History YMMV / MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks

* FoeYayShipping: Seeing as how she's the leader of a trio of villains that rely on [[EvilIsSexy evil being sexy]], it's made it easy to ship Adagio Dazzle with just about anyone. In the movie proper, despite how harsh she is to Sunset Shimmer, Adagio still comes across as rather... flirty towards her.

* EvilIsSexy: The Dazzlings move and act very flirtatiously, especially in the cafeteria scene during "[[VillainSong Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)]]." Justified since they are the equivalents of the mythological sirens, and play up their sensuality as part of it.

** "Vinyl Scratch packed [[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Soundwave]]": A joke about how Vinyl drives a car that [[JustForPun transforms]] into a sound stage for the Rainbooms to use [[spoiler: during the climatic battle against the Dazzlings.]]

* ShippingGoggles:
** The DVDCommentary shows that even the showrunners aren't immune to this. The athlete and techie singing arm-in-arm at the end of "Welcome to the Show" inspire the comments "I love that couple!" and "Such good friends in the ''Equestria Girls'' world".
** For those who enjoy some FoeYayShipping, adding [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Star Swirl the Bearded/Adagio Dazzle]] to the mix is always an option.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Sunset Shimmer's HeelFaceTurn from the first movie was seen as somewhat hollow, given all of the things she'd done in CHS. In ''Rainbow Rocks'', [[ReformedButRejected Sunset is shunned by all but the Humane Five despite her best efforts to be a good person]], showing Sunset was not so EasilyForgiven. This new characterization worked so well that many who saw Sunset as TheScrappy found that [[BreakTheHaughty the students' harsh treatment]] made her sympathetic, getting her RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.
** After many accusations that Sunset's redemption was unearned, there's no attempt to do the same with the Dazzlings, who remain evil. Even in the Dazzlings' cameo in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsSunsetsBackstagePass Sunset's Backstage Pass]]'', [[RetiredMonster the Dazzlings have accepted their loss but haven't changed their awful attitudes]].
** One of the criticisms leveled at the first film was that Rainbow Dash got little screentime, mostly existing to be the sixth member of the cast and coming into the film too late. As the sequel's subtitle hinted, she got more to do this time, as her AwesomeEgo tendencies cause a lot of conflict between the Rainbooms.
** The climax of the first movie was criticized for being over too quickly -- the Humane Six immediately defeat Sunset Shimmer after transforming, without any kind of resistance on Sunset's part. This movie plays this for CringeComedy, as Twilight tries to do the same thing when she shows up at CHS this time; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome nothing happens, and]] [[EpicFail the Rainbooms just look silly]]. The final showdown between the Rainbooms and the Sirens is also more back-and-forth and action-packed, along with Sunset Shimmer solidifying her HeelFaceTurn with a HeroesFrontierStep and a NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech. All of this made the climax of ''Rainbow Rocks'' get received much better.

* SpiritualAdaptation: With its comparisons to ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'', ''Rainbow Rocks'' can be considered an even more faithful film adaptation than the [[Film/JemAndTheHolograms2015 actual film adaptation]].

* SpoiledByTheFormat: It's a feature-length film, and Twilight and the Rainbooms try to take down the villains with [[ThePowerOfFriendship the Magic of Friendship]] 30 minutes in. Never gonna happen.

** Sunset×Twilight (or "[=SunLight=]") was popular already. This film gives such gems as them saying the same thing in unison and smiling at each other, the two [[spoiler:singing a duet]] in the climax, and [[spoiler:Sunset writing to Twilight via the journal "I miss you already, I hope you come back soon."]] It's supposed to be indicative of their blooming friendship, but it doesn't take much to skew it into a RelationshipWritingFumble and assume they're attracted to one another.

** The Dazzlings/The Sirens gave us a trio of antagonists who were charismatic, funny, villainously competent, and had great songs and designs. Barring Sunset and Twilight, who have reformed and joined the central cast, no other ''Equestria Girls'' villain comes close to the Sirens for popularity. They even became {{Breakout Character}}s that crossed into the main continuity as enemies who fought the Pillars of Equestria.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Sonata Dusk was meant to be as evil as the other Dazzlings [[BitchInSheepsClothing despite seeming the nicest]], for going along with their EvilPlan. But her [[AffablyEvil genuine affability]] compared to [[FauxAffablyEvil Adagio]] and [[GrumpyBear Aria]], being TheDitz to the point of IneffectualSympatheticVillain without the others, and never doing anything bad - instead making everyone fruit punch and happily enjoying Snips and Snails in their rap performance - when left to her own devices caused many to instead see her as only being evil due to the other Dazzlings influence.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Sonata Dusk. Fans took her ditzy spaciness as a sign she wasn't ''really'' evil, presuming that Adagio and Aria are bad influences or intimidated her into helping them. Even before the film came out it was widely presumed she'd do a HeelFaceTurn. In the actual film, other than being a ditz who has more funny moments than Adagio or Aria, Sonata shows herself to be just as remorselessly evil as them. Hasn't stopped the fans one bit.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Sonata Dusk is the most popular Dazzling, probably due to her looks, her ditziness, and the belief that she would be the weak link or the first to reform. This has persisted after the film has been released, becoming the source of FanficFuel regarding [[spoiler:a HeelFaceTurn that never happened in the movie.]]

