Tag Archives: Cutie Mark Crusaders

My Little Pony: Spirit of the Forest Review

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It’s sure been a while since I read my last My Little Pony adventure so it’s good to be back in the mix. This is a fairly low stakes adventure starring the Cutie Mark Crusaders but it hit all the right beats that made the series big in the first place. It has good writing with likable characters and a satisfying conclusion to the adventure. The issues go by very quickly and you’ll have a good time reading the stories so you really can’t go wrong here. Just like the trio would low key have some of the more enjoyable adventures in the show, that ends up being the case here as well.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are having a good time as usual when they notice that there has been a big increase in the amount of junk, trash, and litter that has accumulated in the forest. They start cleaning it up but every day it appears again so they have a stake out. Well, it turns out that this is all caused by Filthy Rich’s workers as they are doing a big project in the forest which is cutting down a ton of trees. The trio try talking him out of it but Filthy Rich explains that his hands are tied because he needs money and the Ponies need goods so it all works out. Even the Mane 6 say they are powerless against the world of big business so the Cutie Mark Crusaders have an idea. They will create a ghost Scooby Doo style and scare everyone off of the property. If they can succeed then the forest will be saved. The means may be less than legal but these are desperate times.

If you really think about it, the trio are basically playing the role of your average Scooby Doo villain which is a nice change of pace. I’ll give them props for trying to change things the legal way first but they just couldn’t make a strong enough case to make that work out. It doesn’t help that even popular opinion is against them as people like the forest but they prefer having their furniture and other perks of the trees being cut down. Even the Mane 6 felt a little halfhearted with their assistance.

You can’t say that the CMC don’t try hard here. Ultimately they are able to get pretty far in their tricks and only run into trouble when the Mane 6 get involved. So this was another part I enjoyed a lot because it’s like we got to see an episode from a different POV. Off screen Filthy Rich asked them for help in stopping the monster and of course they said yes. It makes sense that they would help and as good as the CMC are, the Mane 6 are naturally more experienced. Their winning the fight made complete sense and it was a satisfying conclusion.

Another check in the comic’s favor is that the problem was rather nuanced without making Filthy Rich extremely evil as the average cartoon would do it. For example, he is certainly the antagonist but he’s not laughing as he breaks down trees or acts disrespectful to the ponies the whole time. No, he treats them as mature ponies and explains his position. It’s not even an awful position because he explains that he did get permission from the village, signed the right papers, and got to work on giving everyone what they wanted. Yes, the Forest would be removed but he didn’t just start chopping, he had a complete plan first which everyone signed off on. He didn’t cut any corners or break the rules in any way.

In fact when the heroes mentioned the litter to him, he had it solved that very day. He went up to the workers and told them to stop which worked. I enjoyed Filthy Rich here as a result. He just seemed way more reasonable than your average rich villain would be in this circumstance. That only becomes even more true in the climax when more characters including his daughter Diamond Tiara talk to him. Ultimately he sacrifices a little wealth in order to make everyone happy and that was a big move on his part. Definitely a fun character to have around.

Diamond Tiara also looked good here. She has come a long way from being the bully like back in the old seasons where she would just show up to mess with the heroes. Now she is actually helping out and trying to make a difference in her community. Bravo to her I say, that’s definitely not easy. I would even say she ended up outshining the main trio here. It may be a bold take but she was able to make a difference without skulking in the night or using any dirty tricks. Of course she has a connection that the main 3 did not since she is related to Filthy Rich but she merely used all of the tools at her disposal in order to save the day. That’s all you can do at the end of the day righgt?

The main trio were fun as always though. They’re always very lively and have a lot of great plans. The plans may not always work out but they don’t give up and that’s the most important thing. Hopefully they get some more adventures in the future as well and having another battle with the Mane 6 could definitely be fun as well. The Mane 6 may have won this time but who’s to say it would go the same way in the next round?

The art here is really solid and colorful which also makes blasting through the comic easy. It’s easy to see what is happening at all times and the character models are on point. On a technical level there is definitely no issues with the comic and I already mentioned how good the writing is. It’s a story aimed younger but written so that grown ups can enjoy it as well with how rational everyone is and it really works out well.

Overall, I would recommend checking this comic out. It’s a lot of fun and has something for everyone. If you want a fun adventure with good characters then you have come to the right place. It sets a high bar for the rest of the My Little Pony comics that’s for sure. I’ll have a review for another one up fairly soon but I can unfortunately say that it doesn’t quite match up to this one. The bar really was set too high this time and that’s just the risk of being super solid.

