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 Applepie2017 (?) » Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:45 am

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The Cutie Mark Crusaders take to the woods to find the mythical Spirit of the Forest in a last-ditch effort to get Filthy Rich to change his scheming ways
But...
This one's too young

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:01 am

Mr. Big wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:57 am
I'm curious, with the series ending this year, have IDW announced what will happen to the comic? Will it continue even after the show ends?
No clue. Well, we do have tweets from Ian Flynn hinting that he's doing something lore-related for MLP.





This could be whatever follows the Spirit of the Forest miniseries, instead of something later. But still, this is all we know about the future of the comics.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu May 02, 2019 2:54 am

Friendship is Magic #77
Much of this issue was pretty good, but it was frustrating once again spending a bunch of time on one group only for them to fall to Cosmos before they even realize she's a thing.

Discord's flashbacks solidify what I assumed last issue: it's being retconned that Discord wasn't actually that bad a thousand years ago, and he was only considered a menace because he took the blame for Cosmos's actions. Again, while I'm not opposed to the idea, I think the story went too far with this and it takes a lot of the meaning out of Fluttershy turning him good and the events of "Twilight's Kingdom" if Discord was always just a nuisance.

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Despite that, the visuals during the flashback are great, and I enjoy the framing story of Discord describing this to a mutated (cute, but still mutated) Fluttershy, who then puts her hoof down and tells him to go stop Cosmos.

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The sequence of Cadance, Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike talking about eating gems was fun, but again, it's disappointing that this just led to Cosmos taking over Cadance before they realized anything was happening. I did like Cosmos being infected by Zecora's rhyming, though.

The art is as fantastic as always, and there were good scenes, but I'm disappointed by some of the story choices.

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Silver Quill's review is more critical, pointing out the repetition from previous parts and the waste of Cadance. He also points out things I missed: Cosmos is a straight up alien that came from the stars, and the ladybugs are stated to be the residents of Canterlot post-transformation. He theorizes that the characters Cosmos took control of will fight back in the final part later this month, but I assume Discord will just find the courage to face Cosmos and then one-shot her, as these things tend to go.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat May 25, 2019 12:44 am

August 2019 comic solicitations

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #81
Thom Zahler (w & 1:10 RI CVR) • Nicoletta Baldari (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B)
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It's Foals and Friends Weekend at the Wonderbolts Academy, but after an accident during practice, Rumble finds himself grounded. Good thing General Dauntless is there with a story or two to tell! Including one about the only earth pony who has ever been a member of the Wonderbolts...

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet Point
  • We head back to the past in this brand-new Pony adventure!
My Little Pony: Feats of Friendship #1 (of 3)
Ian Flynn (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & CVR A) • JustaSuta (CVR B) • Katie O'Neill (1:10 RI CVR)
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Come one, come all, to the School of Friendship's very first sporting event-the Feats of Friendship! As Sandbar, Smolder, Gallus, Ocellus, Yona, and Silverstream prepare for the new competition, they realize they're going to need one more pony to round out their team. Enter Swift Foot, a mysterious new exchange student! But will she help strengthen the Young Six's bonds of friendship-or just drive them apart? Jealousy threatens our favorite youngsters in this brand-new miniseries!

Bullet Point
  • Ian Flynn (Sonic the Hedgehog) makes his My Little Pony debut!
That first story looks pretty fun.
I actually haven't read any of Ian Flynn's Sonic stories, but I liked his Mega Man stuff. Nice to see a Student Six miniseries. With a mysterious transfer student Image

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:28 am

I guess this goes here. There's a MLP 4-koma manga book.

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Just got a copy!

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

Post by AmericanErrorist (?) » Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:00 am

The book was good.

About that last chapter: the Japanese media parodies were fine, but it shows a lack of confidence there when Discord said the book needed "authenticity" (the quote marks were his).

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

Post by Adiwan (?) » Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:20 am

It was a nice read however those titles above each page are really distracting for me.
I can barely look away when I turn the page and the puntastic titles were a little bit too spoilery for my taste.

The "Space Pony" stuff was strangely enjoyable.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sat Jul 13, 2019 3:18 pm

A second volume of the "manga" will be released next year on March.
The Great Cake Bake Festival is tomorrow! All of Ponyville is head over hooves with excitement as they prepare. But then…the big day never arrives. Each new day is still always the day before the festival. In fact, it seems like it’s been the day before the festival for as long as anypony can remember. What could possibly be the reason? A mysterious artifact from ancient Mesoponytamia? Is Discord up to his old tricks? Hopefully, somepony can solve the mystery and set things right!
Pony Groundhog Day :ponder:

So there's some new FiM contents confirmed after the show ends, at least.

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

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:57 am

I got the copy of the Volume 1 manga today. It's definitely a lot more gag-centric and sillier compared to the IDW comics. Still reading through, but some of the highlights:

1. The first chapter has Pinkie getting lost into alternate dimensions, forcing Twilight and Spike to try to rescue her. They get help from an alternate universe version of Dr. Whooves and Derpy, who makes several more appearances throughout the manga.

2. Pinkie Pie is a horror movie fan in this book, and goes to watch a Pony version of "It" with Princess Celestia, who was a tad bit scared.

3. Celestia sends a claw machine to the moon. :gotcha:

4. A new character named Star Dancer, whom Pinkie thinks actually came from outer space. I won't spoil what happens, but it appears she'll be a big factor

5. The Smooze appears in it as a client for Rarity.

6. The final chapter, where the Mane 6 are Japanese High School girls. Fluttershy is popular with the boys there :fluttershock:

Also, sushi is canon in MLP-verse I guess, because Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash eat them in the last page.

