð Initially met with skepticism and criticized as a cash grab, Equestria Girls managed to carve its own niche and find a dedicated audience over time.
- ð¥ The first Equestria Girls movie was a rough introduction to the franchise, with simplistic designs and a plot that tied too closely to the original series.
- ð¶ The Rainbow Rocks movie is considered the best of the series, with a music-themed plot and high-quality songs that contributed to its success.
- 𧞠The doll line faced criticism for poor quality, lack of continuity with the movie designs, and uninspired concepts, but remained relatively inexpensive and easy to collect.
- ð Despite the mixed reception of the dolls, the franchise's animated content, including shorts and specials, continued to be well-received and provided engaging stories for fans.
- ð Equestria Girls attempted to reinvent the doll line with a new aesthetic and designs in 2017, but these changes alienated the existing fan base and did not perform well in the market.
- ð The franchise was affected by the shift in the toy market, with other fashion doll brands like Monster High declining in popularity and Barbie facing sales struggles.
- ð¬ The final Equestria Girls special, Holidays Unwrapped, was a collection of shorts and did not provide a satisfying conclusion to the franchise.
- ð Equestria Girls is seen as a product of its time, with unique qualities that made it memorable for fans, and is not expected to be replicated with the transition to My Little Pony's Generation 5.
Q & A
When was the fourth generation of My Little Pony launched?
-The fourth generation of My Little Pony was launched in 2010.
What is the Equestria Girls spin-off focused on?
-The Equestria Girls spin-off is focused on the main characters of My Little Pony as human teenage girls, rather than their original horse forms.
What was the impact of My Little Pony G4 on its target audience?
-My Little Pony G4 not only successfully targeted young girls but also gained a significant adult audience, leading to the creation of a subculture known as Bronies.
What was the estimated worth of Monster High by 2013?
-By 2013, Monster High was worth an estimated 1 billion dollars.
How did the initial character designs for Equestria Girls receive mixed reactions?
-The initial character designs for Equestria Girls were criticized for being too simplistic and not interesting enough for a fashion doll lineup. They also had skin tones similar to their horse selves, which some found off-putting.
What was the general public's perception of Equestria Girls before its release?
-The general public was initially averse to Equestria Girls, viewing it as a soulless cash grab by Hasbro with no thought or effort put into it.
Who was the main character in the first Equestria Girls movie?
-The main character in the first Equestria Girls movie was Twilight Sparkle from Friendship is Magic.
What was the main plot of the first Equestria Girls movie?
-The main plot of the first Equestria Girls movie involves Twilight Sparkle pursuing a new villain, Sunset Shimmer, who steals her crown and escapes to an alternate dimension where everyone is human.
What were some of the criticisms of the first Equestria Girls dolls?
-The first Equestria Girls dolls were criticized for their poor fabric quality, lazy designs, and lack of continuity between the doll designs and the movie designs.
How did the Equestria Girls franchise evolve after the first movie?
-After the first movie, the Equestria Girls franchise continued with subsequent movies and doll lines, including Rainbow Rocks, Friendship Games, and Legend of Everfree, each introducing new characters and storylines.
What was the overall reception of the Equestria Girls franchise?
-The Equestria Girls franchise had a dedicated audience and was able to establish itself as an independent entity separate from the main My Little Pony franchise, despite initial negativity and criticisms.
Outlines
ð Launch and Initial Reception of Equestria Girls
The paragraph discusses the launch of the Equestria Girls spin-off, a fashion doll line and movie series, as an extension of Hasbro's popular franchise, My Little Pony. It highlights the challenges faced by the franchise due to its deviation from the original concept and the initial mixed reactions from fans and the general public. The paragraph also touches on the impact of the Bronies subculture and the controversy surrounding the design and marketing of the fashion dolls.
ðš Character Design and Market Response
This paragraph delves into the initial character designs of Equestria Girls, which were criticized for their simplicity and lack of diversity. It discusses the challenges in appealing to both the adult collectors and the young girl demographic, as well as the backlash from the fandom. The paragraph also mentions the comparison with Monster High and the struggle to compete in the fashion doll market.
ð¬ First Equestria Girls Movie and Dolls
The paragraph provides an overview of the first Equestria Girls movie, its plot, and the introduction of the characters in a human form. It also discusses the release of the accompanying fashion dolls, their design, and the reception from fans and collectors. The paragraph highlights the franchise's attempt to maintain continuity with the primary My Little Pony franchise.
ð¶ Success and Expansion of the Equestria Girls Franchise
This paragraph focuses on the growth of the Equestria Girls franchise, particularly the success of the Rainbow Rocks movie and its music-themed doll line. It discusses the positive aspects of the franchise, such as the engaging personalities of the main cast, the quality of the music, and the expansion of the character roster. The paragraph also touches on the challenges faced in terms of doll design and the competition with other popular fashion doll brands.
ð The Evolution of Equestria Girls Dolls and Movies
The paragraph discusses the evolution of the Equestria Girls dolls and movies, including the changes in the design and release of new collections such as Friendship Games and Legends of Everfree. It highlights the attempts to diversify the doll lines and the mixed reception from fans. The paragraph also talks about the plot and character development in the subsequent movies, as well as the challenges in maintaining the franchise's unique appeal.
ð The Legacy and Impact of Equestria Girls
This paragraph reflects on the overall impact and legacy of the Equestria Girls franchise. It discusses the transition from the fashion doll line to the focus on animated content, the challenges faced in the competitive doll market, and the eventual discontinuation of the fashion dolls. The paragraph also highlights the memorable moments and the dedicated fan base that the franchise cultivated over the years.
