General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:10 am

It's insane that the series has been as long as it got, including all the side series like the Micro-Series, Friendship Forever, Legends of Equestria, Fiendship is Magic, Equestria Girls and Holiday specials, and the hand full of mini series like Feats of Friendship.
Just recently I got my two comic short boxes so full that they cannot fit any additional comics.

Saying that I still wished the main series with its 10th season was a little longer as the arcs felt a little short for what it's building up to.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by PonyHag714 (?) » Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:17 pm

I can't help but be curious as to who makes up the Knights of Order.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sun Jul 04, 2021 3:45 am

My Little Pony / Transformers II: The Magic of Cybertron #3
In the penultimate issue, both stories were pretty good.

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The first featured a lot of characters, with not just Vinyl, Octavia, and Soundwave teaming up, but also all of the Student Six. All things considered, given the limited number of pages, the balance of characters was pretty nice. Art-wise, it was weird that Gallus was so big, but it was otherwise good at getting across expressions, and the awesome musical team up.

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The second story featured the unusual combination of Rarity and Ratchet. Once Knock Out was brought into the picture, it all made more sense, with Rarity and Knock Out getting along and Ratchet being the grumpy old man. I was surprised to see Knock Out be portrayed (or strongly implied) as being in a gay relationship with Breakdown, and I liked how supportive Rarity was of it.

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Knock Out showing off the parts of Cybertron that aren't just a city but instead look semi-natural was interesting; I wonder if this is a thing in the normal Transformers lore, or if it was made up for here. The art was good, though the bit where Ratchet assembles a gadget and Knock Out uses it before it's ready was a bit confusing. It was pretty neat seeing Rarity be the one to expose how magic and Cybertronian technology can interact.

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Silver Quill's review mentions that Tony Fleecs both drew and wrote the first story, which is interesting. He doesn't really bring up anything else of note.

Next issue is the end of this mini-series, and likely the end of MLP/Transformers crossovers for a while, as G4 comics are winding down.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:41 am

Friendship is Magic #99
Marble is accepted to a rock school in Abyssinia—moreover, one on a remote island that only has boats to and from there in the summer—and Pinkie can't bring herself to plan her going away party. The synopsis emphasized Cheese's role, but much more of the issue is focused on Pinkie than I expected. Applejack plays a pretty decent role too.

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The story is really sweet, featuring nice emotional moments between all the involved characters. Marble leaving Equestria to go to an Abyssinian school is a really neat bit of cultural exchange that I would have liked to have seen a lot more of in the comics. Adventuring is good and all, but give me slice of life stories set in other regions!

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The art is by a first time MLP artist, as indicated by an interview at the end, and she did a really good job. The ponies look adorable and there are a lot of fun expressions. This includes a set of new (but nonspeaking) characters, Pinkie's cousins!

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Silver Quill's review is also very positive. Also, I didn't notice until seeing his screencap that Mudbriar is miscolored.

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This is the final "slice of life" story of G4, with the remaining issues all being focused on the Harmony storyline, and it's a great sendoff.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jul 15, 2021 3:58 am

Friendship is Magic #100
In this 100th issue, we visit the land of the birds, Captain Celaeno's homeland, Ornithia. A bit of an odd subject for a milestone issue, but with the increase in pages, and manages to tell a pretty good story.

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Interestingly, the art was a collaborative effort of multiple artists. Overall, the issue looks great throughout. Ornithia is a nice colorful, if not entirely unique-looking, setting. The new focus characters are pretty nice looking. I especially liked the crow design.

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Compared to the other Tree stories, we only really see one other Element bearer, which definitely works better for this issue. And hey, it turns out Celaeno is saphhic! Though I wished they leaned into the pirate saving a princess thing more for that.

This story finally introduces the Knights of Harmony, and the true natures of the trees we've seen. The other trees not being based on Friendship, and the Tree of Harmony not being connected to the light systems we saw, is a pretty interesting way to recontextualize previous stories, though I'd have to see how well it really works. Given they specifically had Starswirl show up to say that in all his journeys (including Reflections!) he never found any indication these other trees existed, I wonder if there's some twist with what we learned about the Knights.

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Here, we meet one Knight of Harmony, who has the ability to alter living matter. It's a shame there's so little left, because the Knights of Harmony slowly revealing its members over time and having individual encounters with them would have been really neat. It would have been really anime.

Here are the covers. That last comic cover, with all the comic-specific characters and moments, really makes me sad that more than anything else FiM, we'll never really see them again.

Silver Quill's review reminded me of the racial structure shown in Ornithia, with parrots being considered lesser. I was surprised that wasn't resolved by the end. I assume we'll see more of this place in the coming issues.

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There were also a bunch of subplots I neglected to mention, including Lyra and Bon Bon's sneaking. It was a pretty nice showcase of them. Plus there's the moment where everyone is put on a crashing ship! I have to say, it's pretty weird seeing Celaeno fly with her wings. Spitfire, unfortunately, doesn't get much to do as part of this team.

Like Silver Quill, I wish more time was spent developing Celaeno's relationship with Ocypete.

And then there's Katie Cook's one-page story at the end, which is really cute.

Overall, while this is a good issue, more than anything, it makes we wish we got a lot more time with the comic.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:22 am

My Little Pony / Transformers II: The Magic of Cybertron #4 (FINAL)
With the end of this miniseries, we're one step closer to not having any MLP G4 comics at all. In any case, this goes out with a bang, with a good dragon showcase at the start, and some insanity in the second half that I hesitate to spoil.