But yeah, all in all very much a silly book. If you ever wondered what a MLP newspaper strip would have been like, this book is a close approximation. It's pretty cheap to get, so I recommend checking it out if you can.

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

Post by AmericanErrorist (?) » Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:50 am

Mr. Big wrote:
Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:57 am
Also, sushi is canon in MLP-verse I guess, because Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash eat them in the last page.
Fish had been previously established as non-sentient, but this is a bit of a palette expansion from the show, you're right.

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

Post by Dal (?) » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:52 pm

I just spent over two hours and $130 going through my comics and ordering all the back issues I missed over the last couple years :-I
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Undecided wrote:Every time you write a story I cant help but sigh, because I know Im gong to lose another man card.

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

Post by ixnay (?) » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:13 pm

If you want some drm-free digital copies of the comics, Humble has a bundle with a whole lot of them going on right now for the next 2 weeks

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/my-l ... 2019-books

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Aug 08, 2019 1:45 am

MLP: Feats of Friendship #1
Before the previous miniseries even ends, we're starting this one, written by Ian Flynn. Twilight's school is holding a series of friendly competitions and the Student Six are a team of course, but Twilight introduces a transfer student into the group: Swift Foot. Sandbar immediately gets a crush on her, but she starts sowing discord among the rest of the group, leading to a reveal in the last panels.

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I thought this was a pretty good issue, especially in how it brings up things the students should rightly be upset about. From the fact that the ponies didn't bother to help the hippogriffs until after the Storm King attacked the ponies, to how no one bothered to learn how to speak Yak after Yona went through the effort of learning Ponish, to how no one brings Smolder gem snacks. Well, some more rightly than others. Still, they all felt like in-character reasons to get upset.

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This does all feel reminiscent of Cozy Glow in "What Lies Beneath", but oddly more individualized despite Swift Foot knowing them for less time (as far as we know). Still, Cozy was absent from that episode aside from the start and very end, while Swift Foot will be around the entire time. The fact that the Students are going to start fighting during a competition is reminiscent of Rainbow Rocks, and Swift's actions are like Sunset's in the first EQG but without the outright lies.

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It's revealed at the end that Swift Foot is the Storm King's daughter and I'm curious how that would work.

The art was good. Yona especially has more moving parts (her fur and her blanket) depicted than either the comics before or the show. Swift Foot has a cute design. There were some people upset about Sandbar falling for her when the show has shipped him with Yona, but he's a teen colt. And of course, on surface level, that was always a story about just friendship.

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Tony Fleecs has drawn for the comics before, but his stuff feels different now. That's almost certainly due to Lauren Perry providing the flat coloring, as noted in Silver Quill's review. I hadn't noticed all the digitally added details in the art, so I don't have the same problem he has.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the other two parts of this series.

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

Post by CorvusCaw (?) » Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:02 pm

ixnay wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:13 pm
If you want some drm-free digital copies of the comics, Humble has a bundle with a whole lot of them going on right now for the next 2 weeks

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/my-l ... 2019-books
Thanks for the heads-up.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:24 pm

Issue #81 was bad how bland it was and how its art was.

The art makes everything look amateurish that resembles the poor quality MLP magazine comics.
The outlines are very inconsistent and the proportions are warped beyond expectations.
Plot-wise it has some merits but introducing an earth-pony in the history of the Wonderbolts and NOT have Scootaloo replace Rumble in the show is a huge gaffe because Rumble was seriously hurt and the artificial wings put him again in a super high risk.
Also Scootaloo had not much of a reaction to a flightless pony flying, which upsets me very much.
It could have been a great opportunity to have Scootaloo take some action in that regard. She was just a bystander here.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:14 am

Silver Quill's review points out that the issue straight up uses show vectors at points.

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So yeah, not an issue worth checking out.

EDIT: Oh damn, didn't even notice the white space between Rainbow's back legs and between her tail hairs until now.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Oct 31, 2019 1:02 pm

New Feats of Friendship comic finally came out!

Feats of Friendship #2
Last we left off, Swift Foot revealed to the reader that she's the Storm King's daughter.

Now, the Feats of Friendship itself has started. Swift Foot is surprised her goading hasn't broken the Student Six, so during the games, she continues doing it, and by the end of the issue, it seems like that did the trick. It doesn't help that the Mane Six aren't pulling their punches for the Feats. Two of the three involve big monsters, and one involves a hidden true objective that Gallus figures out but the others don't listen to him.
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The big reveal of this issue is that there were actually four different pony tribes at the founding of Equestria on Hearth's Warming. For currently unknown reasons, King Thrace's faction (seemingly also earth ponies) was excluded and he went on to found the island nation of Thrace. This is a pretty classic type of retcon, and I'm sure it will be revealed he was a jerk and that's why he was left out. I'm curious what the connection is to the Storm King. Swift Foot mentions he "didn't need anyone's help to survive the storm", so I assume he was the original Storm King and the one we know took his title.
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I thought it was realistic for the Students to get past the issues they had last issue, but for it to guide their actions here. Yona speaks yak despite no one understanding her. Both Smolder and Silverstream push back against Gallus taking charge. Ocellus is upset Silverstream transforming is OK but she needs to get permission so people don't freak out. Sandbar says things are bogus.
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The Feats we saw seemed fun. Gathering apples but then an orthos comes barreling in. The teams have to build bridges, but it turns out they each only have enough material if they all work together. Last we see, the teams have to get a chimera into a cage, though oddly we don't see the other teams for this.
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Ocellus is shown to be way more OP than she is in the show, if that concerns you.

