Disclaimer: Lessons filtered through heavy misinterpretation.

Sorry in retrospect for the massive comic. I still prefer the good ol’ three-panel standard, but I have it on dubious authority that if I use the same art style and format more than once, it might cause my heart to stop.

I recently got what is probably our most negative feedback response on EQD from last week’s “Look Me Up,” and it got me to consider perhaps discussing what Horse Power’s goal is, at least from a writing perspective. So, let’s, just for a second, dig into the Zen of Horse Power.

As soon as Project Horse Power began its planning, I made a point to read nearly every comic Equestria Daily posts to A) check out what I’m up against, and B) make sure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s joke toes. What I quickly found was that relatively few people were telling the kinds of jokes I wanted to tell, or at least not from the perspective I wanted to tell them. You had your recreations of scenes in other popular culture, your use of one show-joke in a different context, and your we-love-the-expanded-fan-universe-characters stories.

I, on the other hand, love pointing out and appreciating how weird the whole situation is.

Now, hold up. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. In fact, the weirdness is what makes it so intriguing. A toy company bought a TV network, brought back a franchise that once had all the elegant nuance of a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper, gave it to the right people to refresh it, respected the audience, and hit absurd internet demographic paydirt. If that isn’t the purest definition of insanity, I don’t know what is.

Yes, I’m saying you’re weird. Well, you probably are, I don’t know you personally. But I’m also saying I’m weird. I’m saying Hasbro’s weird. I’m saying the show’s weird. The fans, the memes, the conventions, and the whole bloody culture, weird. Magical. Crazy. Cute. Clever. Brilliant. And weird.

So when you read my comics, understand that I probably mean no offense. I just find the world around me to be funny, and I hope to share a slice of my perspective with you. MLP fandom is a wild ride. You certainly could take it seriously, but where’s the fun in that?

Except for shippers. They can rot for all I care.

GX

(Oh, and special thanks to Photos Public Domain and Northern Dancer for the textures.)