Greetings everypony! Once again it seems as if this comic snuck up on us so apologies again for the review delay. But here we are at the third and final issue of The Storm of Zephyr Heights, a double-length issue encompassing what was originally going to be issues four and five. We're through the storm but is there a silver lining?
Let's fly through but watch out for spoilers!
We're back in Cloudsdale, overrun by Arkan Sonneys, which look a bit like the result of sticking a breezie and a hedgehog together in a genetic blender. Of course, the little "weet!" noises they make instead bring a different creature to mind.
"Weh?!"
Zipp, Pipp, and Sunny split up as they make their way to the Cloudsdale weather factory, intent on shutting it down before the storm destroys Zephyr Heights. Pipp distracts one mob of critters with her singing skills, while Sunny saves Zipp from another by opening up a conveniently placed smoothie shop.
That's probably a good piece of advice and one I intend to follow here.
Down below in Zephyr Heights, the storm has gotten so windy and cold that it's blown out the fires in the palace fireplaces. Luckily, Hitch is there to gather up all the evacuated ponies to the zeppelin Misty and Izzy spent last issue repairing and renovating. Unluckily, Hitch arrives to see the engine now in pieces--which just might be one of those things you need.
His expression just screams: "I was gone for ten minutes!"
There is something cute and comedic about Misty offering Hitch a paper bag to breathe into while saying "I'm sorry, little sheriff friend. There is engineering going on over here," and asking him to have his panic attack in the corner while they work, especially after how authoritative and in control he was when rounding up the ponies to bring down here.
Izzy and Misty have a very Tendi and Rutherford vibe going on this series. Still need to catch the last season of Lower Decks.
However, I'm sure there will be some fans who may be less charitably inclined. There's been some discourse that Hitch's personality from A New Generation has faced a bit of a downgrade over time; turning him into a panicky sitcom dad rather that the cool, largely collected figure he was in the original movie, which is far less interesting. It comes down to personal preferences, but I'd be lying if I said a good amount of Hitch's interactions with Sparky didn't feel a bit "been there, done that."
Still, our cute (if mad) engineers are on it, Misty holding the pieces in places while Izzy uni-cycles them together.
Izzy: "This is what I was born for! Crafting for our lives!"
For anyone else, I'd have questions. But seeing as it's Izzy...
Hitch is impressed with both of them, Misty cheerfully spouting some Star Trek and Doctor Who-inspired technobable involving chronotons, flux manifolds, inverting polarity and all that fun stuff to explain what she did (what, no multi-modal reflection sorting?). But it'll probably fly so that's what matters.
Back up in Cloudsdale, Pipp is still singing sonnets, Sunny is still slinging smoothies, and Zipp is stalled by squatting static sparrows.
Oh hey, look, a shiny Zapdos!
There's a giant lightning bird that's made a nest on the cloud machine and it very much doesn't wish to be disturbed.
The bird is soothed with the power of song, first by Pipp (via her phone) then by Zipp herself. This lets her move the nest outside and the thunderbirds are gone. This interaction comes on the heels of Zipp earlier declining to sing for the Arkan Sonneys, saying that she can sing but can't come up with a song on cue like Pipp can. Maybe this is meant to be a culmination to that, or maybe a demonstration of the lengths Zipp will go, stepping out of her comfort zones and the like--but this falls a little flat for me. She's sung in public many times and this song she's remembering doesn't seem to say anything about her.
Still, it got the job done, letting Zipp rush back in to turn off the cloud machine. And so the day is--not saved yet. The storm is already massive enough without further cloud additions. Worse luck, the zeppelin has taken off and is now in the middle of the storm, Hitch grimly warning his passengers of a bumpy ride--not least because it's time for the art shift.
Without missing a beat, we're in the second half of the issue; what was going to originally be the fifth issue. The art is now being handled by Andy Price, and right off the bat we're greeted with some extreme pony expressions courtesy of Misty who is helpfully providing Hitch with some piloting pointers. Chief among these are: fly the ship right side up and try not to get hit by lightning.
Up in Cloudsdale, Zipp and the others are watching this with growing concern.
