Make Your Mark Chapter 6 Discussion

[Princess Sunny 61]

But yeah, know how hard it can be for something to not turn out exactly like you wanted and I empathize, because I used to have a hard time accepting that as well when it happened. And I can understand all your disappointments with G5; it's just I think that if you just went with the flow a little more you'd be a lot less unhappy about it is all. 

[Casey Pones 82]

5 minutes ago, Princess Sunny said:

@EccentricGentleman  Hmm...maybe the reason why a lot of G4 fans are ok with G5 is because they don't nit-pick like people like you do. I think I already made it clear that at first I didn't like G5's new storyline and format, but now I actually have gotten into it and now I like it. But what I really don't like seeing from a lot of other G4 bronies is entitlement, them being upset that their "perfect" format with Friendship Is Magic wasn't continued and feeling like Hasbro "owed" them that. Frankly I would have liked it if Friendship Is Magic continued forever too but the fact of the matter is that Hasbro wanted to do something different with the new generation; in the past they've always done that with each generation, made it unique from all the others, so they did that again here. So even though I didn't wind up with EXACTLY what I wanted (and was even at first upset with it), I adapted and went with the flow, and eventually accepted it, and then learned to like it even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted. The point is, all good things come to an end. Friendship Is Magic was never destined to continue forever; nothing is, realistically. Who knows; maybe if it had, and FIM had lasted for, say, 40 years instead of just 10, adult and kid fans BOTH might have gotten bored with it after a while and nobody would have wanted to watch it at all, because it would be the same thing over and over again. Even something exceptionally good just repeating itself over and over and over again would get tiring after a while, realistically. Maybe even you would have gotten bored with it too; who knows? At least with this, we have something new. Look-I know not everyone can do what I do and adapt and learn to like something even if it isn't exactly what they want. I understand how disappointing that can feel. But when you really think about it we have to adapt to stuff throughout daily life all the time when it doesn't turn out the way we wanted. The same can be true with entertainment. I just found out that GiJoe Retaliation isn't going to have a sequel to show everything ends well, and instead Hasbro is going to do a re-boot. I was very disappointed about that. But I'm looking forward to whatever Hasbro has in store with that. Once again, I adapted. Sometimes I think people like you would be much more happy if they adapted with everything that didn't go the way they wanted and embraced it instead of fussing about how they WANTED it to be. Like, realistically, you can't always have everything be the way you want it all the time. That's just part of life. It's part of being human. Like-ok-I know this new generation isn't perfect, and there are problems with it. But I don't think it's ALL bad. That's just my opinion. 

 

This has nothing to do with entitlement, I don't believe Hasbro owes me anything. MLP FIM was intended to be a generic show and sell toys to little girls. But the writers, actors and artists went far beyond that and created something of real quality and a surprising attention to the show's established lore. Is it entitlement if you have your expectations raised by people who actually care about their craft or to complain when the continuity errors pile up?

I don't have a problem with a new format for the new show, FIM taught kids how to function with people in their own society, idea of teaching kid how to function with people from other cultures sounds like a good way to take the show to the new level. My problem is the overall dip in quality from it's predecessor and it's own short comings.

I know people can't have things their own way, probably better then you frankly, but that doesn't excuse artists from not making an effort. Indeed I was just saying the overall quality of entertainment coming out of Hollywood feels like it's been in decline for 20 years now and recently hit a low point. And yet the big studios keep making bank out of bad quality, perhaps because some just seem happy to watch anything. MLP FIM was a rare exception, especially for a toy-based show. 

So yes I am upset by the way these new people have mangled what could have been a worththy successor. And that I am called entitled because I dare to complain.

14 minutes ago, Princess Sunny said:

But yeah, know how hard it can be for something to not turn out exactly like you wanted and I empathize, because I used to have a hard time accepting that as well when it happened. And I can understand all your disappointments with G5; it's just I think that if you just went with the flow a little more you'd be a lot less unhappy about it is all. 

If we are to go with the flow, Hollywood will continue to drag the artform into the mud and make nothing but garbage. I get what you're saying but I don't want to be one of those people who went mad for Rise of Skywalker just because they brought back the emperor.

[Felis Amafeles 790]

I thought The chapter 6 of Make Your Mark was pretty well made. At the same time I feel sorry for the state of Make Your Mark.
Hasbro has amassed so many resources to make more 3DCG My Little Pony , and make the world of G5 more interesting. Yet they stopped.
3DCG can express a completely different look from 2D animation, which gives the artists and writers different possibilities.
I'd hate to see these resources left on old hard drives to be forgotten...

[Princess Sunny 61]

@EccentricGentleman To be honest with you, yes I agree the three sequel Star Wars movies were bad, but I just enjoyed getting to go to a Star Wars movie again after such a long time, so I enjoyed those movies more than most fans probably did. Also now that you've fully expressed your frustrations with G5, and the lack of effort in some respects, yeah, I can better understand your point of view. However, despite these shortcomings, I still enjoy it anyway, just because it's My Little Pony, and I enjoy anything and everything My Little Pony, even the bad stuff. Also one other thing, I'm sorry if I berated you a little bit about your opinion on G5. That was wrong of me and I'm sorry. I kind of didn't know where your complaints were coming from and mistakenly thought you were just picking G5 apart and being nitpicky, but I see now that your disappointments with it do come from valid places and that the the things you said were wrong with it are in fact real genuine issues. But anyway, as far as this new generation, let's just see what happens. I think I'll enjoy it no matter what happens with it. I really wish everyone else who doesn't like G5 could do that too, so they could enjoy it the way I am, so they wouldn't be disappointed. 

Edited February 15 by Princess Sunny

[Princess Sunny 61]

@Props Valroa Yeah those are all valid points. I can still enjoy it anyway, though. About half of the fanbase seems to like it and half seems to dislike it. For those that don't enjoy it I am sorry. I wish this generation could be the way they wanted. I really do. Just so they would be able to enjoy it too. Like, I don't just want people like me who enjoy everything MLP to enjoy it. I want EVERYONE in the fanbase to be able to enjoy it.

Edited February 15 by Princess Sunny

[Princess Sunny 61]

@Props Valroa I completely agree that as far as MLP generations go G4 is absolutely GOAT. G5 isn't as good and has some flaws but I'm very thankful I can still enjoy it. I've been a fan of MLP since I was 24 years old and that was back when G4 was (at the time) the current generation. I also like the earlier generations like G1 and G2 but yeah nothing can top G4. At least, not yet. We'll see over time how G5 turns out. But likely no nothing will be a good as G4 was, as much as I will like future generations of MLP. 

[Steve Piranha 29,414]

27 minutes ago, Princess Sunny said:

@Props Valroa I completely agree that as far as MLP generations go G4 is absolutely GOAT. G5 isn't as good and has some flaws but I'm very thankful I can still enjoy it. I've been a fan of MLP since I was 24 years old and that was back when G4 was (at the time) the current generation. I also like the earlier generations like G1 and G2 but yeah nothing can top G4. At least, not yet. We'll see over time how G5 turns out. But likely no nothing will be a good as G4 was, as much as I will like future generations of MLP. 

That’s a mistake a lot of bronies made, expecting the second coming of G4. I on the other hand, I’m happy G5 is a sequel, and kept its quality about 7/10. Not the best of the best, but it’s good enough to be something to look forward, even though the G4 expansion is slow

[Princess Sunny 61]

@Steve Piranha Interestingly, according to early MLP A New Generation concept art, A New Generation was supposed to be a reboot of G4, but I guess Hasbro decided to go with having a new story and new characters. Seriously, though, I'm not kidding. They had new designs for Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash and everyone.

[Felis Amafeles 790]

23 minutes ago, Princess Sunny said:

reboot of G4

That would be the hardest job 

Edited February 16 by Felis Amafeles

[Casey Pones 82]

4 hours ago, Princess Sunny said:

@EccentricGentleman To be honest with you, yes I agree the three sequel Star Wars movies were bad, but I just enjoyed getting to go to a Star Wars movie again after such a long time, so I enjoyed those movies more than most fans probably did. Also now that you've fully expressed your frustrations with G5, and the lack of effort in some respects, yeah, I can better understand your point of view. However, despite these shortcomings, I still enjoy it anyway, just because it's My Little Pony, and I enjoy anything and everything My Little Pony, even the bad stuff. Also one other thing, I'm sorry if I berated you a little bit about your opinion on G5. That was wrong of me and I'm sorry. I kind of didn't know where your complaints were coming from and mistakenly thought you were just picking G5 apart and being nitpicky, but I see now that your disappointments with it do come from valid places and that the the things you said were wrong with it are in fact real genuine issues. But anyway, as far as this new generation, let's just see what happens. I think I'll enjoy it no matter what happens with it. I really wish everyone else who doesn't like G5 could do that too, so they could enjoy it the way I am, so they wouldn't be disappointed. 

Apology accepted. Nitpickers can get to me too, when my family saw A Christmas carol with Jim Carry, my mother kept complaining that none of the characters he was voicing looked like Carry.

