YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Holidays 2014

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Were Sunset's friends turing on her as quickly as they did a sign they hadn't really forgiven her past actions (including breaking their friendships) only helping/befriending her because Twilight asked them? And did they only hear her out when they did because Twilight was vouching for them or would they have regardless?
  • Was the human Crusaders framing Sunset, and continuing even after achieving their goal, just out of jealously? Or was it lingering resentment or distrust for her past wrongdoing, particularly against their families who we seemingly favoring Sunset over them at the time. Did they confess and apologies when they did because they realized what they did was wrong, or because it was getting out of hand/to the point they've be exposed anyway.
  • Was Sunset sincere in her forgiving everyone, or just desperate to get her friends back and too afraid to question how fragile her forgiveness was?
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • The Equestria Girls and the rest of the students: ungrateful idiots for turning on Sunset Shimmer in spite of all she did in Rainbow Rocks, or did they wait until the evidence against someone whom had hurt them in the past was seemingly insurmountable? Can they be trusted to have learned their lesson and give due apologies offscreen? Is Sunset forgiving them justifiable in light of her owing them similar forgiveness?
  • The human Crusaders: is their apologizing for their actions and stated consequences enough to justify their forgiveness in spite of how much crueler they were compared to their pony selves? Is it really worse compared to what their pony-selfs did, or just the bad luck of lacking a Sympathetic P.O.V.?
• Broken Base: Was it a terrible story for a moral that's poorly delivered and at odds with the themes of the issue? A good story for dealing with a very serious issue whose critiques are forgivable attempts to make it more accessible to younger readers? Or were two story components (the holidays and cyber-bullying) okay stories by their own merits that did or did not work well together?
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Though the ending sees Sunset regain her friends and the culprits confess and apologize, many fans felt that it pulled a Happy Ending Override on Sunset's similarly well earned redemption from Rainbow Rocks. Even after everything Sunset did to redeem herself, everyone turning on her over flimsy reasons and forgiving those who framed her instead of apologizing to her once exonerated left a bad taste in the fans' mouths. With the Fridge Horror over how fragile Sunset's forgiveness was, it left so little hope that such a thing would not happen again that just dismissing it proved too much to swallow.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: The Crusaders stated reason for framing Sunset Shimmer is disliked for failing to bring up Sunsets past actions that would have made it and how Easily Forgiven they were more justifiable and failing to explain why they continued to frame her after achieving that goal.
• Fanfic Fuel: The comic has, far and away, inspired more fan fiction then any other story or element from the IDW comics, albeit not for reasons that the creators had hoped for. There's even dedicated groups on fan sites that continue to write many a Fix Fic for this story.
  • What if Anon-a-Miss didn't come forward until it was too late? What if they didn't come forward at all? What if they didn't stop because they really did want to ruin Sunset's life?
  • How would Sunset Shimmer handle the revelation of just how little trust the others had for her?
  • How would the Equestria Girls handle realizing their mistake? And would Sunset find it in her to forgive them?
  • What if any of the girls believed Sunset when she insisted that she had nothing to do with the cyberbullying? If not them, what if others did?
  • Though few and far between, some fans remove the cyberbullying part altogether to write a fun Christmas themed adventure with Sunset Shimmer and her friends.
• Fanon Discontinuity: With how polarizing this comic turned out, many either ignore it outright or nitpick the continuity to prove it couldn't happen. That practically all it's numerous fanworks are Alternate Universe Fics show even those otherwise fans of or onboard with the issue reject its canon resolution which negating the appeal of the darker and serious premise.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • While the comics have run into continuity problems before, this did not interfere with enjoyment. By taking place after Rainbow Rocks when it would have made much more sense prior, it lead to some of the aformentioned problems that hurt its reception. It also has other issues that were better handled on the show.
  • The Crusaders are not the first (or last) EG characters to get flak for being meaner then their pony counterparts. But this time, they were directly behind the conflict yet we were supposed to root for them more. Also, the Equestria Girls had the same critique of turning on each other over issues that could have easily be talked out when Sunset broke their friendship in the first movie. Aesop Amnesia aside, the movie gave them enough positive portrayal afterward to counterbalance this flaw, something the comic failed in.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The Crusaders getting six months of detention just seems like a slap on the wrist compared to the punishments their pony counterparts got in a much later episode, where they got banned over something they didn't even do, even if the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up and they were allowed back in.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Bonus points for being the same as an already heavily criticized episode and omitting what made it merely controversial.