Mindmap
Keywords
ð¡My Little Pony
ð¡Equestria Girls
ð¡Bronies
ð¡Fashion Doll Market
ð¡Character Design
ð¡Hasbro
ð¡Monster High
ð¡Diversity
ð¡Franchise Continuity
ð¡Product Launch
ð¡Fanbase
Highlights
In 2010, Hasbro launched the fourth generation of My Little Pony subtitled 'Friendship is Magic', which became immensely popular.
Equestria Girls is a fashion doll line and movie series that reimagines the main characters of My Little Pony as human teenage girls.
The launch of Equestria Girls was influenced by the success of Mattel's Monster High fashion doll line.
The initial character designs for Equestria Girls received mixed reactions, with some feeling they were too simplistic.
The first Equestria Girls movie premiered in June 2013, featuring Twilight Sparkle in an alternate dimension where everyone is human.
The Equestria Girls franchise aimed to maintain continuity with the primary My Little Pony franchise, including carrying over the main show's writing staff and voice team.
The Equestria Girls dolls faced criticism for their design and quality, but still found a dedicated audience.
The Rainbow Rocks movie is considered the best of the Equestria Girls films, featuring a musical theme and a well-received soundtrack.
The Friendship Games movie introduced new characters and a sports theme, but was criticized for underutilizing these new characters.
The Legend of Everfree movie was the last of the Equestria Girls long-form specials, receiving mixed reviews and marking the end of phase one of the franchise.
Phase two of Equestria Girls focused on short webisodes and animated specials, with a new doll line reboot that updated the character designs.
The rebranded Equestria Girls fashion doll line struggled to capture the essence of the characters from the animation, leading to a lack of consumer interest.
The Equestria Girls minis were a successful part of the franchise, offering articulated and posable figures with cool playsets.
The animated side of Equestria Girls continued to perform well, with several long-form specials and animated shorts maintaining the franchise's narrative.
The final Equestria Girls special, 'Holidays Unwrapped', was a collection of independent shorts themed around winter holidays.
The Equestria Girls franchise is considered a product of its time, capturing the unique cultural and market trends of the 2010s.
Despite the franchise's end, Equestria Girls maintains a dedicated fanbase and is remembered for its unique contribution to both the doll and animation industries.
Transcripts
in 2010 Hasbro would launch the fourth
generation of the popular toy franchise
My Little Pony subtitled friendship is
Magic and the rest is history but today
I want to focus specifically on the
Equestria Girls spin-off a fashion doll
line and accompanying movie series that
focused on the main characters as human
teenage girls rather than you know
horses it's something I actually
remember following pretty closely back
when it was first being released so I
thought it would be fun to look back to
go over its Inception the movies and
just the general background of
everything I have
absolutely no idea how long this is
going to be but we're already here in
this chair
talking
so let's do it the history of My Little
Pony G4 and its rise to fame is a pretty
well documented thing so we're not going
to be spending a lot of time on that all
that's really important to know is that
My Little Pony not only successfully
cornered the market of young girls that
they were originally aiming for but an
extremely significant audience of adults
as well this would result in an entire
subculture being born the ever
ubiquitous Bronies which again are very
well documented so although they're
important here I won't be rehashing like
their entire history so we're gonna fast
forward to 2013. Friendship is Magic has
finished its third season to pretty
immense success it's one of the largest
most lucrative franchises in the world a
fourth season hadn't been officially
announced yet but it kind of went
without saying that it would be
happening in the meantime Hasbro was
free to do to honestly whatever they
wanted the only place to go was up so
perhaps it was time to bring My Little
Pony to new lengths to venture into
Uncharted territories and conveniently
as all this was going on there was
another toy Market that was quietly
exploding into popularity with both
children and adults nay they weren't
just interested in little plastic horses
but little plastic women as well thanks
to the introduction of Monster High by
Mattel also in 2010 the fashion doll
Market was seeing a huge surge in
popularity and more importantly money by
2013 Monster High was worth an estimated
1 billion doll hairs with a B and thanks
to them Mattel was seeing their profits
practically quadruple I imagine that
it's a Hasbro their next move was pretty
obvious so while My Little Pony's
dedicated audience was eagerly awaiting
the fourth season Hasbro would give them
something new this is spin-off franchise
was pretty lightly teased all throughout
early 2013.
