Talk:Friendship is Magic Issue 29/@comment-370525-20150401034400

Can't disagree with Grovyle very loudly. This is a distinctly subpar issue.

To start with, I have the same problem with Fosgitt's art style that I always have. G4's character designs managed to make the ponies' weird proportions look cute. Turning their heads into these thin-necked balloons throws that off and leaves them looking a little grotesque, like something out of Ed, Edd n Eddy.

I couldn't care less about Ted Anderson's politics, and he was responsible for one of my favorite scripts from the entire comics run -- the Pinkie issue of the micro-series -- but his writing often seems to target a very young audience exclusively, where most of the IDW authors manage to appeal to a broader "all ages" demographic. The setup here is terrible -- the M6 happen to get free tickets to the same show where Cheerilee decides to reconnect with her sister? In Manehattan? Why couldn't this have happened in or near Ponyville, where it would be logical for all seven Ponyvillians to decide to attend on the same night? Rarity goes on to impose the Mane Six on Cheerilee's private, emotionally-charged reunion with her sister, which feels weird from the get-go. She goes on to declare that "awkward social situations always go easier with friends" as if Cheerilee were one of the Mane Six herself rather than a passing acquaintance from town. I'm not saying the M6 can't have friends outside of their group, but this is a relationship we have literally never seen even a hint of. I have to agree that this smells like a Friends Forever pitch that didn't work out; Rarity mediating between the sisters by herself would seem far less obnoxious than turning their meeting into a semipublic spectacle.

The rest of the issue proceeds in fairly predictable style. I can't quite figure out whether this is supposed to be pro wrestling or Olympic wrestling, given that they train her in fake throws and Iron Hock is clearly a Heel to Mystery Mare's Face, but then Cherry and Iron Hock both seem to imply that there is no predetermined outcome. Maybe Anderson didn't want to confuse young readers with the difference, but it seems kind of important when you consider whether Cheerilee won because conviction and determination can somehow substitute for skill, or because Iron Hock took a scripted dive.

The tag-team match at the end was particularly bizarre. Nobody thought this would be important to mention to Cheerilee? It seemed like nothing but an excuse to shoehorn Rarity into the climax, and then it got resolved in a single-panel cut. Was Twilight offscreen pushing a bag of bits into the announcer's hooves, or what?

"Unexciting" is a good word for this issue. The writing is, quite simply, bad. I get the sense that Ted Anderson's thought process was, "This is just for kids anyway, they won't know the difference, so why put any effort into it?" As if the youth of the target audience excuses poor writing. MLP:FiM has shown over and over that a children's show can still be challenging and heartfelt, and this issue disappoints that legacy.