A Review of Crusaders of the Lost Mark · 8:59am Oct 11th, 2015
THERE BE SPOILERS HERE,
MATEY.
WATCH THE DAMN EPISODE BEFORE READING THIS.
DISCLAIMER: I am butthurt. But I am not mad. I am not posting this for you to make me unbutthurt. I'm only voicing my opinions, and asking what your opinions on this matter might be.
I finally get a chance to use this image lol.
Anyway. So. This new episode. Yeah... Hell of an episode. Watching the beginning as it aired at 10:30am, through half-lidded, sleep encrusted eyes, I knew right away that this one was special. It started immediately with a song, which might be the only episode to have a song before the opening credits, not sure about that one. Definitely one of very few. Even though I was half asleep, I got the reference in the title Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
Did anyone catch that a chicken was one of the potential special talents on the list? Was it any coincidence it was drawn in Scootaloo-orange. 
And then suddenly Pipsqueak. I almost flipped shit, I was like, no way, Pip, having an actual plot? Well, more like subplot, but still. Pretty awesome. Then Diamond Tiara was being her typical bitchy self... but then... something peculiar happened. Silver Spoon... actually grew a pair (of ovaries) and had a tiff with Diamond Tiara! I honestly thought she'd never mare up. I always secretly wanted her to, but I never expected it to actually happen!
Also, Button Mash! He... was only just kind of there... but, but, Button Mash!
The CMC, to me, have always seemed not entirely resentful of their local bullies, Diamond and Spoon. I've always felt the CMC were kind of more receptive to them, like they might want to be friends, you know, if the pair weren't such pompous bitches. So when the CMC followed Diamond around, and felt bad for her, it felt perfectly right. I know lots of people think oh, they're bullies, and the CMC must hate their guts, and yeah, we see that to some extent in some episodes. But overall, the CMC never really seem to completely hate them.
We now know where Diamond Tiara gets her charming personality from. Her ugly ass mom.
Diamond Tiara actually questions her useless pos cutie mark, and blatantly lies about it to the CMC. There's gotta be a psycological term for this... cutie mark insecurity complex? Cutie mark identity crisis? I don't know. But man, it was awesome. Another thing I never thought I'd see in the show: Diamond Tiara questioning the meaning of her own cutie mark, basically in front on the CMC, no less! In fact, the CMC were right on the verge of actually getting Diamond to open up completely and maybe help her out, but then that little pinto bastard had to show up and ruin it!
Diamond Tiara decides to do the right thing, and stands up to her bitchy mother - whom we never knew existed - and it was awesome. And we get, for the first time as far as I know, a use of the phrase 'high horse.' Hehehe.
It seems like Diamond settles awfully quickly on what her cutie mark means. It's getting other ponies to do what she wants. Um... ok? I mean, she kind of shows us that at the end, sweet talking the little foals into doing stuff. Well, at least she's being nice about it, I suppose.
Then IT happened. I was in shock at first. Like... no fawking way. It wasn't even right, was it some weird power-of-friendship magic happening? I guess it was in a way, cuz that's not the normal happenings of getting an assmark, since we've seen it happen before. But it happened. It finally happened. They got their cutie marks.
At first, being half-asleep, I mistook them all for being the same exact one, the shield on the CMC's capes. Which now, examining them for realsies, I can see, they're barely the same shield, and are much more multifaceted.
All three are shields with three color stripes them. Reddish, for Applebloom, whiteish / pinkish, for Sweetie Belle, and purple for Scootaloo. Kind of their hair colors, but ok, whatever, it's representative of all of them together, and that's neat.
Individually,
Sweetie Belle's is a star with a musical eight note in it, because she's good at singing.
Scootaloo's is a pegasus wing with a lightning bolt in it, because... she's quick? Maybe this means she'll be able to fly for realsies soon.
Applebloom's is... an apple with a heart in it, because fuck her, all she's good at - apparently - is being in the Apple family.
On the plus side, this means there will never really be an end to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Their special talent is literally cutie mark crusading. So, they'll keep being themselves.
On the down side... I feel cheated. They'll never have that issue of one of them getting a cutie mark before the other two, and having to come to terms with that. They'll never... ok, well, they'll be less inclined to grow, as characters, beyond that innocence of young self-discovery. I feel like I've been waiting five seasons and indeed, exactly five years (October 10th is the anniversary) for the crusaders to get their marks in what talents the show originally hinted they would be: singing, scooting, and fixing shit.
I suppose you could say the conflicts we will miss out on, have already happened in Bloom and Gloom, and that's true. But still. It seems like we'll miss so much, and we'll never get to see things change and the CMC grow. But I guess they have grown here and now... I don't know.
Overall, a masterfully made episode that gave us so, so much character development and plot - most of it long overdue stuff that we've all been waiting eagerly for - and a great way to celebrate our MLP's 5th anniversary.
But I'm still butthurt about the cutie mark thing.
For as well done as the episode was, Hassbro played it very safe I felt. lol
Applebloom's version is probably deeper than that. The Apple family is rather tight-knit, and by that logic you could say that Applebloom is the "heart", somepony that brings others together. After all, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did not know each other at all before they stood up against Diamond after she made fun of Applebloom for being a blank flank. (Sweetie Belle could be inspiration, and Scootaloo faith, like loyalty.)
This doesn't necessarily mean that they will no longer grow. I think it's just that their role has shifted. They'll more than ever strive to help other ponies understand themselves better, and realise their ambitions. They might have a job similar to what the mane six has been doing, on an individual level rather than for a community.
I'm upset about that too. They could have separated getting their marks by some episodes at least... or, hell, a whole season!
3461016 How do you mean, safe?
3461082 Why you gotta make logical sense? Why you gotta be like that?
3461403 1) Tell me about it!
2) It would be nice to see them actually physically age just a teensy tiny little bit. Teenager is a bit strong, I'm thinking more like preteen.
3) *sniff* I got the warm and fuzzies too. But I was still all grumpy about it. Has been too damn long honestly. You know, a lot of people say we need way more epic episodes, more action, etc, I think what we really need are more feelsy episodes like this. The plot is meaningful, it carries weight. Like Sleepless in Ponyville, I cried. I legit cried. I love all the slice of lifey episodes, and the shenanigans episodes too, but yeah, more feelsy episodes would be awesome.
3461821 They could've done all sorts of different things. Me personally, I was kind of looking forward to only one of them getting their mark and staying that way for an episode or two at least. Whilst being hinted at in the background that there's some tesnion between them, or that they're sad about it, or something. Idk.
3463444
Because order brings the world together~
3463923 img09.deviantart.net/6e98/i/2011/268/d/5/vote_discord_by_equestria_election-d4aynj8.png