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

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The Deer in the Root of the Problem arc. It's hard to tell if the forest is attacking Ponyville and Canterlot autonomously, or if the Deer deliberately steered the new growth towards who we know to be innocents. Combine this with Fantastic Racism, and some interpret them as ecoterrorists at best, and militaristic warmongers looking for an excuse to invade at worst.
• Angst? What Angst?: The Cutie Mark Crusaders don't seem to think being fillynapped by a monstrous Queen is a big deal. Also Fluttershy is gleefully fascinated by two creatures fighting over the right to eat her and her friends.
• Anvilicious: "Root of the Problem" features just as heavy-handed a Green Aesop as any similar '90s kids film you could name, complete with the Mane Six being inexplicably eager to knock down trees to solve their problems so they can get lectured by the deer and a villain right out of Captain Planet.
• Archive Panic: With 102 issues, 11 annuals, and 12 spin-offs which usually has around four or five issues each ^note The Micro Series has ten issues, Friends Forever has thirty-eight, Legends of Magic has thirteen and both Spirit of the Forest and Feats of Friendship have three. You won't be running out of stories to read any time soon.
• Audience-Alienating Era:
  • Entered one during the "Reflections" arc (where in it is debated), it and the stories since have ranged from average to criticized to the point fans reject its existence. Note that this was toward the end of Season 4, which ended the shows own age it entered in Season 3, when the comics debuted, making its current shortcomings stand out more.
  • Alternatively, some point to the Cattle Rustlers arc as the start of Audience-Alienating Era as the issues between that arc and Reflections ranged from good to average, whereas nearly every issue from the Cattle Rustlers arc onward were met with criticism or apathy.
• Awesome Art: Artist Andy Price does some of the most gorgeous covers, as well as consistently beautiful interior art. His love of classical popular culture also sees him adding in countless small shout-outs and details in the background, causing every panel to be a treat.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Princess Celestia in the Reflections Arc (Issues #17-20). For some, her selfish and short-sighted actions in her younger years have driven away any amount of sympathy; for others, her deep regret over it and eventual Character Development make her a far more interesting character.
  • Luna's characterization in the comics is very different from the show. In the show, once she was re-introduced in "Luna Eclipsed", Luna is a wise and even-tempered pony who is still haunted by her past as Nightmare Moon. The comics instead depict Luna as excitable, boisterous, and hammy, with a bit of a Hair-Trigger Temper and she still slips into her antiquated linguistics as a sort of Verbal Tic. Some prefer the comic depiction for being funnier and more engaging than in the show, and it works to contrast her with the calm and straight-laced Celestia; others dislike the comic depiction for depicting Luna as immature and childish, and not allowing her to entirely get over her outdated social skills. Then of course there's fans who enjoy both depictions.
  • Radiant Hope was regarded as a fan favorite in Sombra's My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic issue and had some decent amount of fan art. Then, in the Crystal Empire invasion storyline, she starts recruiting villains of various shades of evil (including someone who isn't even a villain) to invade the Crystal Empire and revive Sombra, all under the assumption that he's still the good, kind-hearted pony he once was. While it's later shown she was being manipulated, horrifying her and leading her to redeem herself, there remains debate over how well it was handled and if it's too little too late. She's definitely suffered a net decrease in popularity, though.
• Broken Base:
  • The quality of the comic; some enjoy it for its Worldbuilding and having stories and content the show itself wouldn't dare try to get away with, while others describe them as poorly written fanfiction. Numerous differences in characterization, a different tone from the show, and the extremely heavy-handed references (both to the fandom and other media) don't help matters.
  • The existence of the Nightmare Forces for some, who prefer the idea of Nightmare Moon being a corrupted Luna rather than a different entity possessing her, feeling it cheapens her Start of Darkness. There's a Hand Wave that it's More than Mind Control, so Luna's fall to darkness could still be in part because she was corrupted by her own dark emotions, and thus leave the tragedy intact. Whether it does so or not is a matter of debate.
