Friendship is Card Games: Angel's Big Day and Friends Forever #37 · 11:56am Nov 4th, 2018
This week, we have one of several issues that directly connect to Season 7 episodes, along with the penultimate Friends Forever. Let’s begin.
Angel’s Big Day
I thought this one was a follow-up to “Fluttershy Leans In,” but it turns out it’s set concurrently with the initial discussion with the various ill-suited experts. Neat.
Hold on, “Daddy Grandeur”? I’m pretty sure that’s what Hoity Toity calls him. Bit of an editing fail there.
Also, I do like the implication that if Fluttershy weren’t so busy working in the sanctuary, she could be two places at once.
I do like seeing the return of Rupert the butler snake.
Oh. Oh my. That is the exact same image of tightly packed animals used four times in three pages, and three times in this one page. This isn’t your average, everyday laziness. This isn’t even advanced laziness. This is approaching peak laziness. If Fosgitt put much less effort into the comics, he’d paradoxically have to expend more effort to cover for it.
I might not harp on this so heavily if this weren’t an Angel-focused issue and thus relying heavily on non-textual storytelling. In other words, the absolute worst kind of issue for minimal effort artwork.
The immediate descent into chaos is fun, but I find myself wondering why Fluttershy has a filing cabinet. Unless this is meant to be Dr. Fauna’s office. I’m genuinely not sure, and the comic isn’t giving me much to work with.
Brilliant plan, Angel. Leave the critters completely unsupervised as you recruit more help. Still, it is nice to see the anti-kelpie team back together, to say nothing of the “Just for Sidekicks” callback. And the Crusaders getting hit with puppy-dog eyes is a wonderful bit of laser-guided karma.
Gummy’s complete lack of reaction to the rampaging animals is a fine example of when repeating art can actually work.
Angel channeling a certain freelance policehare with some of those expressions.
Sweetie, you’ve been around Pinkie long enough. You know better than to ask where props come from.
That said, it’d be nice if we could actually see what Angel was drawing.
Siegfried and Roy have nothing on Apple Bloom, it seems.
Remember what I said about approaching peak laziness? By the end of this issue, Fosgitt hit it. Not only did he give up on even the most basic backgrounds for multiple panels per page, he also gave up on quadrupedal ponies.
Okay, going by Dr. Fauna, I suppose this is her office. Still, took me until the end of the comic to be sure.
Well. For all I gave Fosgitt hassle, this issue didn’t exactly have a lot to work with in terms of the script either. As I said, this was clearly intended as a mostly visual spectacle, and I’ve already made my opinion about trying that with this artist clear. Let’s move on.
Friends Forever #37: Rarity & Trixie
Ooh, nice callback to the Rarity-Babs Friends Forever issue. No ear infection for Sweetie this time.
It’s kind of sad that this is the closest we get to Babs and the other Crusaders reuniting in canon post-cutiesynthesis.
Oh wow, that porter is still following the sisters. Does he have to drag Rarity’s supplies through all of Pen Station? I’m sure she’ll tip generously, but still.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to forgive and forget.” Sweetie couldn’t be foreshadowing harder if there were five of her.
Ah, confirmation that Babs’s parents are in fact both alive. Wasn’t exactly clear, that.
I would’ve gone for “Madison Square Paddock” myself.
Yeesh. Given all of the reworking necessary to make the concert Garden-grade, I imagine Sapphire has some very strong words in mind for her manager after all of this is said and done. (That said, you’d think the Pony of Pop could book the Garden in her sleep. Maybe Rara undersold during her latest reinvention.)
I love how “special effects wizard” is a literal job description in Equestria.
Given the focus on comic continuity in this issue, you’d think the whole “helping Trixie foil a jewel thief” thing would factor into Rarity’s decision. Especially since this isn’t just set after “No Second Prances,” but also “To Where and Back Again.” Trixie has very clearly turned over a new leaf here, and Rarity’s refusal to forgive her at this point feels dreadfully manufactured. It really says something when Trixie’s the one who’s being more of a team player.
Yeah, if it weren’t for the time constraint, Sapphire would be well within her rights to fire Rarity at this point.
“If there’s anything Trixie and I have in common, it’s an almost irritating persistence.” Hey, she said it, not me.
Trixie knows an illusion to simulate Celestia’s mane? I choose to believe she’s deliberately keeping it from Twilight.
