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megabadbunny · 5 years

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so after sketching out the doodle for this post upon the request of the lovely @chiaroscuroverse, I decided it was high time I finally got started on something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. Thusly, I present to y’all the first installment of my sketch series New Who Companions in (Mostly) Historically-Accurate Period Costumes! :D

(clicky on the smaller images above to embiggen; clicky the read-more for costume history facts and assorted nerditude for each design!)

So long story short, I’m a big ol’ fashion history nerd, studied a good chunk of fashion history in the Western world during ye olde college days, and sometimes I like to think about what our New Who companions might have worn if they wanted to go mostly-historically-accurate in their old-world adventures. Below are some descriptions of what those costumes could have looked like, and a little bit of the historical context surrounding the ensembles. Thanks for joining me on this sartorial nerd-journey! <3

Fig. 1: Donna Noble, The Fires of Pompeii (Roman Empire, 79 AD)

So Donna’s original costume, while very pretty, is not accurate in any way; I can only imagine the designer was held back by some untold constraints (i.e. this costume is either constructed based on stylistic requests from Catherine Tate or it’s the product of executive meddling). Here, Donna wears a stola, i.e. a dress-like garment fastened with fibulae clasps and held in place with a girdle high above the waist. This garment would technically be worn by a married woman, to sort of show off her wealth and worth, but I figure Donna don’t give no shits about that, just give her the pretty dress already. She’s also wearing a palla, a shawl Roman women wore when going about their business outside. You would typically see the palla wrapped around the woman’s body to both accentuate her curves where desired, to hide her features when wanted (women might draw the hood close to the face to hide from unwanted male gazes), and to keep the material from dragging along the ground. The volume of fabric in the shawl signified a woman’s status; the more fabric, the wealthier the lady. Donna’s garments are fashioned from the finest material available, being linens imported from Egypt and silks imported from China.

Fig. 3: Bill Potts, The Eaters of Light (Scotland, c. 100 AD)

So, finding solid details on how women dressed in this time and place was fun,* but I did my best to sort of piece things together into a design that would make sense given the convergent influences and the materials (cloth/fibers, dyes, equipment) available in the area at the time. Basically, you’ve got a tunic cinched at the waist, and a woven cloak on top sporting a Pictish-type design, and simple jewelry fashioned from alloys that were commonplace at the time. Bill’s brooch and belt would definitely be met with approval from the other ladies; only peasant-women left the house without a belt.

* It was not fun. It was frustrating.

Fig. 2: Rose Tyler, The Stone Rose spinoff novel (Rome, 120 AD)

Rose’s garments and hair are intentionally sculptural in design, inspired by a series of Roman statues built around the time the story is set (I figured it was appropriate given the book’s plot!). Here she is wearing half of her Fortuna costume, on her way to save the Doctor (obv). Typically, a not-yet-married woman would only need to wear one layer (as unmarried women were, shall we say, low on the priority list in terms of Roman fashion), but here, on her way to being immortalized as the great Fortuna, an exception has been made for Rose; Marcia’s servants have draped, wrapped, and pinned some very fine material over Rose’s close-fitting tunica. Rose is also shown with a mantle, for covering her hair in public. Both Donna and Rose would have had their hair curled using a calamistrum, or an early curling iron, which varied in shape and style, but in this case likely would have actually been made of iron, and warmed over hot coals.

Fig. 4: Clara Oswald, Robot of Sherwood (England, 1190 AD)

Okay, so why did they make this look like a Halloween costume? It’s just, this episode clearly had a budget, the designer clearly did their homework, so who made what decision and where and when that led us to this? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice Halloween costume! Like, one you would have to rent instead of buy, because she is le pricey. But I’m curious to know why the designer ventured so close to the actual periodwear without actually committing to it. Like the sleeves—the flare at the elbow suggests the overdress, or bliaut, is of French design, except those sleeves ain’t near big enough, neither in terms of volume or length. Sometimes these sleeves were so long, women would have to knot them to keep them from dragging the ground. If you don’t wanna deal with big sleeves for your action heroine, that’s fine, just go with a more English design, which forewent the exaggerated trumpet-shape in favor of something more subtle. The current shape just looks weird—like, it’s halfway there, but got tired and gave up. Then you’ve got the front-lacing on the bodice; this is a nope, and only enhances the Halloween/fancy dress look. Dresses would fasten on the side or in the back; if you were upper-class, you might be looking at a modesty panel to hide the lacing in the case of the latter. The hair is another instance of halfway-there; the top half is pretty good, with its center-part and the wraparound braid, but the loose bottom portion and the salon-curls are a big no-no. Curls weren’t really in vogue in the area at the time; ladies’ hair was worn long and braided, both to keep it out of the way and to show off elaborate styles. And last but certainly not least, why the heck is Clara’s circlet shaped the way it is? It’s like they took a necklace, situated it with a bunch of slack in the chain, and stuck it to her forehead using spirit gum. Would noble ladies have worn circlets/coronets at the time? Sure! Would they have been shaped (or stuck-on???) like that? Nope! The original ensemble is full of potential but it feels like someone somewhere along the decision-making process looked at the original, better design, said, “Eh, can you modernize (read: sex) that up for me?” and then this was born. Again, it’s not horrible, just, it could have been so much more.

