IDW Main Series #38 Review

Before we get into the actual review itself, some of you may be curious as to how my vacation to Tennessee went. Well, it went great! We drove down there on Thursday, and drove back on Monday! On Friday, we went to Dollywood, which is a nice little theme park with a somewhat confusing layout. Its bragging right at the moment is having the first wooden rollercoaster to launch you, knowing as "Lightning Rod", though it also has a few other coasters (including one of the first wing coasters built in the U.S. called "Wild Eagle", and a coaster that carries you straight up and drops you 85 feet at a 95 degree angle called "Mystery Mine"). Saturday, we went to a small ski resort of sorts called Uber Gatlinburg (they do sometimes get snow, but most often it's fake snow), which included a chairlift up and down part of The Smokey Mountains, a hillside tabogan slide, and a "Mountain Coaster" that you control with your speed. Then we attended a dinner theater performance based on The Dukes of Hazard t.v. show, and me, my brothers, and my mother took part in an attraction called "The Tomb" which basically has you in your own Indiana Jones adventure in which you must solve puzzles in order to advance. For Sunday, we went to The Wonder Emporium, which was built to look like the building is upside down, and that had some cool stuff to do. Then we did a motion simulator mixed with a simulated shoot em up, before we went to "Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum", which is based on actual real life oddities (though the original museum was destroyed in a fire in 1992, a new one was built about two years later). We also stopped at an arcade, and I won a small Rarity plushie that I'm currently sleeping with alongside my giant Pinkie Pie plushie from Kings Island and the small sized Twilight plushie won at my local Dave and Busters (think of it as Chuckie Cheese for teens and adults). Then me, my dad, and my older of two younger brothers, drove on one of the many Go-Kart tracks featured around Pigeon Forge (as long as it's not raining, they're definitely worth checking out).

Onto the subject of the actual review, and let's delve into some history as always. 2016 started off the same way for IDW as 2015, more or less. There was no information about when Season 6 would air, so it fell to the comics to try and fill the gap, the main series had to recover from the disasterous bottom of the barrel four parter that was "Siege Of The Crystal Empire", while the Friends Forever series had yet another issue hijacked by a bad OC and ruined by terrible artwork (it was so bad that the writer actually took to social media to complain about the design of one of the characters) for the month of January, the main series decided to have a low key two parter focused on the CMC, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and Snips and Snails as they got stranded in the mountains and would have to work together to survive. Many people were hoping for some foreshadowing to "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" Diamond Tiara, as a few people complained about there not being anything to suggest she could be nice (and that criticism isn't entirely unjustified, there definitely could've been a hint or two earlier on that Diamond's home life wasn't completely ideal, and that she could be nice). So, did the story deliver on that? Well, let's find out.

We begin with a class field trip into the mountains, and Cheerilee is having some chaperons accompany the group. Applejack is one of them, and Rarity is another, and the comic immediately opts for some cheap jokes about Rarity being out of her element and not being comfortable in a wilderness enviornment, as a few vines tie her up. As funny as this is, I can't imagine Rarity to be this helpless in the wilderness, she would certainly be smart enough to not touch random flowers or plants without knowing what they are. Sure, she may not like camping, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't be able to survive in the wild if she had to.

Cheerilee opts to tell the class about a fabled bird called the Turul, and claims that whoever is first to find it will get no homework for a week. Naturally, this attracts the interest of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who are more or less just being snarky brats about the CMC. Apparently, one of them suspects something when the crusaders think they've seen the Turul, and the filly five set off to try and find it, Snips and Snails tagging along out of curiosity. Naturally, the group fails to find the bird and gets lost.

Diamond offers the suggestion that they go back the way they came, but each part of the group has a different idea about what way that is. Diamond claims she's right, but it soon turns out she has no idea and even Silver is convinced they're lost. Apple Bloom takes charge, and suggests they stay put. Unfortunately, that idea is quickly rendered useless when a bear descends on the kids. While running, Sweetie trips and falls, so Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stay behind to help her, as do Snips and Snails who use their horns to free Sweetie Belle at the last minute possible. Silver Spoon then discovers a hiding place, and the group takes shelter until the bear gives up the chase and goes home. We get a fairly predictable (but still funny) joke involving Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom getting caught up in the moment and holding each other's hooves (the shippers will have a field day with that).

Now more lost than ever, Apple Bloom suggests Sweetie Belle team up with Snips and Snails (who have proclaimed themselves "Mountain Kings") to shoot off a warning flare to alert the grown-ups to their location. But even with the three's combined magical power, their flare doesn't get very far. I think Sweetie Belle would maybe have enough power to get the flare up higher than what's shown, but i don't think she'd have enough power at this point to shoot a flare over a mountain top.

Diamond makes a snarky remark, and Apple Bloom complains about how Diamond hasn't contributed any ideas. Diamond offers one, have Scootaloo fly up and see where they are. Scootaloo is understandably nervous, because she's not a good flyer, but her friends encourage her into giving it the old college try. Scootaloo is able to lift herself off the ground for a moment or two, but that's about it. Diamond, being the smug bully she is, remarks that she knew Scootaloo wouldn't be able to do it, and Apple Bloom calls her out on her skeward priorities, which even Silver seems to be concerned about.

To that end, Apple Bloom suggests leaving Diamond behind and going on without her, and even Silver Spoon seems to agree (she doesn't seem to try to talk Diamond Tiara out of the suicidal action of staying behind and fending for herself, no amount of skills can save you if you're on your own and you have no idea where you are). Diamond channels her inner tsundere grumpiness for a few pannels, then hastily races to catch up to the group. Sweetie Belle is a bit concerned, but Apple Bloom, fed up with Diamond's behavior, opts to keep moving.

Unfortunately, Diamond slips and loses her grip, falling over the edge of a cliff and left dangling. Apple Bloom and the others leap into action, but when Apple Bloom attempts to push a branch towards Diamond, she slips and falls as well, and is now left clinging to Diamond Tiara's leg, as the issue ends on a literal cliff hanger.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the story? Well, aside from the beginning spending time opting for cheap jokes at Rarity's expense, the set up is tackled pretty well. Snips and Snails surprisingly are the ones who shine the most here, they're no longer the joke characters they are in the show, as they actually contribute to the group and side with the CMC against Diamond's bratiness. The only major foreshadowing to "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" at this point is Silver's growing discontent at playing second fiddle and being ignored by Diamond, as well as concerned about Diamond's behavior, this is likely where the seeds that would result in her breaking off her friendship with Diamond were planted. Diamond is largely just as she was before "Crusaders of The Lost Mark" clearly being written so that we're intended to hate her, and I feel like at times the writers in the show went overboard with that (such as when they had her say she didn't care about ponies feelings, or mock Scootaloo for a possible disability), naturally they kind of do the same here. The artwork is good for the most part, but occasionally the Peanuts style small eyes slip in and that just strikes me as cheap and lazy, but it's better than Jay Fosagitt's style, which started off bad and has steadily gotten worse and worse (the princesses in particular he seems incapable of drawing correctly). Still, all things considered this was a good first part and a decent breath of fresh air for the main series that was practically on life support at this point. So I'd say pick it up, as long as you're a fan of CMC focused stories, or anything concerning the filly five.

I've got two more comics from the main series to review, so come back tomorrow for the review of Main Series #39 and the conclusion of this two parter dubbed "Don't Your Forget About Us".