#I believe it's mentioned in the sentry lore??

[ultrakill-confessions]

re gabriel's wing feathers: i might be misremembering/mistaking something i read in a fic with canon, but i remember something about the low poly-ness of everything being due to v1's camera resolution not being very high, and it can't make out finer details as a result. so, it may well be that gabriel has wing feathers, but v1 can't see them because its camera resolution is too low.

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[chaosintheavenue]

Misc for the oc you don’t get to talk about as often!

First of all, I am sorry for how long it took me to get around to this (the ask meme was posted on the 6th- if this even is from the meme I think it is!). Tumblr thought it appropriate to not give me any sort of notification for this ask, and I just so happened to open my inbox and discover it sitting here.

But anyhow, I'm going to talk about Violet. I barely mention her on here, but in fact she has some of the most detailed lore of all of my OCs!

This will most likely get long, so I'll throw in a cut here. Also, I won't be including any questions where the answer is just plain 'no' or 'I'm not sure', because that's not exactly thrilling stuff to read lol.

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45. Do they have any specific hobbies or talents?

She has a pretty good singing voice and tends to sing to herself a lot, but her real passions are reading, writing and daydreaming. Plenty of the latter.

Also, if you consider marksmanship a talent, she's a damn good shot.

46. Do they play any sports? How about board games or card games?

Nope, they're not particularly her thing. She knows how to play Caravan and a few similar games common amongst travelling parties, but doesn't find them very engaging herself.

47. Do they enjoy reading?

Yes. There's not much that she enjoys more!

50. Do they travel by foot or by other means?

She's perfectly happy to travel long distances by foot and has done so in the past, but in the 'present day' of her storyline (which is up to 2287-ish) she primarily travels by car as a passenger.

52. Can they swim?

She can swim pretty well as a means of getting around, but wouldn't choose to swim recreationally.

53. What do they think of the ocean?

Her first encounter with the ocean was in Adytum when she was in her early twenties *cough* after she ran away from home *cough*. She thinks it's relaxing to look at, but hard work to swim in compared to the Great Salt Lake (where she learned to swim). She is also very much the type of person to be morbidly fascinated by deep sea environments and life forms.

55. Are they past, present, or future oriented?

This is a bit of a tricky one for Violet. She believes that there are a lot of lessons in her past that should be remembered, but no longer dwells on the past and tries to keep her immediate focus on the present or near future. Long-distance future planning attempts usually just send her straight to daydream land.

56. How do they feel about robots? (Eyebots, Mister Handys, Sentry Bots, etc.)

She doesn't actively dislike them, but is definitely wary of them until they prove themselves friendly. Wasn't exposed to much of that sort of tech growing up, and as an adult most of her robot encounters have involved glitched hostile robots. Spending time in Big MT gave her new levels of both positive (her Sink buddies) and negative (roboscorpions and trauma harnesses) automative experiences, so overall her views on robots remained pretty much balanced.

60. Are they religious? Spiritual?

Depends who she's around when you ask her...

61. What are their thoughts on chems and alcohol?

Very strongly dislikes anything related to alcohol and will remove herself from any situation where it is involved. She doesn't partake in chems recreationally, but isn't fussed in the slightest if others do in her vicinity as long as the effects don't mirror those of alcohol.

62. Do they have any weaknesses or struggle with any vices?

Escapism to the point of letting any and all problems sit until they fester. As she gets older and gains more responsibilities she does get somewhat better at time management, but can slip right back into old habits if under duress.

63.Do they need / wear glasses?

She was lucky enough to inherit my eye problems :D. She's extremely long-sighted and can barely see a thing without her thick glasses, and so wears them constantly out of necessity. There was a period in her teens where she had access to a supply of contact lenses suitable for her eyes and used them instead, but other than that, it's glasses every day for her.

66. Describe their eyes.

Her eyes are light grey and relatively small. She specifically dislikes people pointing out that they're actually a very pale shade of blue.