That curly mohawk is one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why, but it’s fantastic.
Hmm. Another fairly lightweight issue. Maybe I’m just coming down from having 44 minutes of animation to work with last week, but this does have two splash pages and two montages. Still, at least the visuals on this one show actual effort. It is funny to see how both issues emphasize the importance of teamwork to tackle seemingly impossible tasks. It’s almost like friendship is magic or something. 
Now, let’s see what we can make of this pile of pulp:
Untrained Dancers 1W
Creature — Pony Citizen
Level up 1W (1W: Put a level counter on this. Level up only as a sorcery.)
1/3
Level 1-3: Vigilance
2/5
Level 4+: Creatures you control have vigilance.
4/7
Billowing Light 2W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2, has vigilance, and is an enchantment in addition to its other types.
Celestia rarely censors information. She just allows it to fade into obscurity.
Lapine Enforcer 2W
Creature — Rabbit Soldier
Whenever another creature with power 2 or less enters the battlefield under your control, detain target creature an opponent controls. (Until your next turn, that creature can’t attack or block and its activated abilities can’t be activated.)
2/2
Exhaustive Trainer 3W
Creature — Pegasus Warrior
You may exert Exhaustive Trainer as it attacks. (It won’t untap during your next untap step.)
Whenever you exert a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.
”Your lungs will hate me, but the rest of you will thank me.”
2/2
Carrot Lancer 4W
Creature — Rabbit Knight
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature's color.)
First strike
Lagomath armaments are as strange as their chosen steeds.
3/3
Desperate Synthesis U
Sorcery
Look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal an instant or sorcery card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest into your graveyard.
The show must go on. The performer’s sanity is optional.
Spectacle Sorceress 2U
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, untap all creatures you control.
”If somepony casts a spell and nopony’s around to notice, what’s the point?”
1/4
Curse of Careful Filing 2UU
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player’s upkeep, that player returns a nonland permanent they control with the first name alphabetically among those permanents to its owner’s hand.
Twilight was less than amused by how she inspired Equestria’s hexcrafters.
Arrogant Designer 1B
Creature — Unicorn Artificer
Fabulosity 2B (2B: If this creature isn’t fabulous, put a gem counter on it and it becomes fabulous.)
Arrogant Designer can only attack alone unless it’s fabulous.
”I like to think I have some idea of what I’m doing.”
3/2
Manehattan Cabbie 1B
Creature — Pony Citizen
Whenever Manehattan Cabbie attacks, each player loses 1 life.
To listen to him is to hear all the bad news in Equestria with extra cynicism thrown in.
2/2
Irritating Persistence 3B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature you control
When enchanted creature dies, return it to the battlefield under your control and return Irritating Persistence to your hand.
A little thing like death isn’t enough to stop true ambition.
Up in Flames 1R
Sorcery
Choose one —
• Up in Flames deals 4 damage to target creature.
• Destroy target artifact with converted mana cost 4 or less.
”Just like all my hopes and dreams.”
—Trixie Lulamoon, traveling performer
Flaming Train 2R
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Fabulosity 3R
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, Flaming Train deals 1 damage to each creature defending player controls. If Flaming Train is fabulous, it deals 2 damage to each of those creatures instead.
Flower Fountain 1G
Enchantment
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.
Pity the janitor.
Frontier Scurry 1G
Creature — Squirrel Scout
Whenever Frontier Scurry attacks, it explores. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
0/3
Big and Loud 3G
Sorcery
Up to two target creatures get +3/+3 until end of turn and must be blocked this turn if able.
”There’s this one filly in Applewood. Hates Abyssinians, but she has some good points on how to make a show memorable.”
—Trixie Lulamoon, traveling performer
Gather Reinforcements 3G
Sorcery
Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal two creature cards. Put all creature cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Angel knew who to look for. It was just a matter of finding them before the other animals burnt down the clinic.
Run with Scissors BR
Instant
Target creature gets +2/-2 until end of turn. If that creature is equipped, it gets an additional +2/-2 until end of turn.
”A technique best left to the professionals.”
—Cheese Sandwich
Spectacular Display 1RW
Instant
Target creature you control gains double strike until end of turn. Other creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.
”If jaws don’t drop, I haven’t done my job.”
