A Deep Dive Into Equestria Girls 

I might be the only one, but I’m actually glad the ponies didn’t get realistic skin tones when they were redesigned for equestria girls. I feel like the team would’ve had a hard time tackling diversity and caused some controversy no matter what skin colors they chose to give the girls, after all we saw what happened with the little mermaid

Equestria Girls was such a fun franchise and truly a product of its time. Rainbow Rocks is my favorite movie, next to the first. It also has a BOMB soundtrack!

honestly the music in equestria girls is still iconic, and the fact that they managed to tie in the equestria girls storylines with the friendship is magic series is pretty impressive

I loved these movies. I'm kinda sad Sunset didn't get her backstory movie that they planned instead of the christmas special. The animators and story writers wanted to make Sunsets backstory movie. How she was in the pony world, how she was with Celestia, how she faired first in the human world and about her human counter-part. But no. The higher ups wanted a christmas special🙄

One benefit I give the first EQG movie is that it fallows the tropes if the typical teenage school drama movie , popularized by "Mean Girls" in the 2000's and gave a lot of those tropes new logical reason & weight. -Twilight isn't just an awkward new girl to be quirky, but because she's in a completely new world and body. -Twilight doesn't just want to beat Sunset for the crown as revenge against a bully, but because it is to dangerous in the wrong hands. -And she is able to rallys a support group of friends from different cliques, despite having nothing in common, because she has seen first hand that they can be best friends like they are in her world.

The one thing that sucks about Equestria Girls is that we didn't get more of it. There were so many more stories that could have been told!

Its always a good day when strawberry sprite uploads, she's like a childhood historian

30:28 Fun Fact: Twilight's I want song “What more is out there”, was supposed to be a duet with Sunset Shimmer, since Friendship Game's original plot also included Sunset struggling to decide if she wants to return to equestrian or not.

I was a HUGE The Dazzlings fan as a kiddo. I memorised all her songs in several languages due to my curiousity and interest in music. Aria was my fav and she is my favourite character in the MLP universe. This brought back memories :,)

I was absolutely obsessed with that mobile game when I was younger. I remember learning about the dolls with those "special necklaces" that you had to scan and being so desperate to unlock them in the game that I'd look up images of the dolls online then use my iPad to scan the image or go to shops and take pictures of the necklaces to scan rather than purchasing it, ah the lengths kids go to get random in game items.

you’ve brought back memories of my sunset and twilight double pack- i was always so confused that sunset’s doll had this weird peach skin tone?? another example of eqg being too scared to either use the characters’ full fantasy colours or pick a human skin tone for them, giving us a weird middle ground 😭

Oh my gosh, I remember this franchise! I remember absolutely loving Sunset Shimmer’s character development in Equestria Girls ❤❤ This is such a great video! 🥺💓

I think they made the right call with the rainbow skin colors. If they were normal skin colors they would have been ordinary dolls. Ponies don't come in all those colors and nobody complains. Also, it helps you tell who you are looking at right away.

Equestria girls was such a mess but it’ll always have a special place in my heart

Your channel is like a love letter to the early 2000s/2010s, and I love it! Your commentary is very entertaining, your videos are perfect to listen to while drawing lol. I just realized while watching this that Flash had so much kenergy in the Equestria Girls franchise

A bit disappointed you didn't mention the script for the Finale they intended for EQG. They were going to introduce the native human version of Sunset Shimmer, and the plot was going to revolve on the universe potentially collapsing if she doesn't return to Equestria, IIRC. The script writer mentioned it on twitter.

