It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #157 · 7:34pm March 20th
And we'll start year four with more strength. And my personal fetish because you're getting more Sunset Shimmer whether you like it or not. (You'll probably like it. I did. That's kind of the point of all this, now isn't it?)
So I'll lead with daOtterGuy and his entry from A Thousand Words II: Don't Go Through. You Can't Stop Me.
Sunset Shimmer is going through the mirror portal. Celestia can't stop her. But damn it all, she's going to try. Again and again and again and–
So for context, Otter absolutely schooled Thousand Words II: there were five categories and he entered four of them. And got three first place and one third place finish. This story really shows why, as well: it's only 1000 words (with the longest chapter at 217) it's just devastatingly powerful if you're at all invested in the Sunset/Celestia dynamic. I've praised stories in the past for being efficient and compact - this is one of the best for that. It passes on everything extraneous - no dialogue tags, no stated emotion, no actions - to reduce things almost exclusively to just a few lines of dialogue.
Yet it's never in question what's happening, who's speaking, or what's at stake. It beautifully leverages what we know about canon and turns it all into a brutally potent tragedy. It's also a damn near perfect demonstration of the strength of fanfiction: utilizing the existing setting and characters to tell a compact story that, in other fiction, would require something ten times the length. Plus damn that last 30 word chapter. Ouch.
And I've already written more about it than the entire story is long. Just– trust me on this one. This story's one of the best Sunset/Celestia dramas out there. Not in spite of the length but because of it.
So my other pick today is kinda similar: short, efficient, effective. It brings up fandom powerhouse Ice Star with For the Filly I've Never Met.
Sunset Shimmer has just discovered that Twilight Sparkle exists - a tiny filly, barely out of foalhood and claiming to be Princess Celestia's personal student. So she does what any highly intelligent egomaniac child does: she writes a letter bullying Twilight.
Now I've brought up Ice's skill with young Sunset before, and this is another just absolutely wonderful example of it. I mean, beyond anything else, this story (letter?) absolutely oozes the kind of vitriol that only an early teenager mad at the world can. I mean, seriously:
I heard you look like a grape and that you still had all your baby fat too.
That is such an amazing burn! It's perfect! I'm hard pressed to even begin to think of a better insult for young Sunset to sling at baby Twilight. Nor, in turn, the small details of Twilight reaching out to Sunset in her own naive, childish way. Absolutely top notch characterization.
And deeper, too, because under the insults and barbs there's some great Sunset drama where her ego collides with the realization that Celestia is replacing her. Bits like 'I used to look at her like that too' and 'But I also know ‘cause it is what she is trying to do to me' dig the hooks in nice and deep because Sunset - particularly at this stage - has both a massive ego and a shattered sense of self-worth. Ice crams a huge amount of that into a tiny number of words, which does a great job of contrasting with the childish insults.
What really makes it all drive home, though, is the notes after the letter itself. Taking the letter out of the moment and putting it into wider context gives Celestia an unspoken voice into things - an important one, since the letter is as much (honestly more) about Sunset's relationship with Celestia than it is with Twilight.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
That first one is currently the shortest fic in my favorites
Random somewhat related comment: Sunset Shimmer canonically uses Mane n Tail shampoo (source: Monday Blues)
Sunset is a paradox to me. Like many, I don't care for her in canon, but unlike most, I don't feel any strong boost for her in fanon either. Some folks say that her being a blank slate is part of the attraction, which isn't not valid, once you account for that not being what people actually mean and a very poor phrasing, but there's plenty of other characters that can apply to, without the baggage Sunset brings with her (primarily but not exclusively to do with EqG). It can't just be people's attraction to writing what amounts to anime teenagers, but I'm hard pressed to pick out something specific for her that another character as a pony wouldn’t provide instead. And if it's AU, well, you're going for broke, any character(s) will work then.
That's if we're talking after she goes through the portal. Stories from before she went through? I fully see and get the appeal, even down to the ambiguity of those events in canon allowing for so many possibilities in an tantalising way. Still can repeat themselves as a genre, but people's huge fondness for writing Sunset means there's a lot of quality there.
Point of fact, that applies for me and Sunset as a whole too. Because so many people adore her and adore writing for her (she has almost 8,000 tagged fics, and in five years or so will outpace Applejack’s lifetime total), despite my apathy for her, I have still read quite a lot of stories involving her. The universe works in mysterious ways, eh?
