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Pick a Flaw: The Micro-Series, Part 1 - Mane Six


Dark Qiviut

The flaw or weakness that stands out most?  

9 users have voted

  1. 1. Twilight Sparkle

    • Sloppy art style
      6
    • Twilight's characterization
      0
    • The conflict retreading The Crystal Empire (with lesser stakes)
      0
    • Humor solely based on pop culture and ponifications
      0
    • Predictable plot twist
      1
    • Overall pace
      1
    • Other (explain below)
      0
    • I haven't read the comic
      1
  2. 2. Rainbow Dash

    • Unrefined art style
      0
    • Sloppy dialogue
      2
    • Blatant pandering of the core brony fandom
      0
    • Dated, clumsy humor
      1
    • Contrived conflict
      2
    • Bland antagonists
      1
    • Out-of-characterization of Rainbow Dash
      0
    • Other (explain below)
      2
    • I haven't read the comic
      1
  3. 3. Rarity

    • Overall pace
      0
    • Filthy Rich passively becoming an antagonist
      2
    • Flax Seed's "high" spells off and on
      1
    • Spike's behavior in the mini-story
      3
    • Pinkie & Dash peaking into the stallions' dressing room
      1
    • Other (explain below)
      1
    • I haven't read the comic
      1
  4. 4. Fluttershy

    • The conflict ripping off Suited for Success and every pre-S3 Fluttershy episode
      2
    • Unrefined art style
      0
    • Poor layout design
      0
    • Disregard of continuity
      0
    • Caustic critic (Praiser Pan) being a straw character
      0
    • Padding of the conflict
      1
    • The art gallery scene altogether
      0
    • Celestia acting as a Deus Ex Machina
      1
    • The broken moral
      4
    • Other (explain below)
      0
    • I haven't read the comic
      1
  5. 5. Pinkie Pie

    • Quantity and/or quality of the comedy
      1
    • Overall pacing
      2
    • Quality of comic compositions
      2
    • References to current pop culture
      3
    • Quality of the art style
      0
    • Other (explain below)
      0
    • I haven't read the comic
      1
  6. 6. Applejack

    • Conflict ripping off Applebuck Season
      2
    • Applejack's characterization
      1
    • The "Sass Squash" pun
      0
    • Execution of the moral
      1
    • Predictable plot twist
      2
    • The song
      2
    • Other (explain below)
      0
    • I haven't read the comic
      1


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(edited)

Note: For the collection of other "Pick a Flaw" episode threads, head over to the "Pick a Flaw" blog portal (which'll be updated periodically) or check the list at the bottom of the OP.

 

If you want to "pick a flaw" for the last four Micro comics (and also the Micro-Series altogether), head over to Part 2 here.

 


 

The "Pick a Flaw" series has had great expansion through seasons one, two, and four, the latest being the Rainbow Falls thread. Now it's time to head to another professional medium: The Micro-Series. This spinoff is often met with mixed fanfare. You have comics like Rarity's, Luna's, Pinkie Pie's, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders's received very well, while others are met with venomous scorn like Applejack's, Rainbow Dash's, and Fluttershy's. Because there are ten Micro comics altogether, and I plan on creating eleven polls, these thread will be split into two: part 1 for the Mane Six, part 2 for the others (along with a "Pick a Flaw" option for the Micro-Series in general).

 

For those who know about these threads, you know how they work. But to those coming to one of these threads for the first time, pick ONE of the possible flaws above and explain why it bothers you the most. If it's not any of the options above, if you can't choose just one, or if you find (nearly) every flaw above equally bothersome, click "other" and explain why. Also, since filling out the poll altogether is mandatory, each has an "I haven't read the comic" option available at the bottom to those who haven't read at least one of the six issues.

 

If you haven't read them, here are links to the first six Micro comics:

  1. Twilight Sparkle
  2. Rainbow Dash
  3. Rarity
  4. Fluttershy
  5. Pinkie Pie
  6. Applejack

Two things to know and remember:

  1. "Other" does NOT stand for "this comic is (mostly) flawless."
  2. These threads don't mean this person dislikes the story.


