Monday VIII: Raiders of the lost Ark · 5:08pm Oct 12th, 2015
*Mark
Just a quick announcement before getting into the blog. I'll probably be dedicating the Monday blog post to talking about the last episode. Other updates will be put into another blog later in the week (probably Friday). This'll make things easier for me as I don't have to worry about spoilers.
With that said let's get into this week's episode, check on after the break.
**SPOILERS**
If you've seen the episode and are interested in my words then read after the break, otherwise just move along or come back later.
Now that was an amazing episode. This is one of those episodes that you really have to pay attention to fully appreciate, I only really got it after watching a second time. You can think of it as a Mystery Magical Cure for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, except better executed, much better executed.
It starts off with the CMC helping Little Pip [1] win class elections, Diamond Tiara losing her only friend in the process.
"If you'd listened to me you could have won this election. Do you know how? ... Sorry, I'm not allowed to speak"
However good it felt to finally see Diamond getting what she deserves the show quickly turns the tables.
Despite everything that Diamond Tiara has done, the CMC decide it best make sure she's okay. They follow her back home and well, we're introduced to Diamond's mother, Spoiled Rotten Rich.
From this point on Diamond's character does a complete 180. We discover that she's not completely evil, but rather it's her mother who is to blame for bringing her up in such a way.
The episode has us feeling sorry for Diamond Tiara, and the next scene only adds to that. In the morning the Cutie Mark Crusaders decide to inviter her to their clubhouse, to talk and possibly try and help. Diamond gladly accepts and goes with them.
Once inside the clubhouse we get an interesting glimpse of her character. We find out that she's actually envious of the CMC, that they have a chance to discover their talents, whilst she is stuck with one she doesn't understand.
This scene is cut short when Little Pip shows up asking for help once again. He needs money for the playground. Obviously Diamond Tiara sees her chance (oh no), and sets off to ruin everything for Pip.
The CMC, realising this, set off after her and attempt to change her mind. At times it seems like they're getting through to her but, when given the choice of changing paths, Diamond keeps going towards the schoolhouse determined in her plan.
The episode concludes with Diamond Tiara changing her ways. She stands up to her mother, and helps Pip with funding the school's new playground.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders also have a rather nice revelation.
Normally they've just been trying to get their own cutie marks but, looking at the bigger picture, they now know can actually help other ponies, and in the long run that can be far more rewarding. So they decide that instead of just trying to get their own ones they're also going help their classmates find cutie marks.
It's this change that brings out their long awaited cutie marks.
Overall this is a very emotional episode and there's probably a lot I've left out. The musical numbers are all fantastic, and blend well with the subject matter. I found myself tearing up multiple times during this episode, first feeling sorry for Diamond after learning about how she feels, again as the Cutie Mark Crusaders plead her to take a better path, and then the hardest one during the end scenes with the CMC's sisters congratulating them over their achievement.
Moving on to the Cutie Marks.
This is the only thing I don't entirely like about this episode, the actual designs for their cutie marks. As soon as they appeared I could tell that they looked... off, and now I know why. They're too small and ever so slightly hideous.
I can understand why they went with these designs, a layered symbolism of the group's unity (the shield), their virtue, and their primary talent, but they just seem over-thought. I do hope to see what they have planned for these. I've heard some interesting theories for what might happen.
My final score for this is a 9.5/10.
I'd like to hear what other people have to say about the cutie marks. Like them, Hate them, Hate me? Or do you think Hasbro did this just so Starlight Glimmer can steal them in the finale? Let me know in the comments!
[1] Actually Pipsqueak. I do know there is a character name Little Pip but I just can't help calling him that. Just look how tiny he is, he's so adorable 
Aww, I know. Pip's design is the cutest among the colts. Which is why it's so surprising to me that so few people have genderbent him. Oh well, guess that makes me original!
derpicdn.net/img/2015/10/1/992281/large.png
Agree about their marks, though. They look about as fugly as Twilight's wings to me. Oh well, hopefully this doesn't mean that they're going to be kicked out of the show and replaced with three new fillies looking for their cutie marks, like people have rumored. Though, I do feel a little like everything in this episode felt rushed. Too many songs, and the moral it seemed to be going for was conflicting with the ending. ("I don't care if we don't get our cutie marks!" BAM AND THEN THEY GET THEIR MARKS.) But I do like how they finally portrayed Diamond Tiara as a sympathetic character instead of being a one-dimensional bully like she was during the rest of the show.
-Kirb.
PS: I don't know if you know this already, but deviantART recently changed the source URLs for their images, which made some of the Extra Emoticons stop working properly. Just thought you should know.
3464810
Yeah, luckily their design seems to have improved since then. In fact Twilight's whole body has changed and it now fits more naturally to her wings. They might do the same with the CMC. Not necessarily make them Pip's size to match their Pip sized cutie marks but the marks will likely get bigger and evolve slightly as the animators work.
The morale does seem to conflict at first glance but I think it works in a "If you really love it set it free" kind of way.
Thanks. I'll look at fixing that. Maybe just upload them myself somewhere because urls changing really messes up emoticons on older posts.
Edit: Only one of them seems to be broken, a llama one. It's entirely possible that the uploader removed it.
--Sollace
3464952 Maybe. I dunno, Twi's wings never looked right to me. They always looked like half-formed alicorn wings. If they'd given her pegasus wings, it would at least look more natural. Look at this animation error, for instance:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/2/3/542586__safe_solo_twilight+sparkle_animated_princess+twilight_upvotes+galore_cute_flying_adorable_pinkie+pride.gif
Look at those cute little pegasus wings! As opposed to these huge honkers.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/4/9/596423__safe_twilight+sparkle_rainbow+dash_animated_princess+twilight_screencap_flying_upside+down_testing+testing+1-dash-2-dash-3_spoiler-colon-s04e21.gif
I don't know of any llama icons.
Here are the ones I've found to be broken:
nerdgasm, twieww, fitwi, plotpie, plotpie2, flirtypie, nompie, piegasm, hapie, pinkieplot, meaniepie, maud, loves_rocks, cslyra, schmoopie, lovelee, confusedlee, 80slee, smilee, cheersilee, derpilee, naughtilee, pisst, dawwtwist, thpring, sorrytwist, madtwist, ootwist, kissaloo, roseluck, flitter_blush, hoof_up, hoof_down, 2_hoofs_up, faved, read_later, molestia.
It's weird, as the image displays correctly in the preview, but doesn't in the comment itself. For example, on the preview the image URL is:
http://orig05.deviantart.net/658b/f/2014/103/7/3/maud_by_comeha-d7eb0mc.png
Which displays correctly, but uploading it on the comment displays it with the old, outdated URL:
https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/103/7/3/maud_by_comeha-d7eb0mc.png
Maybe I simply haven't updated to the newest version.
-Kirb.
3465059
Well the urls I have in the pack for them are:
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/103/7/3/maud_by_comeha-d7eb0mc.png
And that seems to redirect to the new one. It looks like the problem is that deviantart doesn't redirect the urls for https and knighty is stripping the protocol from posted images. So for a temporary fix just browse the site on regular http until I can get them updated.
--Sollace