  • The first Annual issue showing more of pre-redemption Sunset Shimmer also got this. While appreciated for giving her much-desired backstory, it showed her being just as unsympathetic as in Equestria Girls, disappointing those who hoped she would be given a Freudian Excuse or reason to believe her Heel–Face Turn was real or deserved. The 2014 Holiday Specials focus on Sunset having to further prove her reformation came off as an attempt to address that, but created its own debate regarding whether or not her treatment during it was justified.
  • The Reflections Arc. On one side, you have those who think Celestia's romance with Mirror Sombra is cute, that the ending is beautifully tragic, and appreciate getting to see that Celestia has inner struggles and makes mistakes like anypony. On the other side, you have those who hate that Celestia and Mirror Sombra's relationship is the center of the plot or think romance shouldn't be in the series, cried that the ending was a Deus ex Machina apparently to maintain the status quo, and wish the alternate world got to be explored more.
  • Writer Ted Anderson became this due to a highly questionable cameo and some comments he did on some forums and tumblr following the 2014 Annual. The highly polarizing 2014 Holiday Special certainly didn't help. On the other hand, the Manehattan Mysteries arc and the Micro and Friends Forever issues he has written were generally liked.
• Cant Unhear It:
  • Naturally, anyone who watches the show has claimed they can easily hear Tara, Andrea, Ashleigh, Tabitha, Cathy and other voice actors from the show when reading their respective characters' lines.
  • In case you need help, here is Andrea Libman reading the "Nature is so fascinating..." scene from Issue #3.
  • This can get awkward in the second Annual issue, where the Power Ponies have rather different personalities to the Mane Six.
• Complete Monster ("Cosmos" arc): Cosmos is an alien invader and the Spirit of Malice. Upon her arrival, she was the true entity that threw Equestria into chaos and disharmony rather than Discord. This included turning an orphanage full of children into a literal towering inferno and nearly killing them all among other horrible things. When her boyfriend, Discord, objected to this, she would begin abusing him out of spite and ultimately goes on a rampage that threatens to destroy the fabric of reality and the planet along with it. In the present, she possesses several innocent ponies to use as her hosts and as weapons against their loved ones before finally merging them into her new body. All the while, she set about turning Equestria into a nightmarish hellscape and its inhabitants into things all sorts of random creatures, some of which could be fatal, all the while they are completely aware. When finally confronted by Discord, Cosmos reveals she never loved him at all, seeing him more as a possession she's entitled to than a person.
• Continuity Lockout: The later comics aren't really kind to newcomers, as it already assumes you're familiar with the characters of the TV show, thus it doesn't bother explaining canon material outside of small nods.
• Contested Sequel:
  • The Nightmare Arc (Issues 5-8) was this to the first arc for having more drama and action at the expense of humor and characterization, and the Retcon to Nightmare Moon's origins. If this makes it better or worse is largely a matter of personal taste.
  • The Siege of the Crystal Empire Arc is this to Fiendship is Magic: King Sombra. While it does continue Sombra's storyline with Radiant Hope and many readers enjoy it for that, it also partakes in questionable interpretations of several members of the Villain Team-Up that turned off many other readers and even many who liked the story were left scratching their heads over. Whether it's good or bad seems to be up to how hard one finds the latter issues to swallow.
• Designated Hero:
  • King Aspen in Issues 27-28. He claims that the reason Ponyville is being torn up by vines from the forest is because a construction company of ponies and minotaurs are tearing down trees to build an amusement park, and they must replant the forest away from the development site to replace the many animal homes being lost; any pony homes destroyed in the process is simply Laser-Guided Karma. He's not in the right, but you can understand his position... until the final panels show the forest's vines have reached Canterlot, and tied up Celestia and Luna and hung them from a tower. At this point he passes Disproportionate Retribution and straight into self-righteous hypocrisy. The blatant Fantastic Racism of the deer as a whole does not help. There's a reason some people interpret him as an ecoterrorist. And it doesn't help that there are comparisons to elves.
  • Twilight Sparkle in the Cattle Rustlers arc. She repeatedly refuses to help her friends and subjects due to a dumb moral code she never had before, even as they are being beaten up by Longhorn and his gang. She eventually does give in, but only after Longhorn destroys a historical landmark. Twilight thus comes off as caring more about historical landmarks then the well-being and safety of her friends and subjects, yet the story still treats her as the good guy.