I'm different to you. I was in the theatres when each of the Jurassic Park films came out. I love each of them, even the 3rd one. But I didn't enjoy any of the Jurassic world films. You mentioned the new Star Wars trilogy, I think it's interesting how it and Jurassic World trilogy mirror each other. 

The 1st one was a remake of the original.

The 2nd messed up it's potential and let down the fans.

The 3rd tried to backpedal from it's mistakes which only made it more annoying and thought it could fix it by bringing in more of the original cast.

Incidentally the Jurassic World Evolution games are the only games I've ever played that were better then the movies.

Edited February 16 by EccentricGentleman
Forgot the text

[Steve Piranha 29,414]

1 hour ago, Princess Sunny said:

@Steve Piranha Interestingly, according to early MLP A New Generation concept art, A New Generation was supposed to be a reboot of G4, but I guess Hasbro decided to go with having a new story and new characters. Seriously, though, I'm not kidding. They had new designs for Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash and everyone.

Oh yeah, that was known since about the same time the G4 pony movie was released in theaters . It was a few years ago where they shown more finalized designs of rebooted Mane 6. That gave several ideas, like an alt universe where they die in the final battle and Equestria make them martyrs

[Vanesa344 3]

14 hours ago, Felis Amafeles said:

That would be the hardest job 

Is low, Izzy 

[Princess Sunny 61]

22 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

Oh yeah, that was known since about the same time the G4 pony movie was released in theaters . It was a few years ago where they shown more finalized designs of rebooted Mane 6. That gave several ideas, like an alt universe where they die in the final battle and Equestria make them martyrs

I'm honestly glad they didn't do that, because I don't like picturing the Mane Six dying in my mind, although technically as of G5 Twilight is probably the only one of the Mane Six who is still alive. I suspect the fans would have hated that as well. Thank you so much Hasbro for NOT doing that!

[Steve Piranha 29,414]

2 minutes ago, Princess Sunny said:

I'm honestly glad they didn't do that, because I don't like picturing the Mane Six dying in my mind, although technically as of G5 Twilight is probably the only one of the Mane Six who is still alive. I suspect the fans would have hated that as well. Thank you so much Hasbro for NOT doing that!

Hell yeah, I’m happy for that also. Rebooting G4 so soon would be like just setting our beloved Mane 6 aside and be forgotten. G5 being a sequel, at least in a small part, keeps their memory alive

[Princess Sunny 61]

8 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Hell yeah, I’m happy for that also. Rebooting G4 so soon would be like just setting our beloved Mane 6 aside and be forgotten. G5 being a sequel, at least in a small part, keeps their memory alive

Well, I was specifically talking about seeing our favorite characters dying tragically but, yeah, that too.

[BritishBrony2012 793]

Hope this not last chapter, new villian and new member to the group. 

 

I know not everybody like G5 but to me, annoy to see some posts dislike on G5.

[Ring Team 123]

Note: The following review is MUCH longer than what I usually write.

 

So, I finally watched Make your Mark chapters 5 and 6, and I think it would be interesting to talk about because not only most of the episodes were interesting and fun, but they also go to a direction that takes My Little Pony back to how Friendship is Magic was at its early years. At first you kinda see some signals from both A New Generation and the chapter 1 of Make Your Mark, but this time, after seeing everything, it’s very clear what the vision of the writers and animators is more aligned here, turning into my favorite G5 chapters along with the 2021 movie.

But first we should talk about these episodes.

When I finished watching chapter 4, my first question was “what now?”, not in the disgusted sense of “you can’t tell more stories from this point on”, more like a sense of curiosity of what the G5 writers were cooking. Cutie Blossom Bash was the answer to my question. I expected the writers to went back to the slice of life premise and pretended that nothing happened. But no, they wanted to go on with the story, and this time it’s the Mane 5 encouraging Misty to celebrate a cutie mark ceremony. But the catch here is that all the rest of ponies are little fillies and she has to do it in front of many ponies, making Misty feel more nervous, more anxious and more out of place. And the reason why the story works was because she felt mistreated by Opaline. After getting a treatment like that one for years, you’d expect her to be incredibly shy and nervous for the simple idea of making friends or being in social activities, not because of her new friends being bad, but for the experience she had in the past. It’s not like a cult leader who suddenly became shy or socially awkward after getting a second chance. This story had a premise, a setup, a character development and it enhances the premise of Make your Mark of making good friends. And the way it concluded with Misty getting a private ceremony shows that, yeah, Sunny and her friends want Misty to celebreate her brand new cutie mark, but privately. And Misty is very relatable and you feel sorry for her. All these aspects make this episode good. It’s also the first time I’ve seen in the franchise that an adult pony doesn’t have an actual cutie mark, which was refreshing. You could argue that Bloom and Gloom from Friendship is Magic already did that, but it was part of a dream, so that doesn’t count. Overall, Cutie Blossom Bash is pretty good.

Family Trees is a much much better episode. While we do know a lot of Misty at this point, we never knew that much about her past. And the episode gradually shows half of what happened, just the right amount of information for dramatic purposes. If you’re looking for an episode that explains literally everything and how Opaline found Misty, this is not the episode you’re looking for. We don’t need stories to be encyclopedias, we just want to be compelled by the characters we like without shortcuts, overpowered magic, brainwash spells or any sign that indicates lazy writing. I usually don’t like main protagonists with amnesia (let’s be real for a second: We have more than enough of that in the entertainment industry, especially jrpgs), but the reason why Misty works was because she was already that likeable and relatable, so an intriguing story that shows a little bit of her past, bit by bit, enhances her as a character. And the final twist they gave for Misty and Alphabittle is incredibly sweet. It’s been years since I got surprised by an adorable twist in a My Little Pony story and it’s a big indication that the creators care about this.

Father of the Bridlewood is a story where both father and daughter reconnect while having a good time. Simply put, this is a better told version of “Forever Filly”. In that story, Rarity had zero reasons to start treating Sweetie Belle like an infant after 7 years of stories. In this story, Alphabittle just met her missing daughter after all this time, and he prepared all these activities for Misty because he said she liked them as a kid. It’s not a good way to reconnect to your missing daughter, but he shows he cares about her. The comedy here was clunky and slow, and the ending was a little bit rushed, but, considering we got so many good episodes of Make your Mark, I’m pretty much ok with this.

Mane Smelody is the only episode I didn’t enjoy out of chapters 5 and 6. The premise is too silly for me and it’s too long. I’d argue you can make it compelling if, at the middle of the episode it’s revealed that the hooficure treatment would smell really bad. If you revealed it right at the first minute of a 22 minutes episode, there’s no catch, Pipp just went along with it. I think this change would make the episode less slow. It should have been a Tell your Tale episode.

Nightmare on Mane Street was fine. The party story was a little bit boring, but Opaline’s presence in Maretime Bay was funny. I love the idea that many ponies genuinely thought she was wearing a costume. I miss the times in Friendship is Magic where a villain was funny, but here in Make your mark they want to toy with that idea. Besides, the ending would lead to a bigger conflict.

In Family Trees we see a glimpse of a new world, and it’s fully shown here in The isle of Scaly. In this episode, the Mane 5 and Misty are trying to convince the dragons to join their fight against Opaline. They also meet Spike, the one and only. There was a lot of talk about his design. Most people hate it. I think it’s just ok. The only problem I have with the episode is that I wish the dragons looked different enough. They could have different hairstyles and even different outfits. Apart from that, I think it’s a good episode.

Roots of all Evil is the big one. It’s a two episodes story about the main characters facing Opaline’s threat and how they deal with her. She has the ability to steal other cutie marks, which make other ponies weak and meaningless and makes her more powerful. Considering that she’s an alicorn, she’s a villain, she got more magic thanks to the dragons and she only wants more and more power to the detriment of others, this makes sense. It’s an episode that takes so many ideas from Cutie Map and To where and Back again and adapt them to make it work and create something intriguing and dramatic. Instead of writing a unicorn with base-breaking powers who’s more powerful than an alicorn, it’s an alicorn who abuses her power to gain even more power. Instead of saying “suddenly, the main characters are kidnapped and the new main character has to rescue them”, it’s a plot that shows how Opaline takes step by step the cutie marks of everyone. It’s well paced and it makes sense why it’s a double episode. I’m not a huge fan of Opaline’s song because the lyrics are too obvious and too simplistic, but other than that, it’s a pretty good episode, one of the best in Make your Mark.

The last episode, Secrets of Starlight, is a special episode that lasts 40 minutes. After the defeat of Opaline, the main characters travel to another world where they meet a new type of pony, the auroricorns. Despite that they look friendly, they hide something from Sunny and her friends, which is a task they’re doing for a flying leopard called Allura, that is to find a star that she wants. The episode was neat, although I had some issues with the pacing, but it hinted the return of Allura, so I’m excited to see more of her.

