When does something become over-copied? · 6:15pm Feb 28th, 2014
Just something I was wondering; lately I've been seeing a lot of stories that have been inspired by "Rise of Darth Vulcan" or "F*** It, I'm Having Fun", where the plot is that a guy who's dressed up as something threatening is sent to Equestria and becomes Public Enemy #1 due to misinterpretations. I can see that this is an interesting take on the Human in Equestria genre; usually it's self inserts that arrive and they all instantly become friends with the ponies and go on adventures and such, and I can respect the authors for trying something new.
But then everyone else decides to do the same thing, and what was once unique becomes rather stale. The newcomers are not really trying to experiment or create their own work, they're just taking an already established plot and replacing the main character with their own. None of the basic events really change, and the story just gets rather boring. I couldn't get into the Chess Game of the Gods because it was pretty much the same thing: person has a talk with a God(dess) who sends them to Equestria as a non-pony, at which point they go on long adventures across the world and shake up the status quo. Rinse and repeat, just change the location, the name of the main character, and the creature (s)he gets turned into upon arrival. I know that it's hard to find things that can be considered "unique", since there are a few plot lines that get rehashed and "reinterpreted" over and over again. Sometimes it works, but when everyone does it at the same time it just feels a bit like bandwagoning, kind of like how everything was going 3-D after Avatar made it big.
Maybe I'm just being elitist and overthinking things, and maybe I'm just being hypocritical, but I still think that copying something wholesale but presenting it as "new" does have it's faults and can easily become stale and boring if not given more than just "Oh it's a new character, it's unique!".
I know exactly what you mean. This trend seems to have started with a story called Malideus, which was pretty popular, but I disliked it. Then Reality Check decided to take the idea and try to do it properly with The Rise of Darth Vulcan, which I've enjoyed a lot.
Beyond that, it's all been people jumping on the bandwagon, and I just can't be bothered with those stories.
I understand that some of the stories can be bad and over-copied. When I first started writing my own fic that was of a smiilar premise I kept forcing myself to try and make mine unique(ish) and not just the same plot with a different character.
However, I do see where you're ocming from. While they were very well liked and entertaining with the first few, the addition more and more with the same plot but a different protagonist does get a bit old but some of them are good in their own rights.
What surprises me is that everyone is making such a big deal about it. Let the craze die down on its own. The more you bitch about it, the more people are going to check out what you're bitching about and keep it noticed.
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Oh and the trend was started by Villanous. Whether or not Maledius was inspired by it is irrelevant.
The main problem with a lot of these stories is that none of the main characters really try to fix the misunderstanding. They complain about being hated, but they never really do anything to cause the ponies not think they're evil. In fact, they seem to relish being colossal dicks to everyone.
I'd much rather see someone do a subversion of such a story. Human gets sent to Equestria, gets dark magical powers, and gets declared public enemy #1 due to a misunderstanding. Then a few days later ponies starts asking exactly why he's public enemy #1 since all he seems to be doing is hitting the bars and and using his dark power to perform party tricks and/or be a superhero.
As someone who liked these kind of stories before they got popular, I gotta say most of them are pretty badly written, but the ones that aren't are a refreshing change of pace from the human being a hero. I think that the idea is being overdone of them being a cosplayer, and that sucks. But the basic idea wasn't for them to be in costume, just evil.
1882705 But the fact that they're evil is what the whole genre is based around.
1882337 It was, by the way. I recently read through it and saw a comment by Uberdeathninja saying it was an inspiration to him.
I think the biggest problem I have with them is that the hapless humans who star in these stories are almost invariably assholes who probably deserve the misfortune that befalls them.
Someone finally said it.
31.media.tumblr.com/2e149d09a388e6e132d3caf8aa2bfe1a/tumblr_inline_mtco1saulb1rynlhg.gif
I hate to say it but after the first seven of these ficts with the same story line, its become normal for me to go out of my way to avoid them especially after a few become something akin to a Juggernaut.
Im looking at you half robot griffin equipped with a laser gun and an effen chainsaw...
1883956 half robot griffon w/ laser gun and chainsaw... maybe he was trying to go for a 40K story and got lost in transition
or maybe he's just kind of desperate for ideas
or stupid
1884040 I think finally in the end the chainsaw was his wing or something crazy along those lines, and from where i stopped he was a cyborg/pirate/viking/general/ruler of his own country...Its safe to say my mind was hurting every chapter I went further in, I would have to put it up with the strange places on YouTube.