History YMMV / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The {{Loony Fan}}s are supposed to be disliked for [[KarmaHoudini getting away]] harassing and criticizing the Mane Six over their characters and stories despite them being real ponies and events they had no control over. But it's intended as an allegory for fan complaints against the show, which would be valid as the characters and stories are in the creators' control and their job ''is'' to make them satisfying. From that perspective many of the criticisms and thoughts ([[AesopAmnesia such as characters learning the same lesson over and over]]) are generally valid.

* ToughActToFollow: Any episode following the near unanimously praised "The Perfect Pear" was going to be this. This episode's very divisive standing among the fandom certainty didn't make it any easier.

* AngstAversion: The fans who did not like the episode point out how utterly mean-spirited the ponies are and that outside of the B plot with Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, none of the fan ponies really seem to learn their lesson and get away with their nasty behavior. It also didn't help that the townsponies all consisted of background characters that bronies over the years had gotten attached to, who wound up grabbing the JerkassBall, with the worst of it coming from fan favorites Lemon Hearts and Daisy. [[WordOfGod M.A. Larson]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKgav9k_u0 at a panel]] [[CreatorBacklash said that he didn't like the concept either for this reason]] and actually tried to make the episode less mean-spirited, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives got in the way of that.]]

* AccidentalAesop:

* DontShootTheMessage:
** M.A. Larson [[CreatorBacklash hated the episode]] in part due to how its mean-spiritedness got in the way of the delivering the Aesop.
---> I also didn't understand who was learning the lesson, like they didn't learn a lesson, the Mane Six didn't learn a lesson, it was just like "what is this?"
** Liking somebody despite their flaws is a fine moral. However, the song "Flawless", with lyrics such as ''"Our flaws help make us special/They bond us and keep us strong"'', implies that one should like somebody ''because'' of their flaws, which is a tad more problematic. The song does at least have the lyric "we're a work in progress", illustrating that working on your flaws is the Aesop here.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** The song "Flawless" becomes this when you consider Twilight's lyric "I never claimed to be perfect". When we see her try to steal the pearl in the 2017 movie, it truly hits home how ''far'' from perfect she is.
** Rarity getting boycotted and shunned by the fan ponies and her business suffering as a result is now even more harder to watch thanks to the "Cancel Culture" movement that began in 2020.

* HarsherInHindsight: The song "Flawless" becomes this when you consider Twilight's lyric "I never claimed to be perfect". When we see her try to steal the pearl in the 2017 movie, it truly hits home how ''far'' from perfect she is.

** Like it or not, accept characters for their [[WartsAndAll flaws]]. Otherwise, you may as well be [[LovingAShadow chasing a Mary Sue]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The {{Loony Fan}}s are supposed to be disliked for [[KarmaHoudini getting away]] harassing and criticizing the Mane Six over their characters and stories despite them being real ponies and events they had no control over. But it's intended as an allegory for fan complaints against the show, which would be valid as the characters and stories are in the creators' control and their job ''is'' to make them satisfying. From that perspective many of the criticisms and thoughts ([[AesopAmnesia such as characters learning the same lesson over and over,]]) are generally valid.

* FanonDiscontinuity: For the [[BrokenBase sake of sanity]] for ''everyone'', fans and [[CreatorBacklash creators]] alike, people generally prefer to just ignore [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain discussing]] this episode and pretend it never happened and move on.

--> I also didn't understand who was learning the lesson, like they didn't learn a lesson, the Mane Six didn't learn a lesson, it was just like "what is this?"

** None of the journal readers have anything to say about Starlight Glimmer, even though she's the most infamous BaseBreakingCharacter in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' (to the point where she has her own section in [[BaseBreakingCharacter/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show's Base-Breaking Character page]]) and has generated a lot of arguments in the fanbase over various elements of her character. On the other hand, considering that those arguments are ''a lot'' more heated than any argument presented in this episode, it was probably for the best that this episode didn't bring any attention to them.

** None of the journal readers have anything to say about Starlight Glimmer, even though she's the most infamous BaseBreakingCharacter in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' (to the point where she has her own section in [[BaseBreakingCharacter/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show's Base-Breaking Character page]]) and has generated a lot of arguments in the fanbase over various elements of her character. It definitely points to some [[CreatorsPet writer bias]] that such a divisive character is the sole member of the cast that isn't being criticized.

* DontShootTheMessage: M.A. Larson [[CreatorBacklash hated the episode]] in part due to how its mean-spiritedness got in the way of the delivering the Aesop.

** None of the journal readers have anything to say about Starlight Glimmer, even though she's the most infamous BaseBreakingCharacter in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' (to the point where she has her own section in [[BaseBreakingCharacter/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show's Base-Breaking Character page]]) and has generated a lot of arguments in the fanbase over various elements of her character.

