The Thankful End of a Less than Stellar Story, and the tale of a Detective and a Lawyer · 9:33pm Mar 29th, 2014
So. you may have noticed that "The Life and Times of a Winning Pony," a story that was started some time ago has reached it's conclusion. I have been on this site for sometime now, and during that time I have always tried to hold a sense of professionalism when I comment on a story (with a few exceptions in my early days.) What I mean by that is, I tried to be polite when giving critism, giving examples and making it clear what I disliked and thought needed improving, and also mentioning what I did like. If I was unable to do this, then I left no comment. This was when a story so badly frustrated me that I knew I would rant and go on an annoying tangent that would have left a sailor blushing.
The Life and Times of a winning pony is one of those stories.
It frustrates because I just don't see why so many people like it. It has a terrible and incredibly unlikeable main character. The writer has defaulted to making nearly every mare a lesbian (something that was tired long before this story came out) and over-reliance on spin-offs that you had to read to gain full context on most of the story; it just wasn't very good. The writing itself was fine, just the story wasn't. yet, it has a huge following that still baffles me. While I often respect anyone who succeeds in writing, I still cant help but get over this bizarre contempt I have for it. I have no issue with the writer - he has more talent than me - but I just honestly dislike the story, nearly to the point where I physically hate it. Let me ask, did you like the story? And if so, why? Why did you enjoy it so much? Am I just missing something?
In other news, I purchased Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney the other day and I have been enjoying it immensely. So much so, that it has slowed down my writing. The next HTTYFYDAC chapter is nearly complete so I should have it finished by next week, but updates afterwards may be slower. I would recommend the game for anyone who enjoys the Layton games or the Ace Attorney games (maybe even both.) Also, anyone who enjoys puzzle games. That's it for now folks, i hope you all have a pleasant day.
(Also, I'm sorry if I've annoyed anyone who enjoys that story, I just don't care for it.)
- Infinite
I don't really like it either, its just a big cliché shipping fic.
"OMG I love you!"
"Really? I love you too! Lets make out!"
Or
"Hey i just met you and this is crazy but lets fuck like a bunch of idiots for no reason!"
I just never got i to it, the only 'spin-offs' that actually interested me out of that entire universe is the ones involving Derpy, Dash and Dinks, they were enjoyable. The rest though? Bleh
Yeah I hate it as well.
*Shrugs*
I tend to like romance in general. Now, I enjoyed the story, but its nowhere near any of my my favourite stories on this website. It definitely has many flaws. I don't care about who's a lesbian and who isn't one bit, but the fact that at the end the conclusion seems to be "Ok, we know you are used to banging everything that says yes, so I guess none of us should expect you to be a considerate pony to any one of us when it comes to our desire to have a monogamous relationship. So, you know, if you bang a few ponies less then everone we are happy to share your banging between us three. Or four. And some others."
Or something to that effect... Yeah. It doesn't really bother me, but it is a tad ridiculous and I more then understand how it can ruin the story for people. I am sure there are people out there who are quite happy in a similar situation, and kudos to them. but I can see how a lot of people struggle with it. And yes, some of the decisions made by the lead character aren't proof of the strongest of moral fibres. And the internal monologuing could become tiresome at times.
I don't know, none of it bothers me enough to ruin the story for me, its that simple. I struggled more with the 180 the story made when it suddenly was about war and ponies started dying then I did with the whole relationships thing. There are quite a few stories on this site I really enjoy that I read many, many times. This will not be one of those, I don't think. I might reread it once (I tend to do that with pretty much any story I read from beginning to end after its finished, to read it again without the downside of the time gap between chapter uploads), but its not something I would come back to time and time again. But it was enough to keep me entertained, so I read it. *Shrugs*
2003358 Your comment pretty much makes it sound like shit
2003364
Eh. I've read plenty of "shit" on this site. I hope you'll agree with me that when it comes to the bottom of the barrel on fimfiction, this story isn't even anywhere near the barrel. There was a lot more I liked about the story then there was I didn't like, otherwise I wouldn't have read it. Doesn't mean I can't see the flaws of it and why people really wouldn't like it, and I guess its easier to point those things out then the things I liked about it. In order to do that I feel like I should read the whole thing again first, and I really can't be bothered to do that right now. But yes, I suppose my reply was off-topic, sorry.
2003392 It's fine, I do agree that it isn't the worse. Still adament the universe sucked though.
2003399
Hah. Ok, that's an entire different discussion altogether I think. I am not sure I am a fan of this whole >insert something here< - verse thing to be honest. In some occasions it may be warranted, but most of the time people just are trying to get a following around a certain idea they have and hope it takes off I think.
In this particular case, to me, meh. I just read some of these stories and enjoyed them enough to finish them, but the "winning" verse? I suppose volume wise it may have some merit (just purely by how much stuff was written for it by how many people), but no, I can't really look at it that way.
2003410 I do that actually. The whole *insert*verse thing. I do it because I like to loosely connect the stories, but never make it so you have to read a bunch of them to get whats going on.
2003416
I think the only thing of you I'm reading is "How to Tell Your Friends You're Dating a Changeling" and I didn't see any mention of "Part of the <whatever> verse" I don't think. Could be wrong though. Either way, its not as if it matters much. Its not something that would attract me to or scare me away from a story.
(I am currently just browsing the highest rated romance fics, and encountered "How To Tell Your Friends." That was an "Oh yeah, I was reading that, when was the author last online?" moment, so then I saw the journal from today as well as this one, hence the probably rather late comment on it.)
2003448 I see. Well on my page, one of the first box's has all the current carnageverse stories.
2003454
Ah, missed that. I get pretty much all of my stories from the front page, I track very few authors I admit... If I find a story I like I tend to look at the author's story page to see what else he has written, not so much the profile page. Anyway, this is really off-topic now, so I probably should stop here ^^ I'll be looking forward to that coming new chapter.
2003464 Of course. I hope it's ready soon.