Fic recs, March 29th! · 1:55pm Mar 29th, 2016
Happy 1100 blog posts. :B
Good news! Lost is doing better!
Reminder about my Mega Man survey! One week to go!
After like two years, I finally finished watched both Avatar shows! You can find my thoughts on The Legend of Korra here, here, here, here and here.
And y'know what? I forgot to do my usual thing of collecting all the goofy names I come up with for the episodes as they air and posting them in my final season review blog. I HAVE RECTIFIED THIS.
I was gonna do a post-premiere edition, but I've found like three fics. :B What gives? I mooshed 'em all into the end of this one.
H: 0 R: 3 C: 3 V: 0 N: 2
Sonci Rainbow Dash and Robokinis Machine by moupi
Reading by MasakoX
I discovered this guy recently via his reading of Nappa Meets the Avengers, which I recommend listening to, along with Knuckles and the Fairy. He reads badfics. Exclusively. In the persona of one Nelson Gamington-Smythe III. I'm not gonna mine his channel for pony readings because there's a lot here, but if I come across any more, rest assured I will mention them! (He's excellent, by the way, every bit as good at reading gobbledygook as, well, me! :V)
Genre: Badfic
This technically has ponies in it, so Imma review it. What can I say? I was floored by the author's ability to mangle character names past the point of intelligibility, only to turn around and write perfectly clear technobabble in the same sentence. There's Sonic x Rainbow Dash, because why wouldn't there be? There's also suddenly vore, because why wouldn't there be. (It's hilarious though, trust me.) I think the story might actually be incomplete; that I can't tell is just one part that makes this amazing. The final line of chapter 2 is a thing of beauty that should be studied by anyone with a desire to write badfic. Connoisseurs of the genre will definitely want to scour this guy's FFN page.
Troll Recommended
Mate in Five Moves by Karrakaz
Reading (part 1) by Goombasa
Genre: Shipping
When Rarity realizes she shouldn't be winning at chess as much as she is, she tries to find out what's bothering Pinkie Pie.
I'll say one thing for this story: it involves chess without any of the overdone tropes associated with it. It's just there as something for the characters to do, plus a few metaphors in the chapter titles. Sadly, I find it's getting harder and harder to evaluate shipfics as my thoughts about love and romance continue to evolve beyond the standard (and completely wrong) Hollywood formula. I think my romantic side is dying, guys. :( So while I can accuse this story of being very by-the-numbers, I don't blame the author for that. What I can criticize are some things like Rarity — who is otherwise very well characterized; I love that she picks up on the entire breadth and range of Pinkie's feelings thanks to a single, tiny slipup — not being terribly in control of herself for the first couple chapters. Her body does a lot of talking for her, and her inability to place why she's jealous of Pinkie also playing chess with Twilight smacked of ASS, even if there was no actual shipping at that point. The writing is decent, though occasionally suffers from repetition of ideas and bald explanation of character motives. There are some things I wasn't quite prepared for, like the apparent age of the Cake twins suggesting this is a good bit in the future and, well, all of chapter four. (It's kind of amazing, though.) The big letdown comes after that, though, as Rarity suddenly realizes her feelings are mutual, only to have Pinkie snatched away from her so she can spend the next chapter and a half moping about what can never be before a pretty cliche ending. For all that I was once highly invested in an it'll-never-be-finished ponification of Pygmalion, RariPie's not big on my list, and this wasn't too bad. If you like the ship, you'll like this story.
Recommended for Shippers Only
Melt by ambion
Reading by Captain Sand
Reading by VisualPony
Reading by Scribbler
Reading by Crafty Arts
Reading by BigAshRandomVids
Genre: Slice of Life
Even as an adult, Twilight sometimes needs her mentor's care when she gets sick.
With all the amazing fantasy writers in this fandom, it surprises me that we don't see more wacky fantasy illnesses like the one in this story. It's both terribly creative and totally epic in terms of what needs to be done to treat it. Just wrapping my head around the situation was a ton of fun, and that alone makes this worth reading. :D As for the actual story, it's really very fluffy, a cute bonding moment for Twilight and Celestia thanks to Twilight's feverish mind. Nothing but positivity here.
Recommended
The Sex Shop by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: Slice of Life
Playground rumor has that there's a sex shop in Las Pegasus, slightly off the beaten path.
