Sep
29th
2016
Points of Canon: My Little Pony #46 · 1:25am Sep 29th, 2016
Politics. This comic issue is about politics.
Let’s just hope it’s pony politics…
Seriously, any mention of politics and government in Equestria has huge canonical consequences.
- Mayor Mare opens yet another new playground for the children. It’s notable that it’s yet another one, because there was one newly built on school grounds in Crusaders of the Lost Mark, which wasn’t that long ago, was it. And it’s fancier, too. Does the town have even have enough children to justify it? It gets destroyed immediately, but I’m wondering how it came about in the first place.
1. Something tells me someone on show staff decided that magnet-like touch range telekinesis has to go, because there were also those tools in The Cart Before The Ponies…
The scissors Mayor Mare uses to cut the ribbon have huge loops, intended to fit the whole hoof through.1
- Applejack declares that the Apple Family donated this land to the city, which gives us evidence that ponies have the notion of land ownership, and that townships are incorporated and can own land. Both of these not a given and not particularly well represented in prior works.
- To discuss the mysterious destruction of the playground, a town meeting is called. Which is very much a US thing, or at least, the name is, and has certain implications regarding the typical structure of town government. Notably, this should be a permanent residents only thing, but in the crowd I see Minuette, who is a Canterlot resident, and Twinkleshine, who works at the Canterlot Palace.
- So Filthy Rich hijacks the meeting for his mayoral candidacy announcement, and Diamond Tiara sulks enough that I actually pity her.
- Press ponies are using microphones, and it’s not entirely clear if they are personal recording devices or there’s a radio broadcast going on.
- This is the first comic to feature Starlight Glimmer, even if in a very auxiliary capacity.
- Twilight makes a statement that there were no elections during her entire time in Ponyville. But then, Pinkie says that “Every year, Mayor Mare is the only pony that runs.” Which would imply that a mayor’s term is a year long, which is kind of strange.
- Spike calls Starlight’s equalist village a “city” for some reason.
- It is interesting that even at this point in her career, when she already has at least one branch boutique in Canterlot and possibly, another one in Manehattan, Rarity still calls herself a “small business owner” and actually cares about the town policies regarding her business, when the sales in her branch boutiques have to strongly outstrip whatever she can sell locally, tourism or no.
- According to Fluttershy, “migration routes” fall under the purview of town government. I’m not sure which particular possible migration routes she means, but it’s certainly interesting that any do.
- Mayor Mare is Mayor Mare even on election posters and ballots. I.e. it probably is her real name.
- One of the town hall ponies asks “where are the spare voter registration forms.” This, as far as I know, is almost exclusively a US thing. Most other jurisdictions keep track of voters centrally. Also notably, they are spare forms, i.e. they expect new voters to be registered immediately before or during the elections.
- There’s a “pegasus union representative,” which, I imagine, is the trade union for weather workers, because who else. Ponies have trade unions. Unless this is the structure that is somehow involved in whatever permits Rainbow to round up all able-bodied pegasi to participate in Hurricane Fluttershy…
- We see another pony with a gavel for a cutie mark, and it’s not the presumed judge seen in A Friend in Deed.
- Election campaigns permit and use volunteers. Also not a given at all.
- There’s a “pegasus voters group.” Tribally based voters groups? I suppose pegasi do have special needs, with their cloud housing and all…
- Filthy Rich uses a clutch of balloons to talk to pegasi in the air. Showoff.
- Filthy Rich had a great-great-grandfather named Seed Investor, who was “half pegasus.” For some reason, he chose not to just use the name of whichever parent of that gentlecolt was a pegasus.
- Rainbow Dash is strangely happy to hear Rich’s election promise that the benefits of weather ponies will be doubled. Even if she isn’t a Wonderbolt yet, at various times she was demonstrated to be exceedingly wealthy…
- There’s a publication called “Ponyville Chronicle,” and it has a politics writer named Wonk Politico.
- The Doctor is running too and is officially listed as “Time Turner, official Ponyville timekeeper.” What exactly would this profession entail?