[nightfurylover31]

When I found out Yusaku and Dumon/Durbe were voiced by Jake Paque, and Ai and Mach were voiced by Micheal Liscio in the dub, I excited to see voice actors being partners in that sense. But after looking deeper into VRAINS and Zexal lore, I realized just how perfect that was! 

Note: I will be using Durbe’s dub name, Dumon, because I’m more used to that. 

I’ll start with these two. Both Yusaku and Dumon have two “forms,” other than their human identities. Yusaku has his Playmaker avatar in LINK VRAINS, and Dumon is a Barian. They also have a deep sense of loyalty, and are great unofficial leaders. Not to mention Dumon wearing his scarf kind of like Yusaku’s tie. 

I also think there is a slight similarity with their hair. Both have large strands that hang over at least the left side of their face, and they both have two bits that point up on the sides. The first part is more noticeable from their side profiles. 

Then there’s Ai and Mach. 

Both of them originally had different forms as well. Ai was a small, humanoid A.I., while Mach used to be a pegasus. They later gained human appearances. Ai using an android, and Mach was transformed into a guardian. 

Now here’s what really got my attention. I was rewatching Yuma’s duel against Mach, and I picked up some key similarities in the legend of the ruins and the VRAINS story line. 

The legend was about a hero whose fellow knights overthrew their king. The hero tried to reason with them, but they instead attacked him. The hero could not bring himself to fight his former friends, so he was badly wounded. However, the hero’s pegasus defended his master. When the steed lay dying, the hero did not abandon him. He stayed by his friend’s side until they both passed away. 

Sound familiar? In a way, it reflects the final season of VRAINS as well. When it appeared Ai had turned on humans, Yusaku did not turn his back on him. He still believed in Ai, and wanted to save him. And it turns out Ai’s real plan was to end his own life before it could lead to Yusaku’s death by protecting the Ignis. The two started out distance, but by the end, they would risk their lives to protect each other. Just as Mach did to protect Dumon in the past. The legend about protecting one’s friends and the growth in Yusaku and Ai’s relationship fit perfectly. 

That’s not all. There’s even some resemblances in a couple cards they use. 

Dumon’s ace is Star Seraph Sentry. It’s design and artwork look a lot like Shootingcode Talker, one of Yusaku’s cards. Both of them are winged archers. Even their armor looks somewhat similar. 

Mach’s ace is Sky Pegasus, and one of Ai’s cards is Wind Pegasus. Not only are they both based on the same creature, but they also have similar names. 

With all this, it really feels like the dub planned all this, even though Paque and Liscio were casted before the second season of VRAINS started in Japan. I really enjoyed looking to this. 

[dungeonecologist]

WILD ARMS 2 - Telepath Tower

This is a really neat set piece.  It’s basically just a radio tower, but we’re told that it functions on a mineral called Empathite, which transmits thoughts and feelings via vibrations that resonate via the crystal.  The terrorist group we’ll spend all of disc 1 fighting hijacks this tower in order to transmit a declaration of war to the entire planet.  In the ensuing cinematic we even get to see glimpses of all the towns we haven’t been to yet as the message is projected onto every reflective surface within range: crystals, mirrors, windows, and even water.  It’s just a really cool fantasy magitek kind of detail, as well as a really potent means of making such a dramatic statement when the intended audience can’t turn their receiver off or tune out.  It’s not strictly speaking the first time we’ve seen some of these villains as they’ve been looming in the background of a few other missions so far, but as a formal introduction it just leaves a really solid “first” impression.

Anyhow, in the dungeon we run into another set of 3 new monsters: The Critter, the Dakleit, and the RatMonkey.

Critters are mischievous looking little metal balls on metal ribbon springs, evoking a kind of clockwork vibe.  The term is derived from Creature, which in an archaic biblical minded sense referred to animals as created by god, but now refers generally to animals.  But in the original terminology it described a thing created, which sans the creation of life implies something inanimate.  Here they fit quite nicely with the inner workings of the intricate tower mechanism.

