My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #10 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series #10): “Princess Luna”

Tags

IDW, IDW comic, Kibitz, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, review

Synopsis:

Princess Luna enjoys her duties of “guarding the night” thoroughly, although she thinks it’s a great deal of work only she can handle. While talking to Princess Celestia about it, she says Celestia’s own duties are far easier by comparison and she could easily handle both. Celestia ends up letting her handle the duties and taking the day off herself to teach her a lesson. Luna is soon swamped with a never-ending onslaught of extremely boring and mundane activities as she’s forced to address each and every teeny, tiny concern in Equestria that requires any form of authority with hardly a moment to catch her breath. She gets progressively more and more overwhelmed until, at last, she dismisses the royal scheduling advisor and handles tasks in her own manner and pace, and as a result manages to get through the day’s workload. When Celestia returns, Luna immediately apologizes for making light of her own duties. She relinquishes them back to Celestia, and Celestia herself congratulates her on actually being able to get through all of the day. However, Luna is soon unhappy again when she sees Celestia go straight to bed, meaning she has to roll straight into the night shift without any time to rest.

Review:

Well, after nine serious-to-quasi-serious arcs, I guess they wanted to end on pure fluff. I’m a bit unhappy it had to fall on my favorite character. 😦 To be honest, I don’t care too much for Luna’s portrayal in this. I think it’s a tad OOC. Her being awkward and having a “high” way of talking isn’t, but her being a royal snob who thinks of her subjects only slightly more highly than Mel Brooks did in “History of the World Part I” makes me grimace a bit. In general, it seems the comic writers frequently use Luna as a comic-relief character; the one big exception being the “Nightmare Rarity” arc. Then again, Celestia is often trolled too, so it may just me frowning at the treatment of best pony.

Still, even if this arc didn’t intend it, and really, when you look at it, Luna got what she asked for and nothing less, there’s the sense that this was more “Trollestia”. Maybe it’s the fact they go out of the way to show Celestia getting herself pampered, or the fact that, for all that happened in this arc, it really still does seem like Celestia “takes it easy”. (I mean, give me a break…signing things, nodding her head, and what-not? That would just be poor planning on her part. She could get a bureaucracy to handle all of that and devote time to the tasks she DOES delegate to others: namely protecting/saving Equestria.) I know most of it was just for gags and to have the normally more goddess-like Luna be stuck with boring and mundane tasks, but…I don’t know. It just didn’t really “mesh” with me, and few of the moments seemed particularly funny. Amusing, yes. Funny, no. And it also ignores the fact that Celestia did both the day and the night for 1,000 years, so I’m not sure there’s a “physical exhaustion” factor in this like it makes it out to be.

But, if I can put my “Luna Love” aside, I can still see a moral inside of it. In a way, you can think of this as the “logical conclusion” of the much more serious matter of Luna turning into Nightmare Moon. That was basically born out of a desire she had to be the “head honcho”: to be the one and only ruler of Equestria. Now, ironically, although it’s done in a joking fashion, Luna gets the chance to be the only ruler and sees it’s a bit more work than she anticipated and learns not to so easily dismiss the job her sister does even if it appears to be a big load of nothing. Also, Luna manages to succeed when she stops letting other people tell her how to “do her job” and takes charge in her own way, showing…yes, even if she may be more quick-tempered and slacking than Celestia, she can handle it.

So…putting aside all prejudices and preferences, it might not be the most dramatic way to end the Micro-Series, but it’s alright.

Fun Facts:

Celestia’s royal scheduling advisor is named “Kibitz”. In spite of the name, he’s more of a servant, really. He also featured quite a bit in the “Reflections” arc, although he had no lines in that one.

When Luna is surveying Equestria, the guard is changing between the threshals and the earth ponies. As they go to work, they swap “Morning Sam.” and “Night Ralph.” This is a reference to Looney Tunes, which featured a shortly lived and lesser-known series with a sheepdog and wolf named Sam and Ralph who were perfectly cordial co-workers although their occupation was to kill each other.

Flash Sentry briefly appears in this arc. He’s made out to be kind of a wimp. Not sure if the authors made that intentional or not.

Likely the first time crystal ponies have appeared in the comic. It’s a bit hard to tell that they “shimmer” on paper. 😛

Flax and Wheat from Rarity’s Micro-Series cameo along with the Flim-Flam Brothers. The solution Luna proposes is a takeoff of the infamous decision King Solomon decreed to resolve a dispute over who was the true mother of an infant. As one might expect, Luna’s favorite activity out of the day duties is punishing ponies. 😛 And the Flim-Flam Brothers are the opposite party in every dispute.

One panel features Luna bored over having to read all of Twilight Sparkle’s letters to Celestia. 😀

The Crystal Ponies mention “The Navigator” is the newest dance craze. This was the dance invented in Comic-Arc #3 by accident when Sapphire Shores’ group mimicked Big Macintosh looking through the crowd.

When all activities get brought to Luna at once, Pinkie Pie is in the crowd.

One of Luna’s duties is to listen to Apple Bloom moan about not having her Cutie Mark.