Overall, this is a transition chapter, but I enjoyed it.

This miniseries is only 3 issues long, which is a shame. And this is the final miniseries as far as we know.

From Silver Quill's review, this page I didn't pay much attention to has tons of details in the background. Every pony in the stands is actually distinct, and included recognizable characters, including Sunset Shimmer.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Nov 21, 2019 2:49 am

Feats of Friendship #3 (end)
Thus we reach the end of the miniseries, and it unexpectedly doesn't resolve Swift Foot's storyline, seemingly leaving it for the "season 10" comics coming later. Also I guess I was just mistaken about the Storm King symbol, since they don't mention him at all.

The Student Six fight and Swift Foot realizes she didn't actually want this. We get a flashback, which has a color filter that confused me at first, because only Swift Foot herself serves as a color reference, and I assumed at first that her hair is naturally a different color and she changed her hair when coming to Equestria, but I realized otherwise. Anyway, through the flashback, we see Swift Foot's sisters, who have nice designs.
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The king of Thrace, Diomedes, decides for... reasons, that they need to break up the Student Six in order to demonstrate that friendship is weak. He already has a full write-up of them and forged documentation for Swift Foot to use. It's a bit contrived and a bit inexplicable, but it works well enough for MLP's setting I suppose.
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Back in the present, we get a really nice sequence of the Students all making up with each other, despite Swift Foot being sure this would be the breaking point. It turns out the others actually had been learning Yakkish, though they still can't speak it well, and everyone apologizes to each other, all without realizing Swift Foot's role in their fight.
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They then team up to fight an illusory hydra and easily take it out by working together, though Ocellus does most of the work by turning into a hydra herself. Seriously, Ocellus has been pretty OP this miniseries.
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During the award ceremony, Swift Foot is absent. She decides to go back to Thrace, hoping to convince them that friendship is good.
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Overall, I thought this was a really good miniseries. It was nice to see more exploration of the conflicts that would naturally come from different species mingling and becoming friends for the first time, and Swift Foot is an interesting character. In retrospect, I'm a bit surprised we never got a "villain is befriended who then has to face their former superiors" character in FiM before; that was actually fairly common back in the first G1 cartoon.

Silver Quill's review mentions the Mares of Thrace of Greek mythology, who Hercules / Heracles had to tame in one of his Labors. They were fierce man-eating horses, which explains why Thrace is anti-friendship here in MLP. Even the names of Swift Foot and her sisters are all references to the Mares of Thrace: Podargos (the swift), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the yellow) and Deinos (the terrible). MLP-ified, they are Swift Foot, Shining Light, Blonn Di, and Terri Belle. And of course, the king, Diomedes, is named after the man who owned the Mares of Thrace. Clever. Though Blonn Di and Terri Belle still aren't good names.

He also points out that Swift Foot realizing she was wrong on her own is better than her being rescued by the Student Six and realizing they're good that way, which indeed is a direction they easily could have gone.

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Silver Quill is suspicious about whether we'll get a followup, given past plot threads that have been dropped, but I think we'll see Thrace and its mares again.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:41 pm

IDW comic March 2020 solicitations. Yes, plural this time.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #88
Ted Anderson (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B) • Yancey Labat (1:10 RI CVR)
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The conclusion of Ted Anderson’s exciting two-part adventure is here!

The Draytona Breach has begun! Big McIntosh and Silver Streak are racing to determine the fate of their friendship; Rainbow Dash is racing to prove herself (again!); and Sacks Roamer is racing to retrieve his stolen goods in order to get them across the Yakyakistani border! Who’s going to come out on top?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

LCS Order Due Date: January 18th, 2020

Estimated Street Date: March 11th, 2020

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Canterlot High: March Radness—SPOTLIGHT
Danny Djeljosevic, Toni "Pencils" Kuusisto, Christina Rice (w) • Toni "Pencils" Kuusisto (a & CVR A) • Tony Fleecs (1:10 RI CVR)
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Spring has sprung, and your favorite Equestria girls are back with three brand-new adventures! Celebrate March Radness with the Spring Athletic event, a visit by the famous A.K. Yearling herself, and... detention?! Return to Canterlot High, where mischief, fun, and friendship collide!

FC • 48 pages • $5.99

LCS Order Due Date: January 18th, 2020

Estimated Street Date: March 18th, 2020

I can't say I'm excited that Big Mac racing story is actually a two-parter.

Interesting that EQG is getting another one shot, and given that, that it doesn't appear to be an attempt at a finale. Also, it's drawn and surprisingly even partially written by pencils.

Also, for Free Comic Book Day, we got a preview of the April comic.

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A new era of My Little Pony begins! Join Twilight Sparkle as she attempts to raise the sun in her first act as the new Princess of Equetria, in a new tale by writer Jeremy Whitley and artist Trish Forstner!

This is the start of "Season 10", and it's starting the day after the coronation. Sucks for Twilight that it sounds like things go bad on her first day.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:01 am

April comic solicitation, marking the start of Season 10!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #89—Season 10 Episode 1
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • Brenda Hickey (CVR B) • JustaSuta (1:10 RI CVR) • Amy Mebberson (1:25 RI CVR)
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Season 10 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic begins! Explore new worlds and go on new adventures with your favorite fillies!

