No, your eyes do not deceive you. International travel set me pretty far behind the comic release schedule and so I'm running to catch up. So let's take a look back at the Kenbucky Roller Derby.
The mini-series keeps on a-rolling as we get a look into Tracy Tailspin's history and how the Kenbucky Roller Derby forced her retirement. The results are... not what I expected. Let's look things over and see what this story says about mentors and their role in a story.
Art
We have a mid-series substitution! Artist Kate Sherron is stepping in for Natalie Haines to illustrate this extended flashback. Last time I recall seeing her was in Camp Bighoof, where colorist Reggie Graham augmented Sherron's style with some wild colors to create surreal visuals. This time, Sherron is working with colorist Heather Breckel, who has a more realist approach. At least, as realist as pastel colored horses can go.
Thus, Sherron's art is open to reinterpretation, especially her choice of shapes. Breaking a subject down into basic shapes is one of the earliest lessons an artist receives, and Sherron seems to lean into this pretty hard with MLP. In particular, she places a heavy emphasis on triangles.
That's not to say that the artwork is basic. Just that the foundational shapes are very emphasized. Maybe for a young audience? I'm not sure. The other noticeable trait is to shrink a character's pupils to indicate surprise or fear or anger... well, too many emotions and too many times. Combine that with the exaggerated shapes and it t winds up making several characters look downright insane.
With this change, I was concerned about the character designs for this flashback. Camp Bighoof featured a large array of characters with simple designs, but no names and if I had to guess at their personalities I'd come up pretty blank. Given that I spent the last two issues praising the character designs in this mini-series, I wasn't sure what to expect. Thankfully, it seems like the creative team worked out everything in advance. The Dynamites all have distinct designs that doesn't just help tell them apart, but hints at their respective personalities. There isn't a lot of time to explore their individual personalities, but this hint makes it feel like the staff invested the time to figure things out and base a design around them.
Contrast that with something like the announcer ponies. The designs are fun–especially that mustache–but far less information in terms of personality. Unlike the Dynamites, they're not central to the story so it makes sense not to spend a lot of energy into their own looks. Yet there's one design choice that confuses me. The crowd for the Derby seem to be dressed in their Sunday bests, with flowers and ribbons. This is far from the crowd I'd expect at a roller derby.
Truth be told, these look more like the race fans from "My Fair Lady."
But then again, maybe it's a classy kind of violent.
Synopsis
The team continues to prepare for the big race but Tracy, as team coach,
orders that everyone rest. Which prompts Hitch to ask about the
dynamite charm Tracy keeps with her prized whistle. Tracy describes it
as a personal albatross and reminder of past mistakes.
She explains that she used to be pat of the Dazzelbrook Dynamites. Alongside Wyld Oats, Fizzy Fierce, Gal-Up, best friend Sugar-Cubed, and Foal Throttle, they were nine-time Kenbucky Roller Derby champions. But when Captain Whinny Streak announced his retirement for... reasons, everything changed.
Tracy became more isolated from the team. Taking on added pressure to create new maneuvers and train the team to take home that tenth championship. She kept pushing the team harder and harder without taking part the practice herself, and the pressure to succeed kept mounting until she hit a mental breakdown.
Her breaking point came when the lucky dynamite charm went missing, and she called Whinny Streak in a panic. It's Whinny's words who get Tracy to Realize her mistake throughout the season. As a form of apology, she volunteers to race in the opening around alone. While Tracy enjoys some star moments, she's not able to overcome an entire opposing team and thus the Dynamites are knocked out in the first round.
While she is highly apologetic, the team acknowledges the all felt the pressure to win and none of them hold a grudge. But Tracy needed time to get her head on straight, so she decided to retire. She declares that her main enjoyment is helping others reach their potential and much prefers being a coach to a captain. And she's proud to see the start of a new legend in Sunny's team.
Review
Huh... That happened.
I mean... it's not a bad story but given Tracey's freak-outs I thought it would be darker or more scarring. She certainly set the stage when she invoked "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
"Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."
Or perhaps writer Amy Chase is a fan of Monty Python.
Now, the ultimate lesson of this comic seems to be that we remember our mistakes and shortcomings far more harshly than the world around us. Yet it's not so much that I want Tracey to be hugely damaged as I find that a story is often enhanced when the mentor figure has something to either gain or reclaim. Because everyone is on their own hero's journey and it's nice to see those goals fulfilled.
By comparison, Tracey's history is pretty tame. Her team were nine-time champions, so the goal of victory was never out of reach. All of the team reconciled with her after the race and agreed they all felt the pressure to win, so there were no fractured friendships or grudges. I will point out what no pony else did: with one captain retiring and another serving as a captain off the track, they really should have brought on a new team member. It would be interesting if the rookie of that year was now the captain of the Slammers.
I also think her solo act of penance is well-intentioned, but poorly timed. Better to step back out on the track with her team and try to reclaim their teamwork rather than absorb a loss alone.
However, these tragic pasts are not a requirement for a mentor figure–sometimes called a reflection character. To quote author Michael Hague: "In real life, the reflection character is one, who, no matter how difficult or painful, offers honesty, loyalty and real friendship. He helps the hero reach his goal by making him accountable”.
Honesty and loyalty in a character who routinely invokes the Apple family with "Eeyups" and "sugarcubes", but also throws in a little bit of Rainbow Dash's confidence and speed. I think backstory, plus her interactions with Sunny, have demonstrated these aspects. Yet accountability is one of the key aspects. Let's consider that in issue #1, she helped Sunny regain her confidence and love of skating, but wouldn't train her on the basics unless she could recruit a full team. In issue #2, we had a fake fall-out between them when she learned that they'd signed up for the Derby, and Tracey called Sunny out on her decision. She also reigns in Zipp's desire to skip resting in favor of training, thus looking out for the team's health. So I think she's doing a pretty good job in that respect.
I'll now quote Christopher Vogler an his book, "The Writer's Journey".
“Mentors provide heroes with motivation, inspiration, guidance, training, and gifts for the journey. Every hero is guided by something, and a story without some acknowledgement of this energy is incomplete. Whether expressed as an actual character or as an internalized code of behavior, the Mentor archetype is a powerful tool at the writer’s command.”
What's missing in these more frustrating example is that the sense of motivation, inspiration, guidance, and gifts are missing. Even training is dubious as characters like Rey seem to learn without the aid of a mentor. One can argue that the Force is her direct mentor, but then what's the point of reintroducing a broken Luke Skywalker?
Now to bring it back to Tracey. It seems that Sunny's competitive spirit is providing enough motivation. Yet Tracey is the one who reignites her passion for the skating and training, plus an upgraded skating rink that offers extra inspiration.
All of this is a roundabout way of figuring out what makes for a true mentor, and I think that Tracy–tragic backstory or no–fulfills the role. There is one other element to her backstory that I appreciate: the realization that she loves being a team coach over a team leader. It's amazing how often in American culture we emphasize striving to be the leader. I saw this on the side of an elementary school. "Leadership starts here."
We've created this strange idea that leadership should be the end goal and any other position is inferior. In truth, a leader is nothing without a supportive and skilled team to support them. Something this story drives home. So I'm glad they emphasize avoiding taking on a role that doesn't suit you.
Plus, there are a few skating puns here and there, like "We'll wheely miss you!" I'm a sucker for any sort of pun-tification.
We've got two issue left in this series, so let's see how the final conflict takes shape. I'm Silver Quill, thanks for reading!