There’s a doujinshi at the end showing how Luna got the opossum following her around in every panel of this arc.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #9 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series #9): “Spike”

Tags

Angel Bunny, IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, review, Sea Beasts, Spike

Synopsis:

Spike is unhappy that Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy are taking their respective pets to the Equestria Pet Show, and he’s being left at home without a pet. On seeing an ad for “Sea Beasts” in a comic book, he quickly orders them, expecting to have a colony of pets of his own. However, much to his displeasure, they’re microscopically tiny when he gets them and grow only slowly. When the girls step out for the pet show, Spike impatiently mixes up a magic growth formula, causing them to enlarge to visible size. Still not satisfied, however, he feeds them even more, making them not only big but causing them to multiply. He goes out to get a bigger aquarium, only to find out on returning that they’ve become amphibious and intelligent, and are now wandering around outside the tank tearing up the books to make themselves a society. As they’re still growing, Spike mixes up another potion from a torn book to try and stop it. It seems to work and the tired Spike takes a break, but before doing so off-handedly splits the Sea Beasts into “vase people” (those on the wall) and “table people” (those on the floor). On waking up, he discovers the potion he gave them to stop growing had the side effects of enlarging their brains, and they have advanced into an “industrialized” society. Not only that, but they’ve developed racism between the two groups and soon begin to war on each other. Spike angrily forces them to stop and wonders what to do, when he spots a mare and her filly talking, and from the conversation realizes that you can’t use magic to get shortcuts to “growing up”. Changing his approach, Spike goes back in, rallies the Sea Beasts, and goes about educating them. Eventually he collapses from the exhaustion of teaching them non-stop, but by that point the Sea Beasts have learned enough to continue to educate themselves while he sleeps. Spike awakens when Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy come back, and is stunned to see the Sea Beasts have evolved to a higher state of enlightenment. They express their desire to go out into the world and continue to learn more, and Spike reluctantly lets them go. Twilight offers to write the letter to Celestia for Spike, and the dragon says to remember to tell her he raised the “best pets ever”.

Review:

As Spike stories go, this one isn’t bad. It’s kind of an interesting concept. It’s one that has been done before, probably originally in “The Twilight Zone”…the idea of a normal individual becoming a “god” over smaller ones. It’s been done on “The Simpsons”, “South Park”, and “Futurama”. To explore it in MLP:FIM is more than a bit unusual…but I think, just barely, it managed to keep with the theme of the show. It wasn’t necessarily easy. The Sea Beasts really did look like creatures from a totally different series. And the show rarely has points where it gets violent, such as when they began to war among themselves. But overall, I think it did work out.

I believe this is really superior to most Spike episodes. Spike is usually portrayed in a negative light on his stand-alone episodes. And sure, he screwed up in this one, but in a somewhat-less-negative way, in my opinion. He made mistakes more out of genuine mishaps rather than bad feelings or intentions. Plus, he did learn his lesson, and what he did that ended up “good”; benefiting the Sea Beasts the most in the end by impressing upon them the value of continuing to educate yourself and of living in harmony with one another.

If I had to pick on something negative, it would be Angel Bunny. He’s a bit too mean in this one. Granted, he’s usually spoiled and rotten, and in Season Two’s “Putting Your Hoof Down” he crossed a line, but I don’t think he’s so nasty that Spike should have developed as much animosity for him in this one as he did, and I don’t really see him rubbing his victory in Spike’s face either unless Spike had done something to mistreat him. Even Fluttershy seems to give him a “talking to” in this one.

But, that aside, I think it was an interesting theme with cute artwork, and it did have a good lesson at the end: for some things in life there are no shortcuts.

Fun Facts:

The “post” Owlowiscious strikes, the “karate colt”, looks like the position for the Crane Kick from “The Karate Kid”.

“Pee Wee”, for those who forgot, was the baby Phoenix Spike got in Season Two’s “Dragon Quest” who was retconned out of the series in Season Three’s “Just for Sidekicks”.

Daring Do seems to have her own comic…unless they normally advertise Sea Monkeys, sorry, Sea Beasts in books.

Angel Bunny mocks Spike’s “Sea Beasts”, earning a disapproving look from Fluttershy.

As in the Comic Series, one of the books is labeled “IDW”.

I’m not sure if this is intended, but the Sea Beasts remind me a bit of “Sgt. Frog”, and their leaving the aquarium is similar to a scene in Hayao Miyazaki’s “Ponyo”.

Among the various books Spike takes off the shelf to train the Sea Beasts is “Flowers for Algernon”. This was a short story that dealt with, among other things, the idea of someone suddenly going from a point of sub-nominal intelligence to genius.

“Po-Neigh Decart” is a knockoff of philosopher Rene Descartes, who said: “I think, therefore I am.” Apparently the pony version is more of a knockoff of Popeye. 😛

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #8 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series #8): “Princess Celestia”

Tags

Floribunda, IDW, IDW comic, Inkwell, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Princess Celestia, Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, review

Synopsis:

Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns’ Royal High Tea is taking place, and is the biggest chance for the parents of students to meet up with Princess Celestia as well as their teachers. Celestia is a bit unhappy as she soon notices the oldest teacher, Professor Inkwell, is getting older and a bit senile, and all of the students and other teachers mock her behind her back. Things really get bad when a mishap in the student area causes all the food to come to life, and Inkwell, to deal with it, brings a rabbit sculpture to life to eat all of the offending food ravenously, creating an even bigger mess and frightening numerous students. Floribunda, the head of the Pony-Teacher Committee, declares her a nuisance and danger to students and says she’s pulling her own student from school until she’s removed, and numerous other parents agree with her. This, in turn, gets the other teachers upset that their own jobs are being put in jeopardy to defend a single teacher who “needs to retire”. Celestia is torn, as years ago Inkwell was a powerful, skilled, and respected unicorn who was the first to rally to her during an attempted Canterlot invasion and helped repel the attackers, losing one of her eyes in the process. She ends up holding a Pony-Teacher Committee to have a hearing regarding removing her from school in which Floribunda and numerous other parents attend. At the hearing, she holds a competency test for Inkwell, presenting her with an “ugly, disgusting frog” and telling her to successfully cast a spell to turn it into a beautiful, less-disgusting frog. Inkwell looks at the frog a long time before refusing; saying the frog is fine just the way it is. On hearing this, Floribunda remembers how when she was a filly and was too embarrassed to have her picture taken for class due to wearing braces, Inkwell encouraged her and made her feel better about her image. The other alumni parents further reveal how as a result of Inkwell building their self-confidence when they were younger they became the ponies they are today. Nevertheless, Celestia states as no spell had been cast, Inkwell failed the test, and nearly decrees her to be removed, but Floribunda and the parents stop her, withdrawing their petition to have her removed on realizing how important she was to them, and her fellow teachers realizing how wrong it was to mock her behind her back. Later that night, Celestia checks on Inkwell in her office, thinking she’s lost her own confidence, but finds she merely fell asleep inside it. She covers her up and tells her to rest well, for tomorrow is a new class day.