looking at the news fan site Equestria
Daily it seems that all fans knew for
the longest time was the trademark
itself Equestria girls that it was
rumored to be a fashion doll line and
that it would be primarily focusing on
the teen girl demographic and although
the first movie wouldn't be officially
announced until late spring it would be
around March that we got our first look
at the character designs
to a fairly mixed reaction I actually
remember when these were first announced
I wasn't really in the My Little Pony
fandom I was way more so in the Monster
High crowd and as you can imagine we
were all pretty interested in these two
however after seeing the initial images
I think public interest on both sides
The Faded considerably hopes for
Equestria Girls as a franchise were not
extremely high going in the general
consensus was that this was a soulless
cash grab on Hasbro's part with no
thought or effort put into it just
another toy to put on the shelves and
keep in mind at this point we hadn't
even seen the Dolls yet Equestria Girls
unfortunately just had a lot working
against it My Little Pony had a huge fan
base of adult men and although it wasn't
uncommon for them to buy the toys or the
merchandise they were like a paradox
toxically averse to it being a fashion
doll brand and felt alienated by the
fact that it seemed to be aimed more at
young girls than adult men which
obviously I have nothing against adults
who buy and collect toys but with
Bronies specifically
usually adult collectors have a kind of
self-awareness that we're not the target
audience but Bronies tended to have the
attitude that they should be the target
audience and anytime Hasbro made toys
that were overtly girly it did not go
over well and people on the fashion doll
side were already pretty Discerning into
what makes a good fashion doll so they
weren't really interested in what
appeared to just be a cash grab the
general public too was pretty averse to
these at first there's an article
written by Amanda Marcotte for slate
where she criticizes Hasbro for giving
into the demands of Bronies and turning
the ponies into quote imitation sexy
anime characters which
yeah sexy yeah okay Amanda do you have
something you'd like to share with the
class I wonder and to be honest I wasn't
too interested in Equestria Girls either
after seeing these designs for the first
time and I do think it's important to
talk about the initial designs and why
they're
they're not horrible they're really not
all that bad but they could have been a
lot better I think Hasbro was
approaching these from the standpoint of
it being a movie first and a doll line
Second which is always kind of been
Hasbro's philosophy as far as toys go
and I guess it worked pretty well for
them up to this point so they gave the
characters pretty simplistic designs
that were easy to animate and recreate
for promotional materials
so they all have almost identical
outfits and Silhouettes which for a
fashion doll lineup is really just not
that interesting another thing is the
fact that they have skin tones which are
the same but just slightly lighter than
the color of their horse selves which I
have gotten used to over time but I just
remember seeing these for the first time
and thinking it was kind of strange and
off-putting the artworks and the dolls
which are upcoming usually did have them
depicted as anthropomorphic with the
horse ears and all but in the movies
they are fully human for the most part
and even referred to as such and I think
there's two big reasons for this one is
obvious it's very derivative of Monster
High and they're unnatural skin tones
another reason was that bronies were
kind of racist at this point it was
pretty common to see fan art of the main
characters in My Little Pony reimagined
as humans which Hasbro actually cited as
a partial inspiration for Equestria
Girls it was also common for anyone who
drew the characters visibly as women of
color to be harassed and insulted for it
this was a pretty significant pretty
constant discourse that followed the
fandom basically anywhere it went so
that was a problem for Hasbro right I
mean it shouldn't have been but it was
they couldn't make the main characters
all white because that would be a
terrible lack of diversity but they
couldn't make any of the characters not
white because that would anger their
precious adult man fan base character
designer Cora kosika did share what she
mentioned to be the very first piece of
Equestria Girls concept art which does
depict Twilight Sparkle with a dark skin
tone but the decision to have the
characters all have fantasy skin tones
appears to have been made pretty early
on if not immediately after this I think
safe is the operative word here Hasbro
was playing it very very safe which is
just not the best move if you want to go
up against Monster High who was
successful due to being pretty
controversial and risky compared to
everything else in the Toy Market at the
time nonetheless the first movie would
Premiere in June of 2013 to a pretty big
Fanfare the plot involves Twilight
Sparkle from Friendship is Magic
pursuing a new villain Sunset Shimmer
after she steals her crown and escapes
to an alternate Dimension with no magic
where everyone is human Twilight learns
to act as a teenage girl and befriends
the human counterparts of the other main
characters introducing magic to the
human world and saving the day in the
process now just like its first reveal I
do think the first Equestria Girls movie
is a kind of a rough introduction to the
franchise again there was just a lot of
weird decisions being made made some
good decisions too like carrying over
the main Show's writing staff and Voice
team story editor Megan McCarthy would
be brought in as the lead writer and all
primary characters would retain their
voice actors they also brought in the
show's primary songwriter Daniel Ingram
so if nothing else it could be
reasonably assumed that the movie would
carry roughly the same quality as the
show this was rooted in Hasbro's desire
to maintain continuity with the primary
franchise
not a bad thing but I do think they took
it a little too far rather than treating
Equestria girls like a spin-off
franchise they instead chose to treat it
more like an extension the Twilight
Sparkle we see is the main character in
Equestria Girls is actually the same
Twilight Sparkle from Friendship is
Magic the premise involves her traveling
to another dimension where everyone is
human and so she just takes human form
this in my opinion just a massively over
complicates thing there really wasn't
any reason to tie Equestria Girls Into
The Story of Friendship is Magic
and they do find some clever ways to
play around with it later on in the
franchise but just speaking to this
first movie is just something that was
kind of difficult to get around and you
can tell they kind of struggled with
incorporating the logistics of
everything into just one film the movie
itself well it was fine I despite my
complaints up to this point I don't
think it's a bad movie I'm not gonna
