OtbOA: Fan stuff and a Very Important Question · 11:43am Jun 30th, 2013
(Find VIQ if you want to skip me gushing about my fans below)
EDIT: I will be trying (emphasis on the 'try' part) to keep this post updated with relevant fan stuff.
So. OtbOA is a year old come Tuesday (always Tuesday, eh Twi?) - and I am amazed. I have never - EVER - stayed with anything this long. Seriously. I've been writing fanfics for ... sixteen years now and I've only ever written one that MAYBE got near to this length/time span. And that was a sucky piece of shit. But you know what? I couldn't have done it without you guys. Seriously, that's really sappy to say but it's all true. Without the comments, the laughter, the tears and the prods for more, I couldn't have even reached half the words I have. I wouldn't have tried my damnedest to give you guys the best I could, tried to be better, to do better. I wouldn't have made it.
SO! I thought I'd collect the fan works and post them cause that's awesome (and I am totally not avoiding writing what are you talking about?) - this isn't about me or even my story. This is about you guys. The fans. The multitude of people that helped elevate this side story up to eat all my time. To drive me into the arms of booze and Thai prostitutes. Wait, this isn't about me. SO! Without further ado ... the FANS.
First up is s00perguy with ... a rhyme? A rhyme! Take it away s00perguy!
I've read every fic you have, though they are not many
So here are my thoughts, you needn't pay a penny
I've seen only one more fic about a potty mouth child
I read "of insults" by RavensDagger, isn't that wild?
It looks like the story is going well, see what you do
I'll be anxiously looking forward to "old again" part two.
I hope I have not bored you with my little rhyme
It looks, sadly, as though I'm all out of time.
Well. Looks like I have a fan! That's awesome, I'm affecting people out there in them internet tubes! All is going according to plan ... and s00perguy has been around since day one. So thank you s00perguy, for trying it and sticking around for my words. I know I haven't said much to you but the fact you read what I wrote and were inspired enough to try your hand at something means a lot to me. The fact I've affected anyone with this silliness amazes me. And it's not the only bit of rhyme I've gotten! A mess made a bit of a messy splash with this re-do of Sponge Bob's little ditty!
Are you ready foals?
I said are you ready?
who lives in a pastry with crazy pinkie
blue colt wet pants
Needs pants absorbent and plastic does he
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
If bodily nonsense be something you wish
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
Then just give him a shock and you'll hear a wet splish
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants
blue colt wet pants, blue colt wet pants!
Crazy ponies! It's like a fan-ception up in here, yo! Ponies to fanfics to Sponge Bob to Pony Sponge Bob songs about fanfics! My head is twisting in the wind and I love it. Can things get any better because I cannot see how!
... and then this happens.
HORY SHIT!
I know that guy! Momomojito set that up and I love it so, can you tell? I have it everywhere. My boss thinks it really odd I have it as my Google Talk avatar and my sign-on pic at work. Screw you, I do what I want! But that didn't stop Momo, oh no-no. She went and did this next:
"Ahh! Why is this happening to me?"
Oh man, I have no words. An actual avatar! I, uhm, like smoking Bruce (his snarkiness infects me better if he's staring at me constantly, you see) but I do appreciate it. A lot. I was so astonished - usually, I'd have to pay for something as cool as this and she did it for free! And to round out the Momo-awesome ...
-bie BrucÉ™ aeg therti to
Wow. Three fanarts from one awesometastic person. I have have got to start pimping your name more Momomojito. So, Momomojito I think I will. Is that ok TotallyNotMomomojito? Ok ... wait ...
OMG feature!
Yes, featured. Wow. Momomojito is my pony-mom in Ponyville. She is the last foster parent - totally not a spoiler guys! And yet, I am unfullfilled. I need more, CRAVE more! And, well ...
Their soulless eyes shall stare deep into yours and they shall utter the Name-of-She-Who-Walketh-Between-Worlds ... 'Pinkie' 'Pie.'
