Cutie Mark Crusaders Ranking, Version 4 · 2:33pm Oct 15th, 2018
Haven't updated this one in quite a while because my opinions on the CMC hadn't changed since the end of Season 6, until now that is. There's actually something positive I can say about Season 8, and that's that it was able to change my opinions on some of the CMC for the better. As a quick note, I'm only including official CMC members from the show, so obviously Diamond Tiara and Pipsqueak don't count despite sharing episodes with the CMC. And Lilly Ambermoon and her sister don't count either, even if I included the chapter books they were never officially inducted as CMC members. Here's the previous version, from the end of Season 6, let's see what changed.
5. Gabby
Why she stayed on the bottom: Gabby looked like she might open new doors for the CMC, having them help other creatures with various problems, but that vision was scrapped. The CMC have gone in a million different directions since getting their cutie marks, and I feel like that's because the writers aren't sure what to do with them, I have to wonder if the CMC weren't supposed to get their cutie marks for a few more seasons. Anyway, we did see Gabby re-appear in a cameo during Gallus' flashback, alongside Gilda and Grandpa Gruff. Surprisingly, Gabby was seen looking unhappy during the get together. We know that Grandpa Gruff is Gallus' designated guardian but has no family connections to him, but we're not sure why Gilda and Gabby were there with him. I like to think that Gilda and Gabby played a role in convincing Grandpa Gruff to take Gallus in and the two of them wanted to more or less be Gallus' foster parents/guardians.
4. Apple Bloom
Why she stayed the same: Apple Bloom has become more and more of a witness to things as times goes on. She seems to largely take a back seat to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's antics. "Surf and/or Turf" made this painfully clear when she really contributed nothing besides watching Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo argue about which was better, Harmonizing Heights or Seaquestria. It was interesting that Sandbar went to Apple Bloom first in "School Raze" but even then the CMC were supposed to be tied to the school since "Marks for Effort" so Apple Bloom being at Sweet Apple Acres was odd.
3. Babs Seed
Why she moved down: Poor Babs, fans were eager for her to come back and Hasbro for whatever reason decided to just dump her and write her out, then forget about her even though her voice actress expressed interest in coming back. Even in fanfics she seems to have dropped off the map, I can't think of a fanfic within the past year or two where she was ever anything but a secondary character at best. I still do like her and I'm impressed that she was the first one to ever stand up to pre-reformed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. She deserved way better than what she got.
2. Sweetie Belle
Why she moved up: Sweetie Belle seems to have more or less become the de-facto leader of the CMC, and ironically she's become more and more like her sister even though early on she seemed to be almost Rarity's polar opposite. She still remains as adorable as ever, and I think it's saying something when she seems to have had the best focus episodes of the bunch. Between "Sisterhooves Social", "For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils", and "Forever Filly" she's really had it made. But there's one crusader that I find edges her out, and by process of elimination you should know who that is.
1. Scootaloo
Why she moved up to the top: It's taken quite a while for Scootaloo to get this high (no pun intended), I used to not like her very much because I found her to be obnoxius and like a mini Rainbow Dash. Her performances in Season 1 and early Season 2 didn't help matters, but ever since then she's been slowly building in character and getting better and better. But it wasn't until "The Washouts" that she ultimately shot up and overtook the lead from Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed. As much as I think she was being thickheaded in that episode (angtsy teen or not I find it hard to believe she could ignore the blatantly obvious warning signs, Lightning Dust even outright said she disregards every safety rule the Wonderbolts taught her), the revelation that she can't fly and appears to have made her peace with that really brought a new side of her. Up to that point Scootaloo had idolized Rainbow Dash and wanted to be like her, but now she was finally ready to step out from her mentor/big sister's shadow and become her own pony. I'm glad that the Scootabuse and Scootaorphan trends have finally started to die off, they long outstayed their welcome. Now I just have to hope that the show will actually let us see her aunts and/or parents and we can finally put all those bad cliches about her to bed.
And there you have it. Now, tonight I'm gonna try to rank every episode of the show from worst to best, and then tomorrow morning I'll be updating the Top Ten Villains list. I may also try to do some comic reviews, since two more comics were delivered to me over the weekend.
Like with my rankings of the mane 6, this season only really enforced where I had them already:
1. Scootaloo
2. Sweetie Belle
3. Gabby
4. Apple Bloom (yes, even though Gabby only had a brief cameo this season, I still like her slightly more than Apple Bloom)
5. Babs
I'm making a list of all MLP episodes right now, and trust me, trying to do it in one day is absolutely not a good idea. I've been at it for like a week, and I'm about halfway through, and I've had to make lots of little revisions here and there, and it still needs a lot of work. It'd also be wise to watch a lot of episodes you're not sure about, which only lengthens the process. I'm probably gonna re-watch the entire show and make reviews of each and rearrange it some more before I call my list finished.
Also, I doubt this will happen, but I'm hoping the Top 4 will have Adagio, Tirek, Discord, and Sombra. Also, here's my list of the CMC. Counting the entire show, not just season 8.
5. Babs
4. Gabby
3. Apple Bloom/Sweetie Belle
2. Apple Bloom/Sweetie Belle (they're really interchangeable)
1. Scootaloo
4953745 Discord will not appear on the list since he is a reformed villain.