The Continued Background Ponification of an Ancient Politzanian: Deciphering Discord, Writing Wrongs, and Proofreading in the Pudding · 9:14pm Sep 20th, 2023
Hey, y'all! I continue to exist!
Here we are nine-and-a-half months into 2023, yet this is only my first blog of the danged year. As usual, I have been writing a lot; finishing things has been another story, I'm afraid, and that one's yet to be told. I've been content proofreading fellow users' works-in-progress in the meantime, and past a certain threshold, I got my hands so full with theirs that I couldn't carry mine.
Which is totally fine, mind you! It's something I enjoy doing, perhaps even a little more than writing itself, and I've been fortunate to cross paths with some very talented folks while at it. Better to be in the background than offscreen altogether, I reckon, and this fandom does love its background characters. :P
Last week, as it so happens, was a big one for projects I'm helping out with: Rated Ponystar's continuation of Darth Link 22's draconic odyssey Journey to the First Flame updated on Thursday, as did Rego's aristocracy-meets-counterculture extravaganza Electro Swing on Friday. Later that same night, MadAboutThePony published Tense ra è la notte, an atmospheric oneshot about Vinyl Scratch taking a midnight stroll. Consider giving them all a look when you get the chance!
All the same, I'd like to publish something of my own again before the year's out. I considered entering the recent New Blood contest to see if the firm deadline would light a fire under me… and then I realized my blood wasn't that new: even after the entry barrier dropped to 2020, it still fell 13 months shy of my account's creation. Whoops.
My fifth anniversary on this site arrives December 4th, in fact, and clearly, I'm still wrapping my head around the fact it's been that long. Like, if I'd shown up in 2011, the same year FiMFiction went online, it'd be 2016 right now and we'd all be debating whether newly aired "Viva Las Pegasus" was any good. Starlight, Trixie, Thorax and Discord would be a month away from marching "to where and back again" through the Changeling Hive.
The Reformed Four might not have charted in the '60s, but they're a one-hit wonder in my book.
Coincidentally, 2016 was the same year Gravity Falls ended. I've never mentioned it before, but it's one of my favorite animated series of all time, and probably the first whose community I sincerely partook in. Trying to "solve the mysteries" (AKA, watching Vailskibum videos about how other people were trying to solve them) remains a fond set of memories, and seeing it all come to a head in the Weirdmageddon trilogy was an absolute blast. It's funny, it's often poignant, Bill Cipher is an amazing antagonist — lovable in a sense, yet terrifyingly despicable in all others — and all these years later, my copy of the Journal 3 tie-in still gets a read every now and again.
And why do I bring Gravity Falls up now? Well, uh… If you didn't see Nasuna Senshi drag it to the front page the other day, Death Battle recently did a thing:
Not an actual screenshot; just someone's mockup l thought got the point across.
So, um... yeah. Gravity Falls is one thing, but I didn't think I'd ever be candid about this series. Death Battle, the embattled Rooster Teeth's Robot Chicken-esque crossbreed of Mortal Kombat and the "My console's mascot could beat up your console's mascot" playground arguments of yore. I'll admit I enjoyed it way back when, though I've since consigned most of those memories to my 2010s' "aged like milk" section. Worse come to worse, it has been a decent way for me to get occasional crash-courses on franchises that might've otherwise passed me by — I'm hopelessly lost when it comes to the state of west-reaching anime otherwise, for one, and heck, some of my earliest sideswipes with FiM came via its cheek-tongued bouts of dubious quality — and for all the cringeworthy quippery, foundational crassness of the premise, and other such flaws, I guess I can still love-hate a good fight once in a blue moon.
And evidently, I'm not the only one around these parts: late last year, its showrunners polled their Discord server with a list of matchups, with the winning two each getting an episode in the next season.
The first of those two, Bill Cipher versus Discord, came out last Monday.