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Volume 17 Review

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It’s time to look at another MLP volume. This one surprisingly has a large story arc with only one stand alone adventure contained within. As a result I’d definitely say that this is one of the strongest MLP comics I’ve read in a while. The new villain is pretty epic and it’s nice to have some real action scenes in here. The only missed opportunity is that Starlight Glimmer didn’t show up even though she was mentioned a few times. Now that’s just a tease.

The first issue is about Zephyr being a little nervous about his mane styling skills. He goes to a whole event for it, but he just can’t find the confidence to get up on the stage. Fluttershy has to remind him that it’s always tough going up in a crowd, but you’ve got to do it if you really want to improve. Eventually he gets the memo and goes through with it. It’s a nice enough comic, but Zephyr was never one of the better characters. I also think adding in another pony who seems brave but actually gets terrified was a little cheesy. I get why she was included as it helps with the moral, but I would have been okay with Zephyr being the only one who was nervous and he learns that sometimes you just have to face your fears straight up.

The real story is about Cosmos though. A long time ago there was a being named Cosmos who was incredibly powerful. Together with Discord she nearly brought the planet to its knees. Unfortunately for her Discord was not quite on board with her violent tendencies. He likes causing chaos and at times that will hurt ponies, but Discord doesn’t like destroying them outright. As a result he betrayed her to Celestia and Luna who sealed her into a bunch of rocks. Discord hid the one that he found and then allowed himself to be turned to stone since he felt guilty. Well, thousands of years have passed and Cosmos has returned. She is currently possessing the body of Twilight Sparkle and commands Ponyville to find the rest of the crystal shards. Can Discord stop her plan before it’s too late?

This is the kind of story that would have really worked out quite nicely as an MLP special or even as a movie. Cosmos is a villain so powerful that all of the original pony powerhouses had to team up to stop her. That just makes for a great threat and her design is also quite fierce. She reminds me a bit of Tirek from when he first showed up before getting nerfed in the final season. Unlike the other villains she isn’t coming close to being redeemed either. All she wants is to absolutely crush the heroes beneath her heel. She will not be granting them any mercy and that’s really what you want to see in a villain.

This story also has quite a few parts so there is plenty of time to introduce all of the characters and get them set on their side quests. Some characters like Pinkie Pie can’t stay serious long enough to actually contribute but for the rest of the characters it’s just really great to see them up and about. Some characters like Zecora are suitably cautious while others like Rainbow Dash just run in without thinking. They all bring something to the table and this is just a great arc. The fights hold up and there is little to say against it.

I guess as a slight iffy moment Big Mac loses in the most embarrassing way possible. I’ve never liked the character anyway, but this really doesn’t help his case. Meanwhile Twilight doesn’t look her best here since she can’t break the hypnosis, but once she’s freed she looks reasonable. The comics just show that Cosmos is far too powerful to be stopped by the average pony. Discord is still as powerful as ever, but as always he loses to the new threat. With his reality warping abilities I feel like he should be able to defeat just about anyone, but I suppose in his defense he does have a history with Cosmos so that causes him to hesitate a bit. The real question is whether or not he would be able to claim victory if they were both going all out. I like to think Cosmos would win, but in theory it’s hard to see why Discord wouldn’t.

Of course the comic couldn’t resist taking one shot at Celestia. We find out that she tossed one of Applejack’s gifts into her forgotten lair with all other kinds of dangerous objects and junk. That implies she was making fun of the object by either calling it super dangerous or saying she didn’t like it. Applejack took this pretty hard and I can see why. If you don’t like a gift then you at least need to hide it really well. Putting it in a spot where it is seen as “bad” just makes the issue worse, but it’s the kind of power play you’d expect to see from Celestia.

The artwork is definitely fun here. It’s very expressive so you can see the looks of shock and horror on the ponies as they deal with a threat that seems to get worse and worse by the minute. It’s easy to read through and you can still get a good feel of the scope. Some of the imagery here almost looks like something out of the 90’s X-Men adventures like the Inferno arc. Cosmos’ ability to turn things crazy makes for a lot of great visuals and the artists took full advantage of this.

Overall, This is definitely a volume I would recommend checking out. It’s the perfect volume to look at if you believe the My Little Pony is just about happy ponies having a lot of fun. This one shows that there is also that element of danger always around the corner and I’ll be interested to see how the comics intend to top this arc. In theory this is already around the power level ceiling of the series, but maybe next time we can get a serious villain group. The series hasn’t really done that yet and a group vs group fight would be a blast.