The Dakleit is a very awkward romanization of (da-ku-ra-i-to) which I assume was meant to read as either DarkLight, or possibly as Darklyte, as a portmanteau of Dark and Acolyte.  I suggest the term acolyte because the Dakleit’s cast a number of different spells, as well as a few that elude to the secondary level of spells that get unlocked much later.  Curiously when we do get around to unlocking to those secondary spells, they are supposedly a new invention of a reclusive sorcerer, so how they came into the repertoire of the enemies here is a mystery.

Visually they appear vaguely inspired by the Cenobites of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, (although oddly the Cenobites that most closely resemble it (Bound) are from movies that came out after Wild Arms 2) with the long black leather frock and bald head.  It’s not been apparent just yet, but the Wild Arms 2 monster line up does take frequent inspiration from the western horror film scene.

Speaking of which, we also have the Ratmonkey!  Taken from the Sumatran Rat-monkeys in Peter Jackson’s 1992 cult classic horror film, BrainDead/Dead Alive, which carried the film’s central Rage Plague into England.  The Rat-monkey is native to Skull Island, referencing the origin of King Kong; it is also a reference to the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, in which a “Giant rat of Sumatra” is mentioned but not elaborated upon.  Amusingly when Jackson later got the chance to direct the 2005 remake of King Kong, he included a reference to the Rat-monkey, tying his older film officially into the broader continuity of King Kong.

I have no idea what the Ratmonkeys are doing in this magic radio tower though...

and finally we have Vagesta, written ヴァジェスタ(va-je-su-ta) which would actually indicate that it’s supposed to be Vajesta, or possibly Vajester.  It doesn’t appear to be a direct reference to anything name-wise, but there are some suggestions to be taken from its general appearance.  The rainbow orbs are likely just attempts to create some impression of refracted light, referencing its relation to the Empathite crystal central to this dungeon.  But the tentacle head and humanoid body are reminiscent of Nyarlathotep, of Lovecraftian lore.

Nyarlathotep is described by Lovecraft himself as being a tall and thin man, but still in distinctly human guise.  His other forms are alluded to as madness inducing, but not seen in Lovecraft’s own original work.  In general lore Nyarlathotep functions uniquely among old gods as he is waking, present, and very much active on Earth.  He functions as a messenger of the gods, not dissimilar to Mercury/Hermes in Greco-Roman mythos, which might be the relation here with the Telepath Tower as a communication device. 

But with all these European horror film references in this dungeon, I also can’t help but think of the monster in the 1981 French-German horror film, Posession.

So we’re back at a dungeon where I can theorize a little on some of these creative choices and their relation to the dungeon as a whole.  I like to think that the Critters are actually just byproducts of the tower’s mechanism, working parts brought to life by the resonant energy of the crystals at work; thoughts, feelings and raw life energy from countless communications seeped into the machinery itself.

If we read the Dakleit as Cenobite inspired, it places them as beings driven by feeling and inflicting pain, which aligns neatly with the theme of empathy present in the dungeon’s core conceit.  The Cenobites are also summon via a kind of mechanism, most iconic among them, the Lament Configuration, which very likely served as a basis for the Millennium Puzzle aesthetic.

Similarly Nyarlathotep is among Lovecraftian gods one less preoccupied with death than with madness, preferring inflicting feelings and experiences over ending lives.  Move over, Lovecraft also describes,

Nyarlathotep was a kind of itinerant showman or lecturer who held forth in public halls and aroused widespread fear and discussion with his exhibitions. These exhibitions consisted of two parts—first, a horrible—possibly prophetic—cinema reel; and later some extraordinary experiments with scientific and electrical apparatus.

