Comic Review - Friends Forever #25 · 2:48am Feb 17th, 2016
Rainbow Dash and Twilight? If Sunset Shimmer didn't exist, this would be my OTP. Still, that's why we have threesomes. Of course that only applies to the humans, pony Rainbow and Twilight, eh, I have no interest in pony smex. Anyway, um... right. Rainbow's wings are missing? Well, with how IDW's comics seem to increasingly be reading like subpar fanfics, I guess this was inevitable.
Art by Brenda Hickey, okay. Colorist Heather Breckel, place your bets now for how many incorrectly colored rainbow trails this comic will have, I'll be keeping count by panel for when we get to the end. Story by... Barbara Randall Kesel? Who the heck is that? Let's see, mumble... *Cmd-T's up a new tab and goes to MLP wiki* Oh, no wonder I don't know her, she's only done Micro Issue #4 and Friends Forever #12, and I've read neither. Okay, mysterious new writer lady. Impress me.
We open on Rainbow Dash snoring in the clouds. She wakes up, stretches, rolls out of bed and smashes into a cloud. Right off the bat, I give credit to the writer for remembering that walking on clouds is an innate pegasi ability, so no wings means Rainbow can still walk on clouds. I know it's a minor detail but it's one that could be easily overlooked. Rainbow is understandably freaked out, and we get a decent use of a splash page here showing her in full with her wings gone. This is when splash pages should be used - to show a complex scene in full detail, or to emphasize an important scene.
We cut over to Twilight getting out of bed herself when Rainbow Dash smashes into her window, riding a cloud. Rainbow asks Twilight what happened to them, and Twilight brings Rainbow in to examine her. She magi-babbles up a vision of the culprits by tracking the residual magic - it's three unicorns who took Rainbow's wings as part of a plot to give themselves wings and become alicorns. Their names are Goldcap, Decepticolt, and Zappityhoof. And points deducted for really crummy names. The three used magic and alchemy to take Rainbow's wings, and are planning to dissolve them into a potion that will grant them wings once they drink it.
Twilight notes this process wouldn't actually make them alicorns, but for different reasons than me - she says the wings would be grown instead of gifted, I say it's become they need earth pony strength to complete the trifecta. Rainbow doesn't care about the semantics of that, she wants her wings back! Rainbow wants to charge in and get them back, but Twilight insists on finding out more about the type of magic they used to take the wings in the first place. Rainbow, being her usual forceful self, is able to convince Twilight to do it her way, Twi will be air support while Rainbow goes on the ground, a swap of how things used to be.
Twilight casts a camouflage spell on them and teleports them to the site after Rainbow fails to fly off. Twilight flies over to them, but she's not used to thinking like a pegasus and her shadow gives her away. The three ponies zap her and Twilight is disarmed, not used to aerial manoeuvring. A magical net imprisons her. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand it's really pathetic that Twi is defeated so easily. On the other hand, the three seem to have strong magical power. I think the author wanted to set this comic back shortly after Season 3, to justify Twilight not being used to flying, but the opening scenes have Twilight in her castle so it must be after Season 4. Hmm. Anyway, Rainbow charges in, but Twilight notes that she's not used to having to look for an escape route like an earth pony, and Rainbow is cornered and captured since she can't fly away.
With the two incapacitated, the spell is soon to complete. Twilight tries to talk them down, pointing out this is forbidden magic and they've stolen someone else's wings to get theirs. In a very confusing bit, they counter she got her wings when she was just a unicorn, and question if she stole hers; Twilight obviously says no, but they doubt her. As the three watch the potion, Rainbow has an idea: their net may be immune to magic, but the ground isn't. Rainbow tells Twi to escape, but she refuses, unwilling to leave Rainbow behind. Rainbow has another idea for Twilight to use her magic to let her control her wings, and Twilight can use her magic. Twilight escapes the net and looks up her spellbook to give them shared control of her body.
The three unicorns watch the potion (how long does this damn thing take, anyway?), when Twilight zips by, flying with ease thanks to Rainbow Dash. Some cool visuals here as her eyes are glowing and we see a phantom image of Dashie moving alongside her. I'm sorry, but I have to say it - TwiDash zips against a magic shield protecting the potion, and pulls off a Sonic Rainboom to create the energy needed to destroy it. That done, the spell ends, and Twilight stops the potion from completing. Furious at the three unicorns for abusing their magic, she strips them of theirs, leaving them powerless. She says their magic will return after a time, but doesn't specify how long. Rainbow chugs the potion, her wings grow back, and she flies around happily. And so the comic ends with the two friends flying off, Rainbow zipping off to speed with her wings back, and Twilight trying some high speed flying of her own.
There's one thing about this comic I'll get to in a moment. For now, this issue is actually pretty good. Again, I presume the author meant for this to take place shortly after Twi's ascension, so I'll let the castle cameo slide. That said, the characterization is good, the development is good, the climax is awesome, and aside from the potion taking a long time to complete, the pacing is decent.
However... the plot. Not that it's bad, no, the plot is great. But that's the thing. The plot. This issue is DARK! Like, holy crap, you just canonized magical organ theft! There are spells in this world that can not only steal a pegasi's wings, but can give them to unicorns to make them pseudo-alicorns? I joked the writers were ripping off fanfics, but not like this! The implications, the possibilities, I mean, yikes. I have so many questions now that I would not expect MLP to ever raise. This is like introducing some kind of magical drug, or physical abuse. The subject matter here is very dark, much darker than I expected from this issue.
I honestly feel this plot was misplaced in Friends Forever. Friends Forever are usually lighthearted, character-driven stories. This story is very dark and ominous and feels out of place. I would have moved it to the main series, padded it out a bit with more world-building on the pseudocorn concept, made the villain threat more serious, and make this issue a two parter. Because this is a fascinating idea that should be explored more than this comic could let itself do. Have pseudocorns been done before? Who are these villains and where did they learn these forbidden spells? Can earth pony or unicorn powers be stolen the same way?
As is, this is a good issue, it really is. I'm just disappointed it didn't do more with its subject, and surprised as how dark and serious it ended up being. Like, yeesh, dudes.
Micro Series #4 is subpar, and Friends Forever #12 was a typical TwiPie story. They aren't bad, but they aren't very good. So it's impressive to see that a writer could improve from those issues. Maybe there's still a glimer of hope for IDW's writing team, key word: maybe.
Huh. Imagine if Vesper had done this instead of looking for magical artifacts. Begs the question, how do you take an earth pony's magic? Cut off their legs?
3759808 Sequel?
3759820 You and I both know Vesper's done.
3759855 OR IS SHE!?!?
Two out of the three antagonist names are disappointing, yes, but I do like Goldcap. It's a common name for Psilocybe cubensis, a.k.a. magic mushrooms. Thus, the unicorn is magically potent, delusional, and thrives on bullshit. Perfectly appropriate.
And yeah, this carries some disturbing implications. Especially the original amputation effect. There is a spell that can take limbs off of a sleeping pony without waking them up. That's more than slightly horrifying.
This is not that bad, a solid B of a comic. What's really creepy is that it seems to me like the unicorns were able to steal Rainbow Dash's wings from a distance as well. I suppose they got their hooves on one of her feathers or something.
I didn't really think this was that great. IMO it reminded me of some crappy fancomic where Celestia for some reason turns Twilight into a blank flank Earth Pony. There it truly looked like Celestia was acting like
if you know what I mean.
Something about that fic just didn't float my boat also.