What really bugs me. · 5:15am Jun 9th, 2013
So the one thing that really bothers me is when stories use the changelings as cannon fodder. I enjoy reading all sorts of stories, but generally stop if they end up doing this. Admittedly, changelings are easy to use as cannon fodder as they are all almost identical and don't really stand out. But as someone who really likes the little buggers, I get really riled up when authors just send a hoard of changelings out to get stomped on by their protagonists. If the changelings are only there to show off how powerful the characters are, then it's a waste anyway. Changelings aren't mindless, and they have personality, well if you read the comics at least.... I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I just needed to rant a bit. Just imagine if it were a dozen copies of Dr. Whoves or Derpy or something. No one would stand for that...
So I dunno... If you need some enemies, give it some thought first... Don't bother with the fighting in the first place unless it is actually VITAL to the story...
I half agree with you. Yes canon fodder characters always bother me Red Shirts, Goblins, Stormtroopers, those little foot soldiers in Dynasty Warriors, etc. I also feel like changelings are a hive mind species, i.e. they all share a collective consciousness and cause. Yes they may have different personalities but it doesn't change the fact that they will blindly rush an opponent that they saw beat down their allies, like we see in the Canterlot Wedding after the mane six beat down an entire castle top full. In the end they get the job done though, force through numbers, but they are blindly rushing around Canterlot fighting/capturing everything they can find. To me they are kind of like ants, they can be individual and intelligent, but they will rush to their on singular death to save/follow the orders of the hive queen.
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You make a good point. They certainly follow the orders of their queen, probably to the death if necessary, but they don't really have a hive mind. The comics have them looking a lot more individual and taking orders and relaying information in person rather through any sort of hive mind connection thingy. They have a Hive Mentality sure.
Yeah having cannon fodder characters is generally a stupid way to emphasize the strength of a character. I also really like changelings... So it's like my favorite characters getting their collective asses handed to them. It's really annoying. But I suppose that's what I get for liking the minion characters.
:I
Of course any story that nonchalantly kills off characters of any kind is probably not very high quality anyway.
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have you read Smoke and Mirrors by TeaPartyCanon? My changeling headcanon most closely lines up with that story, they have personalities yet they have a mass collective consciousness with the voices constantly bouncing around in their heads.
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Yeah I've read that one. It's a neat story, and I've seen plenty of others that use the same sort of neural connection. It's a neat idea and I like the concept. My idea is generally that the connection is loose, so there aren't random messages bouncing around, but they can send messages through it. It just would take energy which they'd normally be saving for other things. Or at least that's what I've been using in my RP stuff so far.
By Hive Mind I usually think of some presence controlling all the drones. Not just some big interconnected system that connects their thoughts. Anyways, I'm way too attached to these little buggers. Heheh.