• Don't Shoot the Message: The 2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special is anything but subtle about the seriousness and dangers of cyber-bullying, which should be for the best. But those picking it up expecting a fluffy Christmas Episode weren't in the mood for something so grave, to say nothing of the resulting execution.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • While the Retcon to the origins of Nightmare Moon were mixed to negative, the fandom heartilly embraced her "reincarnation", Nightmare Rarity. Despite being a Walking Spoiler and only appearing in the latter half of the arc she features in, she is massively popular thanks to her cool and beautiful design, and just the idea of Rarity being turned into a second Nightmare Moon is an awesome one.
  • Luna's pet opossum, Tiberius. Many have called for him to be a character in the actual show.
  • Likewise Kibitz has been fairly well-received and fans are open to seeing him become a Canon Immigrant, as it's natural that the Princesses would have someone like him around.
  • Mirror Sombra was generally well received for being Tall, Dark, and Handsome, having better development then most of the characters originating from the comic, plausible romantic chemistry with Celestia and getting a emotional powerful Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Despite being an Advertised Extra, Mirror Chrysalis has gotten a lot of love for her adorable, and being comically/brilliantly opposite to her already darkhorse main universe self.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The 2014 Holiday Special seemed to end happy, but between the Happy Ending Override it pulled on Rainbow Rocks, Fridge Horror at how fragile Sunset Shimmer's forgiveness was, and no evidence that this couldn't happen again, not many readers bought it.
• Evil is Cool: Bronies seem to really like the idea of Rarity going evil given all the fanart of Nightmare Moon II has gotten.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • We're given just enough detail about the Mirror Universe to get the fanfic authors going.
  • The 2014 Holiday Special for the same reasons as A Canterlot Wedding, criticisms of the The Mane 5 abandoning their friend with little second thought and with hotly debated justification, and their lack of apology afterward.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Lovecats/Luvcats seems to be picking up steam for the cat-like creatures in Issue #3. Katie Cook apparently just calls them "the cute citizens of wuvy-dovey land".
  • Commander Cocoon for the green armored advisor of Queen Chrysalis in that same issue.
  • Nightmarity and Night Rare Moon for Nightmare Rarity.
• Fanon Discontinuity: See here.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • The first story arc cause some Broken Base over being Darker and Edgier, with the next arc getting it worse for being more so, but were both well received. Later stories were criticized for objectionable means (like having The Princess of Friendship unwilling to help when her friends were threatened, foes arbitrarily immune to her magic when she was) to enable such conflict. Note that the Lighter and Softer issues and spinoffs have had less criticism.
  • The Reflections Arc was criticized for a Deus ex Machina ending. This was also present in the Nightmare Arc, but had the buildup for the story to live up to its potential and leave an emotionally satisfying ending. Refections had it come more out of the blue and abruptly ended the story before it could do what fans hoped for.
  • Luna's characterization under writer Katie Cook was divisive over being at odds with canon, but was entertaining and funny enough to be enjoyed. Her take on Celestia in "Reflections" received greater criticism for this, but at least it was given an explanation, and she clearly regretted it and sought to fix the damage it caused. Such was not present with Twilight Sparkle in the "Cattle Rustlers" arc, at which point criticism of her writing began to outweigh praise.
  • Having different writers has led to continuity discrepancies (like the appearance of Daring Do clashing with her being shown to be Real After All) which were understandable and minor enough as to not interfere with enjoyment. The 2014 Holiday Special seemed written pre Rainbow Rocks, and had Sunset Shimmer mistreated in a way that would have been understandable given her past, but a detail (Sunset's journal) showing it was post (when she's proven her reformation) made her persecutors Unintentionally Unsympathetic and the story detested. It also gets criticized for plot points that were handled better in "A Canterlot Wedding" (the Mane 5 abandoning their friend was paid off with an epic villain, action, and they realized their mistake) and "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" (one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders being a Green-Eyed Monster, but was portrayed sympathetically enough that her forgiveness received no complaints).