A characterization that has lead many to believe the character was in some way based on the scientific exhibitions of Lovecraft’s contemporary, Nikola Tesla.  But this affinity for mysterious or wondrous devices appropriately ties to the Telepath Tower, of which Vagesta is the apparent sentry of.  It makes for a fairly cohesive theme of machinery and feeling.

If I had to really go out on a limb to hazard a guess, there is the short story The Rats in the Walls, in which the narrator describes the familiar maddening sound of rats leading him down to secret catacombs of his ancient family home thus,

It was the eldritch scurrying of those fiend-born rats, always questing for new horrors, and determined to lead me on even unto those grinning caverns of earth’s centre where Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly to the piping of two amorphous idiot flute-players. 

So, in some elaborate game of association the Ratmonkeys might be argued in the tower as an allusion to Vagesta’s Lovecraftian inspirations, but given that Vagesta isn’t even named such that Lovecraft can be directly referenced (only inferred from the visual elements) I find that a hell of a stretch.

Speaking of madness, I've gotten way further down the rabbit hole with this theory than I bargained for. In general this game is actually proving way meatier than I was expecting. I'd say I'll try to keep these a little briefer and more readable moving forward... but I totally won't...

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

SHADOW PLAY & GENERAL SEASON 7 THOUGHTS

At last we've reached the end of Season 7. And quite an interesting ending to the season if I must say so myself. One things for sure between this finale and the movie (Which has already been confirmed to have some degree of impact on Season 8) there will be plenty of opportunity in Season 8 to build upon.

Before talking about the episode though I have to admit I thought most of the legends or rather what they are called in this episode the pillars of Equestria weren't going to amount to much. I thought they were going to be just one-off stories told in 3 episodes. 3 of them in that one campfire episode, and 2 with their own episodes that tell their stories. I was not expecting them to be important enough to not just get a finale with them but given how it ends it seems we might be seeing them more often next season. Could be interesting in many ways though, not just for them interacting with the Mane 6 and/or Starlight, but also if they'll share more things about the past. It might make it more likely we hear about Celestia and Luna's past if we get an episode of Star Swirl explaining more things from the past. Celesta did mention Star Swirl mentored them after all. It'd certainly be welcomed.

Though one thing that certainly needs to be mentioned that bringing back the pillars also bringing back the Pony of Shadows is a thing that most of us probably saw coming and why Twilight's plan seems rather dumb. Twilight's just lucky the Pony of Shadows is actually just a corrupted, misunderstood pony betrayed by the pillars and not a being of pure evil where sealing in limbo was literally the only option. Though even though this did turn out alright in the end, it doesn't help that between this finale and a certain decision she makes in the movie (More on that later). Twilight has unfortunately been on the low on good plans as of late. Hope she gets a little better at that.

But it's interesting on itself to have Starswirl here. He's been a big part of the show's lore even though until now we only heard his name (Well we did see him in the EQG2 Flashback story but that's it). So it's a pretty big deal that it seems he'll be here to stay.

This is a small note and something you might miss easily. But Spike hands Twilight a book called Seapony Etiquette. Possibly a somewhat connection to of course the movie and/or Season 8. I got to say once again that I'm happy there is canon seaponies one way or another since mermaids are one of my favorite fantasy creatures (2nd to of course, Genies)

Oh yeah and we get perhaps our actual very first "Hey, Equestria Girls happened!" moment in the show. The only thing previous being the Flash Sentry cameos which hardly counts since he barely does anything and Twilight doesn't acknowledge him. But we certainly see the Sirens get banished. Whether this means we get more EQG references in the future is up to debate. I'm sure many in the fanbase would love to see Sunset appear in the show.

When the day is saved we must remember something that Magical Mystery Cure told us about Star Swirl in that he didn't completely get friendship. And the way he treated Stygian is one big example. In that way, Twilight has surpassed Star Swirl.

In many ways this is an interesting and pretty solid finale. Probably the best two-parter since Season 4. Though that's not the only thing that's been the best in a while.

