On Fallout Equestria and stuff... · 7:08pm Jun 8th, 2016
Well, I just finished reading the Big-3 of Fallout Equestria; The original, Pink Eyes, and Project Horizons.
What do I think about them? Hmm. My feelings are... odd. I'll admit, I am not a professional reviewer. I'm not a professional writer. Or proofreader. Or good at being impartial and not letting my feelings color my perspectives. I let my biases influence me. I can try to be as levelheaded as I can, but on some occasions, I just let myself ride on a wave of my thoughts, and let them flow outward. So, if you're looking for something with an impartial eye and a writer's prose... wow have you found the wrongyestest blog ever.
First off, Initial Thoughts! I love them all. I can see why KKat allowed Pink Eyes and Project Horizons to be canon with the original. I enjoy the Fallout setting with ponies. It's good stuff. All of them. Even if I had to finish reading Project Horizons off of FimFiction, because it's not fully uploaded yet.
Okay, More Serious Thoughts! The original really set an interesting tone. Part of me wishes KKat could have added some of the later season material into FoE. PH actually did do some of that. PH really added a lot to the world of FoE, with Hoofington being this grand place of misery and death and sadness and anguish. I can understand why folks would say PH tries to outdo FoE, because Blackjack's adventures really are a step above most of the stuff Littlepip ended up facing. It's not a bad 'one-up-mareship', but it does feel like it coats the story somewhat. What I will say is that Blackjack is her own mare, and boy howdy does she get into some situations. Honestly, I think one of my favorite scenes was when she's sitting in a doctor's office, and blatantly states what she's doing to the pony who just walked into the office. It's silly and it made me smile, because Blackjack is her own unique flavor of crazy.
But if PH was about feeling like bigger adventures in more dangerous lands, Pink Eyes was much more the one that really made me FEEL for the protagonist. Puppysmiles was a character not only made it interesting to learn about, but she learned about things in the dangerous Wasteland on her own journeys, all the while trying to put them into the perspective of what she knew; being that she's a filly no more than 5 or so years of age, it isn't much, so most things that would cause fear of Celestia in your standard wastelander, she sees as something to investigate or will rationalize with logic only a kid would be able to come up with. And watching her, though her adventures, you see things you know more about than she does, and it hurts, because you know how it would hurt, but Puppy, she doesn't understand the things like an adult, and that makes it hurt even more because she doesn't understand.
Also, Pink Eyes doesn't really dip into the established FoE continuity other than it's starting location, so the locations and individuals are new and fresh, and seen through the eyes of someone so young and full of life (irony, table for me please).
Okay, Stuff That Makes Me Sound Unbias! Each story has issues, but I don't like to really harp on them because mostly because I suck at writing and honestly I couldn't write my way out of a wet paper bag. But, if I was going to make some sort of listie list of things, I'd probably say FoE is probably a bit too close to the Fallout setting. Parts of it felt liberated from Fallouts 1, 2, and 3. But that's not a bad thing, it's just how it is. There's still a lot of worldbuilding going on. And as for PH, it falls in the footsteps of FoE with robot-supersized horseshoes of mutant-slaying. It's bigger, better, badder, darker, and adds a lot to the world, and yet it still can feel at times like it's going in a predictable pattern (even if it isn't, which is a lot). And Pink Eyes.... it did the most horrible thing imaginable.
It made me cry.
I mean, liquid pride leaked from my face against my will. Totally. And it wasn't because she visited someone on her journey and it was super sad and I felt like I was crying because Puppysmiles would never understand what was there, so I was crying for her. No, totally not. I'm awesome. I didn't cry. Even if it felt like that swing set scene from the original Red Dawn movie. Oh gawd that scene. Right in the feels....
That was a failure, Smart Final Thoughts! I've been very vague on the story. I honestly don't want to spoil it for folks who haven't read it. I will say I did enjoy reading all 3 stories. Of all the stories though, I think Pink Eyes is my favorite, both because it made me laugh and cry and feel all sorts of warm, squishy feelings. Puppysmiles was a great character. She allowed for the reader to learn about the world through her eyes, her very young and very naive eyes. And in some ways, it felt the most original, even when playing in the sandbox that had been created by KKat. Littlepip and Blackjack are both great characters, but I doubt many readers would have the heart of stone to not have a soft spot for the little filly roaming the Wasteland in her yellow suit.
If you want something to read for a while, all three
I think I'm going to take a break from the FoE setting for a bit though. Maybe read some fics that I have put to the side. I know I have quite a big backlog of stories I've got on watch, so I really should stop slacking. And speaking of slacking, I need to finish Carry On Wayward Storm. I've been finagling the ending over and over in my head now, and I refuse to release the story from it's Google Docs hell until I get the ending written down. I still blame Flurry Heart for revealing the fact that the Crystal Kingdom doens't need weather ponies.
THANKS FOR NOTHING, YOU PINK-WINGED DEATH-DEALING ALICORN OF CUTENESS! A POX ON YOU! A POX!
PS: Once upon a time, in a magical land call The Napping Cat's Dream, I used to review web comics. I wasn't very good at them, but I did it all the same. If you want to check them out, feel free to look at the page here. Hard to believe it was 12 years ago. Eh, how time flies.
The original makes no sense but is "meh okay", PH is tl;dr and godawful, Pink Eyes is a shameless tearjerker but at least it ends soon enough and is generally not bad.