I literally adore your videos, ever since your video about Tinker Bell I genuinely thought you had like 100k at least?? The editing and everything is better than most other channels similar to yours, which is really a breath of fresh air. Take care and keep doing what you love xx

That cafeteria song was and still is a bop, like it’s still in my playlist to this day😂😂

i remember when the first movie came out i was so fucking hype. my sister got two dolls for her birthday and i was so jealous 😭😭i replayed the theme song over and over

22:20 trixie _first_ appears early on in mlpfim but shes a reocurring character! especially later on when she befriends starlight glimmer :]

i love how her camera has a slight blur it really makes it feel more dream like and fits with the aesthetic of her room and the nostalgia theme her channel has

I remember being obsessed with equestria girls as a kid. I really thought that it was true representation of American (I assume) high school 💀

Aside from any aesthetic considerations (which I don't have a problem with, for the record), I like EG because it has a consistent and interesting theme. All stories involve characters who have objects imbued with Equestrian magic, that give them powers matching their personalities and desires, and we explore how these characters use these powers and what it leads to. It shows how power corrupts and what makes someone more or less corruptible. The solution always ends up being human connection and community (i.e., Friendship) as a way to rein in one's dark thoughts. I like to say it's all variations on the Ring of Gyges from Plato's Republic, but with a happy ending.

ok I missed the mlp train but speaking as a doll collector, how did they drop the ball so many times?? like the ball has fully rolled away at this point

I think yeah their designs are simple and repetitive, but that’s what made so many kids able to easily draw their own characters in the original animation. A lot of people forget that it’s made for kids and maybe not that deep Your vid is so great! You addressed so many questions I asked when I rewatched this recently

season 2 actually was supposed to have a finale where we’d get introduced to human sunset, but hasbro scrapped it and we got the christmas specials instead :/

When I was a kid I fell in love with it and I loved their designs. I never had a problem with anything or questioned anything. I thought people loved it as much as I did 😰

the waste of potential for sunset shimmer backstory and adaptation time to this world and making them adults with jobs it would’ve been everything. But these movies are my childhood/tween days they’re still kind of dear to me~

EQ music pops off so hard for no reason. Like all 4 movies have such good soundtracks and it kinda pisses me off that it’s so good 💀

Bro, These movies changed my brain chemistry. ESPECIALLY Rainbow Rocks, the Dazzlings songs go so hard. I also remember having most of the EG Mini’s!

girl I cannot physically portray how thankful I am that you brought up my past is not today. sunset has always been my FAVORITE, and I uhh...might've sang it for a talent show in 5th grade. I nearly CRY everytime I hear it. GREAT VIDEO OVERALL ANYWAY I FUCKIN LOVED IT

DUDE WHEN U SHOWED THE RAINBOW ROCKS FLASH GAMES IT UNLOCKED A SLEW OF CHILDHOOD MEMORIES I REMEMBER PLAYING THE TWILIFGT PLATFORMER(?) TYPE GAME AND I COULD NEVER GET ALL THE PONY HEADBANDS+TAILS TO ALL THE GROUPS I WAS SUPPOSED TO BEFORE THE TIME LIMIT WAS MAXED OUT I NEVER GOT PAST THAT PART

i love that sunset shimmer gets a homoerotic rivalry with two versions of the same person truly a bi icon of her time

The hype I had as an 11 year old for the first movie was unmatched, one of the most exciting times in my life at that point

The EQG films and series proved they can do things on their own without relying so much on MLP. I enjoy both equally.

I fell in love with MLP: Equestria Girls just very recently and I'm 18 years old I couldn't find a way to watch it when I was younger so when I started watching it a few days ago I immediately fell in love, I loved the music and soundtracks and I love the friend dynamic as well. I love how the girls are so relatable and I saw a lot of me inside of them although I'm a male but I could relate so much to these Equestria Girls for some reason, I'll always love the films and it really shows the true raw meaning of friendship. I love how the Girls "Pony Up" when they come together and express their true selves and sing together.During the end of each show I literally almost ball into tears, I loved it although there were some inconsistencies and some unanswered questions but it was very lovable and I think it was amazing and I loved the character designs and the voice actors/actresses they can sing phenomenally. All in all, I love Equestria Girls, kinda makes me wish I grew up with a girls friend group because I feel I could learn a lot of them, but anyways I loved the films and I wish they continued on this because I feel it has potential that was my opinion, I would like to hear what others think about my opinions

