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    Season Eight Episode Reviews: Horse Play

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Apr
15th
2015

Comic Review: Fiendship is Magic #3 (Sirens) · 12:04pm Apr 15th, 2015

You don't get a full review, comic. At least the Sombra and Tirek comics actually made sense, kept the characters close to their show counterparts, and had some interesting things to offer. You have the Sirens deciding to become pop stars in Greco-Roman Canterlot, every genre of music ever being invented by them and Star Swirl the Bearded fighting each other, barely any mention of the fact that the Sirens sing to cause chaos and feed off of the disharmony in place of the Sirens wanting to be big pop stars, and end with them in the modern-day human world despite the fact that it's still ancient Equestria.

You want to do a sillier story about a trio of villains? Fine. The Sirens have plenty of room for some goofy comedy, what with Sonata's cluelessness, Aria's sarcastic bitterness, and Adagio struggling to contain her loathing for the other two. But that's not here. We get three seahorse creatures that are fine with each other, work well as a team, and seem to take over Equestria with no ill effect. There's nothing about the ponies fighting or rioting. We don't see friendships and relationships crumble because of their influence. We don't see anything from Rainbow Rocks that made the Sirens interesting villains. The issue's not funny, the story's lame, the art is only serviceable, and the entire issue feels like it had no direction. This was just...bad.

It's not the worst comic (Friends Forever #1 remains a travesty for which all of mankind must one day answer), but it's definitely really bad.

Next time, something better than this.

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Comments ( 21 )

I think the main problem is we ALREADY HAD a backstory for the sirens. And the parts that were filled in were just silly. Rapping Starswirl? Seriously? The only interesting bit was the idea that the sirens weren't actually very good at what they did (and didn't have to be) and had to actually learn how to sing well to better affect ponies. It wasn't something you got from the movie.

Oh, and doesn't this happen a long time ago, since it takes place in Starswirl's era? So why do they get dropped in modern clothes into a modern-looking human world? Would have been neat if it was like the dark ages or whatever.

...

Well darn.

C'mon Chryssi! Or Nightmare, I can't remember. Either way, we're all rooting for you!

I'll admit that most everything else sounds pretty terrible, but...

and end with them in the modern-day human world despite the fact that it's still ancient Equestria.

Given that Starswil is also noted to have invented time travels spells, it would seem entirely plausible that whatever spell he used to banish them could have also sent them into the future.

2986393

The only interesting bit was the idea that the sirens weren't actually very good at what they did (and didn't have to be) and had to actually learn how to sing well to better affect ponies. It wasn't something you got from the movie.

Actually, in the movie, after their crystals were shattered their singing was terrible, suggesting that their apparent vocal talents had always just been the result magic.

That's the problem of having several writters in a same series, either you get a good episode, or a bad one.

Funny that th show "weakest" villain(acording to some, personally I found him cool.) got the better story so far.

I'm going to have to ignore this one, headcanon already decided on those three and would rather not give up another chnace to make the Chaos Tyrant be a complete and utter bastard

2986493

Given that Starswil is also noted to have invented time travels spells, it would seem entirely plausible that whatever spell he used to banish them could have also sent them into the future.

Yeah...but I prefer to think of them living in the human world for a few thousand years or so, just for some of the commentaries they could make.

- "I'd rather live through the Thirty Years' War again than deal with you right now."
- "Wow! I haven't seen this much booze since the Prohibition!"
- "What ever happened to that Atilla guy anyway?"

Well that's too bad. Guess I won't be buying this one. Thanks again for the review.

And people wonder why so many people hate the comics.

Right now, my biggest concern is coming true...they blew their wad on Sombra. I mean Tirek was decent, albeit too bloody short, and this was "eh" in my opinion. There are only two more left and I think that they used the best story upfront.

I was excited for the Siren's issue. Then they revealed who was working on it. Then they gave the preview. Then I felt justified in not supporting that issue.

I can forgive the whole Sirens floating around, it was shown/implied that's how they get around in the movie. But the whole thing didn't even bother to try and be consistent with what we KNOW. Canterlot? A thousand years ago? THERE WAS NO CANTERLOT! Pretty sure ponies were still sleeping outdoors or in little huts/houses.

This comic relies and hopes to ignore everything about the show and that fans, especially adult males (adult females seem acceptable because lack of penis?), hopefully don't read said comics. Because aside from the glaring miss of a joke where Sonata swallows her gum (which she didn't) and the whole 'sliced bread'. I just don't know. It really didn't work with the canon, it upright ignored it, but it also failed to give us a feel for that FANTASY that FiM brings with it. It was all jokes on pop culture.