 

IDW's Micro-Series doesn't have a fantastic record, and that's evident by the bronies who are very selective of them. This includes me. Of the ten issues, at least four are genuinely awful: Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Spike's Micro is at most decent, but nowhere near the awful levels of Owl's Well, Dragon Quest, Spike at Your Service, and Equestria Games; but that's another thread.

 

So, the flaws that stick out for the first six? Personally, they're easy.

 

Twilight: The art style is horrendous! In trying to copy the style from the animation, there are numerous problems with the anatomy, coloring, lining, and composition. Even if you fix the other issues, the art is so unrefined, your reader will likely want to call IDW and demand a refund.

 

Rainbow Dash: The dialogue is easily the worst in the series. It make Rainbow Dash out of character by that alone. It's very clumsy in structure and humor. When reading it, the lines are absolutely painful and corny, nowhere near the intelligence offered in plenty of the episodes that aired. Hell, even the Twilight issue doesn't reduce the dialogue to such idiocy.

 

Rarity: Two words: Flax Seed. After getting accustomed to him initially, his gag overstayed its welcome; instead of being inherently funny, it was annoying and reduced him to a caricature.

 

Fluttershy: I could choose the whole art gallery scene because without it, Fluttershy's Micro issue would've been merely below-average. But the elements in it really dropped the comic to the worst overall, especially one component that made me not want to read any of the writer's issues again: the moral of ignoring all kinds of criticism. If Fluttershy's knitting sculpture was poorly crafted, the plot would fall apart, and she would never get better. Critiquing is an art in itself, and telling people to ignore ALL criticism offends the art of expressing yourself in both writing and craft.

 

Pinkie Pie: This one's a little more difficult. For one, it's my most favorite comic beside the CMC. Two, it's the most refined comic of the first six. So for here, I chose the quality of the compositions. In the Western world, most people read from left to right, top to bottom. Sometimes, the pages make you want to start at other areas of the page, making you lose your place in the story at times.

 

Applejack: I could choose how this story rips off Applebuck Season, but that's being too kind. The "song" is awkwardly written and does nothing but rush the plot and waste page space.

 


 

Season 1:

Season 2:

Season 4:

Other:

  1. The Micro-Series, Part 1 - Mane Six
  2. The Micro-Series, Part 2 - The Other Cast & Overall Series
Edited by Dark Qiviut
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(edited)

I know I said I was gonna start avoiding these, but I came to say 1 thing: The RD Micro can go fuck off, as a RD fan I found it absolutely insulting. By comparison, Mare Do Well is a fucking masterpiece

 

I feel sorry for anyone who paid money for it(and hopefully the FF#6 with Trixie is actually slightly decent)

 

 

 

 Pinkie & Dash peaking into the stallions' dressing room

 

 

 

How is that A flaw? That sounds freaking hilarious!

 

 

Edited by Megas75
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Try as I might, I found the artwork in Twi's issue very distracting.

 

Most of the things listed about Dash's issue bugged me, not to mention that fact that she's actually a Wonderbolt in a story that takes place before even Season 3 in an official comic, but that it was contrived solely for the introduction for the conflict and her subsequent rescue at the beginning, her horrible, horrible dialogue, and Applejack was a HUGE jerk with her 'joke' towards the end making light of Dash losing her sole reason for living (glad to see she wasn't the one to talk to Scootaloo in 'Flight to the Finish').

 

Fluttershy having the dealing with the same problem as the majority of her episodes (sorry, but it's not like I let Dashie off the hook with her episodes, either.)

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  • 1 month later...

The only of the micro-series comic that I absolutely did NOT like was the Rainbow Dash issue. Everything just felt off, like a mess in truth.

 

The rest I generally enjoyed, though there were some issues here and there. I definitely found that antagonistic Fancy Pants was jarring, and the Applejack issue was...mediocre.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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