This story invited immediate comparison to XXX, and benefited from it: Instead of dropping an Earth-style skin shop into Equestria, this piece makes an effort to meld it into the setting, not to mention spends no time titillating about how scandalous everything is. The proprietor, for instance, is a happily boring individual. This also invites some comparison to Lost Cities; while not characterless, it nevertheless has that same kind of meandering-through-space narrator, presenting a scene in toto by passionless observation. It's got less plot, however, mostly just setting up a bunch of pins and never knocking them down, but for what it is, I appreciated it.
Recommended for Slice of Life Fans
Once in a Lifetime by dramatic_spoon
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Crackshipping
Flash never got over the first mare who complimented him. But she's the kind of mare you only meet once in a lifetime.
What a waste of an interesting crackship. I really, really wanted to like this story, and in some ways I hate myself for not. But at the end of the day, this piece was just not satisfying. Flash's guardmate ribs him about never going out on dates. Flash thinks about this one time a mare kissed him. He meets her at a bar entirely by chance. The end. It's a lot of lining up pieces to just leave them standing; there's not even a real indication of whether this meeting will amount to anything, or if she'll just steal his wallet again. Plus it doesn't help that Flash is characterized as so awkward and insecure that he'd spend his whole life pining for a mare just because she kissed him once and said some nice things about him while in the process of mugging him. Not to mention Trixie is just kind of there, and far too receptive to this random stallion who she doesn't even remember. This was far too easy, as romances go, and amounts to nothing.
Not Recommended
Sunsplit by Masterweaver
Reading by Razor Reviews
Reading by Snogwritts
Genre: Crackfic
There is absolutely no reason why Sunburst would know Sunset Shimmer.
This is balls-out hilarious. Fast-paced and built around a fantastic, stupid idea (I was expecting him to be her brother but oh no I was not thinking creatively), it's a laugh a minute. Definitely not the kind of comedy everyone will enjoy, but I sure enjoyed the heck out of it. :D
Recommended
Flurry Heart Almost KILLED ME! by Billy G Gruff
Genre: Slice of Life
For whatever reason, I've noticed an uptick in "what were their thoughts?" type stories lately. This one is about the pony who peers over the edge of the first hole Flurry Heart blasts in the ceiling. It's not very good. The narrative has no flow of its own, skipping back and forth between past and present at random. There are common writing mistakes like "could of". It's all telling. I suppose the typos in the description should have clued me in.
Not Recommended
Two of Swirls by Trick Question
Genre: Slice of Life
Celestia learns just how it is Star Swirl knows of the future.
This takes a tiny bit of headcanon I've seen floating here and there since the premiere and turns it on its head in the most satsifyingly creative way I could think of. You might be able to figure out a bit from the title, description and cover art, but you likely won't get everything. Go read this for yourself.
Recommended
Hmm. I see the usual Episode Fanfics are starting to surface once again.
I wouldn't be surprised if you re-named some of the blog posts, "Fic Recs: *Insert Episode Name here*" until the season ends...
Oh, and also, my story has been approved for Equestria Daily, and should be up there in a few hours, or maybe less, I don't know how EQD does their Fanfic posts...
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Usually within a day. :B
Hm, I don't remember your Mega Man survey but it says I've taken it, so there you go.
I have a soft spot for Mega Man ever since my first pony fic was a crossover with it.</attention whore>
Crack shipping is kind of dramatic_spoon's schtick.
Also I really need to watch the Avatar series don't I?
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It's one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, hands down.
Didn't know you were such a Megaman fan. Megaman was the first internet fandom I was ever a part of!
Also the only answer is Metal Blade!
3836320 oh man I haven't seen you for a while.
Hello old friend
Swoot swoot
3836320
I've actually only just now taken my first steps into the fandom by posting this poll on some random forum. Haven't gotten any response, so those will likely be my last steps. :B But I've been obsessed with Mega Man for over two decades. Everything I do comes back to Mega Man eventually.
I didn't even know Time Man and Oil Man were real things. I thought you just put them in there so you could remove any entries that picked them. Then I googled them, and... now I know.
The End.
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MEGA MAN POWERED UP
MEGA MAN POWERED UP
MEGA MAN POWERED UP
MEGA MAN POWERED UP
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