Comic Review - Main Series #33

And now, we continue the two-part story we began in #32, the Return of Flutterbat. Oh, and some living apples or something, I don't remember.

The ponies tie up Flutterbat in a very Hannibal Lector-esque fashion, and discuss what to do. Twilight says that Flutterbat is too feral to be of aid, but that was only one part of her plan. The next part is to use her old transformation spell that she used to turn the others into Breezies; now, using the Flutterbat as a template, she can transform the five of them into batponies, but they'll retain their intelligence and self-control so they can fight back against the apples. I'll note instantly I approve of this, I'm a sucker for continuity and like when characters remember their own abilities and adventures and call on that experience to help them. The other ponies agree, and Twilight tasks the CMC to stay and watch over Flutterbat. Ten bucks says she's getting loose.

And so the five new batponies take flight - Twilight Sparkling, Rainbow Bite, Appledrac, Drinkie Pie, and Nosfu-Rarity. A small typo here with Rarity "I finally I have an excuse to wear this cape." The reveal is awesome and the name puns are good, with the exception of Rarity's. Sure, the pun works in print for "nosferatu," but the "a" in that word is pronounced differently from the "a" in Rarity, so the pun is stilted and stumbles off the tongue. A bit that disappoints me too is that they all look generic, Rarity has the cape and some of them have collars connected to nothing, but that's it. For those who haven't seen it yet, check out uotapo's fanart of humanized versions of the batponies, where he draws on different depictions of undead to depict each of them distinctly. Anyway, back to the comic.

We get a two-page montage of the batponies attacking the apples. An apple Twilight is preying on asks who she is. "Twilight Sparkling, vampire. Hmmm, those sound good together." On the one hand, at last they make the joke we've all been making since the show began. On the other hand, NO THEY DO NOT. The ponies move on to the barn where they free Spike and Good Apple, Pinkie actually looking a bit scary here, not because of bad art but because yeah, she looks freaky. Spike says the apples are planning to take the meteor that spawned them with them to Appleloosa, where they'll turn more apples there into living apples to reinforce their army.

Back at the hideout, we get a short but pretty cool sequence where Fluttershy and Flutterbat are arguing over what to do in a very Gollum-esque manner. Fluttershy says the Flutterbat is just an animal, but she knows how to control animals. The restraints break with it unclear who is in control. Again, good scene, actually ominous and cool.

Back with the Mane Five, the apples begin a counterattack, and Rainbow Dash gets a cute Star Wars reference. The ponies are simply outnumbered, and even if they could destroy the meteor or stop the apples from transporting it, it won't stop the ones already alive. The ponies are overwhelmed and about to be covered in apples, until...

Awesome sequence of Flutterbat against the moon, as a flock of vampire fruit bats rally around her and she leads them in an attack. Fluttershy confirms to Twilight she's the one in charge, and has gotten the fruit bats to help. With the reinforcements the batponies fight back and the apples retreat and group. Applesauce, the leader of the apples going by the name I gave him last time because "Bad Apple" is boring, isn't giving up yet, though. With the power of the meteor, Applesauce brings all the apples together and forms a giant Spike made out of apples, to destroy Ponyville.

Good Apple tells Spike if they can switch him with Applesauce, he can reverse his evil influence over the other apples. Twilight forms a plan... referring to Rainbow Bite and Drinkie Pie as their names. Okay, the puns are good, but this begs the question of how they know each other's batpony names. Did they discuss this earlier, was there a talk about what to call themselves where they had to think up punny vampire names?

As part of the group fights the giant Apple!Spike, Twilight tries to syphon magic from the meteor to stop it, and in an odd bit of dialogue, says the magic is familiar, reminding her of Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Pinkie brings out her party cannon and loads the meteor into it, and Twilight redirects the syphoned magic into Spike, giving him a superpowered flame breath to launch the meteor from the cannon, and it explodes into fireworks. Not sure how all that worked but points for fitting in some teamwork and letting Spike do something. Though I am disappointed we don't get to see Spike as a vampire-dragon. Don't even need to change his name, "Spike" still works. With Applesauce distracted, Rainbow Dash flies through the Apple!Spike and switches him and Good Apple. Good Apple's goodness fuels down into the other apples, stopping the rampage.

The next day, Celestia explains the meteor was part of the debris formed from her battle with Nightmare Moon, and the animosity between them is what created the evil apples, but the small part of Luna that remained good inside of Nightmare Moon was there too, and that was what made Good Apple. Um... huh? Why do you need to connect this to the battle of the sisters? Wouldn't it be better for this type of story to make it a mystery? Or, make it funny and absurd; Luna made that meteor and the magic around it while on the moon as Nightmare Moon, and it was circling space all this time before it crashed. Why did she enchant a meteor to make apples come to life and be evil? She was on the moon for a thousand years thinking up plans, she started running out of ideas and had to get creative. Also she remembered Celestia didn't like apples.

The ponies give the apples an uninhabited valley to build their own civilization in, with Applesauce going with them as a prisoner. Celestia gives a moral message about how everypony has negative aspects of their personality, but just like Fluttershy and Flutterbat, it's their control over those bad impulses that determines who they are. Then in a sequence very out of place, the CMC relate it to letting a cutie mark define a pony or not, and think of what it means for them. Okay, it does fit the moral in a way, but the CMC have not been a focus of this story. And so the comic ends with the ponies going home as Pinkie Pie retains a craving for apples.

This issue is very good. While the previous issue revelled in its insanity and relied on the wacky humor of the situation to carry it, this issue gets some badass and epic moments with the battle between the apples and the batponies. The arrival of Fluttershy is gloriously awesome, the teamwork to defeat Applesauce is good, and I like we did manage to get a moral message in that didn't feel entirely shoehorned in. My only complaint is that, like last time, the artwork is a bit hit or miss leaning more to the latter, with weird faces, poor body proportions, and Spikeboy's mechanical jaw.

Overall, good conclusion to the story and worth a read if you want some fun adventure.