My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #28

[SynBassilicious Pony 322]

........................................

Edited January 30, 2023 by SynBassilicious Pony

[Nuke87654 1,849]

It's a reflection of Katie's ongoing writing problems in the main comic arcs where she places too much emphasis on her OC's solving problems over the actual main characters and they look incompetent for it, a preachy protect the environment message, out of place humor, the deer leader committing essentially an act of war against Equestria and gets away with it relatively even if he actually does make amends for it, and of course many characters being ooc for the sake of humor especially Rarity in the arc.

 

It's slightly better then the last arc, the good, the bad, and the ponies but that's more of because that arc was soo bad that unless she decides to essentially retcon everything about the characters and FIM to her own design, she could only go up and even then the jump is still a weak one as there were loads of problems that would frustrate many readers in this arc.

Edited March 20, 2015 by Nuke87654

[Megas 27,653]

Was really meh about it, though I thought it was the best Cook comic since Reflections(though that's not really saying much). It still has some glaring flaws some of the recent comics, it still has some characterization(most notably RD and Rarity, though it gets some points for finally making RD and Spike useful, even if it was just for a few panels), the new characters, the Deer race still suck(except Blackthorn, he was probably the only one with common sense), the Villain Well-To-Do still sucks and is about as generic as you can get. But on a positive note, it still managed to get some good laughs out of me

 

So overall, it's still meh, but not as bad as I was expecting

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Well-To-Do looked like a Minotaur version of Vince McMahon.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would; even if Well-To-Do is possibly one of the worst villains in the entire franchise. Yeah, the environmental message was weak, though I still liked the story overall. I can't say I blame the deer for wanting to go to war; they felt threatened even if the action is a bit harsh.

 

In any case I want to see these deer in the show...no chance of that; though.

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

even if Well-To-Do is possibly one of the worst villains in the entire franchise.

 

Admittedly, he was the funniest strawman I've ever seen.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Admittedly, he was the funniest strawman I've ever seen.

 

Fair point! He at least served a purpose in that case.

 

Not to mention his...comeuppance...

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Wow...I previously said that the Reflections Arc was the worst the comics could get.

 

I take it back, I take it all back. This is possibly the worst comic I have ever read in my life. Were I to list everything wrong with this issue alone and not the arc as a whole this post would be five pages long (I'll write a blog post about it later), but I'm just going to list all the laws that Well-To-Do broke in this issue, not including all the laws he probably broke in the previous issue:

 

1. Kidnapping (of a royal minor no less!)

2. Extortion

3. A contract clearly signed under duress.

4. Slavery

5. Defamation of image by using Twilight's image without her consent to make a profit

 

What's more is he does all this with both a princess and national heroes as witnesses! Now, I'm not a lawyer and I know this is a comic based on a cartoon so I really should be invoking the MST3K mantra, but I'm pretty sure Twilight has legal standings to vaporize the one-dimensional minotaur and no one would bat an eye!

Edited April 7, 2015 by PoisonClaw

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Why didn't the Deer just have the Everfree attack, oh, I don't know, THE CONSTRUCTION SITE ITSELF?!?!?!

 

Pragmatism, people! Pragmatism!

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Why didn't the Deer just have the Everfree attack, oh, I don't know, THE CONSTRUCTION SITE ITSELF?!?!?!

 

Pragmatism, people! Pragmatism!

 

Honestly, I can agree with you and while King Aspen's choice was no doubt extreme (Blackthorne handled it much better), but playing devil's advocate I can sort of see where Aspen is coming from. He has sent communicae to Celestia, but wasn't receiving word back. Again he could've handled that better, but being the trigger hoof he was he assumed it was an attack from Equestria proper.

