Oct
11th
2015
Raiders of the Lost Cutiemark (spoilers!) · 8:50pm Oct 11th, 2015
Welp.
Pretty fantastic! Diamond Tiara's turnaround was a bit too fast, but good enough for one episode I guess. And it does make more sense with a slight xenofictional take on cutie marks (her cutie mark was in getting others to do what they wanted, and she failed, so crisis!). I also like they showed off the good and bad sides of that mark - leadership vs. manipulation.
For the CMC...to be honest I think they outdid the fandom in the cutie marks. And the marks functioned exactly like I figured they would - they didn't worry about the mark, they just looked at what they liked to do and could do and committed to it and bam.
Hella musical episode but still worked out really well.
I actually felt bad for DT, so that's points for the show, it was a good episode.
DT's turnabout WAS a bit fast. Just enough to feel jarring, but I give the show a lot of allowances due to its very short time restrictions. Another one that was good for the musical format, though it could have leveraged the "time passes things happen" power of a musical a little better to show DT's change of heart. Ah, well.
Your analysis of cutie marks continues to be spot-on. I'm always pleased when a fan author does some real thinking on the show/universe and is later vindicated by canon. :)
I love the marks, and the whole concept around them and how they got them, I'm just irked a bit by the color palette. It clashes quite a bit.
Sorry, but the entire episodes had me thinking "bullshit, Bullshit, Bullshit!" almost all the way through.
Not only were they trotting out the whole "Pity the poor bully, because she has a mean mom/was bullied herself" nonsense for a second time, expecting everyone to conveniently overlook the fact that the poor bully's victims somehow all manage not to become bullies themselves, but then they topped the chutzpah that takes by trying to retcon Tiara's entire personality for the past five seasons as a mere act she put on for the sake of her eeeeevil (yet easily cowed by backtalk) mother.
Yeah, right. When her face lit up with evil glee at the thought of psychologically tormenting Scootaloo over her physical disability, that was totally just a show she put on for her mother — who was nowhere around and could not have any conceivable interest in this.
And finally, after her miraculous (read: bullshit) redemption, they dust off the other hoary, old bullying trope to apply to her mother: "The bully is really a coward, and will instantly give in, if you just stand up to her." Good luck, trying that in real life, Kids! Hope you've got a real good dentist.
To answer the question the episode poses: Would I believe that she always wished she could be somepony else?
No. No, I would not. They not only utterly failed to make me believe it, they barely even tried to make it believable at all.