My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #17 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #34-37): “Siege of the Crystal Empire”

Tags

changelings, Chrysalis, Crystal Empire, Crystal Heart, Fiendship is Magic, Flim-Flam Brothers, IDW, IDW comic, Iron Will, King Sombra, Lightning Dust, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Princess Amore, Princess Cadance, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Queen Chrysalis, Radiant Hope, Siege of the Crystal Empire, Sombra, Twilight Sparkle, Umbra, Umbrum, unicorn

Synopsis:

A mysterious hooded pony appears in the middle of the Arctic and walks south into Equestria. Once there, the individual recruits the Flim-Flam Brothers, Iron Will, and Lightning Dust; offering them the chance to get their pride back and/or revenge against the Mane Six if they agree to work with the unseen figure. Cut to soon after, where the Mane Six are helping Shining Armor and Princess Cadance set up the first Crystal Faire since the one that was held when the Crystal Empire reappeared. However, suspicions are stirred when the Flim-Flam Brothers show up with a new “lemonade squeezer” along with Iron Will supposedly acting as a tourist and Lightning Dust being there just to harass guests. Things explode soon after when the lemonade squeezer turns out to have been used to smuggle in a fourth ally that the hooded pony recruited, Queen Chrysalis, and a swarm of Changelings. They, along with Lightning Dust, cause a diversion that allows Iron Will to seize the Crystal Heart and try and run off with it. The Mane Six and Shining Armor leap into action and manage to catch everyone, imprisoning them in crystal cages until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna arrive; but Chrysalis taunts them, saying that the whole point of everything was to leave the castle unguarded. Sure enough, the girls and Shining Armor discover that the Crystal Heart was swapped out of Iron Will’s possession. The hooded pony has it now and takes it into the palace, entering in Sombra’s old secret passages (unknowingly followed by Princess Cadance). On arriving in his old study, the figure reveals herself to be Radiant Hope, somehow still alive after 1,000 years in spite of still being a unicorn. A shadow with a disembodied horn, what King Sombra has managed to rebuild himself into, appears and accuses her of betraying him 1,000 years earlier and having come to finish the job. However, she insists that she came to “make things right”, and uses her power on him…causing Sombra to once again regain his physical form.

The backstory from “Fiendship is Magic #1” is briefly recapped, and shows what happened afterward. After the Crystal Empire vanished, Hope studied briefly with Celestia and Luna, but couldn’t stop thinking about the loss of her home and, moreover, felt that she had betrayed Sombra. She ended up following where he went into the Arctic and encountered the same crystal he did, and ended up speaking with the Umbra. Although they couldn’t escape, the Umbra brought her into their prison, where she saw them as delicate, friendly pixie creatures. Hope became convinced that the Umbra were innocent and merely wanted to be free from an unjust imprisonment, and now seeks to help Sombra, as their “champion”, to free them. Sombra is doubtful, having already seen himself as a monster reflected in the Crystal Heart, but on seeing that Hope has the Crystal Heart and it can’t be used against him doesn’t care; he bursts forth to conquer the Crystal Empire a second time. After emerging, he frees Chrysalis and her minions, Iron Will, Lightning Dust, and the Flim-Flam Brothers, and joins in with them. The new alliance is too powerful for the Mane Six and all are captured, with Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle having their magic sealed as well. However, at that moment, Celestia and Luna arrive. Sombra cuts Luna off before she can reveal the existence of Cadance to him, and he engages Celestia while Chrysalis engages Luna. For a moment it looks as if Celestia will get the upper hand, until Hope intercedes and shoots her while she’s distracted, and Sombra uses the moment to turn both Celestia and Luna to stone.

Sombra turns his attention to Twilight Sparkle next, who defiantly refuses to submit. Fortunately, due to only recently regenerating, Sombra lacks the power to finish her and decides to leave her be and focus on the other Umbra. Yet when Chrysalis overhears that, she grows upset. She reveals she was alive before the Umbra were locked away and claims they were horrendous, destructive monsters that only brought despair, and as they plan to bring all of Equestria the same despair they’ll leave nothing for her and the Changelings to feed on. Once Sombra and Hope retreat to the palace, Chrysalis and her swarm move to leave Equestria all together in search of more food, leaving her “allies” behind but also pulling Twilight Sparkle out of the cage so she can suffer being unable to stop Equestria from being destroyed. Back in the palace, Sombra gives Hope the cold shoulder and retreats to his study, brooding over something. Once Hope is alone, Cadance reveals herself to her. After some arguing, Cadance learns from Hope about her encounters with the other Umbra and how they kept her alive and young for 1,000 years so that she could assist Sombra now. After hearing her side, Cadance asks to be shown the Umbra. If they are truly as innocent and peace-loving as Hope says, she agrees to help free them; but if they are truly monsters then Hope must help her stop Sombra. Hope agrees and teleports her to the crystal, and both enter. Although the prison area is ghastly, rotten, and foul smelling, Cadance meets with an Umbrum named Rabia and finds her as happy, cute, and innocent as Hope described. Nevertheless, Rabia says they don’t fully trust a princess and Cadance must agree not to use even the smallest amount of magic while in their realm. Cadance agrees and is led with Hope to see the other Umbra. She’s nearly convinced they’re truly innocent until one Umbrum plays a hide-and-seek game, and Cadance, forgetting her promise, uses a small spell to help find her. As it turns out, the power of her love-based magic, the same as Princess Amore’s, causes the Umbra to revert into their true forms: hideous, ghastly, rotten monstrosities with matching twisted and horrendous natures. They reveal they had been tricking Hope all this time by telling her what she wanted to hear: that Sombra was really an innocent pony on the inside. To her horror, they reveal that Sombra is truly as horrible and grotesque as the rest of them. They used their power to hide his true nature behind a veil of pony flesh so that he could escape the prison and prepare the way from the rest of them, going so far as to hide his true nature from himself. They also reveal their hate for Hope as her attempts to help him in the past kept keeping him from manifesting his true nature. Using her magic (which the Umbra can’t stand), Cadance brings herself and Hope out of the prison, and Hope then teleports them to Sombra to get him to stop. As it turns out, Sombra long ago discovered the door locking the Umbra away in their prison; but he never opened it because, in spite of his wickedness, deep down inside he feared that the Umbra were good and pure and that he was the only “monster” among them. During this time, however, the Mane Six have united their power to enable Twilight Sparkle’s magic, allowing her to free them, and they have rushed to confront him. Twilight charges her magic to blast Sombra down in revenge, but Hope jumps in front of him and takes the shot. While the blast doesn’t kill her, the injury alone is enough to push Sombra over the edge; causing him to free the Umbra.

Cut to some time after. The Umbra have conquered the Crystal Empire and instated King Sombra now as “Emperor Sombra”, with Hope, while still recovering, as Empress. However, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance covered the escape of the others and destroyed the train tracks behind them so they couldn’t be chased down. In retribution, the Umbra turn Shining Armor to stone and move to do the same to the two princesses, but Twilight manages to trick them into doing it in the same place the Crystal Heart once stood so that everyone can see them defeated. The Umbra begin to bring out everyone to watch, and Sombra goes to get Hope; still looking unhappy and unsatisfied in spite of his position of victory. On seeing how Sombra is going to continue to conquer until there are no enemies left and the Umbra have destroyed everything, Hope finally turns hostile toward him and begun to call him a true monster; something that causes him genuine discomfort and hurt. When Sombra says this was always his destiny, Hope bitterly points out that the Crystal Heart also said she would become an alicorn princess, but she chose not to accept that destiny so she could instead help him; hoping that by now he would have realized he could choose his own destiny. At the dias for the Crystal Heart, before Sombra can act, the rest of the Mane Six with reinforcements attack; now seeing the princesses out in the open and attempt to rescue them. Unfortunately, the Umbra are more than a match for them and they tell Sombra to turn Twilight and Cadance to stone now to destroy their final hope. However, Hope interjects and brings out the Crystal Heart instead; saying that if he destroys that the Umbra can never be sealed away again. Sombra takes the heart and looks at it, mentioning aloud he sees nothing now other than himself exactly as he is. He then says “thank you” to Hope before restoring the Crystal Heart to its previous position, sealing away the Umbra even though it means sealing himself away too. As Sombra begins to fade, he expresses happiness that he finally saw the Crystal Faire. He tells Hope not to hide herself away again but to share her talent and bring good to Equestria. However, Hope refuses to let Sombra be sealed away and tries to use her power on him again. Alone she can’t do it, but the four alicorn princesses, forgiving Sombra and to thank him for saving the Crystal Empire, unite their power with hers and are able to turn Sombra into a normal unicorn. Now having a “second chance”, Sombra announces his intention to find the pieces of Princess Amore and restore her to life. Hope goes with him, and the two friends run off together out of the Crystal Empire; the lesson being that true friends can see goodness inside you even if you can’t see it in yourself.

Review:

I should dislike this arc a lot more than I do.

The fact of the matter is it’s rather clunky. All of the normal main characters are there for gimmicks or are effectively side characters. This might be the least contribution we’ve ever seen from the Mane Six, and the humor and intrigue they add is minimal. This might be the least important Twilight Sparkle has ever been to an arc. This arc is all about Sombra and Radiant Hope, pure and simple. It’s nothing more than an extension of Fiendship is Magic #1. When you boil it down to just their part of the story, there isn’t much going on in this one. Hence why there had to be a complicated “villain team-up” in the first part of this arc.

That, to me, is the biggest dud portion of this arc. That part is just…odd, and it seems as if the writers couldn’t really get it to work out. Similar to “Magic Duel”, which elevated the Great and Powerful Trixie into dangerous villain levels after simply being a minor antagonist in her other appearance, now we have that happening three-fold, and it’s far more unbelievable. The Flim-Flam Brothers want to make profits by conning ponies. There’s a rather wide gulf between that and wanting to unleash an army of monsters under the promise of getting wealth. Iron Will has already shown off his “softer side” in the “Friends Forever” issues, which this comic alluded to with Fluttershy. While he may be rough and mean at points, I don’t see him honestly trying to assist in the conquering of Equestria after that arc. Lightning Dust was never supposed to be a “nice” character, but this arc pushes her into OOC range. Based on the timing of this issue, I think I know what happened. The writers planning this arc originally wanted it to be Gilda Griffon, but about the time they had to be writing up the panels “The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone” would have come out. Obviously, there’s no way Gilda would have gone alone with the villain team-up after that episode, so they had to swap her out with Lightning Dust. (Honestly, you can imagine the pre-Season Five Gilda substituted in for Lightning Dust, especially with her taunting and insults.)

The worst, however, is Chrysalis. While the other villains seem to have been pushed “too heavy” in this arc, Chrysalis has been pushed “too light”. She seems to be almost more of an annoyance than a threat in this one. I remember as this arc came up I was rather stunned at the thought of a team-up between Chrysalis and King Sombra against the Mane Six. I expected something rather dramatic and dynamic from that. Instead, Chrysalis is treated almost like a comic supervillain regular; one who just pops in to harass the superheroes for an issue or two before popping out to fight another day. The comic has devoted considerable time and energy to making Chrysalis genuinely malevolent, cunning, and diabolical. And yet it treated her the same as the throwaway antagonists like the Flim-Flam Brothers.