Because I fully believe that Season 7 was a very pleasant surprise. I might even say it's the best season since Season 4. I still love Season 4 too much for 7 to match it. But I'm glad Season 7 went the way it did because it showed to me much of Season 6 may have been a fluke. No season is truly perfect, there's probably a few points in this season I could consider lacking. But I think  can definitely rank 7 in the upper half of my personal ranking of the seasons. I need more time to truly decide where I think it stands but as of now it's either 2nd only to Season 4 or just behind Season 2. And that's not a bad place to be at all. I am very much looking forward to what the next season might bring.

I should probably also give my current thoughts on Starlight. I think I've gotten to the point where I'm getting used to her at last though again I still can't say I look forward to seeing her as I do the main cast yet. I do want to know what exactly they're planning for her since aside from maybe Spike she's the only recurring character that has some kind of goal to reach. I'd still like a little more details of her past though. I think it's vital we know a little more of her history from after Star Burst left and before she took over that village. I'm not going to pretend that I like Starlight enough still, but I must address that the hate for her might be a little extreme at times. I actually feel Season 7 gave the right amount of screen time for her. Back in Season 6 she seemed to only appear when she was important to the plot of the episode. In this season however Starlight actually felt like a natural character, appearing in more episodes even if she wasn't the focus. She appeared in a total of 11-12 episodes this time around. Nearly half the season. I may be far from the biggest Starlight fan in the world but I don't have too many problems with this since a big problem with last season was just about the polar opposite for Starlight's appearances. They seemed to push her aside for most of the season and even when she did appear it was often not as satisfactory to either her fans or the skeptics giving her a chance. I don't think she's entirely stole the show's spotlight but I understand that again very early on it looked like Season 7 was making the show "The Starlight Glimmer Show" due to her frequent early appearances that got compounded by the fact she even got a special episode involving her with Equestria Girls. It slowed down from there though and most of the Mane 6 got good episodes to themselves this season.

I'd say the highlights of this season were Celestial Advice (Finally getting a good glimpse to Celestia), Parental Glidance (RD's parents are fun), Royal Problem (Long-awaited and fun Alicorn Sisters episode), Perfect Pear (Hardly needs to be explained, probably still the shining crown of this season), Fame and Misfortune (Very fun meta episode), Once Upon A Zeppelin (Twi's parents are awesome!), and the very finale I talked about in this thoughts. Might be others I'm missing but regardless it's been a good season. And I eagerly wait to see what's coming, next I still have to get my thoughts out on the movie. But after that the hiatus will be truly on. Though I'm aware that we're getting weekly shorts Equestria Girls wise, though I feel those won't be long enough to really warrant thoughts about.

Aside from MLP in general though Christmas is coming soon and I'll probably be receiving a Switch then. I'm looking forward to Mario Odyssey, Sonic Forces, and many other games that I'll be capable of taking on the go as well as on the big screen. And of course putting many others who have a Switch on the friend list and such. ^^

Until I get my thoughts on the movie out there and/or Season 8. I'll see you guys then. Bye!

[ramblesandmumblesofanerd]

Rambling Review: EQG - Rainbow Rocks

When we last discussed Equestria Girls, I came to the conclusion that, in spite of the numerous moments of sheer blandness and ridiculousness, the film itself was essentially harmless. The “villain”, if you could even call her that, did not impress me, the plot was uninspired in spite of the addition of MLP elements, and the structure was a complete mess from my personal perspective. So, imagine my surprise when a sequel was announced in 2014.  And by surprise, I mean revived agitation. Don’t get me wrong, while I now see that a sequel was inevitable, I was less open minded to the concept at the time. But, casual fans and critics alike all say that Rainbow Rocks is a vast improvement over it’s predecessor to this day. Are these claims true, or is the sequel just as nonsensical as the original film? Well, let’s jump through the mirror again and take a look.

