Fic recs, December 17th · 4:23pm Dec 17th, 2014
Kinda Behind Closed Doors Writeoff Edition. On that note, Project Writeoff is complete. Expect a blogpost later today about it!
I had the disturbing realization yesterday that eventually, the show will end, and that’s going to mean the slow death of the fandom. I’m sure there will be plenty of people who care about Friendship Is Magic for years to come (the X-Files fandom continues to chug along and even pick up new members to this day), but after a year or so, we will likely see a large drop-off in participation, and that means fewer eyes on fanfics. Given my track record on getting longfics done, it makes me wonder if it’s even worth starting a new one after I’m done with my current projects. :/ Which is of course stupid, but still, it’s a sobering thought. I always get melancholy toward New Year’s.
Ohhhh, you lucky, lucky people. You don’t just a Sonata picture today. You get a Sonata song!
(If the intro feels schizophrenic, that's because these days, I write 'em as stuff happens. c.c)
H: 1 R: 3 C: 1 V: 1 N: 0
Failout: Equestria by TwiFace
Password: imgonnaeatyourspleen
Genre: Fallout: Equestria Parody
This starts off more as a summary than anything, albeit vaguely comedic and with a bizarre scene in the author’s note of chapter 1. Then it turns into a chapter-for-chapter trollfic version of FoE that, sadly, isn’t all that good. I mean, calling her “Littleshit”? Funny at first, but gets old quickly. Actually, the funniest part is the chapter titles and the “X, X never changes” lines. This is best when it moves far, far outside the confines of the original story, which sadly is not often enough. (Also, you have to put the password in for every fucking chapter, which doesn’t make it a ton of fun to read.) Then again, lines like “Littleshit saw her waifu among the slavers. She was so pissed that she dropped a boxcar on an alicorn.” kind of make this worth reading. Really, it’s more a comical summary of the original, a blogpost rather than a story (although it devolves into Steelhooves/Calamity shipping near the end, which was kind of a hoot). YMMV for realzies, don’t bother with this unless you’ve got a massive hate-on for FoE and need more destruction wrought in its name.
Vaguely Recommended
Dressing Room by GAPJaxie
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: AU
Star Power isn’t Twilight Sparkle, but she plays her on TV. Yes, this is a story about the actors who actually play the characters we know! It’s from the most recent writeoff, and it’s great! (Caveat: when I say “from the most recent writeoff”, it can generally be assumed that I have not reread the story and have no idea whether it still contains writing flaws, if it ever did.) This is marvelously creative and original, and I really, really want the author to start writing about these meta-characters. I found myself thoroughly taken in by the concept, and hanging on every new name as it showed up. (I really liked the idea of the friendship between Star and Amazon.) Please, check this out, you’ll likely not read another story like it, even if there was another one based around a similar idea from the same writeoff.
Recommended
Funatics by Baal Bunny
Reading by the Author
Genre: Comedy
Luna and Celestia engage in a conflict of a kinder sort. Boy, they’re really getting the writeoff fics out quick this time! (Guess I should, too…) This is a very odd sort of story; you could almost be forgiven for missing what’s going on, because it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect a conflict to revolve around. Prank wars? Sure. Actual sibling rivalry? Understandable. But a war of showing which sister loves the other more is just… Well, it’s great, for one thing. There’s a lot of good comedy in it, too, like the running gag with the title. It’s got all the princess bonding (and Cakelestia) I could ask for. And, well, it’s Augie, so you know it’s gonna be good.
Recommended
Rough in the Diamond by Sharp Spark
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: Action
Talk about weird stories from the writeoff: this is basically just an excuse for Rarity and Rainbow Dash to have a no-holds-barred brawl. It’s fuckin’ awesome. Yeah, it has something of a shaky opening, to say nothing of the setup. (Rainbow and Rarity are a tad harsh to Pinkie, but it does take place in season one.) Still, when I read this, I found myself really caught up in the action, and dare I say it, the sheer absurdity of the piece. It’s unapologetic about what it’s trying to do, and that ends up being one of its greatest strengths.