Review:

I’m not sure if you can technically say this is all about Princess Celestia, but it’s definitely her at her most positive. This is definitely the best arc of the Micro-Series.

A theme that really has only got touched on once during the series in Season Two’s “Family Appreciation Day” was the opinion of younger generations toward the elderly ones. A bit sad, because that’s an important theme in modern society that few people think about. The fact of the matter is people are getting older and we have more elderly now than we used to, so how we deal with older folks as they may grow more senile and less able than they used to be is important.

Another aspect that hasn’t been explored is the effects of “adult peer pressure” and “school politics”. The fact is society may be run and dictated by certain individuals, but those individuals need to rally others to their cause to have any sway. It’s also a fact that rather than using such organizations and factions to benefit everyone, often they get used to enforce one’s own wishes. And yes, a matter of personal like and dislike, sadly, has influenced many a choice in a school, government, or any other organization simply because an individual commanded enough political power to let their own opinions have sway. We complain about it all the time in examples as obvious as the federal government or the state government, but it has sway over smaller scales as well. It may make for subject matter that’s a bit too advanced for kids…but not really. Children are used as pawns in these little wars from very young ages, for better or for worse. They’re already part of a “system” before they’re even old enough to recognize it. So perhaps it’s not such a bad thing for an arc like this to be read to the Y-rated crowd so they can recognize it now.

The story itself is great. As in other arcs, it gets so close to being “mature” that it almost loses the element of MLP:FIM in it. Especially considering how “adult” and “complete” all of the various OCs are in this one. With the exception of Princess Celestia, every last character in this arc is original, making this whole thing feel like fanfiction more than ever…but VERY good fanfiction. The flashback was great and really made you feel for Inkwell’s character. And to actually have a character lose an eye? True, Hoofbeard was missing a hoof in one of the comic arcs, but to show how she actually lost her own eye was rather heavy…and very endearing.

But most of all came the moral. In reality, Princess Celestia was the best character to tell this kind of story. The thing about the elderly generation and, sadly, the thing about people in general is we see people only as we’ve always known them or remember them and we dismiss them as the “snapshot” we see in our minds. That’s all they are to us. And if they’re troublesome or bothersome, they cease to even be snapshots of individuals and become more nuisances. As said in that one Twilight Zone episode, people who are difficult become “obsolete”. Figures that we wish would just pass on or fade away. But Celestia, being (nearly) immortal…she has the advantage of knowing people from the cradle to the grave and barely aging alongside them. She would have the best perspective that one could hope for externally of the “measure of a man/pony”.

And the moral does provide quite a challenge to the reader. The story never presents the tale that Inkwell is still a viable teacher. She’s clearly past her prime. The school would likely be better off replacing her with someone more competent and less senile. And yet…it asks us even if Inkwell can no longer provide a “useful service to society”, does that mean she’s worthless to us as a person? Is a person who can no longer give anything of consequence to us something worthy of being thrown away like a broken tool or a garbage wrapper? Or is any detriment or harder work they mean for us something of value because they were so important and special to us when they still had all of their faculties? That they’re worth keeping as part of society out of respect and honor and pony(or human) dignity? Is it worth us, the “younger generation”, feeling a bit “inconvenienced” if we let people who were once great and did things important for us know we still value them? That’s something we all need to examine ourselves and answer.

So, yes a fantastic arc. And even more fantastic was how Celestia handled it. Similar to the Season Two opener, she didn’t have to proclaim a decree or do anything special. Just “nudge” the Pony-Teacher Committee in the right direction.

If they had more episodes like this in the series and less with Celestia just giving Twilight her “mission for the day”, she might very well become as admired as she is by the bronies as she is by the citizens of Equestria.

Fun Facts:

The two teachers that features most prominently in this arc are OCs Ginger Snap and Giddilee (perhaps related to Ms. Cheerilee?).

The foals Inkwell is talking to at the start are pony versions of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, the nephews of “Uncle” Donald Duck from Disney.

When the High Tea begins, one of the teachers sitting at the main table looks like a pony version of Severus Snape from Harry Potter. A later panel also includes one that looks like Madame Trelawney from the same genre. Still another one shows a pony who looks like Minerva McGonagall, and a pony who looks like Donald Sutherland’s character in “Animal House”. When the food runs amok, filly versions of Harry, Ron, and Hermione are under one table.

The enemies attacking Canterlot in the flashback are never seen clearly seen. However, the first panel that gets into the flashback has a shadow being cast over the city “from a distance”. One way to look at it is to see it’s Celestia looking over the mural, but it could also be the shadow of King Sombra. Based on the nature of the attack, which resembles “Lord of the Rings”, it’s possible. Especially since Celestia’s comment “until they crawled into the shadows that formed them”.

Technically it isn’t…but the injury that took Inkwell’s eye is the closest we’ve ever seen to blood in the entire series.