That label...I wonder if the pegasi had an attitude problem to go with the altitude, or if Opaline used to be employed there. Also, can't you also get a shave and a haircut for two bits? Budumchi!
Zipp is reacting to the situation by channeling the spirit of Peter Parker and blaming herself for everything going wrong despite really not being responsible for it, as Pipp and Sunny try to point out to her.
But she's in the mindset that a queen is supposed to know what to do. It seems she's embraced Hopper's philosophy from A Bug's Life.
Something catches Zipp's eye mid-sentence and she rushes off. As Pipp observes when she and Sunny pursue, "whenever she gets a big idea, she just rushes off like that." That's a really good line and matches what we saw in A New Generation.
What did she see? She claims she got a sign.
The sign is a poster attached to a Wonderbolt Hall of Fame, which they enter. This might seem an oddly timed diversion given the zeppelin situation, but Zipp is likely hoping something will provide an answer. She comments that the Wonderbolts poster in the abandoned transit station in Zephyr Heights is what made her want to fly and what made her rescue Izzy and Sunny in the movie. As I mentioned in my review of the first issue, no, it really wasn't, but I'll overlook awkward dialogue in favor of more pressing story concerns.
We take a look around and see various Wonderbolt outfits in display cases, some with oxygen masks, as well as portraits of prominent Wonderbolts. We even get some name drops from Wonderbolt history taken straight from "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3."
General Firefly there looks very stubby and the Prussian-style pith helmet conjures up some less than pleasant connotations.
Part
of me wishes I could show every panel in the Wonderbolt museum, as
there are a ton of references and jokes. We see a wing dedicated to
airships that include a zeppelin that must've been used by Batman, a
pink submarine, Cherry Berry's heart-shaped helicopter, a Galileo-class shuttle craft from Star Trek TOS (also pink, because of course), as
well as a lot of photographs and paintings, like a ponified Goose from Top Gun.
As they look around, an increasingly frustrated Zipp just wants to know who the feather the Wonderbolts were...and like when she asked a question in the Cloudsdale library and received an answer from a holographic Flash Magnus last issue, her questions are answered this time by none other than--
DUN DUN DUN!
An interactive hologram of Rainbow Dash (R-AI-nbow Dashogram?) provides an overview of Wonderbolt history, largely from the aforementioned episode. She also mentions what their duties consisted of: protecting Equestria, delivering messages, and even controlling the weather, which ... I think that might be a bit of a "citation needed" moment considering the 'bolts track record with all three of those. Hopefully under Rainbow Dash's leadership things turned around for them.
Zipp immediately presses for details on weather control, considering the circumstances. The Dashogram explains that pegasi can interact with clouds and the weather thanks to their magic, as helpfully demonstrated in the negative by Applejack and Rarity.
Fluttershy: Better you than me. This time I actually remembered that I have wings!
Pegasi, by contrast, can choose to either stand comfortably on clouds or, if they focus and concentrate their magic, can use it to push on through and dissipate the cloud.
Zipp immediately takes this information and springs into action.
Pulling a Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond, she steals a Wonderbolt uniform from the
display ("Super important, historical, one-of-a-kind priceless uniforms"
as the display tells us, "Replica uniforms on sale! No need to take the
real ones!") and puts it on. Mad props to her for managing to pull on a
full-body, form-fitting spandex outfit on the run. That does not
look easy to do. Too bad she can't just utilize a Sailor Moon/Mummies Alive/Power Rangers-style transformation sequence.
It's boltin' time!
She resolves to be a Wonderbolt, save the day, and push right through--the last bit becoming her mantra. This is a fantastic image and is meant to be a realization of her imagination spot from last issue. There was a bit of a coloring mistake last time. It was meant to be Zipp in the foreground in a Wonderbolt outfit. But she was accidentally colored as Spitfire.
Zipp rushes off to fight the storm and save the zeppelin carrying her friends and more-or-less the entire population of Zephyr Height. Just in time too, as the rather battered craft is struck by lightning.
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed...
Luckily, Izzy springs into action with "Nopony You Knew" brand glue in her Trapster-pack (bonus points if you get that reference), though the Airplane cameo autopilot isn't up to the pressure (seriously, I adore Andy Price's visual gags and references).
