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| Andy Price did the standard cover this time |
End of rant. Here we are with the third part of the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc. I enjoyed the previous issue, which (perhaps generously) scraped a four-star rating, but this one knocks it into a cocked hat. This is definitely the best – and darkest – instalment so far, and a good deal of that is down to Chrysalis. I do hope she's never reformed; she's a truly evil villain, and that's great. There are some striking and disturbing panels in this issue, not least a "mind's eye" flashback and a reveal of one character's true form. I have to say I'm not sure how Whitley can tie everything together in #37 without rushing things, but I'll reserve judgement there. For now, I'll take this: it's a really satisfying read. This one gets an easy four. ★★★★
I'll just say one word - Ira.
ReplyDeleteOh okay, I'll add a few more. I definitely think this was a very strong issue, and there were some extremely powerful moments. I wonder too just how easy it will be to tie up all those threads into one issue. I guess we'll have to see, whenever the next issue turns up, and judging from what you mentioned in the first paragraph, who knows when that could be!
Something I do wonder is whether there's more to Cadance, especially after what she said about her parents and the way she remembered that spell, despite there being no real reason she should have done so. Makes you wonder what that is all tied in with...
Once again, I've got to disagree. I found this issue horrendous, the worst of the arc so far.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, there was the part when Chrysalis and the Changelings just left and she said she was only there to taunt Twilight. Well then WHY did they even bring her in there in the first place? It was a waste of time! There was a little thing suggesting she might return, but I dunno, I'm probably grasping at straws there. IDW dropped the ball and missed an opportunity to bring character exploration or development there.
Same thing with the other villains, they just suddenly start regretting their actions? And it wasn't out of remorse nor guilt, it was due to fear.
That thing with Twilight being freed with the "I believe in you" stuff was really lame and like something from the second Care Bears movie, and also reminds me of this song here (translated lyrics are in description), though it's actually great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkIRA7_sAxQ
Most of the Mane Six did nothing special also.
Hope continued to irritate and annoy me as always...if she gasped when the Princesses were turned to stone, then why did she suddenly just turn around and tell the Mane Six "you won't get in his way, will you?" Like I said in my previous comment, she's intentionally damaging her homeland because of her love towards Sombra! If that's not enough, where are the Crystal Ponies even?
Cadence was actually used pretty well here, and the Umbrum looked pretty cool, but not too scary. However, why wasn't she mad at Hope for doing what she did?
Some people say Hope changed around and deserved forgiveness here, but I say no; she did show guilt (kinda quoting Silver-Quill). Not because she tried to get rid of the Mane Six, nor turned some characters bad, nor handed over the Empire to the Changelings temporarily, nor helped turn Celestia and Luna to stone in a way, but because she was wrong about the Umbrum. And if she knew the Umbrum were evil and Sombra was 100% pure Umbrum (and he's NOT a filly, IDW!), then why did she jump in the way of Twilight's blast to protect Sombra (and some people were criticizing Twi for doing that?? She had a damn good reason to do that, Sombra HURT HER BROTHER.) It makes no sense!
Some of these fans were incredibly rude also, one person called me an idiot just because I didn't like Hope and I told them to grow up. Hope to a lot of people and me is just a stupid Mary Sue/Sympathetic Sue.
Some people also said Sombra also turned good around here, but to me, I don't see that at all. Throughout the first half, Sombra doesn't seem interested in Hope, he tells her to leave her alone when he's injured and when he's talking to Chrissy, he acts as if Hope just doesn't exist. Then he says he goes down to think, but we don't see him thinking down there. The Hope x Sombra defenders say that he probably changed his mind down there, but to me, that's half-assed (or half-arsed) and makes no sense for that and what we see at the end when he's like "WHAT DID YOU DO?" because we DIDN'T see what he was thinking! To me, I feel they're badly plagiarizing Return of the Jedi, if you know what I mean! At least Vader had good reasons to turn good, his son was being killed!
And why did Twilight even gasp there, when earlier during the scene when Hope told Sombra in front of Twilight she only just put him back together and Twilight looks pissed off? Wouldn't Twilight be mad at Hope for restoring Sombra?
Also, in Fiendship #1, how did Amore know ANYTHING about Sombra even? Plus Sombra being pure Umbrum ruined that issue for me in a way too.
Oh my God, this issue was so bad and horrible it wasn't funny. Just like the previous issue, I'd give it a ★.
Sorry for the really long rant, this issue really frustrated and angered me, but I do respect your opinion though.