Make Your Mark Specials Ranking, Version 2 · 3:09pm Nov 27th, 2023
Chapter 6 gave us one more special in the form of "Secrets of Starlight", weird how they would choose a fourty four minute special to go on out, but I digress. How does it stack up compared to the other specials we've gotten? Well, let's find out. As always, this is purely the result of my personal opinion, so please respect it.
4. Make Your Mark Special/Make Your Mark Pilot (Make Your Mark, Chapter 1)
Why it stayed on the bottom: I get that this was basically a pilot for Make Your Mark, and pilots are seldom the best episodes of any show. But that's no excuse for how boring this special really is. It drags its heels, wasting time on nothing of substance happening until finally it decides to shoehorn in a climax. And it really doesn't make our main characters look good when only Zipp seems to have a functioning brain and bothers to ask any questions. This definitely didn't get Make Your Mark off on the right foot, and it took until almost the end of Chapter 2 to really overcome this bad first impression.
3. Winter Wishday (Make Your Mark, Chapter 3)
Why it moved down: It's sad when Tell Your Tale of all things could take the holiday special concept and do it better, having an episode devoted to Sunny Starscout baking with Grandma Figgy and Alphabittle, and learning more about holiday traditions and even some of the past of some of her friends. This really feels like a toy commercial for the Marestream, it's featured so prominently here. Otherwise, we have to spend an entire fourty four minutes on Sunny being insufferable, being that one individual who always tries to dictate a schedule or timetable no matter what. I really can't buy the concept that Sunny doesn't know anything about the holiday traditions of her friends: Especially not when Hitch is her childhood friend, and Izzy and Pipp are so outgoing. And that stuff with the unicorns casting spells, it has no connection whatsoever to Opaline despite her being established as a fire alicorn. It's there purely for the sake of shoehorning in a climax.
2. Bridlewoodstock (Make Your Mark, Chapter 4, Episode 1)
Why it moved down: For what would be the only celebrity guest star Make Your Mark ever got, you'd think they would've done a better job here than what they ultimately did. But nope, they somehow managed to botch what should've been at least a decent special. What was the point of naming your special after the most iconic rock concert of all time if you weren't going to actually make it a rock concert? You could name it literally anything else and nothing of substance would change. And yet again, there was no Opaline or Misty. And the saddest thing is, this is what they chose to promote the most for Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark: Not, you know, Misty joining the group or the mane five finally meeting and confronting Opaline. Even the Marestream was just there for the sake of showing it off, it was pointless to the actual narrative. It must be surprising that they could do better after three specials in a row that were average at best. But somehow, they found a way.
1. Secrets of Starlight (Make Your Mark, Chapter 6, Episode 4)
Why it's on the top: At first, it seems like this special is going to be just like the other specials: Wasting time on our heroes doing nothing of substance, and ignoring obvious signs of danger while only Zipp bothers to ask any questions. The entire first act makes it seem like it's going to be that way: Focusing on the mane six just goofing off and doing winter sports. Even their designs just seem to be done for the sake of creating more toys to sell. But thankfully, once that first act is done, things pick up. Our heroes actually go back to help out and we get an actual villain for the specials for a change, one that is a vast improvement over Opaline if only because she's more threatening and has an actual presence. From there, the mane six actually pitch in to help save the day. Comet joining them when they go back to Equestria and Aurora and Twitch following is a big surprise. It feels almost like this is supposed to be a second pilot, a new beginning for Make Your Mark rather than an abrupt end. Even so, a special with actual stakes instead of a shoehorned in climax manages to be the one that beats out all the rest.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow for an updated ranking of the mane five/mane six episodes of Make Your Mark.
So basically, from your point of view, each Make Your Mark special is better than the last one.
5756862 Yes, though far as I'm concerned the first three specials are all pretty interchangable and it's only a case of which is the least awful. It should not have taken until the very last special for them to actually do anything of substance with them.