@Background Pony #34ED  
Neither were the Sirens/Dazzlings.

I don’t think Star Swirl invented 23 music genres and some of these music genres weren’t invented until after ancient times.

@poecillia-gracilis19  
Agreed.

@poecillia-gracilis19  
Thankfully.

Good thing this isn’t canon.

Say, can anyone verify a rumor I’ve heard that this issue of the series was originally supposed to be about Discord, but then at the last minute they changed everything on Whitley and forced him to write a Sirens story at the last minute instead?
 
If true then it seems like that’s happened a lot to Whitley. Maybe the people at IDW just plain don’t like him?

This is funny, but I second these guys:  
@Starswirl  

 
@Gk-47  

This comic fucking blows.
 
Not a moment is entertaining or clever, and if THIS crap with every genre of music getting invented is supposed to be funny… it’s freaking not. It’s WEAK.
 
Jesus, the Sombra and Tirek comics added some dignity and intrigue to their subjects, but this one managed to TAKE some from Rainbow Rocks.
 
It’s not even DRAWN very well. The watercolors look splotched and undetailed. Not to mention, Starswirl is portrayed entirely different from how he is in the other comics, so we don’t even get any cohesion THERE.
 
And I’m sorry… the Sirens inventing Pop because their BARDIC MUSICAL SPELLS didn’t work on Canterlot ponies for some reason… is just fucking dumb.
 
Seriously, grade-A trash. I’m REALLY starting to understand why people take issue with the state of the comics of late.

Bleah. Terrible.

@biznizz  
Well, I think your initial interpretation is valid. It doesn’t mean she’s not being a complete jerk about it, thereby undermining the message of respecting people ^^

@Starswirl  
I dunno. I fully admit, that I’ve never read Princeless. But personally, I get the feeling that the whole exchange was meant to be taken at face value, so unless somebody who has read it says otherwise, I’ll pass.
 
Unless the princess is intentionally trying to be an unlikable ass, then it’s not my cup of tea.

@biznizz  
Wait. We weren’t meant to see that interaction between the knight and the princess in “Princeless Fair Maiden” as her being an asshole to him?
 
Because that’s the sense I got.

@Background Pony #E39B  
The major problem with Dragon Quest, at least that I had with it, was that Spike judged all the migratory dragons as jerks by the actions of Garble and his teenager friends. If Whitley had wanted to make a comic showing that “Not all dragons are jerks”, then he could have easily showed them as… well… not jerks.
 
They didn’t have to live in Pony society, with Pony laws and culture. They didn’t have to live in a Pony town. The ‘nice dragons’ are essentially Ponies with scales. That’s not a good message about having pride in your species or not judging them; it’s all but reinforcing the message that Whitley got from Dragon Quest.
 
As for his other work, try Googling “Princeless Fair Maiden” and use Image search. Then look here; the use of the term ‘fair’ does indeed mean beautiful. It also does mean ‘lightly hued’, but the only ones who’d only use that definition are ones who are looking to be offended.
 
Interpreting “Dragon Quest” as Spike learning he can’t be a dragon if he wants to be a decent being? He’s free to interpret it anyway, but he ignored, willingly or not, another more acceptable message about ‘not giving in to peer pressure’. Admittedly Spike took the species-wide judgement too far at the end; that’s a point against the show.
 
Wanting to write a story to counteract that perceived broken Aesop? Nothing wrong with that.
 
Fumbling said story so it seems to reinforce that broken Aesop? Yea, that is a big problem. The fact that he seemed so proud of it makes it worse since it’s message is arguably worse than the Dragon Quest episode.
 
Disapproving of Sparity? I couldn’t literally give less than a crap about what he thinks about that, tho if one of his main reasons for creating Mina was to serve as a love interest for Spike, then guess what? He’s going against show material there; if he thinks he can circumvent main canon material, he’s gonna be disappointed. Mina ain’t ever going to be on the show; much like Cheerilee’s masked wrestler sister doesn’t exist and will never be on the show.
 
Treating bronies as a mostly-monolithic mass? The phrase ‘don’t bite the hand which feeds you’ comes to mind. It’s a major problem that people have against Bobby Curnow and Ted Anderson: they wouldn’t have this job without readers, of which the comic seems tailored to appeal to older bronies. The fact they seem prejudiced and wide-sweep-judging all of bronies is bad enough, but the fact that they want you to pay them is two-faced and reeks of jackassery. They are supposed to be professionals, handling a license from another company; you don’t get on soapboxes, use their property as sockpuppets, disparage their consumer base, and expect people to just swallow it, smile and ask for more.
 
 
@Evowizard25  
If you liked it, good for you. I admit, the Mina character seems… nice. Doesn’t change that her introductory story had an awful message to it.