Twilight’s first act as Queen of Equestria is to send the Mane 6 to explore mysterious—and potentially dangerous—areas of Equestria. When Applejack, Zecora, Rockhoof, and Tempest travel to Zecora’s home country, they meet a zebra named Marini—and learn exciting, surprising information about Zecora, the magical kelpies and abada, and the not-so-magical zebras who live there!

FC • 36 pages • $4.99

LCS Order Due Date: February 18th, 2020

Estimated Street Date: April 29th, 2020

We're going to see Zebraland! Ghost Zecora is already concerned about how Applejack will act there. This is an interesting mix of characters to use. I imagine we'll get one issue for each of the Mane Six exploring a different area. This synopsis seems like a lot to cover in one issue, though.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2020/01/interview-jeremy-whitley-on-writing-my.html

The writer's interview on ED clarifies that the Free Comic Book Day issue is separate from this, and tells a different story. Like all Free Comic Book Day issues, it's half the length of a normal issue. It also sounds like this Zebraland arc is four issues.

An especially interesting set of answers:
TIQ: What is one of things you found to be different when it came to writing a season 10 comic as opposed to a regular Friendship is Magic Comic?

JW:
So, this especially pertains to the first arc, but something that frequently happened while writing the regular comic was that I would come up with a great idea, pitch it to IDW who would love it, and then Hasbro would come back and tell us that they were either dealing with something very similar in the show or that they had nebulous plans to deal with it in the future. As a result, there were a lot of comics I was very excited to write that never made it.

But now that the show has wrapped, that's not an issue any more. We can do big things that change and expand the world of the series. We don't have to be concerned that something might be contradicted by the show. We can think big and swing for the fences. As a matter of fact, the first story from season 10 has some of the bones of an idea I pitched years ago, but was impossible for us to do while the show was still on. The idea has had some massive changes and, of course, has entirely different implications and characters involved to match continuity, but I was really excited to bring it back because I think it has really solid bones and makes a great MLP story.

TIQ: One question I know everyone is scratching their brains to find out is WHEN Season 10 is going to take place. So I shall ask the question. Does the series take place after the final episode of Friendship is Magic or does it take place during the time jump?

JW:
I've been doing my best to make this all very confusing by saying that season 10 happens during season 9. What I mean by that is, the last episode of season 9 happens during two timelines, one several years in the future and one during Twilight's coronation. Season 10 continues the main continuity of the tv series, which is to say it starts only a short time after Twilight's coronation. These will continue to be the versions of our cast that the fans know and love, not an aged up version. We'll be telling the story of things that happen in between those two points in time. It would, however, be a mistake to think that there won't be any surprises just because we know where our main characters end up. We intend to do a lot with the extended cast of the show, the movie, and the comics. We're doing our best to do things in the comics that have never been done on the show. It's gonna be a wild ride.

TIQ: Could you tease us a little bit about the first arc and how did you come up with the idea for it?

JW:
I mentioned earlier that it was based on idea I had pitched and had shot down at one point. Essentially, it's about a character that's been part of Friendship is Magic since almost the beginning, but we know next to nothing about - even where they come from. It has always been something I've wondered about and I thought had great potential to expand the world of My Little Pony and I felt like was just sitting on the table ready to explore. They're not like any other character we've seen, even as the show has progressed and the world has expanded, which means they must have come from a long way away. What could have driven this character to leave their home and make a home here in Equestria? What is their home like? Why don't they go back? I always wanted to visit the land they came from and find all of this information out. And now we get to do that.

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

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:16 am

I am pretty psyched for this. Kicking things off by teaming up Applejack with side/movie characters to do some deep world-building/character exploration is basically all I ever wanted. Not feeling the need to start with a big Mane 6 Save the World™ story as per usual is super refreshing, and I've always felt that Zecora was just a bit of explanation away from being really, really cool as opposed to just being kinda... there. Shame it's still 3 months off, but that's the way comic solicits work unfortunately.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:26 pm

https://io9.gizmodo.com/fandoms-collide ... 1841492446
https://www.comicsbeat.com/transformers ... equestria/
https://www.idwpublishing.com/two-belov ... omic-book/

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IDW is bringing the two Hasbro properties together for a four-part crossover this May.

They may share a parent company in Hasbro, but IDW’s latest crossover features two properties that could barely seem less likely to interact, with My Little Pony/Transformers being promised as a four-issue weekly comic book miniseries this May.

From a creative team that includes James Asmus, Ian Flynn, Sam Maggs, Casey W. Coller, Jack Lawrence, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Priscilla Tramontano and Tony Fleecs — the latter of whom also creates cover art for the entire series — the series will bring the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Ponies’ magical land of Equestria, with Twilight Sparkle and friends having to team with Optimus Prime to ensure that their home isn’t overrun by the forces of mechanical evil.

“Teaming Transformers and My Little Pony has been a dream we’ve had for a long time,” IDW Editor in Chief John Barber said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “We’re all really excited to see this mashup of characters by a mashup of creators who are honoring the legacy of both universes...and doing it in the most bonkers, fun way imaginable!”

My Little Pony/Transformers will launch in comic stores and digitally May 6, with new issues weekly throughout the month.
Ponies, Autobots, and Decepticons mix it up in this graphic novel mashup!

When Queen Chrysalis casts a spell looking for more changelings, she accidentally interferes with a malfunctioning Spacebridge! What's this mean for our favorite fillies? There are suddenly a bunch of Autobots and Decepticons in Equestria! And as the dust settles, Rarity and Arcee find themselves teaming up against a hostile Decepticon force.