Recommended If You Ever Wanted to See Rainbow and Rarity Duke It Out
The Appledash Project by bookplayer
Reading (part 1) by Hero541
Genre: Romance
What if Applejack and Rainbow Dash were dating behind the scenes of the show? This story seeks to do a number of things: insert AppleDash into seasons one and two; explore what a romance between Rainbow Dash and Applejack really would be like; have something other than the romance going on. Of these, the second is far and away the best done, with one or two chapters seemingly slightly perpendicular to the episodes they follow, and the romance still being the main focus. This story is a proof-of-concept of bookplayer’s thoughts on AppleDash (despite that journal having been written after the story), and proves that she’s one of our best romance writers. Beyond that, she’s equally great at writing personal drama and comedy; this story is hysterical! The relationship is viewed through a number of lenses: we get to see the inception, the first date, the first “I love you”, the first time. They fight, they make up, they learn each other’s signals. We get as much depth in each character as we do in their dynamic, not to mention a lot of good relationship advice. This starts with Rainbow slyly gauging AJ’s potential interest in her and the two of them just casually going out; it ends up as the best AppleDash story I’ve ever read, the kind of thing that can turn you on to a ship. (Best chapter, by the way, is the Hearth’s Warming Eve one.)
Highly Recommended
What We Wanted to Do by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Comedy
The Cutie Mark Crusaders get their classmates in on a fact-finding mission: just what are their parents and siblings doing during “adult time”? This is a hilarious comedy from the writeoff, a story constantly one-upping itself with new jokes. The mature tone of Apple Bloom’s “statement” only makes those scenes funnier. I of course am a sucker for sexual comedy, and this never goes past the line of “what a kid might find out”; they remain blissfully unaware of just what it is they’re hearing/seeing/etc., when they do hear or see something. This was one of my faves from the writeoff, and it’s definitely worth reading.
Recommended
I keep fucking reading "Futafics", because I should change the people I hang around with. Too many clop authors. Sigh. Still, the concept actually looks very interesting. I guess I'll read it now.
Also, God, the Appledash Project. I loved that one so much. AppleDash was my OTP by then, and I still had some high-quality fics to read. Bookplayer totally nailed how those two should act in a good romance ship. I think I can remember a couple clichés here and there, but they were the kind of clichés that I look forward to, instead of the ones I fear or make me roll my eyes.
As per Dressing Room, it reminded me of a story I wanted to write a year ago or so. The concept was pretty similar, but I never managed to pull it off. Now you make me curious.
Hmmm. Ah, and of course, CiG gets a recommendation. The day somebody says a story of his is "meh" is the day the sky burns down, I swear to God.
Seeing how you rate Rough in the Diamond, I can't help but wonder why many mid/high-profile members are saying great things about it, while some other mid/high-profile readers are saying the characterisation completely butchers the story and that Thunderlane is nothing more than a plot convenience. It's really dividing the hell out of people; opinions even escalated to the point where it was was added to Twilight's Library, and then removed again after people contested the addition. I have never seen that done to a story before.
2659474
Having read the story and stayed out of the controversy, I don't know much of what went on... and I'm grateful for that.
I did read Dressing Room, too, and that was an interesting take. The narrative interview style quite reminded me of World War Z. The book, not the atrocious and terrible movie that could at best claim to be inspired by and not based off of the book.
I try to ignore those thoughts. They make me sad.
2659474
Wait, what? It got in, and then out?
Shit, now I feel like reading it. That's quite the amount of drama for a story that I thought was nothing but ponies punching the shit out of each other. After all the stuff this fandom has seen, it still manages to amaze me. And I thought I had it bad with the Luna white knigts...
2659481
That deleted comment you see there?
That one by Skeeter that Rainedash replied to?
That was the ribbon.
I think there's enough community and interest in fan-works here that the fandom might manage a pretty good run after the end of the show, particularly if the IDW comics keep coming out in its stead.
This threw me for a second, because the only FOE I hate is Fall Of, not Fallout, so I defaulted to the former in my head. And now I'd love to see a story that crosses the two over based heavily on the name confusion, and then totally destroys either Fall Of or both of them.
2659483
Hmm.
Okay, after reading it, they kind of have a point. If the fic is going for absolute ridiculousness, then having the characters act in exaggerated/OOC ways works (heaven knows I've written like, three stories with characters that act like themselves exactly because of that), but Diamond in the Rough, fun as it might be, definitely tries to play itself seriously.
