So I had a look at one of those "Displaced" stories. It was not good. · 10:26pm Aug 6th, 2015
I do not understand the point of “cosplayer in Equestria” (or “Displaced”) stories.
Like, okay, let’s talk a little about crossovers.
Like, first we have stories like Archives of the Friendquisition or Fallout: Equestria, where it’s sort of a blended setting that uses elements from the crossover’d material is used in an interesting way and the thematic juxtaposition makes for some interesting storytelling opportunities. Personally, I think this is the best way to approach a crossover.
Then you have lazier crossovers like, say, “Anti-Mage in Equestria” (which I hope doesn’t actually exist) where a character is lazily plunked into the setting for the sake of whatever plot. Hypothetically, this could be used to explore character - how does the character react to this setting? How does this setting react to the character?
But a “cosplayer in Equestria” story isn’t either of these. It’s just some idiot in a costume and also superpowers farting around. It is a crossover minus literally everything that might make a crossover interesting to read.
Preachin' to the choir, my friend.
It tends to be basically self-insert, after all. Nothing but the character, with a bunch of cool self-indulgent powers, doing what they've imagined in Equestria. The problem is, there's enough of a population of these fans to both create the stories and then upvote them to feature box, so I don't think it'll fall out of favor until a significant period of time passes (am I the only one who remembers the Ponyfall fad)?
Like with everything else, Sturgeon's Law applies:
"90% of everything is crap."
If you want a good Displaced Story, check out The Mighty Warrior of Epicness. Yes, it uses the standard Displaced cliches, but it's well-written, witty, interesting, and fun.
I'm currently writing one myself, but I've always gone against type with everything I do, so even though it is a Displaced story, it's not written like one. It's a 3rd Edition D&D/MLP crossover that focuses on the early days of Equestria, a generation after the Hearth's Warming event and before the rule of the alicorn sisters. Legendary beasts and gods made flesh stalk the land, clashing in epic confrontations that warp the very fabric of the world. Celestia and Luna travel Equis, taking on epic threats that vastly outclass them for the sake of the ponies they care for in the name of Harmony. When they receive evidence of a massively powerful summoning in Tartarus that's gone horribly wrong, it is up to them to assess the possibly demonic threat and figure out how to take it down. Meanwhile, an innocent and well-meaning man finds himself stuck in a fantasy world, in a body that isn't his (or even human), with no memory of how he got there, and with hostile locals who see his entirely alien abilities and refuse to believe that he just wants to help.
I'm a published author, but my stories have been original works. This is my first major fanfic, MLP or otherwise. Suffice it to say, I like to think that I know what I'm doing, so I have at least a small amount of authority to back me up when I say that just being "a Displaced story" isn't enough to make a story bad. Bad writing makes a story bad. Unfortunately, the 90% thing still applies here.
3301311 I suppose that may be true, but you may pardon me if I'm... not particularly inclined to be charitable. I still remember one particularly bad incident where such a story made the feature box and nothing in the description indicated what the story actually was. That led to a fairly colorful comments section.
Though I actually briefly toyed with my own idea earlier today after reading the story that prompted this post ("The Clown Prince of Equestria" if you must know the title). Idea in a nutshell was that it isn't a cosplayer, but some jerk who was wearing a pair of Groucho glasses, and his subsequent inability to refrain from making wisecracks causes problems. But eh.