/rant

Fig. 5: Amy Pond, Vampires of Venice (Italy, 1580 AD)

So I realize there’s a class difference between what Amy wore in the show and what’s depicted here, but I figured the upper-class depiction made more sense, given the fashions of the other young ladies accepted into Calvieri’s school. (That being said, Amy’s original outfit still isn’t quite there; this shows an example or two of what a working-class woman would wear at the time.) On the right, Amy is wearing a velvet gown over a petticoat; even though the color and bodice-shape denote a heavy Spanish influence, the dress would have been referred to as a French gown due to its fitted shape. Were Amy to go whole-hog and give herself some true mid-sixteenth-century hair, the front would be short, and regularly wound into tight, compact little curls, while the back was kept long, for elaborate braids and updos. That’s right--the sixteenth century was technically full of mullets. Mullets everywhere.

Fig. 6: Rose Tyler, A Groatsworth of Wit spinoff comic (England, 1592)

ok but the design in the comic, just

I don’t even understand why the artist drew it this way. It doesn’t make sense, not from a costume history perspective and not even from a design/fudging-the-details-for-the-sake-of-modern-sensibilities perspective. (Also from a perspective-perspective; dude’s having some major issues figuring out how foreshortening works, but that’s neither here nor there I suppose.) It would actually be way faster to focus on what this gown does right instead of wrong. So, let’s see here: it has a lace collar, which was a thing. It has a structured, paneled bodice; also a thing. Full layered skirt, that’s good. And, that’s officially it. The rest of this design is garbage. Like, why the eff is she wearing a ruffle as some kind of low-slung belt? Is that supposed to be cartridge pleating? What century are those sleeves supposed to be from? (Do those outer sleeves even? Show up in any century to speak of, outside of my nightmares???) If you’re going to do a lace cuff at the end of the fitted sleeve, why not do it right (i.e. like the way they actually looked at the time, which was usually in a cone shape flaring out from the wrist to the elbow)? Why would the artist imagine that Rose would go to the trouble of pouring herself into this 80’s-teal monstrosity without bothering to do anything to her hair except for a ponytail? What the fuck is up with the fucking boob lace??? See, I know the artist can draw actual historically accurate outfits, because Shakespeare in this comic looks fine. His shit’s pretty accurate. But for some reason, when it came to Rose’s dress, it’s like the artist lost their goddamn mind. (Don’t even get me started on the jewelry and accents, not if there’s a loving god in this universe)

Fig. 7: Martha Jones, The Shakespeare Code (England, 1599)

So Martha has herself a lovely heavy brocade gown, trimmed in sable, accented with soft leather gloves, and topped with a cartwheel ruff round the neck. (Don’t worry; I imagine the TARDIS only carries ethically-harvested furs, like they’re grown in a lab somewhere or collected after critters have had a long and prosperous life or the hairs are vacuumed up and reconstituted by some futuristic device, etc. etc.) Elizabethan sumptuary laws dictated that folks had to dress according to social class, so depending on what your social class was, you may not have been legally permitted to wear things like silks, certain colors, certain furs, and more. Fashion was such a surging industry and indicator of wealth that, at the time, you had higher-ups selling huge swaths of land in order to have the money to dress themselves as well as possible--it was seriously that important to be fashionable. Martha’s garments indicate that she has pretty high social standing, given the materials used. Also, she wears a pretty bitchin’ hat.