And yeah, the characters were definitely OOC. I can see Dash and Rarity not getting along a lot, but they still look like friends to me. The fic is easy to read and very competent, but the characters felt nothing like themselves. I can get behind some of the criticism that story has got, myself. The fight was cool tho, I guess.
So yeah, PP, I guess I disagree with you on that one. Even enjoying the fight scene, I wouldn't have recommended that fic, it did nothing for me. I think that's a first, you usually have more or less the same tastes as me. Clop and incest stories aside, of course. And OTPs aside. And anything Octavia-related aside. And...
Okay, why the fuck am I following you, again?
I want to see that.
I bet Rarity kicks RD's butt.
2659467
You know, I never did review The Glassblower...
2659474
I looked at the comments earlier today, and it just seems like drama from Twilight's Library. How much the characterization bothers you is up to you, but I did note that it's an issue.
2659491
Just wait, I'll be (hopefully) delivering on that (hopefully) soonish.
2659496
Cuz you're a cool dood and so am I :C
2659502
Hilariously, you are correct.
2659527
I still think you should title it Autumn of Equestria. Just saying. And hey, I liked The Glass Blower. Very fairytale-ish.
2659474
2659481
And apparently it's back in again, because STL went "fuck yo controversy, I enjoyed it." Haven't actually read the fic in question yet, but that's the right call IMHO, per tenets of the group.
2659533
Actually, I decided to, and I will be crediting you with the idea. :)
2659659
Good on Skeeter. :D
*Shrugs* The longest fanfic I ever wrote (admittedly only 23,000 words!) was for a fandom based on a book that was by then about 30 years old. So even 10% of the current activity level in this fandom would seem busy by comparison. :P
2659467
I got about two thirds thru The Cutie Mark Conspiracy and called it quits.
(That's odd... everything just turned red OH SHI--)
I also would like to hear your take on The Glass Blower. DeftFunk has a reading, though it's not as clean as some of his others.
LALALA NOT LISTENING
The fandom ending? Silly PP! Everypony knows that THE RIDE NEVER ENDS!
I was actually unimpressed with What We Wanted to Do, and that's not something I say about one of Cold's stories lightly.
After Forever Summer I thought that I'd fallen in love with the way he portrayed the concerns of children, as I love nearly almost everything else he does. But, for some reason, I couldn't get into this one. After a while I was sitting here with one hand in the air asking myself So when does the CiG story start? I realized what it was after a while... as much as I hate to invoke tropes the "Simpsons Did It" meme kept popping up in my head, the episode where Homer sells love tonics and the kids all investigate, leaving Bart to assume that the grown-ups were all vampires in particular. I realized that this story was comedy based on what adults think kids would do/think, rather than how kids actually act and respond to situations. No matter how you slice it though, it was still one of Cold's works, which means it was head and shoulders over the rest in the same genre. Too bad that genre is a wading pool. This was Cold writing a sex comedy, not Cold writing a Cold in Gardez story. The two are in no way equal.
-The silver lining about the end of the show is that the deluge of fanfics I have to keep up with will finally slow to a manageable trickle. Yay. Still, I might want to get a move on with writing my own stuff, unless somehow the Fallout Equestria fandom proves immune to this decay you speak of.
2659467
A while ago, I tried reading all of his short comedies and only liked one of them, because in the others the story ended with loose ends unresolved just so that it closed on a punchline. I get why he'd do that, but it bothered me anyway.
2664600
Hah! If any part of this fandom marches on to the bitter end, it'll be the sub-fandoms like Fallout and TCB.
2659527
See, this should have been obvious from the start, 'cause it's canon, right from S1E2.
Who attacks the Manticore first?
Yeah.
2659527
Also:
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/305/e/d/tacos_for_sonata_by_dm29-d84y8eo.jpg
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/276/5/0/__taco____by_fj_c-d81gu8l.png
Use them responsibly.
2667225
neeeeeh, eh :B
I am more curious seeing how the remains of the G4 fandom reacts when G5 comes around and it inevitably sucks.
2672733
That won't be any fun at all. :|