Just Venting on some recent Comments · 12:25pm Jul 30th, 2023
Here's the gist.
In the latest chapters of my "Trash of the Royal Castle" Story, I've been going over a part from the comics, and I've noticed some comments that I would like to bring up.
Specifically talking about the realism of how some of the characters use their magic.
Here's a bit of context: In the scene the commenters are bringing up, two characters use their magic to create a very long rope, long enough to catch a celestial object, like the thing you would hear in an old myth from ancient times of how The Fisherman God fished the sun up from the Ocean, and now Day and Night are separate, magical and fantastical stuff like that.
Now, I've received several comments about that scene, talking about how it doesn't fit in with the style of the show (Even though I'm taking that scene directly from the comics) and Talking about how Childish it looks (Ignoring the fact that MLP is a children's show) And how it makes no sense in the context of the show itself (Magic, It makes sense because of Magic)
So I'm bringing this up:
I am writing a fanfic that takes place inside of a magical world. I will be using Magic.
If I wanted a serious fic, with minimal magic and more realistic tones, I wouldn't have put the "Comedy" tag in the story, and instead have worked on a different story.
That's not to say that the opinion isn't valid, It's just that the complaint that a moment in a world of fantasy and magic seems a bit too fantastical for it to feel realistic, you should write it in the fic of a different fandom.
The Crystal Empire was gone for 1,000 years and it suddenly reappeared all those years later and didn't change the landscape in any meaningful way, even though thousands of tons of dirt and snow should be occupying its place.
Or Tirek, How come we never hear or see from any of the other Centaurs or Gargoyles outside of the first Tirek Episode?
Or how come Chrysalis hasn't thought of giving away her magic in the 1,000 years she's been around? 1,000 years is a long time, ya' know?
The answer is that it's a story for Children, and trying to make sense of childish and fantastical things just ends up being a bad time.
Why did the Fairy Godmother specifically go to Cinderella? Surely there were other girls who had worse lives?
Why did the Woodsman in Little Red Riding Hood hang out around Granny's shack, was he waiting for Red to get attacked?
Why did Hansel and Gretel go into the spooky and dark forest instead of to the beach or a theme park?
All these questions are good to ask, but they remove the enjoyment of the story.
MLP is a world with weapons of concentrated Harmony, Reality Warping Spirits spend their time planting whoopie cushions on the Princess's throne, and the biggest threat the world has seen is tied between a Baboon-Goat in an airship or a group made up of the combined efforts of a 40-year-old man who's been in prison for 1,000 years, a shapeshifting bug, and an actual child.
If you try and take that seriously, you have clearly reached the wrong fanfic.
MLP is a Children's Fantasy Storybook world.
Let me enjoy writing the Fantasy Storybook elements.
If I wanted realistic writing and story beats I would just go outside.
That's all really, Just wanted to vent.
Thanks for reading this blog.
Check out Trash of the Royal Castle :)
Feels weird reading how people try to real-ify a cartoon show with questionable power level between characters.
Roar!
Each fanfiction establishes its own rules for how its universe operates. As long as things don’t conflict without explanation or reason, then I say you’re doing fine. Ignore the negative ones. It’ll only hinder your muse. That’s an important thing to stoke to keep your mojo going.
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this topic. It's not about realism, it's about internal consistency, and not being a lazy writer.
If you make a rule that the moon can't be reached, hence a place of banishment, then making it super easy to get to breaks the story. It doesn't matter if the story is for children or not.
Using magic and fantastical themes is no issue, and no one will complain about it. Just keep it consistent. If you introduce a God-like character (Discord) who can only be defeated with specific dodad (EoH), then have a mortal (Starlight) casually overpower him, no one will take your story seriously any more. There is a very good reason that a vast majority of the sucessful stories here are based on the early seasons of FIM.
All of that aside, I don't know if you have noticed, but a lot of the writing on this fanfic site is much better than what Hasbro came up. I mean a LOT better. I'm not even mentioning the comics. Most of those are just plain bad. I encourage taking inspiration from everywhere, but not using low quality writing as an example of how to tell a story.
