Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life. And today, we Trot through the snow as we look at the 2017 My Little Pony Holiday Special. Now, this is the third MLP Holiday special that IDW has put out. The first being the Equestira Girls Holiday Special, which was put out in 2014 and the 2015 My Little Pony Holiday Special.
I have mixed feelings on these comics as the 2015 one just felt lazy doing Pony rehashes of classic Christmas stories and the EQG Holiday special is rather mean-spirited and misses the point, when it attempts to tackle cyber bullying. My big issue with that comic can be summed by this panel.
Keep in mind, that the EQG Holiday Special was released and set after the events of Rainbow Rocks, in which Sunset Shimmer had just had her big redemption arc and had become a fan-favorite. Yeah, this is the image that people want to see in a holiday comic. One of their favorite characters on her knees crying because her friends accused her of posting embarrassing images of them online. Which wasn't the case at all. The Equestira Girls Holiday Special contains my most hated story from anything related to the MLP franchise as it attempts to tackle cyberbullying and so misses the mark that it makes all of the other characters look worse by comparison because of how they treated Sunset Shimmer.
With that in mind, I was trepidatious about this year's Holiday Special, especially as the message seemed to be that commercialism of the holiday is bad. Which I found ironic considering what I was reading and the fact that there is an Pony Christmas Album.
And perhaps even moreso as last year's Hearths Warming episode has a whole number from Pinkie about how presents are more than just the material things that one wants for this time as the presents can mean something in the grand scheme of things.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by where this comic went in another direction that was similar to the message of Pinkie's Present yet different enough to not feel like a retread. It does come close at the end to feeling like a retread of Hearthbreakers but I chalk that up more to what people always say about characters such as Fluttershy or in the case of this comic, Applejack, that sometimes a character has to learn the same lesson over and over again before it sticks.
The Plot
We open on Applejack and Twilight Sparkle shopping as they notice a Hearth's Warming display going up and they comment that it seems the holiday start earlier and earlier. And Twily says that she hopes that Spike and Apple Bloom don't hear as once they do, they won't stop talking about presents. That's when Flim and Flam show up and their latest scheme is to make money off the Hearth's Warming season.
Let's look at this panel first, before we move onto the arrival of Flim and Flam. This comic is very allegorical. And if one is to look at Twilight's line...
"Is it just, me or does it seem like ponies get ready for the holiday, earlier and earlier each year?"
This line of dialogue is akin to people complaining about Christmas starting before Halloween nowadays. In many ways to further on from this, it seems as though people jump straight from Halloween to Christmas with no regards to Thanksgiving. And treat it more as a buffer between the two holidays.
Yeah, kinda like this image that pops up on Facebook all throughout November. The Flim Flam Brothers plan to sell merchandise to the citizens of Ponyville throughout the newly dubbed Hearth's Warming season as they used the Princesses' words here and have created a mascot for the holiday. And okay, I have to bring up this moment here as it gives me pause with the end of this comic, even if I like it.
AJ correctly points out that each time, these two have hornswoggled the citizens of Ponyville. Bloom says that she knows that have fibbed in the past but her along with Spike & Pinkie, they get caught up in the decorations. Which takes us into a song number about a character that Flim & Flam have created named Windy The Windigo. And yes, someone has made that a real song. So, there'll be a music section in this review of a comic book.
The initial description of Windy brought about images of many classic characters that were created, specifically for merchandising the holiday. Take for example, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. Most of us know Rudolph from the Rankin-Bass special but Rudolph was created by Robert Lewis May for Montgomery Ward.
Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Chicago-based Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" or "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph."[8] In its first year of publication, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story.[9]Rudolph Is just but one of example of many Christmas characters that were created originally as marketing tools. And in that regard, Windy is no different from those Christmas icons and what they were originally created for. Except for one thing as stated in that quote, May created Rudolph as a way to save money whereas Flim and Flam's creation was more or less created to mooch off the ponies' love of the holiday. Though, that may not be as different as you think as people took characters like Rudolph and gave them life beyond what May created The Red-Nosed Reindeer for. Remember, that Rudolph wasn't created in the same vein as something like Dickens' A Christmas Carol or O. Henry's The Gift of The Magi. And Windy is no different than the marketed based characters but again, Windy can be given life by the ponies that embrace her and make her more than what Flim & Flam created her for.
Twi and AJ don't buy into the Windy hype like the other ponies. And oh, hi Futurama reference.
Twilight tries to get the attention of the townsponies and says that this extra stuff distracts from the true meaning of Hearth's Warming. And Flim and Flam use this moment to sell a Hearth's Warming comic. Kinda meta.
Cute joke and all, but this bring us into the main crux of the comic as everyone in Ponyville has bought into what Flim & Flam are selling. Including AB and Spike. Twi and AJ attempt to keep their siblings away from this. (Yes, I view Spike as Twilight's little brother).
As we see that Windy has taken a strong grab of the Ponyville citizens. And we see that Spike and Bloom can't shut up the newest creation. Granny tells AJ that there is no harm in lettin' her get excited. We see that AJ and Twily have had it up to here and Twilight suggests that they go to her happy place. As they enter a bookstore and Twi loses it as Windy has invaded her happy place.
