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Description
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #100—Season 10 Episode 12
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • TBD (CVR B) • TBD (1:10 RI CVR)
In this landmark issue, Rainbow Dash and her companions Spitfire, Celaeno, Lyra, and Bon Bon find themselves in the Bird Kingdom, where old friendships are tested and a new, enigmatic enemy lurks in the shadows. Together, the ponies will unravel the mystery of the Knights of Harmony!
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • TBD (CVR B) • TBD (1:10 RI CVR)
In this landmark issue, Rainbow Dash and her companions Spitfire, Celaeno, Lyra, and Bon Bon find themselves in the Bird Kingdom, where old friendships are tested and a new, enigmatic enemy lurks in the shadows. Together, the ponies will unravel the mystery of the Knights of Harmony!
Don’t even start this up again
or it could be gusty the great.
I see.
That is what has been observed, and the pattern that has formed in the past is not promising. EQG never got a final, S8 / S9 is strongly affected by editor conflict with rewrites, the plans for MLP: Pony Life have been cut to just two seasons without a final and it is known through Pencils and others that IDW may have had problems. Financially, the comic book market is now very vulnerable, and Hasbro seemed to be too strongly oriented towards profit and renewal rather than going systematically on its work around the MLP. There are many indications from the past that the G5 should not have rivals or competitors, in order to attract as many customers as possible. Many had feared that the G4 comics would be stopped as soon as the G5 comes out. There was a tendency to “clean out” either to start again or to start anew, but this constantly came out for collisions with reality. Like when Hasbro will carry on the legacy of the G4 world into the new G5.
We thus do not know whether S10 will continue.
In addition, much of the market for Hasbro is strongly international, and there has been very significant effort in Russia and China rather than in the US, if possibly because interest in MLP is growing there. This is now being put at serious risk by the US Congress and Biden in response to Putin’s destabilization policy and China’s ambition to become America’s main competitor. Unfortunately, it seems that the politicians in Washington are not willing to play fair - and this is answered. Hasbro may have to reconsider how the G5 will turn out in the worst case.
These are turbulent times. Perhaps the content of the G5 movie is very typical of the time. But for the S10 comics, it is obvious that something needs to be done. The “Knights of Harmony” arc has overshadowed the purpose of the season which is for character development and world exploration. A new arc in the S10 after this may save the development, but the development elsewhere can disrupt all possible plans.
Not that I don’t believe what you wrote, but can I ask where you found this information?
The whole issue of the G5 is becoming a big mess, we should have had a teaser trailer, but it has not come, and the political relations between Russia and the US have deteriorated so much, at the same time as China and the US have come into conflict with each other, that Hasbro risks disaster in its work for the future MLP. It has turned out that the schedule around G5 has become very uncertain - why is there a whole year between the movie and the TV show? There will be a longer time between releases of products from Hasbro than usual, and on top of all this, it seems that the Hasbro has lost the overview and the ability to keep its current and future customers. For a child, one year is a very long time, so one will lose interest very quickly - for adults not so much long.
G5 may risk the same fate as PL in the worst case, Hasbro has now got the same “disease” as Boeing which today has very big difficulties at the moment. IDW may lose interest in G5 if the movie should be a failure or if the TV show does not come out - or be cut out after a short time. And it is possible that Hasbro will have “all the eggs in the same basket” by forcing away anything that could distract customers from the new G5. This is a recipe for how to lose everything. It is possible that G4 comics may disappear without notice as seen with MLP: PL S3 which was intended to provide a transition between G4 and G5.
I hope that’s the case. Would at least be slightly different than the Zecora and Capper arc. Still they are only five. So logic dictates that there is going to be at least one new bird character.
I should have expressed better, what differentiates Discord and Cosmos would be an example of what people can understand black humor.
Discord can enjoy misery if the irony behind misery is funny.
Cosmos only enjoys misery even when the joke is bad.
That and Discord seeing everyone as toys that stop being fun when they break, Cosmos likes to break toys.
@Background Pony #AE86
But if there is her troop, I don’t think Whitley is such a fool not to use the troop as the bird mane 6… I hope…
I wonder what the plot could be? Maybe Celaeno meets five old friends in the Burd kingdom and they go on an adventure together where they find a Tree of Harmony and get their very own set of Elements of Harmony.
That certainly would be an unexpected, never-seen-before storyline. XD
The S2 Discord had only one “good” feature in his character, which made Celestia take the chance to let Fluttershy reform him; that he wanted his victims alive so they could experience his chaos with all the consequences, but as we have seen with the treatment of the Mane 6 when these were brainwashed, did not care about the suffering that could lead to tragedies. But even though he could be as heartless as Cosmos when he ravaged wildly in Equestria and made himself probably the first king of this country while the royal sisters were still young - Cosmos was more powerful, and as it turned out, not interesting in anything but to use the relationship with him for her own gains.