This video does a better take on the whole gag and theme of the comic than what was presented in the issue.

[Warning: Parody may have lyrics that might offend sensibilities. SFW outside of 3-5 seconds of suggestive themes.]

As horrifying as FF#1 was, I can't freaking believe I'm saying this, at least it had that incredulous level of bad that you could have fun interpreting some of it's jokes making fun of itself. But THIS issue? It's just plain boring. Flat. Unimaginative.

Worst of all? Starswirl. He felt SO OUT OF PLACE. So SHOVED IN. He made no sense. MUSIC WARS? That page was so bad. =_=

If the SHOW had this presentation, the fandom would have moved on before S5. It turns everything into a joke. Yet all the jokes feel like it follows the same shitty formula that typical cookie cutter cartoon shows that never even reached a full season.

It repeats it's reasons over and over like people are too dumb to SEE what's going on in the comics. It's embarrassing. It's a waste of potential to all the things we could have truly explored with the Sirens and their home land.

Instead? They appear as we saw in the movies. Already with red gems and choosing chaos JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN. Which could have been a valid enough reason, if they had explored their characters instead of planting them into 'Canterlot' and then so unrelentingly shoved a marketing piece like the Mirror our of no where. Did I mention I hated the cliche 'mirror world' Sombalestia arc?

23 new genres of music were created in the days Starswirl and the Sirens waged their 'war'. I feel like Merrie Weather could have written a better backstory. Anderson needs to stop being allowed to write for backgroundless characters. He's literally wrecking creativity and ruining the enjoyment of the comics for many.

I said he'd only poison the world of MLP. And this was as vile a concoction as any. There was no real attempt at humor. Just random out of no where gags. And even MISSED jokes! Though, I guess he must have implied Sonata just swallows well, I guess... she didn't have that gum anymore after the "EEP" startle she got from Adagio.

This issue was a terribly lazy, offensively lazy, that only makes me worry as to what other issue Anderson is going to victimize next. This issue was truly that bad.

How bad was it? I CAN'T EVEN HIGHLIGHT ONE INSTANCE I GENUINELY SO MUCH AS CRACKED A SMILE! Not a chuckle. Nothing. It's WHOLLY forgettable! And it's not a rag on Anderson, I understand why InsertAuthorHere won't give a review. IT HAS NOTHING TO REVIEW! And that would mean some people would want to check these comics out to see if they are really that bad.

IT REALLY ISN'T! It's WORST!

Sirens enter a music competition in Canterlot. Get ridiculed for being shitty singers and CREATE POP MUSIC when Sonata pops her bubble gum in her face which sparks the idea in Adagio.

Then Starswirl the "I spend too much time at the coltiseum" Magician pony decides the best way to deal with them is to wage a Music War.


Basically an excuse to draw the sirens all of 3 times in different outfits with Starswirl being dressed like a certain rapper that shalt not be named. It was just that bad.

2987277

You know what my biggest issue is, at least in addition what you said? Every time they do something Equestria Girls related (and this counts, as the Sirens are only in the second movie), it's always Anderson that writes it. Always. And he sucks at it. I'm not complaining about all of his other work. He's done quite a few good issues (the Pinkie Pie and CMC micros, the Manehatten Mystery arc, the Power Ponies annual, etc), and I feel that he could still do a good job on comics of that type. But Equestria Girls? He's 0-3.

First annual? A very bland story that's basically the exact same stuff that happened in the movie, with the only saving grace being the Sunset Shimmer origin - which he had no involvement in.

Christmas special? Completely misses the mark on cyberbullying, makes the entire cast out to be judgmental jerks, has Sunset living in the library because for some reason nobody's willing to just make an excuse for how she's survived in the human world, and the CMC turn out to be the most evil, vile, disgusting monsters that ever lived.

And now we have the Sirens, who are written out of character for the sake of a gag that, in all honesty, might have worked if they were human at that point and Star Swirl was not involved. But they went the way they did, and they shall suffer for it. Suffer. Suffffffeeeeeeer.

If you have to do something EqG again, IDW, get someone else to do it, please.

The moment I saw the first pages of three mystical sirens who nearly brought Equestria to her knees just casually look at a sign for directions and walk (float?) through the streets in the most conspicuous way possible, I knew something would be...off. Truth be told, it's pretty hard for me to envision their ferocious-looking true forms as the same bickering trio they were throughout the movie, and what I've seen from this comic really doesn't sell the idea for me.

