[no title] · 4:47am May 23rd, 2012
Not typically the sort of person who writes a blog. I guess this is a historic measure of firsts for me. I guess the idea always left me a little cold. I mean, a journal that everyone can just go and read? Seemed kinda counterproductive to me, but hey, there's gotta be something to it, right? Anyway, I'm basically going to use this as a forum to express ideas that I didn't want to cram into the narrative thus far. I have spent several weeks pondering the MLP universe, and the number of ideas I've had regarding this fandom is simply staggering.
For several weeks I was wracked with indecision because I couldn't decide which idea to start first. Kinda like a dog with four hamburgers sizzling on the patio in front of him...
Quantum Castaways is an idea that has been pickling in my brain for some time, well before I ever associated myself with the MLP:FiM fandom. I've always wanted to write it, but I simply didn't have the crucial mix of characters to make the idea really GEL in my head. Twilight Sparkle is by far my favorite pony, although saying that is kinda like saying double fudge chocolate is my favorite kind of chocolate... saying Twi is my favorite does not, in any way, suggest that I don't love the other characters in the mane six.
Just... nerd pony is best pony.
On that note, I should say that MLP is rather unique in my experience, and I believe the reason is easy enough to express. As a fan and fanwriter of other fandoms, mostly anime series, I can say that fandoms tend to be a mixed bag for me. With most series, I bond with one, maybe two characters at most, and very rarely does the emotional bond reach the point where I feel the need to express it through the written word. With MLP:FiM, I am thrust into an unfamiliar situation of target oversaturation.... I really, genuinely LIKE all of the mane six, and quite a few of the secondary cast as well. I care about what happens to ALL of them, to a degree that I am astounded.
Case in point, a story I started to read not too long ago was Equestria's Twilight by Sapidus3. This is a fantastically well written story...
That I was completely unable to finish. Not because it was bad, mind you, or boring, absolutely not. It was because the author fundamentally UNDERSTOOD how Twilight Sparkle ticks, and what situations would push her down the slippery slope leading to her corruption and downfall. It's absolutely HEARTRENDING to see it happening... like watching a slow motion frame by frame of the Challenger explosion or the Kennedy Assassination... only I'm MORE emotionally invested in Twilight, not less.
In the story she is brought low by her virtues, and I'll be honest, it genuinely hurt me to see it happening. I might go back and finish it one day, but for the first time, a fanfic was TOO sad for me to continue reading it.
Hooo boy, I gots it bad.
And that, as a rule, is why I stay away from grim-dark and Tragedy.
Glad to have you here and writing.
Thanks, Shira. I appreciate the support. I'll try not to let you down.
I try not to bias my reading decisions based on tags... a good story is a good story, even the tragic ones. Still, some stories do go for the emotional nuts, or ovaries as you prefer. I actually didn't find My Little Dashie all that bad as tragedies go, because the whole time I'm reading the story I'm going... this is not going to end well. The foreshadowing was so thick you could shave it off and drizzle it on pancakes.
Regret Pancakes.
Certainly it was an efficient little payload of manly sorrow, but it hit, had it's effect, and was over with, and I got the impression the dude was going to try to move forward with his life. That's fine.
Equestria's Twilight sneaks up on you, it's sad to begin with, but it's a... clean kind of sad. You know, parent died, growing up, taking responsibility, hurt because I can't be as badass as the shoes I'm trying to fill sad. Then it becomes this... greek tragedy where the very things that make Twilight a good pony become the things that slowly lead to her compromising and eventually becoming a corruption of herself... and the real kicker is she seems aware of it the whole time.
Just... ouch.