Thoughts on "Best Gift Ever"

*twitching, trying to keep from exploding at the Christmas thing that aired before Halloween* I really don't want to hate Christmas, but frankly, getting stuff from that holiday before Thanksgiving, let alone Halloween, gets on my nerves. For goodness' sake, when it's October, I want to be in the Halloween spirit, not Christmas! Gosh, why couldn't this thing wait?

But I also hate having to avoid spoilers. And just my luck, the thing aired on the same day as my uncle's wedding; watching it before the ceremony was awkward with cousins peeking over your shoulder to see you watching a Christmas special in October.

That said, the special was good; under the normal 22 minutes, it was have been severely cluttered and rushed, much like quite a few episodes in later seasons that clearly bit off more than they could chew. Having double that time greatly benefited the episode into something well-paced and cohesive, and everyone had their turn in the spotlight. I'd have enjoyed it much more if it hadn't hit the big pet peeve above; guess I should rewatch it when it really is Christmastime.

The appearance of the reindeer made me wonder why nobody in the fandom had even come up with reindeer being the equivalent of Santa Claus in the eight years that the show's been running. I mean, it makes a whole lot of sense, and there's been a lot of creative and influential folks that created some fanon (even if I find everything involving background ponies to be really annoying)... so... what gives? If anyone came up with the reindeer thing, why didn't it spread?

I'm a little embarrassed not to try the reindeer thing myself... but I love Holly Daybreak and she's not going anywhere. Let's just say she's met the reindeer and they were really good friends until Holly's passing. I'm totally headcanoning the reindeer being immortal.

Probably my favorite story was the one with Rainbow Dash and Discord; I loved their dynamic, and the winterchilla becoming a winterzilla was quite the twist (Discord, you sneaky son of a box). Not to mention it's nice to see Discord acting like a trickster mentor instead of a brat is so nice, especially since it's for the purpose of getting Fluttershy a better present than the candle Rainbow was initially going to buy.

I still want a Nightmare Night thing with Discord in it. I want to see how he spices that holiday up.

I also liked Rarity's story, with how much it highlights her generosity. The one thing I didn't like about that story is just how tedious the Derpy scene was. The back and forth was so unbearably slow and stupid that I had to muster willpower not to scream and punch a nearby pillow.

Also, old habits die hard for the Flim Flam brothers. Well, the AJ and Fluttershy story was fine, I'm just tired of those two popping up with some random con of the week.

It's weird how the climax with the pudding and the winterzilla sort of reminded me of (spoilers for my fic Hearth's Warming is Merry in Our Town) when the Equal Four and their families ended up fighting a giant abominable snowpony that was accidentally animated by Party Favor's father when he and PF were having a fight. Things go over-the-top wrong and it's glorious to watch. Heh, given that Sugar Belle is staying at the Apple's for Hearth's Warming, I wonder if hearing the pudding/winterzilla story from AJ and Pinkie will inspire her to share that Hearth's Warming story.

Songs are nice, though the beginning song was catchier than the ending song (which I already forgot how it sounded).

So... yeah. Nice special. If only it would just air at the RIGHT TIME OF YEAR, and that we didn't already have four other Hearth's Warming episodes (still, I'd take this one over any of the others save maybe for Hearthbreakers).

And I'm still bitter about the lack of Cheese Sandwich. *grumble grumble grumble*