To explain my surprise at "Discordant Harmony"'s popularity, reactions to the episode both during the Australian and US airings seemed to be pretty tepid. As I mentioned, I chose episodes for the guide based more on what to exclude, so I was thinking more about it getting a weak response than whatever response "A Flurry of Emotions" got. I guess it was mainly the episode being paired up with "The Perfect Pear" that resulted in little discussion. "DH" is definitely one of those episodes where an extremely strong conclusion makes up for whatever failings the rest of the episode has, which I suppose is more important to include than an average-at-best episode like "A Flurry of Emotions", even if that episode did confirm that Twilight is BAE both in and out of universe. It's sort of like "Brotherhooves Social" in that way, though PonyGAF's aversion to cringe is too much for that episode's ending to make it recommended. Good thing the guide is changing to include notes for every episode.
Hasbro correctly uploaded "To Change a Changeling", but put the title and description for "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You", though they have taken it down now. It wasn't the full description either.
Well this is a shock.
Equestria Girls dolls are still coming, with some going to be unveiled at HasCon. I had assumed they phased them out completely for Minis.
Movie Prequel #4 (END) - Tempest Shadow
No Silver Quill, so using Derpibooru for images. Unfortunately, the panels I wanted to point out aren't singled out, so no images for this comic.
This issue covers some of the same territory as the prequel chapter book described by Shiny. It didn't sound too interesting there, but it works a lot better in the context of these comics. I particularly found it strange how the chapter book introduced the Misfortune Malachite only to have Storm King destroy it, but that made a lot more sense here. Plus, the way Tempest escaped his forces made more sense than how Shiny described it.
Tempest was drawn in a surprisingly adorable way here, despite looking pretty similar to her movie self, particularly when she was writing in her diary. I also noted how the art went out of its way not to show her cutie mark--if she has one. Though she didn't go out of her way to be friendly, she was nicer and I suppose more vulnerable than we've seen in the movie so far. When she met up with that other pony, I thought for sure he was going to betray her and that would lead her down a dark path, but no, he was helpful the entire time.
It's interesting that Storm King didn't seem to know Equestria existed, or apparently what unicorns are, and Grubber and his team were startled by unicorn magic. It was unclear why Tempest gave up Equestria so easily. I guess the implication is that since he rejected to Malachite, he needed a different reason to spare her, but all that was needed to make this more clear was him saying, "Care to try again?" or something after explaining why he destroyed it.
Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable issue, but it didn't explain the area I thought needed to be fleshed out: the time after joining the Storm King but before the movie, and how she hardened herself.
Legends of Magic #5 - Somnambula
I thought this was a really charming issue, and both Somnambula and Pinkie were adorable. This is especially due to the fantastic art, which makes those two shine.
In the framing device, Sunburst once again is forced to spend time with a pushy mare, when he runs into Pinkie planning a birthday party for Luna's opossum. This time, she won't settle for him reading the story, and instead reads it to him while doing the voices. Pinkie and Sunburst are a pretty good comedic duo, and it's a shame he isn't appearing more in the show; Starlight's group and the Main Six really need to mix more.
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Somnambula was a really likable character, appearing to be similar to Pinkie if her craziness was toned down more into a sort of airheaded yet clever personality, and more focus was placed on the observation skills we see at the end of "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" and implied by "Party Pooped". She also shares some qualities with Twilight. Also, she really does have a great design.
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The situation with the snake was fun, from her trying to understand things outside it to her finding increasingly smaller things as she traveled along. I was a bit disappointed that the increasingly smaller things didn't serve as clues for her to figure something out, since she just had the entire situation explained to her by the wizard at the end, though.
Overall, good issue, and I look forward to seeing Somnambula in the show. Also,
potentially useful?
If it wasn't for my last avatar change being so recent, I'd be tempted to change it to that, with the text bubble enlarged.
Didn't care for this week's MLP Movie Prequel comic. There's good stuff there, but it's behind the first six or seven pages which are pretty rough in how they're written and the information handled. It's a lot of repetition.
Don't hate it, but after the previous issue which I really, really liked, it's a disappointment.
Haven't hit up Legends of Magic yet, but I'm not holding my hopes up for it.
Compared to the previous issues, this doesn't flow as well from the preceding comic, but I didn't think the first pages were a problem. I can't say how much you'd like the LoM issue, but I liked it a lot.
It's still part of my Top 3 or 4 for the season so far.