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony: Ponyville Mysteries Review

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It’s time to take a look at one of the My Little Pony spinoff comics. This one is about the Cutie Mark Crusaders so right away you know that it’s going to be pretty good. These guys have always done a tremendous job of holding their own stories and I don’t expect that would change here. I was right and these are quality adventures. The mystery angle is also really nice since it adds that extra element of tension into the mix. Lets take a look at the various stories here.

In the first story the Crusaders learn that someone is stealing supplies from a hospital. This is pretty big news since you wouldn’t expect that kind of behavior from anyone in Ponyville. The new nurse is also being blamed for this so the crew have to solve the mystery very quickly before things get out of hand. Fortunately they have connections with almost everyone in town so they get to work on finding out what is happening here. It’s a pretty good way to start off the volume. The hospital actually has a bit of a point with the nurse being partially responsible for the thefts though. After the fist few times you would expect her to keep a closer guard on the supplies. suppose it may not be entirely her job to be security as well as being a nurse but to keep your job it’s worth doing a little extra for a while.

These are mainly fun issues so don’t expect big villains or the like. Typically there are just a lot of misunderstandings going on, but that doesn’t take away from the fun factor here. The next story has a pony getting ready to break the bowling record, but the pins keep being stolen at night. As a result he isn’t getting any chances to practice and this could hurt his chances at smashing the record in the real game. The Crusaders are put on the case and suspect that it may be a rival team. After all they would stand to gain quite a lot from knocking out this team. When it comes to sports sabotage is definitely a big deal so if anyone is responsible for this they may end up being banned from the sort. The crusaders have to be extra careful not to catch the wrong person here.

This next comic likely had the highest stakes. That’s because a fire appears in the Ponyville retirement home. Whoever is responsible for this could have easily destroyed a few ponies even if that wasn’t the intention. Due to this it is unlikely that anyone will fess up for the crime so this is another job for the Crusaders. Naturally they have a hard time believing that any of the nice elders of the village would do such a thing, but the evidence is pointing that way. They have to put aside their feelings for this one and just dive in. While my favorite issue is the second one, this story definitely continued the comic’s solid level of quality.

Following that up is an issue where the spa water in Equestria is being drained away. This isn’t good for the ponies who all look forward to a quick spa visit so the Crusaders try to figure out what is going on. They follow some pipes over to the Apple farms and Apple Bloom is saddened to learn that her own family may be stealing the water. She decides not to question them though and the group run around town trying to figure out what is going on. Have the apple family finally become criminals or is it possible that someone is framing them? This is a fun issue, but definitely one where things would have been solved quite easily if the ponies had either confided in the Mane 6 or just followed the pipe to the end. They sort of just stopped at the tree rather than making sure that the pipe actually stopped. They didn’t see any water so why would they assume that it just ended abruptly on the farm? Once a certain villain shows up then you’ll quickly realize what just happened.

Finally we come to an issue where Rarity is forced to ask the group for help. Songbird Serenade is coming to Ponyville in 2 days and she wants a lot of outfits to be ready. Rarity was also looking after her priceless artifact, but took her eyes off of it and so naturally someone stole it. The crusaders need to figure out who would do such a thing and put a stop to it right away. There are a lot of people who have openly stated that they would like the artifact, but sometimes the true crook isn’t the one that you initially suspect. This was a pretty fun story and the heroes definitely cut it really close. A few more minutes and they likely wouldn’t have made it in time to stop the villain from making a clean getaway.

As expected the artwork is pretty good here. It actually beats the main series as it just feels more consistent. I won’t say that it’s absolutely top notch but it gets the job done and the character designs are on point. You’ll always know what’s going on and it makes for an enjoyable read. The writing is on point here and none of the stories were weak. They all had their charm and an interesting story to back them up. Ultimately what else could you ask for?

Overall, Ponyville Mysteries was fun. It’s a shame that it never got another volume, but I suppose at the time the series was trying to have a lot of mini titles as opposed to multiple ongoing stories. That’s fine, it’s a legitimate strategy so long as the others one shots are solid as well. If you haven’t checked this comic out yet then you definitely should. Whether you are a fan of MLP or not, this is just a fun comic to read. It’s good entertainment to sit and read on a weekend. It’s long enough to tell complete stories while still being short enough where you can down it in one shot. I’ve rented a few more MLP comics so you can expect more reviews on the way!