  • One of the biggest complaints to Cosmos aside from being revealed to be The Man Behind the Man for Discord, was that practically all of her villain tropes have already been done before by previous show and comic villains with less contrivances. Chaotic goddess related to Discord? Eris. Turning out to be the man behind the man to a canon villain? Rabia. Assimilate others into a hive mind? Accord. Take out the Princesses easily? Sadly common. Throw the world into chaos? Show canon Discord. Sealed in a celestial body? Nightmare Moon. Betrayed and sealed away by her second in command? Tirek. Meanwhile the things that did make her unique (her crush on Discord, being an alien and the Fusion Dance) weren't given enough fleshing out to make her stand out, resulting in her being poorly received in general.
• Gateway Series: There have been reports of people - not just bronies - getting into comics period thanks to this series. The first issue was one of top 100 best selling comics in 2012. An all-ages comic doing this is good news for the industry!
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • This image since the first act!
  • Celestia's statement to Twilight in the season 3 finale that Star Swirl "did not understand friendship like you do" comes as rather callous with the Reflection Arc.
  • Rainbow Dash criticizing the Kelpie for getting off scot free for nearly destroying Ponyville because she was trying to help her friends becomes hypocritical after "Tanks for the Memories".
    • "Ponyville Confidential" after said Holiday Special due to the reversal of who got the Sympathetic P.O.V..
  • One that happens in the same issue in fact. During one scene in said issue, the Mane Six put all their belief in Twilight Sparkle (in the most cheesiest way ever). Next scene we see the group, Twilight possesses full Killing Intent and winds up performing a Heel–Face Door-Slam on Sombra by unintentionally injuring Radiant Hope and prompting Sombra to tell her "Then Let Me Be Evil".
  • In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Comic Book Issue 74, when Zephyr Breeze appears, he and Fluttershy's relationship seems to be much better than it was previously, with the two having affectionate nicknames for each other and playfully joking around. She even calmly helps pull him out of a panic attack. Come Season 9 episode "Sparkle's Seven" when Fluttershy mentions him to Spike, she says that he (Zephyr) could learn a lot from Spike about being a good little brother.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This article, posted before the comic series was announced, showing fanart of the (humanized) Mane Six as pin-up superheroines, mentioning "Somewhere 'bad girl artist' J. Scott Campbell is smiling". Campbell did do a variant cover◊, with no Fanservice in sight!
  • In Diablo III, a unique unicorn monster found in Whimsyshire was named "Nightmarity". The name isn't used in the comic, but Rarity becomes the second Nightmare Moon.
  • The two Doctor Whooves in #7 is quite prophetic, since the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special had them together some time later.
  • The fandom has had a knack for publishing fanart of Rarity battling giant crabs. The cliffhanger to #13 has the Mane Six being attacked by a giant crab, and Rarity in particular seems to be really panicky about it.
  • In chapter #7, Applejack and Rainbow Dash wished that Daring Do was there to rescue them and the others from jail. In season 4, Daring Do is revealed to be real and Rainbow Dash rescues her.
    • Same issue, the Nightmare Forces speculate that Fluttershy would be most susceptible to their influence. The season 5 opener has the Mane 6 exploit her seeming susceptibility to best the Big Bad, as if they weren't underestimating her enough.
  • In issue 17, Celestia and Starswirl travel to an alternate universe where dinosaurs still roam and they encounter Fluttershy's tyrannosaurus rex counterpart. This fan comic was made a year before issue 17 was released.
  • Remember Twilight nearly blasting Chrysalis to atoms in the finale of the first four issues? Cue the season four finale where we really see what she can do when she cuts loose.
  • Issue #23, the pets-only story, introduces a kelpie that has the ability to command sentient beings with the power of song, though she is apologetic for these actions once the spell is broken. This came out within the month of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks where the main villains also appear to be kelpies, able to coerce humans to enter into conflict with their siren-like song.
    • Related to the deer is their role as rulers of the Everfree Forest. People have drawn comparisons to the 4th season premiere where the Forest attacked before, and that episode's own HiH has comparisons to a show airing at the time the episode premiered. With this, comparisons to The Overlords can be made.
  • Siege of the Crystal Empire was criticized for the excessively evil characterizations of Flim and Flam. Come the Season 5 finale, it's revealed they caused a Bad Future worse than Sombra's or Chrysalis', causing one to second guess if it wasn't on to something.
