SPOILERS! Mariusioannesp Reviews: "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" · 6:51am Oct 11th, 2015
WARNING!!! The following contains SPOILERS for today’s MLP episode “Crusaders of the Lost Mark.”
Now, without further ado, here is my review of “Crusaders of the Lost Mark.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders are considering cutie marks to crusade for when Pipsqueak drops by their clubhouse with a proposition. He’s running for student pony president and wants them to be his campaign managers. Diamond Tiara is his opponent and reigning student pony president. The CMC’s campaign is a success, but they surprisingly worry that Diamond Tiara might be hurt. Will Diamond Tiara learn the true meaning of friendship? Will the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally get their cutie marks? Only one way to find out.
What’s the verdict?
Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders version of “Magical Mystery Cure” with a little “Keep Calm and Flutter On” thrown in for good measure. Was it just as bad as “Magical Mystery Cure”? No, actually, it was a lot better because…
IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!
Of course, I liked it!
Anyway, let’s start where things usually begin at the beginning. The CMC are in their clubhouse discussing cutie marks to crusade for. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are despondent because they’re sure they have tried everything by now. It’s been almost five seasons; that may be true. Apple Bloom lifts their spirits with the prelude of a song called “We’ll Make Our Mark.” Yeah, this is a musical episode. Like I said, it’s the CMC’s “Magical Mystery Cure.” Once that’s done, Pipsqueak shows up requesting the CMC’s aid. He’s running for student pony president, and he wants them to be his campaign managers. The CMC are excited at the prospect of getting campaign manager cutie marks. Pip’s primary platform is to replace the school’s playground equipment because it was severely damaged during Twilight Sparkle’s battle with Tirek. Hey, continuity! Diamond Tiara is the reigning student pony president he’s running against. Diamond tries arguing that Pip’s plan is a waste of money and reminds everypony that she replaced a window that had been damaged by Discord with a stained-glass window of herself. I never knew Ponyville’s schoolhouse was such a target for Equestria’s villains. It’s also pointed out that Diamond Tiara’s mother Spoiled Rich is the president of the school board. Oh, so Diamond Tiara does have a mommy. Silver Spoon also lets slip that Diamond is planning on erecting a statue in place of the playground when she wins, causing Diamond to silence her.
We then have another song, “The Vote,” where the CMC sing about why everypony should vote for Pip while Diamond sings about why they should vote for her. Like a true politician, Diamond also threatens to expose some of her classmates’ dirty secrets. Silver Spoon tries to sing a suggestion, but she is once more silenced by Diamond. Like true political operatives, the CMC pounce at the opportunity and quickly point out how Diamond treats her friends. Faster than you’d expect, the votes are in, and Pipsqueak is the winner! But no cutie marks for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Just give it like twenty minutes. Diamond demands a recount and does the recount herself. (I don’t think that’s legal. Like ever.) She discovers that there’s only one vote for her! Even Silver Spoon didn’t vote for her! Silver Spoon tells Diamond off for not listening to her. Diamond Tiara runs off in a huff. Apple Bloom suggests to her CMC cohorts that they should go to see if Diamond Tiara is okay. She’s certainly a better mare than I would be. I would have left Diamond fester in her emotional putrescence.
Diamond runs off home presumably, and we get our first look at her mother Spoiled Rich.
It becomes very apparent that Spoiled Rich is where Diamond gets her bad attitude from. She’s only a bully because she’s bullied at home. How original. It was something I always wondered since her dad Filthy Rich seems like an okay guy. Spoiled Rich is very concerned with status and winning and being on top. It begins even in Ponyville she says.
Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee? What are you doing here?