I was deep in the fandom when the first Equestria Girls movie dropped, and have such vivid memories of the ~discourse~ around it being "just made to sell stuff to little girls." As a teenage girl who'd grown up with MLP and the Gen 1-3 cartoons, I always found this criticism a little weird considering that that's what the franchise has always been. These movies will always hold a special place in my heart for how fun and goofy they are, and I still sometimes binge them if I'm sick and stuck in bed 🥰

also* the pony tails and ears in the cafeteria scene is because the school mascot is the wondercolts! they’re horses, that’s why they have a horse outside their school (3rd comment on this video but whatever i have a lot to say MLP is my favorite franchise in the world ever) edit: sci-twi most likely goes to crystal prep because it’s the more prestigious school. canterlot high is probably the school that the mane 6 attend because on the map of equestria, ponyville and canterlot are very close to eachother. i’d assume that in the human world it’s like a “same county different towns” thing. so canterlot high may be the only highschool that students from ponyville can go to? in the pony realm, it is a very small town with only 1 schoolhouse for fillies, 1 farm, 1 clothing store, etc. so it’s probably just very close to canterlot (which is a city? maybe???). and the mlp equestria girls app is my holy grail. edit 2: the rainbow rocks movie had a GORGEOUS line, rockin hairstyles, im not sure if you talked about it in the movies but they were NOT wacky and i love to put my little lesbians (80s pinkie and punk RD) together.

A couple of things I wanted to say, actually. Apologies for the length! I absolutely adore your videos, and it's so cool to see how quick you've grown. Congrats on 10k :> On a seperate note, the MLP Comics (which are a whole other world of beautiful chaos) provide more context to the portals and Sunset Shimmer's backstory. It also gives us more Starswirl the Bearded lore and all in all was one of my favorite 'ark' as a kid. I would always re-read #17-20 because I thought the story was so interesting, and the art was really beautiful. It really is a shame the comics aren't exactly canon, even if they're offical, because a lot of them have better storytelling than the real show. Oh, and they got pretty dark sometimes too? Like in this ark it ends with Celestia almost getting KILLED by Twilight Sparkle in a moment of self-sacrifice as the only way to defeat the alternate Celestia (I swear this makes more sense if you've read it I'm just really bad at explaining things). Basically, the portal were created by Starswirl and Celestia back before Luna was ever Nightmare Moon or anything else. He created multiple portals as a way of exploring other worlds and learning about magic from them, and the plot of those 4 comics focuses on a world where everything is the opposite of the world we know at the time. At the time that Starswirl and Celestia arrive, AU Celestia is following the Nightmare Moon path and is either on the moon/growing very distant, so Celestia never interacts with her alternate self. It is said that you shouldn't spend too long in the portals, go there too often, or make too close relationships with people on the other end (Especially not yourself) because it will create a paradox. Celestia ends up falling in love with AU King Sombra, but the two are forcibly seperated by Starswirl and the portal is destroyed. In the comics, they also explain the limit on the portals only opening at certain times as well, but I don't remember that as clearly. I believe Sunset Shimmer comes up in those 4 as well, or in a seperate set, where it shows Sunset as Celestia's student in a similar position as Twilight, when she finds the old scrolls made my Starswirl about the portals (specifically the one we see in Equestria Girls, which is also later shown to have been created by Starswirl solely to emprison the Sirens because of a rivalry they had?) and that's when she goes on her villain ark. I'm also 90% sure we get a couple of comics focused on Sunset Shimmer trying to adjust to being human, but I don't remember those as clearly. Anyway, this was very long and probably kinda confusing, so thanks for reading this far!

been absolutely loving all these mlp deep dives i've been seeing pop up recently on youtube. i was part of the mlp fandom since season 1 (i was literally like 11 so i was the target audience but i liked the fandom part of it LMAO) and it's so interesting to have seen the birth, the death, and the autopsy of this fandom. i haven't been seriously into mlp since maybe 8th grade though lol edit: eg came out in 2013????? i feel ancient omfg it still feels new to me

Here’s the thing: you have such a soft and beautiful voice and a gorgeous face that you could talk about literally anything for hours and I would still watch it (honest to God I would listen to you reading the dictionary). BUT YOU DONT JUST TALK ABOUT ANYTHING!!! You talk about stuff that you are very clearly passionate about and that shows through in your quality of video and script writing. So you’ve managed to combine your natural given qualities with your talents in video-making to create something amazing! You’re gonna go far! Keep up the lovely work!