give like a detailed plot summary
because well if I do that for all of
them then we'll be here literally all
day it's a pretty standard High School
drama fair that takes itself a bit too
seriously you know the villain is the
typical stock mean girl character
everything hinges on a school dance
twilight gets a boring jockey High
School love interest which is I another
thing the ages of the Pony characters
and friendship is Magic we're always
kind of ambiguous but it was somewhat
understood that they were adults I mean
they had jobs and mortgages and
everything so horse Twilight is an adult
but human Twilight is a high school
student Who develops feelings for
you know let's not get too deep into
that anyways
all that said the big appeal of
friendship is Magic is the main cast and
their personalities and Dynamics and all
of that is on display pretty wonderfully
in this movie too maybe Equestria Girls
wasn't attracting a large amount of new
fans but it was definitely something
that established fans could find
something to enjoy the music was great
it had a really interesting finale
sequence all together not bad at all it
was around the time of the first movies
Premiere that we would finally get a
good look at the Equestria Girls dolls
and they were
and not great the style of the animation
just really did not translate well or
maybe vice versa so the dolls were
pretty uncanny the clothing was very
cheaply made and the designs were
honestly pretty lazy too there also just
wasn't any kind of effort to have a
continuity between the doll designs and
the movie designs which is a trend that
will continue mostly throughout all of
Equestria Girls live and something I
think was pretty common with friendship
is Magic too actually but the good news
is the movie and the dolls were
successful enough to Warrant continuing
the franchise from what I understand
Hasbro never really intended for there
to be more than one movie Megan McCarthy
actually confirmed that she wrote the
first one with zero idea of a sequel in
mind I think they just wanted this first
movie to promote and I guess explain the
existence of the Equestria Girls
characters and then turn their focus
solely to the dolls but his fate would
have it we demanded more horse girls in
late 2013 Equestria Girls would release
their second batch of Mainline dolls
titled Rainbow Rocks these were music
themed and I did not make any
significant improvements on the first
line though they did expand the roster a
little bit releasing dolls of fan
favorite minor characters from
Friendship is Magic like Octavia and DJ
Pawn 3 also Amethyst Star whoever that
is they would also start releasing dolls
with articulation making them slightly
more competitive with Monster High
criticisms were pretty consistent with
all the dolls the fabric quality was
papery and pretty bad the designs were
either uninspired or completely
nonsensical that hair quality was
atrocious and difficult to manage but
the dolls were also relatively
inexpensive easy to collect and were
backed by what was already a huge media
franchise so although they would never
quite reach Monster High's level they
would find a pretty dedicated audience
according to mlpmerch.com Rainbow Rocks
is the largest collection with around 50
or so dolls I say 50 and not 52 like it
says on the website because they do also
count the pets that some of them came
with as individual dolls the Rainbow
Rocks line would continue into 2014
where we would also see one of my
personal favorite lines it's called The
Rock and hairstyle lion and although
they still have a lot of the same
problems as the previous dolls
I don't know something about them the
designs just have a lot more personality
and fun compared to everything else in
the Rainbow Rocks era they're honestly
pretty cool they would also release a
Comic-Con exclusive doll in 2014 of
maniac Mayhem which a presence at
Comic-Con shows that Hasbro did care at
least a little bit about attracting the
attention of adult doll collectors in
February of 2014 it was officially
announced that a Rainbow Rocks movie was
in the works then from March to June of
2014 Hasbro would upload a series of
animated shorts to promote it officially
they serve as sort of a prequel to the
movie itself but I think they just
figured out they were missing out on the
engagement that Monster High had been
getting with its webisodes the movie
itself would officially release in
September of 2014 and I'm pretty
comfortable saying that it's the best
one which is not at all an unpopular
opinion Megan McCarthy would be brought
back as the lead writer and Daniel
Ingram of course for music which rainbow
rocks being a music themed collection it
followed suit that the movie would not
just contain musical numbers but be a
musical with 11 songs featured in the
full movie and let me tell you the music
is great like it's incredibly good I
still revisit this soundtrack to This
movie specifically to this day the plot
of this one revolves around the
introduction of a new villainous Trio
the sirens who use their songs to
manipulate everyone into fighting so
they can feed on the negative energy
Twilight returns and the group must
learn how to harness the magic they
gained in the last movie to defeat the
sirens before they get too powerful
through song of course I think with this
movie they managed a kind of level off
the weirdness from the first movie and
focus more on crafting an original plot
and it really works you can tell they
had a lot more fun with this one and it
is also the only movie that is in my
opinion not overtly formulaic almost
every Equestria Girls plot follows the
exact structure of the first movie a
character finds a magical object becomes
corrupted in some way by its influence
becomes evil but is saved and Redeemed
by the power of friendship it's very by
the numbers
Rainbow Rocks however has the benefit of
having some of the most iconic villains
in the entire franchise and that's
including friendship is Magic too the
sirens Adagio Sonata and Arya are just
some incredible standouts they're also
not redeemed or really sympathized with
in any way in this movie they're just
evil girls who are causing problems on
purpose and we'd love to see it the
movie also had some really good
character moments with Sunset Shimmer
the antagonist from the first movie
she's on a big Redemption Arc in this
film but it's one of the few times that
it's done really well we actually see
her struggle with the consequences of
her actions from the first movie and
deal with the problems she caused so
even though the dolls weren't the most
exciting things on the market it could
be said that it is really at this point
that Equestria Girls is really finding
its footing as its own independent thing
even the initial negativity it faced
from Bronies when it was first in
unveiled had pretty much disappeared if
I recall friendship Is Magic's fourth
season left a lot of the fandom pretty
disappointed with the direction of the
franchise but there was still a fair
amount of hype and excitement revolving
around Equestria Girls I also think that
