IDW Friends Forever #13 Review · 12:27am Aug 21st, 2015
2015 started off with still no information about Season 5's airdate, leaving the comics to try and recover from a less than stellar Wild West arc, and the infamous 2014 Equestria Girls Holiday special, on their own.
Starting off the year was Friends Forever #13, featuring Rarity and Babs Seed. Did this issue manage to restore faith in IDW, start them on a path of decline, or something in between?
Well, let's find out.
We begin with Sweetie Belle being woken up by her alarm clock, and it turns out that she sleeps with a Spike plushie. Then we run into some recycled animation when Sweetie Belle falls off the bed (they don't even mirror it). And I had to complain, because that's just lazy. At this point, the comics were highly profitable, so there is no reason for them to cut corners on animation.
It turns out that Sweetie Belle has an ear infection, and this make it impossible for her to maintain balance, thus her trip with Rarity to Manehattan will have to be postponed. We get some very touching sister moments between the two, and a brief Spike cameo that just reuses a very unfunny joke we've seen a million times before. Hey, IDW, would you mind not repeating the same jokes over and over again, it gets old after the first few times.
Rarity arrives in Manehattan, and it turns out she's working on a dress for Sapphire Shores. But then the door to her room in the building she's staying in opens up, and we get a fairly predictable joke in which she assumes it's Sapphire Shores but it's actually Babs Seed, who was looking forward to spending time with Sweetie Belle. Rarity, having finished her order ahead of schedule, decides to take Babs out for a little time together.
The first stop is the spa, where Rarity orders two of everything for her and for Babs. Babs, naturally, doesn't feel comfortable with the stuff Rarity's going through, and bolts when she learns one of the treatments involves sticking needles into her coat. Rather than learn from this, Rarity drags Babs to more girly things, like getting a hair cut (in which they again recycle animation), and trying on clothes. We do get one or two funny jokes, and a moment where Rarity actually comes to her senses and realizes Babs is clearly not thrilled about a hair cut. But in the end, Babs tells Rarity they clearly don't share the same interests, and leaves. Something that Rarity probably should've clued into a lot sooner.
Rarity then gripes and complains while working on Sapphire Shore's dress, while also trying to pretend she's not upset. Sapphire Shores offers Rarity some sound advice, that sometimes you need to reach out and at least try what someone else likes. Rarity uses this to take Babs to a roller derby, and we get an interesting visual gag in which a pony called "Shining Harmer" looks suspsicously like Princess Cadence.
After the derby, one of the participants, Skullestia, reveals that she went through what Babs is going through with her family. And explains that her (Skullestia's) family came around after a while. We then get the moral about how sometimes you have to try what someone else likes, because you might just learn something new about them.
The comic ends with Babs getting a postcard sent to her, and Rarity offering to do whatever Sweetie Belle wants for an afternoon.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? Well, I kind of feel like this issue is a tad bit overrated. It's still good, but it's not exactly flawless, it has several problems, some minor and some major. Rarity's character isn't the most well rounded here, but compared to everything that has come since, it's not hard to say that this is closer to how she should be potrayed. The artwork is alright, but it really bugs me how they blantantly recycle animation, twice! You can't get away with that in a highly profitable comic book series, at the least if you recycle artwork, mirror or flip it, or do something so it's not the exact same thing twice in a row. This issue probably could've done a little bit better, but with everything we've gotten out of IDW since, it's no wonder this is still probably the best thing they've produced this year. So, I'd say, go ahead and pick it up. It's not quite as good as everyone says it is, and I'm sure IDW could easily top it with something amazing if they tried, but for right now it'll have to do as a good issue.
So, with some faith in the comics restored, what did IDW decide it wanted to do with the comics? Put in a poorly disguised and badly misinformed political rant about saving the enivornment, in a story that made even the infamous bookworm arc look tame by comparison. And it started a downward spiral that the comics have yet to pull out of.
3335764 Well, my point still stands. Recycling animation or artwork makes little sense when you're extremly profitable, and when you don't even try to mask it.
3336464 Well, I suppose it makes sense. But I think it seems a bit odd that someone as tomboyish as her would get a cutie mark involving being a mane stylist.