We begin in the human world this time, as we see three obviously evil magical girls are feeding off a green fog surrounding a bunch of arguing teenagers. They talk about how the “food” has been quite insubstantial in recent years until the climax from the last movie explodes in the distance. The leader with a hairstyle fluffier than the fluffiest of unicorn plushies marvels at the light-show, and tells her sisters that their time has come. Equestrian magic has appeared in the human world, and they shall us it to make it’s denizens adore them. Cut to about maybe a month or so after the Fall Formal, where everyone is giving Sunset Shimmer the stink-eye after what she did. This is actually important for two reasons:

1. Consequences. I commented in the last film that leaving Sunset in the human world rather than have Princess Celestia punish her was not the right thing to do because it gave Sunset a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card. In this film, that point is rendered moot because nobody trusts Sunset, not believing for a moment that her days as a tyrant are over. And why should they? They were all used and abused by Sunset in various ways prior to the end of Equestria Girls, indirectly or otherwise. Which gives way to…

2. Regret. Sunset actually feels bad for what she did, and this time it feels more believable. There’s nothing like an entire school turned against you to make you feel cast out. Every time the subject of the Fall Formal and Sunset’s transformation is brought up, she becomes depressed or agitated about it. She wants to put the incident behind her and prove that she is better.

Which is why she has agreed to show some new transfer students around the school before someone tells them about her past. But, surprise, surprise, the transfer students are three familiar girls in tacky clothing. Sunny shows them around and mentions a school-wide musical fundraiser, which certainly gets the attention of the girls who start to act noticeably weird when Sunset asks about their matching necklaces.

Huh, obvious baddies who don’t want people to touch their bling. Are we sure Evil Sunset didn’t somehow multiply?

In all seriousness, the Dazzlings are a breath of fresh air to me, as they actually are given a little bit of character in comparison to Sunset’s one note “gimmie the crown” shtick. I especially love the Megatron/Starscream-esque relationship from Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze with a little bit of Sonata Dusk making memes in the background. And then things get even better after they sing their first song, “Battle of the Bands”. The three sisters saunter into the cafeteria and pretty much undo what Twilight did in the previous film and begin to divide the students. The Dazzlings manipulate everyone but Sunset and the HuMain 5 into fighting one another and turning the musical fundraiser into...well, a Battle of the Bands. And as the students argue, the girls feed off that familiar green fog again as our heroines watch in confusion.

Sunset, showing some more brains than in the previous film, comes to the immediate conclusion that the three girls obviously have dark magic on their side, and the gang goes to tell Principal Celestia in order to kick them out. But, unfortunately, Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna are weaker than their Alicorn alternatives, and are already under the thrall of the Dazzlings, leaving the girls at a lost until Sunset remembers about a journal she had brought from Equestria years ago. The journal apparently acts as a primitive form of text messaging, allowing Sunset to send a message across the dimensions by writing a message in her book which will appear in another back in Equestria. By sheer luck, Twilight is already in possession of the magical, glowing, vibrating second journal which receives Sunset’s message, and she not only determines that the Dazzlings are Sirens banished from Equestria by the Dumbledore/Gandalf/Merlin of Pony Lore, Starswirl the Bearded, but she also Macgyvers a way to open the portal between the two worlds early using the journal’s magic.

So, Twilight and Spike return to the human world, leaving the others behind to avoid the confusion that would come from having two of everyone running around. Everyone back in the human world is excited to see Twilight come back, even Sunset, who offers to help Twilight up after a rocky entry. This brief moment is important. The way Twilight initially hesitates shows that even she rightfully doesn’t trust Sunset yet. It, again, shows that all is not forgiven like we thought back in the previous film’s finale.

So, by now you're probably asking “why is Twilight even here?”. Well, since Principal Celestia is basically a puppet, the HuMain 5 believe the only way to deal with the Dazzlings now is to blast them back to the stone age with the same Deus Ex Machina attack from the Fall Formal. But, since this film isn’t supposed to be thirty minutes long, this plan backfires, not only making Twilight and the HuMain 5 look like fools, but also expose their resistance to the Dazzlings’ mind-control. While Adagio theorizes that these girls could be the source of the Equestrian magic she had witnessed long ago, the girls retreat to make a new plan at Pinkie’s house during a slumber party.