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The first story features Spike and Smolder interacting with the Dinobots, then fighting off a combiner. I suppose there are only so many threats to the Dinobots, but having a combiner again felt weirdly repetitive. That said, we got some nice bits with Smolder, and Spike got to save the day with his Transformers geekiness. We had gags before of the Transformers becoming MLP fans, but it's neat to see Spike become a Transformers expert. The Dinobots themselves didn't get to do much, alas. The art for Spike and Smolder was really good. The Transformers art was also really good, but it was weird seeing the Dinobots other than Grimlock with irises and pupils.

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The second story resolves everything, making use of Ratchet and Rarity's discovery of how magic and Cybertronian technology can interact. The form this takes is pretty ridiculous, and I'd rather not spoil it. I will say it's a shame that Fluttershy didn't get in on it.

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When Sombra was digging up a buried Transformer and everyone was worried, I assumed it'd be Unicron, but instead it was Scorponok, who I guess is a bigger deal than he was in Beast Wars now.

The resolution, with Megatron starting to maybe make amends with the Autobots, and being willing to allow more interactions with the ponies, was pretty interesting. With obviously out of continuity stories like this, it's an opportunity for developments like this, and it's neat to see. I was pretty surprised to see this end with another sequel hook. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more.

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Silver Quill's review points out Rarity's odd line that it's only been twenty minutes since Twilight was brainwashed, which is an insane timeframe no matter how you slice it. I have to imagine there was some mix up when laying things out for the writers.

Overall, this miniseries was once again a ton of fun. The quality is overall about the same as the first miniseries, though none of the stories were as weak as the Pinkie vs. Shockwave one from the first miniseries. Definitely worth checking out.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:17 pm

October comic solicitation. It's weird not seeing FiM included. Also, I suppose this confirms we aren't getting a G5 comic as of yet.

My Little Pony: Generations #1
Casey Gilly (w) • Michela Cacciatore (a) • Amy Mebberson (CVR A) • Agnes Garbowska (CVR B) • Samantha Whitten (1:10 RI CVR)
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A brand-new Pony adventure begins here, encompassing generations both old and new when G1 and Friendship is Magic collide!

A long time ago, an evil witch named Hydia sought to destroy pony-kind. Now her granddaughters, Grackle and Dyre, are back to finish the job!

With the School of Friendship overloaded with students, Starlight Glimmer and the Mane Six reach out for help. Enter: Violet Shiver, Shadow Storm, and Black Belle! But these ponies aren't quite what they seem; in fact, they're working for Grackle and Dyre! With their sights set on revenge and a brand-new Smooze on hand, the young witches and their dastardly creations are ready to cause some mayhem...

FC • 22 pages • $3.99

LCS Order Due Date: August 18th, 2021

Estimated Street Date: October 20th, 2021

Looks like this follows the premise of G1 characters already existing in the G4 universe. I wonder if the witches will be humans, and if they'll explain that.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Aug 12, 2021 1:50 am

Friendship is Magic #101
Here it is, the penultimate issue. I actually forgot about that fact when I was reading, and was wondering, were there two or three issues after this one? Turns out the answer is one.

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I reiterate that I really wish this Knights of Harmony story had room to breathe. Introducing five new villains (plus one introduced just last issue), all with unique powers, and having them be defeated next issue (the final one of the series) just doesn't work.

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As is, the Knights of Harmony are nothing more than random tough guys introduced late with little characterization. There are things I could say about them, but they all come down to me wishing they had more issues. So many aspects are "oh, that's weird, is that going to be explored more?" with the answer "probably not because there's only one issue left". Also, one of them has the ability to change peoples' sizes. That's a unique power we haven't seen in FiM before! There could have been a 4-issue arc's worth of stuff to do right there, just focused on defeating this one Knight.

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More than anything, I'm pretty disappointed that the final non-crossover story of G4 is going to be spent wrapping all this up. Even season 9 knew that the actual final episode was better spent focused on the characters rather than fighting a big threat, while I don't expect much more than a few pages spent on that in the final issue.

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Silver Quill's review focuses on explaining the names and theming of the new villains rather than judging their qualities as characters, though he doesn't hide how unimpressed he is by their leader at least.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Oct 16, 2021 2:42 am

Friendship is Magic #102 (END)



Well, here it is, the final issue of the Friendship is Magic series, and it was pretty solid. It's been a long ride, all the way from 2012 when the first issue dropped and season 3 still hadn't arrived. It hasn't always been great, but it took risks, and I'll miss the extra bit of spice it brought to G4. That said, I'm sure we'll get a G5 comic series, and there's still the G1 crossover left to release.

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Off the bat, we get some much-needed backstory for the Knights of Harmony. I'm not a fan of the choice to have Discord be the one that broke up the alliance of nations with Trees of Harmony. It places an odd amount of focus on Discord this late in the story, and it ultimately doesn't have a satisfactory resolution. Also, it was pretty confusing that the Knights in the flashback looked exactly like the current ones, when they explicitly aren't.

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As I've said with previous issues, I would have greatly preferred more time spent facing off against the Knights of Harmony, but I did appreciate that they got individual fights here, even if they're brief. Each faction of heroes got a moment to shine, including Silverstream getting a big win with Yona. No rainbow blast to solve everything here! Unless that's what happened to defeat the leader, it was hard to tell what was going on there. We also got nice moments with Trixie, Cadance, and Maud.

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As expected, all the nations we saw throughout this season returned to help in the end, though the focus on them did mean the odd exclusion of the changelings, dragons, etc. that helped out in "The Ending of the End". Things are a bit rushed after that, with the promise of further dangers and possibilities in the future, but we don't get too much on the character front. I was hoping for something to bridge the gap between the present day and future moments of "The Last Problem", but this did nothing of the sort.