One of the ponies that appeared to rally to Princess Celestia in the original flashback was the original Moondancer.

Inkwell’s chalkboard in the modern day has a drawing of Discord with the text: “Really a friend?” To be honest, she was spot-on about that. 😛

Rating:

4 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #7 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series #7): “Cutie Mark Crusaders”

Tags

Apple Bloom, CMCs, Cutie Mark Crusaders, IDW, IDW comic, Imp, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, review, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle

Synopsis:

A week into summer vacation, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have already used up all of their ideas for Cutie Marks, and so decide to look outside of Ponyville in the Everfree Forest for more ideas. While exploring, the ground gives way beneath them to drop them into a mysterious stone chamber where they find an odd giant gem. On taking it back to Rarity, they discover the gem apparently isn’t a gem when it opens innocent eyes and looks at them. Twilight reveals this is actually a creature called a “Mimicker” which can take any shape except ponies. This is a young one who is still in the phase of her life where she’s experimenting with forms until she finds one she enjoys and permanently takes it. Seeing she’s similar to them trying out things to get their Cutie Marks, the CMCs name her “Imp” and induct her into the group. The girls try giving her lots of shapes to turn into to see what she likes, but soon they get the idea to start having her turn into things for them to have fun with, and after a couple days fight over who gets to have her turn into something they want. Frustrated with their constant demands, Imp suddenly erupts in a blast of multiple forms and vanishes. The girls search for her and, on doing so, realize they were treating her like a toy rather than an individual, much less a friend. They all voice their sorrow and regret, prompting Imp to reappear. After apologizing to her personally, they return her to the cave where they found her, and write a letter to Princess Celestia that they hope when they’re more mature they’ll all be able to be friends again. As for Imp, it turns out the large pile of rocks behind her was her parent all along, and she begins to relay her story to her.

Review:

Yet another nice little story. I’m not sure it really has too applicable of a moral in real life situations, although it did feature a good little lesson and I think this episode would fit in well with the main series. Then again…there are situations in life where people make friends out of a desire simply to get something from them. Perhaps they have a favored status, or a great toy or video game system, or more money to flaunt around. Usually it’s the person with the desired good who has to learn a lesson about knowing who your real friends are and who is just using you. For once, this was a lesson on the other end of the spectrum…about how shallow it makes you to just use your supposed friends for what they can do for you. And that’s an important thing to learn too. Sure, it was somewhat hinted at in Season Four’s “Twilight Time”, but not quite as directly as here.

As CMC episodes go, it was more fun than a lot of the episodes in the series. They seemed to be a bit more action-orientated than usual, which is nice. It only had one good allusion, but man…it was a great one for me. I’m a big MSTie so I got really excited when I saw them pull that joke. It’s the kind of nerdom joke I had hoped for in the series.

The artwork is a bit crude but with more gentle strokes, I think it works well. The style is soft but it appeals to me, so I enjoyed it.

Another nice and entertaining entry in the series, and, again, better than a lot of CMC episodes to me.

Fun Facts:

It seems almost like where the girls landed is either where Pinkie Pie landed in Season Three or the Tree of Harmony was in Season Four.

While trying out various clothes designs, at one point Imp turns into a costume that looks like a gumball helmet, a gold upper head, and a dogbone-shaped satellite behind it. This is an allusion to the show “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. The gumball helmet is the head of Tom Servo, the gold upper head is the head of Crow T. Robot, and the dogbone is a model of the Satellite of Love, where the protagonists are stranded. The show is infamous for airing bad movies and showing the backs of the head of the main characters as they make fun of the film through a process called “riffing”. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are both positioned similar to how the characters on the show would be, and Scootaloo says: “What a riff!” Furthermore, Sweetie Belle says: “It stinks!” One of the most infamous moments from the series was during the Season Three episode “Pod People” in which one of the characters in the film gives an “ok” hand signal, and then says: “It stinks!”

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #6 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #6): “Applejack”

Tags

Apple Bloom, Apple Family, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, Hearth's Warming Eve, IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, review, Sass Squash

Synopsis:

It’s nearing Hearth’s Warming Eve and the Apple Family is busy making preparations. While Granny Smith wants them all to take out time to spend with each other, Applejack is running herself ragged trying to make sure everything gets done. One morning, on waking up, the Apple Family discovers someone, or something, has stolen some of their apples and replaced them with squash. Granny says it’s the work of a mythological creature called the “Sass Squash”, who appeared years ago and she managed to catch a single picture of. She suggests that they should all work together to try and catch it, but Applejack insists she try to catch the creature herself while the rest of her family enjoy Hearth’s Warming Eve in peace. Yet in spite of numerous attempts, and numerous offers from the family to help, all of Applejack’s attempts end in utter failure. Finally realizing she’s making a mistake trying to do everything on her own, she returns to the family and recruits them to help her out. Working together, the Apples managed to finally catch the Sass Squash, only for it to pull its “head” off and reveal it’s Granny Smith in a big costume. She says years ago when Sweet Apple Acres started, the family ran themselves ragged with work all the time. When the Sass Squash appeared, they all tried to hunt it, which got their minds off of work and gave them an activity to do as a family. She had dug out the costume to try and get Applejack to ease up and spend time with the family doing something, but she realizes she learned to take time out for her family all on her own. Applejack writes to Celestia about the lesson she learned, and makes a startling discovery: Granny Smith took a second picture of the Sass Squash…this time with her in the picture as well, indicating the creature is real. At the same time, Granny leaves out a pie in the forest, which a strange squash-like creature comes and picks up.

Review:

Well, this one had a nice little moral…that was already done in Season One’s “Applebuck Season”…and again in Season Three’s “Apple Family Reunion”.

