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Batbrony

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Good afternoon, everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"! Sorry I'm a bit later than usual, but I was just starving and had to get some lunch after the new episode. Well now... that seriously just happened. :o And, I'm not gonna lie, it was kinda perfect. This was something else, really, even by this show's standards. A day we've all been waiting for for a long, long, LONG time has finally come, and quite frankly, in true DHX fashion, they did it better than really I think any of us could've hoped for. Got a lot to cover with this one, so without further ado, this is "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

 

So given how much happened in this episode (and trust me, there was A LOT), I'm gonna change things up and review the three acts of this episode, before moving on to more miscellaneous items. I just feel it'll be easiest to organize it that way. Starting things off, we had the CMC resolving yet again, after a brief moment of doubt, to keep working to earn their cutie marks, until good ol' Pipsqueak (still best #1 fan of Princess Luna, I might add) showed up seeking their help for his campaign for student council president against Diamond Tiara. This of course leads into the election itself, which lasts about 5 minutes (most of that being a musical number), and results in Pipsqueak blowing out Diamond in a landslide, because it seems for once that all the other fillies and colts in Ponyville (and even Silver Spoon and Miss Cheerilee, GO CHEERILEE! :ph34r:) are sick and tired of Diamond Tiara's usual bull crap and attitude and actually calling her out on it. Quite frankly, I can't blame them, as she was in rare form even by her standards in those first few minutes; she was basically a combination of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and every corrupt politician in Chicago (which is all of them), and basically did everything you should never do to win an election (at least in ponies faces, I mean, subtlety thy name is not Diamond Tiara :derp:). Anyways, this was probably the most standard section of the episode, nothing really spectacular happened here aside from nicely setting up the rest, but there were still some nice things about it. There were some nice nods to continuity in their mentioning both Tirek and Discord's attacks in Ponyville, the two opening songs were nice, Pipsqueak is adorable as ever (and I seriously did not remember him being that tiny, HE'S SO CUTE!!! :D), Diamond Tiara got a really satisfying comeuppance, but perhaps most importantly of all, this was all that the episode description was about. This impressed me, in hindsight. The episode description made it sound like the entire episode was going to revolve around the election, and going in I kinda assumed that at some point Diamond Tiara would blackmail the CMC or something into helping her. So imagine my surprise when that was all done 5 minutes in.

 


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A vote for Pip is a vote for adorableness

 

 

 

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Um, why exactly is super strength that everypony knows about something to be self conscious about, again? GIRL, YOUR TALENT IS TO BE A SUPERHERO, THAT'S BUCKING AWESOME!!!

:D

 

 

 

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Best... campaign poster... EVER!!! Well done Dinky, you're making your mom proud

 


This leads us to the second act of this episode, where it quickly started becoming apparent that this was no ordinary episode. No, it seemed that the CMC finally mustered up the courage and resolve to try and help out their longtime archnemesis, Diamond Tiara. Turns out, well, her life kinda sucks (material wealth not withstanding). We'd met her father before, but aside from being a neglectful parent, he didn't really explain her behavior; Filthy Rich, from what we've seen, while again being a neglectful parent and a bit too preoccupied with his business affairs, is all around a cool guy. He's a local whose family has been in Ponyville for a long time, he seems to get along just fine with all his neighbors, and an important fixture in Ponyville's community overall. No, no, apparently, as this episode taught us, Diamond Tiara's special brand of awful comes from her mother, Spoiled Rich. Oh goodness, Spoiled Rich, where do I even begin? This is one of the nastier minor antagonists this show has ever had. We've seen some snobbish Canterlot nobility in the past, but nothing quite like this. She was literally talking the whole episode about looking down on their "social inferiors," and when she wasn't doing that, she was blatantly emotionally abusing Diamond Tiara. It was taken so far, in fact, that I can't help but have some minor issues with it. The biggest reason I don't necessarily buy her behavior is because frankly I don't know how Filthy would've gotten with her in the first place, unless it was an arranged marriage. :huh: He just doesn't seem like the kinda guy, from what we've seen, who'd put up with someone like that, especially if she treated their daughter that way too. Minor quibble, though, for the most part I bought her, even if she was just a tad over-the-top in her awfulness. The message still hit home that oftentimes kids are bad or mean and nasty because of the environment they grow up in and what their parents are like, and it definitely helped paint Diamond Tiara in a whole new light quickly. You felt for her just like the CMC did (though quite frankly I'm a bit surprised that in a town as small as Ponyville, they'd never seen her mom before this episode), and they quickly decided to try to aid her in any way they could after it turned out that she really doesn't know what she's really good at, and is very self-conscious about it. This is a HUGE point in the episode, vastly important. You see, at the start they were happy to help Pipsqueak, but they also thought it'd be a good chance to get their cutie marks too. Obviously that didn't work out. However, when they decided to help Diamond Tiara, their mortal nemesis, more or less, they didn't mention their cutie marks at all. They just wanted to try to be good fillies and maybe friends with her, reach out to her when no one else, including Silver Spoon, would. It was a selfless act, and one without any intent to get their cutie marks. It also illustrated nicely how much all three have grown since they first befriended each other; they still cared about getting their cutie marks, but this season especially they've cared more so about helping others for its own sake, especially those who, like them, didn't understand their special talents.

 


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Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, friendship!!!