Fig. 8: Yazmin Khan, The Witchfinders (England, 1612)

Yazmin’s dress sports a fashionably high-necked bodice featuring embroidered linen silk, topped with a standing collar and “wings” at the shoulders. The dark hues shown here were super-popular at the time due to a surge of obsession with melancholia in arts and literature. Yaz also wears a “Cavalier” style hat, accented with an ostrich feather. Her outfit is basically a riding-habit/hunting-habit, constructed with ease of movement in mind.

Fig. 9: Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler, and Reinette Poisson i.e. Madame de Pompadour, The Girl in the Fireplace (France, 1758)

Setting aside my many issues with this episode’s story/plot, the bugaboos I have with Reinette’s original costume design in the show are relatively minor, and I imagine can mostly be explained-away with stuff like “this is what the BBC already had on hand” and “goddamn that’s pretty.” Both pretty salient points! But I do think it’s interesting that the designer(s) went the way they did--Madame de Pompadour was actually famously not in favor of glittering gems (actually, she supposedly donated palace jewels to the French treasury more than once to help out during times of war); she tended to prefer fairly simple pearls as embellishment, instead. She also wasn’t really into big hair; obviously the styles shown here on Ms. Myles aren’t exactly Marie-Antoinette-big, but they’re definitely more voluminous and modernized than the styles the real-life MdP typically sported, which usually consisted of a slight pomp and fairly close-knit curls framing the face. (It’s also interesting that Moffat wrote her with such a heavy innuendo for sex/romance, because rumor had it she didn’t really actually enjoy things in the bedroom all that much, instead preferring to pull political strings, promote the arts, patronize motherfucking Voltaire!!!, help design architecture!!!, and keep the king constantly entertained and distracted so he literally didn’t royally fuck everything up. She was a very busy lady! Also she like. Paid contractors and artists on time? Instead of dicking them over with “credit” bullshit like other wealthy patrons??? Sorry she was just WAY more awesome than the show gave her credit for!) Anyhoo, long story short, Rose and MdP are shown here wearing gowns and hairstyles that are heavily inspired by those worn by the real-life MdP wore in some of her many many portraits.

Thanks for tuning in to my giant costume nerdfest; see you next time for part 2! <3 <3 <3

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marvelandponder · 7 years

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Lore Galore

Comic books are weird, huh? Due to the nature of the industry, often times the big distributors will have crossover events with huge ramifications on stories and characters for the purpose of attracting readership. Not the sole purpose, but in the same way MLP is one giant toy commercial, if you wanted, you could boil it down to the business behind the stories.

In a way, that’s what Campfire Tales is: a crossover event. One of many to come, as there are 3 more stories left to tell and apparently, a tie-in with the season finale, Shadow Play Parts 1 and 2.

As someone who’s studied a bit of business and as a writer, it’s something I have to appreciate. Smart business tactics that allow for the telling of new kinds of stories.

We all know what it feels like we’re just watching a gimicky commercial. But when creatives are allowed to build a story out of a business opportunity, well, it can turn out to be amazing. Just look at the show as a whole!

I brought that up because you’re not going to think of this episode as a way to sell comics (or toys) at all when you watch it, and that’s kickass. Instead, you’re going to think of it as an excuse for the comic staff and the show staff alike to create their own mythology.

Does that mythology have as much impact as it could? Not necessarily. But it’s actually not because it’s a tie-in to the comics.

I imagine a great number of you haven’t been able to keep up with the Legends of Magic comic series, and thus, are worried you might be missing something that’s hindering your enjoyment of these stories.

For one @drwolf001 is physically unable to follow them due to headaches caused by reading. So, I can imagine he and those of us who can’t afford to buy the comics might think they needed to read them to get the most out of this episode.

I can assure you, that’s not the case.

Essentially what each issue of Legends of Magic has done is tell a story that takes place after the stories we see here.

So far, that includes a story about Rockhoof after he joins the prestigious Helm, Mistmane on one of her travels beautifying Equestria, and Flash Magnus on another legion adventure in Griffon territory with the Titus in tow. As well, the series began with a story about young Luna and Celesita, and Starswirl’s guiding them through a fight, presumably after the origin story we still have yet to receive for him (PLEASE give us a Starswirl origin story. Or just the origin story of how he chose Luna and Celestia as his students).

By telling stories that take place afterward, they totally dodge the issue of fans needing to buy the comics to understand the stories presented in-episode (and so far, I had been greatly enjoying the stories of the comics, even without the context of these original legends that these characters supposed to be known for in-universe).

With that said, why does it feel to some that this is still lacking if it’s not due to a lack of information presented? And why do some of us not feel that lack?