So Plan C goes something like this: have Twilight write a “counter-spell song”, play it during the Battle of the Bands and defeat the Dazzlings. Why would this work? Well, because the HuMain 5’s magical powers seem to pop up whenever they play their instruments for a band Rainbow Dash and her friends started for the fundraiser. What a coincidence. Actually, while we’re here, can we discuss how the human version of Rainbow Dash acts throughout this film? While the pony version has been known to be quite egotistical and self-absorbed at times, this version multiplies these attributes to the point of being abrasive. Constantly calling the band “hers”, cheating at video games, not wanting to back down as lead vocalist when the others volunteer Twilight in order to pull off the counter-spell, even ignoring Fluttershy when she wants the band to try playing a song she wrote herself. I know technically the human one is not the same character as the pony one, but Rainbow Dash is just so unlikable in this film.

After a brief moment to both address how Sunset and Twilight are not so different after all and to have a shout-out to all the Maud Pie fans, the gang return to the Battle of the Bands after a less than successful rehearsal which mostly consisted of bickering more than music. The Rainbooms flub their first outing through the obvious sabotage from Snips and Snails, but they somehow get to move along with the other competitors who won Round One. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy about the competition however, as even Flash Sentry starts spewing insults at the girl he once crushed on thanks to the Dazzling’s magic. Speaking of, Sunset tries to talk her Equestrian foes down, but the Sirens know of her past endeavors and turn the tables before they take the stage.

After another great, if not more blunt song, called Under Our Spell, we see that the Rainbooms are actually making progress in spite of the constant internal drama and the sabotage from their premiere. More on that in a bit, as another great song pops up...only to end right away. This song sung by Trixie, Tricks Up My Sleeve, is actually quite a good song, and I wish we could have heard the whole thing in the film if only just for one lyric. So, just for you guys, allow me to play this one lyric. LadyTenkage, this one’s for you~

And this is what happens when online friends subscribe to me on YouTube: inside jokes with a dash of schadenfreude. Oh...I’m so gonna get murdered for that when we next meet face to face.

Anyways, after more of Rainbow Dash feeding her ego by singing a song about how awesome she is (which I cannot stand), the girls start to show their pony powers, but Sunset intervenes before the Dazzling can feed off them. She and the Rainbooms are booed for this, but the Dazzlings use their ever-growing power to manipulate Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna into allowing the girls to advance to the final round, much to Trixie’s rage. But, again, the Dazzlings stroke Trixie’s ego and plant the idea to trap the Rainbooms as an act of revenge, which she does. This prompts the HuMain 5 to, once again, bicker and unintentionally feed the Dazzlings their magic as the Sirens perform on stage above them.

This is where Sunset finally shows some backbone and tells her new friends to stop arguing and instead focus on actually solving what is causing the conflicts, otherwise the counter-spell Twilight has been trying to make this whole time will never work and the Dazzlings will win. So, of course the Rainbooms reconcile, of course Spike rescues them with the one background character who isn’t under the Dazzlings’ control, and of course they go to face their enemies in eye-gouging-ly colorful outfits.

And now, for the best climax in Equestria Girls history...until the next one.

Okay, first the Dazzlings go through their own pony transformation complete with ears, fin-wings red eyes, and astral-projections of themselves in their pure Equestrian forms. Then, the Rainbooms show up with Vinyl Scratch who somehow owns a transforming car.

Transformers! Hasbro doesn’t care.

Next comes an all out rock battle, with guitars blaring, vocalists giving it their all, Sirens screaming red versions of Danny Phantom’s ghostly wail, and the Rainbooms needing Sunset to help win the fight. And, with a toss of her jacket, she does. She starts to sing alongside the people who have stood alongside her through thick and thin throughout this movie, and she goes under the standard pony-fication, leading up to the most awesome thing I have seen in all of Equestria Girls. Period.