I am actually proud that I have watch pretty much all the Equestria girls media.

I love the lps cat you're using. The little paw waving clip makes me laugh

Definitely felt like Equestria Girls should have been college students, that would have made way more sense than Highschool. Rarity owns like 3 boutiques for Celestia's sake 😂 None of them are under 18 by any stretch, it always makes me laugh. Rainbow Dash is literally in the military and Fluttershy runs her own entire animal reserve. But nah, they're totally highschool girls 🤣

god I was OBSESSED with this series when it came out. I had all the wave 1 dolls and still have my old Luna, the re-release Fluttershy with the movie-accurate clothing, Vinyl Scratch, and the mini Derpy and Vinyl figures! they're actually on my desk rn lmao

I love twilight's (both of them) fashion in these movies. Idk I just love the nerdy school girl aesthetic they have

I think some EQG director confirmed that applejack and rarity getting practically genderswap love interests was very intentional because they were hinting at canon rarijack 😭😭 that was the closest they could get which just cracks me up every time

I had that Twilight and Sunset Simmer set. I remember taking lots of photos of them on the garden with their pony counterparts. Great video!

I was sooooo obsessed with the mlp app as a child... wow I was never able to progress very far in the storyline, because i always needed a lot of in-game currency that i seemed constantly unable to aquire. So i spent my time playing the song minigames. I think i got pretty good at them too. Somewhere i still have a Twilight pony doll with the purple... crinkly? wings and the colored stripe down her legs. That thing was a topper on my birthday cake! I love that doll.

I have so many fond memories of MLP, I got super into it in middle school around when season 3 was airing. I would watch the show and movies, listen to the fan made music on RU-vid, and create my own OC ponies as well! I remember Equestrian Girls and Rainbow Rocks super well (I LOVE the RR soundtrack!!) and even dressed up as EG Rarity for Halloween one year with some friends I had a lot of the early EG and RR dolls, the blind bag ponies, and the brushable ponies like you had! This unlocked so many memories for me, thank you for making this video

The way my jaw DROPPED as soon as Ragamuffin spoke.

So many memories... I remember creating my alicorn oc, the daughter of princess Luna who was best friends with Twilight 😭😭😅 I used clay and made a custom pony and all

I always thought that Flash was way overhated, I did not care for him either, he was generic and cliche, but this was Hasbro cash grab, I dont know why people expected Arcane levels of character development, I mean, even the main girls were just stereotypes, just with more screentime.

10:4 DJ Pon-3's is my personal favourite, and also she is one of the few characters in the Equestria Girls series to have normal coloured skin like humans irl. She translated very well into a human, in my opinion. Just wished she got more attention as she was quite vital in Rainbow Rocks.

Rainbow Rocks music is still one of my obsesions to this day. When the battle of the bands video first came out I blasted that on repeat for DAYS, even recorded a cover on my DSi (well, I tried lol) I sadly wasn't part of the early fandom, I didn't really care for interacting with people online as a child. I left for a few years and came back after hearing the show had just ended. Now I'm catching on with making OCs, learning the fandom history, reading fanfic, all that stuff :)

How are we three videos and one month into your channel and you're putting out videos of this high a quality? Love your content and can't wait for your continued success

gosh i loved eqg even more than fim as a kid and i think it was entirely because sunset shimmer is so awesome. fantastic video!

Just woke up to this video being uploaded. Hella excited to watch it! I can never get enough of MLP content

16:28 too funny, my daughter now watches on this mv on the daily just as I did 🥹 Love this channel! Can’t wait to see all of the other nostalgic worlds you dive into! As a former doll collector 17:35 this was the only one I got because it was so ridiculous, they really did look like cats you’re right haha

Actually, we were supposed to find out what happened to Sunset Shimmer from the human world! The writer of the newer specials (Nick Confalone) revealed on Twitter that Equestria Girls was originally going to end with a special where Sunset Shimmer had to face her past and we would find out what happened to her human counterpart! Unfortunately, Hasbro saw no point in investing further in this spin-off, which resulted in ending the series with a strange holiday music video (if I am not mistaken). More about this can be found on the mlp forum!

