>>319080124. The villain was one of the most sympathetic. She's not an Equestrian monster of terror (and in fact NEVER transforms into one), she's just a lonely and depressed girl who got pushed to the absolute brink. And in her lowest point is given an artifact of incredible power, a volatile combination. Nothing she does is excusable but you can definitely feel for WHY she is doing it, this is one scenario where one could say Sunset and the girls actually did someone wrong.
5. The story in general was just very tight, the book makes this feel like it could fill a whole 75 min movie but the narrative is really tight, somehow managing to squeeze it all in without losing much impact. Every scene (minus some of the beach scenes but you NEED some humor buffers) plays a role and moves the story along well, and in general I'm amazed at just how dark it could get with Sunset's heart-wrenching sacrifice and subsequent shattered mind, the general reality of what it's like to be in Wallflower's situation, Sunset's aggression coming to full blown violence at times, and so on. It just feels like one of the best tales EqG has had to tell since it started, Nick Confalone earned some props for this.
The only knock I could make against this special is Celestia and Sunset's reunion being so short. I was expecting a lot of emotion (neither of them shed a tear it seems) and possibly even drama for their long awaited reconciliation, but here it feels like it was somewhat rushed and not given time to flesh it out. Though, what we DID get was pretty emotional all the same, Sunset's tearful apology and Celestia's soft-hearted forgiveness, their sharing of humor / re-bonding, etc. And this DOES possibly open up to more opportunities for them to interact later and maybe introduce more drama and development now that the initial olive-branch has been extended.
At any rate probably my favorite EqG (possibly FiM in general for that matter) media in years, can't wait for more.
