We’ve all been keenly aware of happenings in the animated side of MLP FiM and the budding arrival of G5. However, we seem to have neglected examining the failings of the IDW tie-in series.

While these can be dismissed as optional canon, I think it would be worth examining this spin-off due to its increasingly ridiculous attempts at world building and other issues during its long run. While not influential of the show itself, the IDW series has spread enough to sink its hooks into projects like the iOS game where many of its plot lines have popped up in events due to the imminent stagnation of the cartoon. And with the comics having finally come to a close with the onset of G5, the time has come for a postmortem analysis.

From here on out, I encourage members to discuss all sides of G4. Whether it be from the tv screen or the pages of comic books.

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Well, I've heard the last few issues are being called Season 10 and they actually go into zebras and Zecora's past and homeland.

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And I’ve heard they jacked up the world building by throwing in several new sets of Elements of Harmony. But that requires any entire explanation on why that is just absurd.

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also having the Two Sisters festival despite Celestia and Luna being. I think maybe delving into their origins?

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The biggest flaw IMO is that while the IDW comics expand on the show, it rarely is the other way around.
What happens in the comics is rarely (if ever) touched in the main series.
And more often than not it contradicts what happens in the tv show, creating many plot-holes and non-sensical things.
Like, Sombra was brought back to life and redeemed in the comics, yet in the show he come back and get's killed again.
Or in the EQG prequel, where it shows Sunset as Celestia student and Twilight is seen in the background as a filly, thus making Sunset much older than her, yet in the movie and the rest of the series she's the same age of her. Oh, and she doesn't appear to have a problem passing through the portal or walking right away as a human.
Or the Dazzling being exiled by Starswhirl alone (like showed in EQG2), while in the show made their first confrontation with not only Starwhirl but his team too.

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The comics sound like a mess, but they seem to put a bit more effort into the worldbuilding department, though it's not the best to put it lightly

While I did read a few of the early comics many years ago, I don't remember much of it and never cared to continue as the show crashed and burned so I don't really have much to add here.

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And more often than not it contradicts what happens in the tv show, creating many plot-holes and non-sensical things.

Considering how often the show contradicts itself, I'm not seeing much difference here.

For the longest time, there was something about the IDW series that struck me as.....off. Something about the series that made it feel like it was not really drinking from the same well as the show itself. My first exposure to the comic book series was back at the second Crystal Fair convention in 2014 when I picked up two of the micro series comics, one of which remains wrapped while I have barely touched the other. And for many years, I could not figure out what it was about the stories of the comics I had examined that rubbed me the wrong way. It was not until this year that I had an epiphany on why MLP FiM's comic book adaptations felt so off.

The IDW series do not replicate the tone and style of the show because My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was not designed to run on comic book tropes.

Some things do not perform well when they are adapted to another medium. Anime are notorious for almost never performing well when adapted to live action and movie tie-in video games have an infamous reputation going as far back as the 80s. While some cartoons do adapt well to comic books and vice versa, MLP FiM's premise, message, and tone is not suited for the much more ridiculous scenarios the staff, who were largely revealed to be Bronies in their own right, came up with pretty much right out the gate. Pop culture references were everywhere seemingly for its own sake without rhyme or reason and characters performed exaggerated wild takes that felt more extreme than anything they would have done within the show itself. And with the first few issues of the series having the audacity to throw in needless shock value in the scene where Chrysalis supposedly murders a kitten in front of the CMC, it became clear to me over time that the writers really did not understand MLP FiM anymore and were coming up with stuff on the fly that they thought was cool or were merely building up their resumes. The Everfree Forest deer arc was infamously tone deaf in its narrative and is still regarded as one of the worst storylines in the comic's entire run with many other stories clashing hard with established canon with the Sombra reformation storyline being one of the most divisive storylines in the series’ run and one of the few that was the result of a corporate mandate from Hasbro themselves.

Interestingly enough, the Nightmare Rarity arc was apparently the point where things really started getting absurd in regards to the writing and clumsy inconsistent world-building. To quote the Franchise Original Sin entry under its Tvtropes page:

Franchise Original Sin: The parts that made it a Contested Sequel, while they worked out well enough here, would lead to future issues to decline in perceived quality.

• The ending came off as a bit rushed and took a Deus ex Machina to wrap things up, but since the story had followed through with everything fans hoped for, still left it emotionally satisfying. Future stories would be criticized for having to end before any interesting stories could be satisfactorily debt with. Note that the more Slice of Life driven stories and spinoffs have escaped the critique.
• The big draw of the story was its exploring the nature and origins of Nightmare Moon, something fans were eager to see. Once the show started doing its own Worldbuilding, the comics attempts at such became criticized for increasingly clashing with the shows (widely held to be better-written) canon. That, plus the better stuff to come out of the comics risk of being overruled, has hurt the comics appeal.

