spoiler FIENDship is Magic #4 - Nightmare Moon

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,159]

With week #4 comes issue #4 of FIENDship is Magic; this time we have a glimpse of Nightmare Moon's time on the moon.

 

 

So, what are your thoughts on this entry?

[Nuke87654 1,849]

It has the same issue with the Tirek one that while it had an interesting premise, it needed more to make the issue more fulfilling. Other than that, it felt incomplete from what I've seen so far.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

it just read the newest one and; well, it kind of just seemed jumbled.

So, they don't really explain that Luna can turn others into shadow beings, she just does (i'll assume it just meant to be expected as "she's possessed by the nightmare force! she can do that!). Alright, that makes the entire first half seem very pointless (Why the heck do you befriend somebody to trick them into teaching you if you can just mind rape them into being your slave?).

Next up, the whole "Dear friend" bit. I guess that is supposed to mean that Dorian had contacted Celestia during the fight or something? because with the braids after the fight I kind of figure that's what meant. But it really doesn't make any sense, since there's no break during the fight, and we're supposed to assume that Celestia and Dorian are old friends?


next up: Celestia talking to Nightmare moon/luna like she's a completely, 100% solely different entity that is not luna in any way shape or form. Nope, Nope nope nope. Sorry there, going home here.

I know I probably sound pretty whiny here, but that's a deal breaker. When you change Nightmare moon from being Luna being corrupted by her evil to just another being entirely (Like how Celestia was talking), you've kind of crossed the line for me.

I know I've always said I've been kind of OK with the nightmare force for Luna, but I assumed that luna still was, well, luna during her nightmare moon phase: given her dialogue when she first met the nyx (Talking about the ponies not appreciating night) and her dialogue in both S1 and S3, it just doesn't make sense to have her be just 100% this other entity holding Luna prisoner.

The thing that's made nightmare moon an intriguing villain was that she WAS luna, and the aspect of her villainy coming from her jealousy and sadness at being unnapreciated. If you take that away and make it just an evil force holding Luna captive inside herself... well, you just ruined the best part of her, yeah?



Bleh, not good. Not good at all
Its not horrible, but Its below the tirek one, as hard as that is to say. 4.5/10 or 4/10. It has a GOOD idea going for it, and just fails to deliver.


I'm really starting to suspect that making these all 1 issue long things was a bit of a mistake. This one could have done with being a two parter, as could the Tirek one. They feel rushed, and this one even outright says "its not finished" with its teaser ending.

[FlutterDash4072 189]

Well, this ended up being one hell of a mess. Plotholes everywhere, continuity problems everywhere, unanswered questions everywhere. I don't see any real logic here at all. I thought that the writer of the Nightmarity arc would be able to give us a great NMM story, but I was wrong.

 

I don't know, maybe by some miracle Cook and Price manage to come out of their slump and deliver a good issue again and Fiendship can end on a good note. Otherwise it'll go down as a depressing waste of potential.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Sigh... reading this again, I honestly think this one could have been made decent if they did it better. that's what's so annoying about these issues here: There IS real potential, and I can see alot of good intent behind them (Except the sirens one which is a giant "WTF MATE?" mess), and the Tirek comic and the NMM could have been much better.

 

If they took their time and set things up better, they could have drastically improved this plotline. Have this be multiple comics (or even just 2) to set things up a little more well paced, and improve the atmosphere. For example, when Luna turns on Dorian and all the nightmarified Nyx come in, it comes off very much out of left field and without explanation: she just did it, don't question it, or the fact that she can change them into shadow beings. Instead, show maybe one or more of the Nyx discover her dabbling in dream magic or plotting, and attempt to warn the other nyx. Then have her corner or trap that Nyx and have her gloat/monologue to the Nyx that her magic can make them see things her way, or something like that, and depict her corrupting it into one of the nightmare force nyx. Have a few scenes showing that she's slowly corrupting the Nyx when they're alone and away from the others one by one when she's not with Dorian, and you both make her seem alot creepier/evil and  you also make that scene where she turns on Dorian seem much better established.


Next up, they really needed to extend out her attempts to inflict nightmares upon equestria and Celestia's attempts to stop it; its a great idea, but it really just seems rushed in execution. Plus, when they finally get to Luna and Celestia's Confrontation, they needed to completely rehaul that dialogue. Luna and Celestia confronting each other is good in premise, but it was bad in execution.




Bleh. Its actually WORSE when a story COULD have been great but was mediocre than when a story is just bad from start to finish with no potential: At least with the one without potential you can write it off as just garbage, with one like this with alot of potential you feel bad because they wasted alot of good chances.

[Argumedies 1,748]

No,NO,NO!!!

 

This issue was just wrong on so many levels. It's like they wern't even trying.

 

This issue was so horrible, even BAD FANFICTION's have been written better this. Come on IDW, quit waisting my money

Edited April 24, 2015 by Argumedies

[Castle Bleck 19,285]

NMM was supposed to be a split personality, not an outright possessor.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,159]

NMM was supposed to be a split personality, not an outright possessor.

 

Is that really so though? I mean from what we've seen of her in the show NMM looked to be in full control; I didn't see much remorse to indicate Luna had any say in her actions.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Is that really so though? I mean from what we've seen of her in the show NMM looked to be in full control; I didn't see much remorse to indicate Luna had any say in her actions.

 

yes but dialgoue of NMM's indicates that she still thinks of herself as "Luna", such as when she addresses the ponies in the Pilot her words indicated that she had previously been their ruler and still thought of herself as the rightful ruler (rather than just an entity possessing luna), and at the end Celestia and Luna only made up truly when Celestia asked her to put the past behind her and said they were meant to rule together.

 

If Luna was just being Possessed by another entity, asking Luna to make up with her is pointless as simply "destroying" the NMM persona should have been all that was needed for luna to be back to being peachy keen.

 

 

 

NMM was supposed to be a split personality, not an outright possessor.

 

And agreed so much.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

It's really beginning to seem like IDW thought this mini-series would sell and be positively received solely based on novelty.

 

A series centered around the origins of the shows villains? Who wouldn't want to read that?

 

It all comes down to execution, though-which seems to be pretty lacking in every issue released so far except for King Sombra's (ironically, enough.)

 

Most of these are far too short (Tirek) and actually raise more questions than they answer-given this issue and the Siren issue, I'm not even entirely sure half of these writers even understand the lore they've been hired to write for.

 

The biggest letdown for this one was the fact that they could have showed the build up to Luna slowly becoming more distant from Celestia leading up to her becoming Nightmare Moon.

 

She was also imprisoned IN the moon, not on it-that's why there was an impression of her on the face of it for a thousand years and earning the title of the legend; "The Mare in the Moon".

 

I also thought Nightmare Moon was still Luna, just her corrupted by her emotions like Sunset Shimmer in her demon form.

 

Also, according to "Testing, Testing...1,2,3" weren't the Wonderbolts formed after her banishment?