Discussion: "Great" Fics You're Not a Fan Of · 4:24pm Dec 14th, 2012
Note: Let's try to keep the civil. I know that asking someone to be "civil" on the internet is like asking a dog to write, by heart, the entirety of Ulysses in Cyrillic, but please attempt to refrain from calling fellow commenters "retarded."
Okay, so, I like to get people's opinions on just about every fic that I ever read. Just ask Cynewulf; each time I'm about to start reading a fic, I usually send him a PM asking if he's read it and if reading it is "worth it."
Now, when it comes to most of the "greats" in this fandom, I've been satisfied. Sure, I'm not a fan of My Litttle Dashie—though, unlike most people, I don't consider it to be "literally Hitler"—but, eh, not liking MLD has become popular. However, there are a couple of "greats" that I simply couldn't get into, and both of them have been featured in the spotlight today, so I decided now was as good a time as ever to confess my sins.
The first is Anthropology. Really, this one isn't so much about "quality" as much as the fact that the fic never hooked me. I read the first ten chapters with a resounding "meh" and just stopped. It was decently written; it just never "hooked" me.
The second one also falls into this category, but I also have other problems with it. That fic is It Takes a Village. Again, I can see why people really enjoyed that fic, but again, it never hooked me. Also, the fic suffered from something that this fandom has a habit of doing that really peeves me: it reads like a transcript. I mean, I'm all for dialogue, but when you have almost an entire 8k word chapter that is nothing but dialogue, then I'm going to get bored. In short, Village just isn't written in a way that I like: it's written well, but its reliance on dialogue and flat, kind of generic prose just isn't my cup of tea. The story itself is actually really good; I just think that it could have been written better. Also, the pointless and out-of-nowehere shipping, but that's another blog entirely.
Anyway, I want to hear your thoughts on all this. The fic doesn't have to be one that you consider "terrible." I consider neither Village or Anthropology to be anything worse than "average." It's simply that I think that they're a little bit overhyped and overrated. Needless to say, this is simply my opinion. My tastes aren't in any way "superior" to anyone else's. Rather, I just enjoy hearing what people think.
But, anyway, discuss if you wish. As I said before, please refrain from personal attacks and insults in the comments section. Also, if possible, try to avoid the typical answers for "overrated" fics like My Little Dashie and Past Sins.
Unrelated, obligatory cute picture:
That is a cute picture!
I was never really into MLD, either. Though it's up there with the classics such as Cupcakes.
I usually am too good at choosing what I read to be disappointed, that may sound rather arrogant, but it's true. I'd say that 95% of the time I end up hitting the like button. I like many different styles of writing, and I can usually tell from a description if the story will be for me. That said, if I was given a list of the "greats" I would probably be able to tell you which one I liked least.
i.imgur.com/c5nZK.jpg
That image has never been more appropriate. Anyway, MLD is actually the only super popular fic I've ever read. I've already listed my complaints on your other blog, so I'll refrain. Honestly, FO:E never even interested me in the slightest, even though its extremely well known, and has even been printed as a hardcover series. (Seriously, who the hell would pay money for a physical copy of something you can read free on the internet?) At 600,000 words, I just don't even want to start it. For 2 reasons: 1) 600,000 words?! I have this thing called a life. 2) I don't want fallout in my ponies. The whole point of fallout is black humor/ action based in an america that never really left the 50's before nuclear war. I like ponies, I like fallout, but the worlds just don't mix for me, and yet the sheer number of spinoffs and fanart of that alone is crazy.
I'm trying to get into 'it's dangerous business' but havent found the motivation. Same with on cross and arrow.
Honestly, the ones that are that popular, have already been spoiled for me because of their well-known-ness. That's just my 2 cents.
610240
The thing about "great" is that it's entirely subjective. However, just because I like discussion and opinion and all that jazz, how about you go to this page and look at the "Top favourited" fics, and choose from that
610245
I can see where you're coming from. You mentioned "Cross and Arrow." That's a fic I refuse to read just because... well, apparently that fic, from what I read, had characters (Rarity in particular) falling in love with their Rule 63 versions. This idea, honestly, makes me sick, and I refuse to read the story for that reason alone.
I didn't get into Anthro, either.
Anyway, what a cute picture! We need pictures of the Mane 6 wearing each other's dresses! Squee!
610246
Well, out of those, I've only read Anthropology and Background Pony.
Background Pony was amazing, at least to me.
Anthropology was good, but I don't see it as top material...
Why isn't TIG on that list?!