- I’m very disappointed they not just put Lyra into the running for mayor, but also cited her profession as “musician and friendship enthusiast” even though they didn’t give her a lyre here either. Dunno about you, but I’m choosing to ignore that, because of course she’s not going to get to do anything else for the rest of the comic. “Friendship enthusiast?” And her election promise is “more benches?” Seriously?… Not funny.
- Cherilee wants to triple the education budget, for which she will need to triple taxes. Ponies pay taxes. I think that’s nearly the first time they even mention taxes. Also, if tripling the education budget will require tripling taxes, that means that education accounts for a huge proportion of the budget already.
- Mayor Mare wants to build a university, completely destroying my suspension of disbelief with one phrase, because just a few pages later, she runs out of babies to kiss, and to tally the votes, a blackboard is sufficient. Unless the ponies mean something entirely different when they say “university,” which wouldn’t be the first time, remembering Crystal Empire.
- Mayor Mare’s election agenda includes an appearance with Sapphire Shores. Huh.
- Pinkie wears an Abraham Lincoln getup. But that’s Pinkie.
So Filthy Rich wins, another “earthquake” happens, and we get a “to-be-continued.”
Frankly, I’m quite torn about this one. On one hand, many of these details are believable and would be useful. On another, many of them are so painfully US-centric, that they’re threatening to run all the way into the Princesses, collide with them, and give us a canonical Tyrantlestia, as if we didn’t have enough problems. Also, most of the things meant as fandom pandering in this issue don’t just fall flat on their faces, but also manage to make me cringe, and there are a lot of really bizarre small oddities, starting with the earliest pages and never letting up.
I'm just glad to hear that it's apparently not a transparent metaphor for the US presidental election. That was my number one fear about this arc. Ted Anderson is the writer for this, and he's not a guy that I'd trust to write intelligent political satire, given his own views, and especially not in the current climate.
I guess I should've had more faith, because while Anderson has never been a good writer in my opinion, and I've always found his personal views abhorrent, he's never actually used the comics as his personal soapbox before. Really, I suppose it's actually a good thing that Anderson helmed this arc instead of someone like Jeremy Whitley, who actually has soapboxed in his comics.
It was also election season in Ponyville in Return of Chrysalis, or at least near enough to it for Mayor Mare to have posters around, so what Twilight said is objectively untrue not just in canon, but in comic canon specifically.
A rich comic in terms of canon lore, though a lot of it is problematic. It's helpful to think of this as a sequel to both the Ponyville Days arc and especially Friends Forever #15, which introduced us to city government in the first place.
My guess is a bureaucratic screwup. They ordered new playground equipment for the schoolhouse and forgot to tell the school board, and after Filthy Rich donated new equipment no one cancelled the order, so they decided to just build another playground with the extras.
Gives us an additional point: The Apples actually own their land. Celestia gave it to them for free, she could have just leased it to them or something, this confirms that they own it.
Perhaps Lyra dragged them their as an active participant in local politics?
Sulky Diamond Tiara was the funniest part of the comic to me. Even when her dad wins, she does not give a buck. I can't blame her for being soured on local elections though.
After healthcare, audio technology does seem to be the area where ponies are most advanced. Still, we've never seen radios, so my guess is recorders.
Lots of rich people like to think of and call themselves upper middle class.
Well, at least under the purview of the town's animal control division, i.e. Fluttershy. This lends some credence to the idea that this is actually Fluttershy's job.
Agree Pegasi Union is probably slang for weatherworkers union. But I also feel like this suggests Pegasi are the soccer moms of Ponyville, the critical swing vote.
I think we're supposed to think Filthy is lying here, kind of like when Carrot Cake was lying about having pegasi and unicorn relatives.
Element of Loyalty is jacked that the ponies under her are getting something nice? Not surprised. I would argue about how wealthy Dash is and the financial value of a cloud house/the memorabilia inside, but we just found out Rainbow Dash is the head of a union, so yeah, fairly wealthy.
