My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Comics

Just read the most recent Friends Forever issue. Whoever wrote that must have been high on something because, wow, that was insane....

Equestria Girls Holidays special preview: Ponies confirmed to not to know Our Lord Jesus Christ. Or Pony Jesus Christ. No, Celestia doesn't count until they nail her to a cross.

Or she otherwise allows herself to be horribly tortured to death, somehow redeeming all the ponies' vices and faults and evils in the process. Such as they are.

Joke: so Jesus and Angra Manyu walk into a bar...

@Napoleon De Cheese:

Then what was Funeral Pony was reading from in "Hearts and Hooves Day"? A cookbook?

Just got done reading the holiday special. Ted Anderson and Tony Fleecs should be banned from working together on anything dealing with EQG. They've both done good issues in the main series, Micro, and Friends Forever, but it seems that when the work together for EQG, it turns out completely awful. First the 2013 annual and now this... Art is once again all over the place. Tony Fleecs really should just keep doing ponies and leave the humans to the other artists (Ben Bates did pretty good with his brief stint during 2014 annual and I've seen some of the other artists like Agnes do good art for other series with human characters). And the story...my god...I just can't. Basically, take away all the good parts from Ponyville Confidential (which I actually liked despite the Broken Base), chuck the Jerkass Ball at everyone but Sunset Shimmer, and destroy her self-esteem even further and you've basically got the holiday special.

Behold, a clip from the issue and my reaction to said issue all-in-one

edited 16th Dec '14 10:56:10 PM by AkoSiKuya23

So the synopsis for Issue 29 is out. Katie Cook is writing, but no Andy Price, this time with the guy who did the recent Rainbow Dash/Spitfire Friends Forever issue.

...This story arc should be entertaining to say the least.

edited 16th Dec '14 11:50:09 PM by Calnos

Actually, the cover says it's Anderson (most likely Ted). I'm assuming Katie Cook being the writer is a typo since all off the issues she writes always has Andy Price as the artist.

Is it nepotism when you're married?

Huh, you're right. I thought Katie was mixing it up for once, all the other writers have worked with different artists it seems.

Yes. Yes, romantic relationships absolutely fall under the category of nepotism. That's one reason why so many workplaces have rules against relationships between people at different levels.

Though in this case, it's not nepotism, it's two people who prefer to work together.

edited 16th Dec '14 11:54:01 PM by Tiamatty

I thought Anderson got canned after that brouhaha in September? Or did I just mishear?

That was just a rumour. He was investigated, but they decided not to fire him. Instead, a stern memo was sent to all their writers reminding them not to use third party OC designs.

How about not to go on forums for the fans and insult the people you expect to buy your stuff?

Marvel still gives jobs to Dan Slott, doesn't it?

I really don't get how some of the people trying to defend the Holiday Special (which I honestly liked a little better after a second read but is still horrible) are saying that there's no difference between this and Ponyville Confidential outside of POV. The CMC in Ponyville Confidential did it because it started out as light fun for the newspaper that grew out of proportion. The CMC did it in the holiday special because they were jealous of their sisters hanging out with their friends and to spite Sunset Shimmer.

What's that all about?

Handle: Anderson used an OC designed by someone he knows who isn't affiliated with his workplace. This is a contractual nono because of the potential copyright red tape. He and his coworkers were sternly reminded not to do that crap.

(sigh)For fucks sake IDW.

Apparently,the forum mod is deleting posts that criticize the recent issue.Real fucking mature guys.-_-

edited 17th Dec '14 1:09:01 PM by ScottPilgrim2013

It was more then just using some one else OC. It was the OC belonged to a raging misandristic Brony hater. And Ted tried to defend her ideas about how vile anything with a dick is.

I thought the new issue was pretty OK. I was entertained, at least.

So... Including himself?

edited 17th Dec '14 6:49:44 PM by Psyga315

After re-reading it, I'm realizing that the problem with the issue, which I've seen other people comment on, is that this happened to come after Rainbow Rocks. Everyone except Sunset Shimmer instantly clutches the Jerkass Ball at the drop of a hat regardless but if this has came after the first movie, a lot of this would've made a lot more sense. But because it does come after Rainbow Rocks (the back and forth book entries between Sunset and Twilight solidify it), it's really hard to ignore the humane five and the CMC becoming easily suspicious/angry at Sunset. CMC: Our sisters aren't spending the holidays with us? Let's embarrass them in front of the whole school and pin it on Sunset Shimmer. Humane Five: After all Sunset went through when the Dazzlings took over and tried to help us as much as she could, would she go back to her nasty ways and embarrass us in front of the school? Of course that no-good she-demon would!

edited 17th Dec '14 7:44:31 PM by AkoSiKuya23

Yeah, no, treating SS suspiciously goes against the whole theme of trust and forgiveness of Rainbow Rocks.

To Applejack's credit, at least she rebukes Apple Bloom rather strongly when she suggests that Sunset is Anon-a-Miss. The girls also ask Sunset if she lost her phone after the second incident, so they aren't exactly jumping right on her. On the other hand, when Sunset confirms that she's had her phone with her the whole time, they go straight for the throat. I think up until then, things were progressing fairly logically. After all, Rainbow Rocks even shows the CMC still being apprehensive of Sunset, as well as the fact that jealousy can often make people act awful in irrational ways without regard for consequence. I believe that they could have played this in a believable way, but that in order to do so, they needed to maintain that gradual creep in suspicion (with at least one incident for each of the rest of the girls' parties until the evidence became insurmountable) such that the issue probably would have need to be twice, if not thrice, as long.

That would be true if the CMC did not befriend Sunset during the credits of Rainbow Rocks. As for gradual creep, I think it still could have worked if the girls kept believing in Sunset but just like Rainbow Rocks, their suspicions plus the teasing from the school (perhaps through a two-page montage like they did with the humane five suffering from the teasing) eventually led to them to lash out at Sunset. It still would have made the CMC look like possessive Jerkasses but that would definitely feel far more natural than what happened here.

EDIT: Someone brought another point that this would've been better if it was one of Sunset's many victims trying to get back at her. Pretty much a He Who Fights Monsters scenario. Now it would make us question how that person got everything from her cellphone but you know what? We still have no idea how Sunset was able to pull off sending those messages to the humane five without leaving any traces so I'm sure most of us are willing to let that one slide.

edited 18th Dec '14 11:55:03 AM by AkoSiKuya23