Present Perfect vs. IDW, Round 18 · 1:25am Oct 11th, 2017
So I was just looking at an old vs. IDW blog to see how I format these when lo and behold, it turns out the Kingdom of Abyssinia has popped up before! :O Mind blown!
That's about it, really, shut up and dance. :B
#54: Angel Bunny Leans In
There are a bunch of one-offs in this blog, so I'm giving them names as I see fit. This one fits because it's literally the story of what the animals were doing while Fluttershy was setting up the animal sanctuary in that awful, awful episode. It also functions as something of a sequel to the amazing pets-only comic from back when. Unfortunately, reminding me of that issue just makes me wish I were reading it instead. :| This is substanceless and doesn't have the same depth of amazing visual storytelling on account of the CMCs being called in to assist. It's got Opal intimidating a cheetah, though? And there's a good joke with Gummy, but that's about it, unless you really want to see Angel Bunny being good for once. I'm disturbed, though, that now we're getting comics that are just episode tie-ins. And why did it have to be this episode?
2.5/5
#55-56: Wings Over Yakyakistan
So the Wonderbolts do a show in Yakyakistan and then a bunch of dragons show up and we get story time with babby Dash and then the dragons are upset about their sacred bond with the yaks and Spike's upset because dragons and who wrote this fucking fanfic? @_@ I've ne'er seen a more confusing salad of unconnected ideas!
For all that this is completely confounding until the pieces come together, it's surprisingly good. Granted, not all the pieces come together. For instance, we start off with some very interesting power struggle between Dash and Spitfire. Dash wants the Wonderbolts to help defend the yaks, Spitfire says, and I quote: "The Wonderbolts are just great flyers, not warriors." (Put that in your headcanon and smoke it. :V) Then comes the flashback from Dash's parents, about the meaning of bravery.
But the real core of the story is why the dragons are attacking, and Spike once again angsting over his place in the world. It's the kind of thing that literally no one knows until it's explained, of course, but the actual reason for the attack was surprising. Also, with the mention of the ancient yak Prince Ulysses, I guess we can reason that yaks are named after former US Presidents. (Though when you throw in King Grover of the griffons…) And there's a fantastic joke about a volcano. I wish this arc were a little more coherent, but it's definitely enjoyable and brings with it a whole heap of interesting side canon.
3.5/5
#57: Pinkie Pie Through the Extradimensional Portal
So Pinkie randomly hops her way into Discord's realm, and this causes him to lose his powers for some reason. <.< A rescue mission is mounted, but it quickly becomes apparent that the inmate runs the asylum. Then there's an XK Class End-of-the-World scenario; anyone familiar with Derpibooru will know what I mean. Also, nautical magic. So yeah, this is a whole load of weirdness, but there's a fun logic underlying the climactic battle, and of course, we get a new version of a pony. Worth reading, as one-shots go.
4/5
#58: Twilight Sparkle and the Quest for the Magenta Bloom
So this one's a sequel to A Health of Information, with Twilight, Zecora, Cattail and Fluttershy finding some lost notes of Mage Meadowbrook's and following them to find a flower that could cure pretty much anything. Twilight gets a little too caught up in things.
This was a fun little adventure. The pony they end up meeting — I'm not sure she's ever named! — is cute as fuck. Weirdly, they refer to Meadowbrook as "Mage" the whole time (what is this, Five Score Divided by Four?), and they also give her a boyfriend for some reason. c.c Like, what? But the best parts are finding out Twilight is part slug and watching Fluttershy use pegasus magic to calm strong winds. :D Like, that's just not something you ever see her do! Another good issue.
4/5
#59: Pies Rainbow Dash Doesn't Like :V
Hint: it's all of them. V:
This is a very bizarre concept for a comic, and of course since it's Pinkie being upset Dash doesn't like her pie, it's filled with lesbian subtext. But other than that? It's kind of boring. It's literally just "Pinkie is trying to get Dash to like pie, Dash knows she doesn't like pie, Pinkie knows Dash doesn't like pie, friendship lesson". And this is apparently the one that's tied into an episode, so I am now not looking forward to that episode. :/
2/5
Unpopular Opinion Time: Spitfire is a pony who's in need of a hug.
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She's also cute, but then again, most ponies are cute.
And yes, Alicorn Pinkie Pie is a terrifying concept in-universe for a number of reasons.
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I, for one, welcome our hilarious overlady.
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I always viewed Pinkie as an alicorn whose wings and horn were 180 degrees out of phase with reality. It explains a lot, really.
Surprised you were so generous with the yaks. With all the weird stances it took on spike, the dragons, wonderbolts, and the yaks, it was basically trying to find a way to piss off everyone in some way or another. But, it did work out alright in the end
And yet, what's with all the military titles associated with it, and not just captain (I think)? Like, didn't it have generals and stuff in that Rainbow-learns-history episode? Or commanders and stuff? Also, in that case, why the King Kong style rescue attempt in S2?
Also, I think BlazzingInfero had that kind of yak/dragon faux pas angle be a thing, from the other side, in The Secrets We Keep. So him, I guess?
...
So, when I read issue 58, I had no idea it was tied to an episode. I didn't realize that until you brought it up again now. Because it was published a week before "A Health of Information." But you know, it was an actual story with things happening that you could follow and care about without having seen the episode, and in retrospect maybe even makes the episode seem better as part of the episode + issue package, since Twilight now has more of a role in the combined story rather than being mostly kind of... just there. However, I think you'll agree that releasing the sequel comic a week and a half before the episode it's a sequel to is just about the most Season 7 thing ever.
Because I forgot about issue 58, I thought the most Season 7 thing ever first happened with issue 59. :V
But good news! It's the episode you'll get out of the way first. But Pinkie trying to get Rainbow to eat her pies is even funnier with voices. The story still mostly... is just a thing that happens, though. Much more negative synergy in this case, since I think the issue is far more of a rehash than 58 was. And that makes Pinkie especially look like even more of an asshole.
In conclusion, they need to coordinate better between the TV and comics distribution people, and if need be shoot for sequel comics to come out a month or two after the associated episode rather than a week or two.
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She is. :C
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Imma headcanon and say that the concept of 'military' means something very different to ponies than it does to people. You could write a whole novel about this.
What a fantastic way to put this. Fact is, they need to coordinate at all, with anyone.
"And then I'll need some nice warm milk / And pastries from Abyssinia" -- Discord, "Three's a Crowd". So it's been passingly mentioned in the actual show, although that was Discord.
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Oh damn. :O I never thought I'd need to pay attention to that song.