Well, I’d say this: 1. The narration gets in the way, and 2. If you were already attached because of the comics, it won’t bother you. Plus, there are aspects that are done really well.

The narration thing doesn’t seem like it would be an issue until you watch back Rockhoof’s legend, and realize none of the characters have a single line of dialogue that isn’t laughing.

That would be fine if it were told all visually, but Applejack’s narrating throughout the whole legend.

Now, in an anthology episode, you don’t have a lot of time to spare. But as a Simpsons fan whose seen a great number of Treehouse of Horror and other anthology episodes, I know they can still be very effective and suck you in despite the short time these stories have to be told in.

So that’s really the key: sucking you in. And having Applejack’s narration throughout the story prevents us from fully breathing in the gorgeous atmosphere and connecting with these characters themselves. We’re constantly reminded that this is a story within a story.

Like, okay, just for example, wouldn’t it have been more effective and impactful to hear the emotional townsfolk decide to stay and be burnt alive like the people of Pompeii (not that the people of Pompeii chose to stay)?

Even if we don’t have a lot of time, if the performance is emotional enough and atmosphere is heavy enough, you could have a really subtly dark moment that instantly grabs you and convinces you how grave this situation is.

The more specific they get, the better. Not just, “I’ve lived here my whole life,” but “my father’s farm is here. My grandfather before him, and me before my son. I don’t know how to leave.”

It would really make you root for Rockhoof and understand what he’s going through if we could’ve heard from him.

Also: I’ve seen complaints about him getting buff instantly via magic (talk about zero to hero in no time flat), but that’s in the spirit of mythology. It’s often based more on the emotional arc of the characters than the logic of how that magic would actually work. So, I think if we had connected with him more, we would’ve been more willing to buy the emotion of that scene: the desperation yet determination that had him digging so furiously he grew muscles thanks to the magic in his shovel.

Can I also just stop to say I love all these myths?

I think they could’ve been done better to have amazing impact, honestly, because the stories themselves are so classical in nature. Man vs. nature, a jealous empress hoarding beauty, a brave soldier who had to outsmart his gargantuan foes!

I’m a bit of a history nerd, and have loved mythology for quite a while, and these are honestly some really well thought out myths. Again, not in the sense that it makes sense that Rockhoof would get suddenly buff or that Mistmane could physically trade her beauty to fix the dying plants in town, but they touch on a lot of themes and tropes classic myths actually did!

And honestly, the only reason I’m hard on this episode at all is because I can see just how much work went into it and how gorgeous it actually is. Did you see the detail they put into each of these three cultures? The settings that were so beautiful rendered by the artists? Did you hear that William Anderson scored each one to sound different and appropriate to the culture they were based on?

I personally had a pretty good time with this episode, but I honestly think it could’ve been phenomenal! Yet another breath-taking entry into mid-season 7!

Again, for me, I want to make it clear that this is by no means an episode-ruining flaw, it’s more that it’s already good and could’ve been fantastic. I want to make that clear because I really liked this one and think it deserves props all the same.

So, yes, it isn’t necessarily a problem of the comics or even run-time, but they needed to be clear with their emotions (not to mention succinct).

There were performances that actually did start to sell it, though (which, again, is why I wanted more). The pony explaining what Sable did to the village didn’t just exposit the information, you could hear how morose and beaten down he was. To me, he felt like a real character whose been living under this unfair ruler for years.

And Cathy Wesluck did a pretty great job with Mistmane, as well, and from what I can tell, hers is the most popular story because of it. And again, you can argue jealousy is a weak motivation for a villain, but myths are based in emotion, and I think for what little time we spent with Sable, she also sold that bitterness pretty damn well.

Flash Magnus’s commander gave another great performance while giving Flash the Titus (and honestly, Flash did, too; even though the Titus is just another Magical Item, the awed way he held it when he got it actually made me a little excited for him). You can tell what kind of commander he is, even if you haven’t seen him in the comics, and how important this moment it to him.

And, apart from the myths, the sisters themselves had some cute interactions. Rainbow was especially cocky this episode, and twice acted impulsively despite her hero, Flash Magnus, outsmarting his enemies by thinking through a plan beforehand (I actually thought that’s where they were going with that, that Applejack or Rarity would point out that sure, Rainbow is brave like Flash Magnus, but she doesn’t always think things through like him, and then Dash would have to think of plan to get them out instead of just charging ahead blindly)---but her interactions with Scootaloo saved her from being unlikable, especially when she picked up on how scared Scootaloo was this time (yay! Character development!) and gave her hugs and comfort in front of the others without hesitation.