with this one the movies developed a
sort of self-awareness they knew that
they were kind of weird and that the
premise made zero sense but almost
completely to their benefit because had
they tried to take themselves as
seriously as the first movie did I think
the quality would have dropped massively
but no they let themselves have more fun
with what was inherently a pretty
strange concept and I appreciate that
the Rainbow Rocks movie actually ended
with a post-credit sequence that
featured the human Twilight Sparkle as
in the Twilight Sparkle that was born in
the human world not the transformed Pony
Twilight see it's unnecessarily
Complicated by the way I don't think
I've mentioned this yet but Sunset
Shimmer is originally from the Pony
world 2. she started Living in the human
world prior to the events of the first
movie
and it's never explained what happened
to the real human Sunset Shimmer I don't
think and it could have been as simple
as just saying she lives in another city
but they do not address it so we're just
left to draw our own conclusions the
simplest being that Sunset Shimmer must
have killed and replaced her but that
would bring us to the next era of
Equestria Girls 2015 Friendship Games
the Friendship Games doll collection is
considerably smaller than Rainbow Rocks
clocking in at 34 according to
mlpmerch.com and I'm just gonna level
with you guys the Friendship Games dolls
are
a kind of awful visually they're an
absolute mess and I see what they were
going for but it did not work obviously
this is a sports theme collection so
there was a bigger emphasis on the more
articulated bodies which is nice
but man these designs they're something
hi editing me here oh hold on a moment
okay that's better anyways while editing
I noticed how mean I am to these dolls
and I stand by everything I said but I
also want to say that my issues with
these dolls really do not extend to the
designers who worked on them I should
have made it clear that almost all of it
is aimed at Hasbro themselves I don't
think I'm allowed to share all of it but
there's prototypes and concept art out
there that shows the Equestria Girls
team working on the dolls had a lot of
really cool ideas but Hasbro wasn't
really on their side and there just
wasn't the means to implement these cool
ideas so we ended up with what we have
and that just adds to my disappointment
with the doll line overall
okay back to the video but hey
Twilight's love interest got a doll in
this run and he looks oh okay let's move
on uh basically every previous issue
with the dolls persists in this
collection too The Collection does
introduce a lot of new characters
however in addition to the main six
which includes Sunset Shimmer instead of
Twilight on the Wonder Cults team
there's a rival team from another school
called The Shadow bolts which includes
human Twilight you know the one from the
credits not the pony one you get it by
now so basically characters who are
being set up to be Rivals to the main
characters always the fun concept and a
good lead into the upcoming movie and
thankfully these new characters are not
nearly as but ugly as their dolls or box
art would have you believe the
Friendship Games movie would Premiere in
September of 2015. it revolves around
human Twilight this time Pony Twilight
only making a small appearance at the
very end and Sunset Shimmer now fully
stepping into a leadership role it also
introduces us to the aforementioned
Shadow bolts who the movie immediately
sets up to be foils to each of the main
characters the opening credits even puts
them all side by side so you can see
specifically who parallels who
I remember being so incredibly excited
for those concept but
unfortunately it was incredibly
underutilized or more accurately not
really utilized at all the shadow bolts
are all relatively minor characters the
main antagonist is actually their
headmistress who is an okay villain in a
Disney kind of way she even gets a
pretty solid villain song but it just
feels like wasted potential watching it
back to see all these cool characters
just not be used in the way they should
have been you do get little bits and
pieces of it you see that sugar coat is
a foil for Applejack's honesty in the
way she's blunt without care for other
people's feelings hi sugar coat that was
a really bad speech you should consider
not speaking in public she's my personal
favorite by the way is sour sweet sort
of parallels Fluttershy sweetness but in
a toxic over-the-top kind of way Indigo
zap is hyper competitive like Rainbow
Dash the other two I mean I can guess
how they foil Pinkie Pie and rare 30 but
I'm really not sure because they're just
really not in the movie and the group as
a whole just really aren't that plot
important I think they just really
misunderstood the entire appeal of a
character focused fashion doll line
because who's going to want to buy dolls
of these characters if they hardly
appear in the movie and don't even look
anything like they do in the movie you
know Friendship Games is also the first
movie not to be written by Meghan
McCarthy who is working on the My Little
Pony movie at the time instead it was
taken over by Josh Haber who was a
regular writer on friendship is Magic
and responsible for some pretty good
episodes at least by the standard of the
later Seasons the movie doesn't really
properly utilize its plot setup or its
new characters but I can at least say
it's not boring I think it could have
been improved in a lot of ways but it
just focuses a lot more on the action
set pieces and the tension building up
to the big finale which I think is
altogether not a bad move considering
this is a movie focused on a competition
after all so all that said I still don't
think it's a bad movie I think Rainbow
Rocks just set a very high bar and while
Friendship Games didn't quite get up
there it's still pretty fun there's some
solid action sequences the finale and
human Twilight's character development
and short stint as an antagonist is
pretty good and Sunset Shimmer really
grew into an awesome core character here
too and although the shadow bolts didn't
live up to their potential their
introduction did at least open the door
for some pretty cool fan content which I
think the general consensus was that
although Friendship Games wasn't quite
as good as Rainbow Rocks we were still
pretty excited for what was coming in
the future movie-wise at least I had
almost entirely stopped paying attention
to the dolls at this point which is
saying something considering I went into
this franchise primarily as a doll
collector but the same was true for a
lot lot of people too and I think Hasbro
was kind of taking notice of that 2016's
collection Legend of everfree would be
the smallest of all four core
collections with only 16 dolls and
primarily focusing on unarticulated
budget releases
I don't think these were very widely
distributed either because although I do
remember finding plenty of Friendship
Games dolls when I went out shopping I
don't actually recall seeing these in
stores at all they're also like a