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Silver Quill's review points out that Discord didn't bring up his involvement during the Abyssinia arc, which makes me wonder if this was a last-minute change. He also points out that there's possibly an element of propaganda here, though. Discord doesn't back up Danu's claim that he was involved, the flashback doesn't indicate that anyone actually saw Discord mess with the other nations, and it's entirely possible that they're leaving out details about how their spread of harmony actually went.

He points out that this doesn't feel like a true ending, especially with the G1 crossover coming, and I find myself agreeing.

Regarding the idea that the conflict between nations that Danu claims is inevitable being the cause of Equestria's fall leading into G5, Silver Quill and I agree that this is just Danu projecting and that won't be what happens.

The ending isn't as satisfying as the show's ending, but it isn't bad.

On another note, the Free Comic Book Day 2020 comic is up on Comixology now, so I finally got to read it. It's a nice cute story, and it's a shame I couldn't read it when it came out.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:55 pm

Generations #1
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I have to say, I didn't expect this so soon after the main series' ending, but that's what happens with delays, I suppose.

Right off the bat, oh hey, there's Starlight! She's been conspicuously absent from the comics for a while.

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The story here is pretty strange. It starts out well enough with the descendants of the witches from the G1 movie being left the task of messing with the ponies, but being unable to use magic outside the volcano they were sealed in. For some reason, rather than attacking the ponies in their own world, they use a magic portal rat to look for the closest ponies in any dimension and come across the School of Friendship. In the G4 world, there are too many students at the school (I guess they have the same walk-in policy as Canterlot High), so Starlight sends out the call for more teachers. The witches intercept this and use their magic to create three evil ponies out of Smooze, which they send to the school to end the chapter.

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If you look at the cover, then read the summary above, you might notice a problem. There is no mention at all of the G1 ponies on the cover. Maybe they come in later in the story, but there isn't even a hint they could get involved in this issue. In fact, if you don't count the two new witches and the fact that the new ponies are made of Smooze, there are no G1 characters at all here! It's very odd for a big crossover special.

Artwise, I thought the witches were pretty well-drawn. They remind me of that Jem comic from IDW. The ponies, on the other hand, have some issues. On their own, the pony art looks fine, but there are moments where their expressions don't match what they're saying, and the poses often look rather stock. For the former, we can see this in the very first pony panel, with Pinkie saying "Eeee!" while having a concerned look on her face. The panel layout is odd at times too, when it's cutting between the witches, the rat, and the ponies, without the different plot threads necessarily relating.

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If the story is just going to be about the new Smooze ponies causing trouble, then this is going to feel oddly similar to the Feats of Friendship miniseries.

This is a pretty odd start to the miniseries, but I'll see where it goes.

Silver Quill's review points out that the witches have Equestria Girls skin tones. I wonder if there was a Hasbro mandate that all humans need EQG colors regardless of context. It isn't strange for witches in any case.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:21 am

Generations #2
The second part of the Generations miniseries is out and... it's an odd one. I honestly don't know what this miniseries is trying to do.

So these evil Smooze ponies show up to be professors at the School of Friendship and... that's exactly what they do. They get caught up in actually teaching and don't actually do anything too bad. They keep getting instructed to make bigger moves, and by the end of the issue, it seems they'll finally do something ponies care about.

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The G4 cast spend the issue thankful that the Smooze ponies are taking a load off of them, and only by the end do they actually notice that they're teaching students to play pranks on each other. And the G1 characters... still haven't shown up.

The comic is also very dialogue heavy, despite the story not progressing much.

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Like I said, I really don't know what this miniseries is trying to do. Maybe it's trying to evoke a G1 plot structure, but it doesn't feel like a G1 story at all.

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Silver Quill's review points out that the art oddities continue from last time and that the Terrible Trio all have aspects of the Smooze from the G1 movie, which is interesting. Also that it's really unclear what gender each of the Smooze ponies is.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:27 am

Generations #3
Well, it took until the end of issue 3, but the MLP Generations comic finally brought in actual G1 ponies. This should have happened in issue 2 or even 1.

This miniseries has been an exercise in frustration, with the G4 cast inexplicably being unable to recognize the threat they're facing. They keep looking at other solutions than the obvious one that the new professors who are teaching the students dark magic are behind the recent problems. Even here, when they finally learn about the G1 Smooze, they fail to realize that the professors are who brought it.

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Silver Quill is with me in his review, pointing out that the readers are ten steps ahead of the G4 ponies, making it dull to wait for them to catch up. He also points out how several bits of pony art are clearly using scenes from the show (and even those classic vectors) as reference, while the art of the witches looks much better. I also agree that Zecora's role here was neat.

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Overall, all I can say is that I really hope the remaining issues are better.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:32 am

Generations #4
This was good when it was recapping the 80's movie. Otherwise, it was oddly confusing, and both too much and not enough happened. In particular, the G1 ponies arriving in Ponyville is just glossed over.

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Silver Quill's review goes into it a lot more. He points out things like the reliance on reference art for the ponies (he doesn't go so far as to say it's traced) and how the poses chosen still don't match what's happening.

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I had forgotten until reading the review that the next issue is the last one. They really wasted the entire G1 crossover aspect. What little we see of the G1 ponies isn't disrespectful, and the characters aren't presented inaccurately, but they also don't do anything interesting with them. It's honestly hard to understand what this miniseries was even trying to do.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:43 am

Generations #5
All things considered, the MLP Generations ending wasn't bad for resolving the story. The witches see the world they've been messing up and realize they don't actually want to do that and friendship ensues. Given what we've seen, this makes perfect sense and feels appropriate.

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However, the G1 characters were absolutely wasted, the FiM characters seemingly never figured out their new professors were behind the attacks, Starlight disappeared from the story after seeming to be a focus at the start, and there were several confusing moments. Like were the Smooze Ponies fading away, and then they stopped fading?