Ignoring MLD, for me, it's not so much an issue with the fic itself, but a character from the fic. Fallout: Equestria has been solid so far (some jerk *cough*RavensDagger*cough* spoiled part of it for me and I've been attempting to forget said spoiler ever since, no matter how futile the effort may be), but Littlepip as a character sucks horribly.
610245
600k words ain't that long, bro. Also, who said you had to read it all in one sitting?
610251 I heard that too, but if it's handled well, it might be interesting. I heard dangerous business was a pretty rad adventure story tho.
610254
Because The Immortal Game is "Dark." I consider it one of the best fics in the fandom, but then again I really enjoy "dark" and "adventure" fics.
610257 Yeah the word count is really a minor issue. my main thing is fallout and ponies just don't mix for me. I feel like mixing them together just bastardizes both of them into something unrecognizable.
610259
It's a Dangerous Business is great. However, since it was the first fic I ever read in this fandom, I might be bias.
I honestly just don't like Rule 63 in general.
Well, phooey, Past Sins was the one I was going to say that never really grabbed me. I read the first few chapters, went 'meh' and never looked back. So now I gots to find another story everyone seems to love but me.
What about FO:E... oh, wait, Bronius took that one... Well, shoot. I pretty much agree with everything he said. I'm a huge Fallout fan, have been since the original game. But it just felt like a wrong mixture to me. Maybe it was because I read Project Horizons rather than the original FO:E, but I found the setting itself lacked the charm of Fallout and MLP. Project Horizons was and is very well written, it just doesn't 'do' anything for me.
Other than that, I've enjoyed a lot of the great old stories even if I don't fawn over them. Cross and Arrow, Takes a Village, so on and so on. Anthropology was one that was okay, but I found the charm in Lyra's interactions with humans. The writing itself was just average, in my opinion.
610262
Didn't you say that "Cupcakes" was a "great"? I haven't and don't intend to read it, but it sounds like it is a dark fic...
Alright, I'll give my two cents on… My Roomate is a Vampire.
I really liked the first half of it, with the idea of having to deal with something others can't know about, but I hated the second half, the part after Tavi meets Silver. All these secret societies made it seem like a modern day Skyrim.
That being said, the alternate universe "sequel", My Roomate is a Lycan, is turning out awesomely.
That pic ain't so cute
t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIkYy7S6eyQJkrvHofxApJxr9EzZZgwbdRrrfeWtZZ1jgXU8z_
I loves Village :c
The problem is that I can enjoy just about anything.
However, I can also tell when I think the quality of a thing is perhaps lower. I do think Anthropology is overrated, though I did enjoy it. I think the The Life and Times of a Winning Pony for all it's popularity is a bit overrated (sorry randomguy!) it's just... he's dragged it out and the story started wearing on me. Things were happening that I should care about, and I was just... not caring anymore. Overstayed the welcome? It may have just been me though. I loved the spinoff with Rainbow Dash, and I enjoyed the original tale from whence it came
Dont even get me started on how waaay overrated that RazedRainbow kid is610251
Yeah, that part of Cross and Arrow was really creepy...
It didn't ruin the story for me though.
Background Pony, now there is a story I just don't 'get' or understand why it is so popular. It confounds me on almost every level and has had me scratching my head more then a few times and wondering if I'm not seeing something obvious everyone else does, or if I'm just too darn smart and see the flaws most people wash over. I'm betting neither and it's just not to my tastes.
I loved village and anthropology, but they aren't the kind of fic I'd go back to read. Especially because anthropology's end just became... so completely ridiculous. Village was pretty heavy on dialogue, yeah, but it was good.
MLD... I enjoyed it when I read it, but my tastes have evolved since then, and now I cringe whenever I think about it. It's just sooo badly written.
Now, another popular fic, Past Sins. This will likely be everyone in here talking about it. Again, I enjoyed this one when I read it. But now... well. Looking back on it is like looking back on Avatar: I was so engrossed by everything that was happening and how PRETTY it was that I didn't notice all the problems. In Avatar's case this meant a wonderful world and a terrible plot. In Past Sin's... Well, the story was wonderful and the writing was great, but the characters themselves were inconsistent and those that weren't were flat and uninteresting. Add to that some incredibly weird descriptions that are EVERYWHERE, and you have a series of problems that make re-reads(which the story has driven me to attempt multiple times) are nigh on impossible, getting me caught on weird problems every time. "Took a breath" shows up way more often than it should. C'mon, pen, let's try "breathed in", "inhaled", and a dozen other descriptions for breathing? Or just skip it. We don't need every breathe every character takes.