weirdly expensive on eBay which does
lead me to believe they were produced in
smaller numbers I think it goes without
saying that the dolls weren't really
pulling the numbers they needed to so
Hasbro would actually supplement the
Equestria Girls product line with
something else Equestria Girls minis
would be released in I think late 2015
going into 2016. these were figures that
were four and a half inches tall and
fully plastic though some would have
rubbery clothing pieces that could be
removed and swapped out they were also
articulated and somewhat posable and
dare I say pretty superior to the actual
fashion dolls in every way in addition
to the figures a lot also came with
incredibly cool playsets they're just
really cute and really well designed
adapting sets from both past movies and
some original Concepts too as well as
some of the minor characters as you can
tell I loved these a lot there were
quite a lot released but they didn't
actually last very long only until the
end of 2016. but we must go back to
Legends of everfree the movie would
premiere on Netflix in October of 2016
to suspiciously little promotion on the
part of Hasbro it may have been because
I was just paying a little less
attention to the franchise at this point
but I do remember the premieres of the
past three movies being such huge events
with tons of build up but this one I
forgot it even aired until like two
weeks after the fact Megan McCarthy did
return to the staff of this one but
rather as a co-executive producer the
writers would be Christine Sanko and
Joanna Lewis it is also the first movie
not to feature Jason Thiessen on the
staff who served as director of the
first two films and Consulting director
of Friendship Games the director of this
one would be ishi Riddell the group goes
on a field trip to Camp everfree which
they discover to be the center of
bizarre and dangerous magical happenings
Twilight worries that her magic is
infecting everyone but in the end must
Embrace that side of her in order to
protect everyone I think it shows that
the staff of this movie approached it
like an episode of the series rather
than a movie the girls which now include
human Twilight they go to Camp they get
super powers for some reason a character
gets corrupted by Magic becomes evil but
is saved and Redeemed by a nuclear blast
of scalding hot friendship
it kind of sounds like a glossing over
the plot and I know I haven't really
given detailed plot summaries or
anything up to this point but honestly I
re-watched these movies in preparation
for this video and I'm
struggling to remember anything
incredibly significant about it and I
remember that from watching it for the
very first time too just feeling very
let down because Friendship Games may
not have been as structurally sound as
Rainbow Rocks but it was at least
exciting to watch it's also even more
derivative of the past movies than
Friendship Games was it literally
repeats Rarity subplot from rainbow
rocks and almost everything with human
Twilight regretting her actions from the
previous movie are lifted directly from
Sunset Shimmer's previous character Arc
they also do give human Twilight her own
love interest so we can stop questioning
whatever was going on with that last one
the whole movie just feels very low
stakes and almost out of place compared
to the previous three they even go the
extra mile of giving the girls
individualized powers and like full
magical girl Transformations that none
of it really goes anywhere I do want to
say though I really love their like
magical girl forms in this movie they're
so gorgeous and so well designed and
that's true for a lot of the outfits in
these later movies there's some really
incredible designs but they're just very
clearly designed for the movies and not
for the dolls because there's no way
Hasbro had any chance of physically
executing these looks I think the
Wikipedia page puts it best quote the
movie received mixed reviews from
critics who praised the animation voice
acting and music but criticized its
script plot and excessive use of too
many plot lines all at once this is
unfortunately definitely the weakest of
the movies and it's also the last movie
thus ends phase one of Equestria Girls
My Little Pony itself is already broken
into separate generations so I don't
think Equestria Girls can also have
separate generations and they're not
really Generations anyways but they are
separate from one another so I will call
them phases because that's just the
first thing I thought of phase two
starts in 2017 rather than movies Hasbro
would instead start to release a steady
stream of short webisodes and longer
animated specials the actual
organization of these is weirdly
confusing but to break it down one
collection is referred to as Canterlot
shorts these aired from July 2017 to the
end of August alongside them was also a
series of music videos which are grouped
with the Canterlot shorts and referred
to officially as Summertime shorts I
guess just because they aired during the
summer the Equestria Girls web series
which is officially referred to as
Better Together is also a collection of
short webisodes but it started airing
later in the year and ran until 2020.
all of these would continue to be under
the direction of ishi Riddell with both
better together and the Canterlot shorts
primarily written by Jillian M Barrow
they're in continuity with the movies
but as you can imagine with them being
short webisodes around two minutes in
length they're not quite as heavy on
plot as the movies were but there's
still a decently entertaining sometimes
it's fun to just watch the silly horse
girls be silly horse girls in June of
2017 they would also air the first of
three long-form specials each running
about 22 minutes or the length of a
standard My Little Pony episode they're
each their own independent story but
just is slightly connected enough that
when strung together they sort of make
their own full-length movie the first
was titled dance magic and included the
return of the Shadow bolts not Indigo
zap though because she was the worst
this one is about a music video
competition and is by far the most
mundane of any of the Equestria Girls
long form content but it does provide a
nice conclusion to the whole school
rivalry plotline following dance magic
is movie Magic after winning the
competition from the previous special
the girls are invited to the shooting of
a Daring Do movie but find that the
production is being intentionally
sabotaged the culprit turns out to be
none other than June upper Montage the
director's niece who wanted a starring
role in the movie this one actually
remembers that the girls are her
basically superheroes in this case it
even majorly references the power ponies
episode from Friendship is Magic but not
in the sense that it gives them anything
incredibly exciting to do still it's
pretty fun the third and final one in
this set is mirror magic which sees
Juniper become corrupted by a magic
mirror turns evil but is redeemed once
more through the power of friendship