Now, I think that covers most of the big things for the story, so onto the details!

Details, Thoughts, and Whatnots

Awww! Rarity is growing as a character! Good for her, learning not pack a million bags

Rainbow Dash nearly killed herself eating berries: again, I feel like she should’ve learned to stop acting impulsively

Although, Dashie referring to herself as Scootaloo’s big sister is adorable, so she’s an adorable idiot if nothing else

FLYDERS ARE THE MOST TERRIFYING CONCEPT THE SHOW HAS COME UP WITH EVER END OF STORY

A very small detail I liked: the animators made Applebloom flick her tail to shoo away the bugs, which is a real thing horses do. I just like seeing the ponies be ponies sometimes, it’s cute

Sometimes I forget how good Sweetie’s getting with her magic. Most unicorns tend to only learn levitation and a few other spells related to their cutie marks. Sweetie is actually advanced for her age thanks to her lessons with Twilight

I repeat: Rainbow Dash, you adorable idiot. One minute she’s bragging about herself, the next she’s comforting Scootaloo. And then flying out into a storm of Flyders to grab their firepit. What a cute dummy

I find it adorable that Applejack needs to say that Rockhoof was the son of a farmer. It’s Applebloom who points out that that makes him just like them, but I think the fact that AJ brought it up at all means she likes that fact, too.

Excuse me while I go cry over The Perfect Pear again...

WOW THAT’S A PRETTY NORSE VILLAGE!!! And I love that they’re the type of warriors who laugh with each other when one of them nearly dies (well, fake dies, in practice, but that’s what they’re laughing at, that he would’ve been dead if that had been a real fight)

For those of you wondering, Rockhoof’s cutie mark is a Valknut, a Norse symbol. There’s scholarly debate as to what it’s meant to represent, but some believe it has relation to the god Odin:

“This is thought to symbolize the power of the god to bind and unbind, mentioned in the poems and elsewhere. Odin had the power to lay bonds upon the mind, so that men became helpless in battle, and he could also loosen the tensions of fear and strain by his gifts of battle-madness, intoxication, and inspiration.” (x)

You know what I really like? The outhouses. It’s such a small detail they didn’t need to put in---that Rockhoof dug ditches specifically for outhouses---but they did, and it makes the world feel that much more lived-in and real.

See? The devil is in the details with this episode! They crammed in quite a bit already

RAINBOW DASH YOU ADORABLE CHILD (she’s just as excited as the actual children, and that delights me to no end)

Applebloom has honestly never been more adorable to me as she was when she was excited about Rockhoof’s legend

Speaking of adorable, Rarity is such a sweetheart, comforting her sister when she’s upset. I also just really appreciate the way Tabitha St. Germain says the line “Even these blah rocks aren’t really blah!”

The reference back to A Royal Problem and Twily as a Ballerina tho

This episode lets us see the best side of Rarity, to quite honest. Seeing what she really defines as beauty and what she really values. Excellent execution of the idea that these stories are supposed to match the storyteller.

Which is why letting the townsfolk speak in Rockhoof’s would’ve been best, because you could’ve had the same thing with Applejack, and how she would do anything for her family and her town.

Also: I love that when Mistmane leaves for magic school, you can see Sable Spirit slide out of the crowd. It’s an obvious cue to the audience to pay attention to her, but also not too obvious

Mistmane’s magic school is eastern inspired, and that’s really cool. Now I’m thinking that these curved-horned ponies are the Eastern Unicorns we’ve heard about once or twice

Mage Meadowbrook was an Eastern Unicorn, according to Twilight in the season 5 premiere---which, by the way, is now false: Mage Meadowbrook’s design is an earth pony (Twi did say she hadn’t studied up on her...)---but Twilight says she hasn’t studied her, which I think implies that there are different kinds of magic all over the world, and that Twilight is in fact only a master of Western magic.

GOD, that background score is good. And again: BEAUTIFUL backgrounds, I love this misty mountain village so much

Applebloom giving her friends sass gives me life

I like that Sable Spirit wears a black veil. It’s very clear way to show she’s still insecure about her looks and bitter about it, despite the way Mistmane later openly embracing looking like an old mare

THE DRAGON BATTLE WITH THEIR MAGIC. DUDE. GUYS. GIRLS. NONBINARY PEOPLE. EVERYONE. THAT’S COOL AS HELL!