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony Pony Tales Volume 2 Review

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Whenever someone asks if I’m a true My Little Pony fan or just a casual I imagine just showing off my big figure collection to answer the question for me. As I don’t own any figures though, I settle for just calling myself a casual. Well, while that may be the case I can say that this is a pretty solid comic. It’s fairly short compared to most trade paperbacks so you’ll have it done very quickly but it’ll still make for a pretty fun experience. The collection has solid writing and good pacing to back it up as well.

The first story is about the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They have grown bored of Ponyville since nothing ever happens there. They are ready for bigger and better things so they explore the wild and find a rock version of a changeling. It can turn into anything that isn’t alive. The problem is that the Crusaders want it to turn into a bunch of things which keeps tiring it out. If they keep it up at this pace, the poor creature won’t last too much longer. Can they learn to share and care?

Admittedly this story is a little cheesy since you would think that the Cutie Mark Crusaders have already learned this lesson. In fact I am quite positive that they already have so why are they out of character here? It’s a bit of a stretch, but at least they see the error of their ways pretty fast. It’s an enjoyable story that may not be all that memorable, but it’s still pretty solid I would say. It gets the job done.

Then we have the Celestia adventure where she finds out that Ponyville is once again picking on a defenseless pony. One of the oldest teachers in Equestria is being pressured into retiring because the ponies just don’t like her teaching style anymore. They’re all just really inconsiderate ponies who aren’t nearly as grateful as they should be. It’s quite unfortunate but Celestia decides to prove to the town that the teacher used to be really good so they should keep her. The other teachers aren’t thrilled about this, but agree. (Also, they can’t really disagree with the Princess now can they?)

I never really liked the peasants of Ponyville. Luna is always rather harsh on them and now I see that she may have a point. Without strict guidance they quickly become bullies and do their best to keep everyone else down. The teacher may have been a little too oblivious the whole time, but you’d think that they would be a little better at being like the Mane 6. I think Celestia needs to have a word with these ponies. They need to get in line with her teachings.

Next up was Spike’s adventure which is naturally the weakest one. For whatever reason his stories just don’t have the same pop that the others do. He decides to get a pet of his own which turns out to be a multiplying creature which threatens to embarrass him in front of Twilight Sparkle. He decides that he will teach the army how to be good citizens, but can he do it in time?

Naturally teaching a whole race of creatures how to be good in the span of 2 days is difficult, but fortunately these creatures were actually giving it their best shot. They seem like very reasonable little creatures which really helped Spike’s case. None of the ponies really get to do anything here so it’s a little sad that Spike is basically the only main character around. It’s a decent comic, but not the most interesting one.

Finally we end off with the best story of the batch. This one focuses on Luna as she decides to take on Luna’s duties for the day. She is determined to prove that she can handle anything. The problem is that Celestia’s duties are incredibly boring compared to hers. Luna spends her nights chasing off powerful monsters from the kingdom and getting into many spectacular battles. Celestia spends her days insulting everyone and making a lot of signatures. Luna just can’t bare to stay awake for all of this but she must!

Luna has always been one of the best MLP characters with her utter contempt for everyone. While she is a hero, she does a good job of keeping her princess stature as well. I’m always rooting for her in these stories even though she tends to lose every time. It’s pretty unfotunate but I guess the charm of her stories is that one day she will get the kingdom to accept her. I think she did a rather admirable job considering that it was her first time working in the morning. It’s definitely the most entertaining story as well.

The artwork is pretty good here. I don’t think it is quite up to the level of the main series, but it’s close. The characters look right and the action on screen is always clear. You know what is happening so it’s easy to read through the stories very quickly. There’s nothing bad to say here.

In general there isn’t anything bad to say about the comic at all. It’s just a nice batch of stories. You’ll enjoy spending 20 minutes reading through it and getting to see more of Equestria. This isn’t the comic collection you are looking for if you came for the fights, but if you just came to enjoy the interactions then this is the place for you. The pacing is tight and none of the stories are bad. At most, Spike’s was just a little boring, but it’s pretty short so there’s not much time for that feeling to sink in.

Overall, This was a fun volume. The idea of a comic that centers around the side characters is always a risky move, but the MLP series has a very big cast so I suppose that helps this out quite a bit. You’ll miss the Mane 6 for a little while, but you’ll adjust pretty quick. If you haven’t read this comic yet then I recommend checking it out. It’ll remind you of what a good fantasy series should be like.

Overall 7/10