I actually like the scene where she briefly “butts heads” with King Sombra. It’s a rare opportunity to get more in the heads of two villains at a time. And yet, after that, Chrysalis has no more relevance to the plot and simply flies away. Really? She’s just going to leave it at that? She’s not even going to try and feed on Twilight or the Mane Six? It has the feel of both wasted potential and a plot hole. Worse than that is what happens to the others. They literally just…disappear. Did they evacuate the Crystal Empire? Did they run and hide? Did they stay together and decided to do a smaller team-up? Did they end up having no more relevance to anything so the writers dumped them off panel?

When it’s awkward to bring villains together, the only thing more awkward is making them suddenly disappear. It makes you wonder why they bothered having them there at all.

This arc does something anyone who reads my reviews knows I dislike: a Have-It-All ending. Now granted, if you read this regularly, you’ve seen my review of the “Reflections” arc. In retrospect I may have been a tad too hard on that arc, but I mostly stand by my rating, so you’re probably thinking that I’m just never happy…slamming that arc for ending too badly and this arc for ending too well. Well, let it be known that the main reason I penalized “Reflections” for the ending was because it manufactured a plot device to have a bad end; suddenly making good and evil physical quantities that could easily be removed and transferred rather than a reflection of one’s identity, desires, and choices. In this case, similarly, a plot device was kind of manufactured to allow Sombra to both make his sacrifice as well as exist after it was done.

There’s a character who, on the second reading, I’m kind of starting to get a sour feeling about: Radiant Hope. The fact that as soon as Radiant Hope reveals herself she’s normally drawn with an innocent-seeming expression and a big “doe-eyed” look serves to cover up the fact she wasn’t a terribly nice or innocent character for the bulk of this arc. Even her “good intentions” are mostly blotted out when you think about the fact she genuinely planned to let the other villains have their way…including by letting Chrysalis and the Changelings devour/conquer their fill of Equestria. Or the fact that she was willing to let Sombra not only petrify her former teachers, but was likely willing to let them do the same thing he did to Princess Amore. Based on her actions in this arc, it’s likely she has little love for the other Crystal Ponies as well as she ignores how Sombra enslaved and tortured them, which was clear in the Season Three premiere. (That sort of makes sense given her background, but it’s also another point against her.) So in the end, when you think about it, the only reason Hope got angry at all and confronted Sombra really had nothing to do with his plans of conquest but rather was because “the Umbra weren’t cute anymore”. They literally could have done almost everything else, and so long as they “looked sweet and innocent” Hope would have been fine with it. Possibly her only complaint would have been them conquering more than the Crystal Empire, although she was perfectly fine with Chrysalis doing that instead. That’s…pretty damn shallow. It’s starting to make her look like another certain character who is canon who was willing to destroy Equestria to accomplish one selfish and petty end…

Last but not least, it’s the Nightmare Rarity arc again in many respects. A character gets manipulated by evil, non-corpeal entities that want to take over Equestria. Many of the Umbra, as horrific as they look, remind me a lot of the nightmares both in terms of manner and speech.

So with all of that said, one might think I should loathe this storyline. Yet as it turns out, I find myself biased toward the good aspects.

One is Cadance. You’ve heard me complain for a while that she has no real character or purpose for being there, other than she’s a “fairy princess”. While this arc may have not fully knocked that view of her aside, I think it made some giant steps. This is probably the first arc in which Cadance not only feels as important as Twilight Sparkle but not in a “forced” way; that there’s reason for her to be there other than as a plot device. Season Five made a lot of attempts to make Cadance more “regular” on the show, but the fact of the matter was she still wasn’t doing much of anything in her appearances. The comic has handled that better.

I honestly like the interaction with Hope in Issue #36. She’s at first opposed to Hope’s idea, and understandably so. If the Umbra really are what all the legends say they are, then she really can’t afford to let them out to “check”. She’s the ruler of the Crystal Empire now. She has responsibilities and ponies to protect. But when she hears that there’s a way to meet with them while they’re still imprisoned, she’s actually understanding. She says: “Alright, give me a chance to meet them for myself. If you’re right, then alright, I’ll side with you.” And this is after she saw her brother and sister-in-law imprisoned and Celestia and Luna, one of which is her adopted mother, turned to stone. That…might actually be a virtue above “being nice” to start giving Cadance her own character. Willing to hear the side of her enemies and give them a berth. Willing to see the side of her tormenters in that situation. And if you notice, even when Cadance accidentally reveals the true nature of the Umbra, she doesn’t immediately “think they’re bad”. While she’s put off by the appearance, she doesn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that they’re evil.

And the other nice part, a bit to my own surprise, was the character of Sombra.

For a while I thought the comic writers were starting to rely on him too much as a gimmick. Too much to use him for a character for a given situation. But then, I made a realization. It was the actual show that was using him for a gimmick. Just for a generic evil antagonist for the Season Three premiere. By comparison, that makes him perfect for the comic. Literally the less that was known about him in the series, the more the comic writers are free to do what they like. In the series, he barely had any lines and reformed himself just to get whacked. That basically allows the comic writers to go nuts with backstory, sequels, and character. A character like him is an untapped gold mine; someone who was important to the series and yet largely a MacGuffin.

Fanfiction writers are free to take any character and do whatever they want with them. By comparison, the IDW writers need to keep all the established ones not only in character, but be mindful of future development. Since Sombra has neither problem…yeah, I actually agree that all of this material they did with him both in “Reflections” and “Siege of the Crystal Empire” is actually good.

The writers have actually managed to turn a show character into a (potentially) regular male character for the comic series, which is something as male characters are still lacking in the actual series. And I thought it wasn’t too bad of a turn.

Lastly, “Reflections” still left a sour taste in my mouth, and I don’t think I was alone. While this ending was Have-It-All, it wasn’t quite as bad as some Have-It-All endings. The writers clearly wanted to give some, pardon the pun, hope for the future after the conclusion of that arc by having a happy ending to this one. And with a character that the comic has “claimed for its own” being free to do with as they like, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The arc honestly does have a ton of flaws, but…I don’t know. They’re a bit easier to “overlook” on this one. Does it necessarily make it good? It makes it more dramatic. The character interactions are probably slightly too mature for the show, but here they work out fairly well. Still, if you’re a Sombra hater or only see him as “Pony Sauron” after the Season Five finale, it’s unlikely you’ll like this arc. Conversely, if you’re ambivalent toward him…that’s enough to rate this arc just slightly above average overall.

Fun Facts:

“My Little Pony: Fiendship is Magic #1” was essentially the prelude to this entire arc.

This comic indicates, at least in the “comic universe”, that the Crystal Empire existed long before Equestria.

I couldn’t help but notice the word “everybody” is frequently used in this arc…instead of “everypony”. :3

Iron Will’s seminar features a schedule showing that an investment seminar by Well-To-Do has been canceled. Mr. Well-To-Do was another minotaur from the earlier arc “The Root of the Problem”. Presumably it was canceled because he was devoured. 😛

In the flashback, Hope appears to be talking to a Breezie and a Parasprite. As a result, it’s never really clear if the Umbra were tricking her even as a foal or if she was just not “quite right in the head”.

In a bit of a plot hole, King Sombra remembers Twilight Sparkle, but has no knowledge of Princess Cadance in spite of her being the one who shattered him as well as the one who’s been living in his former palace and going through his things.

Another reference to the Attica Prison Riot, when Pinkie Pie shouts “Attica!” after being locked in the cage.

Cadance is able to finally pull off the spell that opens the way to Sombra’s private chambers, with Hope pointing out that you can only do it if you feel genuine rage. This is something of an allusion to the true power of the Crucius Curse in “Harry Potter”, which can only reach its full potential if the user genuinely wants the victim to suffer. At any rate, it’s hinted that Cadance’s own rage is uncontrollable. Whether this will lead to a future arc or not is ambiguous.

The Umbra are genuinely very disturbing looking…probably too much for a Y-rated show. At any rate, in one panel they say “we’ve waited thounsands of years”.

The whole bit with trying to coerce the truth out of Cadance and the “Canterine” mention she makes is a rip-off of the scene in “Star Wars: A New Hope” in which the Empire threatens to destroy Alderaan unless Princess Leia reveals the location of the rebel base, and she gives them the fake location of Dantooine. Many of the lines in that scene are ripped directly from the film. While I think it’s kind of a clumsy ripoff, it’s actually a rather good allusion. The entire arc has pretty much the same theme as the original Star Wars Trilogy: a character still seeing good in an individual who has given himself over to evil, and, ultimately, redemption at the price of their own life.

Maud Pie makes (her first?) comic appearance, although she has no lines.

Rarity’s parents make a cameo appearance.

Discord helps in the final battle…a little. 😛 At any rate, he’s reading a comic. What comic? IDW’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, of course. 😀 The back of the comic has an ad for all the little gimmicks and doodads that were popularly sold via comic in the Silver Age. One of the products is Powdered Toast: an allusion to “Ren & Stimpy”.

Derpy and Thunderlane flank Rainbow Dash. Rainbow crashes right next to Hope. 🙂

In one panel, the Mane Six are stunned at the resolution…except Pinkie Pie, who simply offers cake.

When Hope says “you…killed her”, I think that’s the first time in the entire franchise the word “kill” has been used.

After Sombra becomes a unicorn, there is a tent behind him in one panel that advertises “Reflections – Custom Mirrors”. My guess is the writers were alluding back to the “Reflections” arc with that one. At the end of that arc, the “Mirror Universe” was supposed to now reflect Equestria rather than be its opposite. Does this mean Celestia’s old flame Mirror Sombra has also been restored? Time will tell.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #16 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #32-33): “Night of the Living Apples”

Tags

Applejack, apples, Bad Apple, Flutterbat, Fluttershy, Good Apple, IDW, IDW comic, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Night of the Living Apples, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, vampire, vampire fruit bat

Synopsis:

A mysterious meteor, a fragment leftover from the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, crash lands in Sweet Apple Acres. When Applejack goes to investigate, she is suddenly ambushed by apples that have spontaneously emerged from the trees around the impact site. The next day, while having a discussion over whether Cutie Marks represent a talent one just discovered or developing of a talent the individual loves, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Mane Six head out to Sweet Apple Acres to meet Applejack and find the farm has been taken over by sentient, evil apples. The apples absorb magic and use catapults to ground the pegasi, and soon the girls are captured before the apples move on to take over the town. After forcing Mayor Mare to sign a treaty of surrender, the entire town is enslaved by the apple leader, Bad Apple, into making catapults so they can conquer the rest of Equestria. Establishing a secret base in Fluttershy’s cellar, Twilight Sparkle temporarily turns Pinkie Pie into an apple to try and free Spike from Sweet Apple Acres to get a message to Princess Celestia. Although Pinkie fails to free him, she discovers another prisoner: Good Apple, who reveals they all came to life as a result of the meteor and claims the other apples are being manipulated by Bad Apple’s influence. On returning to the others, Twilight Sparkle gets an idea to fight back. First, she uses regressive hypnosis on Fluttershy to cause her to revert to her “Flutterbat” vampire fruit bat persona, then uses the same copy form spell she used on the Breezies to turn herself and the rest of the girls into vampire fruit bat ponies as well, only sentient.