—Trixie Lulamoon, traveling performer
Creature Cluster 4BG
Creature — Beast
When Creature Cluster dies, return any number of target creature cards with total converted mana cost 6 or less from your graveyard to your hand.
The lion will happily lie down with the lamb if there’s no room to spread out.
6/4
Elaborate Formation XGW
Sorcery
Creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn. If X is 5 or more, those creatures gain trample until end of turn.
”It’s like playing with blocks, except the blocks stack themselves for you.”
—Apple Bloom
Spectacular Design: Why exactly is Trixie channeling Zecora in the flavortext here?
I love Irritating Persistence. Pseudo-Immortality has a special place in my heart.
Granted with how continuity heavy this one was, Rarity here makes sense when you look back and see that she was the most reluctant to help Trixie there and did so only because the others pressured her. I don't think she apologized even after Trixie's innocence was revealed.
I am so badly behind on all of the comics...
Yeah, I agree that the continuity bugged me with this issue. Even taking away the jewel thief story, Trixie has had several instances of proving she's on the straight and narrow now (i.e. that Rainbow Dash story with the Diamond Dogs, the shenanigans with Starlight). It just felt odd that the comic had to make that the primary tension between Trixie and Rarity, instead of something more logical like their large egos clashing and them trying to one-up each other in showmanship. It's a shame, because everything else about the issue is done fairly well, but it's all predicated on this story situation that is pretty shaky.
A lay varu u franessi naylte
I feel bad about hating Fosgitt's work so much.
I suppose someone has to be at the bottom of the heap, and at least he provides solid reasons for his place in the rankings.
You might think this week's material is lightweight, but these cards certainly aren't! Here are a few thoughts I have on some of them:
Exhaustive Trainer: I like this concept, especially the use of one of Magic's most underutilized mechanics, but shouldn't a trainer have some way of exerting others, instead of just themselves?
Desperate Synthesis: ...why is this card blue? Giving up four future cards to get one spell now feels MUCH more red than blue to me.
Up in Flames: The first mode on this one seems a touch pushed.
Big and Loud: ...I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all day, aren't I?
Gather Reinforcements: Is Temur Jump-Start a thing? If not, this card makes me think you want to make it one. Also, I don't know if I love or hate the nonbo with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses.
P.S. What do you plan to pair with Friends Forever #38? I thought you would pair Angel's Big Day with Wings Over Yakyakistan, since that would have allowed you to do the final 2 issues of Friends Forever as one post.
Yeah, no kidding. I actually stopped reading the comics shortly after this issue. For the record, I always thought Fosgitt was a terrible artist, but the fact that he somehow managed to become worse as the series progressed, and yet still kept his job, is what convinced me that IDW just did not care at all. Remember, Fosgitt by this point had already caused one good writer to quit in protest of his laziness, and as this issue proved, that was still not the lowest he could go.
Yeah, that was a very weird thing about this issue. But then again, there's precedent for it. Twilight's hostility towards Trixie in No Second Prances felt very out of place to me as well, given how Trixie apologised at the end of Magic Duel. Come to that, the Mane Six's hostility towards Trixie all the way back in Boast Busters was never explained either. It's almost like there's some mystical quality to Trixie that makes her innately unlikeable to everyone who meets her, regardless of what she's done, and only other former antagonists are immune to it.
Better late than never?
4962956
Looking back, Applejack seemed a lot more skeptical of Trixie than Rarity for much of the first issue in that storyline. The worst Rarity did was acknowledge a situation that looked especially bad for Trixie.
4963009
And he keeps providing more reasons with every issue. Especially given how I'll be tackling the Guardians of Harmony series soon...
4964625
Huh. Supernaturally unlikeable Trixie is a surprisingly compelling concept.
4963488
Exhaustive Trainer: I considered it, but decided I wanted it to match the other "exert lords" mechanically.
Desperate Synthesis: Because you're choosing which card you get. Think of it as surveil with a few extra requirements attached. Plus, it's not like you're exiling the other cards. With the right abilities, you might as well have drawn a lot more than just one card with Synthesis.
Up in Flames: Compare Flame Slash and Lava Coil.
In honour of Fosgitt's work ethic:
Increasing Laziness UU
Sorcery
Tap up to two target creatures. If Increasing Laziness was cast from a graveyard, tap all creatures target player controls instead. Those creatures don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
Flashback 3UU