There are times when I think the comic writers nail the characters, and there are others when they drop the ball dramatically. Then you have the frustrating moments when they have a tantalizing idea like giving Rarity a motivating fear of being forgotten and not needed, only to use that great character driven aspect to create a one-note villain.

They do this with RD too, but instead of focusing too much on a stereotype, they make her comic relief and foul too often which (IMO) turns her into a completely marginalized character. Then there is Twilight. I honestly thik they don't know what to do with her at this point.

I do still read and enjoy them, and when they nail Rarity the hit the ball out of the park. The frustration is still there though.

Foul = foil. Can't edit on mobile skin :/

There are times when I think the comic writers nail the characters, and there are others when they drop the ball dramatically. Then you have the frustrating moments when they have a tantalizing idea like giving Rarity a motivating fear of being forgotten and not needed, only to use that great character driven aspect to create a one-note villain.

 

They do this with RD too, but instead of focusing too much on a stereotype, they make her comic relief and foul too often which (IMO) turns her into a completely marginalized character. Then there is Twilight. I honestly thik they don't know what to do with her at this point.

 

I do still read and enjoy them, and when they nail Rarity the hit the ball out of the park. The frustration is still there though.

I can see what you mean. They are very hit and miss. It just seems to me that they swing at pitches in the dirt far more often than they do knock them out of the park

Yeah, I've always had lots of characterization issues in the comics for a while, but especially now instead of improving on where they faltered, it feels like they've gotten even worse about it. 

I mean at the beginning of the series, aside from Rainbow Dash(whom I've always felt got the short end of the stick apart from her Friends Forever comics unfortunately), they were all mostly in line to what I expected.

I think what hurts the most with Rarity is that this was made by the same person who made the Rarity Micro, who many consider the best comic in the while line. Not only that but Rarity was made to break the shallow stereotype we see in the comics now(which is worse considering Cook considers Rarity one of her favorite characters). Those two things alone should show low the comics(or at least the main series)has fallen

Twilight's another whole can of worms to deal with. In the Western arc she outright refuses to use her power to stop bulls(despite committing arson, assault, and other crimes), because "she thinks it's abusive", yet in the second part she's willing to use shady tactics and other crimes just to get the barn to become a "Historical landmark" and apparently destroying historical landmarks is worse than arson, theft and assault

And don't get me started on the whole "Rainbow Dash immediately thinks they should just give up", I'm pretty sure that'd be the very last thing she'd do(and seems like something early Fluttershy would come up with). That's really the stupidest thing I've ever seen come out of the comics(But again, unlike Twilight or Rarity who started strong, I usually expect RD to get shafted, especially in Cook's comics) 

I'm pretty sure that shot is from the Everfree Forest arc currently going, and considering the direction that story is headed...I can't argue with you. No one in that issue is morally right and the whole thing is basically one big cliche environmental/idiot plot.  

The solo issues are generally pretty good about staying in character (baring a few exceptions) but the main issue long arcs are ever shifting in terms of quality and characterizations. 

The weird thing is I think all the writers on the comic series take the easy way out with Rares at times. At least in the show you know which writers shouldn't touch her with a 40 foot pole going in. Here, it's as if when the character isn't the focus - they don't try.

When they Put Rarity front and center and they tend to get her right. The FF series does at least.

I've never read the comics, but I've read enough about many of their arcs to know that I would not find them enjoyable in the slightest. They seem to only exist for the sake of pandering to fans and going distances that the show itself will not. 

I'm not trying to condemn anyone for liking them, but I personally cannot stand fan pandering that goes any further than a few subtle nods (in fact, it's also a very big reason as to why I dislike the Equestria Girls films). That being said, I would much rather it happen in secondary materials than the show itself. 

When they Put Rarity front and center and they tend to get her right. The FF series does at least.

Speaking of that FF issue, Silver-Quill explained the situation with Rarity and Babs attending the roller derby. She was written as the outsider, but was approached in a manner that fit her character. The issue started out slow, but really picked up in the second half.

I don't remember seeing this shot, but whenever it was, Rarity's "shopping" joke is factually terrible in quality because, eeyup, it's out of character of her. She was developed to be much more than that, and it's quite appalling to see the characterization quality be so inconsistent, especially in the main series.

When the M6 are involved in comics like these, the flanderizations or out of characterizations are often written in as jokes. Unfortunately, these jokes don't work because they have to be altered for them to work. As a result, rather than being funny, they become cringeworthy. If you must degrade the characters to execute the joke, then it's a bad joke. Even more unfortunate, this sacrifice of characterizations for humor is shoehorned so often, you can predict it before the gag even shows up.

Frankly, it's as if as soon as Katie received her first negative backlash to her comic writing in the reflections arc, it's as if she decided to stop caring and just do whatever she wanted to do writing the comics. I mean, it's rather sad that once upon a time, alot of people had thought Katie was better then most of the DHX's writer staff. Now she's become one of the biggest problems with the comics as she's written several bad main issues that just seems to be getting worse and worse with how we're expected to root for the deer race against the evil corporation despite the deer wrecking Ponyville and the comic doesn't call them out on it really. All to serve an environmentalist message that I'm tired of reading and hearing this cliche this comic follows to the letter.

@@Nuke87654, Couldn't have said it any better. Ever since the cheap shots at her critics, her comics have degraded in quality. Sure, those flaws were sometimes obvious prior *cough*Spike being a jerk to Hayseed*cough*. But the quality shift is still really night-and-day.

@@Nuke87654, Couldn't have said it any better. Ever since the cheap shots at her critics, her comics have degraded in quality. Sure, those flaws were sometimes obvious prior *cough*Spike being a jerk to Hayseed*cough*. But the quality shift is still really night-and-day.

True, even with those mentioned flaws prior, at least the older comics were good in general quality and you can tell good effort was put into the writing from Katie. 

This is exactly why I refuse to read the comics, let alone actually review them.

The characterization is just as bad as Modern Spongebob ._.

"Or Twilight in the wild west arc, who apparently is more than willing to sit back and let her friends get their asses kicked by a group of criminals and not do anything because she doesn't want to use magic against citizens of equestria."

To be fair, Twilight has historically never been the best decision-maker. But even then, that is bullshit.