On Pony Ramblings, Confidence Boosters, Personality Tests, and Double Rainbooms · 9:31pm Apr 9th, 2013
Like a swiss army knife, this post will have many parts to deal with different subjects. Admittedly, this makes the resulting blog eclectic and fat with blocks of adi-prose, but it means I can package a fair number of points in one go and then cheerfully go my own way for several weeks afterwards. It also has the advantage of cutting down the number of blog notifications my followers receive (I follow some users who seem to blog every other day, and it gets a bit boring after a while), and it just feels neater and less daunting to look at one summary post every month, as opposed to tracking one post a day for thirty days or so. Might be just me, though.
Anyway, to business. Below are the six main topics I'll tackle for this blog post. You can skip to the one topic that interests you in this set and respond to specific topics, if you so wish. I'm perfectly happy with that; I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with the size of this post, after all!
Here they are, in order of appearance:
One Man's Pony Ramblings
New Site Design
Bronyland Personality Test
Double Rainboom
World Building Alliance March and April Contests
Thank You, DPV111!
Please feel free to comment on this blog at any time, whether you're just passing or not. I appreciate having a chat with fellow fans every now and again.
One Man's Pony Ramblings
Last month, I visited Chris' "One Man's Pony Ramblings" blog. Not for the first time, it must be said, but certainly it was the first time I was convinced to follow his blog as a lurker. It's always worth finding out what your fellow fans are up to.
For those of you who don't know what the attraction is, the blog takes 6-star fics from Equestria Daily and subjects them to criticism, ranking them according to a five-star system. Necessarily, the judgements are partly subjective, but he has a knack for getting past the surface and looking at the bare bones of the story for signs of consistency, research, and stylistic and structural elegance, and his criticisms largely seem to hit the target. Moreover, his reviews are civil and a pleasure to read in their own right.
I'd recommend it for the reviews alone, but there are also mini-reviews for other works, and bonus posts from contributors, including some notable names in the fandom. If you like keen and carefully considered reviews (he's thoughtful enough to note where people of different tastes might disagree with him), want to isolate those fics that have survived rigorous scrutiny, or just like to read about the thoughts and opinions of others (it often pays to follow the subsequent comments by users just as thoughtful and incisive as Chris himself), then I recommend you give it a look here and see if it's for you.
New Site Design
We had yet another overhaul of the site design last month. By and large, I could get past it after the initial few hours of disorientation, but I sorely miss the old design for the story searches. Where once you could exclude categories and tags and see them laid out before you in organized sets, now you just get them lumped under a single drop-down menu that is less intuitive and far uglier than the old one. I also miss the ability to distinguish new story updates from blog posts, though the feed option isn't too bad. I can't think of anything else to criticize, though, and to be fair, knighty does a good job overall with the site.
Bronyland Personality Test
For the most part, I don't take personality tests all that seriously. Often, I wonder how the categories were decided and to what degree you can give an honest assessment of yourself, and even the more scientifically rigorous tests such as those based on The Big Five should be treated as artefacts based on empirical results, not as decisive personality frameworks that will stand the test of time. But if it's just a bit of fun, then I don't see much harm in it. People compare themselves with others all the time in the first place, and so long as you don't act like the test is objective or decisive, you're not likely to make mistakes or read too much into it.
A delightful discovery in recent weeks was the Bronyland Personality Test. I virtually never use the site, but after seeing some users with screenshots of their results from the test, I became curious enough to give it a look. And yes, once you look at such a test, you inevitably have to take it. You can't feel curious about a cake that's been left out without at least dipping your finger in the icing.
My first impressions were that it was a bit hit-and-miss. Some questions make sense, though it was a bit obvious at times which pony the answers were pointing at (you can guess pretty easily what answers would get you classified as a Rainbow Dash type): the ones about the pizza and socializing did a fair job, and you could at least see the logic behind them (the former, for instance, tests how you resolve a conflict of interest that can't be decided by easy mathematics). Others were frankly bizarre: it's questionable why my preference for certain adornments says volumes about me, if only because there are many reasons why someone would wear a cowboy hat or a scarf. A few were downright silly: how exactly do you pick your "favourite suit of cards" (spade, clubs, diamonds, etc.), and why should this say anything about your personality? Overall, though, it was pretty fun, and there were one or two surprises hidden for those who like to go back and try different answers on purpose.