What is it with Applejack that she’s always so darn bland? Why is it the only thing they can ever pick out about her is “she’s stubborn”? I don’t know, but apparently the comic writers have the same problem. Whereas some of these arcs were something of a preview of future arcs, this one isn’t even terribly original except for the idea of a “Sass Squash”. Basically just a rehash of old plotlines and, as many episodes featuring the Apple Family as a unit, this one doesn’t really provide anything to write home about.

Still, it was kind of interesting to do a “comic song” with Applejack. It may have been more of the same that we’ve seen before, but I found it to be more entertaining if based only on sight gags and artwork alone than Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s arcs. It entertained me more as well. And, again, there was nothing really “bad” with it either. It wasn’t yawn-worthy like some of the storylines in Season Three were, so it had that going for it.

So, while I don’t think it was quite as good as the last one, I didn’t think it was too terrible either. Another “decent” run.

Fun Facts:

Granny Smith says “bet your bipper”. While that saying is so old no child would get it, I’m guessing it’s too crude for the show.

Big Macintosh still has Ms. Smartypants.

Applejack gets a song in this as well.

Rating:

2.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #5 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #5): “Pinkie Pie”

Tags

IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie, Ponyacci, review, Twilight Sparkle

Synopsis:

Pinkie Pie is super-excited that she won a Colta-Cola contest for free backstage passes to see the greatest and funniest clown in Equestria: Ponyacci. She invites Twilight Sparkle along to see him perform, but on arriving she sees an older and depressed stallion looking incredibly unhappy outside. She offers her own ticket to him thinking Ponyacci will make him laugh, but he declines saying even he can’t. The girls go to the show and see a hilarious performance, and afterward head backstage so that Pinkie can have her Ponyacci doll signed. Yet much to her surprise, when Ponyacci takes off his makeup, it’s revealed he’s the same depressed stallion from before. He admits that although he loves to make other ponies laugh, he’s getting too old and worn out to keep performing, and so he has to retire. Pinkie sinks into depression of her own and, in spite of Twilight telling her this is his decision and she should respect it, she plans a massive clown act of her own to try and cheer Ponyacci up into not retiring, writing one of her signature silly songs for it. After showing it off before Ponyacci, he dismays her on saying that he still intends to retire, but he compliments her performance and gives a series of critiques on how to make it better. Hearing the suggestions, Pinkie Pie suddenly gets the idea for him to teach a “school for clowns” to help other performers. Ponyacci loves the idea as it will enable him to continue to make ponies laugh without needing to continuously perform, and soon he opens “Ponyacci’s School of Clowning, Japes, and Buffoonery” in Ponyville. Pinkie writes to Celestia about the importance of helping others find ways to keep doing what they love.

Review:

This is another one that was big on panels and smaller on dialog. It’s not as short as Fluttershy’s Micro-Series, but it still comes off as not too terribly long. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it more than Fluttershy’s. While it is a lot lighter on allusions and gags and heavier on seriousness, the artistic style (more Japanese in nature) and the fact that, in spite of being not too terribly wacky, Pinkie is still “being Pinkie” helps to keep the mood very light even if the plotline isn’t all too light or silly.

It doesn’t have much more substance than the last arc, although I liked the fact that it was Pinkie helping out someone else. Perhaps that in and of itself gave a bit more weight. In a way, it’s a bit like an alternate version of Season Two’s “A Friend in Deed”, similar to how Twilight Sparkle’s arc was. But since I liked that episode, I kind of like this. Maybe it doesn’t hit one in the feels so much as Twilight Sparkle’s or the upcoming arc with Princess Celestia, but I still think it’s nice and there’s nothing majorly “wrong” with it. It seemed to evade a lot of the awkwardness of the last arc at any rate.

Again, this is a theme more for adults. We’ll reach the point in our lives where we’ll all get too old to do what we love. And when that happens, it would be great if we could find a new way to keep doing it forever.

So yeah, I rate it as a good one.

Fun Facts:

The artwork style in this is a bit more similar to manga.

Pinkie Pie’s approach is similar to the infamous scene in “Jurassic Park” with the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaching.

The contest Pinkie one was by drinking “Colta-Cola”, obviously a knockoff of “Coca-Cola”. There was a similar knockoff in Comic Arc #4.

The name Ponyacci is a knockoff of Pagliacci, the infamous opera. The part where Pinkie Pie tries to give him her ticket so that “Ponyacci” can cheer him up might be a knockoff of the Pagliacci Joke from “Watchmen”.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #4 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #4): “Fluttershy”

Tags

Fluttershy, IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Praiser Pan, review

Synopsis:

Fluttershy notices that Princess Celestia is holding an “Extreme Art” Contest in Canterlot, with credit being given to the most creative and original. She immediately tenses up, because it turns out she secretly has a habit of sculpting through knitting. In spite of being terrified that no one will like her art, she decides to participate wearing an elaborate disguise. At the gallery, an art critic named Praiser Pan makes the rounds through the gallery saying how terrible every entry is, prompting the other highbrows in Canterlot to say the same, including her own entry. Fluttershy tries to slink off in embarrassment, until one of those unicorns with Pan ends up being Rarity, who immediately recognizes her and unveils both her identity as well as her being the artist. As her work continues to get slammed, Fluttershy moves to destroy it in agreement with the critics, but in the end realizes in spite of what people say she still likes it and refuses. Soon after, Princess Celestia walks by and says she likes the artwork, which immediately prompts her former critics to change their tune so that they aren’t in disagreement with her. Celestia gives Fluttershy an award for being one of the most original at the exhibit, and she writes later about the importance of not letting criticism keep you from expressing yourself.