 

 

 

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That moment they introduce a character worse than DT. Yeahhhhhhh, this b*tch was just the worst. How bad? She made me feel sorry for Diamond Tiara in 10 seconds flat after being introduced, I think that says everything you need to know.

 

 

 

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Bon Bon, honey, I know you apparently must have some money given how much we see you in Canterlot (and hey, I'm sure being a spy has all sorts of nice employment benefits), but you SERIOUSLY need to reconsider who you're hanging around with in your off time besides Lyra!

 


Anyways, their attempts to befriend Diamond Tiara make some headway, ever so slowly, but things are almost all put to ruin when it turns out that Pipsqueak can't get the money to refurbish the elementary school's playground, and Diamond Tiara sees an opportunity to take back the student council presidency and go back to her old ways. Thankfully, however, the CMC talk her out of it through song (in a very impressively choreographed sequence, if I do say so myself, the music and the running chase scene went very nicely together and complemented each other well), and she chooses to try a different path. She chastises her mother and discovers that her special talent turns out to be getting ponies to do what she wants (which can manifest in a very nasty way, obviously), but in this case, when she was acting more positive, it turned into positive leadership. She was able to get the funds and labor to make their new playground a reality, and I thought that was a very cool spin on her talent and showing how talents can both be good and bad things depending on how we use them, because technically she still utilized it before, just in very, very nasty ways. In the process, she reconciled with Silver Spoon and her classmates, and ended up making some new friends and taking her first steps in the right direction. This is another minor point of complaint of mine, but her turn at the end was a bit abrupt for me. Not her doing the right thing, no, just how well she did it. It was like she was just a complete polar opposite self, and given the fast pace at times of the episode, that was just a tad bit jarring. However, for the most part it worked I thought, and like I said, I only have a minor, minor, minor complaint about it in that one scene.

 


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I won't lie, I didn't cry, but I wanted to SO BADLY!!!

:rarity:

 


This, of course, leads us into the last act. Oh my, the last act. That was... wow, that was just wow. They got 'em. What else can I really say, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, after 5 seasons of trying their hardest to get their cutie marks, finally got them. It was kinda perfect, like I said earlier. They weren't trying to go them, they weren't doing the most ludicrous thing they could think of, they were just being great friends and doing what they've truly become good at, helping another figure out what their special talent is. That is really kinda perfect for their special talent, and it was set up quite nicely this season especially (but also in seasons past in episodes like "One Bad Apple"). On top of that, it really was perfect too that they got their cutie marks all at once. I think there was a window in earlier seasons where it would've made sense if they got them one at a time, but at this point, when they have grown so close to each other, they really needed to get them all together at the same time. It just makes perfect sense and was really the best way to handle it. And finally, the payoff itself was perfect. The whole town celebrated alongside those three. First their classmates, including new friends Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, along with their beloved teacher Miss Cheerilee, then the townsfolk (including my beloved Derpy, who I might add was one of the first ponies in town to happily spot their cutie marks :muffins:), and finally the Mane 6, including their sisters/sister figures. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack all had lovely moments with the CMC, my personal favorite being Applejack's simply because she actually mentioned their dead parents and confirmed very explicitly that they're no long with them. Yes it'd been confirmed by the writers before, but never did I imagine they'd be so explicit about it, and it was done very tastefully and had a very emotional impact, if I do say so myself. Applejack's not just a sister or sister figure for Apple Bloom like Rarity and Rainbow Dash are, she's also a mother figure for Apple Bloom, so it was just too lovely getting to see her celebrate Apple Bloom's achievement. The moment was perfect, the closing scene was perfect, the music was perfect, the celebration was perfect, the call backs to previous episodes with them were perfect, the whole closing act of this episode was just perfect and exactly what Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo deserved after getting their cutie marks. A whole new road is now open for them, and they can focus from now on on cultivating their special talents and helping other ponies who are struggling like they did for such a long time figure out what their special talents are.

 


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Well... that's basically all I got. A few minor notes before we close this review. I've only watched it once so far, so don't have any of the song titles memorized or anything, but I was very impressed by all the music here. It was lovely, nicely spaced, fit the younger characters starring in this episode very, very well, and probably the most music we've had in a single episode since "Magical Mystery Cure" back in Season 3. The whole pace of the episode for the most part worked well too, with again just a couple of minor nitpicks from me in certain spots. The animation as always was lovely, and I very much adore the Cutie Mark Crusaders' cutie marks, the color schemes and patterns just work perfectly and it's too lovely that they all resemble each other, just simply perfect for them. There wasn't a lot of humor by the show's normal standards, but that's very understandable here given how much was going on and how serious the issues at hand here were. All in all, this is probably... yeah, I'm gonna say it, this is the Cutie Mark Crusaders' best episode to date, and it was simply the perfect way for them to get their cutie marks and mark the actual 5th anniversary of the show (not to mention it was very nice that they let Amy Keating Rogers, who left the show after they'd wrapped up production this season, write this episode). It's weird to say you're proud of fictional characters, but quite frankly I can't help it, I'm proud of all three of them, and I tip my hat to DHX on a smashing job well done. Congratulations Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, you finally did it. You... did... it, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for all three of you!

 

Until next time, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

 


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"It's weird to say you're proud of fictional characters, but quite frankly I can't help it, I'm proud of all three of them"

 

I agree with you! I am sure that everypony and brony is proud of them.

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