The transformed Mane Six minus one begin to prey on the apples in town, but Flutterbat herself, who is considered too out of control, is confined in the basement. She eventually escapes to seemingly go on a wild rampage, and the girls, after freeing Spike and Bad Apple, find themselves overwhelmed by superior apple numbers. However, before they can get captured, it’s revealed Flutterbat gained control over her animal side and regained her own sentience, and she leads a flock of vampire fruit bat reinforcements to start decimating the apples. To combat this, the apples combine together to form one colossal apple construct with Bad Apple as the core (that looks suspiciously like Spike for some reason…). “Twilight Sparkling”, meanwhile, discovers the meteor and realizes it has trace magic from both Celestia and Nightmare Moon in it. She absorbs as much as she can, then puts it into Spike, who uses it via his dragon breath to launch the meteor back into space. As for the apple construct, “Rainbow Bite” shoots through it and replaces Bad Apple with Good Apple, who talks the other apples into relenting. In the conclusion, Princess Celestia gives the apples a new valley to build their society in, under the direction of Good Apple, and remarks how even if one has more negative tendencies inside them, they can choose to direct them to do something good (as Fluttershy did), and the CMCs learn the lesson that Cutie Marks are both a result of what you’re good at but also doing it in the most effective way from the experience.

Review:

I’m not really sure what’s the best way to characterize this arc. It has the zaniness of a standard episode, but also a touch of drama like some of the heavier episodes. I suppose the best category to lump it in with is the same as the Everfree Forest arc, although this one is a bit sillier than that with “killer apples”. Then again, unlike that arc, this one actually does try to have a Season-One-esque friendship lesson about it, or at least a lesson about Cutie Marks. Considering it came out in Season Five, it was good timing.

Alright, to get the elephant out of the room, it’s clear why this arc exists. It was a chance for the comics to highlight the favored one-shot character of Flutterbat. I’ll give it a bit more credit than that, however. While the plot was rather silly and somewhat contrived to be able to create a reason for Flutterbat to return and, more than that, to turn the rest of the girls into vampire fruit bat ponies as well, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There’s lots of silly one liners in this, Pinkie Pie as an apple is surprisingly entertaining, and the premise ends up being able to be not only silly but enjoyable and even a bit dramatic at points too. The girls as vampires is also entertaining, as all of them don’t fully “lose themselves” but they definitely get a darker quality to their persona. Something more savage and hungry.

I also thought the authors did an interesting take on Flutterbat. Rather than make her something that was just the result of a spell accident, they reveal that she’s actually something “permanent” inside Fluttershy’s personality. That she has the potential to come out at will from Fluttershy’s dark side and actually induce a physical change in the process. In that sense, Flutterbat is more like a Jekyll and Hyde type deal, which is an interesting development. There’s even a few panels in which Fluttershy and Flutterbat are talking to one another. So in a take on irony, while this arc balks the trend in the comics and ends up saying Nightmare Moon was always Princess Luna, it makes Flutterbat her own individual.

Is it anything earth-shaking like the Nightmare Rarity arc or even some of the other arcs? No, but it’s got a lot more fun and action than your standard fare, and it does a bit more with Flutterbat than just a basic callback. While it’s just a bit too silly to ever see this happening in an actual episode, it’s not too silly and the characters are believable for the given situation. So, all in all, I’d say this one is pretty good.

Fun Facts:

This entire arc is a homage not only to B-movies, but what is considered possibly the biggest B-movie of all time: “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”.

Both the “Nightmare Rarity” arc and Nightmare Moon’s arc in Fiendship is Magic pushed the idea that Nightmare Moon is actually a separate and distinct entity from Princess Luna. Oddly enough, this arc does the opposite, with Nightmare Moon, on crashing on the moon, looking hurt and saying: “How could you, sister?”

Nat Tally’s rapid calculation of how many apples are attacking is reminiscent of a similar line Mr. Spock had in the infamous TOS episode: “The Trouble with Tribbles”.

Pinkie Pie’s outfit at Fluttershy’s is reminiscent of French underground resistance during World War II.

Flutterbat originally appeared in Season Four’s “Bats” and was one of the favorite one-shot characters from that season. While she was more bat-like and an animal in that one as opposed to a true vampire, in this arc the angle that she’s a true vampire is definitely played up more.

As an interesting touch, this arc reveals that Flutterbat was never fully “cured”, but rather remains as an aspect of Fluttershy’s persona. Even more interesting is that it shows the two personalities are capable of interacting with one another.

The names of the vampire ponies are jokes in and of themselves. Twilight Sparkle becomes “Twilight Sparkling”, which is a knockoff of the infamous tendency for the vampires in the “Twilight” series to sparkle. (Later there’s a joke where she says to an apple her name is “Twilight. Sparkling. Vampire.”, and the apple says those sound like they would go good together.) Rainbow Dash becomes “Rainbow Bite”, a play on words of Rainbow Brite. Rarity becomes Nosfu-Rarity, a play on word of “nosferatu”, which literally translates to immortal but is used to refer to vampires. Finally, Pinkie Pie becomes “Drinkie Pie” and Applejack becomes “Appledrac”. In addition to the physical changes, many of the girls also put on collars. For Cutie Marks, Twilight Sparkle gets an apple in the middle of her sparkle, Pinkie Pie’s balloons turn into drops, Rarity gets red hourglass shapes instead of gems(?), Applejack’s Cutie Mark has bites taken out of her apples, and Rainbow Dash’s cloud on her Cutie Mark turns gray. In spite of Twilight’s insistence their personalities will stay the same, the girls are clearly more ravenous-acting and slightly more sadistic as vampires.

When Princess Celestia lists that everyone has bad aspects to their personality, she says “ego,  vanity, stubbornness”. In the same panel, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack are lined up; essentially pointing out their own “bad sides”.

In another Star Trek TOS reference, Twilight Sparkle, on remarking on the apple valley, says: “It would be interesting to return to this valley in the future and see what crop has sprung from the seed we planted.” This is a takeoff of Mr. Spock’s line from the end of the TOS episode “Space Seed”. (And hopefully that’s the only thing it has in common, because that episode served as the prelude to “The Wrath of Khan”. :P)

I’d say this arc uses more one-liners than any arc thus far.

One of the full-page bonus artworks features the girls as famous movie vampires, including from “The Lost Boys”.

Rating:

3.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #15 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #30-31): “Ponyville Days”

Tags

Applejack, IDW, IDW comic, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, opinion, Ponyville Days, review, Twilight Sparkle

Synopsis:

Princess Twilight Sparkle is this year’s PC for the annual Ponyville Days, and has decided the theme should be “Moving Forward, Looking Back Together”. Although she has to leave town for Canterlot for a few days, she leaves behind her theme and instructions before leaving. After she does, Mayor Mare announces that the first structure in Ponyville is to get a commemorative plaque honoring it and the youngest member of the associated family is to be the Ponyville Days princess. Unfortunately, a dispute soon arises as to whether Sweet Apple Acres should have been the first building or if Filthy Rich’s grandfather’s original store (where Canterlot Boutique is currently located) should have been the one. The dispute turns into an argument and splits the town in two, with Applejack heading one side and Rarity heading the other, and soon the two are feuding in a combination pie/ugly-dress fight and threatening to secede into two separate towns. When Twilight Sparkle returns, she puts a stop to the fight and appeals to the town, saying how she had been bragging about how the citizens were like family to one another and worked through any problem together; encouraging them to get along. Yet to her surprise, both sides of town refuse to reconcile and, although the fighting stops, everypony refuses to associate with anypony else. To make matters worse, Twilight’s report of the hospitality of the town was so great that record crowds of tourists are coming to Ponyville on Princess Celestia’s suggestion.

With nopony in town willing to work together to make Ponyville Days happen, Twilight gets desperate and, on a suggestion by Fluttershy, goes about town convincing individuals one at a time to contribute. In the end, she gets the entire town to do something out of friendship with her, although everypony refuses to help anypony else with their own parts. The tourists soon arrive, and on doing so the town is completely overrun and everypony is overwhelmed. All of them run to Twilight for guidance, but she’s screams that she’s just one pony and can’t fix this, urging the town again to work together to make things a success. The town agrees, and as a result everything ends up working out and everypony starts talking to one another again. Princess Celestia congratulates Twilight, and she comes up with a solution for the original problem and presents two plaques: one for the first residential building and one for the first commercial building.

Review:

To be honest, there’s one untapped idea that I thought bore some potential merit to it for the series. What would happen if one of Twilight Sparkle’s friendship speeches failed to accomplish it’s end? What if, at the point of an episode where she was supposed to say something to fix everything, it didn’t work out? This arc answers that question…assuming the answer was supposed to be: “I don’t know”.

This entire arc has the feel of a one-issue arc that ended up running a bit long. To it’s credit, it doesn’t seem very padded, but it also doesn’t seem to be anything of critical importance that merited having two full issues devoted to it. The plotline itself is nothing new. There was a similar episode on “The Simpsons” although the feud there was over phone number area codes rather than a plaque, and the idea of a feud where neither side would refuse to admit they were guilty of any wrongdoing on contribution to the problem would later be explored in Season Five’s “The Hooffields and McColts”. But like I said, it has the virtue of doing something no episode has done before. When Twilight breaks in, stops the fighting, and then gives her speech to everypony, that’s normally where everyone is supposed to admit they were wrong, make up, and go on to a happy ending. But no, it doesn’t happen that way this time. Everypony still hates each other. They only stop fighting because they think the fight itself was a waste of time, but they still think they’re all justified in their hate of each other. And so, the story isn’t over. Twilight doesn’t get to just say something and fix everything. That’s actually new and original, yet perfectly consistent with the show. So, what happens next?

Well, therein is the problem. The thing is while the plot itself was plausible, I think the comic writers went a bit overboard on the other characters. Applejack may be stubborn, and in Season Five’s “Hearthbreakers”, Pinkie Pie canonically outright called her “mean”. But this is too much for me. I can see her holding onto a grudge, but not only does this seem to go too far, I don’t think she’d be so mean as to spit back what Twilight tried for a reconciliation back in her face. And to imply that Rarity is just as stubborn is borderline OOC. About the only time I’ve ever seen Rarity be stubborn to a nasty degree was when she was being mind-trolled by Discord. Still, these are both things that could be overlooked.

What I personally can’t overlook is how this gets wrapped up. The plotline establishes that there isn’t going to be a quick fix. There isn’t going to be a friendship speech that reminds everypony about how close they are to one another or how they work together to solve everything. So, what will get them back together then? An even weaker friendship speech about working together to make Ponyville Days a success. Seriously, it doesn’t make much sense. Everypony agrees to help each other out simply because nopony can get anything done on their own, but does that mean they’d get back together because of that? Twilight says they all have to work together to fix this, but the problem is nopony wanted to do this anymore. They’re all just doing it for Twilight to begin with, not because they care about it being a success or even in helping the town. So why is it suddenly so important that they make it a success? And was something so simple supposed to make them stop the feud? Everypony was shallow enough to hate everypony else over a plaque and cling stubbornly to that, and this was supposed to fix it? Something so petty causing this much long-lasting trouble indicates it was never about the plaque to begin with but rather more deep-seated hatred that rallied around this. And all of that should still be there when this is done. Not to mention the solution only involved some residents working with others, not everypony working together? It just doesn’t really make sense.

So while the first half of this arc has some merit, the fact that it gets a totally pat resolution that seems to be forced in the first place points out that this arc was a bit too long for one issue so they created a sub-conflict where they were still mad at each other after Twilight’s speech to stretch it farther. As a result, we get something that had potential but never really capitalized on it. The interesting plot device ended up being just a gimmick to stretch things out. And all for a plot that wasn’t terrible original or interesting to begin with.