  • Fanworks that have the Princesses (usually Celestia disguising herself as a ordinary white-coated pony with a pink mane) assume secret alter egos to see Equestria as a common citizen to see what the place is like when they aren't watching have existed since the beginning of the show. Come Issue #65 where Princess Celestia does just that. On an annual basis no less!!
• Ho Yay: In issue #25, Rarity is quite taken with Sheriff Tumbleweed's hat, which Applejack quickly points out is the same as hers. Particularly fun is that you can interpret it in two distinct ways: either Rarity is Oblivious to Love from Applejack, or they're together and Applejack suspects her eye is wandering.
• Iron Woobie:
  • In main series #21, it's revealed that while Trixie's reputation was already pretty bad after Boast Busters, after Magic Duel everyone thinks she's evil. Despite this, she is determined to continue performing and prove that she can be a good pony.
  • The Citizens of Wuvy-Dovey Land can be considered this. They never lose their happy and loving nature, continuing to be nice people even after the changelings destroy their town.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!:
  • Some feel that Manehatten Mysteries (#21-#22) could have stood to be longer to flesh out its story and the character interactions.
  • Many feel the real reason the Kelpie got off so absurdly easily in issue #23 is because there wasn't enough pages left in the story to deal with her better. The following issue, while lacking stand out criticism, wasn't long enough to give Discord's time-travel shenanigans what fans felt was justice.
  • The Season 10 comics that have the cast visit the world can come of as this, as each place is a new country that was only explored in 2-4 issues.
• It's the Same, So It Sucks: While initially elated to see that the world outside Equestria isn't a Crapsack World, which would had given off vibes of ponies' burden during the Season 10 comics, a common complaint for the Season 10 storyline is that it follows the same formula instead of having each different country have their own take on friendship, with their own set of values and special location. To summarize: Each team of the Mane Six head to a distant land only to find a problem there. They meet individuals who are parallels to the Mane Six and discover an ancient temple which hides a Tree of Harmony within. The individuals become their nations Elements of Harmony and use their newfound powers to solve the problem troubling their land. Rinse and repeat four times. This made every nation that would have been interesting in their own way just Equestria in the skin of another race, effectively re-creating the show pilot over and over.
• Memetic Mutation: Several have become part of the fandom's image macro core image set:
  • Fluttershy's "Nature is so fascinating" line from Issue #3 has picked up a lot of mileage. The circular panel with her has been also used to create "Bad Advice Fluttershy" macros.
  • Pinkie's reaction to opening the door with the giant eyeball in #4 (replacing the eyeball with anything else)
  • Rainbow Dash's "Two Words!" at the end of #5
  • Several reaction shots from the arc of #11-12, including "Cadance laughing at your misery", "Cadance tearing up", "Cadance slyly contemplating", and "Shining trying to say 'Hello'".
  • Twilight pointing out why Cassie is Easily Forgiven to Rainbow Dash turned into a rather malicious meme where she tries to justify the actions of various villains akin to "X Did Nothing Wrong".
• Misblamed: Much of the problems people had with the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc were not entirely Jeremy Whitley's fault; the arc underwent heavy Executive Meddling from both Hasbro (who gave him an extremely small list of villains he could use for the Villain Team-Up, forcing him to complete rewrite things several times) and higher-ups at IDW (doing a Villain Team-Up to begin with, and forcing the arc to be only 4 issues, leading to rushed pacing and several parts with members of the Villain Team-Up getting cut from the final issue). That doesn't excuse some of the other problems people had with it, but Whitley was hardly the only one responsible.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Twilight Sparkle's Lawful Stupidity in the "Cattle Rustlers" arc, despite being a one-off thing that the comic otherwise manages to avoid.
  • The human Cutie Mark Crusaders nearly destroying Sunset Shimmer's reputation in the 2014 Holiday Special. That they regretted their actions such they confessed without prompt, and the six months of detention they received being the harshest any remorseful character has received in the MLP franchise proving all too easy to overlook.
