Mega Mare Retrospective and Author Notes · 11:44pm Feb 4th, 2018
It's funny how four years in a fandom can change one's perspectives of their own work.
When I began Mega Mare, I was full of tension. I always have been when breaking into a new fandom for writing, because I don't know how this new fandom will respond to my writings. And MLP was a very different franchise from my previous fare, which were Yugioh, Inuyasha, and Final Fantasy. But at the same time I had seen how big other works could become and was excited. Who knows, I had a really cool, creative idea for a Mega Man crossover, this could be the next Fallout Equestria!
Yeah that didn't quite happen.
In hindsight it actually is kinda funny that my first pony fic kinda flopped epically. It wasn't until "A Great and Powerful Legacy" that I made a name for myself and began to appreciate how much more inclusive this fandom is. I've said it elsewhere that the feedback you get on this site is mindboggling. For weeks after posting I regularly got new comments, new favs, and new followers. I had grown up posting on Fanfiction.net. Those of you who have posted there, tell the others how rarely you get that level of response. Even with fics that are popular by that site's standards, you're lucky to keep getting reviews three days after posting.
And now here I am four years later, Mega Mare still sits in silence. I had the idea once, if I ever feel like trying my hand at it, to make a Mega Man hack adaptation of it. And who knows, maybe when that fan-made Mega Man Maker comes out. But for now, I regard it as the black sheep of my works. It was a necessarily failure. I submitted it to Equestria Daily repeatedly and they rejected it, because of course they would, this story is nowhere near their standards. Yet they directed me to help, to find pre-readers, to improve my understanding of technical elements. And while the rejection was hard, I listened and made a conscious effort to improve my work. And six months later when Mega Mare wrapped up, what did I do with what I had learned?
Now that fic, you may have heard of. 
But I still think of Mega Mare often. As I said, it was a necessary failure. I had to learn to walk before I could run. And, to the actual reason for this blog - I didn't format my author notes for the story in the form of a blog post as I do now, but in the author notes for the last chapter. I just wanted to correct that, and maybe entice a few new people to have a look. So, here are my author notes for my first pony fic, Mega Mare.
Applejack’s Apple Whip is based on Wire Sponge’s Strike Chain of Mega Man X2, and the idea of it coming out of her head is taken from Needle Man in Mega Man 3. Her ground stomp stun is taken from Hard Man in Mega Man 3.
Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Cannon, aside from obviously being an allusion to the Party Cannon, is based on Napalm Man and the Napalm Bomb from Mega Man 5. Her tunneling into the ground is roughly derived from Wheel Gator in Mega Man X2, who does a similar tactic diving into water out of sight and popping back up.
Rarity’s Rare Shield is based on the general “shield” weapon-type bosses like Skull Man and Junk Man. I had no idea at the time of designing her that Mega Man 9 had Jewel Man and Jewel Satellite, the striking similarities are a coincidence.
Fluttershy’s Flutter Stare is derived from the likes of Centaur Man who use time-based weapons that freeze you in place. And of course, is a weaponized version of The Stare.
Rainbow Dash is based 100% on Storm Eagle from Mega Man X, the only difference is Storm Eagle has another attack where he spits an egg that hatches into enemies to attack. Otherwise Dashie's behavior is directly copied from Storm Eagle, and the Rainbow Tornado weapon is based on Storm Tornado.
Sunset Shimmer’s torch-sword is based on Burner Man’s concept art for Mega Man and Bass. Otherwise there’s plenty of precedent for flaming sword-type attacks in Mega Man, particularly with Zero, and fireball weapons have been around since the very beginning with Fire Man.
Derpy’s Derpy Thunder is based on Cloud Man’s Mega Man Battle Network counterpart, who floods the battlefield with storm clouds that shoot lightning when you stand next to them. As it happens, this is also similar to Sheep Man’s Thunder Wool in Mega Man 10 - as with Rarity this is a coincidence. Her attack where she destroys the bridge Twilight is standing on is taken not from a Mega Man game, but instead is taken from the final boss of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
Octavia’s Octave Blast is based on Shade Man’s Noise Crush from Mega Man 7. Her cello was originally based on the idea of Proto Man's shield and was to be used to deflect attacks, but ended up being used more like a weapon in practice. I didn't do it on purpose, but subconsciously I think I took a lot from Saix from Kingdom Hearts for her behavior.
Trixie’s Shooting Star is based on the general idea of a scattering weapon, a good example of which would be the Shotgun Ice from Mega Man X. Her dual-arm cannons, and associated triple shot and dash attack, are taken from Zero in Mega Man X2. Her doppelganger trick is taken from Gemini Man of Mega Man 3.
The Changelings are based on the Doc Robots of Mega Man 3, which copied the weapons of the Mega Man 2 Robot Masters. The Doc Robots didn’t change appearance to go with the new weapons, but these are the Changelings, it just wouldn’t be right otherwise.
Luna’s attack patterns are more original. Conceptually she's taken from the traditional Wily Capsules that tend to be the final bosses of games in the Mega Man Classic series. Her actual attacks though were my creation, though some similar attacks are found throughout the series. Her wing lasers that trace along the floor are taken from Sigma in X4, her crescent blade shots are based on the charged Boomerang Cutter from X1, and her ground stomp, don't quite recall. She was given these three attacks to evoke the idea of an alicorn embodying all three pony types - ground stomp with her hooves, crescent blades from her horn, homing lasers from her wings.
Discord’s first form is based on Juno from Mega Man Legends in battle tactics, and his green orb attack is taken from different bosses in the same game. His second form is based on the Sigma Virus from Mega Man X2, while his attacking turrets are based on the Weapons Archive boss from Mega Man 10, which copied the weapons of other Robot Masters.
The idea of the other five members of the Mane Six being aides of Celestia corrupted by Discord is taken from the original Mega Man, where the first six Robot Masters were Dr. Light’s robots that Wily reprogrammed. The Shadow Hunters are based on the Mega Man Killers of the Classic series and the X Hunters of the X series, a trio of higher-ranked enemies. Twilight beating the other members of the Mane Six before the Shadow Hunters appear is based on Mega Man 7, where after being the first four bosses, four more appear. In both cases, the total number of bosses is brought to eight, the standard number of Mega Man bosses in most games. Discord combines aspects of Dr. Wily and Sigma – Wily created the original Maverick Virus that drove robots berserk, and when Sigma contracted it he merged with it to become the Sigma Virus. Luna’s role is roughly based off of Zero, Dr. Wily’s robot that was the original host of the Maverick Virus and was sealed in a capsule to be found in the future.
Finally, Twilight’s Alicorn Armor and the accompanying abilities are based on the Mega Man X tradition of X finding armors upgrades left by Dr. Light, and also takes some cues from the Super Adapter in the Classic series, particularly the focus on flight.
While 91 likes won’t bring home any records, only 5 dislikes is nothing to scoff at. It’s a hell of a lot better than 28.
Though I try to take the rating bar with a grain of salt anyway as it isn’t always ‘truthful’ about the quality of some stories.
it was a failure? didnt read that way to me.
4789657
Well in so much as my big debut into the fandom that got a lot of attention.