this one includes an appearance from
Starlight glimmer a former major
antagonist turned recurring character in
friendship Is Magic's later Seasons her
and sunset have a very similar character
art so her inclusion was actually pretty
smart and kept the plot from becoming
once again too formulaic Juniper montage
and starlight glimmer appeared too late
to get proper Equestria Girls dolls but
they did both receive Equestria Girls
Minifigures Juniper in a movie theater
playset and starlight in a multi-pack
that also included Daring Do and DJ Pawn
3. later that year in September of 2017
at hazcon Hasbro announced the official
Return of the Equestria Girls Doll Line
This Time updated with a new aesthetic
new designs and completely different
bodies and facial sculpts they would
later be officially released in December
the new dolls were obviously completely
different they were more expressive and
individualized in the past dolls but
this came at the cost of looking
absolutely nothing like the animation
models I do think these are actually
pretty cute and I like the updated
outfits but they just don't look like
the characters which again just really
misses the Mark if you're opting for a
character based fashion doll I looked at
the Equestria Daily News Post for these
two because I was curious what the
initial reactions were and almost
unanimously the consensus was that the
packaging design was leagues better than
the actual dolls the first assortment
was partially articulated having joints
at the elbows but later assortments
would go back to having no extra
articulation these just really did not
perform well only having the basic line
a line called friendship power which is
supposed to be like their superhero
transformation forms so many styles
which had extra outfit pieces this big
multi-pack and then aligned with
Twilight and Pinky that came with Pony
figures MLP merch lists a music festival
line 2 which seems like it would have
included everyone but there's only
images for Pinky Rainbow Dash Sunset and
Twilight I don't think this line was
ever actually released regardless it
doesn't appear that the Equestria Girls
fashion doll line would continue at all
past 2018
I assume these probably sold even worse
than the first phase I do think these
were in Earnest attempt to be more
competitive in the doll market and I
don't even think their failure was
entirely their fault I do think they
were a little too different from the
first phase for their own good and kind
of a alienated the audience they already
had but fashion doll sales were also
just suffering all across the board at
this time Monster High wasn't even
really around anymore by this point and
even Barbie was struggling immensely so
honestly I wonder if these ever even
really had a chance February of 2018
would bring the next Equestria Girls
television special forgotten friendship
this one an hour long directed by ishi
Riddell and Katrina Hadley and written
by Nick confelloni I do hope I'm
pronouncing all these names correctly
also from this point on the main
characters would have updated character
models to reflect the designs of the
rebooted fashion doll line this one
revolves around Sunset realizing that
all her friends had forgotten her
character development over the past few
movies and only remember her as the
bully from the first movie with human
Twilight hardly remembering her at all
this turns out to be the work of another
character Wallflower blush who became
corrupted by a magical item turned evil
but was saved and redeemed In The End by
the power of friendship next to Rainbow
Rocks I do think this is one of the
stronger long form specials and I'm not
actually sure if that's a popular
opinion or not yeah it's it's a little
formulaic but I think the shorter run
time helped tighten the plot a lot it
featured Trixie in a prominent role who
had been a pretty minor character up to
this point and even had a really well
written conclusion to sunsets Loose Ends
back in the Pony world so yeah the dolls
were definitely suffering but the
animated side of Equestria Girls was
actually picking itself up pretty well
speaking of dolls also in 2018 Hasbro
would actually bring back the Equestria
Girls minis albeit in a considerably
worse substantially inferior form it was
a new product line called Equestria
Girls fashion Squad these were
reminiscent of the Polly Pocket fashion
poly dolls you know plastic mini dolls
with rubbery clothes they're cute I'll
give them that they're cute but I just
think the minis were so much more unique
and better designed too what's
interesting about these though is that
they ran until 2020 when friendship is
Magic had its own soft reboot generation
4.5 conversely these would change their
packaging and Concepts to match with the
current state even releasing a few sets
that came with Pony figures in the
generation 4.5 style they also released
a fashion doll Squad of the character
minty in a set with Pinkie Pie which if
you don't know minty was a major
character and big fan favorite in
generation three she did get a few
Generation 4 toys but it's just cool to
see her here too the next television
special also aired in the same year in
July of 2018 roller coaster of
friendship like the last one this one
was directed by The Duo of ishi Riddell
and Katrina Hadley and written by Nick
confelloni when both Rarity and
Applejack apply for jobs at a new theme
park only Rarity gets selected and is
hired as the Park's costume designer
putting a strain on her relationship
with Applejack this is further
Complicated by the Park's PR
representative the social media
influencer vignette Valencia who say it
with me now gets corrupted by Magic
turns evil but is defeated and redeemed
with the power of friendship this one is
very
fine it's okay the theme park makes for
a fun location change but overall I just
don't think it's extremely memorable it
did have a lot of good character moments
though I think that's a consistent
strength with the Equestria Girls media
is that even though every movie has a
primary character focus in this case
Rarity and Applejack they do make sure
to give all the main characters a good
amount of screen time it does probably
have the most humorously anti-climactic
finale though all the girls get together
and have their big magical girl
Transformations like they're gearing up
for this huge fight but a rarity just
knocks vignette's phone out of her hand
and it's over a fun fact about this
specific movie though is that Katrina
Hadley said on Twitter that the conflict
between Applejack and Rarity was
intentionally framed as a lover's
quarrel and watching it back yeah I
definitely sensed it the next television
special was spring breakdown premiering
in March of 2019. and I think this
really marks the beginning of the end of
Equestria Girls friendship Is Magic's
ninth and final season would start to
air right after this movie putting the
entire Equestria Girls franchise in a
sort of limbo State I already mentioned
that the fashion Squad dolls would carry
over into generation 4.5 but it didn't
