YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (IDW) Issue 5 to 8

• Broken Base: These comics are either some of the best or worst things to happen to Luna; best because of the character depth and story given to her at a time when she hadn't appeared much in the show, or worst because of the implication her Face–Heel Turn 1000 years ago was a result of Demonic Possession instead of her own flaws corrupting her, rewriting the most significant part of her backstory.
• Contested Sequel: 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.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: While the Retcon about Luna's origins is debated, Nightmare Rarity herself is easily the most popular thing to come from the comics, and is about the only comics character to cross into mainstream popularity in the brony community. She eventually was added to the Gameloft game in 2017's Nightmare Night event, and was the first comic character to do so.
• Evil Is Cool: Nightmare Rarity. Take Rarity, give her Nightmare Moon's powers, personality, and an Evil Makeover. Awesome villainy is attained!
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: The Nightmare Forces being The Man Behind the Man and the implication that Nightmare Moon was some sort of spirit that had simply used Luna as a vessel was coldly received by fans. They felt Luna turning evil due to Demonic Possession as opposed to her own actions diminished the tragedy of her fall and relevance as The Atoner by taking away her agency, and thus reason for guilt, while adding nothing of interest themselves. Nightmare Moon's My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic issue addressed this by revealing she created the Nightmare Forces and leaving the relationship between Nightmare Moon and Luna as ambiguous as on the show.
• Franchise Original Sin: The parts that made it a Contested Sequel, while they worked out well enough here, would lead to future issues to decline in perceived quality.
  • The ending came off as a bit rushed and took a Deus ex Machina to wrap things up, but since the story had followed through with everything fans hoped for, still left it emotionally satisfying. Future stories would be criticized for having to end before any interesting stories could be satisfactorily debt with. Note that the more Slice of Life driven stories and spinoffs have escaped the critique.
  • The big draw of the story was its exploring the nature and origins of Nightmare Moon, something fans were eager to see. Once the show started doing its own Worldbuilding, the comics attempts at such became criticized for increasingly clashing with the shows (widely held to be better-written) canon. That, plus the better stuff to come out of the comics risk of being overruled, has hurt the comics appeal.
• Vindicated by History: This arc was divisive when it first came out, but later issues ended up being even more so, so these days it comes across as one of the better comic storylines. The Author's Saving Throw for the nature of the Nightmare Forces also helps.