Looking outside, they see Zipp pushing on through and bursting up the clouds. Seeing her in action, the entire ship begins chanting "Queen Zipp!" This prompts her to go from modeling herself on Rainbow Dash to pulling off a darn good Fluttershy impersonation.
Still, even with all her awesomeness, Zipp can't do this all on her own. Fortunately, she doesn't have to.
The sky cavalry!
Pipp and Sunny show up, also decked out in Wonderbolt uniforms (apparently not as "one of a kind" as the display case claimed) and chip in as well. They fight the storm with no small amount of style and panache. But a stray lightning strike takes out the zeppelin's helm and engines. So yeah, they're going down like the Enterprise when you put the ship's counselor at the steering wheel.
Hitch: Well, that's not good...does anypony still have that barf bag?
Sunny and Pipp try to grab the airship to slow it's descent, but they're not strong enough on their own and Sunny's once again been stricken with her "I-Forgot-I'm-An-Alicorn" Syndrome--though considering she's drawn without her horn, I suppose that's somewhat understandable.
Zipp races over as fast as she can but is too far away. She won't make it in time.
Zipp: Gotta go fast! Faster! Faster faster faster faster!
And much like Rainbow Dash was way back in a classic season one episode, Zipp is motivated, feeling everypony is depending on her and she can't (literally) let them down, and so...
Epic.
Yep, Zipp does a sonic rainboom, propelling herself forward and putting herself underneath the craft. She tries pushing it from beneath to try to slow and soften its descent despite warnings that being directly underneath a craft as it comes down is not where you ought to be.
Zipp: Supermare makes this horseapples look so easy...
Still, she's determined and through her and her friends' efforts, the zeppelin touches down intact, with everyone alright.
Well, mostly. Zipp herself passes out and wakes up a week later in the hospital, being fretted over by her returned mother.
Momma bear gonna suplex her baby back into bed.
Everypony came through it with nothing worse than some snowball bruises. The ice and snow is melting and Zephyr Heights is returning to (what passes for) normal. Cloudsdale, meanwhile, apparently has an anchor function which has been enabled so it won't just drift away.
Darn it, missed. Reload!
We cut to Pipp in the Wonderbolt Hall of Fame, looking for Zipp. She naturally went right back there as soon as she was out of the hospital. She's back at the hologram controls for the R-AI-nbow Dashogram, helpfully labeled with buttons for individual episodes (though some of them don't seem particularly Rainbow Dash-centric, but that's just my opinion).
There's a few episodes on that list I'd like to see be forgotten forever...
Finally, Zipp pulls up the final message and ... yeah. This is probably going to be the thing that gets discussed the most, judging by initial reactions on social media.
We see an older Rainbow Dash, the version we saw in the epilogue portion of "The Last Problem." Twilight is locking away the magic in the crystals, meaning pegasi will lose their flight. Rainbow Dash is making her goodbyes to the Wonderbolts, the museum, Cloudsdale, and her ability to fly all at once. It's a gut-wrenching three panel scene with the sun symbolically setting behind her.
Her message is addressed to the pegasi of the future, since she believes that one day the magic will return and pegasi will get their flight back, allowing them to find Cloudsdale again.
"It's your turn now. Bring back the Wonderbolts. You don't have to call them that, but what we did was important. The world needs us. Whoever you are, it's your turn to be awesome, okay?"
Shut up, I'm not crying, you're crying!
Zipp gives Pipp a wink and says she thinks she can handle that, ending the issue and the series as whole.
As you might expect, I have thoughts.
Thoughts. All of the Thoughts
The first half of this
issue was mostly a mix of comedy and action, leaning more towards
comedic action. You had the Cloudsdale trio trying to deal with various
critters who weren't really life-threatening so much as they were an
obstacle to get around. As Zipp joked, the worst the hedgehogs could do
would be to give the gals a rump full of quills. Unpleasant, but not
exactly life-threatening. The lightning bird nesting in the cloud
machine felt a bit redundant and only served as yet one more obstacle in
that same vein. The Zephyr Heights trio were working on the zeppelin
with the comedy coming from Hitch's panicky behavior or Izzy's
Izzy-ness. So there wasn't a whole lot story-wise or character-wise for
me to really sink my teeth into.