Here we are at the heart of the problem of a very skilled writer who had left so much; he simply does not look back on either the comics or the show.
Yeah, Cosmos is pretty much the original IDW character that has been well received, the Chrisalys of IDW that many take into account for stories regarding Discord. The problem is that she never interacted with S2 Discord which despite possibly having a better relationship, may have friction with her due to her perspectives on fun over suffering.
It could work in 2 ways, the relationship between Discord and Cosmos there is no real victim but it is a relationship tragedy or Cosmos is a present relationship of Discord that works perfectly both as a reflection on Discord.
(PD: Cosmos isn’t a draconequus but everbody ignores it because well, nobody wants to live in a world where Princess Eris is the only female draconequus)
Cosmos, who was Discord’s girlfriend, who also abused him in the end, was well received. Discord lives in fear of her and treated Fluttershy gently, was also well received. A new draconequus that was undeniably fascinating in her magnificent horror, had been positively welcomed by readers. We learned a lot of new things. But Discord in the history of Cosmos was not Discord from the beginning. What Whitley had done was bring out the post-Tirek Discord from S5-S8, he was sympathetic, amiable and reformed in the eyes of many. But then came S8 ep14. Discord was anything but good during this episode which was the beginning of the downturn for a well-liked character. This peaked with “Grogar Twitch” in S9, which is understandably the biggest shock in the history of the show. Only in one place did the “good” Discord continue, and it is within the IDW where the comic crew had put a lot of work into showing him in a positive light. A little too much when it comes to Whitley. S2 Discord was not there with Cosmos - instead, S5 Discord was there, an anachronism in itself.
Whitley was too kind to Discord.
S2 Discord would not have accepted Cosmos’ indifference to other lives as he believes in the value of having living victims of his chaotic abuses, and would have saved foals from the orphanage, but he would have been more cynical and active with total ignorance of the suffering he creates among the ponies. Of course he wanted to escape from Cosmos and get the monarchs to stop her, but it was a big mistake to take the elements into the picture, the royal sisters in their capacity as alicorns are magical super creatures. The brainwashing of the monarchs was characteristic of S2 Discord who wanted to prevent them from learning about the draconequus, to remain unique in Equestria, and to steal the magical objects to spread them out, for self-defense. Whitley made a big mistake, S2 Discord did not care about the ponies’ acceptance, as their “king” is their complaints and wishes completely indifferent to him. And we know he may have known about the elements or not, but it was obvious that he did not understand their magic or what threat they are to him. It becomes too much of a white wash as “eradicated” S2 Discord from all existence. He is, after all, one of the worst villains from the first seasons of G4.
And this is probably the reason why Whitley chose to break completely with the S9, which after all had been anything but good for many, the disappointment over the revelation of Grogar as Discord was faster than the rainbow shock. Grogar’s performance and the Terrible Trio, and Sombra’s return, had aroused great hope and interest that “the final that will end all finals” will be epic. Discord came out worst of S8 / S9. The Hasbro writers, led by Haber, had forgotten that Discord is not invincible and could easily be put out of the game, among other things by making Grogar his “father”. As with the Terrible Trio during “frenenemies”, the S9 had a lot of potential that was abruptly cut down. The finale was epic - but a real downturn for Discord, “defiled” with several controversies. The last episode was characteristically the best in the whole of S9, when one looked twenty years into the future.
Other IDW writers would have worked around the controversies and problems created in S8 / S9, but unfortunately these were not included, when the negotiations for a continuation of the G4 comics as S10 were to be completed. Ian Flynn, the legendary Sonic writer, has good experience in reversing injuries created by older writers. He was behind the story of the Thracian ponies where Young 6 appeared in the IDW comics. It is possible that Whitley got the freedom because he refused to give in, despite having good credentials.
So far, Whitley has done well when he did not include the “Knights of Harmony” case in the S10 issues, although it was a huge mistake not to include African culture around Zecora and her homeland. He has produced interesting news about the wide world outside of Equestria that future fans and writers can build on. But it was a cardinal mistake to reveal the contents of the saga far too soon, and it was an even bigger mistake to reuse items from S1-S3. Now this error has magnified itself with a secret brotherhood or knighthood instead of a mysterious enemy from times gone by. It had become clear that he intended to create his own G4, and had been given the freedom to do so. An alternative universe based on the IDW lore rather than a sequel from S9 could become a reality.
Yeah, would be great if Discord gets a story that retcons Cosmos’ arc to fit it with S2 Discord and maybe connect all the past stories of Discord and another story where he confronts the consequences of S9 to finally redeem him.
But the “ignoring season 9” actually is the best option to the comics to avoid to discard several stories only for season 9 that even it seems that IDW really don’t like that season at all. Which if I expected, since in itself, season 10 started with #89 instead of a new #1 to ignore continuity with the comic.