And because of that, this is one of my least favorite arcs.

Fun Facts:

Considering the sheer number of background ponies who get “screen time” in this arc, one would think it came after Season Five’s “Slice of Life”. (Right down to highlighting Gummy at one point.) However, the last issue was published three days before that episode premiered.

The idea of Ponyville Days was first visited in Season Four’s “Simple Ways”, although the background for this arc comes from Season Two’s “Family Appreciation Day”.

In one panel, Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara are glaring at each other with electricity going between them, which is a frequent convention used in anime and manga.

Minuette is drawing faces on Granny Smith posters, but doesn’t really seem to know why…

It seems to take a very long time for the crowd flying to Ponyville to get there…

As the show has hinted, Lebowski Pony does indeed appear to be a pony version of the Dude from “The Big Lebowski”, including using his sayings such as “tied the (blank) together” and “this pony abides”. So, technically, IDW beat the show to making it canon by three days. 🙂

At one point, Twilight mentions how the Ponyville Clock Tower didn’t work for a long time after being struck by lightning in an intense storm. This is likely an allusion to “Back to the Future”.

We never do find out what Twilight Sparkle was doing in Canterlot. 😛

Rating:

1 Star out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #14 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #29): (Untitled)

Tags

Cherry Blossom, IDW, IDW comic, Lucha Libre, Ms. Cheerilee, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, pro-wrestling, Rarity, review

Synopsis:

The Mane Six are attending a pro-wrestling match in Madisoat Square Garden, courtesy of Rainbow Dash scoring tickets. Rarity, turned off to the whole thing, walks out of a match where crowd favorite, the Masked Mare, is fighting and ends up running into a nervous Ms. Cheerilee. She confesses that the Masked Mare is actually Cherry Blossom, her twin sister who she’s been estranged from for years, and she was invited to the wrestling tournament to hopefully reconcile with her. However, when Rarity invites them both out to tea to help get them back together, the sisters get in an argument instead which ends up with Cherry spraining her ankle. Now unable to perform in the championship match against Iron Hock in three days, Cherry instead asks Cheerilee to fill in for her. Cheerilee reluctantly agrees and starts practicing to go through the match. Over the course of practice, in spite of being as good at her sister at wrestling, she confides in Rarity she hates the violence and aggressiveness of the act and didn’t get along with her twin because she was always the more “rough and tumble” type growing up, and that she’s too nervous to go out. Rarity responds by having Cheerilee (in the Masked Mare’s outfit and character) meet a group of her young fans, and in doing so she realizes even if Cherry is more “physical”, she still shares Cheerilee’s passion for making foals happy. Cheerilee ends up going through the match and, in spite of a last-minute tag-team addition (in which Rarity, herself in costume, jumps in to assist), everything goes well. The two sisters reconcile, and, when asked by Twilight how she had a mask for the wrestling match ready-to-go, Rarity answers it never hurts to be prepared.

Review:

I think the “Friends Forever” series is missing an issue…

It’s pretty clear after this issue is done that this was meant to be a “Friends Forever” story between Rarity and Ms. Cheerilee. I’m not sure why it was relocated here as “Friends Forever” hasn’t ended its run. Perhaps they had accidentally commissioned two issues at once, or they were trying to play for time to delay the premiere of the upcoming King Sombra arc so that it wouldn’t be penned until it was clear Season Five wouldn’t have any “new surprises”. For whatever reason, here it is.

Again, it’s not one of those arcs that really grabs you, which only figures as it has the feel of a “Friends Forever” story. It does show off the talent of the team behind the comic as they were able to expand on Ms. Cheerilee quite a bit, who has largely remained untouched in the actual series since “Hearts and Hooves Day”. The idea of one of the show-established characters having a twin was actually kind of interesting, although shortly into the story one can kind of guess how it was going to play into things.

But although it made a few attempts to for something more with “heart”, it’s really kind of overshadowed by the plot device to get all of this moving, which is the pro-wrestling. And…that part isn’t too good. You only have so many panels to work with and most was the build-up to the fight, and once it got there it wasn’t really wacky or dramatic. There’ve been other issues that featured a lot more sight gags at least.

Not so much here except for the interesting style. And this is where the earlier “unique” style first presented in “Friends Forever” comes out. Pro-wrestling has the virtue of being a topic that will probably never be hit on in the main series, but here the ponies are practically bipedal to make it work out. Between the masks, the style, and how they move…yeah, this is one where if you just showed certain panels or pages, I don’t think one would realize it was an MLP:FIM comic.

As for as the more dramatic parts, they’re kind of weak. The only thing we ever really get for why Cheerilee and Cherry Blossom hate each other is “one liked to roughhouse”, which isn’t really that great. I mean, I can see it. When you have twins, parents tend to always stick them together, and if one was shy and delicate and the other was aggressive and physical, that can cause some tension. But for them to greet each other with such venom and loathing when they meet at the tea shop? There has to be something else. Something that set them off or was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. The fact we don’t get into it kind of makes the story a bit contrived.

So it’s cute, interestingly drawn, and entertaining enough to hold your interest, but the payoffs it gives are somewhat weak. As a result, I’ll again mark this as solidly “meh”.

Fun Facts:

Amy Mebberson, the same individual who did the art for the “Friends Forever” with Rainbow Dash & Spitfire, did the artwork for this issue…so once again there is the “unique” look to the characters that was presented there.

The arena is called Madisoat Square Garden, a takeoff of Madison Square Garden.

Most of the wrestling that takes place in this issue is heavily “Lucha Libre” inspired, which is the Mexican variant on pro-wrestling. This is especially prevalent in the heavy use of masks. In actual Lucha Libre, the mask is more important and is never to be removed in public, but here it seems to simply be a costume choice. As another takeoff of Lucha Libre, Rarity’s “ring name” is Diamande Elegante. The biggest takeoff, of course, is that it ends up everything was staged, including all of the Masked Mare’s opponents.

I think the main reason Cheerilee’s sister is named Cherry Blossom is so there’s a faux-running gag of the two talking to each other through the issue, using “Cherry” and “Cheery”. The problem is it’s rather confusing at times.

One of the posters at the doctor’s office is a takeoff of the old “hang in there” poster, only it features a pony instead and says “hoof in there”…which is kind of odd. Later, a TV program called “Dr. Philly” is running. I don’t know whether to be more surprised at a takeoff of “Dr. Phil”…or stunned that there is television in Equestria.

As possibly a “meta humor” joke, right after Rarity enters the ring, the next panel cuts to the end of the match, and Ms. Cheerilee seems confused on how they won in the first place. 😛

Since the Mane Six are all there but seemingly have little to do, in the back of one of the panels, Pinkie Pie is trying out a wrestling leg-lock on Applejack. She seems to have the hang of it. Later she does a body slam. O_O

Rating:

2.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #12 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issues #27-28): “The Root of the Problem”

Tags

Applejack, Blackthorn, Bramble, Everfree Forest, Fluttershy, IDW, IDW comic, King Aspen, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, review, Twilight Sparkle, Zecora

Synopsis:

The girls get a rather rough surprise when the Everfree Forest suddenly ravenously explodes in a mess of vines, first driving Zecora out and then rapidly moving into the rest of Equestria, taking over every town bordering it including Ponyville and Canterlot. After writing to Celestia about it, Twilight and the girls are tasked with going inside Everfree Forest to talk to the “Heart of the Forest”. After some misadventures, they find out the individual is King Aspen, the lord of the deer race which lives within Everfree Forest. He angrily explains that he’s getting revenge on Equestria for chopping down and spoiling part of the Everfree Forest to build a new theme park and parking lot by seizing some of their land in turn. It turns out the one behind this is a minotaur named Mr. Well-To-Do who has hired both minotaurs and ponies to clear the area to build the theme park. In spite of the fact it’s not in the best interest of ponies, Twilight and the girls offer their help in canceling the project and keeping more land from being ruined in spite of the fact the seized land is already irreversibly damaged; meaning the deer will have to keep the land they already seized.

Twilight tries a number of “peaceful” methods to get Mr. Well-To-Do to quit, but is foiled either by his mobster assistant Jargon or by marketing ploys. Eventually Aspen loses patience and vows to simply attack. This is aborted, however, when Well-To-Do captures his son Bramble and forces him to either agree to give up the land and to become “Fun Fun Land”‘s newest mascot or Bramble will have to do it in his place. He reluctantly agrees and is taken away, but his successor, Blackthorn, immediately declares the agreement null and void and, with the help of the girls, rallies the rest of the forest creatures and monsters to counterattack. However, Bramble has discovered the organic shake mix Mr. Well-To-Do has been bringing into the park actually revitalizes soil, and he leads the group to knock over the shake mix rather than attack outright. As a result, the soil is regenerated and the vines and forest aggressively defeat Mr. Well-To-Do and halt the project. King Aspen, restored to his throne, personally withdraws all the vines from the land of Equestria that were taken and thanks the girls for everything. Pinkie Pie asks Celestia to commemorate the adventure with a new stained glass window, but both she and Luna are standoffish about what to do with it.

Review:

The fact is MLP:FIM is not a medium that lends itself very well to “eco-parables”. “Bats!” did it well because it tackled a rarely-touched-on issue from a different angle. But this?

Consider the fact that the show has already made it canon that nothing outside of the Everfree Forest grows of its own accord. All of it needs the actions of ponies, from the tallest tree to the smallest bug. Ponies not only are tied to nature; they govern it. So the whole schpiel early in the story where Bramble gets furious at them for knocking over a tree is kind of weak and OOC for the series as a whole. The girls would know full well which tree had animals living in it, unless they are normally uncaring about things in the Everfree Forest…which, as it turns out, ended up ALSO being governed by sentient creatures (in this case the deer). But the statement as a whole that ponies don’t care about nature to begin with is rather hollow in light of the main series as a result.

Yet aside from that, this entire arc suffers from the same problem most child eco-parables do. The Nostalgia Critic pointed it out best…if you make the “eco-villains” such outrageous parodies of people, they won’t be able to see themselves in them and so they won’t connect to get the message. That’s why shows like “Captain Planet” and movies like “Ferngully” failed to really leave an impact.

Last but not least, “evil vines” was already done in the Season Four opener. 😛

But…all that aside, it WAS rather entertaining. The new race and the jokes hit harder than they did in the last arc. Again, nothing too monumental, but better in that regard. Because of that, I rate this a little higher.

Fun Facts:

Rarity actually fires a unicorn “death beam” for once.

The vines infect the panels.

The letter back from Celestia has a carbon copy to Luna and Kibitz, the assistant from earlier issues in both the main series and the Micro-Series.

A race exclusive to the comic was created in this arc: deer. They seem to have more in common with forest elves from fantasy series, especially as their home, Thicket, looks like Lothlorien from “The Lord of the Rings” series, and King Aspen has characteristics of Thranduil and Celeborn. They also seem to be the true masters at magic, able to use it both in the sense that unicorns do (via antlers instead of horns) and potions (such as zebras do).

There’s been something of a theme in the main series that Princes and Princesses are “good” while Kings and Queens are “evil”. King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis compared to the four princesses of Equestria, for example. In that sense, King Aspen is unique in that he’s a king but “good”.