The
second half of the issue more than made up for that with lots of
dramatic action, including some comedic bits (largely sight gags) strewn
here and there, along with a lot more character exploration and mood.
The action was epically conveyed, as were the emotions. It really ran a gamut from desperate to hopeful, despair to determined, and gave us a lot to take in and enjoy.
Putting the two issues together I think was an unfortunate action, even if it was one beyond the creative team's control. Leaving aside the awkwardness of talking about the varying styles when I have a definite preference for one over the other (who's work can and should be appreciated in its own right) there were a few moments of apparent disconnect.
In the first half, the zeppelin is piloted
from an open deck while in the second half, it's an enclosed cabin. I think there might also have been a few notes missing as Sunny's alicorn form in the second half is lacking the unicorn horn and the wings appear solid, like a typical pegasi's rather than the more spectral-energy form Sunny usually has. There was also a traditional rabbit drawn, instead of a bunnycorn--that last one is not a complaint on my part, I think I prefer the regular rabbits rather than having everything be a raccoonicorn or bunnycorn or pegasnail.
There were a few moments artistically where things didn't quite match. For instance, these expressions here:
Your internal turmoil and self-guilt makes us happy, Zipp!
But now, let's get to the story.
I was very excited for this mini-series, as were a lot of fans, even beyond the grossly misleading solicitations that suggested this might be a full-on crossover between FiM and G5 (something else that was not the fault of the creative team). But even without that, I was excited since Zipp is my favorite of the G5 cast and this would prove to be a very character-centered series with elements promised from FiM.
Unlike other G5 miniseries, there were no new characters introduced that our Mane Six had to share the spotlight with, or whose backstories we had to learn and tease out over time. Ironically, despite the appearance of FiM characters like Flash Magnus or Rainbow Dash, this was a story all about the central cast of G5. Even Sparky was absent, allowing us to spend more time with the new Mane Six, above all Zipp--which is all the more welcome considering the end of G5.
Zipp's struggle this series was living up to the responsibilities of being queen. She didn't ask for this, doesn't especially want to be queen, but unlike a lot of Disney princesses, she isn't looking to shirk her responsibilities or get out of it. It's seen by her as the end of her freedom to act as she wants to, settling down, etc. something she's prepared to do someday--but preferably not today.
But since her mom gave her the task of being in charge, Zipp is determined not to let her or the ponies of Zephyr Heights down. Then everything gets dropped in her lap with the storm, the need to evacuate, Cloudsdale's re-emergence, etc. We see the burden she's under and she struggles between the thought that as queen, everything ultimately rests on her, and the need to have her friends step in and help. It's solid character-work.
Taking one for the kingdom!
Pipp is Zipp's emotional support and backup (as well as singing backup) and their sibling dynamic has also been really good this series. Sunny, despite her early role in the series in bringing up Cloudsdale and having a knowledge of pony history, seems to have more or less fallen by the wayside. By this issue, she was just another pony with wings to help fill out the team in Cloudsdale. Feels like there's some missed opportunities there, with her looking for historical answers or else providing them to help Zipp accomplish her goals.
Izzy and Misty played technical support, nicely foreshadowed early on by Pipp leaving them in the castle's craft room back in the first issue. Misty did a lot of heavy lifting (literally too) what with inspiring other ponies' ideas, getting the zeppelin to work, and giving Hitch piloting tips. Hitch seems to have played a bit more limited of a role, but I'd still prefer it to him just being the panicky dragon-dad.
The scenes in the Wonderbolt Hall of Fame were a nice treat for FiM fans, full of continuity nods and were treated with reverence by Sunny and Zipp, creating a bond between them and fans of FiM.
There are some critiques I could raise, some minor while others are more major. To start with the former: As I said earlier, the animal obstacles were not especially engaging, at least not when set against everything else going on. The titular storm of the series, I think, provided enough conflict that little was served by tossing in the lightning birds or the Arkan Sonneys.
