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Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair (Comic Issues 9-10, July 31st, August 28th 2013)

Summary: A day in the life of Big Mac.

Issue 9

The Apples have an upright piano. I wonder who plays?

Heh, Benford tool box. Reference to Tim the Tool Man Taylor, as part of the tv series and standup routine for Tim Allen back in the day.

For want of a Nail, a proverb that goes back to at least the 13th century.

Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown. Taking the 'wrap-up' theme and extending it to other seasons. Heh, the sign has a 'Taste of Ponyville' on it. 'Taste of' festivals occur all over the United States, sometimes with slightly different names. I get the impression that Taste of Chicago was the first, and the biggest.

Ah, the CMC with access to fireworks. This can only end well.

Rainbow Dash talking about a Sun Stone, in the background... interesting.

Heya Doctor Whooves, spoofing the 2007 Doctor Who episode Human Nature.

Trixie being harmless, but kooky, and still working entertainment.

Pinkie Pie talking about giant bees... okay, wait. Sun Stone, Giant Bees? They're referring to the G1 miniseries The End of Fluttervalley that kicked off the original My Little Pony 'n Friends TV series, as if it occurred to them. Fascinating.

Family Circus reference... And mention of Big Mac entering a timewarp and saving ponyville from mutant apes... is this a reference to one of the Planet of the Apes movies, or Equestria Girls?

And the first reference to Big Mac actually being quite shy around mares.

Big Mac gets shipped *so* hard in this comic, it's pretty funny actually. Poor guy, completely oblivious.

Charlie Brown reference.

Plasmids and Vigors? What? When did Bioshock enter this universe?

Playful Luna is best Luna. "Blame My Sister" shirt, indeed.

Big Mac hates cherry pie. Nice detail. Wait, Sugar Cube Sculpting, Synchronized Water Polo, but just 'Curling'. Huh.

And the return of one of the batponies. A couple of the DHX crew have tweeted that they are treating the batponies as their own separate race, but it hasn't shown up in the show yet. At first I was liking the idea, enough to put it into my own fanfiction, but with the Crystal Ponies, Gryphons, Donkeys, Zebras, Buffalo, and the upcoming Breezies, the racial diversity is starting to get odd in this show. Not that these different races exist, but that they're so very isolated and only seem once in many cases. (Yes, they're starting to address that in Season 4, but that hasn't happened yet in context of this blog.)

You get the impression Big Mac may have a bit of a crush on Zecora here. At least, he's a lot more comfortable in her presence than he has been with other mares. Okay, crush might be a bit strong. Actually friends rather than acquaintances might be a better descriptor.

Rent a lizard? Trade ins accepted? Okay, weird.

Issue 10

Return of Spike the old-time Barker. I like this framing device, and it's especially appropriate given the carnival setting we're dealing with right now. It was a little out-of-place previously in the Changeling arc, but here it works.

Ahhh! Pinkie must have sold her Pinkie costume from the Changeling arc, and this guy made a doll out of it. Disturbing.

Poor Fleetfoot.

Fluttershy now telling a bit of that 'Fluttervalley' story. And a Star Trek reference, specifically The Return of the Archons from the Classic series.

And Derpy now lives in the cocoon from the Changeling arc? Okay.

Summer Wrap Up Parade, complete with giant balloons in the shape of Daring Do and Mare Do Well.

Ah, Sapphire Shores. With a cover of "Car Wash" (1976) by the Rose Royce band. Actually Rose Royce would be a good pony name, without any actual change. Huh.

Poor Big Mac.

And Twilight continuing the 'Flutterpony Valley' story...

And Spike representing custom pony figurine sellers everywhere.

Oh, this just passed into being cruel to Fleetfoot.

Flim and Flam at their natural calling, snake oil salesmen.

I should probably know who this pony is who's shipping. Pausing to look it up.... It's 'Tealove'? Previously in the toy line, not in any other media. Introduced in this comic right here by Hasbro's request. Okay. Interesting.

BBQ Hay. That just... How does that work?

Celestia hoofwrestling with Big Mac. And Luna making some moves on Big Mac. Big Mac gets all the mares.

Okay, final wrap up. This had little worldbuilding in it, and added little to the setting as a whole beyond some details. But I found it hilarious. While I personally like adventure-type stories a lot and I want to see more of that in MLP, this was excellent 'filler' and really encourages me to pick up the rest of the comics.