There is that official Ponyville Clocktower that is supposed to be a tourist attraction. Maybe it's his job to manage the whole thing?
They didn't want to put "musician and lesbian" in a comic, which is a shame.
Also, that ponies in their city councils have the power to alter tax rates, not something that should be assumed before this. Lots of democracies don't give the local government the power to do that, regional/national government sets tax rates, collects them, and then gives local government a share.
She's a politician giving a speech my friend, her language must be parsed carefully! She says she'd like to have a university, et al. She doesn't ever promise them. In fact, in the next panel she points out those things aren't practical.
Suggesting to me after Filthy turned down Rarity's generosity, she switched candidates, because Rarity is good friends with Sapphire. Or maybe Twilight got her.
Speaking of which, I was surprised a Princess of Equestria just decided to openly campaign for one candidate and no one felt it was improper. Looks like Mayor Mare made a smart investment building that giant statue of Twilight back in FF#15! On the other hand, Mayor Mare couldn't win an election with the endorsement of the Hometown Princess! That's got to hurt Mayor Mare AND Twilight. My big hope for the next comic is that Mayor Mare losing means we get to learn if she has a first name.
4231846
I dunno, experienced female politician forced to campaign against brash rich businessman with trophy wife, who seems to be making promises with no regard for the possible? I was surprised Spoiled Rich didn't give a speech that was denounced as a plagiarism of something Princess Twilight said!
It's also contradicted in the next panel, where Pinkie points out that Mayor Mare runs unopposed every year. I have to believe by "hasn't been an election" Twilight means "competitive election." I need to believe this, because the alternative is to horrible to contemplate: That even with Starlight Glimmer here to pin this in the timeline to at least Season 6, Twilight has not yet lived in Ponyville a full year, which are eleventyseven moons long.
Ooooh! That means the first comic arc was at least a year ago in Equestrian time!
4231957
Oh, yeah, there are definite superficial similarities, but they didn't try to force a 1:1 comparison. It's not actually politically charged, because it's not actually talking about real life political issues or making any comments on either Trump's or Hillary's policies. Like, it would've been so easy for them to have had Filthy Rich announce a plan to build a wall along the Everfree border or something, only for some hithero unknown species of sombrero-wearing bears to wander out of the forest, and then the comic becomes a clumsy allegory for Trump's immigration policies.
My point being that if there is anything in the story so far that could be interpretted as being explicitly about either Trump or Clinton, it's either subtle enough or insubstantial enough that it doesn't subsume the story or become preachy, which is what I was afraid of.
Looks like that's what we're gonna have to go with.
4232036 You have a point, not really blatant metaphors at least. But now I want to see Ursas in Sombreros.
4231957
I am pretty sure that what happened when Apples got their Ponyville land is a variation of a Homestead Act, so of course they own it.
Are they even eligible, that’s what I want to know.
But of course, they’re all so flighty.
We have no good reason to think Carrot Cake was lying. It did look like he was worried nobody will believe him, but that by itself is not admission of a lie.
Filthy Rich, though… Sure he did. :)
In case you forgot, in 28 Pranks Later she dumps an estimated equivalent of $10-20k USD purely for pranking purposes, and that’s not the first time she does this sort of thing. Pretty wealthy, whatever the actual reason.
They said “musician” and still did not show her playing music or even just handling an instrument. That statement reduces uncertainty about Lyra, and yet produces no new dramatic opportunities, and all for a stupid “more benches” joke, subtly meshing a potentially interesting character with a cardboard box. “Friendship enthusiast” sounds pretty insulting after that.
As a tangentially related note, you know that fan belief that ponies are capable of predicting future occupations of their children and give prophetic names? Well, upon reflection, I’m going to say it’s actually bogus. The grand majority of names fitting this pattern are actually given by fandom in the first place, based on a pony’s cutie mark, and well over half the names that are spoken in primary canon do not fit this pattern at all.
Doesn’t make them believable. :)
This sort of thing can only be excused by assuming alicorns have a constantly up Somebody Else’s Problem field.
You wish.
