Review: The Elements of Harmony (The Official Guidebook to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
With the third season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic finished, Equestria Girls on the way (at least at the time of writing), and the fourth season still so far away, we all need some form of ponies to keep us chugging along. Or in my case, some form of ponies every 24 hours to prevent a coma. So that's why I got myself a copy of the new book "The Elements of Harmony," or as the inner page states "The Elements of Harmony: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: The Official Guidebook." If you don't feel like reading a long winded, rambling review then let me go ahead and say this: If you're a fan of the show, then you will enjoy this book and should go out and purchase a copy. Now if you feel like reading a long winded, rambling review written by someone who drinks 20 sodas a day, go somewhere else! This is 21 soda a day writer! So with that out of the way, let's take a closer look at "The Elements of Harmony".
Spoiler Warning: This review will be rather in depth, so if you wish to experience the book without anything revealed, please do not read any further!
Content
The book itself is 255 pages long (it stops counting at 255) and is quite jammed pack full of content. In fact, the the inner covers at the beginning and end of the book are completely covered with quotes from throughout the series. The quotes themselves are written in different colors and are sprawled about the pages in a sort of "yearbook" style writing; only much cleaner and easier to read. In addition, there are little bubbles scattered throughout the book that feature quotes and insight from the different staff members, as well as little boxes that contain all sorts of concept art.
The first few pages of the book were actually quite a bit of a surprise to me. These pages are the actual pages of "The Elements of Harmony" book that we've seen in the show. In the first episode "Friendship is Magic, Part 1" the images and narration at the beginning of the episode describe the conflict between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon. These pages contain a few select images from the introduction and the narration is written under each of the different images. So if you want to read like Twilight Sparkle in the first episode, now you can! And if you want to read like her in other episodes, you should probably prepare by drinking a pot of coffee.
Next, we reach the actual meat of the book. The delicious, papery flesh. The... um... cake beneath the frosting? *ahem* First up is an introduction by Supervising Director Jayson Thiessen and Story Editor Meghan McCarthy. Each one writes a one-page snippet, sharing a few thoughts on the series and some of the ideas found in the series. Both sections are interesting to read, especially for older fans who like to hear about the show from the people who have helped craft it.
Speaking of crafting the show, the next section is probably the part that most fans would be interested in. A foreword by the one and only Lauren Faust! This is a very nice read and to be honest, is part of what makes this book great to read. It's a very candid approach to childhood and imagination and the perception that adults have to imagination. There's no way for me to properly paraphrase this section, so I can only tuck this under the "Please Buy the Book and Read This Section Yourself" folder.
And to keep the flow of thought going: Speaking of reasons to buy the book and Lauren Faust, towards the middle of the book is an interview with her from February 2013. And sweet, buttery biscuits, this is probably the best part of the book. This interview contains so much interesting information about Faust's views on the show, production details, the lore, and even a mention of The Great and Powerful Trixie! Even though I warned of spoilers, I won't give away any more details of the interview. Well, except for this quote: "Nightmare Moon was effectively blasted by a giant friendship cannon..."
As for the rest of the book, the first chapters are a sort of Who's Who for the pony cast. The Mane 6 and other important ponies are given descriptions, while the other background ponies are simply given an image and a name. However, a few of the more prominent characters are also given a list of episode appearances, which is a nice touch. The characters are divided among the main characters, Ponyville residents, Canterlot residents, filly characters, other Equestria residents, animals, and villains/antagonists, so it does have a bit of an encyclopedia-ish feel. It's nice to see fan favorites like Dr. Hooves and DJ Pon-3 given character listings, however, there are some odd listings. Derpy (for obvious reasons) is not given a name or listing, just an image; the bullies from the episode "Sonic Rainboom" are listed as "Boy Bullies;" and there's a name tag for Ms. Harshwhinny, the Games Inspector, but Ms. Peachbottom is simply listed as "Crystal Empire Tourist."