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Silver Quill's review goes into more detail. I'm not inclined to repeat his points.

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All in all, this was a big flop of a miniseries that failed at everything that someone reading this based on the premise would want. It's a shame this will be the last G4 comic for a while.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Fizzbuzz (?) » Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:15 pm

Generation 5 is coming to the comics.
Written by Celeste Bronfman and illustrated by Amy Mebberson, My Little Pony features Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, Pipp Petals, Hitch Trailblazer, aka the Mane 5, as well as their sidekick Cloudpuff "as they explore a brand-new Equestria following the magical events of the hit movie! With magic returned to Equestria, the ponies are more united than ever—at least until one of the Unity Crystals is stolen! Can the Mane 5 find the culprit before magic is gone for good? And could it really be that their pet Pomeranian is leading them to the city of Canterlot of Friendship Is Magic fame?"

[...]

My Little Pony #1 is written by Celeste Bronfman, illustrated by Amy Mebberson and features covers by Mebberson, JustaSuta and Brianna Garcia. The issue goes on sale May 5 from IDW Publishing.
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I have to say, I wasn't sure that G5 would even get a run in the comics, so it's nice to see that coming around again. I fell off the wagon of FiM's comics years ago when money was tight and didn't ever quite pick it back up, so this would be a good time to do so.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:37 am

My Little Pony (Generation 5) #2
Celeste Bronfman (w) • Amy Mebberson (a & CVR A) • JustaSuta (CVR B) • Trish Forstner (1:10 RI CVR)

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The new adventure continues! Join Sunny, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp, Hitch, and their trusty sidekick Cloudpuff as they explore a brand-new Equestria following the magical events of the hit Netflix movie! The quest to find the missing Unity Crystal has led our Mane 5 to a place they never thought they'd see-Canterlot! But a familiar figure lurks in the shadows, intent on stopping magic for good!
FC • 22 pages • $3.99
LCS Order Due Date: April 18th, 2022
Estimated Street Date: June 22nd, 2022

If this involves a returning G4 villain or Discord, then it's wild they're covering it in the comics. Unless it's just Sprout.
Getting this and issue #1 will be a pain for me without Comixology.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Wed May 18, 2022 2:57 am

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/05/ ... ny-g5.html

With this preview, it's really interesting seeing how Canterlot and Twilight are remembered

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat May 21, 2022 3:06 am

My Little Pony (Generation 5) #4
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Mary Kenney (w) • Trish Forstner (a & CVR A) • JustaSuta (CVR B) • Konrad "Pony-Berserker" Kachel (1:10 RI CVR)

Pipp's online persona has only been growing. The "Pippsqueaks" look forward to getting glimpses of her exciting life. But when Pipp decides to get personal and depart from her expected glitz and glamour, she will have to reckon with unpredictable responses and address the difficulty of balancing her private life with that of a renowned Pegasusprincess.

FC • 22 pages • $3.99
LCS Order Due Date: June 18th, 2022
Estimated Street Date: August 24th, 2022

Huh, the first arc is just three issues, I guess. Makes me think that the "Discord" mentioned in the issue #3 synopsis isn't Discord or even anyone at all.

Anyway, this story seems like very expected territory given social media is a thing for the ponies now, but it should still be interesting.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Tue May 31, 2022 1:22 pm

My Little Pony #1
First off, the very weird fact that this, the Make Your Mark special, and the Maretime Bay Adventure game are all about something happening to the crystals and magic being in danger of going away. What was their intention behind this? I don't get it.

Another thing is something not so much about this issue, but what future synopses reveal. Namely, the issue #3 synopsis mentions that Discord will appear, but then the issue #4 story is about something completely unrelated. Given how this issue goes and what it chooses to focus on, I have a hard time believing they're going to have Discord show up next issue and wrap it up the issue after; I suspect that instead, they'll think they found Discord but it'll be a random animal or something instead.

Anyway, this issue. The art by Amy Mebberson is pretty solid, but I can't help but compare it to how Andy Price hit it out of the park in Friendship is Magic #1. He had a lot of freedom to mess around with the art style, while this seems much more bound to how the characters are depicted in 2D merch (which oddly doesn't look like Tell Your Tale). There are some nice character moments, particularly with Izzy feeling left out by Sunny taking to the sky with the other pegasi and Zipp being a detective. Them finding Canterlot at the end is intriguing, especially with the first page showing how ponies remember it now, but I am concerned that they won't have enough time to really explore it.

Silver Quill's review points out something I somehow missed, in that Sunny is living in her old lighthouse (now restored) rather than her new one. I guess they just weren't given references for the new house. He also notes that earth ponies are depicted with magic, setting this after the special.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jul 28, 2022 8:12 pm

My Little Pony #2
The second issue of the comic is out and it features some major developments.

First of all, I'm honestly surprised that they're explaining the crystals here, given that was a question they brought up in the Make Your Mark special and you'd think they'd explain it in the series proper. For that reason, I'm doubtful that this comic is really canon; they're not going to tell people going into episode 1, "Oh sorry, you should have read the comic before watching this." That said, they did go out of their way to have a Tell Your Tale short take place immediately after Make Your Mark and air it same day, so they seem like they're being more careful about linking things up than they were in G4. That said, the video game being an alternate and contradictory retelling of the Make Your Mark special points to them being open to different timelines.

The history lesson given here is the big thing getting attention. While I'm not a fan of the crystals coming about like right after the events of "The Last Problem", there wasn't anything to indicate that the fall of Equestria happened then, so that's good.

Discord himself was fun here and certainly not as downbeat as I would have expected given his design. Given this arc is wrapping up next issue and issue 4 is about Pipp having social media problems, I'm curious how they'll accomplish that.