It’s a safe bet that if Ursas in hats do occur, those hats will be ushankas.
4232170
In America that would be the default assumption, but in other countries farmers don't actually own their land, they have like a 50 year lease. Of course, this confirms it is a Homestead Act kind of deal after all.
To me it looked like he didn't believe his own words himself, and he was worried no one else would.
After she becomes a Wonderbolt then? That makes sense. Part of being a Wonderbolt is clearly having merchandise of yourself sold, I can see how Rainbow "Sonic Rainboom" Dash would probably bring in a huge check within weeks of joining.
Yeah, the benches thing was pretty darn weak. If they're going to have her do a shout-out to Bon Bon, maybe have her promise anti-Bugbear legislation, or subsidies on imported oats.
I always went with Alex Warlorn's theory: When a foal has their cutecenera, they are allowed to change their name. Some change their name to fit or be similar to their cutie mark, many do not. No fancy foresight magic required.
Something something that's politics, I guess.
Or Ponyville doesn't have all that positive an opinion of Twilight Sparkle. Parasprites, Want It Need It, that potential disaster everyone had to waste a week on that turned out to be Twilight playing with Time. And of course it's thanks to Princess Twilight that Discord hangs around, Tirek turned Ponyville into ground zero of a big fight, and now Starlight wanders by testing out her magic in social situations. Sure, she saves the realm as a whole a bunch of times, but you notice all official friendship business involves Twilight leaving town, and no one ever goes and petitions her for anything?
I feel like the real sombrero threat is from the frozen north. They're not sending their best!
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/436/776/f9f.png
4232403
If this happened after she became a Wonderbolt, Starlight Glimmer hid pretty damn well during the whole thing. Considering that now we know she didn’t visit the Crystal Empire between Every Little Thing She Does and No Second Prances, because that would inevitably count as a friendship lesson.
I find that quite unlikely, because Family Appreciation Day:
If it were reasonably possible to change his name, do you think Filthy would keep his even for a minute? Alternatively, if he picked it during his cutiecenera, he’s far too much of an idiot to actually remain rich.
4232420 I think Every Little Thing suggests Starlight has been actively avoiding the Mane 5, out of fear of being pressured into a friendship lesson. I expect "town-wide prank" to be just the sort of complex social situation Starlight would be hiding in her room for.
The Rich family is clearly a unusually prominent name, if wives are taking on the Rich name when they marry in. My guess is that Filthy didn't want to disappoint his parents, so he kept his name, and asked Spoiled to take the Rich name as well. Lucky for his daughter his father passed away before she was born, so she got to avoid the traditional nomenclature.
Sticking to canon names, there are just too many ponies with names matching cutie marks or careers for it to be a coincidence, even ignoring ponies like the Apples where careers are a family tradition as well.
4232829
I am pretty sure the actual number is much less than we believe. One day, I'll actually count, though, and we'll settle that for good. :) There will be three different categories of names, though, mind you: Names actually spoken on screen or written in comics, names that are acknowledged in merchandise and other sources, and names that have no clear origin.
And my hunch is, among the first group, perfectly professionally descriptive names are much less common than we think.
4232889 We'll see. Photo Finish and Octavia Philharmonia need some explanation. But "group 1" needs to include the names of ponies listed in movie and episode credits as well.
4232914
Only if I get to count spelling errors in those separately. :P
4232916 Poor Mufins.
4232916
…and what of the deliberately-altered canon names?
4308593
As in ponified human names? They don't turn up among the characters in the present day, usually, do they?
4308665
No, as in Cadence becoming Cadance and Fleur de Lis becoming Fleur Dis Lee…I'm sure there are more.
4308676
Cadance is the official spelling. I’m not sure how exactly it came about, but probably, the same mysterious and presumably crazy way “griffons” did. No idea about Fleur. But either way, we know which word they meant, right?
4308707
They use both. Is it a "spelling error" to be counted separately?
4308749
Show credits occasionally are simply misspelled. I.e. "Applebloom" on one episode, when everywhere else they use "Apple Bloom."