That Season Finale, Tho. (No Spoilers.)

Sooo.... I watched Shadow Play parts 1 and 2. And it's not a bad, though I definitely liked the previous finale better. This one felt a bit rushed, like they had a really epic idea but not enough time to do it justice. On the plus side, it does provide tons and tons of new lore.

But that's also the problem. You see...

Well, this video pretty much sums up my reaction:

Basically, I kinda had this fanfic planned for after the one I'm writing now, and it was going to have a huge twist that I was really proud of. And now... Well, I can still use it, but I'm going to have to change it a lot since these two episodes were kind an enormous paradigm shift.

Sigh.

I mean, this sort of thing is healthy once in a while - it's good to learn how to be flexible and avoid fixations. But it's still kinda frustrating. I just hope I can eventually get started on that story before they do something the messes the concept up even worse. Like bringing Sombra back.

It's funny how fanfiction can take something I should be super-excited about and make it problematic.

Comments

[Rao the Red Sun]

Could just slap on that AU tag and call it a day! But I do understand the desire to maintain parity with the canon. It's hard sometimes.

[howard035]

I think everyone is in your boat now.

[Fervidor]

4694404

It's just that AU doesn't work like that, and it sorta horrifies me that people actually use it as some kind free pass to ignore canonical inconveniences.

AU is a genre. You use it when you've deliberately changed the continuity is some way, and that change is part of the story's main premise. Put another way, it's when the point of the story is that it takes place in an alternate continuity.

Calling your story AU because a bit of canon happened to get in the way of your great idea and you chose to ignore that is really just stubbornness.

[Rao the Red Sun]

4695097
That's a really fair rationale. Thank you for the correction.

More broadly, then: I think there's a difference between "I started this before the canon changed" and "screw the canon, I do what I want." I'd give the former a pass, generally, because we're not clairvoyant. But the latter, yes, I can see as being stubborn or lazy. There were at least a few user page disclaimers I've seen over the years that said quite openly: "Cadance doesn't exist and never will/Twilight will never be an alicorn."

But if you did want to be cheeky, I'd say it's fair if you squeeze the story in before the finale airs legitimately. I can't be the only one not watching ahead.

[Fervidor]

4695419

More broadly, then: I think there's a difference between "I started this before the canon changed" and "screw the canon, I do what I want." I'd give the former a pass, generally, because we're not clairvoyant.

Oh, I agree. As a sort of personal rule, I won't be held accountable for canon developments that occur after I publish a story, pretty much exactly because I can't be expected to foresee the future. However, if they occur before publishing, I will attempt to change my story concept accordingly, or abandon it and write something different.

And, honestly, if other people want to willfully ignore canon, they certainly have that right. (But I do believe they are doing themselves a disservice as writers, because they are refusing to learn a valuable skill.)

I just can't abide using the AU tag as an excuse, because I think that cheapens it and erodes its meaning.

But if you did want to be cheeky, I'd say it's fair if you squeeze the story in before the finale airs legitimately. I can't be the only one not watching ahead.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. It usually takes forever for me to write stuff and the story I'm working on now takes priority, and it's huge.

Frankly I'll be lucky if I can start the other one before the next season finale.