IDW Main Series #13 Review

Turns out I had one more comic being shipped besides the two that just shipped yesterday, so it's time for one more review and then we'll likely have to wait a while for the remaining comics to arrive.

I already mentioned a lot of the events in the fandom that surrounded this story when I reviewed its second half over a year and a half ago. This was the first comic to incorporate alicorn Twilight into the story, and since this was before the start of Season 4 and just months after "Equestria Girls" fandom reaction was mixed at best, with some even vowing to boycott the comics over their decision to include alicorn Twilight. Meanwhile, it was announced that the micro series would end with a tenth and final issue focused on Princess Luna, and in 2014 it would be replaced by a new series known as Friends Forever. When I reviewed #14 I mentioned that the second half of this two parter was really held back by the decisions it made in deciding to have a happy ending, but the first part showed a great deal of promise. So, have my opinions on this issue changed now that I've had a chance to refresh myself with the story featured in it? Well, let's find out.

We begin with the gang all going to a beach because they want to accompany Fluttershy who's having trouble accepting the fact that she needs to let go of a fish named Gill (which she nursed back to health). They encourage her to take filly steps, apparently not noticing just how clingy she's becoming, and not one of them goes to make sure she lets the fish go as planned (given that this is the same pony who stupidly kept a parasprite even after knowing what they could do, I'd be a little weary of trusting her to let go of something like a fish, at least at this point in the series). Meanwhile we get the rest of the mane six mostly lounging around and Applejack mentioning how this special juice made from a local fruit can be used as a truth serum.

Fluttershy, surprise surprise, refuses to let Gill go, but a giant wave washes him away from her. The wave is made by a boat belonging to an unnamed pirate, and Rainbow Dash for some reason immediately jumps at the chance to join a real pirate captain, quickly roping most of her friends into it. Twilight is understandably skeptical at first, but seems to be won over when the pirate mentions he needs a good navigator. Yeah, the set-up is kind of on the clunky side here, it seems like their intent was simply to get the mane six and Spike aboard a pirate ship by any means necessary and they built the story around the concept of "This thing is going to happen because I want this thing to happen."

The pirate captain sets off for a nearby town, and Fluttershy sees the speed of the ship as a chance to catch up to Gill and capture him because she's just not ready to say goodbye to him. Given that this is taking place in between Seasons 3 and 4, there's really no excuse for this kind of Fluttershy potrayal, though it's nowhere near as insulting as her potrayal in her micro series (as Silver Quill mentions they treat her as if she only has two settings "Super Assertive" and "Super Pushover", and when Fluttershy is treated like this it leads to her worst potrayals as many episodes can attest). Anyway, Fluttershy stays behind when the ship lands at the town, and with Spike sending out bottles every hour per the captain's instructions, Applejack decides to stay behind and try to use the truth juice to get the captain to explain what he's really up to, especially since the group learns his crewmates mutined on him and stole his map (I would question why no one else finds this at all cause for concern, but without knowing who the captain is or the reason for the mutiny it's impossible to tell whether the problem lays with the captain, the crew, both, or neither). Meanwhile, Fluttershy manages to locate and snatch up Gill, hiding him away. And although Applejack is able to get the pirate captain to confess that he's hunting a forbidden treasure and his messages in the bottles are love letters, he won't talk about what the treasure is or why he wants it so badly.

As for the rest of the gang (Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity) they go into town and find it overrun with pirates (including what appear to be dopplegangers of Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and the CMC), and they are clearly very short tempered. Rainbow Dash takes charge, talking like a real pirate in order to get them to notice them, and brings up the map, though she claims it's for her and her crew (she claims they are the four ponies of apocalypse). Naturally, the pirates don't just give out information to whoever wants it, they challenge Rainbow Dash to a swashbuckling sword fight and if she wins they'll tell her. The rest of the gang join in on the fight in some impressive action scenes, including one where Rainbow Dash, despite being backed into a corner, takes out three opponents in one strike (she does this by rushing forward with her wings and knocking their swords out of their hooves). But the pirates all surround our heroines, forcing Twilight to reveal she is a princess and use her magic to freeze them in place when they threaten a ransom. She instructs them to take her and her friends to the map, and if they do she'll share whatever loot they find. Realizing they can't win, the pirates agree.

The pirates lead the group to a hole in the ground, while mentioning that the pirate captain is Hoofbeard. They explain that the map he had them follow seemed to be cursed so that the X would always change, and it appeared to drive him mad. Not willing to stay on what they assumed was a wild goose chase, the crew mutined on him, took his map, and threw it in the hole. And the hole just so happens to be guarded by a giant ghost crab (no doubt an homeage to the Rarity v.s. Giant Crab art that swept the fandom during the hiatus between Seasons 3 and 4). The issue ends with the girls preparing for what promises to be a tough fight.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? Well, as I mentioned above and before the set up is a little clunky (about as clunky as the set-up in "To Where And Back Again"), and Fluttershy just doesn't feel in character for me. Rarity and Rainbow Dash also kind of get the short end of the stick in terms of potrayal, though they both do shine during the fight scenes against the pirates. Spike is just there because the whole group is there, and Applejack is mostly there to serve as a Checkhov's Gun with her truth juice. Surprisingly, the one who really shines the most here is the very reason why some people got all up in arms about this issue, Twilight herself. They don't make too big a deal out of her princess title, but they do still put it to good use when she uses it to convince the pirates to stand down. She's also the one most in character out of the entire group, and remains that way in the next issue, especially when Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy become massive idiots. All in all, if you can look past the rockiness of the set-up, this is a good issue and one worth picking up, it seemed like it really had potential. But as I mentioned when I review #14, the choices they made in the second part dragged it down. It is kind of a shame that they didn't try to make this a four parter story arc like "The Return of Queen Chrysalis" or "Reflections" because with a little bit of rewritting and polishing (as well as trimming down the previous multi-parters into just stand alone stories like they probably should've been), it could've very easily been a huge success. I really do feel like this two parter is where the cracks in the IDW writing machine first started to show themselves, and it would take time for them to widen to the point they are in now. Still, if you really like pirates and are curious as to how they'd work in FiM, pick this issue up, maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did.