MLP Make Your Mark: Bridlewoodstock | Review & Analysis 

Yeah this ain't making me feel any confident in the final special that's supposedly coming later this year. And you nailed it on the head with the songs, most of G5's songs just feel like they are designed to be catchy and nothing else, and i hate that.

Despite the flaws this special has, I'd say it's still the best one this far in MYM

I give the Bridlewoodstock special 5/10. As I expected the songs were all absolute bangers! And I instantly adored the performing characters especially Ruby Jubilee! her song "Iconic" was totes dope!!!

Agree to disagree. Hard disagree. Pipp's behavior in this episode is THE POINT. The Bridlewoodstock festival was supposed to stand for something, just like Woodstock itself did: the unity of the three pony kinds. Never before could they all hold a musical festival together. But Pipp gets so swept up in the pretty lights and the big-name bands that she completely dismisses the culture she's supposed to be united with. And the keystone scene of the episode is her standing before an entire crowd of ponies, apologizing for her behavior, and canceling the festival. Taking care of the Troggles is an afterthought, which is why it was so simple. So much time went into the songs because one of the focuses of the episode is to celebrate music, beauty, art, and inspiration. Not just the songs (which are fine by the way; what the hay is this about them sounding worse than "Glowin' Up;" that song was audible plastic!), but the visual spectacle that goes with them, not just in terms of all these great-looking pop stars and bands, but all the outfits and venues that go with the festival. It is artistic, and it is beautiful, and I absolutely would have thrown a fit if they hadn't stopped and taken a whole scene to "sell another song to the kids." As for Pipp, it wasn't out of character for her at all, as we've seen her be dismissive of other cultures before in Tell Your Tale, as she seems to be so infatuated with Zephyr Heights. The fact that they addressed this behavior and made her apologize for it shows intelligence in the story, not a lack thereof. The narrative was well aware of what message it was going for.

I like the lore of Opaline being an ancient Alicorn like Celestia and Luna

Can't wait for your review for chapter 4.

I didn't know about Woodstock beforehand, so it didn't and doesn't really bother me that the special didn't adapt its ideas. But I'll admit, hearing about it here, it does sound like an event G5 could've easily adapted given its themes. Could've been better than the special we got, though to be honest the real problem I had with the special was its insanely late climax and insanely rushed resolution. It's sadly yet another subpar Make Your Mark special tho :// I'm also super curious if you're planning on reviewing the Bridlewoodstock (Chapter 4 really 😒) soundtrack like you did with Chapter 2's. Though I'm suspecting it wouldn't be a positive video. I mean I genuinely thought Hooves Together was the best song in the album and the least commercial by a fair margin, and you seem to hate that track 💀 Big disagreement from me there 😂 (Alongside your analysis of Pipp's characterization admittedly)

I enjoyed watching Bridlewoodstock, but even at the back of my mind I still wish the script was given one more round of developmental editing to really earn that special 44-min runtime. It has competent ideas with a cohesive conflict that makes it interesting. It has a well thought out idea for good character dynamics to get invested in. I like that we have mystical forces that actually provide real threat, and have screentime for them that displays the consequences of their presence through their power of taking away voices. I actually think Pipp here is in line with her character from the movie, but sadly like every one of the Mane 5 in MYM, she was written with a lack of nuance that caused her to appear more neglectful and irresponsible than she should have been portrayed. There's this crutch that these MYM stories rely on that unfortunately causes their main characters to really drag on their 'denial phase', stretching it out needlessly until the story reaches the 3rd Act. It's very apparent through Pipp here (similar back in Ch1 Make Your Mark special with the Mane 4 stubbornly refusing to believe in Zipp's findings when it should have been the time story-wise). If Pipp was written as closely as how she was in the movie, with character nuance that's conscious enough to catch up with the context of her surroundings, her 'denial phase' would have not lasted way too long than it was (preferably before the midpoint of the story when Zipp and Hitch were still investigating in Bridlewood, and before the public was allowed to enter the festival site). And with Pipp admitting her own immature viewpoint early on, we would have begun to see her starting to weigh the pros and cons of continuing the festival while being wrapped up in the pressure of entertaining guest stars knowing full well it's too late to cancel it, AND while in the midst of battling her own insecurities of what damages this could bring to her reputation, PLUS the added weight if she ever treated the culture of the unicorns properly by this point. (And to really push the improvement on Pipp's writing here to the level like how she was back in ANG, she would have come up with a contingency plan on the spot to save the festival through her own popstar status even earlier that it's shown on-screen, instead of her friends reminding her of that fact lol. It's out of character for Pipp to subconsciously forget her life career x3). We didn't get this narrative push of her character arc to take this story to the next level that could've made it much more interesting. The whole half of the 2nd Act could've been rewritten in this improved context, and that part of the story could've not ended up feeling somewhat filler-ish where we drag the screentime with Zipp and Hitch giving into their 'denial phase' too, which is a story point we already explored in the 1st half of this special so... why? (thus indirectly causing these two to appear needlessly incompetent being this sheriff and detective duo).

The trailer gave me a migraine from just looking at all the vibrant oversaturated colours! Okay, that’s me exaggerating, but I couldn’t believe what I was looking at - it kind of felt like I was watching Filly Fantasia! I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way about the music in this special. When I first heard Iconic, I literally went ‘meh’ and moved on. No offence to Sofia Wylie who played Ruby Jubilee, but I agree that song particularly sounded generic and pointless. I know I’ve just put a similar fomment on your video about Chapter 4 the series, but the Bridlewoodstock trailer really made me question for the first time whether I still want to watch G5, and undoubtedly, my hopes aren’t high anymore. Everyone loved A New Generation so much, the songs, the animation, the voice acting, and whilst the snimation quality is still relatively good, the biggest mistakes made were changing the writers, and more importantly, the voice actors. Cartoon characters ARE their voices. Pipp and Zipp’s new voice actresses are very good I’ll admit, but Izzy and Hitch soun completely different to how they did in A New Generation, almost more immature. Anyway, rant over!

i think its good imo, i like g5, but i do have some flaws about it

Are troggles real mythology creatures or a made up one?