I wouldn’t have wanted the Shadowbolts to be evil, per se. Just competitive, with a hair of a mean streak (kind of like what we got) and more focus. Cinch may have been better as more of an “in the shadows” villain, but that wouldn’t have worked too well at a sporting event.

I do like how Cinch said right from the off “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose the games. What matters is that we’re EXPECTED to win.”
 
Makes it clear that it could’ve been ANYTHING. Not just the friendship games.

@SeraphimDawn  
That would’ve been magnificent.

@Twilight Outsmarted U  
They could’ve had a Student President as the main antagonist.

Seriously they could have chosen a cute school girl villain. but nooooo. XD I watch this for cute girls doing cute magical girl things come on hasbro.

@Trickquestion  
That, and both she and Princess Celestia used “Black/Dark Magic” in the Crystal Empire episode. According to Princess Celestia, it has to be powered by fear and hate. Despite that, neither of them had any significant trouble calling it up.

@OneOverTwo  
Then again, I am willing to admit my hatred of Cinch is more irrational than most… (Sorry for the triple post)

@OneOverTwo  
Besides, I liked Twilight’s part at toward the end more anyway.

@OneOverTwo  
Yeah, I guess her song was good. I just…she’s one of those characters where even song cannot help her, much like how I don’t like “Babs Seed” in One Bad Apple despite the song itself being good.

@Background Pony #7D73  
I don’t know, I think Cinch’s song was good enough.  
That’s technically something.

…If Crystal Prep had the same mindset, they would have fired Abacus Cinch IMMEDIATELY after that debacle.

@PonyPon  

 
Between the real Twilight destroying the Pinkie clones, completely misinterpreting the Crystal Empire test until it was explained to her face, causing the Smarty Pants disaster and being willing to use a very unethical sounding brainwashing spell on Discord, I think they’ve long since lost their chance to paint Twilight as someone with no inner darkness.

@Trickquestion  
I wouldn’t necessarily say Sunset’s plan made sense nor am I saying that she wasn’t a bad villain either, but her backstory (or at least the idea of being a former student or her actions prior to the first movie) gave her enough potential to keep her afloat until Rainbow Rocks gave her a better character. And I do remember at least one or two funny moments with her (“Take those off!”). Cinch literally has nothing.

@Trickquestion
 
I found that interesting though. It makes her come off as kinda nuts. She’s so self obsessed that she sees magic and only thinks about how she can use it to her own benefit. Like the games were her only link back to reality. She’s so obsessed with maintaining control.

@Trickquestion  
I think the same thing, but maybe it was done that way so as not to cast a bad light on what PonyTwi has the potential to be.
 
And instead showing us how she’s easily exploited by those in charge of her.

Now I feel bad about how much I dumped on Sunset Shimmer in the first movie. I mean her methods were stupid and she didn’t seem all that bright but at least she had an end goal that makes sense. Cinch’s reactions to everything that is happening are so weird and inappropriately petty actually make her worse than Sunset Shimmer.
 
This movie really suffers from not having the guts to go through and make Twilight actually a villain. Instead she’s a smarter Fluttershy who needs this character to motivate her into driving the plot along.

@Fwelin  
All the trailers and advertising the Shadowbolts got simply made it worse.

@Fwelin  
Honestly, even without the trailers, I would instantly hated her. Just because she meant to be hated doesn’t mean it’s okay to make her obnoxiously despicable and one-note. I know people compare her to Lady Termaine, but Lady Termaine had a very subtle and creepy vibe that made her memorable where just slightest movement makes you fear what she’s going to next (Jesus, that moment where she snuck up to Cinderella’s door felt like something out of a horror movie). Cinch does not have that. Honestly, if I had to compare Cinch to a Disney villain, it would be Radcliffe, another horribly one-note villain.

@Kibate  
Same here. It was the exact OPPOSITE from what we wanted. But oh well.

Funny is that, people is arguing because of the lack of screentime for toy insert characters.

@Kibate  
This is why avoiding all spoilers for something you’re looking forward too is often a good decision. I knew nothing about the movie other than the name and that human Twilight waa going to be in it in some way, and I found Cinch to be a decent villain (better than Sunset, worse than the Dazzlings).

@gingerninja666  
it might have been fine, if hasbro hadn’t taunted us with the rivality between the shadowbolts and the wondercolts. As it said in the OP image, we EXPECTED cute schoolgirls being evil, but then barely got any of them and instead focused mostly on just an old principal no one cares about. Even her villain song was only good after she stopped singing in it(nothing against her VA or daniel though, it’s just the part after her singing is just that good)

Again, I feel like the only person who liked Cinch as a character and actually LIKED that she wasn’t ridiculously ambitious.

Sums up one of my disappointments in a nutshell.

Pictured: most actual school principals.