** One comment on [=YouTube=] points out that sometimes, what you want to share isn't meant for everyone. Twilight meant to share the Friendship Journals with every pony who needed friendship lessons, and she thought she could accomplish that by [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor sharing the journals with every pony in Equestria]]. But she learned the hard way that every pony who didn't need a friendship lesson read it and [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint overlooked]] the who point of the journals. Toola Roola and Coconut Cream were the only ones who needed it and made a point they personally appreciated it.
* AngstAversion: The fans who did not like the episode point out how utterly mean-spirited the ponies are and that outside of the B plot with Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, none of the fan ponies really seems to learn their lesson and get away with their nasty behavior. It also didn't help that the townsponies all consisted of background characters that bronies over the years had gotten attached to, who wound up grabbing the JerkassBall, with the worst of it coming from fan favorites Lemon Hearts and Daisy. [[WordOfGod M.A. Larson]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKgav9k_u0 at a panel]] [[CreatorBacklash said that he didn't like the concept either for this reason]] and actually tried to make the episode less mean-spirited, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the executives got in the way of that]].
* BrokenBase: Pretty much inevitable, considering it's a giant TakeThatAudience. Some find the episode to be a fun, yet necessary jab at obsessive fans, others see it as being petulant over legitimate criticism the show has received -- especially where the Mane 6's characterization is concerned. [[TakeAThirdOption A third group]] doesn't mind the episode's subject matter, but rather judge the episode as an actual episode, and found the Mane Six's treatment to be a bit too mean-spirited and the entirety of Ponyville to be more than a little unsympathetic. Yet ''another'' group argues that the background ponies are at the mercy of the writers and animators, and that the whole experience will blow right over by the next episode.

* HarsherInHindsight: The song "Flawless" becomes this when you consider Twilight's lyric "I never claimed to be perfect". When we see her try to steal the pearl the 2017 movie, it truly hits home how ''far'' from perfect she is.

* {{Misblamed}}: In 2014, Larson branched into novel writing with the ''Pennyroyal Academy'' series, so some viewers took the episode as being based on his experiences dealing with their reception and his interactions with readers. Actually, Larson was handed the episode's premise by the [[ExecutiveMeddling executives at Hasbro]], and [[CreatorBacklash even he didn't like how it turned out]]. This sprang from the misconception that Larson returned to the show for this episode, when in reality it was an old script he wrote before he left the show during Season 5.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The {{Loony Fan}}s are supposed to be disliked for [[KarmaHoudini getting away]] harassing and criticizing the Mane Six over their characters and stories despite them being real ponies and events they had no control over. But it's intended as an allegory for fan complaints against the show, which would be valid as the characters and stories are in the creators control and their job ''is'' to make them satisfying. From that perspective many of the criticisms and thoughts ([[AesopAmnesia characters learning the same lesson over and over]], not liking character or watching their episodes, preferring things before changes to the StatusQuo) are generally valid.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Who was expecting one of the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 Generation 3 "Core 7" ponies]], much less Toola Roola, out of all of them, to make an appearance?

* FanonDiscontinuity: For the [[BrokenBase sake of sanity]] for ''everyone'', fans and [[CreatorBacklash creators]] alike, people generally prefer to just ignore [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain discussing]] this episode and pretend it never happened and move on.

* HarsherInHindsight: The song "Flawless" becomes this when you consider [[spoiler: Twilight's lyric "I never claimed to be perfect". When we see her try to steal the pearl the 2017 movie, it truly hits home how ''far'' from perfect she is.]]

* {{Anvilicious}}: Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, [[TargetAudience who happen to be fillies]], are the only ones who get the point of the friendship lessons, unlike all those ''older'' ponies. It's fairly easy to guess what the implied message is here...

** None of the journal readers have anything to say about Starlight Glimmer, even though she's the most infamous BaseBreakingCharacter in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' (to the point where she has her own folder in [[BaseBreakingCharacter/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show's Base-Breaking Character page]]) and has generated a lot of arguments in the fanbase over various elements of her character.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E20ForWhomTheSweetieBelleToils Sweetie Belle's nightmare about Rarity]] from three seasons ago pretty much comes true.
** Everypony laughs at everything Pinkie says, even when she's not trying to be funny. Essentially, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 they're laughing AT her]].
** Rarity is disliked by the fan ponies for seeming spoiled, superficial and unkind. This pretty much mirrors actual fan complaints of her from the first Season 1, before her HiddenDepths were revealed.
** The harsh treatment Rarity gets from the fan ponies and the fact that her business suffers as a result is now even more disturbing considering how real life people have had their lives and careers ruined from "Cancel Culture", Cyber-Bullying, and Public Shaming.

** One comment on [=YouTube=] points out that sometimes, what you want to share isn't meant for everyone. Twilight meant to share the Friendship Journals with every pony who needed friendship lessons, and she thought she could accomplish that by [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor sharing the journals with every pony in Equestria]]. But she learned the hard way that every pony who didn't need a friendship lesson read it and [[GoneHorriblyWrong over]][[DramaticallyMissingThePoint looked]] the who point of the journals. Toola Roola and Coconut Cream were the only ones who needed it and made a point they personally appreciated it.

** While the intent of the episode is "You can't please everyone, but you can control how it affects you", the overall lesson could also be interpreted as "If you're going to put yourself in the limelight, then beware of haters and {{Loony Fan}}s." Which, to be entirely honest, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped might not be so inaccurate]] of a lesson.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/630/the-book-of-friendship The Book of Friendship]] is an ongoing fanfiction started ''five years ago'' which is about two ponies who are dedicated to teaching the magic of friendship to others through the Book of Friendship which contains all of the Friendship Lessons that Twilight Sparkle learned throughout her lifetime.
** Rainbow Dash complains about how she can't do anything, including going to the bathroom, without somepony telling her how great she is. This puts some of the behavior of her parents from "Parential Glideance" into even more perspective, keeping in mind they told her how great she was at nearly everything (and while we know they kept her diaper when she said her first words, who knows what other "firsts" they kept...).

* ToughActToFollow:
** This episode has the unfortunate luck of coming out after "The Perfect Pear", which is widely considered to be one of the best episodes not only of the season, but of the ''whole series''.
** This episode's {{Meta}} premise about the fandom is widely considered to have been done much better in both "Slice of Life" and "Stranger Than Fan Fiction."