After being emotionally abused by her mother, Diamond Tiara sings her emotions in another song called “The Pony I Want to Be.” Yes, for the first time, outside that one line in the first song of “Pinkie Pride,” Diamond Tiara gets to sing. Even though Diamond has her cutie mark already, she still struggles with who is she supposed to be. That felt very real. A lot of us in life do the things we think we need to do to have things figured out, but then, you’re like what are you supposed to do with that. Unbeknownst to Diamond, the CMC have watched Diamond’s emotional musical interlude. Sweetie Belle finds it weird that she feels bad for Diamond, and the others are in agreement. I agree as well. I also felt strange feeling bad for Diamond Tiara of all ponies. You remember all those times I’ve called Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara “Tweedle B and Tweedle Concha.” Anyway, the CMC decide that Diamond needs a friend to help her change in the way she desperately wants to. So, the next day after school, the CMC invite Diamond to hang out with them at their clubhouse. Diamond is kind of passive-aggressive about it, but she kind of agrees. Once she’s there, she even admits that the CMC are lucky because they still have options in finding out who they really are before they end up with a mark and still struggle understand what it means. You know, like Diamond Tiara. The CMC admit that they heard Diamond singing about her woes the day before, and they think they can help her. However, that’s when Pipsqueak shows up with an emergency! Why is the CMC on Pipsqueak’s speed dial when he has a problem? Might it have something to do with “Twilight Time” last season? Either way, Pipsqueak took his plan for the playground to the school board, and it was rejected because they don’t have enough money in the budget for it. You should have probably considered that possibility before you made that promise, Pip. The CMC promise to help him come up with a solution. Diamond Tiara pounces on the opportunity. She’s going to tell the whole school how Pipsqueak can’t make due on his campaign promise, forcing them to reinstate her as student pony president. Diamond Tiara, you little whorse! Diamond runs off and the CMC give chase, all set to the song “Light of Your Cutie Mark.”
Diamond Tiara arrives at the school, ready to make her announcement. The CMC make a last ditch effort to convince Diamond to not go through with it. There’s another way, and she can be a better pony! And that’s when our new favorite pony Spoiled Rich shows up again. She once again berates her daughter Diamond for being in the presence of the likes of the CMC. She’ll never move up in life hanging out with them. She tells Diamond to come along, but Diamond tells her no! Diamond tells her off, telling her that she thought she wanted to be like her mother, but now she realizes that she wanted something her mother doesn’t have: friends. And the CMC are Diamond’s friends!
Wait, what? When did that happen? When they were running and singing the song before? I am confuzzled.
Moving on, Diamond has mommy dearest deliver a note to her father. See, Diamond’s special talent is getting ponies to do what she wants. The CMC have helped her see what she can really do with it. The note she sent to her father is a request for him to donate the costs of fixing the playground. We then have a reprise of “The Pony I Want to Be” while the playground is assembled. Diamond even encourages those ponies she had dirt on to help out using their supposedly embarrassing talents. Soon enough, the playground is complete, and the CMC look over what they were able to accomplish. They decide that instead of focusing on finding their own special talents, they should try helping others find or rediscover their special talents. They seal their new mission statement with a high five.
And then something amazing happens!
They’re surrounded by magical energy and starting floating into the air…
OH MY GOSH! THEY’RE TURNING INTO ALICORN PRINCESSES!
CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ALICORN PRINCESSES! YAY!
No. That would be stupid. Instead, it’s something better!
The CMC finally get their cutie marks! 
And it is glorious!
And I was right! Again!
Again!
Their cutie marks are in cutie mark crusading…. Yeah, I know, I wasn’t expecting that either. It sounds like a weird joke.
We come to the end with the final song, the rest of “We’ll Make Our Mark.” During this musical sequence is pretty much the only time we see the Mane 6 in this whole episode. We have Rarity congratulating Sweetie Belle. Rainbow Dash congratulates Scootaloo. My, they’ve developed quite the bond this season. And we get another little tidbit when Applejack is congratulating Apple Bloom.
Does that mean what I think it means? Has the show itself confirmed something we’ve suspected all this time? Applejack’s parents are indeed dead enough to give doornails a run for their money!
There’s also a bunch of flashbacks to various points in the CMC’s history. In the end, the CMC renew their new mission to help others find their special talents. This is such a momentous occasion that Spike immortalizes with a photo that he sends to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna a la the opening of every episode.
