This week, I watched MLP: Make Your Mark · 11:50am Jul 22nd, 2023
Chapters 1 and 3 are meh as both consist of one 45-minute special each.
Chapter 2 was so insufferable. I can't stand the pony populace being discriminatory towards Sunny. They have no respect for her if she's an earth pony and they only do so if she's an alicorn. And Pipp ruined Zipp's investigation on the stolen lamp. Zipp almost solved the case when she found out that Misty was the culprit.
Chapter 4 was tolerable at the very least. I'm glad that Misty started to think for herself, dissociate herself from Opaline, and got her cutie mark after helping the Mane 5 and Sparky escape from the castle. Also, I appreciate the messages about staying true to yourself and that one shouldn't dwell too much on the number of likes and followers on social media.
Overall, MYM doesn't have the same charm as that of Friendship Is Magic. Plus, the animation quality has been downgraded from the movie, as evident in the stiffness of the ponies' movements and the dark circles around Izzy's eyes that make it look like she didn't get enough sleep. I've warmed up to the new voice cast and I think they did their best in emulating the voices of the cast from A New Generation.
If I may add, Sparky being born with wings is strongly reminiscent of Flurry Heart being born with wings and a horn. The fact that it took 8 seasons of FIM for Spike to gain his wings is beyond my understanding.
Need to get around to more G5 someday, only seen the movie aside from clips.
Hard truth aesop there; many people don't care about causes and only want celebrity endorsement.