Another reference to “Whinny World”, which was introduced in Friends Forever #8.

When the girls get thrown out, Spike is reading a “Locke & Key” comic; another IDW creation.

Flax and Wheat (from Rarity’s Micro-series) join in the brief Sit-In. 😛

Rainbow Dash is reading “Daring Do and the Secret of the High Cholesterol Test”…huh?

Anyone else find it funny that Bramble got infuriated at the girls for knocking over a tree…and they have a roaring wood-burning fireplace in their palace?!

Aspen is forced to stand outside “Fun Fun Land” and give a similar line to what the moose statue did in the front of “Wally World” in “National Lampoon’s Vacation”.

The baboon that Rarity is riding seems like it’s the one from “Ren & Stimpy”. Also, Pinkie Pie paints herself to look like Mel Gibson in “Braveheart”.

The girls are mortified in one panel for good reason…a character seemed to actually die when Mr. Well-To-Do gets devoured by a hydra (conveniently blacked out by an all-black panel). However, a post-story panel reveals he’s not only still alive but continuing to entrepreneur from inside the monster’s stomach. As for the rest of his staff, with the exception of Jargon, they all surrender peacefully.

Fluttershy is happy to see Philomena again. 🙂

One of the full-page art pieces features Spike in front of a blank canvas struggling to think of something to draw, which is a takeoff of a famous piece by Norman Rockwell. Another piece of art shows a collection of villains from both the comic and the main series: the Diamond Dogs, Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, Nightmare Rarity (probably the only time they’ve ever been side-by-side…), Longhorn, the Evil Queen, the hydra, a vampiric jackalope, and Discord (dressed as Professor Moriarty, perhaps?).

Rating:

2.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #10 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #24): (Untitled)

Tags

Apple Bloom, CMCs, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Discord, Fluttershy, IDW, IDW comic, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, review, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle

Synopsis:

Fluttershy is taking the Cutie Mark Crusaders out for a wildlife field trip…in her own back yard, more or less. However, it’s interrupted when Discord shows up, saying it’s their time of the month to hang out together. But on learning he accidentally went back in time and is a week early, he elects to hang out with the CMCs and Fluttershy on their trip. He gets bored quickly, however, and ends up convincing the girls to come with him on a time-travel field trip to see more creatures that have gone extinct. Unfortunately, Discord’s tendency to leave chaos in his wake everywhere he goes and his own chaotic nature makes him unwelcome in most time periods, and many of the places end up being more dangerous than fascinating. At last, he takes Fluttershy to the prehistoric era, and ends up irresponsibly letting the CMCs get abducted by a Roc. At this, Fluttershy loses her temper, accusing Discord of only ever using his power to have fun at other people’s expense and to lack any consideration for others, and that maybe he’s the sort of person who shouldn’t have friends. She tries to fly after the girls but, not being strong enough, exhausts herself and collapses. When she comes to, she sees Discord rescued her with the help of Hubert, a “butterdragon” (a butterfly the size of a dragon) he met years ago. He apologizes for not being considerate to his “new friends” and agrees to take them home. Fluttershy seems to make up with him and, on seeing the butterdragon, the only creature she wanted to see, she declares it the “best field trip ever”.

Review:

After a few issues, and the way the series was going, it figured that it was only a matter of time before Discord appeared in the comic. And although his alternate version appeared way back in the “Reflections” arc, this is the first appearance of him in his natural form.

For the most part, it’s good. A nice little story that has some fun and some endearing points, just like you would expect from any episode. Again, there isn’t anything terribly earth-shaking in it. To be honest, it could have been a bit more monumental and “big” if the comic series wasn’t already a bit “Discord-ed”, in the sense that they’re constantly bringing in allusions from other works and media. When Discord comes in and starts doing his traditional “Q” bit, it’s essentially more of the same, and actually a bit surprising that they don’t use more “Star Trek: The Next Generation” bits considering how much Discord embodies Q. Instead, they opted for a great deal of “Doctor Who” jokes. A bit odd…but mostly things the series has already done, which is kind of a let-down.

Still, having the CMCs feature for the first time in a while as well as focusing on the Fluttershy and Discord relationship was a nice little touch. I get these comics only after they’re released in sets, so I’m assuming this was before the Season Four finale, but it still is nice. The only thing I kind of frown at is the suggestion that Discord is romantically attracted to Fluttershy. I don’t really get that from the show. He sees her as his first and, until the end of Season Four, his true “only” friend, not as a girlfriend. That’s kind of a flub to me or something that’s “pure headcanon”. And I wish they could have gotten a bit wackier and done more with the time machine bit. Again, a lot of unexploited potential.

But that aside, it was still enjoyable. A nice little way to put Discord into the comic series.

Fun Facts:

At long last, Discord’s first “real” appearance in the comic.

Chronologically, this story could plausibly take place after the Season Four finale, but it likely takes place sometime during Season Four.

Among the games Discord suggests playing, he includes “Oubliettes and Ogres”, a nod back to the fourth story arc. However, apparently not enough readers got “Hocuspocus: The Get-Together”, and the writers instead call it “Friendship: The Gathering”. The Mouse Trap game from a few arcs ago is also properly called “Parasprite Trap”, it seems. In addition, he mentions the games “Hazard”(“Risk”) and “Hint”(“Clue”).

When Discord says he has to get changed, he undergoes a transformation identical to the one Usagi goes through in “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”, and has big eyes with watermarks when finished. Soon after, he says “Cutie Mark Crusaders, roll out!”, a knockoff of Optimus Prime in “Transformers”.

When Discord summons his time machine, he dresses himself up in a fez and a bowtie, similar to the Eleventh Doctor of “Doctor Who”. Another allusion happens soon after when he reveals his own time machine is massive, but “it’s smaller on the inside”…a parody of the joke of Doctor Who’s TARDIS looking like a small phone booth but “it’s bigger on the inside”. However, when Doctor Whooves steps out from inside, he kicks him out of the story (literally), saying there’s too many reference in the comic already…and showing that Discord also has “Comic Awareness”.

When Fluttershy asks if they have a plan to get away from the jackals, he answers: “What sort of lord of chaos would I be if I had a plan?” This is something of an allusion to the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.

The hieroglyphics in the pyramid include the Cutie Marks of the Mane Six as well as the character from “Doodle Jump”.

The joke seemed rather vague and kind of a stretch…but Baast and the coloration of the cats with her indicate that she’s a variation on Twilight Sparkle and the Mane Six.

Baast hints that Discord is romantically attracted to Fluttershy. I personally think that’s a bit of a stretch, especially after the Season Four finale, but I know some shippers “see it”.

In yet another Doctor Who reference, when Discord accidentally goes into the future, there’s “Cybermen ponies” running around.

The creatures in the underwater kelpie city of Coltlantis don’t resemble the merponies from the fifth arc or the kelpie from the previous arc.

When the group sees the dinosaurs, one of the dinosaurs with functional arms is taunting the tyrannosaurus rex.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #9 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #23): (Untitled)

Tags

Angel Bunny, Gummy, IDW, IDW comic, kelpie, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Opalescence, Owluiscious, review, sirens, Tank, Wynona

Synopsis:

Angel Bunny wakes up one morning to find Fluttershy is missing and her other pets are running amok. After (somewhat unwillingly) being appointed to go find her, he leaves the house and sees Ponyville is deserted, with only the pets running around. He finally gets Wynona to sniff out Fluttershy, and to his surprise he finds she along with the rest of the town has been hypnotized by a kelpie named Cassie into tearing down the city dam. When he tries to intervene, Cassie uses her voice to get the town to turn on them, but they’re rescued by Owluiscious and Tank. Gathering up Gummy and Opalescence as well, Angel rallies the pets in Zecora’s abandoned hut and raids her potions to enact a plan. Wynona distracts some of the townspeople by using a slippery potion on her feet to slide around effortlessly and dodge their attempts to grab her, while Tank “airdrops” Opal into a crowd where she takes a gigantism potion to turn herself into a kaiju-sized cat that easily bats away anyone trying to stop her. Finally, Owluiscious airdrops Angel onto Cassie to give her a potion to turn her voice hoarse and therefore useless, but the hypnotized Twilight Sparkle stops him. However, Angel had Gummy as a backup plan to bite the kelpie’s tail, making her scream and thereby waking Twilight up. He gives her the potion and her off-key singing soon wakes everyone else up. She immediately insists that she had a good reason: she needed to get the water sprites with her back to the ocean but couldn’t because the Ponyville Dam was in the way and they can’t leave the water. Twilight forgives her on the grounds of “doing something silly to help a friend” and the Ponyville residents move the water sprites around the dam. Angel is upset that no one remembers anything while hypnotized, so no one knows he and the pets saved the day, but the other pets show they like him…except Opal, who, still gigantic, is flexing her claws on the nearby mountains.

Review:

It may only be one issue, but to me that only means more “concentrated fun”.

Again, this story arc, if you can even call it that, is a bit of a departure but it’s very enjoyable. It’s something that may be different but you can see the show plausibly doing: a nearly “silent” episode focusing almost exclusively on the pets of the Mane Six. And just like with the Mane Six, all of the pets are in character and have a rather amusing little story that nevertheless involves a bit of drama and storyline to go with it. I thought it was funny, cute, canonical, and just plain fun. It was actually a bit enjoyable to see Angel Bunny taking charge like a military commander. While Owluiscious is the one who’s normally seen as the smartest of the group, I can definitely see him doing all of this on the show.

As an additional bit of fun: Cassie. I’m sure she was a one-time character, but I read this after “Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks” came out. And while she’s referred to as a kelpie, it’s a little hard to not think of her as a siren like the Dazzlings. And as a result, I think this story is a bit intriguing. It shows you what a siren looks like in her “native surroundings” rather than a high school. That makes this more appealing to me.

So yeah, I like it. I even recommend it a little for a quick bit of fun. Probably my favorite arc after the “Nightmare Rarity” arc.

Fun Facts:

The first arc that’s a stand-alone story.

This arc likely takes place during Season Four, but see further below.

On one of the art pages for this arc, when all of the pets are sadly thinking about what happened to their owners, Opalescence’s thought bubble is pink colored, Owluiscious’ thought bubble is on parchment, and Gummy’s thought bubble is in crayon.

Angel wonders not only why is Fluttershy gone, but why she hasn’t made his coffee. 😛

There’s a poster for Cassie Kelpie and the Water Spirits advertising in one panel. It seems they were actually performing officially in Equestria before this whole mess happened.

Trixie is one of the enslaved ponies.

A kelpie is a Scottish mythological creature and is also known as a water-horse. Legend states that the Loch Ness Monster is one. While there are occasional stories of these creatures being benign, in most mythology they are demonic creatures who, as in many other folklore tales, appear as horses or beautiful men and lure people to their doom by drowning, and were used, most likely, as a cautionary tale to keep children from getting too near water or young women from running off with handsome men. However, the kelpie in this story is not only much more clearly a siren-like beast, having the ability to control vast multitudes through her singing, but is likely close to being the same kind of creature the Dazzlings from “Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks” are in their true forms. This one, however, ends up being far more benevolent.

Opalescence, like a stereotypical cartoon evil cat who doesn’t care if everyone else lives or dies, is amused at the thought of Ponyville being destroyed…until Angel points out it means she gets a bath.