Plus Spike and Grimlock; Pinkie Pie, Gauge, and Shockwave; Fluttershy, Discord, and Soundwave; Rainbow Dash and Windblade; and Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle all team up for more adventures.
Ian Flynn is generally skilled at crossovers like this, and the MLP miniseries he wrote recently, Feats of Friendship, was pretty good. I have confidence this will be written well.

I do think it would have made more sense to crossover with Transformers Animated, but that's ancient history now.

So, is this everything you hoped for?
Last edited by SigmasonicX on Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by The Doctor (?) » Thu Feb 06, 2020 5:07 pm

Unicron the unicorn or we riot.

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

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:09 pm

Correction, Ian Flynn is the one writing (part of) this and wrote Feats of Friendship. Tony Fleecs is doing art. In any case, yeah, it's a good team and I wish I didn't have to wait until November to read this.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:14 pm

Perpetual Motion wrote:
Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:09 pm
Correction, Ian Flynn is the one writing (part of) this and wrote Feats of Friendship. Tony Fleecs is doing art. In any case, yeah, it's a good team and I wish I didn't have to wait until November to read this.
Ah right, got them mixed up.

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

Post by PonyHag714 (?) » Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:25 pm

Spike and Grimlock should be good.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by AmericanErrorist (?) » Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:10 am

Perpetual Motion wrote:
Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:09 pm
Correction, Ian Flynn is the one writing (part of) this and wrote Feats of Friendship. Tony Fleecs is doing art. In any case, yeah, it's a good team and I wish I didn't have to wait until November to read this.
You won't have to, because it will first appear as 4 issues every week in May.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Feb 21, 2020 2:25 pm

May comic solicitations

Transformers / MLP synopses

Transformers: Friendship in Disguise Issue #1
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(W) James Asmus, Ian Flynn (A) Jack Lawrence (A/CA) Tony Fleecs

When Queen Chrysalis casts a spell looking for more changelings, she accidentally interferes with a malfunctioning Spacebridge! What's this mean for our favorite fillies? There are suddenly a bunch of Autobots and Decepticons in Equestria! And as the dust settles, Rarity and Arcee find themselves teaming up against a hostile Decepticon force...

Transformers: Friendship in Disguise Issue #2
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(W) Sam Maggs, Ian Flynn (A) Sara Pitre-Durocher, Casey Coller (CA) Tony Fleecs

It's Spike and Grimlock's time to shine as they take on the Decepticons! Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie is determined to share as much knowledge about Equestrian and Autobot cuisine as possible with her new friends... which is why she invites Gauge to her kitchen for a live baking show! But things get a bit too spicy when Shockwave shows up.

Transformers: Friendship in Disguise Issue #3
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(W) James Asmus, Sam Maggs (A) Priscilla Tramontano, Jack Lawrence (CA) Tony Fleecs

When Fluttershy and Discord's tea time is interrupted by Soundwave, it's robot logic vs. whimsical chaos! And Dash, sure that she can fly faster than any Autobot can drive, finds herself in a race with the one and only Windblade-let's just hope Crasher and his Decepticon friends don't make things too dangerous.

Transformers: Friendship in Disguise Issue #4
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(W) James Asmus, Ian Flynn (A) Sara Pitre-Durocher (A/CA) Tony Fleecs

When the Insecticons descend upon Sweet Apple Acres and begin devouring the Apple family's crop, it's up to AJ and her siblings to rally to save the farm! Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle finally band together the ponies and the Autobots to get things back to normal. The finale you've been waiting for is here!

So it's two stories per issue, most of which are standalone. Seems like it will be fun.

Then we have the normal comic solicitation

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #90 - Season Ten Episode 2
ImageImage
(W) Jeremy Whitley (A/CA) Andy Price
Sometimes friendship can be hard work, and that's what Zecora is discovering as she reunites Marini, Dust Devil, Cactus Rose, Medley Brook, and Crystal! But just as the past is being revealed and old hurts are being brought to light, an attack by the fearsome Grootslang puts Zecora's hometown in danger...
In Shops: May 20, 2020

Everyone's already hype about that slime pony.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:21 am

Friendship is Magic #88
This is the final non-season 10 comic, and with Covid-19 possibly the last one for a while, and... it's alright. This issue is mainly about playing through the story beats, and things go about as you'd expect. The art is solid, but otherwise there really isn't much to say.
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Silver Quill's review brings up the interesting point through this point, there was always a feeling that anything that happened in the comic could freely be contradicted by the show, and it was, thus it was at a lower level of canon. With season 10, though, that changes. As for the issue itself, I don't think Silver Quill really has much interesting to say.

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Equestria Girls: March Radness
Here's the first Equestria Girls comic since 2014, made up of three stories. Art is all by fandom artist Pencils, and honestly, the quality goes up and down. There are a lot of cute panels, but also some weird looking and rough ones.

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The first story features the girls in detention, and it's fun. We get different perspectives on the incident that led to detention, with lots of sight gags like evil hamster lord Fluttershy and verbal gags like Fluttershy and Rarity thinking a basketball is a soccer ball.

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The second story is the weakest, with Rainbow wanting to go to AK Yearling's book signing and rushing through a day with Applejack, learning that she should have just told Applejack what was going on. The art is also weaker here, making me think Pencils wasn't into this story. BTW, we barely see AK Yearling here, so we don't really learn much about her and whether she's really Daring Do.