Review:

This one deserves as much of a weird look as modern art.

It’s a bit better than I remember on a second reading, but the fact is it seems very “awkward” compared to the others. I’m not sure if Fluttershy’s comments about the “grotesquery” of her art are supposed to be serious or her just overreacting, but it comes off as oddly serious between the style of the comic and the setup. Maybe I just don’t understand “art-speak”…

The pacing is weird based on the art style. The thing is Rarity’s Micro-Series seemed to run unnaturally long because there was a lot of dialog crushed into a lot of small panels. This one is only a little dialog in a lot of big panels, and so the entire story reads a lot faster. It gives the impression of a much smaller and less-poignant story. With less allusions and gags compared to other arcs, as well as less emotion and the fact that, as in Rainbow Dash’s arc, Fluttershy somewhat “shares the spotlight” with Rarity, and it doesn’t make for a really “feels” story.

Lastly, there’s the fact that this arc came out before Season Four’s “Filli Vanilli”, when this same kind of story was handled better: Fluttershy has a love for something artistic that she’s too embarrassed to show everyone and learns to not let fear of rejection hold her back. This one, I suppose, is a bit superior in telling the moral because it hits the fact that it doesn’t matter what people say; to paraphrase the fansong “Magic”: “The most important thing is to enjoy what you do.” But overall it’s a much more condensed and less-entertaining story, and the gamut of emotions Fluttershy goes through seems to be somewhat random.

So in short…yeah, the message is good and it’s alright, but I don’t think it measures up to the rest of the Micro-Series.

Fun Facts:

When Fluttershy sees the poster, I think she’s drawn in such a way that she practically looks like her Equestria Girls humanized counterpart. Maybe it’s just me…

When we first see the “Chamber of Extreme Knitting”, one of the knit sculptures is one of the gremlins from Rainbow Dash’s Micro-Series. Didn’t need a reminder of that…

When Angel tries to encourage Fluttershy to participate, one of the guises he puts on has a long curvy mustache. That may be Salvador Dali.

The various artworks in the gallery are scenes from the show and the comic series “artistically redone”.

The “knit wig” Pinkie Pie is wearing in the last panel bears a striking resemblance to the ones she brings along for Season Four’s “Rainbow Falls”. Intriguing as that episode hadn’t come out when this comic was published.

Rating:

2.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #3 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #3): “Rarity”

Tags

Flax Seed, IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Rarity, review, Wheat Grass

Synopsis:

Rarity has been working herself to the bone getting ready for the upcoming Canterlot Fashion Extravaganza. To try and get her to relax, Applejack suggests she tries out a place called “Flax & Wheat’s New Age All-Natural Wellness Center” she found in one of her farmer’s almanacs. Rarity, expecting a luxurious spa treatment, soon finds out that the “center” is little more than a run-down hippie commune, and instead of rejuvenating treatments Rarity finds herself doing farm labor and chores every day. The only silver lining is every evening she’s given a complimentary all-natural beauty product that works amazingly well. Yet after three days of it she refuses to slave any more and goes up to Flax and Wheat demanding the money she paid for the remaining days back so she can be off. The two nervously admit they spent it already. They’re a month from losing their home and having the property turned into a new Rich’s Barnyard Bargains if they can’t come up with a great deal of money, and the “wellness center” was their last hope, but Rarity was the only guest they received. Furthermore, all of the labor she had been doing on the farm had actually gone into making the beauty products she had gotten each night. Realizing their all-natural products are high quality items, Rarity assists in streamlining, merchandising, branding, and finally advertising the commune’s products so that they become a smashing success in Canterlot. On the night of the Canterlot Fashion Extravaganza, Rarity’s own line is a success as is “F&W”‘s. Twilight Sparkle writes a letter to Celestia about Rarity being able to see past her own discomfort to help ponies in need, and Celestia, while giving herself a beauty treatment with F&W goods, wonders why Twilight just didn’t walk 40 feet toward her while she was there and tell her in person…

Review:

Of the various Micro-Series, Rarity’s is one of the ones that’s the most “spot-on” with the show’s nature. It definitely feels the most like one of the comic arcs so far, and perhaps has a bit too much older-centered goofiness in it, but overall…this one feels much more in the spirit of the show. They might do it a bit differently, but I can totally see this one becoming an episode.

It’s funny, charming, has a bit of heart and drama in it, and does what the Micro-Series should do and highlights Rarity well, both her good points and bad. Sure, she seems like a bit of a prude and priss earlier in the story, but in the end her generous nature comes to the rescue. She conveys both being ladylike as well as intelligent and clever. The various OC ponies in this series are all well done too. I like how Flax Seed’s pupils are never “normal sized”, as if he’s always spaced out (which he is), and the other characters are kind of nice too. Very colorful and well-drawn too.

All in all, another great entry in the series.

Fun Facts:

Also known as “How Rarity Got Her Groove Back”, a takeoff of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”.

While fumbling for compliments for Rarity at the beginning, Spike ends up saying: “Punctual?” That might be an allusion to a similar scene in Disney’s “Aladdin”.

At the party, Rainbow Dash appears to be drunk off of cider.

Flax Seed definitely looks like his brain has been fried by too much LSD. 😛

When Rarity calls Flax “Mr. Flax”, he answers: “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Mr. Flax was my father.” This is a knockoff of a similar joke in Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”.

The posters in the barn include “The Baboons”, a takeoff of “The Monkees”, and “Celestia Superstar”, which might be a takeoff of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. O_O The panels in which these are featured are in the shape of a peace symbol.

In the panel where Rarity is sleeping and dreaming, Luna shoots by holding a banner with Fluttershy’s Lullaby from “Stare Master”.

