My Little Pony: Friends Forever Volume 5

My Little Pony Friends Forever TP #5

by Christina Rice, Ted Anderson, Jeremy Whitley

Twilight Sparkle looks to Big Mac to help her feel less stressed out. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy head to the Cloudsdale school reunion. Rarity has a genius idea to help the Cake’s business. And, Princess Luna tries to help Discord with his sleep problems. Collects issues #17–20.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Humor, Juvenile, Childrens, Middle Grade

104 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2015

About the author

Christina Rice is a writer, librarian, and archivist who was born and bred in the greater Los Angeles region. While majoring in film at Cal State Fullerton in the 1990s, she began collecting memorabilia relating to actress Ann Dvorak which eventually lead her to document Dvorak's life, launch www.anndvorak.com, and ultimately write Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel (University Press of Kentucky, 2013). After obtaining an MLIS from San Jose State University in 2004, she began a career as a librarian with the Los Angeles Public Library the following year. Since 2009, she has overseen the library’s historic photo collection. In addition to authoring books on Ann Dvorak and Jane Russell, she has also written numerous issues of the My Little Pony comic book series (IDW Publishing) and was a contributor to the Eisen-nominated anthologies Femme Magnifique (Black Crown, 2018) and Where We Live (Image Comics, 2018). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov, their daughter, and two adorable dogs. 

Reviews

[Samantha Clysdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really like twilight sparkle and rarity stories.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun issue with a lot of good comics, but none that really stood out as being absolutely amazing.

[Beatrice Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A format which I really like. Taking 2 characters from the show and pairing them together for a story. Not revolutionary but really opens up the plots for some new ideas for they are usually pairing one of the main (mane) group with a recurring smaller character...or else just having two of the common characters you don't often see paired together have the spotlight. It works, this gimmick. Works well. In this issue, there are 4 such short stories. The thing I like most about it is the art pages in between the stories. Very well done, some abstract and some tangible. The stories themselves as you'd expect are a mixed bag. The first is Twilight Sparkle and Big Mac. Big Mac is one of the few male characters in the world and seldom speaks. This one is a treat as it gives you multiple mac personalities. An interesting thing about these graphic novels is that they give you a lot more range of emotion than the show. There are so many panels to fill so they fill them with a wider range of expressions. Minor characters especially that are want to be the same all the time finally get to shine. The first story is fun and 4 star as Twilight helps Mac with an issue by going into his head and finding all the different personalities of Mac. The second pairing is Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy going to a reunion of flying school where Fluttershy fears the bullies of her past. Very nice pairing and nice ending. A nice 5 star story. Then we have a typical everyday Rarity story. Nothing different at all. She is paired with The Cakes, foprming a new business and as always goes wild out of control and doesn't listen to anyone and has other people bail her out. Two star, very typical and bland. The fourth story is one from Discord and Princess Luna, two very cool and extreme minor characters showing Luna helping DIscord diagnose a problem of his. It's very wordy actually and very talky. The two visit typical weird manifestations of discord....problem being everything from him is so random that nothing is surprising. THey open a series of doors, each one is a common movie or TV trope using the other characters. This is a thing I'm seeing more often and it speaks of very bored (and unimaginative) writers. Yes you can use things to inspire you but doing flat out spoofs of things when you aren't really a spoof is just out of place and leaves you feeling something is lame. The ending is very nice though as this unlikely pair become unlikely friends. 3 Star. So this whole volume gets a 3 star. As mentioned the art in between is really wonderful especially the ones with Luna and Discord.

[Chloe Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It started out ok but then it got really good!! It reminded me of the show and I could imagine their voices talking to me. Fun!

[Farhana Faruq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. These are four different stories (comic style). My favorite was Twilight Sparkle and Big Mac. Love the illustrations.

[mykittyquest17 · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

A group of four my little pony short stories. I had a lot of fun reading this, and I continue to thoroughly enjoy this series.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my introduction to the "Friends Forever" series, and I like the concept a lot. Put two characters together who don't normally have much to do with each other and see what happens.

The Twilight Sparkle and Big Mac story was notable because it showed Big Mac as a more complex character than we think, while Rarity and Mr. and Mrs. Cake was in many ways a typical Rarity story. The Discord and Princess Luna story was kind of touching.

The Rainbow Dash-Flutter Shy story was about dealing with the past as a victim of bullying. The artwork in this story had a Spike Jones-like quality. Otherwise the artwork in this book was more consistent than in the "Friendship is Magic" omnibus volume 2. However, the omnibuses are longer and in that respect a better value.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's Luna and Discord story is probably my favorite Discord story so far, and Luna is the best, as usual.

[Olesya · Rating 5 out of 5]

These never fail to put a smile on my face. This collection had pretty great and sweet stories, but Twilight/Big Mac and Luna/Discord were the highlights for me.