I honestly never saw anything wrong with Sunset’s reformed personality
Ooooh, boy, where do I even begin with that?
Let’s start with how, from the first EG to Rainbow Rocks, Sunset lost every single last negative trait she ever had, ever. Just like that. Her conflict in Rainbow Rocks had absolutely nothing to do with her struggling to become a better, more trustworthy person. It was merely in trying to convince everyone else that she had become that person already. What’s more, she practically treats her old self as if it were a different persona entirely, because that’s what it honestly may as well have been. As if the rainbow blast she took at the end of the first movie straight up exorcised the demon that was living within her, and now what’s left is the real Sunset who, as it turns out, was never mean or a bully at all. And that’s really the only valid explanation as to how someone could do a complete personality change as rapidly as she did.
Oh, and uh, by the way, did we mention that she was great guitar-player? Could do motocross? Is a thoroughly impressive painter and artist in general? Does street art under a pseudonym? Is an avid gamer? Is able to live on only a part-time worker’s salary with no roommate? Yeah, because all of that came in addition to the loss of any and all negative traits: a slew of talents and hobbies, most of which would hardly make any sense for her previous self, and all of which were introduced on whim with the writers suddenly deciding that she was good at something or interested in something. The most jarring of these, in my opinion, was her being an artist, because that one didn’t surface until 2016, long after we already had an idea as to who even the reformed Sunset was. And of course, that was doubled down on with her “Flanksy” persona, because evidently, Sunset just yearns oh so dearly to share her art with the world without anyone knowing who she is…even though she never really alluded to that at all. Nor has it ever been brought up since because of course it hasn’t. It was just another thing that needed to happen just to serve the sole purpose of making the fandom fall that much deeper in love with her.
She long ago stopped being a character in her own right to me and instead became an active experiment on the writers’ part to create the perfect fandom waifu, which they succeeded at, make no friggin’ mistake about that. Sunset is by far the most beloved character of G4 MLP, perhaps aside from some other fandom darlings like Derpy or Maud. Hell, some of the early hate Starlight got was a direct result of the love for Sunset, from people who felt that Starlight “stole” her place as the mane seventh. This experiment clearly started with Rainbow Rocks when the fandom at large suddenly loved her pieces (because of course they would, given how much she was victimized), and it had its most recent development a few months ago with the “revelation” that Sunset is bi. Are you a total nerd who does little more than play Fortnite all day long? Well, guess what?! Sunset’s a gamer, too!!! Are you a girl and upset that you’ll never have a chance with Sunset because she’s apparently only into guys?! Oh, ho, ho, DO I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU!!!!
The end result is that she appeals to absolutely everybody. On paper, there’s absolutely nothing to not like about her, and this is why I find her to be so unappealing (that, and how I generally find her more zealous fans to be obnoxious). Hell, this isn’t even to mention just how flat-out perfect she was for the longest time before some of the more recent EG content gave her the ability to actually get angry or not be utterly adept at absolutely everything she does. Suffice to say, I definitely find a whole lot wrong with her reformed personality.