And the real kicker? Because I'm very selective due to much of her or the aspects she brings being mid, if I do read a Sunset story, it tends to have a high batting average – 9 of the 19 stories with her I've reviewed got a Really Good or Excellent, and 7 of the other 10 were Pretty Good. Comparatively, there are some characters I adore who I have a much harder time finding quality stories about, not even because they're not popular, but because they don't seem to attract writers doing strong dramatic material nearly as much (*cough* Spike *cough*)
5773183
She does and it makes me chuckle every time I see it.
5773185
Man, I disagree so strongly about Sunset being a blank slate that I don't even know where to start. But good! You do you, everybody's got their own tastes. And yes, she's got a lot of very strong stories out there. (Unlike Spike.)
5773190
The blank slate part was other people's words, not mine. The whole point was that people are phrasing it poorly, but I get what they mean, that the parts of canon that are there alongside the parts that are malleable for people to make do with it fics as strikes their muse make for a delectable writing combination. Evidently you didn't pick that up.
In any case, I totally do see that combo with Sunset, make no mistake – but it's also the case for tons of other characters, and unless we're talking pre-portal stories, or the attraction of specific ships (SciTwi, SunsetxWallflower, etc.), I see little specific to Sunset that one couldn't do with other characters on this "specific enough to have a starting point, malleable enough to do with as the muse strikes me" range, beyond anything enabled by the human angle, high school, or the magical girl aspects.
Spike was also just an example of the contrary. In any case, because he has over 15K stories to his name, there's TONS of quality ones out there – my point was just that a character like Sunset has a higher average quality than almost all characters, because she inexplicably (or explicably, to folks who think she's the GOAT, I suppose) attracts a lot of quality dramatic writing. As seen with the stories featured today, the whole reason I raised this in the first place.
But you knew that already, of course – you know me well enough by now to know I'm the furthest thing from someone who comments just to say "x character is mid" out of spite or without another point to it.
5773185
Er... not in my general experience, it isn't. Generally, the main reason most people would cite is that she's one of the few cases in canon of a well-executed redemption arc. Plus I'd wager it's the appeal of a combination of her "cool punk sister" edgy style and her genuinely supportive encouragement towards others (plus some temper and patience problems every now and then), with the bonus of a genuinely fascinating "what if?" backstory and compare-and-contrast with the more nebbish and cerebral Twilight.
5773209
Bro. Come on.
There was a separate comment following up on it that clarified what people evidently missed the first time around, that a) the "blank slate" words were others’ words, not mine; b) other people were using that label incorrectly and I parsed what they actually meant.
Also, it wasn't said previously because it didn't need saying, but evidently it does now: c) this wasn't speaking for all people, or even most. Just enough people for it to register as a prominently cited reason, if a poorly phrased one.
Of course, Sunset's redemption arc is fair and true as an attraction, and the edgy punk girl aspect is too (it kinda overlaps with the high school/school anime/magical girl elements that attracts some folks to EqG, being honest). Personally, her genuine supportive moments ring hollow to me, but I'd wager a lot of that is a miscast voice that doesn't fit a teenager (yet, hot take). And I outlined how the possibilities offered by her backstory I absolutely get.
But this was less about a character's story as told in the show, more about their personality that sparks the itch to write for them. I didn't feel the need to mention those aspects you cited, because everyone knows those aspects, and I have no objection to them myself either.
EDIT: Okay, given virtually everything I’ve said here has been misread, even the after-clarifications, we’ll leave it be. I’m sorry if anyone read any of it the wrong way, but: none of this was a put-down of liking Sunset, just a lead-in to “despite all those marks against Sunset, yeah, pre-portal stories ooze with potential that many folks capitalise on greatly”. That’s all.
5773213
🔥😠 Er, excuse me: you were the one who waltzed into the comments with a clumsy and vaguely dismissive opener. Don't start acting smug and patronizing when other people call you out on it. A difference in opinion on an interest and a lofty, trivializing attitude toward other people's interests are not interchangeable, and I'd strongly recommend you think about your choice of words before you post something like that again.
For starters, there's a MAJOR difference between "a character who has a lot of untapped mystery in her backstory" and "a blank slate". If you're going to quote poorly chosen words as though they were your own endorsed view, then pick a bloody better set of words.
EDIT: OK, on reflection, I'm gonna take a step back from this discussion. I lost my temper there, and I'd really rather not go down that road, especially on someone else's blog. So I'll take this to PMs at least.
I'm getting the sense that daOtterGuy is someone really worth paying attention to :O
5773227
Yes, please and thank you.
5773246
Maaaaaaaaaaaybe? (Though I do admit some bias there.)