The art was a highlight, with everyone looking quite good. Sunny in particular got a lot of cute panels with her geeking out. Discord's old fogey design is pretty neat.

Silver Quill's review mentions that it was nice to have Izzy's silly moments here be balanced out with her moment of vulnerability at the end, and I agree. He also expresses concern about what it could mean if this comic really is required reading for the show.


My Little Pony #3
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The Discord arc of the comic continues... and if you were expecting more Discord here, then you'll be disappointed. That said, it's a cute story.

It's really weird that after the cliffhanger of the previous issue, with Discord using chaos magic to restrain Sunny and the others, it just cuts to them back home. I wonder if there was some miscommunication about how the previous issue would end. There's also little acknowledgment of the fact that magic should be screwed up, since Discord still has part of the crystal yet ponies are flying around just fine.

The story is centered on Zipp having to take care of the royal dog, Cloudpuff, but in her haste to look for clues to Discord's whereabouts, she neglects him and he runs away. Of course, she learns not to take him for granted. The comedic twist comes from the fact that his trail involves visiting a restaurant where he has a standing reservation and being a big marketing boost for a store, showing he's in no danger at all.

Reading Silver Quill's review, I thought the art was solid enough reading through the issue, but he points out some issues with it, particularly in depicting head movement. As another continuity problem, I had forgotten that Cloudpuff was present in the previous issue too, making the setup here of apparently leaving Canterlot with him, leaving him in the castle, leaving, and then going back to him here awkward.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Aug 26, 2022 5:18 pm

My Little Pony #4
This was a pretty nice issue with a sweet ending and cute art.

Like the previous issue, this is largely standalone, though there are bits that progress the Discord storyline. The synopsis indicated that this would be about Pipp getting a toxic response on social media, but this ends up going in a different direction.

After making a post about her experience with Discord that got a lot of attention, Pipp decides to make a more personal post. She talks to her friends, who largely tell her that it's dangerous to make a post like that, but she posts anyway. The post ends up getting very little attention, frustrating her, but then she gets a message from a filly that really appreciated it, and that turns out to be enough.

The story of that filly is a nice little sidestory, giving more insight into how the societies combining is going for ponies other than the side characters.

I know a lot of people reading these comics are interested in the Discord stuff, but I personally thought it distracted from the rest of this story. Also, with Pipp telling everyone about Discord, that will make it all the odder when he doesn't come up in the show itself.

About the art, one thing that concerned me about previous comics and picture books is that artists hadn't quite figured out how to draw the G5 ponies without sticking overly closely to the 2D models (though they had been getting better). This comic does a good job applying its own style to the designs.

Silver Quill's review highlights the scene between Pipp and Zipp as a moment of a sibling conflict that isn't about a major crisis.

Also, there's no heterosexual explanation for this panel.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sun Oct 02, 2022 2:15 am

My Little Pony #5
The Mane Five minus Hitch (despite the cover) follow a lead about Discord to a mysterious lighthouse keeper, Lightning Rod, who tells them the tangled tale of a cursed mirror that once housed Discord.

I'm not sure what we're supposed to get out of the story. It implies that Lightning Rod's story was before Discord was freed in FiM season 2, but it includes details that don't make sense in that setting, like how he had to go to an earth pony town that was alright with unicorns and that they were using phones. It's easy to assume his story is BS and he's probably Discord himself, but it was weird that they didn't reveal that in the end.

I liked the mirror story before it got tied in with Discord; that just muddled things up. We got some nice gruesome fates for ponies that came across the mirror, which I'm surprised were allowed in an MLP comic even if they were just left to implications. The shopkeeper, Fet Lockland, had a fun design with his constant smile, and I like these kinds of characters.

Checked to confirm, Andy Price was listed as the interior artist in this issue's solicitation. I wonder why they had to switch to someone else. That said, the interior art is good. The ponies all look good, there's a variety of minor character designs, and G4 Discord fits in well with everyone else when he shows up in Lightning Rod's story. The character expressions are solid, and the gruesome ends for ponies get across what happened well without feeling too scary for kids.

Silver Quill's review points out inconsistencies like how #4 ended with Pipp getting a message from Discord, not Lightning Rod. I wonder if there was meant to be a more explicit reveal that he was Discord all along here. I'd say we could get that reveal in a later issue, but honestly, I'm suspicious of how consistent this comic will be about plot threads between issues. I'm sure they had big plans for a continuity-heavy comic, but it just hasn't worked that well so far.

That said, taking this issue on its own, it was pretty fun.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:00 am

My Little Pony #6
After three issues, we return to the main Discord storyline. Right now, it doesn't seem like anything done in issues #3-5 matter to this storyline, but we'll see if anything comes back into play. Izzy's issues with being left out suddenly cropping up again add even more to the sense that you could skip those issues.

Now that it seems like the events of the comic indeed have no connection to the show canon, it's admittedly hard to see things like the appearance of Fluttershy's cottage as anything other than cheap fanservice. That said, it was nice to see Fluttershy again, in a recording; though I also feel like Sunny at least should care way more about all this.

The G5 characters played off each other well enough, but it definitely felt like they were taking a backseat to all the G4 stuff. It did feel like they were all getting on each others' nerves too much, but given later synopses, it does seem like that's building up to something.

The art was pretty nice, with some good expressions and great use of colors.

Silver Quill's review goes further in declaring the past few issues straight up filler; and indeed, with someone else saying it, I have a hard time seeing how anything from them will be relevant.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Wed Nov 16, 2022 9:12 pm

Little Fillies #1
Well here's an odd one. An MLP-ified version of Little Women, with the G4 cast playing its characters. Conceptually, I can see the appeal of going for this story, but it's also a fairly complex story with the sisters each doing different things, such that it could be awkward to fit into a comic. The themes of a woman's place in society are an awkward fit in Equestria. Plus one of the sisters dies, so we'll have to see how that works here.

