YMMV / My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Princess Amore's actions regarding Sombra and why she never actively did anything to help him reject his destiny. Was it because she wanted him to figure it out on his own, or was she afraid if she actively tried to steer him away from his destiny he would assume she was only doing it because she viewed him as a potential threat and not because she believed he was good (and thereby leading to his Face–Heel Turn anyway)?
• Broken Base:
  • The Tirek issue... Some like how it shows his mentor, family, and personal life; others feel They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot by skipping what he and Scorpan did in Equestria pre-"Twilight's Kingdom." Not helping is the prior issue's Tough Act to Follow status.
  • The Sirens issue over being lighter and more joke-heavy than the first two issues. Some enjoyed the humor, others criticize it for diluting the series' Darker and Edgier draw.
• Cry for the Devil: All the major antagonists are given sympathetic backgrounds, with the exception of Chrysalis, who was hatched as an Eldritch Abomination, and Tirek, who we only see as a destructively Emo Teen, without any explanation for why he is so.
• Designated Villain: The Sirens. The way the issue is told, they don't come off as much as a threat as the legends told in Rainbow Rocks implied. Particularly, their singing doesn't cause strife or arguing between other ponies, it makes ponies adore them, and it's implied the Sirens do this as a way to get fame and attention, not to purposefully create trouble. If any harm was caused, it was Offscreen. Enter Star Swirl who, after failing to best them in a fair contest, just banishes them to another world to get rid of them. Some fans go so far as to say Star Swirl is the villain of the comic, that the story that Twilight read on Rainbow Rocks was a clear case of Written by the Winners and that the Sirens were victims Driven to Villainy after their banishment.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation:
  • Good luck finding anyone who views the banishment of the Sirens to the present in Issue #3, thus invalidating their Really 700 Years Old aspect fanon held them to, as necessary or desirable.
• Fanon Discontinuity: While revealing the backstories of popular villains gets all the issues this to some degree for inevitably clashing with fanon, the Sirens has been universally rejected for failing to successfully portray them as villains deserving their banishment and jossing the most popular fanon about them. Few fans doubt it a coincidence that the show and later comics would make it Canon Discontinuity in a way that, unlike other examples, came off as irrefutable and deliberate.
• First Installment Wins: While the second and third issues have divided the fanbase on if they're good or not, Sombra's issue is not only agreed to be excellent by most, but is considered better than either of the two issues following. Issues four and five got back some of that affection, but only the latter is considered a challenger to the quality of Sombra's issue.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Everything about Princess Luna's guilt over Nightmare Moon now that we see what she did to her subjects and how she plagued ponykind with horrible nightmare for 1000 years. This was all before Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? revealed that her guilt was far, far worse then anything fans predicted.
  • Star Swirl got a Ron the Death Eater treatment for how he banished the Sirens, despite his acknowledging he regretted doing so. Come the "actual" events of their banishment, Star Swirl was even worse, displaying no guilt or empathy (not that the Sirens did anything to deserve it here) to the point it would become his Fatal Flaw.
  • The Sirens' issue being Canon Discontinuity after "Shadow Play" — which left few complaining, as it's the least-popular FIENDship. But come "The Beginning of the End"? Sombra's issue, the most-popular one, was next on the chopping-block; this time, the complaints were many.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Sombra — who was Driven to Villainy due to a miserable life growing up, leading him to think it was wrong to be anything but the monster he was meant to be. Even as an Evil Overlord, he mainly has a bitter You Can't Fight Fate mindset.
  • Chrysalis appears so ragged and tired that even the Mane Six feel sorry for her when they see her state. True, we later learn that this was all a trap and it was really one of her commanders disguised as her, but still, one has to give the changelings credit for pulling off such a convincing ruse.
• Love to Hate:
  • Nightmare Moon has been a victim of Villain Decay. Her debut had her fail to be anything more then a nuisance before her defeat, even her original confrontation with Celestia was over surprisingly fast and she still failed to do anything else. Her entire established history on the show had her fail to live up to her villainous reputation. Here, she shows more cruelty then ever before, retroactively took over as the Big Bad in the comics arc that implied she was a pawn, and even in defeat, was able to spend her 1000 year banishment inflicting nightmares on ponykind as revenge. Her finally showing why she became associated with Nightmare Fuel in-universe has been well received.
  • Chrysalis' issue has made her more this then ever. The reveal she's existed for at least 1000 years prior and spent much of it not being sealed away. What she and the changelings did during this time, and their origins, are even darker then what was expected of them, raising their threat level. Chrysalis shows impressive brilliance throughout, like having a changeling impersonate her, letting her get the drop on everyone despite suspicions of "her" behavior being a trap and break out. Scoring the first straight case of The Bad Guy Wins in the series has left fans exited for what she'll do next.
• Narm: In the Tirek issue, he says twice in the span of as-many pages that Scorpan is entirely loyal and would never betray him. It was possibly intended as ironically funny, but comes off as forced and awkward. The third time it comes up, it's definitely forced.
• Narm Charm: Sombra's declaration that "destruction was my talent, and darkness was my cutie mark." It takes a certain talent to insert the words "cutie mark" into an intimidating Badass Boast and still make it work.
• Nightmare Retardant: The Sirens issue can be this for them, since Rainbow Rocks implied they were a much bigger threat than they're actually presented here.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: King Sombra wasn't exactly the most well-received villain back in Season 3's Crystal Empire due to being fairly one-dimensional. Giving him a legitimately tragic and well-written backstory to turn him into a Tragic Monster redeemed him in the eyes of many fans.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The Siren comic. Instead of their origin story it becomes an American Idol parody, rehashing Rainbow Rocks Battle of the Bands with Star Swirl, which ignores the conflict their actions were said to have caused. Banishing them to the present also wastes the potential stories that could have happened during the 1000 years between then and now. The chance to show or develop the character dynamic that made the Sirens so well received in the movie likewise is missed.
  • Rather than show the Start of Darkness for Nightmare Moon, they give us what happens immediately after her banishment, and while that isn't exactly bad, it's not what some fans were expecting (namely, a story of how Luna was corrupted).
  • Meta-example: It would've been nice to see Discord's backstory, but he is the only villain not to get an issue.
• Tough Act to Follow: Sombra's issue was very well received, being well written and giving what fans wanted from his backstory, and set the high bar against which the subsequent issues would be measured—with only the Chrysalis one managing to measure up.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the lackluster reception to Tirek and the Sirens, Nightmare Moon's issue got a bit of a warmer reception, and then Chrysalis' issue ended the miniseries on a high note, most considering it as good as Sombra's if not better. Goes doubles for writer Katie Cook; after "Reflections" "The Good, The Bad and the Ponies", and "The Root of the Problem" in the main series received mixed to poor reception, her return with Chrysalis' issue proved she's not washed up.

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