610269 I know one now: Project Horizons.
I'm okay with PH. I really am--I've enjoyed it. But I think it pales in comparison to it's source in FOE. Somber tries to hard to make it dark and it loses a lot of the heart that FOE had. At least, I think so.
610251 I liked Cross and Arrow... and then Rarity and Elusive started fawning over each other... and it bothered me. It was... weird.
Background Pony was decent until the very end in my opinion, but that may just be because I hated the ending.
Aside from that I've read most of the stories mentioned mentioned already – with the exception of Project Horizons and Cupcakes – and found them generally decent to good. Project Horizons is on my list to get to eventually since I've gotten the impression that Wanderer D will eventually use it for a chapter of The Sweetie Chronicles, and Cupcakes I flat out refuse to ever touch.
The Immortal Game is probably the second best story in the fandom from my perspective, right behind Flight of the Alicorn.
610302
I love The Immortal Game. Still haven't read Flight of the Alicorn yet, but I want to. I mean, adventurer, potentially badass Rarity has me hooked already.
I actually liked the ending of Background Pony. It wasn't the ending I wanted, and I hated it at first, but it's one of those endings that I've grown to accept the more I thought about it.
First off, how the hell do you reply to a comment now? My reply button is just... gone
Anyway, I'd have to agree with MLD.
Also, the "greats" (which is, as Razed said, entirely subjective to the reader's standpoint) that never hooked me were/why
Fallout Equestria: This one is more of an almost, it hasn't really got me yet and i'm almost 10 chapters in, it's well written and I love Kkat to death, but... *shrug*
okay screw the list, I've just always avoided the "greats" for reason of... well now that I think about it don't really have one...
[Insert 90% of most of fimfiction's highest rated fics here]
But if you want names, let's see what I can name off the top of my head.
My Little Dashie, It Takes A Village, Night's Favored Child, Every Fallout: Equestria fic ever, Past Sins, and now I'm getting lazy.
I have a feeling there are few places I could post this where I could find a higher concentration of people likely to disagree with what I'm about to say, but I really didn't like Salvation. It didn't draw me in at all, I disliked the general tone of the story, some of the characterizations really rubbed me the wrong way and it just seemed incredibly far removed from the actual show. I can see it's well written and I'm glad to see a RariDash story became so popular and that so many people enjoyed it, but I, personally, didn't really enjoy it all that much.
On a similar note, back when I still shipped RainbowPie, I was one of the few people who didn't like The Party Hasn't Ended. The first few chapters were actually really good. The way Pinkie behaves in the first few chapters, that really sad, emotionally dependent, almost kind of obsessive behavior she displays, that was basically what drew me to RainbowPie in the first place. But from chapter 5 onwards, all the things I liked about the story just disappeared. The character-focused romance story which dealt with Pinkie's completely heartbreaking crush on Rainbow was thrown out of the window and replaced by some kind of epic adventure / romance story with a prominent role for an OC. I finished the fic, but aside from the great first few chapters, I thought it was really mediocre.
610310
The "reply" button only appears when you move your cursor over the comment.
I've yet to read Fo:E. I will eventually, but... doubt it'll be soon.
Hmm. Well, like q37randomguy, I'm pretty good at choosing stories I'll like. And if I do pick something with bad writing or whatever, I usually don't bother finishing it. Anthropology falls into that category; I started it a while back, wasn't impressed by the first chapter, and gave up. I've been meaning to give it another shot at some point, though. Eventually. Maybe.
Eternal is one I never finished. It wasn't that I didn't like it, exactly, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not much of a Twilestia fan, and I don't usually care for stories where the characters enter someone's mind as a physical realm. Eternal was enjoyable anyway, but just hard for me to actually sit down and read. Once I'd start it would pull me in, but when I saw that the last two chapters and epilogue (posted all at once, if memory serves) were like 40k words... I just couldn't bring myself to start them.
There are a lot of the big names I haven't tried yet. Sunny Skies All Day Long I've been holding off on out of fear of disappointment. No offense to the author, but I just can't imagine it's as good as the crazy amount of likes would indicate. My Little Dashie I'll probably never read. My brother read it and told me what happens, and that he wasn't terribly impressed, so... I don't really need to read it. Background Pony looks very interesting and I keep hearing it's great, but the length is an obstacle. I'm a slow fanfic reader for various reasons, and one that long would probably take me a solid month to get through. I will get to it one of these days, though. FO:E I have no interest in. OC-centric + high-tech ponies + ungodly long = PASS. And I don't read clopfics, so Romance Reports is sadly not an option.
... screw Macs >.> because there definitely isn't a reply button showing up haha.
