MLP Review: Call of the Cutie (Season 1, Episode 12)

This episode, for the first time doesn't star any of the main six. Rather, it focuses on Applebloom (Michelle Creber). As the rest of her classmates get their cutie marks (essentially, the pony equivalent of puberty), Applebloom finds herself left out, as she doesn't have one. Due to the teasing she receives, mostly from class bullies Silver Spoon (Shannon Chan-Kent, who also provides the singing voice for Pinkie Pie) and Diamond Tiara (Chantal Strand, who has played several roles throughout the Gundam series, such as Lacus Clyne in "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed") , Applebloom is desperate to get her cutie mark. Or failing that, fake a cutie mark.

The plot of this episode is...all right, I guess. However, I do think that it is a plot that is way too overdone in anything. Bullies pick on the main character, main character tries to change herself to match up to the bullies' standards, main character finds out that they are fine the way they are. However, the whole "cutie mark" thing is a fairly interesting twist.

The voice acting in this episode, for the newly major and newly introduced characters, is well done. Michelle Creber shows that she can do fine being the main focus of the episode, keeping her voice acting consistent. A bit too whiny at times, but that is the character, not the voice acting. As for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...I really did not like these characters, which attests to just how well done the voice acting was done. It's almost easy to forget that they are ponies, and expect Diamond Tiara to be a blonde cheerleader tossing her hair. Overall, all the voice acting was extremely well done, as is usual for the series.

Not that Silver Spoon has much room to talk about looking cool, Granny.

Since none of the mane six make any major appearances (Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all get a scene or two, while Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike are all not scene), the character development goes to Applebloom. And this is another faltering point of the episode. While the episode ends well for Applebloom, she doesn't really develop that much as a character. She makes a couple of friends, but rather than accept that her cutie mark will come when it is time (which, considering she spends the episode trying to force it to appear without success, you'd expect her to realize), she just decides to keep trying with her new friends. Then again, considering her age, maybe logic isn't her strong suit.

Overall, this episode wasn't very strong. It was still enjoyable, but the plot was a bit too cliche for me, and didn't really do anything differently to break the mold, no one really developed as a character, and the cutie mark thing was left a bit...vague. I mean, it is visible, and the slur of "blank flank" seems to suggest it is similar to breast development on females. Understandable, because I have seen girls in high school teased for being flat-chested. But colts get them as well, which bungles up the whole "cutie marks=breasts" thing. It just seems a generic reference to puberty, and generic is something this episode is. Its impact is felt later in the series, but by itself, it is a bit of a "meh". The only reason I gave it .5 over average is because Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were very well played as the villains, being "love to hate" rather than simply "get them off-screen".

Overall: 5.5/10