But yeah, the chapters 5 and 6 of Make your Mark are pretty good! I still have some minor issues, like how whenever Zipp speaks, the “stock footage detective music” always plays, and same thing with Pipp with the bass. But I'm well aware that it's a trademark feature at this point, kinda like how the show tends to overuse the glitter effects. I don’t know which episodes I like the most, either Roots of all Evil or the Misty episodes, and I think that’s a sign of good storytelling. As a matter of fact, both The Owl House and Gravity Falls have such great episodes that I don’t know which episode is my favorite. Misty was properly written compared to other previous characters we’ve seen in the past in this franchise, they want to reinforce the idea of only having a healthy friendship with friends, Opaline was great as a villain (this treatment is what I wanted to see for Chrysalis in Friendship is Magic before I watched that season 6 finale), the main characters have good reasons to ditch the villains, there’s good continuity and, most importantly, the episodes were fun to watch. The only episode I didn’t enjoy was Mane Smelody, but apart from that, I think it’s pretty good.

I’m not saying that Make your Mark is supremely fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but considering the circumstances, I think it’s pretty good. With the exception of some episodes (particularly some from chapters 2 and 4), Make your Mark is better than the last 4 seasons of Friendship is Magic. Whenever I watched some of these episodes, I felt I was punished for watching them, but whenever I watch Sunny and her friends, I have the sense of curiosity that leads me to watch even more. Not to an addictive degree like The Owl House or Rick and Morty, but just enough to get interested in their friendship journey.

So all I have to ask is, why are some fans upset about this?

Well, it’s not necessarily the G5 fans, it’s more the G4 fans. Most of their complaints are not related to G5, they’re more like “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” or “everyone uses the phones all the time” or “there’s no magic”. Most of the time (at least in some websites where the discourse is taken place) they use these as an excuse to make G5 look like a bad franchise. They get caught in the trap of feeling that “this show is not for me”, but they couldn’t say that out loud because everyone would rightfully question why they need everything to be about them. As a result, they go for another ways to justify their displeasure to G5, including overexaggerating little issues and taking moments of Make your Mark out of context. This is not exclusive to the MLP fandom and I could have an hour discussing about this issue, but that’s a topic for another time.

I’d like to ask you a couple of questions about G5.

Do you know why, in 2021, we got a movie where some earth ponies genuinely believe the unicorns could control other ponies’ minds? And do you know why their magic is linked to the power of three magical stones who have to be mixed in other for this magic to awake?

Do you know why, in 2022, Posey said in the chapter 1 of Make your Mark that “Magic is not very safe”?

Do you know why Misty asked in Sunny Side Up a specific question to Opaline? “Do we have to steal their cutie marks? They're actually kind of nice ponies”.

Do you know why they took several episodes to develop Misty instead of, say, two episodes?

Do you know why the main characters don’t tolerate Opaline and Allura and their actions?

And do you know why the G5 writers want Make your Mark to be about friendship?

In the animation industry, money talks, nobody would deny it. It’s one of the reasons why Illumination made several successful movies in a row despite the low quality. But here’s another thing: People talk. Not only the people who watch animation, but also the people who work on these studios. That includes character designers, animators, background designers, producers, writers and executive producers among other disciplines. Feedback is important. In the same way companies talk to other companies to put a suspicious worker on a black list, people from a studio talk to each other about certain movies, shows or themes that could be either worth to be explored, themes that could be too saturated or themes that could be kinda disturbing for something you wanna make for kids.

My point is that the people who work on G5 (both A New Generation and Make your Mark) are aware. They’re aware that there has been some very untrustworthy and kinda cynical promises made to fans in Friendship is Magic many years ago. It more seems like they don’t want people to get the wrong idea. They don’t want people to have an idea of just what your expectation is from this because of previous management that happened was kinda rough. They don’t want to bury themselves six feet undergound that other writers and producers might have done in Friendship is Magic.

In other words, it’s like they’re aware that the Starlight Glimmer situation had existed in the past. People know of it. People are aware because it made a profound negative impact on the show, to the point where even the entertainment industry was infested by the trope of “forgiving the bastard” in the second half of the 2010s, being Kylo Ren from Rise of the Skywalker the most popular example among other characters, like Catra from She-Ra and the princesses of power.

Fortunately it’s been 9 years since Cutie Remark happened, but it was definitively a thing that affected the animation industry during that decade, and it’s very unfortunate because it doesn’t make any sense. Why should I trust a character who says “I’ve changed” when their actions don’t match with their words and ideas, especially in a kids show? It’s like the writers don’t want their character to improve. As a matter of fact, there’s a song in Fame and Misfortune that basically says “we have flaws, stop expecting us to improve as people”. But... wasn’t that the entire point of Friendship is Magic? It’s a kids show about friendship. You are supposed to teach friendship so that kids can catch things up and get better.

The writers of G5 don’t want to use Misty as a gauge of representation of what people are interested in the future. They don’t want to trick the audience. If they’re gonna do something with a character or a story, they’re gonna do something with them, and it’s not gonna come at the caviat of an abusive character who refuses to change their behaviour. And that’s what happened before.

When A New Generation came out, there were lots of complaints about how ponies with no magic is absurd. I understand it, but it was an extreme solution to an extreme problem. They don’t want overpowered characters who get away with it because that already happened in Friendship is Magic with Starlight Glimmer.

When Posey shares her concern about the use of magic was because that was a thing in Friendship is Magic, particularly in the later seasons.

When Misty made that question to Opaline, it’s because cutie marks represent their talent and uniqueness.

If Misty got several episodes until she was redeemed in chapter 4 it’s because the writers don’t wanna give her two weak and underwhelming episodes. They wanted to do the right thing, not doing the bare minimum.

The main characters don’t tolerate what Opaline and Allura because they don’t respect bullies or people who just want more power to the detriment of others.

And Make your Mark is still an animated show about friendship because that’s what Friendship is Magic initially was about.

I think they understand that the redemption trend of last decade being a thing because “people should sympathize/empathize with the villain” (even though that seems to be saved only for conventionally attractive characters, people with nice hairstyle and blue eyes, basically waifu/husbando material) is garbage. It’s never been a problem before. It’s never been a thing that leads to a result that makes any sense, and I think they understand that now.

I really respect this attitude because that shows that the people behind G5 are more self-aware than it has ever been in a long time. It’s super refreshing to see something like this in the franchise.

Some of the G4 purists would say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless”. Did they care enough about twilight’s journey? Because there was a time where people like SilverQuill demanded that Friendship is Magic should be less about Twilight and her friends and more about the world, which would render the value of friendship in the first place. And people went on board with it.

Some of them would say “everyone uses the phones all the time”. You know some people go to websites with their phones, do you?

Some of them would say “there’s no magic”. Friendship is Magic never was a TV show about magic, unless you count the later seasons. It was a TV show about friendship.

Make your Mark isn’t perfect, but when there’s a good episode, it’s a good episode. But no matter how good they are, these people will find other excuses, because nothing is good enough for them. They have that Microsoft mentality. Oh, Hi-Fi Rush got unprecedented awards that give a sense of value to Xbox? Ok, let’s shut the studio down. Because that’s not good enough.

I’m also worried about the level of understanding of an average MLP fan. When I talked about chapter 2 of Make your Mark in a website two years ago, I got a specific reply, I’ve read it and I concluded that he either hasn’t read it or hasn’t understood it. There was no input, no feedback, no nuance, nothing. Just a sentence of 4 words, nothing else.

But it’s not that surprising at this point in the MLP community. After all, I’ve received a death threat from someone who wants me to be dead because I didn’t like Pinkie Pie enough.

Beautiful. Classy.

It’s kinda funny how nowadays people on the Internet seem to demonize anything that’s genuinely wholesome, like having healthy relationships with your friends or your siblings, and then normalize stories with characters who have creepy attitudes. It reminds me of how last decade people talked about, say, The Big Bang Theory. In that show, the main characters are said to be friends, but in every single episode we see them roasting each other, to the point where you assume they kinda hate each other. As a matter of fact, Leonard went to Antarctica with his group of friends for research purposes and then destroy the research just to gain extra time to sleep with Penny. And speaking of her, there were several moments where Leonard has slept with some women and then he pretended that nothing happened so that Penny wouldn’t suspect. There are lots of moments like that in the show, including him getting sick of Howard sharing his experience about how he went outer space because, according to Leonard, “it’s not about him”. But nobody bats an eye because "the knock knock Penny joke is peak comedy". It's never been an issue for them because "geek things are cool now".

Whenever I talk about this to someone, they tell me that “this is what friends do”. Do they? Why would this creepy behavior indicate any sense of loyalty and respect to a friend? It kinda reminds me of a couple who has been married for several years and most of the time they spent screaming each other. And when I asked why they do that, she told me that “this is what couples do”. Do they though? Because last year I had to call the police because her husband was threatening her with some scissors. Is that “what couples do”? I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone should tolerate this behavior, no matter if it’s a married couple or a group of friends. My older brother is gonna marry to his fiancee and these two have never had a situation where they insult and scream to each other, because they respect each other.