Apparently, the other pets think Gummy is as crazy as Pinkie Pie.

There is no dialog in this story (other than Owluiscious hooting) until the ponies wake up from their trance.

Rating:

3.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #8 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issues #21-22): “Manehattan Mysteries”

Tags

Apple Bloom, Applejack, Babs Seed, Fluttershy, Great and Powerful Trixie, IDW, IDW comic, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Rarity, review, Trixie Lulamoon

Synopsis:

Rarity, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed are headed to Manehattan’s Carneighie Hall to see a show, just as Manehattan is currently experiencing a crime wave as a result of an infamous thief named Rough Diamond, who is stealing all the precious gems and jewels in the city. The show ends up highlighting the “Great and Powerful” Trixie, who, for her climax, makes the Ostlerheimer Diamond disappear. However, it fails to reappear when the trick is done, indicating it was stolen, and the girls blame Trixie and try to go up and grab her. However, the police soon appear and seal off the theater, revealing that the entire thing was a sting operation to try and lure Rough Diamond out and catch her, with the diamond in the show being a fake with a transmitter. However, the fake is found in Applejack’s hat, and, suspecting the thief realized it was a fake, the group goes to the stage director’s office and find someone forced the lock. On opening the safe inside, a smoke bomb goes off, and when it clears the diamond is gone. The chief of police reveals there was a transmitter in that diamond as well, and this time it’s found in Trixie’s hat. Due to her rather unpleasant past, Trixie is immediately branded as the thief and the girls as her accomplices, prompting them all to beat a hasty escape. Trixie insists she’s innocent and was framed in spite of the girls accusing her too, and in the end they decide to catch the real thief themselves.

Apple Bloom and Fluttershy end up going after a clue that the thief accidentally left in Trixie’s hat: a scrap of paper from the city museum that contains the letters “OOF ANT”. They deduce that it’s referring to the Forehoof Pendant and is her next target. Applejack, Rarity, Trixie, and Babs check out jewelry stores looking for places the thief would have sold the diamonds she stole. During the trip, Babs learns about Trixie’s past on seeing her looking despondent, and she admits to her she used to be the same way, but says just because they were once bad doesn’t mean they have to “stay that way”. They find a store she sold the diamonds too, but all they manage to get is her Cutie Mark is a rough diamond. The girls end up sneaking into the museum and setting up an ambush that night, and the disguised Rough Diamond appears, but she manages to avoid capture again by setting off another smoke bomb. In the attempts to seize her, Apple Bloom trips the alarm and soon they’re surrounded by police. When it looks like they’ll all be taken away, Babs suddenly announces that Trixie was the thief all along and that they were conned into believing her story about innocence, prompting the police to let her go. However, as soon as she’s free, she ambushes one of the policeponies and has Trixie tie her up, declaring her to be the real thief. She reveals the policepony was near Trixie the whole time the day before and had plenty of opportunities to take and switch the diamonds, and was also one of the officers who got the combination from the director and opened the safe, allowing her to use a smoke bomb and steal the diamond once it was open. Finally, Babs points out how she knew she was the bad officer: her Cutie Mark of a police badge is smudged, the result of having to hastily paint over her real Cutie Mark of a rough diamond in a hurry. Rough Diamond is taken away, Trixie is cleared of guilt and thanks Babs, and the show goes on as planned.

Review:

I’m not a Trixie fan, but I liked this one. It wasn’t as dramatic as the others even though it was a bit “different” from the show’s usual fare, but this time it seemed a lot more like a standard episode. It was paced well for it too (two issues seems to read in about the time of a standard 22 minute episode). After the last arc mucked up things so much, it was nice to get back in the show’s “spirit” with this one. The artwork seems a bit more cartoony, but it’s not too distracting, and the plotline has good fun and laughs. There’s not much to say else about this one. It just works. All the characters seemed in character, the plotline seemed close enough to the show to be plausible as a regular episode of the show, and while it may not have been monumental, it was a good little story and had a good little message in the end about willing to be open to give people second chances (third chances in Trixie’s case…). To top it all off, it highlighted two of the more popular extra characters in the series: Babs Seed and Trixie Lulamoon.

So yeah, it was nice. Probably not a “must-see”, but a good little story, and that’s pretty much all there is to say about it. I enjoyed it.

Fun Facts:

The title is possibly a takeoff of “Manhattan Melodies”, the name of the fictional musical the Muppets wrote in “The Muppets Take Manhattan”.

The first arc not to include all six members of the Mane Six (although the first not to feature them predominantly was story arc #3).

Chronologically, this arc likely takes place during Season Four, but could honestly take place any time after Season Three’s “Magic Duel” and “One Bad Apple”.

Although the Great and Powerful Trixie had appeared in story arc #2, this is the first to include her as a character. The same with Babs Seed.

Carneighie Hall is a takeoff of Carnagie Hall. Outside of it, two background ponies are giving their take on the classic “Carnagie Hall” joke.

Based on the sign, the stage director’s name is “Clyde Giddyup”. He has an IDW book on the shelf.

The combination of the safe is 4-14-84 in the director’s office. April 14, 1984 was the original air date of the first stand-alone episode for the original “My Little Pony” series.

The newspaper being sold in Manehattan is Equestria Daily. This is the same name as the biggest fansite for the fandom.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #7 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issues #17-20): “Reflections”

Tags

Applejack, Fluttershy, IDW, IDW comic, King Sombra, King Sombre, Mirror Universe, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, OOC, parallel universe, Pinkie Pie, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, review, Starswirl the Bearded, Twilight Sparkle

Synopsis:

The Mane Six are summoned to the Canterlot Royal Palace but, surprisingly enough, by Luna instead of Celestia. Celestia went into a magic mirror similar to the Crystal Mirror and hasn’t come back for a week. Knowing only that Starswirl the Bearded created the mirror back in the days when he was Celestia’s advisor and the greatest unicorn in the world, Luna sends the girls into the “back wing” of the palace built right into the mountain Canterlot is on to find his old work station and see what they can dig up. Twilight, seeming to be the same “mentality” as Starswirl, finds her way along, but at the same time notes pictures of the younger Celestia and statues of Starswirl the Bearded, and remarks about being at a crossroads in her own life: having always thought she’d eventually become someone like Starswirl, but now wondering if she’s fated to become more like Princess Celestia. Eventually she and the girls find his notes and discover that the mirror is an advanced magical item that, with the right spell and/or heavenly-body-alignment, opens portals into other universes and worlds. She further finds both he and Celestia advanced their knowledge dramatically by visiting a multitude of different worlds together around the time Luna began to grow corrupt. However, behind his back, Celestia kept visiting one world in particular, and this apparently angered him and caused him to seal off that world from Celestia permanently. After that, the notes mysteriously halt with Starswirl saying he couldn’t keep journeying “by himself” anymore. The girls return and begin to give this news to Luna, only to get a dual shock: a battered and beaten Celestia emerging from the mirror and, behind it, the shadow of King Sombra.

Celestia, after being patched up, explains that the world she went to is a mirror opposite of theirs: King Sombra is the good and benevolent ruler of Equestria, while the world’s greatest villains are Celestia and Luna. She mentions that something has happened to make the worlds grow unstable and the natural separation between the two to be reduced. She says her being there, or Luna being there, would make things worse as it’s causing the world to grow more “together”. But since the Mane Six in their world have the Elements of Harmony and their counterparts do not, she thinks the Mane Six can more safely cross over and use them to “tip the scales” and help Sombra defeat her evil counterpart. The girls cross over while Luna gives Celestia a rather rough interrogation, and while it is not revealed immediately what was said, it makes Luna angry, but in the end she seems to forgive Celestia for doing “something” rash, reckless, and dangerous to all of Equestria when she was younger. In the Mirror Equestria, the girls see everyone appears to have been swapped, but the world as a whole is a dismal and ruined place. After accidentally being arrested, they’re freed by King Sombra who is far friendlier, kinder, and even more handsome than their own version. Apparently he knows Celestia very well, but while talking with the girls the evil Celestia and Luna show up. A fight breaks out and goes even for a bit, but as it looks like the girls could get the upper hand, Spike suddenly gets a message from their own version of Celestia and Luna telling them that their worlds are drawing so close together that what happens to one version of them impacts both versions, and both she and Luna are getting “beat up” in their world. The girls are forced to stop and the evil Celestia and Luna fly off, but soon make another shocking discovery: this world’s version of Sombra and their own version of Celestia are lovers.

Back in the real Equestria, Celestia explains to Luna when she first entered the Mirror Universe, she loved it due to there being a “good” Luna there (as the Luna in Equestria turned evil, the Luna in Mirror Equestria turned good), but more so due to instantly falling for King Sombra. She revisted with Starswirl frequently and finally began to go on her own. But eventually Starswirl found out that frequent visits to the same world began to make the barrier between them erode and start to slowly merge to become one universe. He made Celestia promise not to go back, but unable to keep that vow she continued to cross over behind his back and made a promise to Sombra to love him forever. When Starswirl found out, he sealed the mirror. But unable to stand being apart, Celestia soon devoted herself into breaking the spell and using it herself, and eventually succeeded. Her further visits, however, have caused greater instability, and now that Luna in that world has turned evil again the Mirror Equestria is in mortal danger. Meanwhile, in Mirror Equestria, Sombra reveals evil Celestia offered to let the Equestrian Princess Celestia come into this world and live in peace with him forever, if he gave up the spell to allow the two evil princesses to cross into Equestria and rule it unopposed. He refused, knowing that Celestia’s heart would break to see her own world ruined, and because he suspects they plan to rule both worlds anyway. Twilight suggests they imprison both evil Celestia and evil Luna in a magic crystal, keeping them alive and safe so that their own version of Celestia and Luna will be unharmed. Twilight also confesses her misgivings about whether to be a “normal” pony or a princess, and Sombra ends up telling her that it’s possible to be both, and that no matter what she does in life to be a “good pony”. Unfortunately, evil Luna (using her ability to turn into mist) overhears all of their plans and reports it back to evil Celestia…

As the Mane Six, Sombra, and Spike go out to enact their plan, something is noticed in both worlds: they’re growing unstable to the point of nearly merging. Celestia begins to fear the Elements of Harmony actually made the instability worse. When the girls arrive at the Castle of the Two Sisters, evil Celestia enacts her own plan: she plots to bring the “good” Celestia back to the world and hold her hostage to force Sombra to give up the spell to go into Equestria herself. To do this…she seriously wounds her own sister, knowing that the counterpart in Equestria will be badly hurt as well. It does even worse than she plans, for the Equestrian Luna ends up spasming back and breaking the mirror on being hurt, ruining any portal between the worlds, and it also destroys the last of the barrier and causes the worlds to merge. Infuriated, Celestia moves to kill her own evil counterpart even if it means killing her as well, but Sombra captures them both and the girls use the Elements of Harmony to start making the crystal prison. But to their horror, it begins to imprison both of them and not just the evil version. Celestia orders them to do so anyway, having learned being a good ruler means making decisions that are hard and even hurtful to yourself sometimes. However, Sombra, unwilling to let the alicorn he loves be subjected to this, gets the idea to both save Celestia and restore the balance to the worlds by using his own power to draw the evil out of his version of Celestia and Luna, and take it into himself…turning himself into the same as Equestria’s counterpart but also giving the means to make both worlds “balance out perfectly” as identical to each other. Celestia embraces Sombra one last time before he turns evil and then departs, and evil Celestia and evil Luna become as good as their Equestrian counterparts. The worlds are rapidly restored and Mirror Universe Luna tries to shout “thank you” to Celestia before she and the girls rapidly return to their own world while they still can, but the portals close before she gets it out. Back home, Celestia asks Twilight if she thinks less of her for everything she did, but Twilight assures her that she thinks more of her now, realizing she’s not a “perfect goddess” but makes mistakes like her. Celestia gives Twilight the keys to Starswirl’s private library and keeps one piece of the broken mirror as a reminder, saying she’ll be alright “in time” as she cries while looking at it. Back in the Mirror Universe, the now-evil Sombra bids goodbye both to Celestia and his dream of being with her.