The S'Crooge sound effect is a nice touch. But yeah, Twilight is mad and decides to exact revenge. They track down Flim & Flam as they try to get another song going but Princess Twilight isn't having it as she realizes that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's when Twilight decides to use her princess status and the fact that the brothers invoked her name in extending the holiday season to give away all the Windy stuff for free. This runs Flim & Flam out of town. And the townsponies aren't happy. I was afraid that we were going to get an ending akin to that of Fame and Misfortune, my most hated episode. But thankfully, that wasn't the case.
Twily & AJ try to argue that they were being robbed and taken advantage of. Bloom points out that, they were having fun. And Spike makes perhaps the most logical argument.
"So, you we're fools, huh? Did it ever occur to you that we might've been enjoying ourselves?"
Spike's argument makes a lot of sense but I do think it could have been presented a bit stronger. But, this brings something else that I'm very passionate about to mind.
When people go to Disney World, they want to take in the magic and believe it exists as they enjoy it. And Spike's argument is similar to that, they liked Windy and wanted to take in the magic of the character, even if she was just created to make bits off of the holiday. This goes back to what I said earlier in the review about how the ponies can take Windy and make more than what she started out as. As Disney fans have done with many Disney characters over the years. Heck, it has even happened with MLP. A brand created originally to sell toys but FIM's fans have given it life beyond that. And while, we don't see that completely with Windy in this comic, we do get a good tasting of it. Also, Spike's argument reminds me of this.
With Spike's speech in this panel, it takes it from a holiday story about the over-commercialization of the holiday (No one can top Charlie Brown in that regard) and makes it more of a story about letting
After this heated moment, Spike, Bloom, and Pinkie head storm off leaving Twilight and AJ alone as it starts to snow on top of them.
We see The Apples and Pinkie along with Spike celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve but AJ isn't there as she feels bad about what happened. We do get a nice continuity nod as we see the Apple Farm with decorations from Hearthbreakers as The Pies are coming to Ponyville for the holiday, this year.
And we get apologies from both sides and I think that AJ sums it up best.
And I've more than made my feelings on the Equestira Girls Holiday Special known. Again, this is the image that you want to put in a holiday comic.
Yes.... moving past that, this is easily the best of the Holiday Specials so far as it feels the most complete and it is the one that most feels like the holiday spirit is within it.
Let's move onto characters.
Characters
Main Characters
Twilight Sparkle & Applejack
As I mentioned throughout the comic, we follow Twilight & AJ and get to see their annoyance at the obsession and downright infatuation, the Ponyville citizens had with Windy. Now, one could look at this as a commentary on the fans a la Fame and Misfortune and Stranger Than Fan Fiction. Which would be fair as many fans do get wrapped in the show, when they first watch it. But I think that would be more coincidental as AJ and Twilight do need to end up apologizing for their actions in the end as while what they say is understandable, Spike gave them the realization that they were enjoying what they were doing.
Supporting Characters
Spike & Apple Bloom
While I agree with Spike's argument and I love that is where the comic goes, I do think that Spike and Apple Bloom's side of the argument could have presented a little bit better. That is perhaps my one quibble with this comic as while I like where the comic ends up, the journey on Spike and Bloom's side could have been a bit stronger.
Pinkie Pie
Pinkie really felt like an afterthought in this comic. Okay, so that is my other quibble with the comic. She more than any other character felt added on and as though, she didn't offer anything of substance to the story being told.
Song
Windy The Windigo
This song is catchy and this is only the second time that a song from the comic has been adapted. I'm using this cover as it helps to explain how infectious the song is and what the Flim Flam Brothers are doing. They easily created Windy, most likely on the fly as you can tell that they lifted the cookie thing straight from Nightmare Night.
As, if you think back to Luna Eclipsed, it is explained that the foals offer candy to Nightmare Moon to keep her at bay.
Zecora: A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend. [blows] Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!
While, it's not stated outright in the comic, I picked up on this as soon as they mentioned in the comic, one can see that they got the idea from Nightmare Night but changed it just enough, so that it would be a complete copycat.
Antagonists
Flim & Flam
There's no question that Flim and Flam were being seedy and a bit shady in their business but that comes with the territory, when you encounter these two. I can't exactly say that they were doing anything wrong this time around as they supply that they were providing was being enjoyed by the citizens of Ponyville, this time. Yes, they tried to capitalize on the holiday but this goes back to what I've said throughout this review all along, the Ponyville citizens embraced Windy wholeheartedly and found a way to enjoy her beyond what Flim and Flam originally created her for.
My Final Thoughts
I spent quite some time ruminating on this comic after reading it. And as you can tell, it wasn't because I thought it was bad, far from it. I greatly enjoyed this comic but it took me a while to sort out my thoughts of why I liked it so much. But I feel that I've articulated my feelings as to why this comic works for me rather well throughout this review. So, the only thing that I have left to say is Happy Hearth's Warming.
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