And don’t get me wrong. I love shows like Breaking Bad, Rick and Morty, Succession, The Wire and South Park. These are stories that allows this type of behavior. My point is that it shouldn’t be a normal thing in an animated kids show. If Digimon came out today and the episode with Tai and Kairi (the one where he went back to the human world) aired today, these people would probably roast it and turn it into an easy target because “siblings are not that affectionate to each other”, that "it's not realistic". This is why Frozen became an easy target for several years. They don’t wanna focus on the story and the sibling relationship between Elsa and Anna and some specific twists that reinforce these affection themes that went completely over some vocal viewers’ heads, they wanted to talk about the villain as an excuse to ask where the classic Disney villains have gone to. This is why I appreciate that, say, The Owl House has characters who genuinely respect their friends, because that's what friends do.

And speaking about The Owl House, if there’s one thing I learned after watching the very last episode is that the redemption trend is crap. Very few times I’ve seen this working well, like Nebula from Avengers Endgame, Tempest Shadow, princess Luna in season 2 of Friendship is Magic, Misty in Make your Mark and Lilith from The Owl House (at the end of season 1 she had to pay a price, which was sharing the curse, an exchange that made her grow as a person) among very few characters. You can’t apply the empathy argument with a villain who has done several nasty things. You ain't coming back from cults, tricking people and manipulation. You just can't.

I think people want this "morally grey" area so bad in shows for little kids because they're afraid of being judged in the eyes of others, specially in today's social media with platforms like Twitter. That would explain a lot of things not only in this fandom, but also in other fandoms. Just a guess. Fortunately I haven’t seen this that frequent in this new decade, because we already have seen more than enough.

You’d think a community surrounding an animated TV show about friendship, love and tolerance for over ten years would care to see how these themes are translated to A new Generation and Make your Mark by this new team of writers and value some individual stories they’ve told with these characters. But why do basic inquiry if you can just say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” and make it your whole personality.

So, for everyone who wants to see wholesome media or has some story ideas, go write these stories and support the people who write this type of stories. Sure, some people will turn it into easy targets, like Frozen, but there will be people who will appreciate it for what they’ve made. Atfer all, I’ve started to see more people who love Frozen for what it is instead of what people expected it was gonna be. So go write it. Write that wholesome story. Write it before you finish reading this.

[Rafa Stary Mini 2,864]

7 hours ago, Ring Team said:

Note: The following review is MUCH longer than what I usually write.

 

So, I finally watched Make your Mark chapters 5 and 6, and I think it would be interesting to talk about because not only most of the episodes were interesting and fun, but they also go to a direction that takes My Little Pony back to how Friendship is Magic was at its early years. At first you kinda see some signals from both A New Generation and the chapter 1 of Make Your Mark, but this time, after seeing everything, it’s very clear what the vision of the writers and animators is more aligned here, turning into my favorite G5 chapters along with the 2021 movie.

But first we should talk about these episodes.

When I finished watching chapter 4, my first question was “what now?”, not in the disgusted sense of “you can’t tell more stories from this point on”, more like a sense of curiosity of what the G5 writers were cooking. Cutie Blossom Bash was the answer to my question. I expected the writers to went back to the slice of life premise and pretended that nothing happened. But no, they wanted to go on with the story, and this time it’s the Mane 5 encouraging Misty to celebrate a cutie mark ceremony. But the catch here is that all the rest of ponies are little fillies and she has to do it in front of many ponies, making Misty feel more nervous, more anxious and more out of place. And the reason why the story works was because she felt mistreated by Opaline. After getting a treatment like that one for years, you’d expect her to be incredibly shy and nervous for the simple idea of making friends or being in social activities, not because of her new friends being bad, but for the experience she had in the past. It’s not like a cult leader who suddenly became shy or socially awkward after getting a second chance. This story had a premise, a setup, a character development and it enhances the premise of Make your Mark of making good friends. And the way it concluded with Misty getting a private ceremony shows that, yeah, Sunny and her friends want Misty to celebreate her brand new cutie mark, but privately. And Misty is very relatable and you feel sorry for her. All these aspects make this episode good. It’s also the first time I’ve seen in the franchise that an adult pony doesn’t have an actual cutie mark, which was refreshing. You could argue that Bloom and Gloom from Friendship is Magic already did that, but it was part of a dream, so that doesn’t count. Overall, Cutie Blossom Bash is pretty good.

Family Trees is a much much better episode. While we do know a lot of Misty at this point, we never knew that much about her past. And the episode gradually shows half of what happened, just the right amount of information for dramatic purposes. If you’re looking for an episode that explains literally everything and how Opaline found Misty, this is not the episode you’re looking for. We don’t need stories to be encyclopedias, we just want to be compelled by the characters we like without shortcuts, overpowered magic, brainwash spells or any sign that indicates lazy writing. I usually don’t like main protagonists with amnesia (let’s be real for a second: We have more than enough of that in the entertainment industry, especially jrpgs), but the reason why Misty works was because she was already that likeable and relatable, so an intriguing story that shows a little bit of her past, bit by bit, enhances her as a character. And the final twist they gave for Misty and Alphabittle is incredibly sweet. It’s been years since I got surprised by an adorable twist in a My Little Pony story and it’s a big indication that the creators care about this.

Father of the Bridlewood is a story where both father and daughter reconnect while having a good time. Simply put, this is a better told version of “Forever Filly”. In that story, Rarity had zero reasons to start treating Sweetie Belle like an infant after 7 years of stories. In this story, Alphabittle just met her missing daughter after all this time, and he prepared all these activities for Misty because he said she liked them as a kid. It’s not a good way to reconnect to your missing daughter, but he shows he cares about her. The comedy here was clunky and slow, and the ending was a little bit rushed, but, considering we got so many good episodes of Make your Mark, I’m pretty much ok with this.

Mane Smelody is the only episode I didn’t enjoy out of chapters 5 and 6. The premise is too silly for me and it’s too long. I’d argue you can make it compelling if, at the middle of the episode it’s revealed that the hooficure treatment would smell really bad. If you revealed it right at the first minute of a 22 minutes episode, there’s no catch, Pipp just went along with it. I think this change would make the episode less slow. It should have been a Tell your Tale episode.

Nightmare on Mane Street was fine. The party story was a little bit boring, but Opaline’s presence in Maretime Bay was funny. I love the idea that many ponies genuinely thought she was wearing a costume. I miss the times in Friendship is Magic where a villain was funny, but here in Make your mark they want to toy with that idea. Besides, the ending would lead to a bigger conflict.

In Family Trees we see a glimpse of a new world, and it’s fully shown here in The isle of Scaly. In this episode, the Mane 5 and Misty are trying to convince the dragons to join their fight against Opaline. They also meet Spike, the one and only. There was a lot of talk about his design. Most people hate it. I think it’s just ok. The only problem I have with the episode is that I wish the dragons looked different enough. They could have different hairstyles and even different outfits. Apart from that, I think it’s a good episode.

Roots of all Evil is the big one. It’s a two episodes story about the main characters facing Opaline’s threat and how they deal with her. She has the ability to steal other cutie marks, which make other ponies weak and meaningless and makes her more powerful. Considering that she’s an alicorn, she’s a villain, she got more magic thanks to the dragons and she only wants more and more power to the detriment of others, this makes sense. It’s an episode that takes so many ideas from Cutie Map and To where and Back again and adapt them to make it work and create something intriguing and dramatic. Instead of writing a unicorn with base-breaking powers who’s more powerful than an alicorn, it’s an alicorn who abuses her power to gain even more power. Instead of saying “suddenly, the main characters are kidnapped and the new main character has to rescue them”, it’s a plot that shows how Opaline takes step by step the cutie marks of everyone. It’s well paced and it makes sense why it’s a double episode. I’m not a huge fan of Opaline’s song because the lyrics are too obvious and too simplistic, but other than that, it’s a pretty good episode, one of the best in Make your Mark.

The last episode, Secrets of Starlight, is a special episode that lasts 40 minutes. After the defeat of Opaline, the main characters travel to another world where they meet a new type of pony, the auroricorns. Despite that they look friendly, they hide something from Sunny and her friends, which is a task they’re doing for a flying leopard called Allura, that is to find a star that she wants. The episode was neat, although I had some issues with the pacing, but it hinted the return of Allura, so I’m excited to see more of her.

But yeah, the chapters 5 and 6 of Make your Mark are pretty good! I still have some minor issues, like how whenever Zipp speaks, the “stock footage detective music” always plays, and same thing with Pipp with the bass. But I'm well aware that it's a trademark feature at this point, kinda like how the show tends to overuse the glitter effects. I don’t know which episodes I like the most, either Roots of all Evil or the Misty episodes, and I think that’s a sign of good storytelling. As a matter of fact, both The Owl House and Gravity Falls have such great episodes that I don’t know which episode is my favorite. Misty was properly written compared to other previous characters we’ve seen in the past in this franchise, they want to reinforce the idea of only having a healthy friendship with friends, Opaline was great as a villain (this treatment is what I wanted to see for Chrysalis in Friendship is Magic before I watched that season 6 finale), the main characters have good reasons to ditch the villains, there’s good continuity and, most importantly, the episodes were fun to watch. The only episode I didn’t enjoy was Mane Smelody, but apart from that, I think it’s pretty good.

