• Equestria Girls: X Marks The Spot Follow Up

    Still in the need of some beach day fun? How about an adventurous treasure hunt from a treasure map found in a bottle? It probably wouldn’t be on my Top 10 things to do on the beach, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t any fun to be had here. Especially if this is one of Sunset’s ideas. If I were to give this short a moral, it would be to have fun on the journey regardless of the ending you might come across no matter how…fishy (sorry and not sorry). Either that or maybe not use maps in a bottle for advertising. That’s just unneeded littering anyway. Let’s enjoy a pirate’s map of wonders with three wonderful characters, shall we? 

     

    Leave it to Sunset to be into a side scrolling phone game. And it reeks of Flappy Bird memories. But at least the creator of Flappy Bird had the decency not to make a mediocre animated movie about it. And I don’t deny being into the 16 bit style of this mobile game. There’s such a charm to it that would probably make me drop a few dollars on it or something.

     

    Ok granted you’re still on a messy beach that would have bottles like that laying around. I don’t even think I would think twice about throwing it away even if there was a piece of paper inside. I mean I put trash in bottles all the time. But you know Sunset. She’s gotta see something in everything whether it’s a note in a bottle or a section of a discolored brick wall that looks breakable and hiding secret collectables. I blame the video games.

     

    Yeah I would think these two would be the ones to tell about a message in a bottle. Pinkie is always up for something fun and Twilight likes discovering new things. What I want to discover is where her artistic side came out. That Spike sculpture is amazing. They didn't even add a bucket for the water around in this shot, so she just made this completely dry. Bravo!

     

    Leave it to Pinkie to go the Cast Away route on what that letter in the bottle could be. Someone trapped on a deserted island and we wouldn’t even know about it? Scary thought. But hopefully they have a nice volleyball with hair to talk to in the meantime.

     

    This concept couldn’t be done any cuter. A montage of them following the treasure map in an 8 bit style game set up. Great call back to Sunset’s pirate game becoming reality for them. And the 8 bit music and sound effects really puts on the final touches along with these cute sprites of the characters and random obstacles. 

     

    Oh wow. Looks like there really was a treasure chest just sitting under the pier and undisturbed by this beach full of people. I want to know how that makes any sense seeing as the moment I stumble across something like this, I’m taking the whole trunk with me barnacles and all. But it looks like all their hunting will bring sweet loot.

     

    Pinkie Pie: “The treasure is a treasure map.”

    So just to add on more video game clichés to the mix, we have the equivalent of “your princess is in another castle.” But why have such a large trunk for a small bottle anyway? If I felt this chest was that light, I would’ve been furious. 

     

    Ok I don’t deny that being a great looking map and the details of it are pretty good. Of course we got these random symbols for their language that looks like one of the random fonts you would find in Word that just exists for…reason. No seriously. Why would I want to type something I can’t read and that it’s just symbols? Explain Microsoft Word! EXPLAIN!!!

     

    A secret code and a decoder device. You're right Twilight. That is very convenient. It’s almost like this treasure wants to be found and didn’t want the treasure hunters to be without it. Again, don’t know if I would put in the effort for it myself (the girls did have to fight off crabs to get to this point) but I admire them for sticking to this hunt for gold.

     

    X Marks the Sushi. I’ll admit I would be super conflicted with this idea of truck food sushi. Granted, I love the convenience of it, but at the same time, you’re serving raw fish products out of a truck. I am digging the design of this truck thought. The orange and yellow details on the bottom really help break up a lot of that sky blue so they can stand out. But then again, what might stand out the most would probably be that fish lying on a bowl of rice.

     

    This woman deserves a raise for putting her all into this promotion. Either that or this is her truck and her business and decided to do a pirate theme promotional treasure hunt since she’s at the beach. Not much in common between Japanese sushi and pirates though, but I admire her commitment. Also according to the fandom wiki on Equestria Girls female characters, her name is Carrot Bun and voiced by Tara Strong and she is killing this pirate performance. Also I feel this Daruma doll on the right feels like it’s starring into my soul and I can’t look away. 

     

    Carrot Bun: “20 pAAARRcent off any hand roll. Plus, all-you-can-eat wasabi. ARRRG!!!”

    This woman is really putting in the work. They could’ve had her as a nonchalant downer who would say these lines in a monotone and boring voice just to combat how excited the other three are. But she’s just so sweet and earnest about it that I can’t help but love her. Might have to teach her how to just put up fliers of her food truck instead of an extensive treasure hunt. 

     

    I think Pinkie should’ve went a little easier on the all-you-can-eat wasabi. Still can’t tell what this would be on the spice scale for Pinkie. We’ve seen her eat rainbows and get this same reaction but also be fine with drowning a cupcake in hot sauce. On the plus side, those hand rolls look delicious and now I really need to order sushi when I’m done writing.

     

    Yeah I remember my first experience with wasabi. Tasted ok but have it hit your tongue a certain type of way and your nose hairs are burned completely off. Don’t think I’ve have to dunk my head in a random fountain though, but I chugged a lot of Ramune just to stop the burning. Wasabi deserves respect or it hits you for no apparent reason while eating. I do enjoy this little girl with a bit of concern on her face about the pink lady dunking her head in a public fountain. Don’t worry kid, she’s makes a great babysitter.

     

    Ok is it bad to find it weird how much Twilight was laughing at this while Sunset kind of chuckled? Maybe because Sunset works at a sushi place and understands how strong wasabi can get. This is probably a site she’s used to seeing from people trying sushi for the first time and wondering what that green stuff is. Again, still can’t stop starring at this very well rolled hand rolls. I would’ve expected them to fall off by now, but they are really keeping their hold. Nice quality sushi making.

    And that was X Marks the Spot, a fun short about having your expectations be destroyed, but enjoying the ride along the way. This was just some beach fun and I like having Sunset be the excited one to try and get the pirate’s treasure. Everyone else kinda came along for more fun and I have no problems with that. It made for cute visuals, a fun random character, and more slapstick with Pinkie experiencing the joys and sorrows of spicy food. Wonder if she would do the One Chip Challenge or the spiciest chocolate. I’m Penny Wrights and I think I have a dragon roll with my name all over it.