really make sense for the Equestria
Girls movies to do the same anyways this
movie has the same directing and writer
setup is the last few movies but I do
wonder if at this point there's just
like a complete lack of oversight from
Hasbro or something because this movie
is kind of insane for one there's a bit
where Rarity starts crushing on a male
character that is just a blatant gender
swap of Applejack and the movie even
goes as far as to acknowledge this fact
a good portion of the movie is spent on
this really boring main plot where
Rainbow Dash is just aboard because
they're on a cruise ship and there's no
villains to fight or redeem with the
power of friendship so she just spends
the first 20 minutes causing problems
and making everyone's lives difficult
then the last half is spent with human
Twilight human Rainbow Dash and Sunset
traveling to the Pony world and just
enjoying themselves as ponies while the
rest of the characters literally fight
for their lives on a sinking ship and
the movie ends with every single human
character traveling to the Pony world
like it just ends on this shot of them
all as ponies definitely one of the
stranger entries the next special would
Premiere actually very shortly after
this one in July of 2019 sunsets
backstage pass this one would retain the
same directing Duo but is written This
Time by Brittany Rawls this one involves
Sunset and the Gang attending a music
festival with Sunset and Pinky
particularly excited for the reunion
performance of the pop Duo post crash
however Sunset finds her herself trapped
in a Time Loop and is forced to repeat
the day over and over eventually she
discovers that the ones behind the Loop
are post-crush themselves who stumbled
upon a magic Relic and used it to redo
the day over and over in order to
perfect their performance they don't
really become demons or extremely evil
or anything but are defeated and
redeemed with the power of friendship
nonetheless this movie also marks the
reappearance of the Sirens of rainbow
Rocks Fame whose Sunset initially
accuses of being behind the time Loop
they're definitely not Redeemed by any
measure like the other villains but do
at least seem to be doing pretty well
for themselves now Sonata is wearing
this outfit that would have been so cute
if not for the fact it has actual
literal Tacos on it because she had a
line in Rainbow Rocks about it being
Taco Tuesday in the cafeteria and the
fandom just collectively decided that
would be her single most defining
character trait it Taco Tuesday just
follow my lead this is technically the
last full length Equestria Girls special
we would get and it's not a bad movie
but it's hardly a satisfying ending to
the franchise they're riding on the wall
of generation 4 coming to a close had
been pretty clear for a while now so I
do think it would have been a lot more
beneficial to attempt to create an
actual conclusion for the series I did
say it was the last full length special
however not the last one entirely the
special titled holidays unwrapped would
air in November of 2019 directed Again
by ishi Riddell and Katrina Hadley
written by Anna Christopher rather than
a full special this one was instead a
collection of independent shorts six of
them running about seven minutes each
all themed around winter the holidays
they're exactly what you would expect
they're fine but as you can imagine this
hardly makes for the most exciting
format and definitely not good closure
for the franchise either f after this
special the studio that had been
animating almost all of the Equestria
Girls media dhx media later known as
wild brain left the production this
would of course mean the end of all
Equestria Girls media the Equestria
Girls fashion Squad dolls like I said
would continue to be released into 2020
until the transition into generation 5
of My Little Pony The Better Together
animated shorts that were already
produced would also continue to err on a
regular basis until 2020 as well it's
difficult to tell because the channel is
constantly re-uploading episodes and
putting them into random compilations
but it appears that the very last
official Equestria Girls media to be
released was a music video starring Pony
Twilight's human love interest singing
about supporting the Equestria Girls
uploaded in honor of international
women's day
so there's that for the grand finale of
the Equestria Girls franchise in 2019
the Japanese Manufacturing Company
kotobukiya would start releasing a line
of anime style be Shoujo figures of the
Equestria Girls characters based on
illustrations by shunya yamashida these
aren't actually marketed as Equestria
Girls products but they use the
character designs and included Sunset
Shimmer in the lineup Celestia and Luna
too they were initially released with
human skin tones but limited edition
versions would have the fantasy skin
tones oh and there was a Hatsune Miku My
Little Pony figure included too and thus
ends Equestria Girls and here we are 10
years after it first debuted and it was
really interesting to look back actually
because as a doll line no I don't think
Equestria Girls really accomplished what
it originally set out to do despite
achieving a very significant fan base
and being able to set itself apart from
its parent franchise in some pretty cool
ways the actual merchandise the core
component of its entire exception was a
pretty bad and not counting the minis
though those were delightful and I still
love them a lot but despite that I still
have really fond memories of Equestria
Girls I still think it was altogether a
really fun and unique franchise I think
some very talented people the designers
artists writers they were handed
something very difficult they were given
something that was never really meant to
have a lot of effort put into it but
they still worked hard on it and made
something really notable in the end I
don't think anything like Equestria
Girls can really exist again not in the
same way I just don't see the same
concept working at all with generation 5
of My Little Pony and the world is also
just a completely different place than
it was 10 years ago Equestria Girls is
definitely a product of its time and it
shows in some bad ways but but also in a
lot of good ways too I hope you enjoyed
this little stroll through history with
me I've obviously talked quite a bit and
if you were able to sit through it all I
genuinely really appreciate it I'd like
to make more content like this in the
future you know full retrospectives and
histories of specific franchises but
they are very time consuming in any case
just be sure to let me know all your
thoughts down below what you thought of
Equestria Girls did you like the movies
did you like the dolls were you there
when it was ongoing watching the movies
as they premiered or did you discover it
a little later be sure to tell me all
about it and when you're done with that
just be sure to like And subscribe for
any future fashion doll content thank
you
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)
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