I’m not saying that Make your Mark is supremely fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but considering the circumstances, I think it’s pretty good. With the exception of some episodes (particularly some from chapters 2 and 4), Make your Mark is better than the last 4 seasons of Friendship is Magic. Whenever I watched some of these episodes, I felt I was punished for watching them, but whenever I watch Sunny and her friends, I have the sense of curiosity that leads me to watch even more. Not to an addictive degree like The Owl House or Rick and Morty, but just enough to get interested in their friendship journey.

So all I have to ask is, why are some fans upset about this?

Well, it’s not necessarily the G5 fans, it’s more the G4 fans. Most of their complaints are not related to G5, they’re more like “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” or “everyone uses the phones all the time” or “there’s no magic”. Most of the time (at least in some websites where the discourse is taken place) they use these as an excuse to make G5 look like a bad franchise. They get caught in the trap of feeling that “this show is not for me”, but they couldn’t say that out loud because everyone would rightfully question why they need everything to be about them. As a result, they go for another ways to justify their displeasure to G5, including overexaggerating little issues and taking moments of Make your Mark out of context. This is not exclusive to the MLP fandom and I could have an hour discussing about this issue, but that’s a topic for another time.

I’d like to ask you a couple of questions about G5.

Do you know why, in 2021, we got a movie where some earth ponies genuinely believe the unicorns could control other ponies’ minds? And do you know why their magic is linked to the power of three magical stones who have to be mixed in other for this magic to awake?

Do you know why, in 2022, Posey said in the chapter 1 of Make your Mark that “Magic is not very safe”?

Do you know why Misty asked in Sunny Side Up a specific question to Opaline? “Do we have to steal their cutie marks? They're actually kind of nice ponies”.

Do you know why they took several episodes to develop Misty instead of, say, two episodes?

Do you know why the main characters don’t tolerate Opaline and Allura and their actions?

And do you know why the G5 writers want Make your Mark to be about friendship?

In the animation industry, money talks, nobody would deny it. It’s one of the reasons why Illumination made several successful movies in a row despite the low quality. But here’s another thing: People talk. Not only the people who watch animation, but also the people who work on these studios. That includes character designers, animators, background designers, producers, writers and executive producers among other disciplines. Feedback is important. In the same way companies talk to other companies to put a suspicious worker on a black list, people from a studio talk to each other about certain movies, shows or themes that could be either worth to be explored, themes that could be too saturated or themes that could be kinda disturbing for something you wanna make for kids.

My point is that the people who work on G5 (both A New Generation and Make your Mark) are aware. They’re aware that there has been some very untrustworthy and kinda cynical promises made to fans in Friendship is Magic many years ago. It more seems like they don’t want people to get the wrong idea. They don’t want people to have an idea of just what your expectation is from this because of previous management that happened was kinda rough. They don’t want to bury themselves six feet undergound that other writers and producers might have done in Friendship is Magic.

In other words, it’s like they’re aware that the Starlight Glimmer situation had existed in the past. People know of it. People are aware because it made a profound negative impact on the show, to the point where even the entertainment industry was infested by the trope of “forgiving the bastard” in the second half of the 2010s, being Kylo Ren from Rise of the Skywalker the most popular example among other characters, like Catra from She-Ra and the princesses of power.

Fortunately it’s been 9 years since Cutie Remark happened, but it was definitively a thing that affected the animation industry during that decade, and it’s very unfortunate because it doesn’t make any sense. Why should I trust a character who says “I’ve changed” when their actions don’t match with their words and ideas, especially in a kids show? It’s like the writers don’t want their character to improve. As a matter of fact, there’s a song in Fame and Misfortune that basically says “we have flaws, stop expecting us to improve as people”. But... wasn’t that the entire point of Friendship is Magic? It’s a kids show about friendship. You are supposed to teach friendship so that kids can catch things up and get better.

The writers of G5 don’t want to use Misty as a gauge of representation of what people are interested in the future. They don’t want to trick the audience. If they’re gonna do something with a character or a story, they’re gonna do something with them, and it’s not gonna come at the caviat of an abusive character who refuses to change their behaviour. And that’s what happened before.

When A New Generation came out, there were lots of complaints about how ponies with no magic is absurd. I understand it, but it was an extreme solution to an extreme problem. They don’t want overpowered characters who get away with it because that already happened in Friendship is Magic with Starlight Glimmer.

When Posey shares her concern about the use of magic was because that was a thing in Friendship is Magic, particularly in the later seasons.

When Misty made that question to Opaline, it’s because cutie marks represent their talent and uniqueness.

If Misty got several episodes until she was redeemed in chapter 4 it’s because the writers don’t wanna give her two weak and underwhelming episodes. They wanted to do the right thing, not doing the bare minimum.

The main characters don’t tolerate what Opaline and Allura because they don’t respect bullies or people who just want more power to the detriment of others.

And Make your Mark is still an animated show about friendship because that’s what Friendship is Magic initially was about.

I think they understand that the redemption trend of last decade being a thing because “people should sympathize/empathize with the villain” (even though that seems to be saved only for conventionally attractive characters, people with nice hairstyle and blue eyes, basically waifu/husbando material) is garbage. It’s never been a problem before. It’s never been a thing that leads to a result that makes any sense, and I think they understand that now.

I really respect this attitude because that shows that the people behind G5 are more self-aware than it has ever been in a long time. It’s super refreshing to see something like this in the franchise.

Some of the G4 purists would say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless”. Did they care enough about twilight’s journey? Because there was a time where people like SilverQuill demanded that Friendship is Magic should be less about Twilight and her friends and more about the world, which would render the value of friendship in the first place. And people went on board with it.

Some of them would say “everyone uses the phones all the time”. You know some people go to websites with their phones, do you?

Some of them would say “there’s no magic”. Friendship is Magic never was a TV show about magic, unless you count the later seasons. It was a TV show about friendship.

Make your Mark isn’t perfect, but when there’s a good episode, it’s a good episode. But no matter how good they are, these people will find other excuses, because nothing is good enough for them. They have that Microsoft mentality. Oh, Hi-Fi Rush got unprecedented awards that give a sense of value to Xbox? Ok, let’s shut the studio down. Because that’s not good enough.

I’m also worried about the level of understanding of an average MLP fan. When I talked about chapter 2 of Make your Mark in a website two years ago, I got a specific reply, I’ve read it and I concluded that he either hasn’t read it or hasn’t understood it. There was no input, no feedback, no nuance, nothing. Just a sentence of 4 words, nothing else.

But it’s not that surprising at this point in the MLP community. After all, I’ve received a death threat from someone who wants me to be dead because I didn’t like Pinkie Pie enough.

Beautiful. Classy.

It’s kinda funny how nowadays people on the Internet seem to demonize anything that’s genuinely wholesome, like having healthy relationships with your friends or your siblings, and then normalize stories with characters who have creepy attitudes. It reminds me of how last decade people talked about, say, The Big Bang Theory. In that show, the main characters are said to be friends, but in every single episode we see them roasting each other, to the point where you assume they kinda hate each other. As a matter of fact, Leonard went to Antarctica with his group of friends for research purposes and then destroy the research just to gain extra time to sleep with Penny. And speaking of her, there were several moments where Leonard has slept with some women and then he pretended that nothing happened so that Penny wouldn’t suspect. There are lots of moments like that in the show, including him getting sick of Howard sharing his experience about how he went outer space because, according to Leonard, “it’s not about him”. But nobody bats an eye because "the knock knock Penny joke is peak comedy". It's never been an issue for them because "geek things are cool now".

Whenever I talk about this to someone, they tell me that “this is what friends do”. Do they? Why would this creepy behavior indicate any sense of loyalty and respect to a friend? It kinda reminds me of a couple who has been married for several years and most of the time they spent screaming each other. And when I asked why they do that, she told me that “this is what couples do”. Do they though? Because last year I had to call the police because her husband was threatening her with some scissors. Is that “what couples do”? I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone should tolerate this behavior, no matter if it’s a married couple or a group of friends. My older brother is gonna marry to his fiancee and these two have never had a situation where they insult and scream to each other, because they respect each other.

And don’t get me wrong. I love shows like Breaking Bad, Rick and Morty, Succession, The Wire and South Park. These are stories that allows this type of behavior. My point is that it shouldn’t be a normal thing in an animated kids show. If Digimon came out today and the episode with Tai and Kairi (the one where he went back to the human world) aired today, these people would probably roast it and turn it into an easy target because “siblings are not that affectionate to each other”, that "it's not realistic". This is why Frozen became an easy target for several years. They don’t wanna focus on the story and the sibling relationship between Elsa and Anna and some specific twists that reinforce these affection themes that went completely over some vocal viewers’ heads, they wanted to talk about the villain as an excuse to ask where the classic Disney villains have gone to. This is why I appreciate that, say, The Owl House has characters who genuinely respect their friends, because that's what friends do.