@biznizz  
Per the HN article you linked, Whitley’s tweet was “MLP:FF #14 may be the most socially and politically conscious pony comic you ever read.” Leaving aside your misinterpretation of his tweet, though, which of his SJW-type beliefs do you find so horrible as to reveal him to be an “awful human being”? Interpreting “Dragon Quest” as Spike learning he can’t be a dragon if he wants to be a decent being? (It’s a good thing nearly all bronies always interpret show stories and subtexts correctly, no?) Wanting to write a story to counteract that perceived broken Aesop? Fumbling said story so it seems to reinforce that broken Aesop? Disapproving of Sparity? Treating bronies as a mostly-monolithic mass? (Good thing no bronies ever do that to other groups, no?)

@biznizz  
………….NOPE! Nope! That comic had a couple problems here and there, but it was an okay comic overall and I”m going to say it. Mina’s one of my favorite characters in the MLP universe.

@biznizz  
I personally think the Sombra issue is my favorite of the bunch so far. It felt like a complete story that gave him a rather interesting backstory and I actually sympathized with Sombra at times.
 
Tirek’s was good, but it felt incomplete. Like there’s supposed to be more.
 
This one was…….short. That’s how I put it. I think the issue should’ve been a tad bit more serious or just full out silly. I mean, they were rather malicious and threatening in Rainbow Rocks, but with this issue and song battle, the dazzlings are kind of portrayed as silly.  
I still ‘like’ the issue, but it could’ve been better.

@Background Pony #E39B  
He’s another SJW like Anderson is, he’s just been focused on by the fandom less than Ted has. He promoted his Friends Forever issue on Twitter as “the Most Socially Aware Comic You’ll Read All Year”.
 
And it was basically a heavy handed fixfic about how dragons live from “Dragon Quest”. This Horse News article has some specifics about it. He’s banned at least a few who called him out on it.
 
I dislike him since he seems more of the Tumblr feminism type than a real one. That’s just me, tho. If you like him, then… more power to you, I guess.
 
@Starswirl  
I appreciated Tirek’s in that it didn’t make him have a sypathetic backstory. He was just a greedy @$$hole who eventually found a way to get more power, and that even when he was growing up with his brother, he always treated Scorpan like a nucience.
 
This, I wish that the Sirens/Dazzlings would have at least been sent back to colonial days or… something. Their magic would’ve kept them young, and they’d spend years surviving on scraps until they came to Canterlot High.
 
I dunno, it’s like… the EqG universe already has a bunch of unexplained issues; if 1000’s of years Equestria leads to a few years before Sunset EqG-verse, then the timescale is whacked to hell, since apparently humans like the Human!Cakes were born years before their pony counterparts. Unless that was a mandate from Hasbro itself, I wish that Anderson would’ve put more thought into this.

@biznizz  
Whitley, an awful human being? What terrible sins has he committed?

@biznizz  
The Tirek one really looked great, didn’t it? I just wish it explored a bit more. So much potential! Ah well, fanfiction is there to satisfy that need.
 
The Sirens one was, as you noted, ambivalent. This page here is awesomely silly and silly awesome, but it feels a bit strange if put next to the Sirens of the movies. As for my namesake, I don’t know either way.

I am… conflicted. On one hand, this wasn’t the “Starswirl fought the Sirens to save Pony-kind” backstory that I, nor Meghan I’m sure, thought of when we heard that he shoved them all in the EqG universe in the backstory. It was also pretty goofy. It was hard to differenciate Aria’s and Sonata’s personalities half the time; the only one with a semi-consistant voice was Adagio.
 
On the other, it wasn’t as… heavy-handed(?) than Sombra’s, nor did it take itself too seriously. It was more upbeat than Sombra’s as well; at least Starswirl admitted that he might have redeemed the Sirens, whereas Sombra seemed to have always gotten the short end of the stick.
 
Tirek’s one is still the best, tho. Both artwise and story, tho the art in all three has been fine. Unlike the Holiday Special and his following work, I don’t really think this was Tedly forgetting how to write. Ted Anderson can still suck a big fat one for being an awful human being. Whitley can too.

@Background Pony #46CD  
Oh, I love when the show and comics take a dark turn, but not when they do so at the expense of fun and silliness.
 
That’s one of the things I liked about this season opener. The town was pretty creepy, and the attempted forceful conversion of the mane six was pretty grim, but the episode never put aside comedy or character endearment for the sake of drama.

@Background Pony #46CD
 
Not really. The sirens were more comedic than dark in Rainbow Rocks after all.
 
The other issues are dark enough so far.

Wasn’t the FiM miniseries supposed to be darker and edgier than the rest of IDW pony comics?

@Background Pony #6329  
So-so, I guess.