 

Not saying the decision was any smarter, but I can see where the misunderstanding would lead to Aspen's actions.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

Honestly, I can agree with you and while King Aspen's choice was no doubt extreme (Blackthorne handled it much better), but playing devil's advocate I can sort of see where Aspen is coming from. He has sent communicae to Celestia, but wasn't receiving word back. Again he could've handled that better, but being the trigger hoof he was he assumed it was an attack from Equestria proper.

 

Not saying the decision was any smarter, but I can see where the misunderstanding would lead to Aspen's actions.

 

Speaking of which, talking out of universe and into other fictional verses as a fan, Aspen could've learned a thing or two from what Picard from TNG did to Gowran when Gowran decided to ignore his messages for three days (wanted to ensure nobody thought he had help from the federation in ending the Klingon Civil war). Once Picard found that out, he pretty much said if Gorwan wasn't going to give him what he needed, then he would offer his full support to one of the rival Klingon houses that does (aka the Federation support as well). Which of course that got Gowran's attention to which he complied with Picard's request at last.

 

Sometimes, being more tactful with your choices rather then going for the most extreme measures will not only get you what you want but also make you look like a badass for it as Picard typically does.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Nuke87654

[Banul 3,831]

I've been behind on the comics for a long time, so I only just got around to reading this arc. My reaction can be summed up with this face:           

 

: /

 

 

-I don't have a problem with pro-environmental messages, but it seemed really ham-fisted. TREES GOOD BUSINESS BAD

 

-Somebody beat Rarity with the dumb stick. People already mentioned the thing about the outlet shopping, but thats not all. The bull starts talking about his plot and she talks about how she loves Whinny Land. The Mane 6 starts fighting timber wolves in the beginning and she asks if she has to help. I'm not one to bang on about ponies being out of character, but everything coming out of her mouth just seemed so dumb. Rarity's characterization can be summed up with "you dun goofed".

 

-Twilight Sparkle is a governing member of Equestria's government. Why can't the word of a princess shut down the whole operation? Even if Twilight can't, Celestia and Luna eventually would.

 

-Why does Well-To-Do have so much power over them? The Mane 6 could have just kicked his ass. Twilight could probably do it herself. They were given plenty of reasons to take him down. He kidnapped a child for christ's sake, INFRONT OF THEM. 

 

-If the deers could muster the animals of the forest and go to war with the construction crew, WHY DIDNT THEY JUST DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE. That seems like a much more reasonable coarse of action than to move the entire forest. 

 

-The villain is the same "BAD BUSINESS MAN" archetype I've seen so many times. He aught to be friends with the guy from Avatar.

 

 

The more I think about it, the worse it seems. I usually eat up everything that Cook/Price do, but this arc and the previous one is making me sad.

 

Final Review: 

10/10 zecora was in it

[FlutterDash4072 189]

Yeah, this arc was really bad. Bad villain, bad message, poor usage of the main characters, and the deer were just awful. Nothing about how Twilight acted has made sense for the past two arcs, it feels like Cook is trying to put ridiculous limits on Twilight's powers that just don't make any sense. If Cook and Price want to get their groove back, they need to stop focusing on OC's and start paying more attention to how the mane six are characterized in the show.

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Frankly I skipped this issue.  just gah envimrental message, and mane 6 complete dumbass's and the 'protect the land" bull. even though the ponies work togther to run the dam seasons for faust sake!

[Castle Bleck 19,361]

Blackthorn and Vorak (Tirek's dad) are the most competent rulers introduced in the comics so far.

 

P.S.: Why didn't Twilight just arrest Well-To-Do for assaulting a Princess (He physically threw her out several times, remember?) or something?

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Blackthorn and Vorak (Tirek's dad) are the most competent rulers introduced in the comics so far.

 

P.S.: Why didn't Twilight just arrest Well-To-Do for assaulting a Princess (He physically threw her out several times, remember?) or something?

 

As much as I did enjoy the arc this was a problem. I don't mind the environmental message, but the way Well-To-Do and the deer were handled were far from perfect.

 

Still....#KingBlackthorn2016