Kingtiger666 whipped that one together to show us the true faces of evil. Evil little ponies that just want to have fun. I'd shudder but that doesn't translate to text very well - Bruce knows though. HE KNOWS! These twins shall devour the world and all shall know fear!
Those bubbles are because Bruce farted. That is YOUR fault, Pinkie!
Genbu shows us what is REALLY drawing the audience to the story: rampant and unnecessary child abuse! Man, maybe I should change the fic's pic to this - it's more accurate to the story. Bruce hasn't had a cig in DAYS man! But that doesn't stop Genbu. Oh no, Genbu is so awesome he turns around and -
What the hell, man! Who is going to RIDE me?!
- BAM! More pony art from Genbu - showing why I write the story! Little colts in frilly lace. I love frilly boy-girls. I guess. Hey, it's what I'd do in Bruce's situation. Look at myself in the mirror with slowly growing arousal horror.
'Fuck damn bitch cunt motherfuck!'
But that's ok because Balthasar999 gives Bruce a bit of a break with a cigarette! So he's partly happy ... right? Right? ... right? Right! I mean, he looks happy doesn't he? With his ... scrutched and frowny face ... uhm, surrounded by oblique cursing. Moving on.
"Heeeey Genbu, heard you like lace."
Spyro9 makes me stay up till 6:30 in the morning hunting down an awesome pic of Bruce and the most awesome shit-eating grin I've ever seen! Not that I'm complaining, at all. I never did thank him/her as much as I should have - I should be heaping praise on the artists that have taken their time out of their day to add to this amazing story. All of them, from the smallest to the largest. But I get so caught up in my writing and other things that I don't thank them enough. So ... thank you. All of you.
What do you mean 'School?!'
Genbu comes through again with a HUGE pic of a worried Bruce ... yeah. Yeah, this is pretty much his 'default' face these days. Poor Bruce - don't worry! You'll soon find your Cutie Mark and then you'll be trapped forever in Equestria! With Spring! Isn't that a gre-hey! Why are you crying? Bruce, stop running away!
Where's Captain America when you need him?
Sintail give us a look at Bruce just after he screws up instead of right before. I hope that horseshoe is tasty, my friend, because you'll be eating a ton of iron this story. Oh - don't mind the green pastry chef, she gets like that when she's angry.
But that's not all!
Lately, there have been an influx of 'brony in foal body' stories. I'd like to think I had something to do with it but I can't claim any credit unless I'm told. Well, I was told.
Family by FleetlordAvatar and Silver Eyes and Rainy Skies by the esteemed Roadie both point out that - yes - they were inspired at least partially by Oh to be Old Again. Family takes the 'man-in-foal' body to knew levels of abuse by having the foal starved for more then just affection! While Silver Eyes and Rainy Skies gives us a look into a pretty well developed Equestria, with naming conventions outside out human norm, and limits itself to only the other pony's POV. Oh, and 'Sasquatch' is a bit more 'together' then Bruce ever was.
And suddenly Bruce Slice-of-Life! Akumokagetsu (the man with the hard-to-spell name - thank Microsoft for Copy-Paste!) wrote Oh to be Bruce Again, a story about a day in the life of Bruce! One where he wasn't passing out, being sedated or pissing himself in fear/terror/surprise. Or at least, none that was shown. Poor Bruce, the universe hates him so.
I'm amazed. I inspire authors! Artists! Poets! But I couldn't have done it without help. So here's where I thank some people - some specific people. People that have helped me, have given me an ear to talk off or just acknowledgment from those with just a few more watchers then perhaps I have. Some people that have stuck their necks out for me, lent me advice that sometimes I don't take (though I should) and overall are pretty cool peeps yo.
We all know of Genjen by now. He's the guy that takes my steaming piles of manure and points out where they might possibly be bettered by, you know, spelling right and using the proper tense. Little things! Like saying 'hey, back in chapter 2, you did this already' or 'having trouble? Try this' and it works. Little things that help. Thank you Genjen.
