Points of Canon: My Little Pony #41 · 10:33am Apr 15th, 2016
Today, a couple new comic issues crossed my horizon, so we’re back to our regularly scheduled canonical statement investigations! First up is My Little Pony #41…
Spoilers inevitably follow.
I wouldn’t take this one too seriously, myself.
- The story starts on the day the new Daring Do book is released, “Daring Do and the treasure of the Saddle Madre.”(1)
- Pegasi actually employ cloud I-beams in construction. Usage of cloud bricks is an innovation which surprises Rainbow Dash a lot, though it is not clear what the advantages would be.(2)
- Along the chain of venting, when irate Rainbow Dash annoys somepony, who, in turn, annoys somepony else, one of the links wherein Applejack annoys Luna is particularly notable, since I can’t exactly imagine how this would happen.
- A bookshop in Ponyville is called “Noble Barn.” I like that one.
- The map of Ponyville in this issue features a building clearly marked “Police”. The directions to nearby locales are marked up like so: “Canterlot 14 mi., Unicorn Range, Manehattan 862mi, San Franciscolt, Chicoltgo 232mi, New Horseleans 432mi, Seaddle, Horsolulu 3016 miles, Baltimare.”(3)
- Shining Armor supposedly still plays tabletop RPGs with his friends,(4) though why Zecora thinks he ended up on the chain of venting in the first place, when it is otherwise primarily confined to Ponyville, is anyone’s guess.
- There are apparently over a hundred Daring Do titles.
- Pinkie manipulates phone books for Manehattan, Canterlot and Ponyville, and mentions area codes.
While, if my memory serves me right, phones were previously observed in Manehattan, the statement about phone service in Canterlot and Ponyville is new, and the idea of area code, which would imply an automated cross-country phone system, is newer still, and would wreck so many plots it’s not even funny.
(1) I’m not even sure which they’re referencing here - the 1927 novel, the 1948 movie, or the horrid Fallout DLC.
(2) Just like the specifics of how pegasi dwellings work at all were never explained.
(3) I imagine the use of numbers doesn’t mean much since in the future distances will consistently remain not to scale.
(4) Which would involve a long-distance train trip for somepony.
Knowing how RPGs can go, I don't think Shining needed any outside help to be infuriated.
3871790
Considering that the previous link listed in the chain is Wonderbolts, I expect the connection Zecora implied (the whole story is framed as Zecora telling a long morality rhyme) was entirely mystical. :)
My rule of thumb is to take comics as a separate thing entirely, and only grant canonicity to the stuff I like.
3871840
I generally try to accommodate as many statements as possible at all, and only throw things out if I can't find a non-contradictory theory, because the results usually turn out to be more fun.
Comics tend to pale in comparison to the mess caused by accounting for the Journal of the Two Sisters anyway. :)
I really liked this comic, but the whole way it was presented, with Zecora rhyming everything and the somewhat surrealist art, makes it really hard to think of anything in here as canon. To me it feels like the whole thing is a song in a musical, where it represents an idea more than literally happening.
3872684
My problem with it exactly -- a snowflake puzzle piece among the usual ones with slots and tabs, pretty but impractical.
3872690 Maybe its best to imagine the whole thing is a story Zecora told Spike one time when he was bored and visiting her?
3872716
Possibly. I know what I'm using from it -- the bookstore called "Noble Barn" is a keeper no matter what. :)
3872721 It's a keeper for now, until a new pony comes back from exploring the Amazon to put it out of business.
3872723
Eh, that's a Manehattan store that does most of its business by mail order, there's no substitute for digging inside actual paper for a proper book horse. :)
Hey! Dead Money was great!
4237741
No. Old World Blues was great. Dead Money... ugh...
4238061
Old World Blues was better, but Dead Money was good too, damn it.
Telecommunication is one of the bits you have to watch out for(/strive for, if you're on the other side of the screen)…and, as you've observed, Spike gets put on a bus whenever the plot mustn't.