• Once Original, Now Common: When they were first coming out, the comics were given much praise for expansive world building, something that the show, especially at the time Season 3 started, was criticized for lacking. As both series went on and the show slowly stared incorporating more world and lore building, many newcomers to the comics find it hard to fully grasp what made the earlier stories so innovative at the time.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Bring up the 2014 annual, and all you'll hear about is the entire mess involving the issue's writer and his choice of fan OC to include in the background. This also has applied to any issue following this that Anderson is the writer on, with some readers simply refusing to acknowledge the issue due to Anderson's writing, despite the praise others might give it.
• Pandering to the Base: The comics are obviously aimed at the older brony fandom than the kid audience the show is intended for. The stories are darker and more mature, as well as featuring elements the fandom loves over the Slice of Life plots of the show, references to death are not uncommon, and there are many nods to the fans in the background scenery.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Angel saves the whole town, which he'll never get any recognition for. We can probably consider his Scrappy moments paid back in full after this.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: In the "Reflections" arc. The premise of an alternate universe with evil versions of the cast and good versions of the villains quickly takes a backseat to Celestia's relationship with an alt version of Sombra.
• Rooting for the Empire: Given all the criticism the Deer received in "Root of the Problem", many readers wound up rooting for the villain, Well-To-Do, if for no other reason then to screw them over. They wonder why the ponies didn't, given the Deer proved no better and they would have gotten an Amusement Park out of the deal otherwise.
• Salvaged Story: The "Written by Spike" short in the 10th anniversary reprint of Issue #1 reveals the comics were written by Spike in-universe, explaining their long contentious continuity issues were do to his not having all the facts or changing things to make a better story.
• The Scrappy: Cassie the Kelpie, starting from how overpowered her ability to brainwash all of Ponyville (including the Mane 6) was, and ending with her getting away scot-free after being "defeated" and explaining her motives, without getting called out for not doing so sooner. That she debuted around the same time as the Dazzlings, whom had the same, but weaker, powers, and proved more likable in spite of (or because of) their being eviler made Cassie come off as shallow and undeserving of how well off the story put her.
• Seasonal Rot: Katie Cook's later story arcs haven't been as well received as The Return of Queen Chrysalis or her Slice of Life stories. However one has to keep in mind that in the middle of these, she recently had a child plus is still drawing her own series, Gronk (which likewise has recently started publication in comics) and thus likely was not able to focus on her storylines like she used to. The quality in general seems to have dropped once Heather Nuhfer left to work on other projects.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • The "Siege of the Crystal Empire" Arc got this for some because of the preview showing Iron Will being part of the Villain Team-Up, something many consider completely out of character for someone who, until now, has never once had an actual negative confrontation with the mane six or any villainous status at all, as well as his reason (ponies not fearing Minotaurs anymore) having never been a factor with his character in any of his previous appearances. However, it's downplayed as he manages to be something of the Token Good Teammate, especially when rather gently subduing Applejack.
  • Issues #75-78 with Cosmos got this from the mere announcement due to describing Cosmos as 'making Discord look like Harley Quinn compared to the Joker' and other such things. It doesn't help that it's similar to how bad fanfics like to hype up villains. Then the Issue #75 preview reveals that Cosmos was secretly responsible for everything that happened in Discord's initial rampage while Discord never actually hurt anyone and even took the rap to erase her from the history books turned off even more readers.
• Take That, Scrappy!: In the climax of "The Root of the Problem", Well-to-Do uses Bramble as leverage to force Aspen to become a humiliating mascot at the amusement park.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The "Reflections" arc. A lot of fans were really excited at the prospect of getting to see a mirror universe with evil versions of the mane cast and good versions of the bad guys. Unfortunately, the bulk of the arc ended up revolving around Celestia's relationship with Mirror Sombra. The alternate versions of the Mane Six get very little screentime, leading a lot of readers to feel that the alternate universe premise was wasted even among those who genuinely liked parts of the arc.
  • Given the calling out Twilight Sparkle got over her lawful stupidity, it looked like the "Cattle Rustlers" arc would pay it off by forcing her to make a To Be Lawful or Good decision. Instead, she resorted to tricking the villains into breaking a law that would let her act against them, through morally contradictory methods that ruined its theoretical credibility. The story itself could have been half-decent if not for Twilight's actions overshadowing it.
