What would we call Sunset's appearance in the tv series?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Would Sunset Shimmer ever be able to appear in the series itself without fans passing it off as a cameo? Whether she shows uo temporaily in the series, or decides to return permanently isn't the issue. But just what fans choose to to label her appearance as, is what has me a bit curious. The term "canon' has been thrown around so often, to many, its real meaning has been lost. Also, there are many fans still vehemently in denial about "anything other than the show being canon" that they would just pass Sunset's appearance as a mere cameo. What do you guys think?

[SharpWit 2,707]

For one, she's definately canon, as much as some may be against equestria girls, there shouldn't be any dispute there.

I think it's a shoutout to an extension of the franchise and a reminder of hey, she used to be somepony of some significance before twilight and the gang came along.

Her appearance in equestria form the equestria girls special "Mirror Magic" feels off to me, but that has more to do with how she's animated. It seems off to me and I think this is simply due to a lack of animation assets of her in pony form, and what they came up with just teeters on the edge of the uncanny valley.

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

Lol. I'm still laughing at the people who act like the Sirens aren't canon after the Season 7 finale.

Pony Sunset's appearance would only be a cameo if it was for a second at best. Anything more than that, like a pivotal scene where she had speaking lines and interacted with the Mane Six, and saying it's just a cameo or non-canon would make it painfully clear you're living in some dream world.

Edited April 21, 2018 by KillerKingBakudan

[Concerned Bystander 2,903]

Even a cameo appearance would still make her a canon character in the eyes of all but a very few diehard anti-Sunset people.  A cameo just means that it is a single brief appearance of the character, but still an appearance nonetheless.  If a character appears in the cartoon then that character exists within the cartoon's universe, anything other than that would be difficult to argue.

On the other hand, the appearance of a character from a different branch of the franchise such as EQG or the comics doesn't necessarily make that entire branch and the events that occurred within it canon within the universe of the cartoon.  Pony Flash Sentry for example made a brief appearance in the cartoon but that doesn't mean anything when there is so much commonality of characters between the two universes, pretty much every other pony in Equestria has a counterpart in the 'human' universe so why would he be any different?

The Sirens make a far more interesting case because they are not reflections of themselves in the other universe, they are the same characters that had moved from one universe to the other way back in the mists of time.  My perception of the whole issue has always that the writers are working under the assumption that everyone who watches EQG probably also watches FiM, but that not everyone who watches FiM will watch EQG, and so while EQG occasionally makes direct comments about events that have occurred within FiM, the converse has never happened.

Having the Sirens make a brief appearance in the S7 finale allowed them to give an easter egg to the EQG fans by introducing a piece of common history between the two universes without confusing viewers that have never seen EQG.  A cameo appearance by Sunset could do the same sort of thing, it could placate some of the Sunset fans by making her a character in the FiM universe without having to explain who she is or why she's there to the other viewers that may not recognise her.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Concerned Bystander

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

If she were to return permanently in the TV series, then I myself would call her a new permanent character, I wouldn't label it as a "cameo" simply because cameos are only temporary. Now if she came into the TV series for say, an episode or two, I would just label her a cameo character simply because she isn't going to be a fixture in the mane series. Now that's just what I would do, I can't really speak for any others because we all would have our own opinions on what we would "label" her as. 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Sunset is canon but conveniently out of FiM's focus.

Her character has grown too much in EQG to just pop her into a FiM's episode without a hint, the inverted action can be done because that's exactly how EQG was born.

I agree that a cameo could be done, just like the sirens, and FiM-only fans wouldn't be confused about it, but any more than that and it would be hard to expose her character and motivations to such fans (especially when dealing with an episode plot of its own).

Now, about people claiming canon and non-canon, you'll just have to accept that there are FiM-only fans, and if they watch only FiM episodes there's absolutely no way they can relate a bunch of monsters from a scene in Shadow Play to a trio of fame hungry divas from the spin-off. Of course, they have to accept too that fans aware of EQG have more information and facts that relate both franchises and make them mutually canon.