Let me start my thoughts with what I thought was wrong with this episode. This episode is a lot like “Magical Mystery Cure,” and it shares its second biggest flaw. There is like way too much going on here. Pipsqueak running for student pony president, Diamond Tiara’s depth reformation, and the CMC getting their cutie marks all in one episode. It’s like they had ideas for like two or three different episodes but couldn’t fill any of them out so they stuck them all together. Plus, it’s also a musical. Just like in “Magical Mystery Cure,” the songs don’t really let you dwell in the moment. It just rushes you along like you accidently wandered into a parade. The songs aren’t even that memorable. This is very much apparent with Diamond Tiara’s reformation. It just seems like it happens almost out of nowhere. Still though, we were promised an episode where Diamond Tiara was given some depth, and that is what we were given. (Though it did border on the cliche side.) Despite all of this though, this episode didn’t feel that rushed. I could have sworn this episode was two to three minutes longer than an average MLP episode.
What about the CMC’s cutie marks? Well, it certainly wasn’t what any of us were expecting, was it. Their cutie marks are ironically in helping others get or understand their cutie marks. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I totally understand why they took that route. Most of us were probably expecting them to get the cutie marks that were hinted at way back in “The Show Stoppers” from Season 1. Apple Bloom would be construction or building stuff, Sweetie Belle would be singing, and Scootaloo would be speed and agility or dancing… something like that. I mean, it’s still in their actual cutie marks a little. Sweetie Belle’s has a musical note in it, and Scootaloo has a lightning bolt within a wing. The thing is though, if the CMC had gotten the cutie marks we suspected they’d get from Season 1, then they would have looked like idiots. Instead, they got cutie marks reflecting what they’ve been doing these past five seasons. They got cutie marks in cutie mark crusading. Helping Diamond Tiara understand her cutie mark here was also rather similar to how they helped Trouble Shoes in “Appleloosa’s Most Wanted.” Perhaps, if Babs Seed appears in earnest next season, they’ll help her better understand her cutie mark too. Her card seems to indicate something like that.
On top of that, the CMC got to have their cake and eat it too. They got their cutie marks, and they get to continue to be the cutie mark crusaders. Apparently, their shared destinies are so important to the fate of Equestria that they practically underwent an alicorn ascension while getting their cutie marks. It’s probably also why you have that one screenshot of their cutie marks surrounded by the Mane 6’s cutie marks.
One of the best things in this episode though is once again in the background. 
Did you see Derpy there? Here’s a close up.
She appears to be wearing a uniform very reminiscent to the ones worn by UPS delivery persons.
It’s official. MLP proper has confirmed that Derpy is a mail pony! So, we got the CMC getting their cutie marks, Applejack’s parents confirmed as mostly dead, and Derpy confirmed as a mail pony. It’s like “Slice of Life” all over again.
Overall, “Crusaders of the Lost Mark” was a fine episode for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to finally get their cutie marks. Five seasons of waiting has finally been rewarded. And this is only the beginning of a new journey for our beloved CMC. I wish them the best of luck on their endeavors.
What did you all think of “Crusaders of the Lost Mark”?
God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.
This is an episode that I really liked as well. Though I may have had more of a positive reaction towards some aspects.
(Added emphasis)
That is, until you realize that the card simply shows an edited screenshot from a Season 3 episode, and nothing more. It's kind of like Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski: You believe it's real for a moment, and then somebody comes in, tells you that it's fake, and of course the latter becomes very much correct.
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Well, I'm not denying that. I realize I did not make it clear that I meant that I suspect Babs Seed will show up again in Season 6. And at this point, I don't suspect there is any completed footage of Season 6. So, the card must use an edited screenshot from Season 3.
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You are correct in the earlier area. However, I feel as though the fact that they manipulated an S3 screenshot simply enhances my position: Babs Seed has been destroyed by Hasbro; I want to Buy and Fix Her.
The last statement in the box is like saying E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial must obtain the V8 Vegetable Juice; in the original print of the 1982 classic, E.T. was clearly obtaining booze.