I apologise if my previous comment made you feel this way, Wordsmith. It was supposed to be more of a musing comment rather than critique of your capabilities.
I know magic can be outlandish, but the rope-moon bridge has been really out there and I had hoped to see some other's unique interpretation or take on this scenario. The Moon is not that close to the planet, and it is hard to imagine that they could walk there in just minutes instead of days or months.
True, magic and fantasy is all up to the imagination, but so far, there hasn't been any indication that the celestial body is literally walking distance. It was pretty much accepted generally that it is quite far, but much closer than Earth's moon.
In any case, I hope you are feeling better after your rant!
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Oh I'm fine, Ranting really helps.
Now I'm trying to imagine other uses a very long rope could have.
It's not a super strong rope, seeing as it snapped and all, but it was still very long and they still have half of it.
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That's making an assumption that the "difficulty" is purely one of a physical obstacle. Considering the manner NNM was banished and the entire face of the moon was visibly and magically defaced, I reject your assumption and that there was in fact a magical component enforcing the banishment. And due to the banishment ending, as proven by NMM's return and the surface of the moon being restored, that magical component is likely no longer there, and that's assuming it would block attempts to go to the moon in the first place.
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I can see why you say that, but this is not a question of a physical barrier. Let me try phrasing this another way.
MLP (and most good stories) categorize the characters, actions, and abilities into several tiers, I'll use three here.
You have the mortals. The ones that we are ment to associate with, project onto, and empathize with. This is the vast majority of the story. Then you have the ideals. The ones that we aspire to, but are not there yet. In the case of MLP, this is the alicorns. Twilight's story arc is the story of a mortal transcending to this aspirational relm, to show that with enough work and heart we too might reach the pinnical. Then there are the, for lack of a better term, divine aspects. Things that cannot be touched by mortals, and are beyond the reach of the even the aspirational relm. In MLP, this is the Elements of Harmony for good, and Discord and Tirek for evil. These things/beings are beyond what a mortal can touch, and require borrowing power beyond their own to deal with.
In this case, we are looking at the moon. Mortals can see it, Alicorns can move it, but to do anything more, like actually going there, takes a divine action.
The point of contention here, is that you have a mortal doing what previously took divine power. This does two things to the story: it makes the divine aspect meaningless and cheapens all previous story elements. If anyone with a rope can pull the moon down, what is the point of Luna? Her character now has no more importance than any other mortal. Reducing her in this manner also degrades Celestia. How can you say that she suffered at all during her sister's imprisonment if Celly could just yank the moon down and let her out? What of the elements? If their defining power can be bypassed by an earth pony, what is their point?
By taking the meaningful things in a story, and putting them in the hands of the mortals, you are ironically killing the magic of it all.
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Geez. Adults arguing over a children's cartoon. And the validity of some fan writer using a bit of what is known as "Cartoon Logic"!
What is being argued over is merely some finer points of logic, adult logic, in fact. There should be no such thing here in Equestria. Leave your adult logic at the door, if you please.
Just sit back and enjoy your stay.
The point of coming to Equestria is simply to leave reality behind. That is why I am here, even if I am closing in on seventy.
While I can understand what you are railing against, the real point is not to let such minutiae become extreme as to take away any other person's enjoyment of said story or cartoon. In this, you are wrong, IMHO.
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Hmm. Not railing. Not angry either. I'm glad that you have a position and that you feel like sharing. I also think that Netap is a genually good writer and I enjoy his work. (I'm less enthusiastic about Hasbro's writers.)
I do feel that people should try to understand the perspective's of other people though. And I think that any content creator should pay attention to their audience. Of course, not to the detriment of their enjoyment of their creation, but face it... if you post something online, you are hoping to be seen. If you are a writer posting your work online, you want people to read and enjoy it. So if you are getting the same criticism over and over, it may be worth your time to consider why people are saying these things.
Maybe you make a change, maybe you disregard it. Either way is fine. But to refuse to understand is a mistake.