In any case, I'm not entirely clear what this is trying to do with the story of Little Women. The art was cute at a lot of points and we get ponies in dresses, though.

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As presented, the story is rather muddled, particularly due to fourth wall breaks with the ponies acting as themselves rather than their character. Oddly, Rainbow of all ponies is the one to persistently stay in character the most. If you weren't already familiar with Little Women, it's a bit of a struggle to follow who everyone is and what's going on, and particular what parts are pony and what parts are part of the actual story. I think a straightforward presentation without fourth wall breaks, but with everyone acting more like their pony selves, would have worked better.

I was taken aback by the art at first, but I got used to it and there are some very nice looking panels at points. Silver Quill's review suggests that this art could be a deliberate attempt to match the look of the original inset art for Little Women.

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I will say that, as Silver Quill mentions, the choices for ponies to match all the sisters work well. The other stand-ins are odder. It does seem like we're going to get some AppleDash in this comic, which is neat, though Laurie ultimately doesn't end up with Jo, so I wonder how that'll be handled here.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Dec 15, 2022 2:44 am

My Little Pony #7
Finally got around to reading G5 comic #7, and it's basically just a worse version of that "Big Mac at a fair" comic. Not worth checking out.

I really don't have anything to say about it that Silver Quill's review doesn't. It's bland in every sense.

Little Fillies #2
I just read Little Fillies #2, and there are cute moments, but it's still so confusing what they're trying to do with this. Also, starting to think they're only adapting the first half of the book. I really don't have much to say about this.

Silver Quill's review is more positive, comparing how the plot of the comic matches up to the book, but I feel the comic muddles things far too much for it to be comprehensible. The plot points are there, but I don't really get what we're supposed to take seriously and what's a joke.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:32 am

MLP:FiM Comic Tenth Anniversary Coda
The tenth anniversary reprint of the first issue of the comic brought with it a short new story. In it, it's revealed that all of the G4 IDW comics were written by Spike, and a fan confronts him about the inconsistencies. Spike explains that he wrote the comics as they happened, but he wasn't there for everything and had to fill in the gaps. And even if they weren't quite accurate, they're still fun. Then at the end, it asserts that even the contradictory stuff happened, because their lives are just weird like that.

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It may sound like a "complaining about fans" story, but it's ultimately a celebration of everything the comics were, with the final pages showing Spike talking to Mina (who may or may not be living with him) and we see his horde, made up of artifacts and images we saw throughout the comics.

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Silver Quill's review is positive. I admit that I read it before reading this story, to see if I should bother buying it. Of course, as it turns out, a lingering subscription to the FiM comic series on Comixology meant that I had already bought this anyway.

I also took the opportunity to reread the first issue, and man, it's a fun one. I ought to do a full reread of the comics at some point.

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/12/ ... opsis.html

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Spooky! Scary! Ahh!!! are all words that can be used to describe the latest video game going viral. Pipp, never one to shy away from a trend, persuades her friends to play with her. But as the game gets creepier, it starts to come to life! Can the Mane Five survive the fright of their lives?

Fun synopsis, and honestly, I'm glad it sounds like the Discord arc is ending the issue before. That's been a huge whiff IMO. And this is the first time I really feel like the G5 comic has been going into new territory that the show and G4 hadn't done.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:47 am

My Little Pony #8
Andy Price comes back to the comics (for real this time) in a cute story about Izzy and Sunny. I enjoyed it, but it felt odd in some ways.

With Price's art, we don't get the usual backgrounds packed full of references and unique ponies, and I'm unsure if it was a directive or due to a lack of time or interest. Izzy looks really good and has nice expressions, but Sunny looks off. Aside from her mane having too much rainbow, her face just looked odd to me.

The story about Izzy taking over for Sunny's smoothie stand was nice, but I felt that integrating it with the Discord story and having it be part flashback part present day were only to its detriment. In particular, it felt odd how the story was meant to make Izzy feel better about not being able to fly with her friends, but then it takes that back because it's supposed to be resolved by the end of the Discord story. I'm glad the next standalone story is going to be after all that ends.

Silver Quill's review also points out the lack of things in the background. He doesn't seem to have an issue with how Sunny was drawn, so I guess it's just me. He points out that Discord has the wrong design, but he seems to have just given up on expecting continuity between the Discord-focused issues and the standalones. He also talks about how the pacing of the Discord arc has been bad.

Overall, I'd recommend checking it out if you like cute Sunny and Izzy stories.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:39 am

My Little Pony #9
Gotta say, it's pretty weird having everyone be like "we need to HURRY and stop Discord!" when the last two issues involved them just hanging out around town. These Discord arc issues really needed to be all together.

Now, if we pretend that this really was a direct followup of #6, it's a pretty solid issue. There is the additional oddity of the Daring Do series surviving to the point that Pipp can just get one of the middle entries from one of her fans on a moment's notice, plus Sunny knowing the title offhand. I would not have called that at all. Still, the group coming into conflict is handled well with good expressions, both goofy and emotional. It was also nice to get a bit more adventuring than we've usually gotten from G5.

Still, I'll be happy to move on from this story arc after issue #10. After so much time spent on this story arc, it's going to be annoying to see an inevitable easy resolution to all this. I do wonder what they actually intend to do with Discord after this.

Silver Quill's review points out the two Pippsqueak mares and how one looks like Snow White. I interpreted the other as looking like Rapunzel. He praises the art, not just of the ponies but also the background art. He also points out the story oddities I mentioned.

Little Fillies #3
This really should have just been Little Women but with ponies; with all the meta moments and points where they outright state that they expect the readers to already know the story of Little Women, I don't know who this is for.