And speaking about The Owl House, if there’s one thing I learned after watching the very last episode is that the redemption trend is crap. Very few times I’ve seen this working well, like Nebula from Avengers Endgame, Tempest Shadow, princess Luna in season 2 of Friendship is Magic, Misty in Make your Mark and Lilith from The Owl House (at the end of season 1 she had to pay a price, which was sharing the curse, an exchange that made her grow as a person) among very few characters. You can’t apply the empathy argument with a villain who has done several nasty things. You ain't coming back from cults, tricking people and manipulation. You just can't.

I think people want this "morally grey" area so bad in shows for little kids because they're afraid of being judged in the eyes of others, specially in today's social media with platforms like Twitter. That would explain a lot of things not only in this fandom, but also in other fandoms. Just a guess. Fortunately I haven’t seen this that frequent in this new decade, because we already have seen more than enough.

You’d think a community surrounding an animated TV show about friendship, love and tolerance for over ten years would care to see how these themes are translated to A new Generation and Make your Mark by this new team of writers and value some individual stories they’ve told with these characters. But why do basic inquiry if you can just say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” and make it your whole personality.

So, for everyone who wants to see wholesome media or has some story ideas, go write these stories and support the people who write this type of stories. Sure, some people will turn it into easy targets, like Frozen, but there will be people who will appreciate it for what they’ve made. Atfer all, I’ve started to see more people who love Frozen for what it is instead of what people expected it was gonna be. So go write it. Write that wholesome story. Write it before you finish reading this.

I personally don't agree about some points regarding FiM/G4, but I definitely agree about Make Your Mark being good! I miss the show and my hype for this generation so much 

I would like to make you a question about Tell your Tale, but apparently you still haven't watched the final episodes of Season 1 and the new episodes of Season 2 released so far, so I'm going to save it for a next opportunity.

[Iforgotmybrain 5,358]

9 hours ago, Ring Team said:

Make your Mark is better than the last 4 seasons of Friendship is Magic.

 I agree for the most part, I'd put them about on par overall with a nudge towards the later chapters of MYM just straight up being better than those last 4 seasons 100%.

9 hours ago, Ring Team said:

They have that Microsoft mentality. Oh, Hi-Fi Rush got unprecedented awards that give a sense of value to Xbox? Ok, let’s shut the studio down. Because that’s not good enough.

Microsoft mentality. I like that, very accurate assessment .

9 hours ago, Ring Team said:

It’s kinda funny how nowadays people on the Internet seem to demonize anything that’s genuinely wholesome, like having healthy relationships with your friends or your siblings, and then normalize stories with characters who have creepy attitudes.

I strongly agree with this. A video essay I watched about Smiling Friends said something very, very similar. The summary of said video was that Smiling Friends, as a show, was a breath of fresh air because it had characters that actually liked each other and interacted like genuine friends. They weren't actively antagonizing each other or throwing each under the bus for the "lulz". Even the "Boss" character in the show likes and gets along with his employees.

9 hours ago, Ring Team said:

I think people want this "morally grey" area so bad in shows for little kids because they're afraid of being judged in the eyes of others, specially in today's social media with platforms like Twitter.

To a degree, yeah. I think part of it is also that some people have this mindset that in order for a villain to be good they have to be in some sort of morally gray area. A character can't just be evil for the sake of being evil because that's lazy writing, or whatever.

[Starlight Serenade 2,942]

14 hours ago, Ring Team said:

Note: The following review is MUCH longer than what I usually write.

 

So, I finally watched Make your Mark chapters 5 and 6, and I think it would be interesting to talk about because not only most of the episodes were interesting and fun, but they also go to a direction that takes My Little Pony back to how Friendship is Magic was at its early years. At first you kinda see some signals from both A New Generation and the chapter 1 of Make Your Mark, but this time, after seeing everything, it’s very clear what the vision of the writers and animators is more aligned here, turning into my favorite G5 chapters along with the 2021 movie.

But first we should talk about these episodes.

When I finished watching chapter 4, my first question was “what now?”, not in the disgusted sense of “you can’t tell more stories from this point on”, more like a sense of curiosity of what the G5 writers were cooking. Cutie Blossom Bash was the answer to my question. I expected the writers to went back to the slice of life premise and pretended that nothing happened. But no, they wanted to go on with the story, and this time it’s the Mane 5 encouraging Misty to celebrate a cutie mark ceremony. But the catch here is that all the rest of ponies are little fillies and she has to do it in front of many ponies, making Misty feel more nervous, more anxious and more out of place. And the reason why the story works was because she felt mistreated by Opaline. After getting a treatment like that one for years, you’d expect her to be incredibly shy and nervous for the simple idea of making friends or being in social activities, not because of her new friends being bad, but for the experience she had in the past. It’s not like a cult leader who suddenly became shy or socially awkward after getting a second chance. This story had a premise, a setup, a character development and it enhances the premise of Make your Mark of making good friends. And the way it concluded with Misty getting a private ceremony shows that, yeah, Sunny and her friends want Misty to celebreate her brand new cutie mark, but privately. And Misty is very relatable and you feel sorry for her. All these aspects make this episode good. It’s also the first time I’ve seen in the franchise that an adult pony doesn’t have an actual cutie mark, which was refreshing. You could argue that Bloom and Gloom from Friendship is Magic already did that, but it was part of a dream, so that doesn’t count. Overall, Cutie Blossom Bash is pretty good.

Family Trees is a much much better episode. While we do know a lot of Misty at this point, we never knew that much about her past. And the episode gradually shows half of what happened, just the right amount of information for dramatic purposes. If you’re looking for an episode that explains literally everything and how Opaline found Misty, this is not the episode you’re looking for. We don’t need stories to be encyclopedias, we just want to be compelled by the characters we like without shortcuts, overpowered magic, brainwash spells or any sign that indicates lazy writing. I usually don’t like main protagonists with amnesia (let’s be real for a second: We have more than enough of that in the entertainment industry, especially jrpgs), but the reason why Misty works was because she was already that likeable and relatable, so an intriguing story that shows a little bit of her past, bit by bit, enhances her as a character. And the final twist they gave for Misty and Alphabittle is incredibly sweet. It’s been years since I got surprised by an adorable twist in a My Little Pony story and it’s a big indication that the creators care about this.

Father of the Bridlewood is a story where both father and daughter reconnect while having a good time. Simply put, this is a better told version of “Forever Filly”. In that story, Rarity had zero reasons to start treating Sweetie Belle like an infant after 7 years of stories. In this story, Alphabittle just met her missing daughter after all this time, and he prepared all these activities for Misty because he said she liked them as a kid. It’s not a good way to reconnect to your missing daughter, but he shows he cares about her. The comedy here was clunky and slow, and the ending was a little bit rushed, but, considering we got so many good episodes of Make your Mark, I’m pretty much ok with this.

Mane Smelody is the only episode I didn’t enjoy out of chapters 5 and 6. The premise is too silly for me and it’s too long. I’d argue you can make it compelling if, at the middle of the episode it’s revealed that the hooficure treatment would smell really bad. If you revealed it right at the first minute of a 22 minutes episode, there’s no catch, Pipp just went along with it. I think this change would make the episode less slow. It should have been a Tell your Tale episode.

Nightmare on Mane Street was fine. The party story was a little bit boring, but Opaline’s presence in Maretime Bay was funny. I love the idea that many ponies genuinely thought she was wearing a costume. I miss the times in Friendship is Magic where a villain was funny, but here in Make your mark they want to toy with that idea. Besides, the ending would lead to a bigger conflict.

In Family Trees we see a glimpse of a new world, and it’s fully shown here in The isle of Scaly. In this episode, the Mane 5 and Misty are trying to convince the dragons to join their fight against Opaline. They also meet Spike, the one and only. There was a lot of talk about his design. Most people hate it. I think it’s just ok. The only problem I have with the episode is that I wish the dragons looked different enough. They could have different hairstyles and even different outfits. Apart from that, I think it’s a good episode.

Roots of all Evil is the big one. It’s a two episodes story about the main characters facing Opaline’s threat and how they deal with her. She has the ability to steal other cutie marks, which make other ponies weak and meaningless and makes her more powerful. Considering that she’s an alicorn, she’s a villain, she got more magic thanks to the dragons and she only wants more and more power to the detriment of others, this makes sense. It’s an episode that takes so many ideas from Cutie Map and To where and Back again and adapt them to make it work and create something intriguing and dramatic. Instead of writing a unicorn with base-breaking powers who’s more powerful than an alicorn, it’s an alicorn who abuses her power to gain even more power. Instead of saying “suddenly, the main characters are kidnapped and the new main character has to rescue them”, it’s a plot that shows how Opaline takes step by step the cutie marks of everyone. It’s well paced and it makes sense why it’s a double episode. I’m not a huge fan of Opaline’s song because the lyrics are too obvious and too simplistic, but other than that, it’s a pretty good episode, one of the best in Make your Mark.