I'll gladly take Sombra and Tirek's backstories from the comic (my own headcanon of Sombra as a sort of living incarnation of crystal/shadow was pretty close to what we got, except the comic gave him more character), but this? I'll just work some elements into my own preexisting headcanon: They could disguise themselves as ordinary ponies like the ones seen on their dolls' box art whenever they needed to get around, and their true forms lacked the capacity to speak English (or whatever Equestria calls the "common pony tongue"), but were still able to sing. The songs they sung were exclusively similar to the mystical, timeless vocalizing like they did at the start of the movie, and they only took up pop music to better blend into the human world.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

2987415 I would still prefer if Anderson just didn't touch FiM at all. Move him to TMNT or something else. I've returned 1 book already and the second annual I has no problems tossing away. Coverart wasn't worth keeping around anyways.

He's a minimalist. I'll let him go with the CMC Micro, though not my favorite it was better than most of his other stuff. I found it rather slow paced and simplistic. But the humor was there and the moral was nice. If he stuck to doing more of those Slice of Life type issues or do something new with Pinkie Pie, then okay. I just don't think he does well with villains or scenarios that involve intricate levels of story telling.

I'm just glad Jeremy Whitley is writing out the next Friends Forever #16. Whitley seems to actually put more care into consistency in his stories. You'd swear that they actually do some form of research before just throwing in whatever. They just know how to ADD without taking away from a character. We'll see though, looks like #16 is going to have some fun times ahead if my Q&A with Jennifer Blake is anything to go by.

Still, I don't think Bobby is really taking fans concerns to heart. Make him do more SL stuff. Trixie, Babs, CMC. Long as they aren't mixing in DT or SS with him I'm fine with it. I just don't think he's the type to put much thought into actual world building. Even the CMC issue it was basically a changeling but for inorganic matter. He really is hurting the credibility of the comics. But it seems every brony that's now too anti-brony seems to think anything negative said about anyone who gets slapped onto something Officially licensed product like the Comics is just full of blind hate.

I'm not. Mr. Anderson should not be trusted with world building or establishing any sort of backstory to any characters that fans would love to see more of, especially Equestria Girls' characters. Just NO.

I for won't pay for shitty official fanfics from someone who puts as much effort into their 'story' as someone who writes 10, one-hundred word, 'chapters' and gets upset at people who downvote their story.

I'm just repeating myself at this point. Anderson is not someone I believe should be on the MLP line. At all. But if he's to stay at least keep it simple for him. Don't task him to CREATE LORE or a BACKSTORY. It'll only make people hate the comics more and more.

They have almost a full untouched rack of FIENDship #3 at my local comic shops and Hot Topic. No one seems to be buying them. And people who do and then find they don't like that issue? Base the whole series of FiM comics around that one bad experience. It's TERRIBLE for the franchise!

Okay, now that this has come out (and it turns out to not have been good), I feel safe enough to say the following: I feel that Mane-iac was more deserving of a Fiendship comic than the Sirens. I mean, yeah, "Power Ponies" did give her an origin, but come oe, it could've easily been expanded upon! Like... "The Killing Joke", MLP Style!

2986493 True. But even in the comic their magic, apparently, isn't enough on its own!

So I guess that's a minor contradiction there.

Question. Why was it bad for the Sirens to rule Equestria with music in the comic?

2989178

Because bad writing seems to be endemic to most of the MLP comics.

and books...

and more then a few episodes...

2986493

Yeah, I had no problem at all with them appearing in present day at the end, but then again I never liked the implication they had been on Earth for so long. The idea of them being sent to modern Earth was one thing that I really did like about the comic.

I didn't think the story itself was that bad, though, my biggest problem is that they're all given the same fairly generic personality in the comic rather than the more divergent ones that made them so much fun in the original film.

2989178

Because of the whole 'making ponies fight each other and feeding off their conflict' thing. It's only mentioned briefly (which is a bit frustrating considering that was such a major part of their backstory in the film), but it is mentioned.

2995600
The idea of them being long lived or even immortal never really bothered me. In fact, I sort of always assumed that's why they were wearing hoods at the beginning of the movie. There's never any other point where they hide their identities, so why in that one scene (outside the obvious meta reason of making them look more mysterious)? I just sort of head-cannoned that they have to do their whole emotional feeding thing to maintain their youth and so they were wearing hoods because when they walked into that café it was as elderly women.

Still I don't mind them just popping directly into the modern world, and so either approach is just as good for me.

This was my favorite issue :pinkiesad2:

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