My Little Pony: Make Your Mark thoughts... (Spoilers!!!)

[Rainlove The Pegasus]

So I watched the first four episodes yesterday. I like the new intro. I'm still trying to find some images from the new intro because they look so cool! I want to print some images for my curtain lights that have clips on them. I really like the overall design and how the show plays out. I will edit this later when I finish the last four episodes I have to watch.

Episode thoughts:

Izzy Does It-  I do like the style that Izzy creates for Sunny's hair thing.

Growing Pains- I liked the giant food. It had a glittery color tone.

Portrait Of A Princess- I liked the flower they had. Pipp taking a  million selfies and live streaming everything makes me laugh a bit. Only because I get what Pipp does and how she acts. The song in the caves is also cool.

Ali-Conned - I liked how Sunny has to do something she believes in truly to make her alicorn form appear. Sparky Sparkleroni also gets more viral than Pipp, and Pipp does everything she can to try and become viral again. Sparky then records a video of him hitting Pipp and Pipp laughed at herself and said that it is ok to laugh at yourself sometimes.

The Cutie Mark Mix-Up - This episode reminds me of when G4 Celestia and Luna were arguing and their cutie marks switched. In the end, they both understand that neither has easy jobs. Perfect reminder of the G4 episode! And we finally get to hear Sugar Moonlight's voice!

The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover- Misty is relatable when she is under pressure. I do the same. She does have the personality like me.

Hoof Done It?- I really like Zipp's detective skills. I have the same skills myself.

Have You Seen This Dragon?- Misty is still relatable. I liked the song that Pipp sang.

[starscout]

I liked it, though the animation put kinda a damper on it. They improved the lighting, but the animation is still glaringly janky and I noticed a bunch of errors that I have no idea how they didn't catch (soooo much clipping). I don't know what they were thinking when they decided to have the show be made by a studio who has never done 3D animation before.

Spoiler

I agree, Opaline and Misty are fun characters. I really love Misty. She has the cutest voice.

[Rainlove The Pegasus]

Wait there was animation errors?! The lighting was actually better.

Spoiler

I think Opaline gives me Tempest Shadow vibes... just the body color. Misty might be played by a child because of her voice sounding.

[Queen Sophie]

Spoiler

Love the g1 references and some returning ones, now I hope they do g3 ponies! Though Sparky is annoying and I hope we get into more of the lore and progression of the story since right now it’s just the mane five running around

Like I said about my review on the first chapter, regardless of what I think about the show, still more interested in the toys! Though they have been lacking

[kestral_kitsune]

I liked it, though the animation put kinda a damper on it. They improved the lighting, but the animation is still glaringly janky and I noticed a bunch of errors that I have no idea how they didn't catch (soooo much clipping). I don't know what they were thinking when they decided to have the show be made by a studio who has never done 3D animation before.

Spoiler

I agree, Opaline and Misty are fun characters. I really love Misty. She has the cutest voice.

they covered this on twitter some of the animators are new to the project and they're still learning the rigging system. they're hoping to have it better soon.

[starscout]

Wait there was animation errors?! The lighting was actually better.

Spoiler

I think Opaline gives me Tempest Shadow vibes... just the body color. Misty might be played by a child because of her voice sounding.

Yep. A good bit of twitching, missing geometry, Jazz's magical vanishing ears, and clipping aplenty. A few times, chunks of Opaline's hair wouldn't move with the rest of it.

Spoiler

She does sound young, but her voice actress is Bahia Watson. She's a fully grown woman.

they covered this on twitter some of the animators are new to the project and they're still learning the rigging system. they're hoping to have it better soon.

I get that, I'm not trying to blame individuals. I just think it was a very weird choice to, after the success of the movie, have a studio with little experience in 3D animation of this caliber to take on the show. There was significant improvement from chapter 1, though, so I'm really hoping they get it all ironed out by chapter 3.

[Rainlove The Pegasus]

Yep. A good bit of twitching, missing geometry, Jazz's magical vanishing ears, and clipping aplenty. A few times, chunks of Opaline's hair wouldn't move with the rest of it.
[/quote] Yes!!! I did see the mane not move![/quote]

[Mewtwofan1]

Speaking from experience, it can be daunting to work in a 3d computer environment, especially one you have little to no experince in. I hope the artists work out these problems soon, because while the animation errors are understandable, theyre still very noticable and take away from the enjoyment of the show.
And now my thoughts on the show itself:

Spoiler

I...really don't like chapter 2, I'm sorry. I enjoy the characters (mostly) but I really have problems with how the story is progressing. They set up for major questions and plot points (like where did sparky come from if there are no dragons in Equestria? Where did they go? Is all dragon fire special or is it just sparky? Opaline wants more power and to rule Equestria, and had a confrontation with Twilight in the past, but we never elaborate more. Why are the crystals so fickle with how their magic operates? Why does the lantern have magic now?). These are all questions I think would be excellent episode ideas, and could be very interesting to see. But in all 8 total episodes, we get barely anything, instead getting "we need to chase <item> around" or a smidgen of character development. "But its only 8 episodes" I told myself. I couldn't expect much of just 8. But then I revisited the first season of Friendship is Magic. In the first 8 episodes alone, we are introduced to nightmare moon, the conflict between luna and celestia, the elements of harmony, the grand galloping gala, griffons as a thing that exist, the idea of most unicorns only having magic suited to their talent (unless that talent is magic), a full grown dragon and a bit of dragon culture (specifically the dragons horde of treasure). There is a lot you can do in 8 22 minute episodes, and Make Your Mark instead decided to use none of the worldbuilding or questions it poses. And you can't tell me its "just for kids, so it doesn't need to have worldbuilding/questions answered" because other shows for the same age group have done it. I just feel like the show has so much potential, and the writers haven't done much with it. They traded lore and important events that move an overarching plot (which they've made clear they have with opalines quest to become more powerful) in favour of having a bunch of ponies running around.
I will admit though, I am a fan of opaline and misty *kind of*. I feel like I would enjoy opaline as a villain more if she had more to her than "I want more power and constantly berate my henchpony who I will absolutely betray at the end.". Similar arguments with misty, I feel like she truly has potential to be a great character. Her motivations are clear and she's probably going to learn a lot of hard truths about the world around her. Both characters could be great if the writers were just willing to do something with them.
Sparky though...I feel like sparky exists less as an actual character and more as just plot fodder. Sparkys sole purpose is to exist for whatever the writers need with little explanation. Need something to swap cutie marks? Sparky can do that for...some reason. Need something for the ponies to look for? sparky. I know he's just a baby, but he feels like less of a baby character we can see grow as the series does, and more as a magical plot device. You could replace sparky with a moving candle with magic fire, and get the same results.
Overall, I am sincerely hoping the stagnation of the first 8 episodes is just a team that's hesitant to take a leap, and will do more as they become more comfortable with the characters. This generation had such a great start, and I don't want that squandered away.