• Mis-blamed: After writer Ted Anderson's last project, the 2014 Annual, received massive backlash, this one's Anvilicious focus on cyberbullying was criticized as him trying to get back at them. The Holiday issue was already in the works before the Annual was out (based on Tony Fleecs' tweeting a work in progress from the issue). Anderson responded by explaining the script was locked before the Annual was released, meaning it couldn't be a repose if they wanted. Similarly, the Holiday issue was written before they could have seen Rainbow Rocks which also surprised fans with redeeming Sunset Shimmer to the point her treatment here, common in fanworks prior, came off as unfair.
• Never Live It Down:
  • For those who don't ignore it, the human Crusaders' actions how soft their punishment was are this to the point that nearly all fan works on this comic is for the sake of punishing them even harder for it. This is despite the fact that, unlike the rest of the school, they owned up to their actions (Word of God is that they were made the culprits since they were the only ones with precedent who would have been unequivocally sincere in their remorse) and the six months detention they received was the harshest punishment any "redeemed" antagonist has ever received in the franchise. In fact, if one buys the popular "months equals moons" fanon, its equal to what Sunset Shimmer went through for her much larger list of wrongdoings, including the same cyberbullying.
  • Some fans also won't let the rest of the Rainbooms live down turning on Sunset Shimmer when she was framed for being Anon-A-Miss, even though the Rainbooms did try to defend Sunset before doing so and ultimately hear her out. Many fics, be they Fix Fics or Betrayal Fics, paint the Rainbooms as being awful people for not believing Sunset, despite having good reasons for not trusting Sunset (as some of these fics even point out). There appeared to be solid evidence against her — yes, the impostor account seems obvious to the older half of the fandom, but Sunset's "devious manipulation skills" in the first movie were just as obvious, and was a major source of mockery towards Sunset before she became a beloved Breakout Character.
  • The story was so infamous that fans constantly misname the comic "Anon-A-Miss" despite the fact that the name isn't featured anywhere in the actual title. Might have to do with the fact that it focused less on the holiday aspect than the cyberbullying aspect.
• Ron the Death Eater: Because of how awful they were to Sunset Shimmer, some would write the Rainbooms and the rest of Canterlot High as completely evil and awful people.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: There is a lot of potentially interesting things the comic hints to, but fails to follow through on.
  • A genuinely light and fluffy Christmas Episode involving some bonding with a reformed Sunset Shimmer. This would be rectified in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped which does show Sunset celebrating the holidays with her friends without the framing drama here.
  • The Equestria Girls going out of the way to make amends after they mistreated Sunset.
  • Sunset being framed as Laser-Guided Karma for her past actions by someone who still held a grudge. This is rectified in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship where it has a new antagonist Wallflower seeking revenge on her due to a grudge on past actions.
  • Being a Prequel to Rainbow Rocks, thus giving everyone reason to distrust Sunset and explaining the personality she showed there.
  • The consequences of Anon-a-Miss' actions causing the school to be pretty much torn apart socially jungle madness style.
  • Windigos had been hinted at, but ultimately they were not the culprit.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The Equestria Girls and the rest of the students are unlikable for turning on Sunset Shimmer without question, not thinking that she would have nothing to gain from what she was accused of, and act hypocritical in the aftermath. The only ones to apologize and show remorse for all this are those who framed Sunset, but how much crueler their actions were than similar instances sinks them. Sunset and Twilight Sparkle are the only characters left to root for, but seeing how quickly everything they worked hard for was undone left so little hope for future prospects this happy ending seemed too fleeting to be worth it. It also had little to do with the holidays, something the next year's special would fully focus on in what everyone viewed as an apology and got much better sales for, and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped would also serve as the Equestria Girls franchise's apology for the comic.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Being post Rainbow Rocks, many found the Equestria Girls turning on Sunset Shimmer to make them this, since they ignore everything Sunset did in the movie to prove her reformation without questioning her lack of motive or why she would risk everything for the sake of discord. That Sunset had broken their friendship in the past isn't brought up, and the Equestria Girls forgiving the human Crusaders once they confess to framing Sunset instead of apologizing to her came off as so hypocritical that it sunk them.
  • Many found the human Crusaders to be this even after accounting for their Adaptational Villainy, since they continued to frame Sunset long after achieving their original motive for no good reason, and only confessed once they were about to be ousted anyway. They also get more Easily Forgiven then their pony selves despite lacking what made them sympathetic in similar situations, and only face consequences offscreen compared to what they put Sunset through.