At the end of the questions, you get shown a diagram comparing your personality to the Mane Six and to the averages of previous users, and then a brief description for whichever pony you are most like. My result was shaped like two gigantic spikes; I was overwhelmingly like Fluttershy, with Twilight a very close second and Applejack in third place, just above average.
Does it fit? Well, taking what I said earlier into account, I think it captures some of the more obvious aspects of my personality. I am a bit shy and introverted in real life, and tend to like learning and reading in my spare time more than partying and big social events. On the other hand, it doesn't say much about my organization (I'm actually a lot sloppier than Twilight is) or about my nervousness (unlike Fluttershy, I find I'm neither fully relaxed nor fully tense in most situations). Plus, I don't take fright at my own shadow or talk to animals, and I've never tried brainwashing my local community because a bit of homework was overdue. Needless to say, I'm not going away with the notion that I'm a full-blooded Fluttershy-type just yet.
Still, I won't deny it was kind of a pleasant surprise when I got the result (I'd guessed that Applejack and Twilight would be most like me, and hadn't given Fluttershy much thought), and there is the usual suspense as you try to guess who you'll end up being compared to. If you like a bit of fun, you can try it yourself here and see if you're most like Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, or Rainbow Dash. To be fair, I should add that you don't have to register to use the test (I didn't bother), but your results won't be included in the set they use to calculate user averages.
Double Rainboom
More recently, I've discovered the latest offering of the fandom; a surprisingly professional-looking fan-made episode entitled Double Rainboom, released a few days ago and given some publicity on Equestria Daily. As far as technical achievement goes, this is easily something to boast about; much of the animation is faithful to that of the show, and the artwork, backgrounds, and character designs will provide hope to those who long to see the franchise expand.
That said, I confess my appreciation for the episode is largely over its technical achievement and the "Dancing Bear" principle (amazed not because it's done well, but because it's done at all). As for it being a quality piece of entertainment, I think we have a long way to go yet. The voice acting is just too different from the professional VAs' standards for me to ignore, the story is essentially an excuse plot to give Rainbow a moment to be awesome (and to get to a Powerpuff Girls cameo), and the original video simply drags out the story with slow pacing. If you insist on seeing the original product, the link's here, but I'd recommend watching the shortened version shown above, which at least brings the episode down to the 22-minute mark.
My review is harsh, and I don't want to be so negative as to suggest fan-made works are doomed to mediocrity. Personally, I'd love to see more videos of this artistic skill, and I hope the precedent makes it easier to pull off. That doesn't mean I have to like the flavour of this particular dish, even if I acknowledge that it's a historically important moment in cuisine.
World-Building Alliance, March and April Contests
The World-Building Alliance is essentially where you go to argue that Chrysalis is the third (and the most evil) alicorn sister, that Iron Will believes in reincarnation and free market economies, and that the dragons are far more socially and politically organized than canon would indicate. It is, in short, a welcome home for fanon that focuses on non-pony stuff, and is one of my favourite groups on this site. If you like to pick the brains of your fellow pony fans, or just want to tell others how you'd explain certain elements of the ponyverse, then I heartily recommend giving the group a visit.
Since the beginning of 2013, a new development has appeared that combined fanon-based world-building with fanfic writing. Every month, the senior members of the group post a story prompt and challenge members to write, before the end of the month, a fic that focuses on non-pony races or species and explains some aspect of the ponyverse. At the end of each month, the judges will read and score each fic based on such things as grammar, characterization, world-building scope, and how interesting or solidly constructed the plot is, and the results are published during the first half of the next month.
Perhaps some of you might like the chance to test your writing skills in this month's event? It's one reason why I bring it up here. The contests don't require you to thrash out a very long fic - 5,500 words is considered the upper limit for what the judges will look at - so with thirty days to tackle each prompt, you have plenty of time to produce a one-shot or introductory chapter. It also has the advantage of providing you with feedback on your performance, and you get to meet like-minded members in the same cart as you. Plus, it's just good fun, and could be enough to get your creative juices going if you're stuck.