Rarity has pictures in her luggage of Spike, Opal, and…Applejack… Take that however you like.

Tempeh goes on and on about soy products in a way similar to how Bubba in “Forrest Gump” went on and on about shrimp dishes.

The Flim-Flam Brothers scammed Flax and Wheat out of their land. That “side plot” would later be continued in the tenth and final Micro-Series.

Derpy appears as a mailpony in this comic. I’m not sure if this was the first depiction of her delivering the mail or if it came from the fandom.

In spite of being a hippie mare herself, Wheat Grass seems to hate Flax Seed’s own “spacey” personality.

While it hasn’t appeared in the show yet, this issue ended up referenced by G.M. Berrow’s novel “Daring Do and the Marked Thief of Marapore”, as at one point Daring Do ends up using a muscle relaxant labeled “Goops for Stuff”.

Rating:

3.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #2 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #2): “Rainbow Dash”

Tags

Applejack, Gremlins, IDW, IDW comic, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Rainbow Dash, review, sonic double rainboom

Synopsis:

Rainbow Dash is getting to highlight the Summerfell Festival alongside the Wonderbolts, pulling off her infamous “Sonic Rainboom” for an adoring crowd. However, when she tries to push it even harder (the 20% Faster version), she ends up messing up her wings and crash landing into a strange rain cloud. Apparently, the cloud is inhabited by gremlins who feed off of the sadness and misery of others, and they torment the flightless Rainbow Dash and throw her out of the cloud to feed off of her failure at the faster Sonic Rainboom. Soon the cloud is growing over town and causing a negative feedback loop of creating more depression, feeding off of it, and then growing larger to cause even more depression. Rainbow Dash makes it her personal goal to rid Equestria of the cloud, but her first crash left her flightless for a week and her anxiety has led her to not only take it “easy” on the cloud, but each failure seems to make the cloud bigger and nastier. Rainbow Dash’s attempts to succeed, mostly to get her own confidence back at this point, escalate but still fail, only resulting in the cloud and gremlins getting stronger and stronger. Finally, after one attempt, she realizes even if she improves her own feelings, one pony doesn’t have enough positive feeling to dispel the cloud. Instead, at the risk of her own life, she puts literally everything she has into doing a “Sonic Double Rainboom” seen all over Equestria that fills it with so much positive feeling that it decimates the cloud and blows the gremlins out of Equestria. Two weeks later, Rainbow Dash is alive but seemingly permanently grounded. To encourage her, Applejack recruits her to help sell a special batch of apple goods that came from apples that grew as a result of the Double Rainboom. She surprisingly tosses one to Rainbow Dash, who catches it by instinct by taking off and flying again. Airborne once more, Rainbow Dash thanks Applejack by generating plenty of breeze for her to feel in her mane.

Review:

Unlike the first one in the series, this one can best be described by one word: “Huh?”

The last arc managed to go more “mature” than the show should have been without seeming too awkward. This one, however, crossed the line. Whereas the last one gave the sensation you were reading an adult story in a cartoon world, this one feels almost like a certainty. It almost loses the MLP element all together, in my opinion. The villains, in particular, seem like they’re from a different, more-mature comic in terms of their speech. It doesn’t match with their comical appearances, which don’t even really seem to mesh with the series. The setup of the story and its progression doesn’t really mesh with the series either. The pacing is a bit random, and the show has never really dealt with the issue of a character pushing themselves hard enough to permanently cripple themselves or even kill themselves…at least not in explicit terms.

To top it all off, Rainbow Dash ends up having to share a lot of her spotlight with Applejack in this one. The fact she’s the only other member of the Mane Six in the story and seems personally invested in her well-being, I’m sure, really excited the Appledash fans, but I thought it was just another bit of awkwardness.

On top of all of that, the story wasn’t terribly engaging. I suppose in a sense it was a roundabout way to get Rainbow Dash to care more about the happiness of others than herself, but it seemed very oddly paced and constructed. It left me more confused than inspired. It was so unusual and put together that I didn’t really get a grasp of Rainbow Dash seriously being crippled, so I couldn’t really “feel” for the resolution.

All in all, a very odd arc. Too odd to me to be terribly enjoyable. One of the “duds” of the Micro-Series.

Fun Facts:

The Cutie Mark of the newscaster is “PNN”, like “CNN”.

The gremlins vaguely look like variations on Ren and Stimpy.

The gremlin mentions Mule Tzu in “The Start of War”, a take off of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”.

The “Double Rainboom” may have been the series reflecting back on itself, as that’s also the name of a famous fan-made episode. Probably why it’s specifically called “Sonic Double Rainboom”.

“Ah! The happiness! The goggles! They do nothing!” is a parody of a quote from Ramir Wolfcastle on “The Simpsons”.

Rainbow Dash’s house has been tethered to the ground while she’s flightless.

The “special crop of apples” that Applejack grew seems to be Zap Apples.

