YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S7 E22 "Marks and Recreation"

• Accidental Aesop: Even if you know what your passion is, it doesn't hurt to be well-rounded and develop other talents as well.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Rumble's anti-cutie mark philosophy is either as much of a strawman argument as the episode makes it out to be - truly undramatic or not as limiting as he thinks - or a legitimate criticism of problems with cutie marks.
  • Thunderlane. He appears to have at least some inkling of Rumble's insecurities, yet repeatedly forces him to go to the camp against his wishes — even going as far as to lie to him by saying they're going to Wonderbolt practice. Is he a Cool Big Bro handling the issue appropriately or making a bad situation worse?
• Broken Base: Rumble's argument that Apple Bloom hasn't experimented with potions in a while is either a legitimate counterargument or a Strawman Fallacy that would have easily been cleared up by Rumble talking to Twilight or Zecora to confirm that Apple Bloom has been successful at it in the past.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The episode's plot revolves around Rumble being afraid that getting the wrong cutie mark will destroy his chances of becoming a Wonderbolt. One season later, "The Washouts" would have Short Fuse mention that he was kicked out of Wonderbolts Academy over anger management issues, and his name, cutie mark, and behavior would strongly imply that his special talent (so to speak) is "anger management issues". That is, having the wrong cutie mark destroyed his chances of becoming a Wonderbolt.
• Jerkass Woobie: While Rumble wasn't particularly friendly towards cutie-marks and to a degree the CMC, one can't help but to feel pity for the poor colt when feeling alone.
• Memetic Mutation: Kettle Corn's paintings of circles led many to joke about connections to the Heptapods' "language" from Arrival.
• Narm: Pipsqueak’s voice actor has clearly hit puberty, so hearing his deep voice coming from such a small colt can be very distracting.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Starlight/Rumble is already getting attention.
• Strawman Has a Point: While sitting around and doing nothing out of fear of getting a cutie mark is a pretty poor idea, Rumble's philosophy itself isn't without merit. We've seen that cutie marks can directly contradict a pony's goals in life, that foals are sometimes nudged a little too hard towards their "true talents", and that frightening things can happen when marks are tampered with. Moreover, we've already seen a griffon who was desperate for a cutie mark of her own, so a pony who sees them as limiting shouldn't be that much of a stretch. It also doesn't help that the camp appeared to offer only generic summer camp activities, few if any of which would readily translate into a worthwhile lifelong pursuit.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • With Rumble being so against cutie marks, the CMC could have easily gone to Starlight Glimmer for help, since she herself once had a longstanding grudge against cutie marks. Starlight could have either helped the CMC understand Rumble's motives (possibly with a Flashback to her youth, providing more detail to her Start of Darkness), or even talked to Rumble herself, using a "Not So Different" Remark to help him see the error of his ways. Even some of the fans who dislike Starlight have voiced the opinion that not having her in the episode was something of a missed opportunity.
  • Likewise for Rarity. Like Rumble, she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life and was acting accordingly, but her flank wasn't following suit. It took delving deeper into her passion for it to happen, but it was completely circumstantial and not something she could have forced if she tried. If anyone could reassure Rumble that nah, he's gonna be just fine, it's Rarity.
  • If only it wasn't a blank flank exclusive camp^note  an exception is made for blank flanks who get their cutie marks during camp; they can come back, it would've been interesting to see Diamond Tiara lock horns with Rumble over the ideals of cutie marks.
  • The Cutie Mark Crusaders could've used Rumble's weakness against him: he's afraid that getting a non-flight-related cutie mark will tank his dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt. They could've pointed out that if it were so, anything from singing to taking away their campers to sneezing could've earned him a cutie mark. Then they could've reasoned that cutie marks don't put you in a box, fear does.
  • Rumble gets the Villain Ball handed to him near the end of the episode; prior to his forbidding all activities, all he really did was present the campers with an alternative way of thinking, encourage them to be themselves, and form his own camp. The fact that his camp initially involved everyone doing whatever they wanted and having a blast with it — more or less what they were doing over at cutie mark camp — could have led the CMC to recall that they only obtained their cutie marks when they stopped trying to find them. The episode could have easily ended with all parties realizing that they've been overthinking this cutie mark business, and just enjoying themselves for the sake of it.
  • What does happen to a pony that genuinely doesn't want a cutie mark? Does one appear anyway or, given that they're rooted in magic, is there an element of choice?
• Unexpected Character:
  • Rumble. Before this episode, he'd had exactly one line of dialogue way back in Season 2, and hadn't been anything more than a sporadic background character afterwards. His getting not just a major speaking role but actually becoming the primary antagonist of an episode came rather out of left field.
  • Thunderlane gets this slightly, too, considering this is his first major role and really expands on his characterization from previous small roles, as well as giving some unexpected consequences to his own actions despite being mostly a background pony.

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