IDW Friends Forever #8 Review

Having picked up a handful of comics for my birthday, expect to see reviews on them for the next few days, all of them "Friends Forever". As always, we begin with a bit of a look back to the state of the fandom and even the world when necessary.

As the Summer of 2014 drew to a close, not much information had surfaced about Season 5 or its airdate, the only new content to tide fans over was Rainbow Rocks which almost overnight generated an explosive fanbase for Sunset Shimmer and Sonata Dusk, meanwhile the show faced an uncertain future in the wake of Hasbro and Discovery announcing their intent to part ways and end The Hub. The comics were chugging along just fine though, the main series was bringing about the end of a two parter dubbed "Manehattan Mysteries" involving Trixie, Babs Seed, and a few of the mane six, while the Friends Forever series was proving its staying power with seven issues and not one dud (though the Pinkie Pie/Princess Luna issue didn't exactly impress fans). With Rarity making her long overdue debut in the series, but being paired up with Applejack, the most overexplored pairing in the show, was this issue able to keep the Friends Forever series going, or did it mark the first major stumbling block for the series? Well, let's find out.

We begin with Granny Smith receiving the mail from Derpy, there's a letter for Applejack to come and see her relatives to present a business plan, and it's addressed "The West Coast Apples". Applejack intends to just make a quick trip and come back, because the barn got destroyed again, this time by Big Macintosh simply tapping a nail against it (guess the last rebuild was a rather sloppy one). With Apple Bloom borrowing Applejack's saddlebag to try and get her cutie mark in base jumping (ironic considering Scootaloo's love of bungee jumping about two seasons later, was that foreshadowing or just coincidence?), Applejack goes to Rarity's place to borrow a suitcase for the trip. Thrilled with the trip to Applewood (the pony equivalent of Hollywood), Rarity insists that Applejack take her along, and Applejack reluctantly relents.

Rarity and Applejack catch the train and head west, but they're layed over in Salt Lick City (the pony equivalent of Salt Lake City, Utah) for a while and Rarity decides this is the perfect chance to do some sightseeing on this road trip. She becomes interested in a gigantic ball of yarn made from goats, which may or may not be based on a real landmark involving twine, and insists on bringing Applejack along to see it. But unfortunately, Applejack isn't interested in the sewing aspects and falls asleep, thus nearly causing the two to miss the train. They hop aboard, only to find out the train is bound for Seaddle, the train for Applewood was delayed. The conductor decides to let them stay instead of throwing them off the train, even going so far as to offer to get them turned around the next day. I can understand being generous, but unless the conductor could hold them at a station and inform the Applewood bound train to pick them up there, I don't think that would be within his power to do.

Seemingly oblivious to the stress Applejack is under, Rarity takes Applejack to the pony equivalent of I believe Sea World, or just some extreme water boat event, which has the speedboat jump a flaming ramp and crash into the taxi Rarity and Applejack were gonna use to get back to the train station. To make matters worse, rain starts to fall, and the two take cover in a barn. When the rain lets up, Rarity gets the bright idea to pilot a small two seater plane to Applewood, and she argues with Applejack about her seeming lack of a business plan and her not even having a planned time of arrival. And that I will agree with her on, even if it's just a casual visit you usually want to let company know when you'll be arriving, that way they can make arrangements in case they were planning to go somewhere or have or order a meal.

The argument causes them to crash into Mount Monument (the pony equivalent of Mount Rushmore), which has Celesta/Luna/Cadence/Twilight in the order of Washington/Jefferson/Roosevelt/Lincoln. Celestia as Washington and Luna as Jefferson I agree with, Washington and Jefferson were both from Virginia and both played significant roles in America's founding, Cadence as Theodore Roosevelt is a bit of a stretch, not that I necessarily think she would fit Lincoln, but considering Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest man to be president (he was 42 when he took the oath of office following McKinley's assassination, JFK was 43 when he was sworn in in 1961, making him the youngest man elected president) and Twilight being the youngest of the princesses in terms of age, I think Twilight would fit Roosevelt a little better. There's also a joke of Chrysalis' being the sole signature of a petition for her to be on the monument, not sure if that's a joke about anything (the only president since those four that people have even JOKED about sketching into Rushmore is Ronald Reagan and no way could they fit him).

Anyway, Rarity tosses out the apples from Applejack's bag, so they can parachute down to safety and hitch a stage coach in what I can only assume is the bad lands area of South Dakota ponyfied, given their location. During the ride, the two are attacked by Buffalo Bull and his gang, one of the members being King Longhorn who would go on to be the main antagonist of the infamous stumbling block for the main series that was "The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies", Applejack lets off some much needed steam on the outlaws, while she and Rarity bicker about the delays, Applejack's lack of a business plan, and Rarity's seeming interest in sight seeing more than just seeing it as a business trip. This is the kind of arguement that more conflicts deserve, because both sides have a point and both are equally responsible for the problems. Still, they quickly patch things up, and taking Rarity's advice Applejack decides to take Rarity to Whinyland which if you've noticed the pattern with the other landmarks, you can tell what it's a ponyfication of.

At last, Applejack and Rarity arrive, only to find out that the West Coast Apples (we don't find out their names but Rarity mentions the place smells citrusy, and their color schemes seem to match the fruit) never sent for her. Turns out that Granny Smith misread the last part of the letter, which meant East Coast Apples. But I have to fault the Oranges for not directly addressing the letter as such, East Coast Apples doesn't automatically narrow it down to you considering we have Baltimare (Baltimore, Maryland) and Fillydelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and it's not unreasonable to assume some Apple family members live there. We then get something of a "Where are they now" ending, and a short two page story about a day in the life of Winona when she causes trouble for the Apple family, minus Applejack. It's okay, but at only two pages it doesn't have time to set itself up for any kind of story and just feels wasted. My guess is that the IDW staff wouldn't approve of the comic unless a certain number of pages were filled, and the writers counted and noticed they were two pages short, hence this story.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? Well, after what came before it, the bar wasn't set all that high and it did manage to top it pretty easily, but it was not really a return to form for the "Friends Forever" series and quite frankly it didn't really do much with Rarity and Applejack, other than be the typical RariJack plot with a little bit of Applejack development and learning from Rarity about business. It's okay, but pairing Rarity up with Applejack was a mistake, she needed someone else and a stronger story, which she would not get until much later into the "Friends Forever" series run. I do appreciate the moral, showing that there's a good mix between business and pleasure, even in today's day and age it's not a sin to take a little time off to just go somewhere and do something for yourself, there are ways to have vacations without having to get a lot of time off from work or spend a lot of money. But Applejack learning this lesson makes this feel like another repeat of "Applebuck Season", a cleverly disguised one but still a repeat. Still, considering what's become of RariJack episodes since this issue, I'd say this is worth picking up, if for no other reason than because of the cool settings and Rarity making her Friends Forever debut. This one I would not go above five dollars on though, it's good but it's not THAT good, almost everything that came before it was much better.

And there you have it, come back later tomorrow when I review Friends Forever #11.