At first glance, it seems to odd for Zipp to know who Rainbow Dash is, to respond with reverence and amazement at seeing the hologram of her, but not to know what a Wonderbolt was. It is a bit like being a massive fan and knowing everything about Barack Obama's life up to the point where he became president and being ignorant of the fact that he was president.
It might sound weird, but I think some explanations can be reasoned out. Rainbow Dash's best exploits generally came before she was ever made a Wonderbolt and I suspect she was mostly known to Sunny and Zipp as one of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight's friend, repeat-savior of Equestria, and all that. Her personal ambitions to become a Wonderbolt, I suppose, could have slipped through the cracks there--especially since it was established that a lot of information from that time was lost. It's arguably a bit thin as far as reasoning goes, but it's not insurmountable (it also dovetails my personal view that Rainbow's biggest and best achievements had nothing to do with her becoming a full Wonderbolt). Still, I'm trying to recall if Zipp ever mentioned knowing who Rainbow Dash was prior to this. Historical knowledge of the FiM era was more Sunny's bag than hers. It's not impossible that Zipp knew of Rainbow Dash and looked up to her, but I'm struggling to recall if that was ever established before this.
Something else that I know will be contentious will be Zipp pulling off a sonic rainboom herself. Typically, it's a dicey move to give a skill or trait that was associated with one character--possibly treated as being unique to that character--to another character entirely. It depends a lot on how it's done. I don't recall many fans being upset by Cheese Sandwich's "cheesy sense" impinging on Pinkie Pie and her "pinkie sense" (though that was addressed in the episode itself and was the whole reason why it was introduced) while giving Starlight Glimmer magical strength comparable to Twilight Sparkle led to a lot more blow back.
Everyone know what time it is? Duel time!
There's always a concern about undercutting what makes a character special or unique. For instance, I was a little nervous while watching the time-travel in the Season 5 premiere, "The Cutie Re-Mark" because I was half-afraid that they'd fix the constant sabotaging of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom by having Twilight or Starlight magically 'assist' her in doing the rainboom--undermining Rainbow's signature achievement. I was very glad that the episode didn't do that and it's consequently one of my favorite two-parters.
So, given my status as a huge fan of Rainbow Dash, I have to say--I don't really have an issue with Zipp being able to pull of a rainboom herself. Considering that we're in a new generation of ponies, given Zipp's nature and the story she was in, I think it works just fine. Also consider: the term sonic rainboom existed before Rainbow Dash; it was a legend before she even did it. Either she wasn't the first to do it--or it was some magical/mathematical theory that nopony have proved yet. That means it was possible for other (rare) ponies to perform--or she was the first one and will remain the first one. Regardless, I don't think is a deal breaker for me as a massive Rainbow Dash fan.
As a fan of Zipp, I'm more torn. While this was a massively cool moment for her and one I think she earned, I am a bit leery of casting her in the position as being the new Rainbow Dash.
He was right: that didn't end well for him.
But now we come to the final scene, Rainbow Dash's last message. This is the thing I've seen the most reaction to online and usually not in the positive. It's not hard to understand why. When folks learned that Twilight's Equestria eventually fell and gave way to the divided ponydom we saw in A New Generation, there was naturally push back from fans. The show had gotten its happily ever after and having that undone doesn't sit well. This also underscored a lot of fan resistance to the Star Wars sequel movies and the fate of Luke Skywalker. As a friend reminded me, this is also the reason why J.R.R. Tolkien abandoned his proposed sequel to The Lord of the Rings because undoing the happily ever the characters earned after everything they went through is just depressing if not infuriating. Whatever arguments can be made about happy endings and "realism" there's just as much that can be said about allowing escapist fantasies to end on a positive outcome even if it's not how things tend to play out in the real world.
It comes back to the age-old question of what's better: a self-contained story with a planned ending and nothing more beyond that; or an ever-ongoing story that has no planned ending and there are always more stories than can potentially be told. The former often has tighter, more consistent and arguably better writing but once it hits the end point, that's it. The latter tends to vary more in terms of quality but there's always more that can be added on--even if it means going well past a potentially good stopping point and undoing what came before. It comes ultimately all comes down to personal preference, really.