The last episode, Secrets of Starlight, is a special episode that lasts 40 minutes. After the defeat of Opaline, the main characters travel to another world where they meet a new type of pony, the auroricorns. Despite that they look friendly, they hide something from Sunny and her friends, which is a task they’re doing for a flying leopard called Allura, that is to find a star that she wants. The episode was neat, although I had some issues with the pacing, but it hinted the return of Allura, so I’m excited to see more of her.

But yeah, the chapters 5 and 6 of Make your Mark are pretty good! I still have some minor issues, like how whenever Zipp speaks, the “stock footage detective music” always plays, and same thing with Pipp with the bass. But I'm well aware that it's a trademark feature at this point, kinda like how the show tends to overuse the glitter effects. I don’t know which episodes I like the most, either Roots of all Evil or the Misty episodes, and I think that’s a sign of good storytelling. As a matter of fact, both The Owl House and Gravity Falls have such great episodes that I don’t know which episode is my favorite. Misty was properly written compared to other previous characters we’ve seen in the past in this franchise, they want to reinforce the idea of only having a healthy friendship with friends, Opaline was great as a villain (this treatment is what I wanted to see for Chrysalis in Friendship is Magic before I watched that season 6 finale), the main characters have good reasons to ditch the villains, there’s good continuity and, most importantly, the episodes were fun to watch. The only episode I didn’t enjoy was Mane Smelody, but apart from that, I think it’s pretty good.

I’m not saying that Make your Mark is supremely fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but considering the circumstances, I think it’s pretty good. With the exception of some episodes (particularly some from chapters 2 and 4), Make your Mark is better than the last 4 seasons of Friendship is Magic. Whenever I watched some of these episodes, I felt I was punished for watching them, but whenever I watch Sunny and her friends, I have the sense of curiosity that leads me to watch even more. Not to an addictive degree like The Owl House or Rick and Morty, but just enough to get interested in their friendship journey.

So all I have to ask is, why are some fans upset about this?

Well, it’s not necessarily the G5 fans, it’s more the G4 fans. Most of their complaints are not related to G5, they’re more like “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” or “everyone uses the phones all the time” or “there’s no magic”. Most of the time (at least in some websites where the discourse is taken place) they use these as an excuse to make G5 look like a bad franchise. They get caught in the trap of feeling that “this show is not for me”, but they couldn’t say that out loud because everyone would rightfully question why they need everything to be about them. As a result, they go for another ways to justify their displeasure to G5, including overexaggerating little issues and taking moments of Make your Mark out of context. This is not exclusive to the MLP fandom and I could have an hour discussing about this issue, but that’s a topic for another time.

I’d like to ask you a couple of questions about G5.

Do you know why, in 2021, we got a movie where some earth ponies genuinely believe the unicorns could control other ponies’ minds? And do you know why their magic is linked to the power of three magical stones who have to be mixed in other for this magic to awake?

Do you know why, in 2022, Posey said in the chapter 1 of Make your Mark that “Magic is not very safe”?

Do you know why Misty asked in Sunny Side Up a specific question to Opaline? “Do we have to steal their cutie marks? They're actually kind of nice ponies”.

Do you know why they took several episodes to develop Misty instead of, say, two episodes?

Do you know why the main characters don’t tolerate Opaline and Allura and their actions?

And do you know why the G5 writers want Make your Mark to be about friendship?

In the animation industry, money talks, nobody would deny it. It’s one of the reasons why Illumination made several successful movies in a row despite the low quality. But here’s another thing: People talk. Not only the people who watch animation, but also the people who work on these studios. That includes character designers, animators, background designers, producers, writers and executive producers among other disciplines. Feedback is important. In the same way companies talk to other companies to put a suspicious worker on a black list, people from a studio talk to each other about certain movies, shows or themes that could be either worth to be explored, themes that could be too saturated or themes that could be kinda disturbing for something you wanna make for kids.

My point is that the people who work on G5 (both A New Generation and Make your Mark) are aware. They’re aware that there has been some very untrustworthy and kinda cynical promises made to fans in Friendship is Magic many years ago. It more seems like they don’t want people to get the wrong idea. They don’t want people to have an idea of just what your expectation is from this because of previous management that happened was kinda rough. They don’t want to bury themselves six feet undergound that other writers and producers might have done in Friendship is Magic.

In other words, it’s like they’re aware that the Starlight Glimmer situation had existed in the past. People know of it. People are aware because it made a profound negative impact on the show, to the point where even the entertainment industry was infested by the trope of “forgiving the bastard” in the second half of the 2010s, being Kylo Ren from Rise of the Skywalker the most popular example among other characters, like Catra from She-Ra and the princesses of power.

Fortunately it’s been 9 years since Cutie Remark happened, but it was definitively a thing that affected the animation industry during that decade, and it’s very unfortunate because it doesn’t make any sense. Why should I trust a character who says “I’ve changed” when their actions don’t match with their words and ideas, especially in a kids show? It’s like the writers don’t want their character to improve. As a matter of fact, there’s a song in Fame and Misfortune that basically says “we have flaws, stop expecting us to improve as people”. But... wasn’t that the entire point of Friendship is Magic? It’s a kids show about friendship. You are supposed to teach friendship so that kids can catch things up and get better.

The writers of G5 don’t want to use Misty as a gauge of representation of what people are interested in the future. They don’t want to trick the audience. If they’re gonna do something with a character or a story, they’re gonna do something with them, and it’s not gonna come at the caviat of an abusive character who refuses to change their behaviour. And that’s what happened before.

When A New Generation came out, there were lots of complaints about how ponies with no magic is absurd. I understand it, but it was an extreme solution to an extreme problem. They don’t want overpowered characters who get away with it because that already happened in Friendship is Magic with Starlight Glimmer.

When Posey shares her concern about the use of magic was because that was a thing in Friendship is Magic, particularly in the later seasons.

When Misty made that question to Opaline, it’s because cutie marks represent their talent and uniqueness.

If Misty got several episodes until she was redeemed in chapter 4 it’s because the writers don’t wanna give her two weak and underwhelming episodes. They wanted to do the right thing, not doing the bare minimum.

The main characters don’t tolerate what Opaline and Allura because they don’t respect bullies or people who just want more power to the detriment of others.

And Make your Mark is still an animated show about friendship because that’s what Friendship is Magic initially was about.

I think they understand that the redemption trend of last decade being a thing because “people should sympathize/empathize with the villain” (even though that seems to be saved only for conventionally attractive characters, people with nice hairstyle and blue eyes, basically waifu/husbando material) is garbage. It’s never been a problem before. It’s never been a thing that leads to a result that makes any sense, and I think they understand that now.

I really respect this attitude because that shows that the people behind G5 are more self-aware than it has ever been in a long time. It’s super refreshing to see something like this in the franchise.

Some of the G4 purists would say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless”. Did they care enough about twilight’s journey? Because there was a time where people like SilverQuill demanded that Friendship is Magic should be less about Twilight and her friends and more about the world, which would render the value of friendship in the first place. And people went on board with it.

Some of them would say “everyone uses the phones all the time”. You know some people go to websites with their phones, do you?

Some of them would say “there’s no magic”. Friendship is Magic never was a TV show about magic, unless you count the later seasons. It was a TV show about friendship.

Make your Mark isn’t perfect, but when there’s a good episode, it’s a good episode. But no matter how good they are, these people will find other excuses, because nothing is good enough for them. They have that Microsoft mentality. Oh, Hi-Fi Rush got unprecedented awards that give a sense of value to Xbox? Ok, let’s shut the studio down. Because that’s not good enough.

I’m also worried about the level of understanding of an average MLP fan. When I talked about chapter 2 of Make your Mark in a website two years ago, I got a specific reply, I’ve read it and I concluded that he either hasn’t read it or hasn’t understood it. There was no input, no feedback, no nuance, nothing. Just a sentence of 4 words, nothing else.

But it’s not that surprising at this point in the MLP community. After all, I’ve received a death threat from someone who wants me to be dead because I didn’t like Pinkie Pie enough.

Beautiful. Classy.

It’s kinda funny how nowadays people on the Internet seem to demonize anything that’s genuinely wholesome, like having healthy relationships with your friends or your siblings, and then normalize stories with characters who have creepy attitudes. It reminds me of how last decade people talked about, say, The Big Bang Theory. In that show, the main characters are said to be friends, but in every single episode we see them roasting each other, to the point where you assume they kinda hate each other. As a matter of fact, Leonard went to Antarctica with his group of friends for research purposes and then destroy the research just to gain extra time to sleep with Penny. And speaking of her, there were several moments where Leonard has slept with some women and then he pretended that nothing happened so that Penny wouldn’t suspect. There are lots of moments like that in the show, including him getting sick of Howard sharing his experience about how he went outer space because, according to Leonard, “it’s not about him”. But nobody bats an eye because "the knock knock Penny joke is peak comedy". It's never been an issue for them because "geek things are cool now".