Damned school stuff
610307
The Immortal Game, that is a story I intend to avoid reading. Mostly as it sounds rather similar to what I tend to write. A few people have made comments about my latest story having an Immortal Game feel to it. *shrug* Obviously I don't see it. I've never read Immortal Game! Bwahahaha!
Flight of the Alicorn is a story I've still got to finish. I keep putting it off as I am scared what happens in the finale.
Ponydora has really gotten me hooked and invested in the characters and... yeah... basically I'm a coward and afraid I wont agree with her ending and will to a 'Table Flip'. 
610313
I read the prologue to Night's Favoured Child a while back and wasn't impressed in the slightest. I haven't gone back to it yet, and it might get better down the line, so I'll refrain from calling it "overrated" just yet, but if that prologue reflects the rest of the story... well, it'll definitely be on my "overrated" list.
610316
I too didn't like The Party Hasn't Ended, but I think that's more because Butterscotch went overboard with the ships. RainbowPie, I can get behind, but then you add in a plethora of other pairings that I don't like in the slightest(*cough* RariJack *cough**cough*). It also definitely suffered from "making it up as it went along" syndrome. Apparently, it was intended to be a one-shot, and... really I kinda wish it had stayed that way.
610319
I adored Eternal when I first read it, but... it hasn't aged well, honestly. I don't enjoy it much anymore; that could just be because Device Heretic's personality was so grating that my dislike for the author bled into the story.
As for those ones you listed at the end, Background Pony is the only one I've read—besides Dashie, of course. I really loved Background Pony but it's definitely not for everyone.
610325
I'm on a Mac and I can see it
610330
I read the first three chapters of Flight of the Alicorn and enjoyed it, and then I stopped for some reason. I don't know why I stopped.
I never really could wrap my head around the concept of FO:E. I like both the things being crossed over, but I prefer them apart from one another; they just don't mix for me. That's not the big one for me, though.
The story I really couldn't figure out was Background Pony. I read the first six or seven chapters, back when that was all that was out, and I was pretty unimpressed, not to mention confused as to what exactly people were raving about. Its technical quality is good enough, and it even plays with a pretty fun premise, but...really? All that prose is necessary? I started skipping whole sentences that were just repeats of previous sentences worded slightly differently, and eventually I found myself skimming whole paragraphs of Lyra's narrative just blathering on and on and on and on. It's like Eternal, except the prose isn't even working toward progressing the story, it's just on repeat the whole damn time.
That might have gotten better over time, I have no way of knowing, but I had other issues too. For one, I didn't really like Lyra as a character in that story. She had no flaws apart from being horribly depressed and way more philosophical than what's really necessary. There was nothing interesting about her as a character, only about the situation she happened to be in. I also didn't like the sweater; I get that the idea is supposed to be to broadcast "This version of Lyra is different," but the way it looks on her just reinforced the vibe I was getting from her personality: depressed, philosophical, in love with her own prose? Of course she wears a black sweater.
There's only one scene from that story I really liked from what I'd read so far, and that's when Applejack takes her in from the harsh weather and helps her out. That was really sweet, and it's something I feel Applejack would actually do. Unfortunately, the chapter just devolved into more incredibly purple rambling after Applejack and her family chased her out of the house, but it was fun while it lasted.
I'd go on, but this has long since become a rant. Bluh.
610341 Ah ha! It now appears... on a 7 comp >.>
Oh hey, I've just discovered that I still need to read things!
610348
I'm a big Background Pony fan, but I know that it's definitely not for everyone. The prose is extremely purple—I just happen to actually like purple prose
Lyra's character grows a lot over the story. She definitely does go through development, but it takes awhile.
As for the prose itself. I'm probably just talking out my ass here, but I hold the belief that it reflects Lyra's repetitive existance and artistic nature. She seems to be the kind of character that would describe stuff in great detail—drawn-out prose and all.
But, of course, I might be completely wrong there.
I can't call others retarded, but can I call myself retarded?
Anyways, I haven't been reading any huge fanfictions recently. I think "Past Sins" was the last one, and I liked it. But I didn't love it nearly as much as I adored "It's A Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door," which if I recall correctly was one of the first fanfictions I had read. It was like the best possible thing: Ponies in an LOTR-esque enviroment/quest.
Despite hanging around on FiMFiction.net, I don't actually read all that much. I've "Background Pony" is a must-read, however. I'll get to it eventually...
610355
I love Dangerous Business as well.