[Dragonflitter]

This series suffers from "it's just for kids so we don't have to put much thought into it" syndrome.  Some kids entertainment is well written and thoughtful, even if it's primary demographic is small children. Bluey is a good example. It's full of things that adults can enjoy while watching with their kids. These episodes on the other hand, could barely hold my attention. The plot is all over the place, things happen randomly "just because", and the characters are flat and one dimensional.

To be honest I didn't even notice the animation errors because I was too busy rolling my eyes at the weak writing.

I just don't think this is going to become a series I can enjoy.

[Mewtwofan1]

I echo the thoughts on Bluey. It really nails the “make content enjoyable for kids and their parents” idea right on the mark. I really thought we had made better strides in the kids entertainment industry to move past making content that was just the equivalent of jangling keys in a kids face for a half hour. Still have work to do it seems.

[serena-hime]

The dialogue so far is just so bad, it's a lot of telling the audience everything and not trusting them to remember or actually look at the screen lol. I'm definitely not as impressed with this series as I was with FIM; the plots are definitely a little more "complex" for MYM but they're also not very well executed. A lot of talking about things for much longer than they need to.

I get it's a kid's show, but I also think kid's are a lot more intelligent than media companies tend to give them credit for.

I'll keep watching and hope it improves (and because I think the designs are really cool and I love seeing all the new ponies) but yeah, I think it's definitely less tight than FIM was and needs a LOT of improvement imo.

[Flitter]

I only watched the first episode, but it’s really a shame the dialogue and storytelling is so vapid because the characters are really cute.
Seriously though, why do the characters say one thing to their friends face when they are thinking something else SO OFTEN. There are various weird behavioral things going on with the characters and I really expected better after FiM.

[Aienhime]

Well, my 5yo watched it as she loves the movie and the gen5 characters in general, but it didn’t seem to enchant her like the movie did either. She watched the episodes once and is now back to Gabby’s Playhouse.  ‘It’s just for kids’ never works, kids aren’t dumb and if the story is not enticing, they’re just not as interested.

[Rainlove The Pegasus]

Well, my 5yo watched it as she loves the movie and the gen5 characters in general, but it didn’t seem to enchant her like the movie did either. She watched the episodes once and is now back to Gabby’s Playhouse.  ‘It’s just for kids’ never works, kids aren’t dumb and if the story is not enticing, they’re just not as interested.

Yeah. I get what you mean. I liked the movie and the show is more exciting to me. 

[lowpolyzoe]

Spoiler

Big big big step up from chapter 1 imo. The animation feels like it varies between scenes and hearing that it's made by a very new studio makes sense, albeit you do have to wonder why they'd choose a new studio with people inexperienced with 3D animation to make it?? I guess they have to start somewhere. Misty's hair appears to have weird physics in some scenes where the strands rotate or shake when they shouldn't?

I can actually believe that the mane 5 are friends with each other to start even though they're different they have good chemistry which I feel is kind of missing from G4's mane 6? The music seems to have stepped up a little when it's not just Pipp doing bland repetitive pop. Her statement "you don't have to make anything new, you just have to make the same but better" feels pretty accurate because I cannot tell the difference between the majority of her songs nor can I identify instruments or anything interesting so they all just kind of sound the exact same. The portrait day song is really nice imo

A running issue I'm having is they don't seem to know how to characterize Sunny or Zipp post-movie, Sunny just kind of winds up as optimistic the whole time which wasn't her personality in the movie (she definitely had moments where she wasn't hopeful besides the 'dark night of the soul' part) and Zipp's detective thing makes sense in chapter 1 when there's actually something happening but when she's being interrogative of Misty for acting awkward at the sleepover party it just comes across as being extremely rude and invasive. She has no reason to suspect Misty might be there to steal anything given she's just an awkward guest Izzy invited over. It makes more sense in my mind for Zipp to suspect Misty is lying about where she grew up because Izzy is being so forward and Misty is shy or was raised extremely sheltered (pretty much true).

My favourite character is shaping up to be Izzy, I get that people don't like that she's kind of similar to Pinkie Pie but I really couldn't stand Pinkie Pie in G4 most of the time and Izzy doesn't have any of her rough parts imo (annoying nonsequitors, only ever experiencing extremely loud happiness, flat personality) and I just like how Izzy is functional as a person but is still allowed to be not very smart. Misty is excellent too and I hope we see her more in the main cast down the line because she's very cute and her awkwardness is understandable and sweet