Whenever I talk about this to someone, they tell me that “this is what friends do”. Do they? Why would this creepy behavior indicate any sense of loyalty and respect to a friend? It kinda reminds me of a couple who has been married for several years and most of the time they spent screaming each other. And when I asked why they do that, she told me that “this is what couples do”. Do they though? Because last year I had to call the police because her husband was threatening her with some scissors. Is that “what couples do”? I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone should tolerate this behavior, no matter if it’s a married couple or a group of friends. My older brother is gonna marry to his fiancee and these two have never had a situation where they insult and scream to each other, because they respect each other.

And don’t get me wrong. I love shows like Breaking Bad, Rick and Morty, Succession, The Wire and South Park. These are stories that allows this type of behavior. My point is that it shouldn’t be a normal thing in an animated kids show. If Digimon came out today and the episode with Tai and Kairi (the one where he went back to the human world) aired today, these people would probably roast it and turn it into an easy target because “siblings are not that affectionate to each other”, that "it's not realistic". This is why Frozen became an easy target for several years. They don’t wanna focus on the story and the sibling relationship between Elsa and Anna and some specific twists that reinforce these affection themes that went completely over some vocal viewers’ heads, they wanted to talk about the villain as an excuse to ask where the classic Disney villains have gone to. This is why I appreciate that, say, The Owl House has characters who genuinely respect their friends, because that's what friends do.

And speaking about The Owl House, if there’s one thing I learned after watching the very last episode is that the redemption trend is crap. Very few times I’ve seen this working well, like Nebula from Avengers Endgame, Tempest Shadow, princess Luna in season 2 of Friendship is Magic, Misty in Make your Mark and Lilith from The Owl House (at the end of season 1 she had to pay a price, which was sharing the curse, an exchange that made her grow as a person) among very few characters. You can’t apply the empathy argument with a villain who has done several nasty things. You ain't coming back from cults, tricking people and manipulation. You just can't.

I think people want this "morally grey" area so bad in shows for little kids because they're afraid of being judged in the eyes of others, specially in today's social media with platforms like Twitter. That would explain a lot of things not only in this fandom, but also in other fandoms. Just a guess. Fortunately I haven’t seen this that frequent in this new decade, because we already have seen more than enough.

You’d think a community surrounding an animated TV show about friendship, love and tolerance for over ten years would care to see how these themes are translated to A new Generation and Make your Mark by this new team of writers and value some individual stories they’ve told with these characters. But why do basic inquiry if you can just say “Twilight’s friendship was rendered meaningless” and make it your whole personality.

So, for everyone who wants to see wholesome media or has some story ideas, go write these stories and support the people who write this type of stories. Sure, some people will turn it into easy targets, like Frozen, but there will be people who will appreciate it for what they’ve made. Atfer all, I’ve started to see more people who love Frozen for what it is instead of what people expected it was gonna be. So go write it. Write that wholesome story. Write it before you finish reading this.

Wow, I enjoyed reading your take on the episodes and comparisons to similar issues I have encountered several times from the fandom since G5's airing.

FYI- I'm going to go a bit off tangent at times as I have so many thoughts.

I'm sorry to hear that you have been insulted by others who claim to be a part of this fandom. I have been told to "go kys" and other horrible things before by "G4 purists" who cannot accept anything that isn't G4 or any valid criticism, however they feel like they can nitpick the tiniest things from G5 and basically make it their premise of hate. I don't mind if someone has a different opinion and has valid criticism, but if they start insulting me from the start and aren't willing to hear a different opinion, I realized that I cannot have a healthy discussion with those people.

I felt MYM had a great batch of episodes where the writers explored several ideas introduced back in FiM and tried to improve upon them. It was refreshing to watch.  I thought they did a great job with Misty's arc. You mentioned redemption arcs and I understand that some people do not like the redemption of a villain trope, but I liked the notion that they tried to attempt it for Starlight. Some people don't believe in second chances or that by forgiving these characters somehow means that we're okay with all their previous heinous actions, but that is not the case or the idea at all. For all these redemption stories, the idea is to look further beyond that as person. It sounds crazy to some, but people can change and everyone changes in different ways as we all grow in different ways. Some can argue that things could have been executed better and more, but these situations are never perfect. The examples you provided regarding Nebula, Tempest Shadow, Princess Luna, and Lilith sound like nice exceptions at first, however when examined further- they have all done some terrible things that people would never forgive, but they were forgiven just like Starlight. It's purely subjective and there will always be some form of scrutiny from fans. Hell, I remember seeing arguments from people who thought Luz should have tried to redeem Belos! I give Dana Terrance props for doing something different for an animated kids show.

I do agree to an extent that some people are projecting their own personal issues and want to impose all these negative and toxic behaviors from these adult shows to kids shows as well. I have seen IRL and in shows where friends and couples have trashed each other as well. They would seemingly classify it as "normal behavior", which is sad to see. I'm glad G5 is doing something different and portraying healthier relationships between characters.

As much as I loved G4, I think that those later 4-5 seasons felt like a chore to watch at times. G5 generally doesn't feel that way for me. Sure, FiM had some fun little moments sprinkled here and there, but it wasn't the same show I came to love in the first few seasons. It doesn't mean I hated them, it's just that I found that the consistency of quality fell through after season 3. I was surprised to see that the G4 purists overlook all that stuff due to nostalgia, but nitpick the smallest thing they don't like about G5. I recall seeing a while back that some people were trying to compare the best episodes of the entire G4 franchise to only the best episodes of Tell Your Tale. I have met people who act like MYM does not exist because, and I quote, "it is 3D/CGI and therefore does not count as a series".

In my opinion, the reality is that G5 has "caught" up to G4 in terms of general quality when you examine the entire plethora of series so far. It's just that a certain group of think that anything that is a sequel must be 100% better in every way or it's considered a complete flop and in this case, it's not. Every series has its ups and downs.

Some people may not agree with that and other opinions I expressed here- and I'm okay with it. There are plenty of valid criticisms where G4 and G5 have plenty of issues, but they are still wonderful in their own ways. There are some passionate fans here who see that and I'm thankful for them. Unfortunately, there are other people who do not want to give any credit where credit is due.

Edited July 16 by Starlight Serenade
Editing

[Silver Wind 114514 42]

The whole season was considered to be the best amoung all the chapters of g5. But it still dissapointed me because i expected that our grrrrrreat and powerful Starrrrrrrlight would return in the last episode. But it appeared to be just a name.

[Rafa Stary Mini 2,864]

19 hours ago, ThomasJtF said:

The whole season was considered to be the best amoung all the chapters of g5. But it still dissapointed me because i expected that our grrrrrreat and powerful Starrrrrrrlight would return in the last episode. But it appeared to be just a name.

Yeah that must've disappointed a lot of fans, but I was already expecting that she wasn't going to appear, after all, Hasbro's contract with Discovery Family probably prevents them from using a lot of characters from G4, specially from the latter 5 Seasons, with Starlight being one of them 

[Silver Wind 114514 42]

4 hours ago, Rafa Stary said:

Yeah that must've disappointed a lot of fans, but I was already expecting that she wasn't going to appear, after all, Hasbro's contract with Discovery Family probably prevents them from using a lot of characters from G4, specially from the latter 5 Seasons, with Starlight being one of them 

？What do you mean contract with discovery family? I thought Hasbro Studio is in full charge of producing the episodes and Discovery.family is just a publisher. So apparently Starlight and all the other new characters after S4 was designed.by Discocery Family?.

[Rafa Stary Mini 2,864]

13 minutes ago, ThomasJtF said:

？What do you mean contract with discovery family? I thought Hasbro Studio is in full charge of producing the episodes and Discovery.family is just a publisher. So apparently Starlight and all the other new characters after S4 was designed.by Discocery Family?.

No, Hasbro still made everything, but Discovery Family still owns the rights to these characters and the FiM show until March 2025, due to the contract and the airing in their channel, Hasbro needs to pay Diacovery Family everytime they use G4 characters. It's in animated format only though, that's why the G5 comics could make heavier connections to G4, and even bring back some characters and locations that the animated productions couldn't show.

There is a lot of speculation about it though, but the contract is real.

[Silver Wind 114514 42]

14 minutes ago, Rafa Stary said:

No, Hasbro still made everything, but Discovery Family still owns the rights to these characters and the FiM show until March 2025, due to the contract and the airing in their channel, Hasbro needs to pay Diacovery Family everytime they use G4 characters. It's in animated format only though, that's why the G5 comics could make heavier connections to G4, and even bring back some characters and locations that the animated productions couldn't show.

There is a lot of speculation about it though, but the contract is real.

Wow, i've never heard of these things. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like oceans and boarders really blocks things.