Things just happen in this story and they go out of their way to remove any weight from its events. Like, Beth dies at this point in the story. Rather than that mattering, they have Fluttershy get sick and Discord pops in to say she's just gone from the story now, and comments that everyone reading knows what was supposed to happen. But would a young kid reading this really know that? What exactly am I supposed to be reading this story for? Because it seems like it's just so we can see the ponies wear dresses and act goofy. But even the comedy just feels so off without anything solid to use as a baseline.

Silver Quill's review tries to find some meaning in all this, but I don't think he succeeds.

I'll repeat myself. This really should have just been Little Women but with ponies.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Mar 02, 2023 3:22 am

My Little Pony #10
This was a satisfying though expected resolution to the Discord arc, only somewhat disappointing due to how long this all took.

First of all, the cage escape was a fun use of everyone's skills, though I do question Hitch's decision to have the bunnies along for the ride as the cage fell lol. The encounter with Discord after that had him use his powers in inventive ways, and the panels of Discord listening to Fluttershy's message were really sweet.

On that note, the art was a big highlight here. I recall the first issue still having some wonkiness with how the G5 ponies looked, but they all look great here, even in action-heavy moments, and the bits of Fluttershy are as good as ever.

The big surprise comes in the last panels as you wait for Discord to make his leave and... he doesn't. He's still hanging out with the ponies by the end. Does this mean he'll be sticking around in the comics? If so, that will pretty definitively make this an AU of the show.

In the end, continuity aside, the biggest problem with this arc is that the relevant issues really should have been grouped together, rather than having one-off issues in between. Even the lighthouse story that was ostensibly about finding a way to seal away Discord turned out to be completely irrelevant and was never brought up again.

Silver Quill's review is relatively short and doesn't add much I haven't mentioned, but he plans on another article about the arc as a whole.

In any case, looking forward to the comics without this arc's lodestone.

Little Fillies #4 (end)
I actually read this weeks ago, but just didn't get around to writing the review.

In short, this miniseries had cute art and I like seeing the ponies in dresses, but I was confused what it was trying to do and the end result isn't much good regardless. I'll say it again, this should have just been Little Women but with ponies.

Silver Quill's review and his sum up of the miniseries is a lot of words to basically just shrug at what the end result was.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Apr 06, 2023 1:37 am

My Little Pony #11
This was a bit of a retread at the start, with Pipp again being afraid of losing followers, but it was fun. It was a bit disappointing that the ghost was just a Bloody Mary situation rather than something more creepypasta-ish like the main cover implied though.

The art was pretty solid, with a lot of inventive paneling to take advantage of the found footage sort of premise, and some cute expressions.

One the story got going, it was fun seeing the scares and it was nice seeing Zipp and Pipp's relationship depicted here, with Zipp trying to be supportive in her own way. The way the ponies showed sympathy to the ghost's backstory rather than just leaving it at that was nice too. Izzy feeling the need to be respectful to the ghost rather than being goofy was unexpected but didn't feel out of character.

Silver Quill's review is positive and doesn't really bring up anything else noteworthy.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Fri May 05, 2023 2:53 am

I finally caught up with the comics binge-reading and I have to say I have mixed feelings about them.

First of all Little Fillies is a mess, and I have nothing to add to this statement.

The main series is a mixed bag. It tries to have an overarching plot but I get a lot of narrative whiplash going from one issue to the next. Despite the characters emphasizing how important is to safe the crystal and thus magic they have a lot of time doing basically anything else. I know that the issues are designed to be more episodic and make it easier to pick up and read but it's a style of storytelling I'm not used to. In Adventure Time they had a similar concept but it surely wasn't as grating.
But for what I got out of the individual stories it was fine.
"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:17 pm

My Little Pony #12
Coming clean, I actually read this ages ago but kept putting off writing about it.

Despite what that implies, I actually enjoyed this comic. One thing I appreciate about Tell Your Tale is how much focus it places on the side characters, and that's the big reason why I like this, with it's focus on Jazz and Dahlia.

Had to read Silver Quill's review as a refresher, so I'll follow up on what he says. I agree that the artwork here is great, especially in regards to how it handles pony expressions and dynamic posing. While I don't feel as strongly about it as him, I feel the story didn't really think through the implications of Hitch doing a crime podcast while also being the town's law enforcement. He mentions Zipp's interactions with Hitch here, but honestly, I don't remember those too well.

Overall, I'd recommend this issue.

My Little Pony #13
This was a decent cute story, and I liked the art. The flashbacks were nice, and I would have liked the story to go more into them, including giving Izzy a real one and not just a joke. However, I don't believe for a second that no one thought to bring fruits for the dessert contest.

The desserts looked good, especially Sunny's. Makes me want one.

Silver Quill's review points out the similar expressions throughout the story, which I had forgotten, but that comment brought it all back. Like he said, I'm glad the ponies didn't end up fighting over what to make, and it was nice that Dahlia won after the previous issue. Plus she's the one actually established as a baker.

Bridlewoodstock
Yes, that's a third thing using that name.

This is a set of small stories set during the Make Your Mark special, none too remarkable, but they're fun. The art style is different that what we'd usually get for ponies, but I thought it looked nice, especially for the new characters. It reminds me of Scott Pilgrim.

My favorite was the one about that one band's singer coming across a troggle and "defeating" it themself, which incidentally confirms that they aren't committing suicide by going after rubies, but rather are going inside to sleep.

It was also nice to see Sparky doing... anything other than being the baby. Other than the lack of dialogue, his story is something we might have otherwise seen with Spike. Hopefully we get this increased maturity in the animated media too.