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The last story was both drawn and written by Pencils, and the art is stronger here seemingly to reflect his interest. There's a school sports competition coming up and Rainbow tells the other girls to train so it won't be a cakewalk for her. The other girls do and they each beat Rainbow in one competition, so she gets second place in everything. While she overall got the most points, she's upset she didn't win anything, but the final competition is a team soccer match and she realizes that's the real competition she wanted to win. This one is a lot of fun, with some great reactions.

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The issue also ends with a reprint of The Fall of Sunset Shimmer, for those who were looking for it.

Silver Quill's review points out something I hadn't consciously noticed, where the new-to-EQG characters are drawn differently than the main girls.
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As Silver Quill puts it, Ms. Harshwinny has more of an anime proportion than Rarity.

There are also some art mistakes, like Sunset being colored with bare legs instead of pants, and a thought bubble being given to Applejack instead of Rainbow.

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Still, I overall recommend it.

~~~

IDW suspends all May releases, including Friendship in Disguise

Well, there goes that.

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

Post by Adiwan (?) » Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:56 pm

Today I got the second volume of the MLP manga delivered.
The quality is on par on the first one :twiright:
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:26 am

MLP: The Manga: A Day in the Life of Equestria Volume 2
Unlike the first volume, this volume has a continuous story all throughout. Pinkie is looking forward to an upcoming festival, but it never comes. After weeks of reliving the same day over and over, she finally realizes she's in a time loop!
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The entire first half of the volume is devoted to Pinkie going through the same day and slowly figuring out something weird is going on. I enjoyed how much detail it went into, even devoting a lot of time to a red herring, and we got a lot of cute moments with the ponies.
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I thought it went a bit downhill once Pinkie came across the evil plot and it turned into a pretty self-indulgent Doctor Who crossover, complete with an equivalent to The Master. His name is Professor What, but Star Dancer addresses him as master. That right there points to one big issue. Star Dancer was a pretty fun character in the last volume, but here she's simply the Master's assistant, which felt like a waste. This was fun, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it became all about Doctor Hooves.

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Silver Quill's review harps on this point too. It's weird to have the "knowing winks" of the previous volume turn out to be set up for a crossover, and the one original character is subservient to this.

Still, he agrees with me that the second half is still a lot of fun and worth checking out.

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

Post by Mysteryman (?) » Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:45 pm

Variant cover for a recent issue of Transformers:


Click for Fullsize


Tailgate is Spike, Cyclonus is Twilight, Rodimus is Rarity, Soundwave is DJ Pon-3, I don't know who that is in the lower left.

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Aug 06, 2020 1:35 am

My Little Pony / Transformers #1
The issue opens with a panel lampshading the continuity issues and saying to just have fun, setting the tone for the miniseries.

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The first story in the issue is mainly set up, but it still manages to have some fun bits of characterization. Most notably we have Chrysalis and Megatron having the same question for each other, Bumblebee transforming into a car and Twilight's reaction, and Chrysalis riding on top of Megatron in tank form. Also, Twilight actually using the royal guards!
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Ponies look fine in the first story, but the Transformers look a bit off during their intro page (and are good after). There are standout moments like the two-page spread of the Transformers arriving. This story was drawn by a Pony-primary artist, Tony Fleecs.

The second story was more character focused, and right away, we see Starscream's first priority: forcing the ponies to make a royal cape for him! It was nice seeing a bunch of cameos from Manehattan ponies here.
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Arcee and Rarity meet after the former beats up Starscream a bit, and honestly, them complimenting each other comes off as flirting.
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For those of you wishing to see Rainbow Dash defeat Starstream, Rarity beat her to the punch.
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The Transformers art for this part looked very good, as expected from a TF-primary artist, Jack Lawrence. I'm impressed by his Pony art too, though for the buildings, the Manehattan setting allowed him to cheat a bit and draw a fairly normal city.

As Silver Quill's review points out, it's nice to have a crossover story where the two sets of heroes figure out they're friendly right away and they don't do the "fight fight fight, wait, we're all good?" thing. He also goes into a lot more about the art and characters.

Overall, this was a good start to this miniseries.

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

Post by PonyHag714 (?) » Thu Aug 06, 2020 1:51 am

I liked it. I enjoyed seeing Arcee and Rarity making friends, and Chrysalis riding on top of a tank is a definite change of pace. It''ll be interestng to see how long that villain alliance lasts. :evil:
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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:47 am

So, issue #89, the first full issue of Season 10, is out today, and I really like it! The immediate premise is great, and sets up for at least four distinct arcs for the comics to go over.

Twilight's first big plan as solo ruler is to massively expand her diplomatic efforts, since that was what basically saved Equestria in the end last season. So she has each of the Mane 6 aside from her assemble a team of their choosing to go off and establish relations with an as-of-yet uncontacted/unvisited nation.

And so right off the bat you have these groups and destinations established:
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Applejack's team is the focus of this particular arc, and Zecora is obviously at the center of it. Now, Zecora has always been a... weird character, to say the least. For one, her entire concept is rooted in some pretty problematic tropes, and her bizarre affectations and very specific aesthetic choices do not help that matter. On the other hand, she's genuinely pleasant and mysterious and has served as a legitimately good mentor character on a few occasions. On the whole, though, despite being one of the earliest recurring secondary characters introduced in the show, she went pretty underutilized and unexplored for the entirety of its run. And so it is a great relief that she is written fascinatingly in this issue, and that some very good measures were taken in the worldbuilding to mitigate her more awkward characteristics.