I wish the room was darker to show off the light, and throw colours onto Mistmane and Sable Spirit, but still, holy crap is that a cool way to show a magic duel

Okay: the background music when Mistmane makes her sacrifice? Absolutely gorgeous. I only wish they let it swell and be louder, it’s so freaking good. I would’ve cried if they did, I kid you not. It reminds me of Kung Fu Panda, which are beautiful composed movies with a basis in Chinese culture---and in those movies, I’ve cried in moments of personal growth and sacrifice because of the gorgeous swelling music. I think I read a comment from someone that said they did cry during Mistmane’s story, and I bet you anything it’s because they heard the background music that accentuates how beautiful that moment is

GOD, the more I watch this episode back for details, the more I love it...

Redemption is magic strikes again!

SCARED SCOOTALOO IS THE SINGLE MOST ADORABLE THING!!! I WANT TO PROTECT HER!!!

The Royal Legion existed before the Wonderbolts were founded, huh? Well, for those of you who need a refresher in Wonderbolts history: The E.U.P. Guard was created after Nightmare Moon was banished to protect Celestia and keep the peace. That means this story takes place at least a thousand years ago, which is important, because Ember’s dad Torch was there, and that, I think for the first time, sorta hints that dragons have long life-spans. Doesn’t quite confirm it, because this is currently still a legend, but still

I love that they’re flying through a storm when the dragons attack, and you can see lightning in the clouds beside them. The settings in this episode are killing it!

Is... is Flash Magnus voiced by the same guy who does Flash Sentry? That’s hilarious and I love that they did that

Consequently, the existence of pegasus legend named Flash Mangus seems to indicate that that might be where Flash Sentry’s parents got his name from.

OR: FLASH SENTRY IS FLASH MAGNUS, AND WAS TRAPPED IN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE WHEN IT WAS GONE FOR A THOUSAND YEARS ... I swear to god, if that’s true, I’ll laugh so hard that they managed to fix Flash Sentry’s non-character in a single swoop (he’s getting better in EQG, BUT STILL)

And let me be clear, they do seem to be bringing these heroes back for the finale, so my theory will probably be crushed... but then again... it could be confirmed. And I would die happily, having called the coolest twist in MLP history

Again, I REALLY love the use of the storm clouds, when we can only see the shadows of the dragons and Flash when the lightning strikes

Okay, so when Flash smiles smugly and it fades into RD’s same smug smile, it reminds me: I sort of have theory (besides the totally legit Flash is Flash theory) that it’s going to be revealed in the season finale that the Mane 6 are reincarnations of these heroes. They’re all long dead, and would need time travel to get to the future (*cough* STARSWIRL PLEASE SHOW UP *cough*), but wouldn’t it be cool as hell for these legendary ponies to fight alongside their reincarnations/the Mane 6? And yes, I know fans would rather these ponies stay myths, just so this world has fiction and mythology, but there can be a grain of truth in the myths, can’t there?

Also: there’s a joke where Rainbow Dash says she’s just like Flash Magnus, and they all laugh at her. Wouldn’t it be hilarious in hindsight if Rainbow was actually right?

Once again: RD is cuuuute (holding up Scootaloo, hugging her, telling her to be brave, and helping her down the river)

It’s seriously adorable to hear the girls so happy to camp with their sisters

Overall, this episode gets better the more details you really look into, and I only harp on it because it could be seriously amazing (even as it is, I really love it on the third watch through [I do a lot of watch-throughs for reviews]).

I think the experience is made richer if you’ve read the comics, especially because those comics are really good (some of the best MLP comics I’ve read in a long time), but if it didn’t quite land with you, I don’t think that’s the reason.

Season 7 is starting to kick some serious ass, by the way. Counting from A Royal Problem on, we’ve had episodes that range from good, to solid, to utter perfection. That’s 7 great episodes in a row, and next week sounds like it will only continue the trend! The last time we had a streak like this, in my opinion, was season 5.

Let’s see if this legendary streak will continue...

I’ve done other season 7 reviews here and MLP editorials here! Have the last three things I’ve done, to make it convenient for you:

SciTwi vs. Twilight, Fame and Misfortune Review, and Triple Threat Review

Year of the Pony

Special Thanks to Millennial Dan on Deviantart, who made the Microphone vector for the logo!

We Go Where No One Goes... The Jade Palace

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