Through the power of friendship and music, the Rainbooms summon a giant, rainbow maned alicorn who blasts the Dazzlings and shatters their gems, which reduces them to being ordinary humans, all while epic music plays in the background.

Where was this in movie one!? This epic finale which shows how much power these characters have when they actually have a sense of unity is so much better than “lol, you can’t hurt us because friendship”. And the fact that it took the help of Sunset to summon what I shall now call the Alicorn God of Rock not only shows how much power these girls truly have, but it also begins a new chapter for Sunset’s redemption. Moments like this actually grab my attention, more so than the obligatory easter eggs and using even more stale high school movie plots.

Back to the film, the Dazzlings run off the presumably starve in an alley while the Rainbooms send Twilight on her way home. Twilight makes an obligatory speech about how this is “goodbye ‘til next time”, but a little cliffhanger begs to differ, as we’re finally shown that Twilight and Spike indeed have counterparts in the human world, and the human Twilight has set her eyes on Canterlot High’s magical mischief.

And with that, Rainbow Rocks ends with a nice credits montage of Canterlot High’s students starting to truly accept Sunset Shimmer as one of them. So, what did I think of Rainbow Rocks in comparison to it’s predecessor? Well, on the whole, I have to say that Rainbow Rocks obviously excels where Equestria Girls fails. It actually dedicates time to establishing characters and their traits rather than copy and paste typical high school stereotypes for the sake of filling in the blanks. For example, Sunset Shimmer, a character I despised for being a bland villain, actually makes an attempt to be a better person in spite of the insurmountable odds placed against her. And good Lord, the Sirens! Compared to Sunset Shimmer, these ladies were fantastic villains. Unlike the she-demon, they actually had presence and were a constant threat both on and off screen, making it feel like there was more at stake than just popularity. And the music! Unlike most of the songs from the original film, Rainbow Rocks succeeded in...well, rocking! The Dazzling’s songs, Tricks Up My Sleeves, even The Rainbooms’ songs (so long as we ignore the ego-stroking “Awesome As I Want To Be”) were all incredible, and I would listen to them all again if given the chance.

However, like the original film, there are also some notable faults in Rainbow Rocks. The HuMain 5 were easily the weakest part of the film, their constant arguing became a tad grating in spite of it’s necessity to the plot. Which reminds me, the award for most annoying character of this film goes to Rainbow Dash, whose entire routine in this film consists of her stroking her ego to the point of climaxing. While I’m not expecting her to be as restrained as her pony counterpart, I expect at least some form of control from her even if she is a teenager.  Also, some of the plot elements, such as how the magic that has suddenly appeared in the human world works, is not explained as much as an intellectual audience would like.

“Who cares” RD? Well, I care. The audience cares. Everyone cares! Which is why one of the shorts made before the next film focuses on Sunset actually trying to explain the magic in a logical, scientific way...with less than satisfying results.

And, yes, much like I stated in in previous review, this film uses more high school movie tropes: The Battle of the Bands. But, unlike Equestria Girls, there’s something that actually allows the film to stand on it’s own. Maybe it’s the Dazzlings manipulating the students and staff like puppets, maybe it’s the Equestrian magic, maybe because it was an actual Battle of the Bands, or maybe it was that incredible ending that I love so much. All in all, Rainbow Rocks was actually fun to watch in comparison to Equestria Girls. I’m glad I watched it, and I think I would actually watch it again should the urge take me over. Is it perfect? No. But I can forgive Rainbow Rocks for it’s flaws because I feel like it actually made an effort to have a higher quality than Equestria Girls. It actually feels like a competent story that I can enjoy over and over again. 

All I can really say is Rainbow Rocks rocks.

In the meantime, never stop rambling. TM