We all might NOT know VelvertHeart, who is a pretty cool gal as well. Velvet has let me whine about muse issues while dealing with her own work, has let me bounce ideas off her and even helped me realize that some things are just a bit TOO dark for this. Just a bit. Thank you Velvet.
And finally, the last shout-out I have is for Aegis Shield. Aegis mentioned me by name during a live, vocal interview as one of his most favorite authors - which blows my mind (especially as he was with two big name authors that he probably should have named before me to be honest) - and even had a blog post asking his own followers to come and give this story a try. I cannot say thank you enough for that. He stuck his neck out by mentioning me and all I gave him was a 'wow, thanks' on his page. Actually, I also started a fic trying to hit a 10k chapter limit about two ponies talking because he's awesome like that but ... actually, I have a few thousand words in it and no descriptions, maybe ... anyway. He deserves better than that basic 'thank you.'
Some Stats:
There are 74 pages of comments! 74 pages, people. That is - as of me writing this - 3,673 comments. Over three and a half thousand comments! People are talking and they want more soap! Ponies don't know it's not bacon!
2712 people find it interesting enough to Favorite - though of those only 1982 thumbed it up. Still, that's nothing to sneeze at. Of the people that tried it, only 50 people thumbed it down. 13,106 people have read one of the chapters involved (prooobably the first) and there's a grand total of 296,453 views across all the chapters.
"That's all fine and dandy, Minalkra, but what's this about a VIQ?"
I'm glad you asked! See, I have three new chapters I've been working on and I REALLY hope to have them in a situation to post by Tuesday. I want the Anniversary Party/Fan Appreciation Day to have SOMETHING to show for all the unnecessary waiting I've been forcing on you (excuses at the bottom of all this) but I have a conundrum. See, I have a joke that I find hil-ar-ious. Funny, funny, funny. That's what this depressing story of a man separated by dimensional walls from his wife is, right? Comedy? Anyway, I find it funny as hell.
But it involves Bruce, the CMC and a part of his anatomy. And him running away screaming but that's the comedy part.
-Is that too much? Despite what he acts like, Bruce IS a thirty two year old man!
-Is it funny as hell regardless? He's in a foal's body and it's not like they're gonna DO anything (they aren't, BTW, it's just going to be awkward and hilarious).
-Or do you not care either way? Write what happens rather then trying to make things fit a bit better - and STOP STALLING YOU BASTARD!
Please respond. I do want to 'test the waters' here before I have the CMC trying to awkwardly seduce him and him running away, screaming his little blue head even more blue as he shouts 'Nononononononononononononononononononoohgodno.' I think it's funny ...
As to why the heck I'm so bad at writing on time now: Work, mostly. I used to have hours of NOTHING to do there. I wrote then. Now we have four (? hang on, no) five projects I'm vaguely 'supervising' and I can't take the time to write there anymore. There have been other things happening in my life which haven't made things easier and have eaten what time I have at home up so it's not JUST work. But it is mostly work. A few of the projects are going to be winding down so here's hoping things calm a bit (cross your fingers) but it is what it is.
And to all my fans/those who like this one story please stop bothering me with blog posts you weird author you, I say thank you. For making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
EDIT: If you know of any more fan-works that I haven't mentioned, please tell me so I can add it here. I want everyone to have a special note. Thank you.
I proud to have thumbed your story up! Keep going on your projects, all of them!
Do it, anything to make Bruce feel extremely uncomfortable or awkward amuses me so
Holy crap long blog but lets see here. Without going back and re-reading everything let me answer what I remember.
-An Invader Zim reference?
-I'd love to see Bruce in that situation
That's all I got. Maybe it's just me but whenever I read long blogs I think 'oh I gotta comment about that, OH and that as well. Can't forget to comment about that either.' Then I get to the end and forget every damn thing I wanted to say.
