Tag Archives: Art Book

My Little Pony The Art of Equestria Review

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My Little Pony is a franchise that I was mostly unaware of back in the day. Sure, I’d heard of the name in the past, but I had no real opinions on it. That all changed when Friendship is Magic came out and I finally got to see some clips of the show and read some of the comics. The theme song still isn’t great, but it is very memorable, which is always a good thing I suppose. This art book does a good job of discussing the characters and the paths not taken. Even hardcore MLP fans will learn some new things after reading this title!

There are a few different sections in this book as it tries to cover as many My Little Pony topics as possible. First, we have a long interview with one of the main creators behind the latest iteration as she discussed her reasons for getting involved and how she gets her inspiration. It’s a good interview, but I would have liked to have seen some more of the dynamics of things that she wanted in the show, but Hasbro objected too. The strife and the epic tensions would have made for a nice chapter.

Next up, we got to see the characters as they evolved from the previous shows. Their personalities and designs are discussed and shown. An interesting section was Twilight Sparkle’s as she was originally going to have gray hair and then almost had it with blue streaks instead of red/pinkish. It’s a tough call for me to decide which form is the best as all three options sound pretty good. I’m thinking that gray hair would have made Twilight Sparkle seem a little more powerful, but it wouldn’t affect all that much.

The book also spends a decent amount of time showing off the various locations in My Little Pony world. I liked the futuristic city that they visited in the superhero episode and Manehattan is always a classic location. There have certainly been quite a few epic bases as well and we’ll never forget the times where Ponyville was destroyed or conquered. The show definitely had some darker/intense moments back in the day, but I have to wonder if we’ll ever see epic moments like those again in the show. The time for those may be past at this point.

Side characters and villains were also explored. Tirek was actually deemed to be a little too scary so his design was altered a little. Ironically, the alterations actually made him look cooler so that ended up being a plus for him. He still may not have been as threatening as his G1 incarnation, but this guy could now pack a punch! A lot of the side characters will probably stay as background ponies forever, but a few have made a name for themselves like Derpy so there’s always a chance for a nice comeback.

The end of the book also shows some pieces of fan art that were officially licensed by Hasbro and can now be counted as real pictures. That’s definitely considerate of the company and it shows that they care about their fans. Now they can make more money off of the additional resources while also allowing artists to have their moment of fame and glory. This book is decently long at over 200 pages, but since most of the pages are filled with artwork, it all finishes very quickly. I read the book cover to cover in one sitting since it was a pretty engaging read.

So long as the art is good, I tend to enjoy art books. They may not have a story behind them, but they are like guidebooks that are very illustrative. Another section even listed several episodes where the reader gets to see the storyboards behind them. Then you can appreciate the intricate details like how the facial expressions for each character helps to set the tone and the stage.

I haven’t even seen the show yet, but I’m confident that I know about as much as the average MLP fan thanks to all of these guidebooks and comics. The final page of the book even tries to point out that the show is loved by people of all ages and there’s nothing stopping you from becoming an MLP fan today. You’ve just gotta get past the negative social impact of admitting that you’re a fan of the show and then you’ll have made it in the world.

Overall, This is an artbook that I recommend to all MLP fans. Furthermore, if you haven’t gotten into the series yet, then this is a good way to quickly get caught up to speed. It’s not as detailed as the other guidebook that I read a while back and it’s not as fascinating as that one, but it makes for a good read. It’s a short read, but one that will still satisfy you provided that you didn’t buy it for a very high price. I look forward to seeing what other MLP products come out soon and until then, this’ll probably be my last MLP review for a long while. It’s been fun though!

Overall 7/10

Godzilla The Art of Destruction Review

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It’s time to review an art book that I got a while back. It’s fairly short, but I wanted to take my time with such a Legendary (Get it?) piece. It’s definitely very detailed and it’s always fun to see the behind the scenes action. There were quite a few ideas that were ultimately left out of the film and many of the Godzilla designs are fun to look at. I haven’t read many art books, but this is definitely one of the better ones.

Now, keep in mind that the book use the power of friendship angle quite a bit. The staff constantly talk about how each other was perfect for the role and how they’re the best at what they do. It can be a bit much when you hear someone say that for every film, but they probably feel obligated to say such things. Others are probably genuine about it though as you really get to see the actors become the characters and you really can’t think of anyone else doing a better job. Genuine or not, it can just get a little repetitive, but it’s hard to avoid such a thing here.

The more interesting parts of the book are when they discuss the landscape and the unused ideas. For example, they almost had Muto evolve into a new form, but they thought that it would be a little much. There was also going to be a dogfight between Muto and some of the Airplanes, but the EMP ability forced them to take this out. There are quite a few scenes that didn’t make the cut and it’s fun to hear about what the film could have been lie. Likewise, Godzilla went through quite a few design changes as the film went on. They played around with a possible fish design and there are also a panda faced one that was intriguing. Some of them definitely looked intense and I really liked the T Rex version. They felt that it looked like too much of a T Rex though so unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

To this day, I’m not crazy about Godzilla’s face in the film, but the rest of the design is pretty spot on. It’s also interesting to hear how much of a role CG-I plays in film making nowadays as they basically animated all of the scenes before they actually filmed them. In theory, that means that they could practically release a rough version of the film just using the CG. It wouldn’t have as many details and some of the human elements would be interesting, but it would be cool to see the CG-I go at it.

The book is about 165 pages, but you have to keep in mind that it is a lot shorter than it looks. All of the pages contain an image of some sort and many times this leaves little room for text. Sometimes you’ll have two pages in a row that are covered by a giant splash page. They always look pretty glorious, but this will speed up your completion of the book. If you were to just take the text, I’m confident that the size of the book would probably be cut in half or maybe even less than that. It’s possible that this would be condensed into around 40-50 pages. The book is divided into 3 parts, I forget the titles, but it goes chronologically.

First off it the pre production and then the book takes you through the complete process until Comic Con arrives and the book basically ends. One thing that is puzzling is the sudden end of the book. There is no after word or farewell to the readers until next time. There’s simply no closing statement of anytime and it just abruptly ends as the book is talking about the halo jump scene. It feels like the book must have been rushed out at the last minute or something like that. Ah well, it happens I suppose.

Overall, This art book is very informative and it makes for a good read. Making a film definitely sounds like a tough job and you’ve got to have a very strong support group if you want it to ultimately be a success. There will always be alternate roads that the film could have gone, but they felt like the right scenes were included. I disagree with the decision to have Godzilla’s first battle happen off screen, but I’ve always been a big action fan. I definitely recommend checking this out at some point if you really enjoyed the film or are a hardcore Godzilla fan. Even if you’re just interested about the film making process, this book will make for a fun read. Now, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the art book for the next Godzilla film!

Overall 7/10