It's a beautifully drawn, tragic scene whose existence I just can't get behind.
For my part, I was willing to give G5 a chance and could mentally try to rationalize some things about the end of Twilight's reign and the downfall of old Equestria. The main thing was that since no timeline was provided, the fall could've happened centuries after her friends had passed. But this not only has Twilight's friends still being alive when the magic was sealed away, it has them appear exactly as they did in the epilogue portion of "The Last Problem." That gives the idea that within a relatively short amount of time following the closing of the book, things went to Tartarus in a hoof-basket.
Sorry Luster Dawn, guess your friendship journey got cut quite a bit short!
This information is not only depressing in the extreme, it also contradicts other information presented in G5. I had the impression that Opaline tried to take over Equestria and divide ponies but failed and was driven off. In response, Twilight put all the magic in the unity crystals but this did not mean ponies no longer had access to magic. They still did--until they divided, went their separate ways and ended all contact with each other; something that could've taken place long after Twilight's friends were gone. That's when the magic dried up. That's why bringing the ponies together, rather than just bringing the crystals together, is what restored the magic in the G5 movie.
From the second issue of the My Little Pony (G5) comic run.
But this has the creation of the crystals mean the instant sealing up of magic and the loss of the pegasi's ability to fly, all while Twilight's friends are still alive. I do not like this interpretation of events in the slightest. It is feels outright cruel to do this to the characters. It also paints Twilight's rule in very negative terms: Celestia and Luna ruled for however long (possibly centuries, possibly millennia before Luna became Nightmare Moon), then Celestia ruled on her own for a thousand years, but Twilight's shiny new reign lasted maybe thirty or so years before it all went to pot.
Different fans will naturally have different reactions. But I think the single biggest thing keeping many FiM fans from embracing G5 was that they simply could not get past the notion that Equestria fell under Twilight's reign and the happy ending to FiM was undone. As a result, they could not get onboard with G5, regardless of all the positives G5 had to offer. For my part, I was prepared to along and see how things played out, and I watched every bit of G5-related media and enjoyed quite a fair bit of it. Some things I could rationalize or see how they made some sense. But this to me is just too bitter a pill to swallow.
On top of this comes some more unfortunate, out of universe, realities that make this all the more wince-inducing. This is meant to be some passing of the torch from the old generation to the new--and it came out after G5 had already been cancelled. Again, this is not the fault of the comic creative staff but it does still sting.
Even leaving that aside, the mismatch of tones is a problem. Rainbow is heartbroken, somber, imploring--things we don't often see from her. And Zipp's reaction is kinda cocky or smug. That doesn't feel like an appropriate response to Rainbow's plea to not let their legacy end. A more appropriate response would be a more solemn promise from Zipp. I can get wanting to end things on a more upbeat note, but Zipp's response to the message just doesn't sit right with me.
I think it would've been better if Zipp had come back to the museum with the uniform after everything was said and done, turned on the R-AI-nbow Dashogram and just spoke to it like it was the real Rainbow Dash. Zipp said all the stuff she always wished she could say to the real Rainbow, the things she imagined saying as a filly when she dreamed of discovering a living Cloudsdale--and the Dashogram responds in a way that inspires Zipp to want to keep the uniform and rebuild the Wonderbolts. Maybe with the Dashogram winking or behaving in a way that leaves it just a little ambiguous if it's just a really well-crafted, interactive exhibit or if there's possibly something more.
Having said all that, I actually really enjoyed this issue and the series overall. While the ending note can unfortunately rub readers the wrong way (myself included) it's important to focus too so much on one page (even if it is the final one) that it makes you forget about the dozens that came before it.
This was a story about Zipp taking on a heavy responsibility and shouldering it with assistance from her friends, reconnecting with childhood dreams and living reality and how she navigated both. This had our G5 protagonists interact with elements from Friendship is Magic, even if it not in the form of a crossover that many had wanted. I consider this to be probably the best G5 comic miniseries, assisted by some truly memorable art and a story that wasn't afraid to dive into deep emotions. I still enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what other fans have to say about it.