Review:

While I may have had mild complaints or annoyances in previous comic arcs, in my opinion…this is the first “dud” arc. And even if everything else was fine, there would be one thing that stands out in this arc that ruins it. This is the first arc where I feel the authors not only began to drift into OOC territory, but also violated the spirit of the canon show. As such, this arc is neither well-made fanfiction nor good fanfiction, but just plain fanfiction.

And, frankly…it’s kind of bad.

I’ll give it a bit of credit for once again using the comic to flesh out characters. One of my big complaints in the series was that Celestia is always this perfect ideal who does little more than just order Twilight to fix her old mistakes. This one was good in really making her the “main character” of the series and making her in a way that highlighted her personality and her own “mortality” and “shortcomings”. Granted, some of it seemed rather OOC, but that’s a bit understandable. We’ve seen very little of Celestia acting normally on the show, and the few times we have she’s been a bit of a troll. We don’t really get to see her as a well-rounded character. I think they went a tad overboard…and especially with Luna. She seems to be the “troll” in this one as well as a bit stuck-up, neither of which I like. I also like how they tried to make Sombra more of a character, even if he wasn’t the “real” Sombra…but he ended up looking a lot like an alternate universe version of Shining Armor to me.

The fact that Celestia and Sombra were actually lovers…hmm. I guess I should say I’m kind of indifferent to it. It’s a bit different in and of itself, to be sure. The actual pairing isn’t the shocking part. I’m into fanfiction…and if you look at enough fanfiction you’ve already seen every shipping imaginable. The real shock value is seeing that Celestia was once “mortal enough” to actually be enamored with someone. And for the most part, I think that’s done well. It’s certainly done better than the clunky romance they’ve tried on the show. You actually feel for Celestia in a lot of the flashbacks, and get a sense of how horrible it was that she couldn’t even tell him goodbye.

On the other hand, while he hasn’t been portrayed on the show yet, from the few bits we’ve seen of him (talking with Scorpan and sealing away the Dazzlings) as well as the journal entries in “Journal of the Two Sisters”, I don’t think Starswirl the Bearded was quite so goofy. And he definitely didn’t have a mustache.

But the rest of the plot is a mess. Once again showing a very poor understanding of the show’s continuity and history. Granted, it was fragmented quite a bit, but some of the timing of events is rather muddled and confusing, although I suppose only uber-geeks like me can pick up on it.

The biggest disappointment for me in this arc can be summed up in two words: wasted potential. The idea of a “Mirror Universe” with the good/evil alignment switched up has been done many times before, but with a show like MLP:FIM, there’s all sorts of possibility there. Heck, they alluded to all the possibilities with the cover art as well as the many brief nods they had in panels. There was literally so much they could do with this…and they did “Evil Celestia/Good Sombra”…and that’s all. That was an incredible letdown to me. The fact that there was such possibility that was left by the wayside. That stained glass gallery alone made me want to see all of the mirror versions of the villains, and it was never used. Seriously, with changing a few things around, you could possibly eliminate the whole “Mirror Universe” thing all together. They could have made Sombra anyone. They could have possibly made evil Celestia and evil Luna anyone. The whole thing is set up to be a story about alternate choices, and yet in the end the plot has nothing to do with it. It’s a more “challenging” take-home message and moral, to be sure: being responsible sometimes means forsaking your own happiness for the sake of doing the right thing, that we all have to make choices sometimes between “what is right and what is easy”, and true friendship…true love…means putting someone else completely ahead of yourself. But it has little to do with a Mirror Universe. You get the sense that was almost there just to make the plot more “fun”.

And last but not least, this arc did what no other arc in the comics or in the main series has done before: it ended badly. And that’s what makes it a stinker to me, to actually have an arc with a “bad end”.

“But Essayist!” You say. “You’re the one who’s always complaining about whenever the show has a have-it-all ending that’s perfectly happy! And now you’re complaining and saying it’s bad that they have an arc with a sad ending?”

First of all, I never complained about the show lacking a plotline that ended sadly. I complained about endings being too perfect. Just because not everything goes perfectly in an ending doesn’t mean the ending isn’t a happy one. It doesn’t mean that a thinking person can’t see the ending was really the best one. Picking on Season Three’s “Wonderbolt Academy”, it would have been a good ending if Rainbow Dash had abandoned her dreams for being a Wonderbolt, because she would have won the battle for her own integrity and self-respect; neither of which can be simply granted or bestowed by “easy” means. She would have lost out on being a Wonderbolt, yes, but she would have realized that she already had something worth a lot more and she would have embraced that. She would have realized that she’s already all the “superstar” she needs to be.

This wasn’t that. It was just plain a bad ending. Like I said, they managed to sell the Celestia/Sombra pairing rather well. Too well. Enough to make the ending too sad. The fact is it would have been “acceptably sad” if Celestia and Sombra realized they could never see each other again and managed to (grudgingly) accept it and give their last goodbye. But the fact that the whole plot was purposely set-up to give a bad ending… The fact that Sombra suddenly comes up with this idea that, when you think about it, doesn’t make much sense as to how it could work unless you accept it as something to give the story a bad ending… The fact that suddenly evil is some sort of conserved quality that somehow “resides” in individuals and that by waving a magic horn you can make someone good or evil by putting “magic evil” out or into them… And that just plain bad bitter note at the end with the evil Sombra, the evil Celestia spontaneously nice, and everything else that just seems so “pat”…and with Celestia not so much “learning-her-lesson” as now simply being forced to have a bitter conclusion… This ending goes beyond “sad” to me to “forced to be extra sad”, which just plain makes me frown.

I might have gone ahead and accepted it as a bitter pill…but no, I don’t because this is not the spirit of the show. “Oh, real life has lots of bitter disappointments, Essayist. You can’t expect everything to always turn up good.” True, but this isn’t real life. This is a show that was generated toward the Y-rated demographic. The fact that the authors were trying to be more realistic or have a sad plotline for once is irrelevant. Do you watch “The Walking Dead” expecting to see the characters start doing Looney Tunes gags? Or do you watch “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” expecting them to go into “Attack on Titan” levels of gore, violence, and action? Do you watch “Game of Thrones” expecting them to do a musical episode where everyone sings and dances? No, no, and no, because that’s not what those shows are and if they did something like that it would be awkward and out of the show’s spirit. That’s exactly what happened here. There are extremely sad and bitter endings in life, but trying to take a genre and show that never deals with extremely sad and bitter endings, kind of like you would find in an anime almost, means you’ve strayed from the show’s nature and now you’ve ended up with pure fanfiction. Not really good fanfiction in my opinion either, because even if the characters stay true you’re creating an implausible situation for them. Not a terribly big one, no, but one none the less. And the fact that the writers seemed to plot-device this ending into being extra bad makes it even worse.

So no…I don’t like this arc. Some may, but I feel, for all the points it gets for Celestia being more of a character, it wastes a lot of opportunity and, furthermore, takes the entire series and turns it into something else it was never meant to be.

In my opinion, the worst arc in the series so far.

Fun Facts:

The most infamous part of this arc is the dual-version cover that shows both Equestria and the Mirror Equestria. While the Mane Six aren’t terribly different, Derpy is an intellectual with normal eyes, Chrysalis is a kind-hearted creature, Cadance is a goth (with a broken Crystal Heart for a Cutie Mark), Shining Armor is meek and abused, and Doctor Whooves is the Fourth Doctor Whooves.

This arc is set sometime after “Equestria Girls” but prior to Season Four.

One gaff made early on is that Fluttershy says the “other” magic mirror (the one that leads to the “Equestria Girls” universe) only works once each moon cycle, but that’s incorrect. That implies a month. The mirror opens once every three years.

This arc may have been the first to present the idea in the show as a whole that Starswirl the Bearded was a contemporary of Celestia and Luna. That was almost a gaff in and of itself based on the history presented until that point. However, background of Equestria presented in “Journal of the Two Sisters”, a media-related book penned by a show writer, indicates this is correct. At any rate, this is the first storyline in the whole series to actually feature Starswirl as a character, although only in flashbacks.

The sign in the “Restricted Wing” of the castle has one entry pointing to “Jeffries Tubes”, an allusion to the original “Star Trek” series.

Among the items in Starswirl’s collection, there appears to be the Golden Gun from “The Man with the Golden Gun”, a James Bond film, a giant penny (an allusion to “Batman”‘s Batcave), and…a flag from Japan during World War II(?).

One of the things I don’t get in this series is why everyone keeps remarking how young Celestia looks in pictures and flashbacks. The ways she’s drawn, I think she looks identical.

In one panel, one of the signs says “Brain Depository – Closed at 5 PM”, an allusion to Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein”.

Luna and Spike first play Scrabble, and then Mouse Trap, and finally Monopoly. (Spike is apparently good at it, being a dragon.)

The secret passage to the castle in Starswirl’s lab is similar to the Bat-poles in the old Adam West “Batman” series.

At one point, Pinkie Pie seems to cheer whatever the writers were thinking/hoping when they made this arc… “A fight to save two worlds that will come down to the defeat of an alternate evil version of a beloved character? Who wouldn’t be all about this?” Kind of a big ego, eh? 😛

Discord is an Equestria-defending superhero in the Mirror Universe. He calls himself “Captain Goodguy”. Ironically, this is the first appearance Discord has made in the comic series.

In the Mirror World, the girls are literally known as “The Mane Six”. They’re also known as the Malcontent Mavericks and the Erroneous Equines. However, in spite of these names and some cover art, the alternate versions of the Mane Six never show up.

The jail cell graffiti reads “Brooks Was Here” and “So Was Red”, an allusion to “The Shawshank Redemption”. It also reads: “It wasn’t me! It was the one-armed pony!”, an allusion to “The Fugitive”. One reads “Attica!”, a reference to the infamous Attica Prison Riot in the 1970s. Another reads “Let my ponies go!”, a reference to Moses in the Bible. Finally, “Starswirl Was Here” indicates Starswirl left his own note behind. 😛 When the girls escape their cell, there’s a wanted poster in the back calling a character “The Baron”. Closer inspection reveals that’s the evil version of Big Macintosh. He even has a beard, reminiscent of the mirror universe in “Star Trek”.

One of the biggest highlights (and missed opportunities) of the Mirror Universe is the hall leading up to the Canterlot Throne Room. The girls, naturally, aren’t there, but instead former villains are the heroes of that world. Chrysalis is a slightly less-vile-looking innocent creature who embodies “Love”. Derpy is an intellectual who embodies “Wisdom”. The Flim-Flam Brothers are judges who embody “Fairness”. Finally, the Great and Powerful Trixie (who became an alicorn in this world instead of Twilight) embodies “Humility”.