No I freaking didn’t.
Again, nitpicking is poking at every single SMALL thing.
The situation with Luna and Celestia there isn’t freaking “small”. They really got screwed due to the whole retirement crap the writers thought it was a good idea to go through(especially for Luna’s case. She barely ruled compared to Celestia after Luna returned. That isn’t a “small” issue, that is a big problem for Luna’s character there.)
You just played yourself.
No, just no.
I am pointing out a freaking problem that isn’t “minor”.
Nitpicking is poking at every single SMALL thing.
The issues that happened for Luna and Celestia isn’t “small”.
Edited
That’s what a nitpicker would say.
Again, not nitpicking.
Its a serious issue for Luna and Celestia’s case right there.
There’s some damage from the Cosmos arc such as Luna and Celestia’s memories being altered like that.
I feel like Luna and Celestia are screwed even further due to the whole “knights of harmony” thing. The show essentially shown us the sisters are NOTHING due to they are not connected to the Elements anymore such as not being included in firing the final rainbow laser(despite their damn cutie marks were on the damn tree).
As for Spike, I really hope its not like “Psych! He’s not this 7th Elemment but rather taking Twilight’s place while she becomes this super special secret Element connecting all the groups since she’s the cHoSeN oNe!1!”.
They better not go that route.
Ironically season 9 can’t be ignored due to the big glaring thing with Twilight is now ruler and the sisters had retired. The whole retirement thing was a huge issue honestly, especially for Luna’s case since she barely got to rule and enjoy her destiny..
Edited
Something to ponder, it has become too Ken Penders-like for my liking now that it is clear that “Knights of Harmony” is an imitation of the mysterious “Brotherhood of Guardians” (BG) from the Archie comic Sonic / Knuckles that was been suspended and thrown in the scrap heap as a result of Ken Penders’ lawsuit. Moreover, it seems that Whitley had then tried to imitate “Green Lantern” `s concept of different ring bearers in groups, only distinguished by color such as green, yellow, red etc. By making the draconequus representatives of disharmony which thus had to be confronted with a brotherhood or a knighthood - he has also copied Penders, as BG was created to stop the Dark Legion.
Possibly Whitley will “replace” the knights of harmony of the older generation with a new one, with the six “Mane 6” groups, and thus in reality created his own lore in clear conflict with what has been the basis of the G4 lore . Like Penders, he will probably look deep into the past where Discord was just one of several pieces in a larger conflict between harmony and chaos, but then it meant that the whole world must have been gathered together thousands of years ago. From the canon we know about Grogar, “the emperor of all he sees”, and from the fanon the first crystal empire under “Empress” Megan. But he seems to be trying too hard, there are too many characters to put into a saga that is meant for multi issues from 2 to 4, or for 48 pages per episode - as there will be less room for the episodes over time.
This overshadowed two important ambitions, the further development of older characters as with Pinkie / Chessie which is a success, in new and changing circumstances when one either explored the world or got used to the new life with Twilight as the reigning princess - and world building. So far we have only seen small pieces, seen far too little new, and mostly only have names of locations to continue on! We would like to see a sequel from S9, and repair work on bad plots from there, such as Cozy Glow’s mysterious background, the fate of the terrible trio, the internal conditions in Equestria itself as with the very interesting Thracian ponies - and character repair on Discord that was pulled through the mud and S8 / S9! Discord had to take responsibility for his actions, and return to what he had been and liked by the fans.
Many had hoped that “Cosmos” Arc would either be eradicated or made up for something better in S10, but Whitley had chosen to continue by ignoring S9 completely and kept with the clear exception of the coronation of Twilight.
“Cosmos” Arc would have slipped right into the G4 lore with few problems, if Whitley had wanted to respect the background created by the show. He does not want to, and the Cosmos Arc, which was very interesting and not a little fascinating with Andyprice’s efforts, ended up creating controversy. Only once during the entire S10 were events in S9 commented on as when Tempest Shadow asked Discord about his actions from S9 in the first issue. In vague language.
We see here that a writer has let his creativity run wild without self-control or boundaries. But it’s not true that S9 has left “too few plots” - there is a 20 year gap between the last two episodes that was deliberately created to have room for new G4 experiences in future comics for example, and there are many questions that have not been answered, from S8 / S9. Like how Pinkie and Chessie would start to get romantically interested in each other. It is noted that all issues not affected by Whitley’s “Knights of Harmony” have been very cordial to readers.
If Whitley had simply concentrated on “getting-acquainted” with world exploration, character development, new enemies (Grootslang was formidable as expected, the new Abyssinian king was a good win) and then built up the “friendship empire” … S10 would have gone well.
That probably would be adding insult to injury with him being excluded there.