Bill, as previously mentioned, is probably one of my favorite antagonists period, and Discord's tombuckery was an ample portion of how I got sucked into this place to begin with. I figured it couldn't hurt too much if I watched them go at it, even if my expectations were facedown on the floor. I tuned in shortly after the episode premiered on YouTube, and, well…
A real screenshot this time, taken from the obligatory "Tussling across multiple realities with different art styles" sequence.
...It's actually, like, pretty good??? Maybe??? IDK???
I mean, I bristle at the framing's Diet Wrestlemania bluster nowadays, but once the hosts get out of the way and the fight itself transpires between the 13:26 and 17:00 marks, it's a good enough time! The animation is mostly fluid and the voice actors' impersonations get the job done; the writing gets their personalities down pat, wrapping their brawl in a befitting, stakes-driven scenario that lets both shine; Fluttershy's two words of dialogue may or may not rip your heart out; and while my two cents can't pay for entry into the "They got the verdict wrong!!!" debate, the story itself concludes in a way that does both the winner and the loser justice.
I'd still fall short of actually recommending it — hence why you'll have to go elsewhere for a direct link if you care — but consider me and my rock bottom expectations floored all the same. A sincere passion for both shows seems to have been at play behind the scenes; I don't fling the phrase "love letter" about lightly, but that's exactly what it felt like… and it came from freaking Death Battle of all places. The notion still baffles me, but then again, I suppose "anthyding can hadplen."
As a final aside, it's darkly hilarious to me that Discord's one-off "Matter of Principals" spirit form had such a key role, given that I recall multiple detractors pegging that episode as the moment the show forgot how to make him likable.
I did something to piss off the Nine Muses at some point, didn't I?
And even if it isn't for you (totally understandable; it's barely for me, as a matter of fact), there is a point to me bringing it up: like I said at the start of this whole tangent, Death Battle can be good for crash-courses, and last Monday's reintroduction might've just gotten Discord on my brain again… for better or for worse.
"Discordant Harmony" was once of the first episodes I watched, it remains a personal favorite, and its consequences have been a disaster for my horse in this race.
I did submit a Flashfic starring the devil-spoken idiot and Flutters last December that was decently well-received, and the criminally underrated Merallakos even wound up writing an excellent recursive response to it. They were kind enough to give me permission to incorporate it into any expansion upon the original, so hey, that'd kinda-sorta cross "Do a co-write" off the dusty ol' bucket list!
And, of course, there's always a multitude of other unfinished ideas dosing around that could just as easily steal the spotlight and render all this rambling mute. By my count, there are at least nine other fanfics I've alluded to over the years that remain unfinished, so fingers crossed we don't stay at double digits for too long. In any case, I find myself that much more motivated to write a love letter of my own again… maybe. I'll keep ya posted.
One way or another, stuff with my username in its credits is going to keep coming out, and I hope you'll be willing to take a gander when it does. So, at long last, here's to 2023 — what's left of it, that is!
Take care!
–AP
Well, if you need any help in that department, my door is always open to you.
Seriously, thank you so much for your help these past... geez two years almost. I know I've especially kept you busy with GSP work. If you want to ease off and tackle your own words before the year's out, go for it. I'll help in any way I can. Even if it stars Spike again.
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Really appreciate it, man! No complaints on the GSP; it's what I do, and I'd like to think it's what I do best.
Oh, the horror! The horror!
If it's any consolation, one of my subgoals is to publish at least one story that has nothing to do with Spike or Twilight. Can't completely typecast myself, now, can I?
Then again, the most likely runner-up at the moment is Discord, so... We're shearin' all the black sheep down here, baby!
Well... hoping this somehow helps, you've been much more accomplished than me this year, and you have a much fuller plate than mine.
Wishing you the best of lucks both for your writing and your editing projects. :) Take care.
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Yeah, that's fair. I'm prone to fixating on the disparity between how productive I've been and how productive I want to be, so it does help to put things in perspective. Wishing you the best with your projects in kind!