There's a small section about the Elements of Harmony, but it's really more of a retelling of the first two episodes of the series, "Friendship is Magic, Parts 1 & 2". It's a quick, fun read that younger fans will probably enjoy more than older fans. Personally, it made me want to go watch the episodes again.
The next section is all about the different locations featured throughout the show, which contains a nice amount of details, as well as a healthy dose of concept art. Each description also references different episodes and the lore that was introduced in these episodes; The Fire of Friendship and Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns are just a few references.
A huge section of the book is an episode guide that details each episode from all three seasons. Each episode is given two pages, which includes an episode number, episode title, summary, a frame from the episode, and a character image related to the episode. If there was a friendship lesson in the episode, then the lesson is listed as a quote at the end of the page. The episode summaries can feel a bit abridged, since a decent amount of episode details are omitted. However, these omissions are more than likely only going to bother older fans like myself. For example, the summary skips over the fact that Twilight's magic hatched Spike's egg.
Following the episode guide is a song guide! Or is it song book? Song sheet? Setlist? Coming up with words is like... hard. Anyways, each song from the three seasons is given a title, episode appearance, credits, and lyrics. This part is a handy guide for those learning the lyrics to the songs and it's great to see some form of "official" song titles. I will admit though, it's going to be hard for me to unlearn and relearn the titles. For example, it's "Stitching It Together" and not "Art of the Dress."
Presentation
Starting with the cover of the book, I have to say that the book looks and feels good. It's a hardbound book designed to look just like the show's equivalent of "The Elements of Harmony." The book is surprisingly small in terms of dimensions; it's official listing is 6.2 x 8.5 inches. On the positive side though, there's a lot of details to be found just on the cover itself. There is a small My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic logo at the top of the cover and on the side binding. The rest of the cover is covered with a "gold" trimming and numerous "gems". A really neat detail is that on the back cover, there's a "crystal heart" embedded with gems representing all of the Elements of Harmony (except for Twilight's, unless the white gem in the center of the heart is hers. To be honest, I couldn't tell.)
As for the inside of the book, each page is very nicely designed with a clean feel; the paper itself is the high quality, glossy paper that you normally find in coffee table books. There's tons of art featured in the book and as I stated before, a decent amount of concept art that you might not have seen before. A lot of the vector art has been used before throughout different media, so a few of them might feel a little stale at this point. However, they are used appropriately, so it's very easy overlook this fact. There are only a few instances where the choice of art generally leaves me boggled and confused and dazed and other things that I don't have synonyms for. The Quarray Eel's image shows the creature popping out of an upside down house, instead of say, a cliff; Discord's art is missing his tail (I believe this problem was on the Season 2 DVD though); Princess Luna's character listing uses her Season 1 design, but the rest of the book uses her Season 2 design; and the listing for the episode "Boast Busters" features the Ursa Minor as being a solid green color. But these are the only "issues" I could find, so I dare say there aren't any major, deal-breaking errors to be found.
One neat detail I noticed was a color-coding found inside the episode guide. The Season 1 episodes are given a purple/pink color scheme, Season 2 features a blue color scheme, and Season 3 features a green color scheme. If you look at the book from the side opposite the binding, you can immediately tell where the episode guide is and which season is which, just by colors. Not only does this look nice, but it does add to the whole "guidebook" feel.
I did notice that at the end of the book, there are two blank pages with the left page containing the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic logo in the center of it. Now if I had to take a guess, this would make for a great autograph space. If this is the case, then this does make the book convention ready!
Final Thoughts
"The Elements of Harmony" is a surprisingly huge book that is well worth every penny. There is a large wealth of content to be found inside and it is all displayed in a clean and attractive manner. Younger fans will enjoy the character listings and episode summaries, while older fans will enjoy the staff commentaries, concept art, and of course, the interview with Lauren Faust. I offer a definite recommendation for anyone whose ever enjoyed the series. Otherwise, I hope the information I provided can help you decide whether or not you'd like to add it to your collection. If you have any questions, leave a comment or feel free to email me: thehighwatertrousers (at) gmail (dot) com.