This is shown off almost immediately when, after being indignantly told by Applejack that being surprise recruited for a mission to her homeland that she had very clearly left for personal reasons was for her sake, she gets so mad that she spends basically an entire page telling AJ off without rhyming once, comparing it to her inviting Applejack to an event where she'd be expected to attend with her mother. It's a hell of a low blow and a great display of raw emotion, to say the least.

She is eventually convinced to come along, of course, for the good of Equestria if nothing else, though she basically regrets her decision immediately, as Twilight sent word ahead of their voyage that they were coming, and an old "friend" of Zecora's is sent to greet the group upon their arrival. This zebra, Marini, is overjoyed to see Zecora again, and is incredibly confused when Zecora wants nothing to do with her. We also meet the rest of Zecora's former friend group at the end of the issue, and their appearance basically sends Zecora into a panic and causes her to straight-up run away. It does a lot for Zecora as a character without jumping straight to dumping her whole backstory, which is great for the pacing.

The second important aspect of the issue is the worldbuilding, which as I mentioned above, does a good bit to counteract the unfortunate implications of Zecora's conception by showing them to be mostly unique to her rather than attached to her people as a culture. For one, her rhyming gimmick is explicitly shown to be unusual even among the Zebras, with the first other zebra they meet being surprised that Zecora is still at it after all these years. The fact that she is repeatedly shown to drop rhymes completely when in emotional distress is also a great touch. Second, Farasi, the Zebra homeland, is based off of Morocco, and has a very modern aesthetic with a distinct African flair in the architecture rather than being depicted as filled with primitive villages of small huts as you'd expect of something being incredibly stereotypical.

Alongside the worldbuilding you have the Farasian locals, who have pretty interesting designs and twists on mythology, though you could make an argument for them being somewhat overdesigned. These are the ones introduced to us at the end of the issue:
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While only the Kelpie is identified in the dialog, the other non-Zebra species present appear to be Abada, a traditional Central African folk-creature conceptually similar to a unicorn that's obscure enough to only have a tiny stub of a Wikipedia page with no picture or proper references. I quite like the new the creatures, and the elemental spin on the physical attributes of the Kelpie are a genuinely unique take on the legends.

Overall, this is a fantastic start to the post-show era of FiM, and the IDW crew are taking full advantage of their new license to expand canon and characters without having to worry about the show coming in and invalidating it all. I highly recommend picking it up, even if you haven't followed the comics in a long time!

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Aug 13, 2020 2:54 am

Friendship is Magic #89
After a long delay, it's finally here! Season 10 has started!

It's mainly setup, but this setup demonstrates the freedom granted by the show no longer running. I remember back when the comics started, they were taking all kinds of crazy risks with continuity, but it became apparent that it really was at a lower continuity tier that the show freely contradicted. Now, nothing's going to stop the comics from defining Zecora's backstory. I'm also looking forward to how the other lands being visited will be handled.

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I'm happy to see Zecora's homeland at last, finally no longer having to be defined by white fans being cringy at best. For one thing, we get confirmation that zebras come in other colors, and don't all rhyme. Plus, the zebra land, Farasi, has different non-zebra species living there. Also, the Journal of the Two Sisters book (which was already contradicted by the show) said that the zebra lands were beyond the Everfree Forest, while here it's across the sea. Farasi also notably has a modern architecture based on Morocco, as opposed to just being a bunch of huts.
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I liked that Zecora was allowed to really let loose on Applejack, dropping her rhyming in the process. I look forward to this arc doing more to define her character.
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Also, in some bizarre twist of fate, the very first human-original MLP character to appear as a pony is... Ragamuffin! Oddly, he looks less like a male Applejack as a pony.
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Silver Quill's review points out some cameos I hadn't noticed, such as the pirate from ages ago (the first comic with Princess Twilight, at that). Forgot to mention that it's really weird that Tempest is still wearing the Storm King logo. There's also awkward use of the world map, just straight up pasting the different versions into panels. Also, at this point in the series, Applejack making a joke about mules feels out of place.

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

Post by Ransom (?) » Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:49 am

Hey everyone, been, for reasons I don’t really know how to explain, on a bit of a pony kick again recently.

I bought issue 89 and...man, I find my enjoyment hampered for what I confess must seem petty reasons. Because it brings up the frustrations and mixed feelings I have about direction the series took and the treatment of the royal sisters.

I was down with Twilight becoming ruler of Equestria eventually, but down the line, in the future. I liked the status quo with the map and her as defender of the realm. But more than that I kept hoping, against all hope that we’d get a little of Celestia and Luna’s promise from the early seasons back, their lore, the backstories, the wealth of possible tales you could tell from their history. Their fantasy and fairy tale like backstory, the implied destiny they shared with Twilight (stuff I know others didn’t care for but I loved) and her status as a mentor figure, was a huge part of what initially intrigued me when I first saw started paying attention to the show in season 1. Now it seems the stories with Celestia being a wise and motherly ruler are gone for good now, and that...honestly bums me out.

And again, it’s petty but seeing the bit about the zebras apparently retconned from the Journal of the Two Sisters saddens me, simply because that one little kid’s book had so much lore about the sisters, to the point that when I saw the season 7 finale I sort of mentally dismissed the contradictory bits. It’s possible you could explain it as a random tribe of zebras from Zecora’s land, and perhaps Zecora’s peculiar speech pattern reflects that she has a connection to them...but what are the odds that will happen? Again, this isn’t to step on anyone else’s enjoyment but seeing the sisters reduced so drastically over the course of the show made me miss the parts in the in comics and other media where they did get to shine, like her micro issues were highlights that I wish we had more of.