For some reason, Evil Celestia’s clothes keep changing in every scene… But her “innate” getup appears to be a knockoff of Maleficent from Disney.

Evil Celestia and Evil Luna rule Ponyville, and seem to have turned it into a black-and-white “Frankenstein” movie. (Although with how they’re dressed, “Dracula” might be more appropriate.)

Evil Philomena looks like a vulture.

Evil Luna’s assistant appears to be a pony vampire.

Among the various posters on the walls in one panel, there’s a sign that says “If you’re reading this, you may be overthinking this comic book.” …Right. Moving on…

When Sombra begins his story saying it started a long time ago, probably before the girls were even alive, Pinkie Pie asks if that includes even Fluttershy, earning her a dirty look from Fluttershy…but also adding to the generally-accepted headcanon that Fluttershy is the oldest member of the Mane Six by a good margin.

One of the big gaffs this story makes is that King Sombra has been alive for over a thousand years in spite of being a unicorn. True, his “other self” was too, but he was shadow…or something…

When evil Luna is, um, “good”…she dresses in a style similar to Greek attire.

In another gaff, Starswirl mentions after their first visit to the Mirror Universe in the flashback that he fears there’s an evil version of King Sombra in their own world, indicating he hadn’t yet taken over the Crystal Empire and been defeated by Celestia and Luna. However…Celestia met the alternate King Sombra supposedly after Luna had begun to turn into Nightmare Moon. I suppose she still could have helped Celestia defeat their version, but…I’m thinking this was just another mistake.

The “Wishing Garden” is similar to Japanese tradition at certain shrines.

In one flashback, Starswirl goes off to take care of a parasprite problem in Fillydelphia…which is exactly what Celestia ended up doing in Season One’s “Swarm of the Century”. Apparently she forgot what parasprites were. Another gaff.

Celestia and Luna do a flank bump. 😀

Pinkie Pie demonstrates a “Comic Awareness” (similar to Deadpool) of her own when evil Celestia blasts evil Luna and she shouts that she can’t do that because this is a children’s comic.

The “good” version of evil Celestia (confusing…) dresses like an Egyptian Pharaoh. When she and evil Luna turn good, the line below reads: “Let the Sunshine In”, a line from “Aquarius” in the musical “Hair”.

Rating:

1.5 Stars out of 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews ~ Comic Arc #6 (IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issues #15-16): (Untitled)

Tags

allusions, Applejack, Daring Do, Fluttershy, IDW, IDW comic, literary characters, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, review, sixth arc, Twilight Sparkle

Synopsis:

Twilight Sparkle finds she has to deal with two problems in one day: mysterious insect pods appearing all over Ponyville and all of the books in her library being ruined by a pesky bookworm. After trying to blast it herself, the bookworm reveals itself to be a magical creature and teleports into a story. To try and hunt it down before it ruins all the books in the library, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity use the same spell that teleported them into the Power Ponies comic to teleport into the books and track the creature down while Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike stay behind to watch the pods. On entering the story, the girls find out that the bookworm isn’t just ruining the stories; he’s actually eating the knowledge and nature of the story itself, leaving nothing but blank, ruined pages behind. The girls try to fix the damage to move through the story by reinacting it, but Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity keep messing up the story by putting their own spins on things. Eventually they corner the bookworm, who is getting progressively larger and meaner with the more books he eats, and, getting annoyed with them trying to stop him, devours the story they’re currently in before escaping again. Much to the girls’ shock, the erasing story threatens to erase them too (as shown when it erases Pinkie Pie’s hoof), but even though they manage to escape they find themselves trapped in a white void. As for Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike, they soon get a surprise when one of the pods breaks open…and reveals Daring Do incarnate in physical form. Unfortunately, before long, all of the pods start breaking open and unleashing literary characters in the real world.

Soon after, Ponyville is being overrun and destroyed by the nastier characters, led by the Evil Queen in the first story the girls entered. They decide to take over Ponyville, and the queen longs for everything of value and seeks to make the Elements of Harmony into her personal crown. As for the girls in the books, Twilight is despondent on realizing all of the knowledge in the books in her library is gone, eaten by the bookworm. But after some arguing with the others, they find they can imagine a new story into existence, and do so with the intent of luring the bookworm back to corner it. After a few misadventures, the girls create enough of a story to attract the bookworm, but to their horror he’s grown into a kaiju-sized monster and rapidly begins to devour the story they’ve made in record time. Yet while fleeing him, the girls come across an interesting “story”…a scroll the girls (with Daring Do’s help) back in Ponyville wrote showing the situation. Twilight realizes by devouring the books the bookworm has inadvertently been transposing the displaced characters from the story into Ponyville. On realizing this, she angrily confronts the bookworm, and discovers that the bookworm is, in fact, a “bookworm” and has been thoroughly reading everything he’s eaten for personal enjoyment, but is angry that he’s never found a worm in any of those stories, much less one with a bookworm hero, and professes he’ll keep eating until he finds one. In response, Twilight Sparkle begins to “tell a story” and create one at the same time that shows the bookworm (much to his own horror) the side effect he’s causing Ponyville as a result of his actions, but also declares him the hero of the story as being the only one who can fix it and perfectly remember the books to recreate them just the way they should be. Seeing he has a chance to be the “main protagonist”, the bookworm uses his own magic to return himself and the girls to Ponyville and restores all the books, and their characters, back in their proper place. Realizing he can “write his own story”, the bookworm shrinks back to his original size and thanks Twilight before vanishing into the books once again. Twilight remarks that she learned that creativity and friendship can fix as many problems as knowledge.

Review:

One of the odd things about the “smaller” arc stories like this one is that they seem rather confused. It looks as if they aren’t sure if they should be a “standard” episode or something more along the lines of one of the two-parter episodes. As such, they kind of fit into their own group. The last arc did, and so did this one. But where I think the last arc didn’t have too terribly much going for it, I think this one had a bit more. As I said before, when they overload a plot with allusions, it ends up working out fairly well. I don’t think now is any exception.

Canonically, this story is an absolute mess. In a sense none of the comic stories can really fit into the plotline, but this one is the first big example of a storyline that is purely AU…almost confusingly so, as outlined in the “Fun Facts” section. Still, the mere setup for this arc, much like the last one, is so goofy and silly that it doesn’t really hurt anything. My one big complaint about arcs like this is when they’re somewhere between a standard episode and a dramatic one, usually by relying on a strange new situation involving a short-term adventure, it doesn’t really fit with the “nature” of the show itself to begin with. The characters may be spot on, but the plotline seems almost like it’s something different.

Yet all of that said, once again, there’s nothing “wrong” with this arc. Like the last one, nothing stands out too monumentally about it, but there’s nothing terrible about it either. It has a few good parts, and more than the last one had. The allusions really sell this one. It’s entertaining enough and a nice read. It’s just that it doesn’t have anything that really makes it a must-read like the earliest arcs. It’s just kind of there was a quirky little story, much like the last one.

I suppose the one thing that really stands out to me is Pinkie Pie losing a hoof. That’s actually kind of creepy. They played it up for laughs, having her constantly get new “prostheses” for it, and I suppose it’s no less creepy than Pinkie Pie not having a nose and a mouth for most of Season Three’s “Magic Duel”, but I thought it was a bit odd. That aside, most of the story is upstaged by setting and the literary characters, so no one character really stands out as changing or learning anything (except maybe Twilight a bit toward the end). But…like the last one, enjoyable. I give it a bit more credit for all of the fun allusions, though.

Fun Facts:

Unlike the arcs before and after this one, this arc has no official title.

Chronologically, this story takes place sometime after the Season Three finale, likely during the Season Four time frame and prior to “Daring Don’t”. Yet this arc is rather odd. The fact that the girls are stunned to see Daring Do come to life in the flesh indicates that the writers began to pen this comic prior to Season Four’s first few episodes, when “Daring Don’t” revealed that Daring Do was already a real individual and not just a literary creation. However, the spell the Twilight uses to go into the books references the events of “Power Ponies”, which aired after “Daring Don’t”. This seems to indicate that the comic writers may be privy to some upcoming episodes, but not all. What makes things even worse is that the CMCs talk about the Elements of Harmony, which were given up at the beginning of Season Four…making this even more of a mess.

When Spike appears, he’s eating a jewel ice cream cone.

After “fixing” the first book, it’s so messed up one of the chapters starts “Chapter Orange”. 😛

The native hamsters of Pygolia in the Daring Do book are reminiscent of the Hovitos in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Rarity’s getup in the story is similar to that Willie wears in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, as is the hamsters trying to feed her bugs.

When the various literary characters start coming to life in Ponyville, almost all of them are allusions to different characters in actual literature and media. I can’t get them all, but here’s a few I could recognize:

– An Evil Queen (inspired by various sources, although she seems to most closely resemble Queen Grimhilde from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” [right down to the talking mirror] it becomes clear through context that she’s the evil queen from the first story the girls go into, indicating she’s a takeoff of Prince John from “Robin Hood”; the main terrorizer of Ponyville)

– Lord Voldemort (from the Harry Potter series, evidenced by his flat snout, greenish skin, and serpentine pupils; one of the main terrorizers of Ponyville)

– Antonio (inspired by various evil twins/romance novel characters; one of the main terrorizers of Ponyville)

– Loki (from the Marvel Universe, particularly Thor; one of the main terrorizers of Ponyville)

– Gandalf the Grey (from “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”; if you look closely in the background of the panel he’s in, you can see a Balrog he’s fighting)

– Tarzan (from the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel; swinging on vines in the Everfree Forest)

– A white and black dog (Snoopy from “Peanuts”; he’s “flying” the well similar to how Snoopy would imagine flying his doghouse going after the Red Baron)

– Kaa (from “The Jungle Book”, although it seems to be the Disney version rather than the Rudyard Kipling novel; he has Scootaloo hypnotized and wrapped in his coils)

– Jadis, the White Witch (from “The Chronicles of Narnia”; she’s trying to tempt Snips with Turkish Delight)

– Daenerys Targaryen (from “A Song of Ice and Fire” AKA the “Game of Thrones” series; her dragons are flying around and terrifying townsfolk, including Spike)

The story the girls make up is obviously a ripoff of “Lord of the Rings”. Rainbow Dash appears to have become a “hobbit-pony” as she has hair on her hooves, a curly mane, and the cloak she’s wearing has a Lothlorien brooch. One of the panels indicating the passage of time is “Twenty-Five Pages Of Nothing But Walking Later…”, which is also a “Lord of the Rings” joke as that trilogy is infamous for having obscenely long stretches of nothing but traveling.

Rainbow Dash obviously changes the “Lord of the Rings” story into something else, but I don’t know what. I’d assume something like “Rainbow Brite”, but I have no idea. Anyone else know?

After restoring the zombie ponies, the story turns into a ripoff of “Star Trek”…the original series, to be exact. As an odd nod, in the first panel there appears to be pony version of Yeoman Nancy, a “regular” from the original series who only appeared for the first few episodes of the first season. Twilight Sparkle is Spock and Rainbow Dash is Kirk, but when Twilight says something sardonic to Rainbow, she answers: “Shut up, Twi!”, sounding more like something Dr. McCoy/Bones would say.

Rarity turns the story into a noir.

Rating:

3 Stars out of 5