  • The Equestria Girls Holiday Special also falls under this, as after Rainbow Rocks fans were looking forward to a nice, fluffy further developing Sunset Shimmer and her friends; they got a rehash of "Ponyville Confidential" which lacked what left the episode "merely" controversial. Also, the potential that could have come from Sunset being subjected to the same bullying she subjected others to, looking into how fragile her forgiveness was, or give her friends guilt over this, never shows up. By taking place after Rainbow Rocks, the chance to give everyone a justifiable reason for Sunset's treatment (she had yet to prove her reformation) and explore why she became so emotionally vulnerable, is likewise wasted.
  • Season 10's overall plotline was pretty interesting, focusing on other races with their own Tree of Harmony. The problem however is the threat comes from the Knights of Harmony who aren't established until the last two issue of the series, robbing their impact when they finally do show up. Instead having them monitor the tree activation and only taking action once all were lit up. Had they showcased being individual threats during the other stories, that actually would made the connection to the harmony tree stories and why they feel their actions are in the right correlate better. This likewise in turn would've drove home the message of unity between species much cleaner too then the final issue showcased.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Jim the Cave Troll. Sure he's a hulking brute who could easily crush a pony if he wanted to, but he's so innocent and carefree it's hard not to see him as anything other than the softie he really is. And he genuinely did love the Mane Six's company.
  • The uncorrupted moon bunny in Issue #7. Fluttershy certainly thinks so.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Many readers wound up agreeing with Rainbow Dash's objection to how Easily Forgiven Cassie the Kelpie was, since her "helping her friends" involved brainwashing the town into nearly destroying itself without showing remorse for or explaining why she didn't just ask for their help.
  • Despite solid-looking evidence of her wrongdoing, the Humane 5 turning on Sunset Shimmer makes them this for not questioning why she'd do it (it's post "Rainbow Rocks", so there's no more room for doubt she's reformed). That they forgave the human Cutie Mark Crusaders after they confessed to framing her out of jealousy as opposed to apologize to Sunset sunk what remained. Worse is that many found the CMC to also be this in spite of their guilt, since they continued to act against Sunset after breaking them up for no clear reason, lacked what made their pony selfs sympathetic in similar situations, and only faced consequences offscreen compared to what Sunset was shown to have gone through due to their actions.
  • What sympathy the deer had for having their forest home demolished, they squandered by invading Ponyville and Canterlot despite their having nothing to do with and being sympathetic to their plight, plus their thinking too little of ponykind to care much.
• Vindicated by History:
  • The Nightmare Arc (Issues 5-8) was controversial when it came out, but future issues were even more so, with criticisms this arc adequately contained, meaning it's now viewed as one of the comic's best stories. Helping is that its biggest criticism (the nature of the Nightmare Forces and their relation to Nightmare Moon) was revised into something more palatable in Fiendship Is Magic.
  • "Siege of the Crystal Empire" (issues 34 to 37) has also been getting this after Sombra made his return to the show in the season 9 premiere. It's generally agreed that, for all its flaws, the comics gave a far more interesting portrayal of Sombra than the Big Bad Wannabe Card-Carrying Villain he was ultimately portrayed as in that finale.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: It's promoted as an all-ages comic, though the series thus far has been a little darker than one would expect from a series where most of the covers feature cute, colorful ponies.
• The Woobie:
  • Luna on Andy Price's variant of #8.
  • Rarity is very sympathetic in the Nightmares arc, especially when it's revealed that she has self-esteem issues because she fears that her friends will abandon her because they find her useless. Fortunately, her friends convince her otherwise at the end.
  • Spike during Nightmare Rarity's dream sequence at the end of #7.
  • Princess Celestia, as a result of the Sunset Shimmer short. And she's either this or Jerkass Woobie in the "Reflection" arc where she ignores Starswirl's warning to see her lover, the alternate universe King Sombra which ultimately causes her to be separated from her mentor and then her lover.
  • Sunset Shimmer in the Holiday Special where she gets framed for being Anon-a-Miss, a person posting secrets on My Stable, gets rejected by the Humane Five and once again becomes the most hated student in Canterlot High. Post-heel-face-turn Sunset Shimmer can't catch a break!