R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0031 · 8:44pm Nov 26th, 2014

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Crisis on Two Equestrias by RainbowDoubleDash
Eye of the Hurricane by InsertAuthorHere
Of Hearts and Hooves by InsertAuthorHere
Dinner with the Folks by RK_Striker_JK_5
A Night Out by Skaugset

Crisis on Two Equestrias by RainbowDoubleDash
[story link] [my original review]

There is something I’ve noticed the whole series and haven’t commented about until now. I really like the sun-themed curses ponies have been using. It is really good worldbuilding to have them use Corona and sun flavored cussing/cursing/epithets in daily conversation to express strong displeasure with things. Really helps show just how much of an impression that insane Celestia had on everything.
...
I did like this story, but not nearly as much as the Lunaverse stories up to now. Mostly due to the alternate universe stuff. One confusing scene involved four alternate duplicates (two copies of two ponies) that are having a argument and either the same names, or no names at all, used to tag the dialogue. It is very effective in mirroring the confusion that the characters in the room are feeling, but that doesn’t make it any less confusing to read given we can’t even see who is talking and who is not talking. After that the duplicates are a major focus and it remains confusing even after the mixed-up argument happens. They adopt a first/last name split but it only helps a little.
...
Mentioned briefly above that I didn’t like this story as much as the other Lunaverse ones I’ve been reading. It is good, but missing a certain something that I’ve been enjoying in the other ones. Trying to figure out what it is I think I’ve stumbled across another aspect to my tastes in entertainment that I hadn’t been able to pin down before. I don’t like action as much as I like seeing a character’s reactions to things.
...
This story had plenty of action and dramatic events happening, but we didn’t really get to spend any time in any of the character’s heads or seeing things from their personal viewpoints. Except one of the Princess Lunas, and those were the best parts of the story.
In addition, I like the Lunaverse so much because I enjoy seeing what happens when Trixie’s personality and history bounces around with the personalities of the other five that are her friends. By keeping such a tight focus on just the two Twilight’s and two Trixie’s, things felt really flat since they were merely minor (very tiny) variations of each other.

Heavily edited review, see original post for full length. Got the main points, but I ramble about them a bit more there. Basically, I liked it but not as much as I wanted to.

Eye of the Hurricane by InsertAuthorHere
[story link] [my original review]

Good story so far. The problem is that it is ‘so far’ because the story isn’t finished. A fact I did not notice when I downloaded it. I really try to stick to completed stories so I don’t get halfway through and have to stop. I have enough trouble waiting between one story and the next, I don’t need to add more waiting between chapters in a story. Especially with a story like this that has plenty of building tension and emotional drama/damage. A few bad things happened during the middle of the story that I would have really liked to get some catharsis from the finale at the end. So, pretty good Lunaverse story, but wait until the author is finished writing it.

Of Hearts and Hooves by InsertAuthorHere
[story link] [my original review]

Well, I was hoping this one would be better than it turned out to be. It wasn’t a bad story so much as underwhelming. A few fun jokes, would have made a decent episode of the show with a bit more build-up between start and finish, or just as a side plot in a longer story. This is pretty much was I was afraid of when I decided to branch out to other authors writing stories in the Lunaverse. Not bad stories, just mediocre ones. Additionally, this didn’t feel much like a Lunaverse story. It could easily have been just another generic pony fanfic. The Trixie in this story felt like the one from the show, not the Lunaverse, and none of the other characters really felt all that three dimensional. The joke about Trixie not liking sex is way overblown. Even the over-the-top comedy fanfic about Trixie going into heat didn’t present her as getting physically ill at the thought of kissing.

Dinner with the Folks by RK_Striker_JK_5
[story link] [my original review]

This is another fanfic that doesn’t get the Lunaverse version of Trixie quite right. The thing that this one, and the previous story, does wrong is the whole ‘Great And Powerful’ thing. Lunaverse Trixie is not nearly that loud and boastful, given that she was never a showpony and grew up in the shadowy night court and as a student of the princess of the night. So she’s that arrogant, but rarely broadcasts it in a loud manner like that. It worked in the first scene of this story, as she could be just playfully boasting among her friends, but later in the story it just seems out of place.

A Night Out by Skaugset
[story link] [my original review]

Well, happened again. This one I flat out didn’t like. It started good. The first third of this very short story was a great start to what could have been a good story. Then it just falls right into blehness and ends with a ‘it was all a dream’ which was trying to be funny and failed.

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