There is potential though. Imagine Twilight seeing one of these lands that they haven’t been to in centuries and realizing “Hey! I know someone who is old enough to remember back then!” Imagine her sending Celestia and/or Luna on a mission, and the strange dynamic that would be. A moment with Celestia admonishing Twilight that while her mentor can give advice, she’s in charge now and whether she wants to send Celestia on a mission is Twilight’s decision. There’s a chance to see them explore their future. Perhaps the sisters return to the implied alicorn tribe from the Journal and we get that backstory we were hoping for. Perhaps Celestia meets a G4 version of Majesty there and becomes queen! Perhaps Luna becomes Queen of the Everfree forest. But...I’ve grown cynical I’m afraid and as much as I didn’t want to become one of those ‘Faustian’ naysayers the last season put me in that mindset.

As for the issue itself! I do find the direction a neat idea and I’m down with Zecora losing her rhyme when she gets upset. I confess I’m a bit annoyed with her reacting so strongly, then not sharing what her problem was the entire long trip even though it clearly is going to affect their mission. So, hopefully this story will be fun but I feel a bunch of things not related to the story at hand get in my way a bit.

Also...it’s a tad obvious what route they are heading in with a group of five friends and one leader in need of a friendship lesson to reconnect with them despite her reluctance, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

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

Post by Hedonism Bot (?) » Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:45 pm

Adiwan wrote:
Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:24 pm
Plot-wise it has some merits but introducing an earth-pony in the history of the Wonderbolts and NOT have Scootaloo replace Rumble in the show is a huge gaffe because Rumble was seriously hurt and the artificial wings put him again in a super high risk.
Well, that part was kind of justified, seeing as Rumble had some actual experience flying. Plus his injuries weren't that bad.

Though you are correct in that it was downright criminally stupid that no one ever seemed to realize that that glider thing would have been the answer to Scootaloo's prayers. Given that it's from August 2019, it might have had something to do with them being held back by the show's status quo (Don't even get me started on the various gadgets we've seen there that could have gotten her airborne - evidently, someone over there was staunchly opposed to the idea of a character seeking a solution to overcome their disability instead of just giving up on their dreams.)

Hopefully now that the comic is free and clear of the show's continuity, someone can remedy this. If we get one more scene of Scootaloo all sad-brained that she can't fly while completely forgetting that basic aeronautical engineering is a thing in Equestria, I'm going to start ranting like Linkara reviewing "Holy Terror".

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

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:54 am

My take on Scootaloo is that I think she just doesn't care that she can't fly anymore, at least not in an active sense. Especially not to the level where she'd be interested in carrying around gliding gear everywhere.

Forgot to post this earlier
My Little Pony / Transformers #2
The first story involves Spike and Grimlock, and it was pretty cute seeing how impressed Spike was of him. Nice seeing Grimlock be friendly with him too. I appreciated that while Grimlock is simple and straightforward, he wasn't presented at all as an idiot. He knew it was important to go back and protect the base without any further guidance, he knew to befriend Spike, he didn't do anything stupid.

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The way they made Spike useful was unexpected, with him putting to use all his experience with Twilight and speedreading through Teletran 1's manuals to use the ship to help. I will note that despite drawing Spike with his wings from later seasons, he's never shown in flight and has to pile up books to reach the control panel, making me think this was written with early season Spike in mind.

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The second story with Pinkie and Gauge vs. Shockwave was pretty eh, honestly. First of all, I didn't get what Gauge's deal was at all. There should have been a story of Pinkie clashing with a serious Shockwave, but Shockwave was already attacking with cooking utensils, so there goes that. It just felt weird and awkward.

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Silver Quill's review puts into words some of my issues. The backgrounds just don't fit the comical story at all, nor does it fit the pony world. You can also see in the above picture that Pinkie is the one who looks most out of place. Also, learned from his review that Gauge was literally only introduced a few months ago, so yeah, weird choice for this crossover.

Overall not as good as the first issue, but still worth checking out for the first story.

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

Post by Hedonism Bot (?) » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:12 pm

SigmasonicX wrote:
Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:54 am
My take on Scootaloo is that I think she just doesn't care that she can't fly anymore, at least not in an active sense. Especially not to the level where she'd be interested in carrying around gliding gear everywhere.
Her dialogue and expressions in the beginning pretty conclusively suggested that she wished that she could have been up there with Rumble. I could buy her attitude towards the glider (which wasn't even that large - carrying it around wouldn't have been that inconvenient) being closer to "That'd be nice to have." than "I NEED THREE OF THESE RIGHT NOW!" :insomnia: . But for neither her nor Rumble nor Rainbow Dash to even briefly acknowledge the fact that it would enable her to finally fly? Not so much.

And I just noticed: Issue 81 came out about three months before the final episode aired, such that Scootaloo's next turn in the spotlight would come when the comic would be free to forge its own canon. Plus there's no way anyone involved would expect anyone to read it and not immediately think "Why in Celestia's name does it not occur to anyone that Scootaloo could use that thing?". So maybe, just maybe, they're planning on going somewhere with this...

The MasterCode Ace Analyst review pitches the idea of Scootaloo spreading the gospel of Wind Sock to other pegasi who can't get it up. If she actually was meant to be a role model for people with disabilities, then that would be the way to do it. Certainly better than letting her give up on her dreams after firmly establishing the existence of a solution by which said dreams could come true.

One other thing: I've just started binge-reading the comic again, and lookie what I found in issue 7:

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That's right, a fart joke in an official MLP comic. How about that?

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