However, there was one issue in particular that I had absolutely no complaints about. The only issue I went out of my way to purchase a digital copy of to enjoy. And that was the 2014 Annual Special. Why? Because it starred these girls.

The 2014 Annual Special is quite possibly the best out of the MLP FiM comics because it takes an in-universe series that is already built around comic book tropes and builds on it. Even if for just one issue. Everything in this story works the way it should and takes maximum advantage of the medium.

But the same cannot be said about the rest of it. And with the final issue having been put out shortly before G5 premiered that appears to serve as a middle finger to the series finale’s manner on dealing with the villains, IDW's chaotic and bizarre expansion of the show itself came to an end. While the comics did have a lot of interesting content with some of it being genuinely interesting with plenty of potential, it was mostly just a weird and inconsistent mess. Even when it was not afraid to take the piss out of some of the show's failures, such as a background gag where a folder labelled "Season 5 Script" is being fed to a goat, the fact that the writers just played along with the worst and most divisive developments in the show's canon implies they didn't have as much of a problem with it as their own gags and lampshade hanging conveyed.

7585024 Not to mention that Celestia x Sombra fanfic disguised as a mirror universe premise/story.

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Actually, now would be a good time explaining why the completely new sets of Elements of Harmony right out of nowhere is a dumb idea. I recently got an unregistered comment on my Fanfiction account from a Mr. JDMiles under the rather apt pseudonym of "Hypocrisy" that I assume was a retort to what I said in this thread above. That's what I assume, at least. I didn't actually read the comment beyond the part at the top which I recognized as a comment I posted in this very thread. I've recognized his pattern as he has posted several harassing comments on my account since May of 2019 in response to things I say on FIMfiction that he can't harass me about on this site without getting banned and I've started compiling the evidence offsite without actually reading the stuff, but that is a discussion for another time and place.

As for why the extra sets of Elements of Harmony coming out of nowhere in the IDW comics is simply ridiculous, we have to look at something that is as ancient as G4 fanfiction itself. The Seventh Element template.

Since the very start of the show, countless fanfic writers have written works built around the inclusion of a brand new OC who just happens to be the bearer of a previously unknown Element, or even multiple OCs with multiple Elements, that ends up completing the Elements of Harmony. I don't think I need to explain why this does not work. They are only done because it sounds cool on paper. There are several terms that are commonly used for this 7th Element, like Love, Courage, Intelligence, etc. They're not necessary and the Elements of Harmony are already a perfect balance with the Mane Six. People who write these fics, especially, today, only do so for the same reason people still write Fallout: Equestria fics. It's easy, don't not need to be explained, and they think it will make them popular. The Urban Dictionary even has a term for this phenomenon. Spectacle Creep.

The multiple new sets of Elements of Harmony in the IDW series takes this universally hated trope and escalates it to the logical conclusion. Even the names of the individual Elements from these new sets have undoubtedly been used in low tier fanfictions on this very site or are even recycled from the mainline Elements of Harmony.I'm not even kidding. You can look them up yourself. And the fact that this development happened this late in the comics' lifespan meant the writers weren't even interested in actually exploring how the hell these new Elements sets work and fit in Equestria's lore and power balance. They included them at roughly the last minute because they thought it sounded cool on paper.

Now, I don't like shilling my own works like the average DeviantART weeaboo, but I need to provide an explanation on how the supposed "hypocrisy" claims towards my own work do not hold water. Just reading the title of my flagship story, The Lost Element, does carry the implication that it too is built around the 7th Element template. But this is deceiving. Even back in 2011, I knew how overly used this template is and set out to subvert it while having the "Lost Element" tie into an overarching topic that is explored throughout the story and even its eventual sequel.

The Lost Element does not play by the same rules as other 7th Element fics because the 7th Element itself is both not a part of the Elements of Harmony and is instead a singular entity without its own set to belong to. It is an outlier. An anomaly. It utilizes entirely different nuances you don't find in other 7th Element fics. One that is meant to enhance the Elements of Harmony beyond their limits while being powerless on its own. Not as part of the set, but like a long lost friend standing by them in solidarity while being entirely separate from them. What also sets this apart from other 7th Elements fanfic shlock is what the Lost Element is actually built around. And it is built on a topic the IDW comics never would and probably never could explore without Hasbro vetoing the idea.

The Lost Element, the Element of Humanity, is an exploration of the human condition. And I can't imagine this ever having a place in the crazy memetic world IDW has created.

So no. I do not write stories built on a tired and despised cliche that even IDW could not help sinking its fingers into without self awareness. Because this stuff is as cliche as it gets in MLP FiM and the writers at IDW should have known better by this point.

7585234 I'm now convinced if the IDW FiM would have continued they'd dare to do a Human in Equestria arc too. That'd be horrifying...

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Pop culture references were everywhere seemingly for its own sake without rhyme or reason and characters performed exaggerated wild takes that felt more extreme than anything they would have done within the show itself.