Got into MLP as a senior in high school during the end of Season 4. Liked Equestria Girls a lot. Got hooked by the time Rainbow Rocks released. Watched as much Equestria Girls as I could after that.

Equestria girl the legend of everfree is my favourite movie of the equestria girls, I watched it so often as a kid and even now

It’s crazy how new this channel is, and how amazing these videos are already

I used to own this film, it was a boxed set and even saw it in the movie theatre when it first came out. And I had a few of the dolls. It’s such a nostalgic feeling to hear about this film again. Definitely a film of its time, but still super fun to look back on.

I remember this franchise with great fondness. My childhood friend and I would pull up the Rainbow Rocks songs on RU-vid to sing along and perform our own versions of the scene. But I also remember not being allowed to own any of the doll counterparts because according to my dad, "they dressed too skimpy" (This logic also applied too Monster High, Bratz, and Ever After High dolls.)

Honestly when the first movie of equestria girls was released I made the whole franchise my inner personality me and my best friend would sing "under our spell" and she even printed out the lyrics and gave me them in a my little pony portfolio, best years of my childhood!! Ps. Love your videos your such a breath of fresh air with your unique childhood content videos (makes me feel sooo nastalgic)

im glad they werent "diverse" them keeping their rainbow skin was the best option, also theyre bodies r perfect for a KIDS doll

I absolutely loved Equestria Girls! I mean it may not have been as popular or as good as MLP FIM, But the EQG franchise had it's own little unique charms to it! Like it certainly provided a good "what if" scenario in terms of the mlp multiverse because for a long time many people in the mlp fandom wondered what the Mane 6 would look like as humans. Lo and behold Hasbro decided to answer such a question with the first EQG movie.

Remembering when the first movie came out, I think a lot of the general complaint about the style was for the fact that it was shown theatrically, despite looking more basic than any of the other doll animations at the time. If it had been a direct to video/tv special, I think at least some of the criticisms would have lessened.

the awful colour pallets for the main 6 is the reason I had a DJ-pon3 doll lol

This show came out a few years after I was born. So I was the target demographic. Still into the show and I appreciate it so much more now that I’m older. EQG, for all people think of it, I still love it so much and it’s so special cuz I love the songs and I go back to it more than FiM nowadays. Mostly because I never could never watch the movies cuz my dad hated Demon Sunset 🥲. (I love reformed Sunset) So I never watched it as much as I’ve rewatched FiM.

As far as I was aware, Ponyville was in Canterlot, and still under the more direct rule of Celestia and Luna, unlike the Crystal Empire. I also think that Sci Twi goes to Crystal Prep because her brother married the Vice Principle.

This is the first video I see from your channel and I love this video! I love your video style and talking about my favorite franchise! I was absolutely obsessed with it as a 7 year old and i got into it again recently. Videos like this help me go back to childhood and make me enjoy my dolls again :) even if I’m older now

Ngl spring breakdown had the most perfect and funniest endings in the whole series💀🗣️

I remember when Equestria Girls was introduced its wild looking back on those memories 😭 The first movie was fine, Friendship Games was okay, I didn't like Legend of Everfree, but Rainbow Rocks truly was the peak of EQG. The chokehold the Dazzlings have on me to this day is actually unbelievable it's insane. I never got to have any of the dolls when I was younger I used to think they were pretty but looking back on them here especially as someone very into fashion uh, well... They tried. Sort of. Not very hard but they tried. 💀 I never looked into many of the shorts ever and the only ones I even remember watching were Dance Magic, Movie Magic and Sunsets Backstage Pass and the only reason I watched that one was because the Dazzlings were in it for five seconds... I also remember all the apps and everything, honestly, what I wouldn't give to go back and relive all this truly... I guess that sums up my experience with EQG, in general it was Fine as a series but the only outstanding thing it accomplished was Rainbow Rocks.

I was OBSESSED with equestria girls. I miss it so much

I remember having every one of these dolls and movies on dvd so nostalgic!!!