My last three releases were entries for that contest: The Last of Lapis Lazuli, Insecta Non Grata, and Monster Catchers. Yes, that now leaves me with three unfinished fics, but considering I'd just come from six or so months of no productivity, that pretty much made my year. I'm still hoping to rattle off a few more in the coming weeks, though obviously I don't want to get too careless. There are a lot of things I want to achieve yet in story-writing.
Also... well, I don't want to impose, but I'd like to add that I would be grateful if you were to take a few moments sometime and have a look at my latest offerings, especially if you could give me your opinion on them. I like to receive feedback for my work so that I can improve in future and produce better and more refined specimens. Even if you just want to give one line summarizing your response to the fic, rather than a long list of constructive criticism, feel absolutely free! Every comment is welcome.
Thank You, DPV111!
On that front, I'd like to thank DPV111 for giving one of my fics some much-needed publicity, and basically for doing me a favour. Having received a surprising number of dislikes shortly after release, Insecta Non Grata was pretty much left for dead, and I confess my confidence took a hit. It doesn't help that none of the dislikers left any criticism or comments, so I had no idea what I did wrong.
DPV111 - fully of his own free will, I might add, and with no request or suggestion from me to do it - posted a blog shortly afterwards promoting the fic, and contributed to its much warmer, more constructive, and more encouraging reception afterwards. He does a fair amount of work promoting stories that slip under the mainstream radar in any case, so he deserves, at the very least, a pat on the back for his efforts there. I want to add that I appreciate him especially for being one of the few users - for a time, the only user - who replied to my blog posts, and thus convinced me that I was not merely a lone voice rambling to an empty theatre. I do not underestimate the value of even the smaller contributions.
Of course, the length of my blog posts probably contributes to that last item, so it's probably worth changing my blogging habits. Penny for your thoughts?
That's certainly enough for now, I think. Still, I hope there will be plenty more mind-bending developments and discoveries between now and my next post, and I hope my contribution here, however meagre, gives you at least a few minutes of enjoyable reading.
Until next time. Impossible Numbers, out.
Statistics
New Stories?: Insecta Non Grata and Monster Catchers
Story Count: 16
My Total Story View Count: 9,116
Age: 69 weeks, 1 day
My Follower Count: 56
My Followed Count: 62
You're Welcome.
I've taken the Bonyland test 3 times. Every time the overall result was surprisingly different, but the winner was Rainbow Dash all 3 times.
994785
I took the test several times, too. My results were pretty stable, though my "Twilight score" would sometimes be a little lower, and in one case Pinkie Pie nearly overtook Applejack.
In every serious iteration I took, my "Rainbow Dash score" was totally empty. But then, I always maxed out my "Fluttershy score", and she's the total opposite of RD anyway.
D'awwww
I don't find your blogs too long. If they are, at least they're clear and concise enough to not be a hassle to read.
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995207
Thank you for your compliment!
At least if I can't practice brevity, I'll happily work towards being clear and making my posts easy to read.
994946
I maxed out my Fluttershy score too (not surprising, considering I'm 100% Introvert according to my Myers-Briggs), followed strongly by Twilight Sparkle. =x
On Double Rainboom, you are actually pretty mild. You should have seen the My Little Reviews livestream (which Professor Plum is also part of as one of the host) last Saturday, it was pretty... um, bad (okay, they're pretty harsh but they provided plenty of reasons and I agreed with most of it).
And yes, we need more entrants to the World-Building Alliance monthly writing contests! This month's prompt is actually rather simple: Take a non-pony OC, pick a character trait, crank it Up to Eleven and write a story no longer than 5.5k words (that's the max, you can write a 1k word story and submit it, it's no problem!). If your story exceeds the 5.5k word limit, it gets put instead in the long fic category, which is judged separately.
Seriously, world-building is fun and the group always welcomes anyone with ideas about the larger world outside of Equestria!
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I had my last personality test based on The Big Five. In my case, that one was pretty unambiguous as far as the extrovert-introvert metric was concerned.
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I think it was still generally well received but the critics did find a good number of faults with the animation and plot. I mean, it is a good production but the guys on My Little Reviews pointed numerous animation gaffes, disagreeable practices (too many shout outs!) and superfluous plot at places. Well, they're critics after all, they're supposed to tear apart these sort of stuff and point out the good and bad. =x