Sounds like a question of writing, rather than a question of medium.

The 2014 Annual Special is quite possibly the best out of the MLP FiM comics, because it takes an in-universe series that is already built around comic book tropes and builds on it.

As I understood it the plot was quite derivative, and the Power Ponies wound up being banal rip-offs of marvel heroes, to the point where even their names and backstories were borderline identical.

The Lost Element, the Element of Humanity, is an exploration of the human condition.

That literally solves none of the problems you just mentioned. If anything, it compounds them. The Elements can already one shot nearly any enemy, so why do they need a upgrade?

For that matter, why is it something as specific as a element of Humanity; a species ponies have very little, if any contact with? How are these things even compatible? Why are they compatible? Is there some sort of overlap? Why is there overlap?

At least with something more generic, you can make the excuse that it's Harmony being broken down in different ways, the way real elements can be broken down even further into sub-molecules.

Having another element appear out of nowhere, that isn't connected to the others in anyway, only raises questions about it's origins, and why it can do what it can do.

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You would have to actually read the story to get it. I’m not going on a long-winded tangent here to go in-depth about a story that has little to do with this group’s purpose. The current volume underway actually goes into depths of its origins and how it could have been used against Equestria.

If that’s not enough and you need a hint over exactly why the Element of Humanity is ultimately necessary by time of the endgame and what role humanity has played in Equestria,read the prequel.

I will not be discussing this off-topic subject further. If you want to know more about my work, ask me in private.

And yes, the Power Ponies do work like that, but that just added to the charm of it. Like an homage to the early days of Marvel and DC. I can appreciate that, especially with how it completely forgoes the grimdark mess mainstream superhero comics have mostly been for decades now.

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You would have to actually read the story to get it.

Oh it might be a interesting read. At the very least I wouldn't have a problem with the idea of a Seventh element because It's a seventh element, but that's my point.

You can cloak it in as much backstory and philosophy as you want, but it's a unknown element which serves to improve the original set, which is the very thing you've been complaining about.

Basically it's the same story idea, regardless of whether it is better written or not.

Like an homage to the early days of Marvel and DC.

Perhaps. But it's clear that's all it is, a homage, as opposed to a full fledged world, or even the appearance of one. Relaying on the most basic of plots to carry the story forward, doesn't do much in the way of giving any material to work with, and you can see that in the relatively low number of stories produced about them.

I wish we could see a level of in depth, original writing in modern media, as opposed to continuous homages.

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Unknown to the readers and Equestria at large. Not to the old guard who were there to see it in the distant past.

It also nixs the maligned origin story of the Elements of Harmony themselves, conceived before the reveal of the ridiculous Tree of Harmony, and reveals them originally created as a counter to a dark power, cancelling each other out. A force that stops the Elements of Harmony while also being negated itself is what would require the development of a limit breaker.

Had such a force been introduced in the show or even the comics, I can guarantee you that the writers would have to come up with a Deus Ex Machina to break the stalemate with no buildup or backstory. Which they did, as discussed above, while simultaneously going overboard with it. The problem with the EoH was that they were a bit too effective most of the time, except when the show went out of its way to not use them.

The problem with the EoH was that they were a bit too effective most of the time, except when the show went out of its way to not use them.

So I take this to mean you hated the show's interpretation of the Elements of Harmony, as much as the comic's? And largely as a result of the poor quality of writing, and lack of explanations when it came to the origins of the Elements? That makes a little more sense.

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No, I did not mind the Elements of Harmony’s effectiveness at all. Just thought it would be interesting if they met an obstacle that could stalemate them once in a while.

The Tree of Harmony though? No, there’s no way to salvage that.

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For what it's worth, I think the Elements were one of the key mistakes in Faust's work. Making the main characters the chosen ones makes them less relatable since that's not the way the real world works. The other key problem is that it reduces all the major storylines to mcguffin quests which are more conducive to action sequences than the character work that really made MLP shine, something that's especially visible in the season 2 finale when the focus on the Elements reduced what should have been a complex tale of intrigue which takes full advantage of the changeling's abilities into a lazy action sequence. That's exactly why I axed the Elements entirely in my show rebuild work, and why I settled on the narrative strength of the Changelings to catalyze the show.

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For what it's worth, I think the Elements were one of the key mistakes in Faust's work.

Agreed.

The other key problem is that it reduces all the major storylines to mcguffin quests which are more conducive to action sequences than the character work that really made MLP shine,

True, but they managed to sabotage even the action sequences. Things like strategy and combat were forced to take a back seat to "acquire the mcguffin" regardless of the nature of the threat.

It's the main reason Rainbow Dash was never a bad ass action hero, the way she was clearly designed to be. Because the show, and the Elements of Harmony, wouldn't allow it.

7589344 You can apply this critique for the season 10 comics since now EVERY species gets their own elements and trees of harmony there.

Season 10 can step on a lego barefooted.