And I'm kind of tired of hearing the "this is a children's cartoon" line. First, MLP is not a nursery rhyme recited to a toddler. The TV show was designed for an incorporated audience. That is why it has an actual stroyline. FimFiction is NOT a media for actual children. The age range here is teens at the least, and teenagers are very capable of understanding story concepts. Saying that this is for kids is not true.
I will gladly accept that you and many others are here for escapism. Thre is nothing wrong with that. But isn't trying to offer the authors on this site helpful advice a good thing? You know, to improve their stories and allow for better escapes?
I did want to make a correction to my first post: I really did not mean to imply that you (Netap) yourself are being lazy in your writing. I was trying to say that the comics writers in this case were lazy, and I phrased it very poorly. I apologize for that.
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And I do accept your point as criticism. I also have seen plenty of plot holes in the overall story arc, things that the writers on the show tend to overlook. That is why there is such a vast plethora of fan fics, even if the majority of them are basically the over-used anime trope of isekai, such as this story is. Shoot, even I have a few unfinished stories using the very same trope. My only remark is how you seem to be complaining about Netap's thing with the rope. As I stated, I firmly accept his use as being part of the concept of "Cartoon Logic". Simple as that. All fantasy tales involve a certain amount of disbelief. It is no different than picking up a copy of any of Piers Anthony's Xanth books, a land based on puns. To be fair, I am not trying to start an argument, just pointing out my logic in this small detail.
And if you need a prime example, just look at Pinkie Pie... That is some crazy and random shit.
I guess that it is ironic that the EoH items are nothing more than mere deux ex machina devices to push the story. I mean, not one single character can do what those devices do. Just another example of Cartoon Logic.
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I would ask which Piers Anthony book you mean, but it doesn't matter. He only ever wrote one story, which has two topics... panties and puns. And then copied that story over and over with different titles.
Sorry, I tend to rant myself when people become highly successful regurgitating tripe. I know that many people enjoy that low effort, low brow humor... it's just an unreasonable pet peeve of mine.
Anyways, I get your point, and I phrased my initial response poorly. I hope I was able to eventually relay my intentions in a positive manner, and it was nice talking to you.
Me after reading the comments:
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Apparently every story needs to have some sort of deep philosophical message, I guess
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Indeed, friend.
The worst of the Anthony Xanth? How about "The Color of Her Panties"? That surely does confirm your opinion about that. I had to roll my eyes at the image of a demoness wearing colored panties... LMFAO
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You just keep writing as you do, and I'll keep reading and laughing at it!
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But it wasn't just mortals, in the comic Luna and Celestia were pulling too.
You know... the people who complained about the Nightmare Stars arc not really fitting in are correct- and that's because it's not based on the show's writing. It's based on the comic's. I've never read them, but I know enough to say that the vibe of the show is completely different from the comic. They are, for all intents and purposes, completely separate universes with their own internal consistencies and logic that- when combined- may not necessarily mesh all that well, if at all.
The comic writers hella thought that lassoing the moon would be cool and make for an awesome set of panels, so they did that. The show probably would've had, for example, Luna tell the Bearers-minus-Rarity that she had an old mirror or something that could transport ponies between Equestria and the moon that was disabled by Celestia moments after her banishment. Then she either presents it to them or goes to ask her sister what happened to it off-camera so the Bearers-minus-Rarity can freak out and talk for a bit while that happens.
They approach things differently. They have different writers, different priorities, and different means of achieving sales numbers. The comic wants to be a fun, chaotic, wild, and awesome adventure with a premise that's sure to hook you when you see it. The show wants be at the very least tolerable to watch so little girls and obsessed fans will buy whatever playset they can make based on whatever episode. That sounds harsh, but Hasbro is Hasbro.
There have been some wilder elements going on in the story, like Cosmos, but none of it has been glaringly overt until the comic's Nightmare Rarity plot happened.
That... should make some amount of sense, but fuck if I know. All I know is that I spent an hour writing this and it's 13 minutes until midnight.
im goijg to bes
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Sweet Dreams