My Little ٹٹو Friendship is Magic Episode Discussion: Season 5 Episode 1&2 - Cutie Markless

btflash posted on Apr 05, 2015 at 02:19AM
What did you think of the episode? Did you love it or hate it?
Discussions (and spoilers) below!

My Little ٹٹو Friendship is Magic 12 جوابات

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پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
My first topic: WHAT THE HECK ARE CUTIE MARKS ANYWAY?
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
I wrote this before in response to your shock at there being a spell to remove Cutie Marks:

Not only is there a spell that removes Cutie Marks, but Starlight Glimmer claims it was created by "the great mage Meadowbrook". Now, it's revealed later that she made that part up, but the fact that Twilight had heard of Meadowbrook, and was able to believe, at least at first, that the idea of Meadowbrook creating this spell was plausible, is very telling. This means that there was at one point a mage who was both powerful enough to leave behind Eight Enchanted Artifacts, which were at least legendary enough for Twilight to have read about somewhere, and was shady enough that even a total skeptic like Twilight could buy into the idea that they would have created a spell to remove Cutie Marks. Kinda makes you wonder what magic the Meadowbrook's REAL Eight Enchanted Artifacts might possess.
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
Really, this has been bugging me since Magical Mystery Cure, and it's come to fruition today. Apparently cutie marks aren't ONLY a representation of a pony's special talent, they're something a lot more than that. My personal theory now is that cutie marks are part of a pony's soul (a la "Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons"), and I could go way more in-depth about that, but I'm too lazy to do so
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
The way I look at it, I see the Cutie Mark not so much a part of the soul, but more as a magical, I don't know, "talent amplifier", which is just another one of the inherent "magics" that all ponies possess. The way I think of it, after a pony receives their Cutie Mark by discovering their special talent and realizing what their destiny is, the Cutie Mark acts a magical amp, further increasing that talent to ensure they excel at it and "tuning" their behavior as necessary to reinforce that talent. For example, when Pinkie Pie has her Cutie Mark, she's bubbly and full of energy, because that is the attitude with which she can best throw parties and make people smile, but when she doesn't have her Cutie Mark, she is rather melancholy, which seems to fit her personality as a filly prior to getting her Cutie Mark, and even coming off very Maud-esque with the "Laughs don't come in barrels" line. It doesn't completely change their personality, it just modifies it slightly if their general behavior is not conducive to their Cutie Mark, and this adjustment is not especially extreme. I could also give a long-winded example using best pone Applejack, but I won't. I would, however, also like to point out that this idea would also explain what the fans have dubbed "Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome". When a pony is in a state in which they feel they do not live up to the talent which is defined by their Cutie Mark, a short-term battle between the magic of the Cutie Mark and the idea of failure takes place within the mind of the pony, and that turmoil causes disruptions in the behavior of the pony, leading to emotional instability.

I have spent way to long thinking about this today...
triq267 commented…
OH, and also, when Tirek چرا لیا, چوری کی the magic from ponies in Twilight's Kingdom, their Cutie Marks disappeared as well, further reinforcing the idea that the Cutie Mark is a part of the inherent magic within a pony. پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
you know, I think you're on to something there. Although I agree with you saying cutie marks amplify talents, I don't think it really affects the pony when they are absent for whatever reason. The way I see it, the spell that Starlight Glimmer used not only removes a pony's cutie mark, but replaces it with a new ANTI-Cutie mark. So instead of the original cutie mark's amplification properties, the new anti-mark actually Suppresses the talent that would be affected. I say this because every time one of the mane 6 tried to access their talent, the anti-marks would glow and suppress their ability to do so. In fact, every time Pinkie tried to have fun, she was suppressed into that melancholy state. The Anti-Marks act as a signal jammer that the talent part of a pony's magic would originally act upon.
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
You do bring up a very good point with that. That would also explain why when Sunset Glimmer removed their Cutie Marks, they were replaced with the =, but when Tirek stole the ponies magic, and with it, their Cutie Marks, they were just left as blank flanks.
triq267 commented…
*Starlight Glimmer. Seriously, when will Hasbro stop naming characters using the "Star-related first name, Way-light-reflects-off-of-something last name" thing? پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
so perhaps cutie marks are tied to a pony's inherent magic, and their personalities are unaffected. That would explain why pinkie would still try to make ponies happy even when her cutie mark was taken from her (although apparently applejack's "country mannerism" are tied to her cutie mark?)
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
Yeah, that was part of the Applejack example I was thinking of before. Although taking into account your idea of the Anti-Cutie Mark, it's possible that the = Mark included the "country-isms" as an aspect of her talent, as many of her mannerisms are tied to her life as a farmer.
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
Although one thing I was surprised about was that applejack's STRENGTH was actually affected, you notice that? she couldn't break down a door, a feat that should have been easy for her
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
Going back to amplification, it's possible that her Cutie Mark had amplified her strength, to make her a more effective apple-bucker, plow-puller, etc. Remove the Cutie Mark, slap on an Anti-Cutie Mark, and she loses that amplified strength. That would also explain why Dashie could only fly at the speed of a casual trot, she lost any amplified speed her Cutie Mark had granted her.

The one problem with this is that AJ is still an Earth Pony, and Earth Ponies are supposed to be inherently stronger than Pegasi or Unicorns, to account for their lack of wings or a horn. If Night Glider could bust through the door, then AJ should have been able to knock it down using sheer Earth Pony power, even without her Cutie Mark. This could mean one of four things. Either A) The spell also takes away race-specific abilities to ensure maximum sameness, B) Because strength is so important for her talent, the Anti-Cutie Mark reduced her strength to below-average to counteract it, C) That specific door is reinforced because it is where they house prisoners, or D) All of the doors are reinforced and Night Glider is just really strong. Personally, I'm leaning towards either B or C, because A would be super unfair to Earth Ponies, since we see Pegasi flying and Unicorns using basic telekinesis, thus removing that level of sameness they so cherish, and because there is really no reason to think D is true other than that that would explain it. All are viable, but I think B and C are more plausible.

Seriously, I have spent way too much time thinking about this...
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک btflash said…
I'm leaning towards A, because I don't see any unicorns using any magic while under the effects of the spell. So maybe it's a magic suppression spell?
btflash commented…
As in, maybe it removes the amplification effects of a cutie mark and then suppresses whatever magic the ٹٹو has left? پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک triq267 said…
Huh, I guess you're right on the Unicorn magic. I could've sworn they still had it, but I just checked, and they don't. But Pegasi can still fly, which still seems like an inequality.