It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #91 · 10:33pm Dec 14th, 2022
So last week I mentioned in passing the first blog post that got this whole series started back in early 2021. And after looking at it again, I realized that I actually never put those authors properly into the Recommendsday catalogue. (Well, two of the three - I did eventually correct my oversight of TamiyaGuy, the Wizard of JPGs and Tactical Intervention enthusiast. (Speaking of, he's just recently finished another of his - Cortisol - which I encourage folks to read!)) So it's time I addressed the other two.
I'll lead with the one I mentioned in the blog: RDT and the story of theirs I talked about that long ago, Tools of the Trade.
Dewdrop is technically a part-time worker at the Stratusburg weather factory - but his passion is in painting. When he's selected to do a piece for the Wonderbolts - endorsed by Stratusburg native Vapor Trail - Dewdrop throws himself into getting it just right. But as he finishes, everything goes wrong and he's badly injured by a lightning strike. His painting is lost and he has to start over again while crippled. But just as importantly, it reminds him of the other time he was nearly killed by lightning (and the story that goes with that.)
So RDT is a generally underappreciated author, and this story's their most underappreciated work. (Seriously, I think it's RDT's best and yet it still hasn't broken the 10 vote mark.) I love the back-and-forth of this story - the present mirrors the past in a lot of ways, and it does a great job of establishing what's happening now with the historical context. It makes the current events stronger by interweaving that, and RDT gives us just enough of both to make it work.
It's also - ironically - good to see a character fail. So, so many stories would dive into the situations presented in this fic and have the main character soldier through and stand tall with gritty (but inevitable) perseverance. It takes a certain kind of courage to have your main character fail, and I really appreciate that.
The other author is nagolucky510, who seems to have deleted most of their stories. Which is a shame, but fortunately the remaining one is the one I was after anyway: Stay Seventeen.
Photo Finish - THE Photo Finish - has been hired for a shoot. Namely for Royalty magazine, a Canterlot tabloid focusing on the nobility. Blueblood apparently thinks it's a great idea to be in it, and so has agreed to do a spread. Photo arrives (with her assistant) and tries to wrangle the troublesome Prince, all the while mentally grumbling about how much of a jerk he is. Until he finally recognizes her from his youth: how as teenagers, they had both gone to a summer camp together. And it is in that flashback the story truly begins.
Now this one's another deeply underrated story that's still in the grey bar. For starters, it's a pretty uncommon pairing that I think works great together - they've both got really strong personalities that are just enough alike to clash but not hate. As a result, there's some great banter between them during the flashback. (As an aside, I am glad the story also entirely avoids giving Photo an incredibly thick accent. It works okay when she's a bit part, but it would be damn near incomprehensible with her in the center.)
The story also does a wonderful job of humanizing Blueblood while avoiding making him not an asshole. He's still a jerk, but there's context and nuance to it. The ending, particularly, does a great job of it and showing the difference between teenage Blueblood and adult Blueblood. It's a real treat of a story.
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