** For Sunset Shimmer, it's been a long time since she has written the words "Dear Princess Celestia". For fans, it's also been a long since they've heard those words as there weren't many Friendship Letters in Season 3 and they were dropped entirely for the Friendship Journal in Season 4.
** Previously, some Sunset Shimmer merchandise saw her released alongside the other members of the Mane Six sans Twilight, to drive home that Sunset was Twilight's EvilCounterpart. [[spoiler:Considering at the end of the film Sunset takes Twilight's place in the Rainbooms with the Humane Five, this now comes across as some very meta foreshadowing.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: A major reason for Sonata's popularity. The writers made her so likable as a comedic relief character that it becomes hard to dislike her as a villain, in contrast to the more traditionally evil Adagio and the apathetic Aria. It helps that she never does any intentionally cruel actions by herself, making it a bit too easy to assume she's only following the examples of Adagio and Aria.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Because of her characterization as TheDitz, Sonata Dusk of the Dazzlings gets this a lot. Many of her fans see her as not really evil, it's just that Adagio and Aria are bad influences on her; on her own, she might be a good person, or at least the easiest and quickest to reform. The movie proper depicts Sonata as being just as remorselessly evil as Adagio and Aria, just ditzier than them.

** A line by Aria Blaze in retort to Adagio Dazzle saying they should follow her lead suggests of a potential power struggle to come between her and the self-proclaimed leader of the Dazzlings. This seemed to set them up for the [[SocialDarwinist "everyone for themselves" mentality]] they promoted [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to be their undoing]], but it is never brought up again.

** The last movie wasn't bad, but it did divide the fandom due to using rather cliche High School tropes, which included the main antagonist Sunset Shimmer, who was a stereotypical AlphaBitch, but this movie won over a good chunk of fans due to introducing more supernatural aspects, and for so introfucing more memorable villains in The Dazzlings/Sirens.

* FoeYay: Seeing as how she's the leader of a trio of villains that rely on [[EvilIsSexy evil being sexy]], it's made it easy to ship Adagio Dazzle with just about anyone. In the movie proper, despite how harsh she is to Sunset Shimmer, Adagio still comes across as rather... flirty towards her.

** For those who enjoy some FoeYay, adding [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Star Swirl the Bearded/Adagio Dazzle]] to the mix is always an option.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** When the leaked teasers showed Rainbow declaring it's "her" band and that Rarity and Applejack need to shape up in time for the performance, it was PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler:Not so funny when they eventually succumb to the Dazzlings and start arguing over the little things they've let fester, giving the Dazzlings more power than ever.]]
** Rainbow's song "Awesome as I Wanna Be" was fairly well-received when the soundtrack came out. In the final product, [[spoiler:it's played because she wants to show off and the rest of the group is clearly upset with her showboating and ego, complete with her getting in their faces as she sings.]]

* GrowingTheBeard: ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' caused significant fan backlash by its very premise of doing My Litte Pony without the pony. And the main antagonist, Sunset Shimmer, was viewed as shallow by many. This movie shakes up the premise by adding more supernatural elements than the previous film had, and for having more memorable antagonists in The Dazzlings

** Sunset Shimmer, despite her best efforts to be a good person following the events of the last movie, is shunned by all but the Humane Five, showing she's not so EasilyForgiven after all. This new characterization worked so well that many who saw Sunset as TheScrappy found that [[BreakTheHaughty the students' harsh treatment]] made her very sympathetic.
** After many accusations that Sunset's redemption was rushed and unearned, there's no attempt to do the same with the Dazzlings, who remain thoroughly unredeemed (even Sonata). There may still be the possibility of it with their being depowered and having to adjust to being normal humans, but it's recognized that there's no room for that in this film.
** One of the criticisms leveled at the first film was that Rainbow Dash got very little screentime, mostly existing to be the sixth member of the cast and only coming into the film near the end of the second act. As the sequel's subtitle hinted, she got more to do this time.
** Another is that the Humane Six immediately defeated Sunset Shimmer after transforming without any kind of fight. That's also corrected here. Not only the first movie, but the show's tendency to do this was played for as much CringeComedy as possible, when that's more or less what Twilight decides to do the moment she goes through the portal. It... [[EpicFail doesn't go so well]]. The final showdown between the protagonists and the Sirens is far more back-and-forth and action-packed.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: EvenBetterSequel to [[BrokenBase those who liked the first]]. Consensus is that every aspect lacking in the first movie was improved to some degree; Sunset and Twilight get more character development, the story is stronger, the songs are better (and worked into the story better), the animation is much improved, and the villains are better.