Oh well, point being I enjoy your stories, as well as your personality and your fans will speak for that as well. To me it really says something when an author makes a long ass blog thanking people for contributions and the such. It really lets people know you care.
To be honest your story was the first pony fic I read here and without it, I probably would have never stayed. So I want to personally thank you for your writing and hope you keep it up. Best of luck to you in all future anythings
Yes, yes, we love you too you grizzled old bastard. Especially since it turns out you have three chapters practically chomping at the bit.
As for the CMC - I say do it. It'll be awkward, embarrassing, cringe-worthy and funny as anything.
It's good to see that people are enjoying OtbOA so much that it inspires more fanfics, which in turn may even inspire more of them. Thanks for this blogpost, I've added those stories to my ReadItLater.
And on the issue of the CMC... "playing doctor" with Bruce? I say go for it. I'm sure it'll turn out funny, awkward and all the good stuff this story is made of. I like seeing things from the other characters' perspective and I'm sure there'll be an interesting conversation about what kind of aftermath this would do to his psyche.
Also rereading the thing I realise you didn't mention if the scene involved doctor, games or cutie mark earning... this worries me for Bruce.
Go for it, the universe hate Bruce and thats why I love him
wow, the pictures were just some random stuff put in some random comments drawn months and months ago and you actually remember them... wow... just wow... damn it, now i get all sappy
well, only one way to fix this... more frilly lace!
1178383 SINGULARITY.
Wow.
just wow.
So much everything.
Favorites Vs Likes. Well, I dont have Favorites. Likes, for me, are Favorites. Favorites, for me, are Follows. The only way to have updates show up is to favorite a story, and wanting to read anything new that comes out does not make it a favorite. I tread a Like, instead, as a favorite, and only like the really, really good stories. (Mainly because it is otherwise unnecessary, and it is irreversible, unless you dislike it, which sucks, a lot)
Oh, and the Spongebob theme poem. Didn't need the mental Scaring.
Aw, hell yiss we wanna see Bruce play "I'll show you mine if you show me yours!"
Dude, dude, dude, you're awesome. One of the best. Keep it up.
How come you're never on steam? That makes me sad... But the chance we get an update makes me happy, so it's all good.
I'll have to go with the "funny as hell" option on that scene. So, by all means, do it.
[youtube=xlAuvp9RyCI]
Do it, it sounds hilarious.
Bruce running away screaming...
Yeah, you definitely need to include that. His pain and/or discomfort is our amusement, no matter how twisted that sounds. What? It's true! At least I don't deny it.
Anyway, it does sound funny as hell. By all means, go for it.
Congrats on the one year anniversary on your story!
That scene deserves to be done.
As much as the pain of others amuses and sustains me, I would say do it, but poor Bruce is going to need a bone thrown his way eventually.
. . . Though I can honestly say I'll probably be laughing along with the rest of these lunatics when it goes up, so, I say do it.
We love 'ya Bruce, soap and all
Haha, this was pretty cool! I liked seeing the different fan stuff all lined up like that, and I don't apologize for the warm fuzzy's you've been suffering through this last year. I think the CMC idea sounds hilarious if it's approached the way you usually approach awkward humor. I'll be looking forward to proofreading the madness!
If it's actually IC for the CMC, and if you think Bruce wouldn't already have the insight that most pre-pubescent children are unashamedly perverted due to their growing brains' need to fill themselves being expressed as ravenous curiosity, then go for it.
You're a vary creative author!
go for the joke! it sounds awesome.
yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Have him lead them on.... And THEN he runs away after they try to tackle him.
Go for it!//dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Sweetie_Belle_lolface.png //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Scootaloo_lolface.png //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Applebloom_lolface.png
1179707
No! Fuck you! I ain't watching that again!
DO IT!!!
1178548
Shia Labeouf?
Brain redirecting to most powerful impression related to name.
Amuse me with this scene.
1204829
Bold words for a man NOT on a unicycle
the 7th picture
Now I want to see a chapter where Rarity tries to force Bruce into something like that