610354
Yeah, I don't really hate the story's concept, I just wasn't a fan of how it was written. If Lyra gets character development, then cool, but I just can't deal with the ride there. Like you said about the stories you mentioned, I consider it above average as a story, but it's really just not for me. There are plenty of stories on this site which are just awful; that was good enough that I at least wanted to try to like it.
I wasn't trying to insult your tastes. I don't mind prose either, most of the time; I liked Eternal, after all. I just wasn't a fan of how repetitive the prose happened to be, reflective of the character's situation or not.
610372
I don't think you were "insulting" my taste. I just like discussing things—especially when there are two different opinions.
Eternal holds an interesting spot for me. When I first read it, I adored it. However, I read it again after witnessing Device Heretic's personality in blogs and comments and whatnot, and... well, I think my opinion on Device's (bad) attitude affected Eternal for me, because it wasn't nearly as good the second time through.
The Immortal Game is another one I dropped after the first chapter. Celestia and Nightmare actually and enthusiastically trying to kill each other didn't work for me at all.
And Razed: if you plan to go on calling yourself a Rarity fan, finish Flight of the Alicorn. With the possible exception of Suited For Success, it's the most eloquent argument I've ever seen for Rarity as Best Pony.
610385
I was going to write today... however, you have convinced me to read Flight of the Alicorn instead. If it's an argument for Rarity being best pony—which I believe—then I must read it at once.
I almost gave up on Immortal Game after the first chapter as well. For me, it didn't click until the third chapter (well, the second chapter did have some awesome Rarity moments, but the story itself didn't hook me until chapter 3).
610383
That's actually exactly the reason I probably won't read it again. I like what I remember of it, and I know I'd go back in all jaded and full of
at the writer and completely ruin my good memories. He also had this habit of tearing himself down and pointing out flaws in his own work in his blogs, so I'd notice every little thing he mentioned the second time around.
I think it's a good story though. Not perfect, but still very good. It just happened to have been written by someone I can't respect.
610391
I think it's funny how he tore apart his work in blogs, yet whenever somebody else made a critical comment, he would delete them and send scathing PMs.
I better stop before I turn this into a "device heretic is a terrible person" thread.
Still, I think Eternal is a good fic—especially for a debut.
610259
It wasn't.
I have no problem with that fic, but the ones they picked to fall in love with "themselves"? Don't have the personalities that would allow it.
Rarity is super self-obsessed, even if she cares about others, and imagining her dating her male self makes me jump to them screaming at each other. The only M6 that it could possibly work with are Pinkie and Applejack(their personalities work pretty well with someone who has the same personality, you could argue Twilight would work but Twilight gets a little too obsessed and has a habit of ordering others around. Two ponies like that spending time together is a no-no), and they don't because of obvious problems with that(Such as Pinkie being either just completely insane or possibly A-sexual).
My roommate is a vampire. anthropology cupcakes. That's all I can think of
610270
I've read it. It isn't fantastic, but considering that it was one of the first, if not THE first, Grim-Dark ponyfics, it is actually pretty decent.
Its strange, but one thing/chapter in a fic can really destroy your like of it, the biggest example i would say. I do not like ssae's Background pony. The ending completely felt wrong, and a real cop out to 'cash out' as it was, on a note that inspired controversy. I had been of its good and unique choices, until that point.
Many others, eh, i've not had any other story so far that i've un-liked and un-watched the artist.
610307 I somewhat went the opposite direction on Background Pony. I was kind of meh on the ending at first, but then I was (un)fortunate to run across the story of Benjaman Kyle which made me realize that the terrible choices offered to Lyra at the end of the story were basically terrible by author fiat. The rewrite-reality option was vastly over complicated when a far easier and more believable choice for the 10th song would simply have been full on amnesia for Lyra and leaving the missing memories of the population gone but allowing everyone involved to make new ones. Just as nobody suspects that Benjaman Kyle has secret missing knowledge of a dark unholy power, no one would ever suspect it of Lyra either. It also more mildly irritates me that SS&E took such effort to weave his story into canon... and then did nothing to explain her presence at the Royal Wedding as a bridesmaid. Anyway, enough of that rant.
Looks like a few more stories that I haven't read yet have been mentioned. Night's Favored Child, The Party Hasn't Ended, Romance Reports, all of those are on my eventual list.
Just remembered another one that is reasonably popular but whose ending I hated, Antipodes. No great mystery there, however, if you've read it you'll know what I didn't like.
Yay for Flight of the Alicorn, it quite firmly cemented Rarity into her spot on best pony list for me as well.
610330
Funny, I'm avoiding reading one of your stories for exactly the same reason.
I don't want mine to end up sounding like yours, but once I'm done writing it I'll give yours a read.