Silver Quill's review reminded me of Pipp's subplot of not being a big fan of all the bands. Personally, it felt undercooked especially as we don't get a good sense of what the other bands' sounds are. Also, it was really weird that Cherry didn't end up telling Pipp about the troggle. He also makes a point of how it's strange that Sunny herself doesn't get to be a driving force in stories often.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Sep 09, 2023 3:30 am

Bunch of comics

My Little Pony #14
If you haven't been paying attention to the fandom, Violette has been getting fanart ever since the cover was first previewed months ago. Given that, I was worried that she would end up diverging from what fans expected, or that this would be a notably weak story, but thankfully that wasn't the case.

The story is straightforward. Izzy's friend Violette, a young filly with an unusual coat, comes to visit, but she gets in trouble and becomes upset about standing out. She then runs into a family of zebras (!!!) who tell her about their own experiences with discrimination. The mother zebra gives Violette a potion that will allow her to fit in, but it backfires and Violette realizes she prefers her own coat.

Then it undermines its own message on vitiligo and looking different by suggesting to Violette that she could be a special pony race.

In a vacuum, the story is fine and cute, but with everything else, it's strange to just have zebras in town with no explanation of where they all were, other than somewhere in the woods; and we know more zebras likely won't show up for a while. It's sad that the zebras are now discriminated against for being zebras (rather than Zecora being a mysterious stranger), even if that was the case for every pony race. Also, I guess Pipsqueak was a special pony that got treated badly by everyone?

In terms of characterization, Posey is a jerk, so her yelling at a kid makes sense, but Pipp doing the same was a surprise, even if she felt bad about it after.

The art was cute, and managed to be pretty consistent about Violette's pattern.

Silver Quill's review expresses the feeling I have, where there's a lot that's strange about the story, but ultimately, it's still a story I'd recommend.

~~~

My Little Pony 40th Anniversary
Though this book is about the original toys, there is one story set in G5, so I'll just go ahead and include it in this thread.

First of all, I have the general thought that going in on nostalgia and the joy of childhood and such doesn't ring right when it's specifically about a corporate IP like this. This impacts the first, and largest, story the most, I think. If it was about some property invented for the story, I would have been more willing to get invested in this tale of friends drifting apart then coming back together, but then you throw in that it's because their parents bought these toys and ugh.

In any case, I wasn't a huge fan of the first story. It's set in the 80's with... well, what I said above. There are panels where the art style works, but it's just too plain and undetailed for my taste.

The second story was set in G5, with them uncovering an existing G1 book among Argyle's research. It was cute, and the art was really nice—seriously, the best I've ever seen the G5 characters drawn—but conceptually it was strange that Sunny and the others were trying to parse historical information from what was clearly written for children.

The third story, about a G1 aunt and her G5 niece connecting, had really cute art, and was generally sweet.

Silver Quill's review points out that a non-IP first story would have had the girls move on from their friendships being based on a shared IP and form something new, but it needs to boost this IP so that isn't what happens.

Camp Bighoof #1
I'm curious about how this miniseries came about. It isn't a compelling marketable premise and I'm pretty sure there isn't a toyset for this.

Despite my confusion about why this exists, it's nice seeing the ponies help out foals, and the art is pretty cute. The colors are nice, especially since we're in a new setting.

Silver Quill's review points out that the ponies blend into the background a bit, which I can see. He applauds Hitch and Sunny's role in the story, particularly Sunny helping cheer up a colt.

Overall, it's nice, but not exactly a must-read.

My Little Pony #15
There isn't much to this story, just featuring Izzy decorating a tree house and then having to deal with animals. However, the art is really cute and Izzy acts cute.

Silver Quill's review brings up Izzy's unicycling and her ability to see the good in trash, and I felt that's a big part of what made this issue enjoyable.

Endless Summer
This was a nice story about Sunny learning to appreciate the end of summer, and we actually get some dead dad angst! That's been an oddly underutilized part of G5 (though I suppose Applejack rarely touched on her dead parents). It also seems like Sunny has seasonal affective disorder; it would have been nice to have that spelled out so kids reading can recognize it.

I enjoyed seeing everyone recreate the different seasons and talking with Sunny about what she liked about them.

The art was nice, though the faces looked a bit off to me. Silver Quill's review suggests this is due to high eyebrows and a ridge from the eyebrow to the muzzle.

There isn't much to say about this, but it's nice.

Camp Bighoof #2
This was alright. I was pretty surprised the ending went the direction it did, with Bighoof just showing up in the camp. I did like how the ponies helped make the colts and fillies feel better.

The art is charming at points, though I'm not quite sure a story like this is best suited for it. There are some pretty panels, but it just feels flat a lot of the time.

Silver Quill's review points out that having them decide that the avalanche isn't a big deal undermines the threat a lot.

My Little Pony #16
This was a really fun issue with great art. Pipp's interactions with the Pippsqueaks are cute, and it makes me wish they did anything close to what they did with the Cutie Mark Crusaders with them. At least something to differentiate their personalities. Anyway, the core of the story is Pipp and Zipp, as each handle different parts of an upcoming celebration. The story progresses to them thinking the other has it easy, of course, but I think they managed to give convincing reasons for both to feel this way.

The story also introduces a new magical creature, Milkyway the nymph. They appear helpful at first, but they appear to have something more sinister in mind. Curious if there's a lore explanation for what's up for them or if there's just a random new reality warper. Milkyway is alright, but not super compelling.

Silver Quill's review asks if this is the first appearance of the Pippsqueaks in the comics and... huh, I guess that's why I felt the need to comment on them. He notes that Sunny and Izzy playing instruments for Pipp is pretty clearly just to get them involved in the story, but it's fun seeing them play instruments so it's fine.

We're starting a new arc, and it's actually all together this time. This is a good start to it.

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