Rating:

2 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Micro-Series #1 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro-Series Issue #1): “Twilight Sparkle”

Tags

IDW, IDW comic, Jade Singer, Micro-Series, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, review, Twilight Sparkle

Synopsis:

Twilight Sparkle is, much to her relief, having her Intermediate Level Two Magic test postponed. Instead she has to serve as the live-in assistant of Summer Mane, the Royal Library Archivist, for the next few days while she recovers from a broken hoof. At first, Summer refuses to even let her inside, until she makes up a lie that she’ll be replaced if she doesn’t let Twilight help her. Summer Mane turns out to be curmudgeony, unpleasant, sharp, disapproving of everything, and insults Twilight every chance she gets. Nevertheless, she stays on and does her job as an assistant exceptionally well, and after a few days of trying to find fault in everything she does, Summer discovers Twilight is a lot like her and the two slowly begin to form a friendship based around their love of reading. After easing up considerably, Summer leaves one morning to get a pie for the two of them, and Twilight sees the door to her office cracked open. Although she was warned sternly to never go in, Twilight sneaks a peek and Summer, coming back for her checkbook, sees her and yells at her. After a day of no talking, she tells her to pack up and leave and she doesn’t care if she’s replaced. Twilight, weeping at losing a friend, confesses it was a lie she made up to get her to let her in, which prompts Summer to admit she said the same thing when she first took the job. After hesitating, Summer Mane makes a confession that she’s an infamous author (and Twilight’s favorite) who disappeared after her first widely successful book: Jade Singer. She became a recluse because she never expected her tremendous fame from her first book and was scared that she would be expected to “top it”, although she never stopped writing. Twilight admits the same thing happened to her when her entrance exam in Canterlot made her Celestia’s personal student, but she says her friends helped her to get through it, and now Jade has one in her. Some time later, Jade puts out her second book which is lauded as better than her first, and Princess Celestia writes Twilight a letter about friendship: thanking her for helping her bring back her own friend.

Review:

Before I get started, a bit of a review for the series as a whole…

The IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic series is still going strong, having been renewed after its original termination issue. But there have been other comic series that have since done their full run. One of these was the “Micro-Series”. Unlike the main drag, this one was a series of one-issue “shorts”, each one of which was devoted to one of ten characters: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Princess Celestia, Spike, and Princess Luna. I picked them up in case they went off the shelves later. I didn’t expect much. I figured these would be more child-orientated and the main series was what was really to focus on.

Boy, was I wrong.

If you haven’t picked up the Micro-Series, which is now compiled in the two volumes of the “Pony Tales”, I recommend it. Not only are many of these one-issue stories much more in the spirit of the more “hearty” episodes of the TV series, many of them are rather endearing and entertaining. They have humor, drama, and most of all heart. Granted, there’s a couple “duds” in the mix too, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually think the Micro-Series outdoes the main comic in numerous ways. True, it drifts close to being too “mature” for the series more than once, and in more dramatic ways than the main series comic, but I think overall it’s great. I was very pleasantly surprised. Maybe they’ll have a sequel Micro-Series.

Anyway, enough of the build-up. Let’s start strong with the issue devoted to the main character of the Mane Six: Twilight Sparkle.

This is probably the most “mature” plot ever done in the entire series to date. It goes a bit above and beyond after-school special and reads more like a narrative short story. As such…it’s awkward. I already ragged on Comic Arc #7 being awkward for being something the show doesn’t do, but this one isn’t so much a MLP:FIM story as a serious short story being acted out in cartoon pony format. While it may be appropriate for the Y-rated crowd, I think at least Y7, if not higher, is the minimum age group that can appreciate it. It’s not often that you need something rated higher not due to violence or content but due to comprehension level.

That said…I loved it. It’s touching, it’s realistic, it’s sweet… Even if it missed the mark of the kid audiences all together, it was still great. While I do penalize it for being a bit too much out of context with the rest of the series, it’s really great. It’s loaded with allusions like most stories in the comics but these are all ones you have to be a more “thinking type” to get rather than just a fanboy. In a sense, this is a lot like an “adult” version of “A Friend in Deed” from Season Two. Instead of making the “old fuddy duddy” in this one comically curmudgeony, we’re treated to a portrait of someone who hasn’t grown bitter so much with time as has learned to use that as a defense. An individual who wasn’t scarred by tragedy but scarred by success and spent the rest of her life doubting herself. It may not be too terribly a common problem, but it is one. And it’s one Twilight herself deals with all the time on the show. What makes it more endearing is you realize Twilight sees a lot of herself in Jade. The dinner sequences are the best as you can see two not-terribly-social characters really longing for companionship but not knowing how to deal with it or how to ask for it.

At it’s heart, it’s a story about making a friend and keeping one. Rather simple, but it tells it amazingly well.

Fun Facts:

I’m sorry, there’s no easy way to put it…this is the sloppiest-drawn story in the entire IDW MLP:FIM series.

Most of the allusions in this one are for more mature and “well-read” audiences.

One of the mispronunciations of Twilight’s name Summer Mane says is “Twylek”. A Twylek is one of the alien races in the Star Wars Universe.

When dismissing Twilight Sparkle’s reading habits, she says she probably only reads comic books or “maybe that silly series with the vampire pony”. This is an allusion to the “Twilight” series. (Twilight…get it? :3)

The character Jade Singer is a takeoff of J.D. Salinger, just as her story “Canter in the Sky” is a knockoff of “The Catcher in the Rye”. Her story is somewhat similar to Salinger’s, as that was his only novel and propelled him to unexpected success. However, Salinger published other short stories before and after “The Catcher in the Rye”. She may also be partially inspired by Harper Lee, who only published a single book herself: “To Kill A Mockingbird”. (On a fun note, Lee will soon have only her second book ever published.)

The first book Twilight Sparkle has to shelf is: “How To Train Your Baby Dragon”. While the title is obviously a knockoff of the “How To Train Your Dragon” series, it seems to actually be a true How-To book here.

“The Boogie Woogie Pony Boy of Stable C.” is a knockoff of “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”. Between the two panels where Summer Mane sings, you can see her Cutie Mark has eroded, giving a hint at the resolution.

“I Have No Snout and I Must Whinny”, both based on the title as well as the discussion Twilight and Summer have about it, is likely a pony version of “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, a classic sci-fi horror story.

Rating:

3.5 Stars out of 5