9 year old me was so in love with flash 😻😻

Caught Zelda’s Lullaby at 35:15! I always love your background music in these videos

aaaaa yes you are making videos about the right content that scratches my brain

The Equestria Girls should have been in a college setting 🤷‍♀️

off topic but im so in love with your editing style 😭 love the animal crossing music and sound effects and how you use the journal and printouts! it gives the vid a more mixed media and fun feeling. cant wait to see more of it in your other videos! 💗💝

Ok I got some content suggestions I’d love to hear your take on: Barbie movies, Bratz, Winx, My Little Pony, Ever After High, Strawberry Shortcake, and Littlest Pet Shop. 😅🎀⭐️✨🌸🌼🌻🪷🌷🌹❤️

Fluttershys crazy protective gear form the third movie is actually just interestingly drawn hockey goalie gear you can see she’s wearing skates but it’s hard to tell what it is if you’re not familiar with hockey

The only doll I had for equestria girls was the Trixie lulamoon doll. This was the time that I learned who Trixie was and that she actually had a last name. My mom got it for me thinking I'd like it and i was honestly grateful it wasn't any of the mane 6 lmao. She had a better model than the rest of the ones I've seen so far tbh. I only started to watch the full on show and equestria girls itself after I learned how to get the episodes for free because we didnt have the channels and i didnt own a phone yet (only a tablet)😂

I loved this video, it was a great re-cap of the EQG franchise. I only wish the animated shorts and specials were a bit easier to access. Also to answer your question of why they didn't have human skin tones, it's probably because making the characters POC would've led to backlash from the brony fandom, since a lot of them were..... well racist and misogynistic. Even if people weren't racist, there would be arguments over which characters "should" be what races and why. And if all the main characters were all white, it would've led to just as bad criticism from parents and social media. So honestly it's probably the safest option to keep the fantasy skin tones. I still don't know why they lightened almost every character's skin tone, though. It's really obvious and strange and some like Luna, Big Mac, etc just really don't look good with the paler tones.

This is my favourite yt channel ong, I’ve been WAITING for a mlp video essay it was my first hyperfixation 😭😭

So glad you stressed that Rainbow Rocks' soundtrack goes so hard cuz omg it's truly unmatched

your voice is so soothing. loving the content so far!

I just rewatched the second movie yesterday and I liked it way more than I expected to now that I’ve pretty much outgrown mlp. By the way I had a lot of these dolls and liked them very much.

ur videos are so comforting!! love you 🫶

I remember watching the movies and lowkey wanting Flash and Sunset to get back together.

your videos are so well made!! they always bring me back to my childhood and i love it so much! equestria girls will always be such an iconic movie

this was such a nostalgic deep dive it made me redraw a favorite character as a pony lol. Thank you for this :) i enjoyed it a lot!

I absolutely loved the Equestria Girls as a kid all the way to my early teen years! I remember not being to buy many dolls (I am the eldest of 4 kids so getting new toys usually had to be in tandem as to not make the other siblings feel left out so it was rare) so when we were about to leave the mall as it was closing once, I saw the EG dolls and begged to get my first one which was Adagio. It really meant alot to me and I even constantly showed her off as a kid. My lil sis had many EG dolls and minis which are no longer in the best condition so they all went to me and I've been trying to restore them, I also ended up getting other dolls and minis from old collector shops as I hold to much love and nostalgia for them. All in all, EG was a huge part of my childhood and even art journey and I'm glad we got to have them in the first place. ♡

I actually still own to this day the Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle duo dolls + the original versions of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash! Even I as a child recognized that they were kinda terrible, but they were mostly gifts + I loved the hair and how colorful they were so I was still happy with them (also,I "vlogged" the unboxing of the duo as well, so you're not alone lol). Thank you for talking about equestira girls, they're always a peculiar topic among the mlp fandom as far as I remember ( I've kinda been "out" of the fandom for a couple of years now so that's why).

loved this video!! as a former mlp fan i have fond memories of this era

I LOVE the Equestria Girls series! As the movies/shows went on, they do have more concrete storyline. I love the messages the put into the movies and the outfits are ICONIC. I love them!!!💖💖

Thank you for introducing me to this side of the show. The movies and specials were really fun

34:15 thank you for that slap of nostalgia. I remember I used to try to scan a google image since the doll was not available in my country. I failed but I still have fun