GaP Jaxie Judges Others VII: The Roast of Monochromatic · 7:12pm Nov 18th, 2018
Woke up early on Sunday. My plans for the day don't start for a few hours. Nothing I feel like doing before then. And I did make that promise to blog more.
Fine. Fine. It's that time again.
Time to judge others!
Specifically, this week, I'll be reviewing several popular stories by Monochromatic, the wordhorse known for their vast collection of RariTwi shipping. Mono's biggest hit is The Enchanted Library, but how do their short stories stand up to a critical eye? Have they really written nearly two dozen separate love stories, or have they written the same love story two-dozen times?
To find out (and determine if Mono is, personally, worthy of love) I'll be reviewing Snakes and Ladders, Supernova, Colors of the Soul, Com·pli·cat·ed, and A Thousand Words of Noise.
Stories gets a score of Wretched, Poor, Average, Good, or Great, plus a quick summary and a detailed review. Reviews are not spoiler-free, but should not ruin any mystery or suspense.
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Story #1: Snakes and Ladders
Overall Score: Good
Summary:
Reading this story, I bit my knuckles in frustration for all the unrealized potential. I have to give this story a review of good because it is good -- it's a solid slice of life piece with an interesting premise -- but it could have been so much more. If you like Rarity, Twilight, and slice of life, you'll like this because it writes all three quite well. But if you're tantalized by the story's hints at something far deeper, I'm sorry, you'll be disappointed.
There's old trope in many stories: Ambition is Evil. The pony who wants to conquer the world, run the business, or achieve fame and fortune is always the villain of the story. Rarely do stories contain sympathetic characters who would unironically scheme or plot their own advancement.
This trope falls on everyone, but it doesn't fall on everyone equally. A rich white businessman plotting to double the size of his business by working his employees to the bone might be seen as sleezy by some, but also admirable to many. A poor black man plotting to get out of debt by carefully teaching himself to count cards is a criminal and a thug.
And nobody gets hit by this trope harder than women.
A man is "charismatic;" a woman is "manipulative." A man tells his subordinates exactly what he expects; a woman nags. A man is "a hard hitter, who tells it like it is." And when a woman does that?
She's a bitch.
This is a story about Rarity realizing that the ponies of Canterlot will always resent her for being a poor, rural, common mare who dared to seek something better in life. She seeks solace in Twilight, and while Twilight and her don't really discuss the issue in any depth, they at least find comfort with eachother.
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Story #2: Supernova
Overall Score: Good
Summary:
A pleasantly healthy and mature look at a complicated relationship. Rarity and Twilight aren't sure if they love each other, but they are sure they care about each other. Not every breakup needs to involve screaming and crying. Sometimes it's just two ponies trying to sort out what they want, and what they want might not be each-other.
There's not much I can say about this story without spoiling it, so I'll keep it brief: Twilight and Rarity have been seeing each other for some time, and they're both starting to think that this might not be "the one." A breakup results, and story gives us a slice of life scene showing how they each feel about that.
Supernova would be average, except that the way Twilight and Rarity deal with their feelings is remarkably mature and wholesome. They're sweet, they're kind, and even if they aren't going to be a couple, they care deeply for each other. It's a welcome change from the melodrama of other breakup fics, and it made me root for both of them. Recommended for a healthy depiction of love.
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Story #3: Com·pli·cat·ed
Overall Score: Average
Summary:
I need 50ccs of concentrated adorableness, stat!
Rarity is having her first sleepover at Twilight's house. Well, not her first. But her first as Twilight's special somepony.
That is, the first sleepover where smooching is potentially on the table.
“Mamihlapinatapai,” Twilight said without a hitch. “It’s Yakghan, from the Land of Fire.”
Rarity blinked. “I won’t even try to pronounce that,” she said, clearly off-put by Twilight’s brusque change of topic. Nevertheless, she turned back to the book and read aloud, “A look shared by two people, each…” The delicate blush returned. “… Each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but neither wants to begin.” She cleared her throat. “That is frightfully interesting indeed.”
It's sweet, it's adorable, and you'll learn a new word. It doesn't have a lot of depth, but I enjoyed it and I suspect most RariTwi fans will too.
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Story #4: Colors of the Soul
Overall Score: Average
Summary:
What do you do when your girlfriend discovers her soul mate, and it isn't you? If you're Twilight, you have an adorable panic attack and read a lot of books.
A spent awhile weighing how to rate this story. As in Monochromatic's other stories, the depicting of love here is healthy and sweet, Twilight and Rarity have great chemistry and feel like a real couple, and the premise is great. As a slice of life story alone, I'd easily give it a score of "Great."
However. However however however however however however however.
If the entire premise of your story is that Rarity discovers her magical, destiny-appointed soulmate and passes them over in favor of Twilight, that needs more than a few paragraphs of explanation. Rarity's about-face is so sudden that this feels more like a story about Twilight's baseless anxieties running away with her than a story about Rarity having a legitimately live-changing event and making a substantive personal decision. That's not to say this story isn't cute, heartwarming, and enjoyable. It is all of those things. It's just shallower than I was hoping for.
Still, I enjoyed reading it. Probably because it has best horse and second-best horse and makes them smooch.
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Story #5: A Thousand Words of Noise
Overall Score: Great
Summary:
This is a story about what it feels like to suffer from major depression.
And it's good. It's right.
As regular readers of my blog will know, I suffer from bouts of severe depression. I've tried many times to express those feelings in writing, but never quite succeeded. How do you make a reader feel an emotion they don't feel? How do you make them understand an urge they themselves have never had? I didn't see how it was possible.
Until Mono wrote this story.
Things mattered so much.
This story is a god-damn masterpiece and Mono should be proud to have written it.
Also it has some RariTwi adorableness there in the last scene for flavor. So that's nice.
So... generally you'd consider Monochromatic to be worthy of love?
4970023
In general, yes. In specific, I want to steal their adorable writing talent like some kind of literary vampire.
Wait, you suffer from depression too? I swear, half the authors I know anything about on this site have either depression, anxiety, or autism, just like me and my siblings. That says something, but whether it's about this fandom, its authors, or the human population in general, I'm not quite sure. Regardless, welcome to the club.
4970028
Writers aren't exactly known for their spotless mental health records.
It's sort of assumed that they're at least a little crazy, one way or another.
4970028
I have all three of those things! Major depression, general anxiety disorder, and autism.
4970031
I second that motion. Depression and anxiety is a bitch. Thankfully I've had a lot of good people to help me. Now I'm mostly just socially inept!
I don't have the problem with Colors of the Soul that you do. I felt Mono made it quite clear that in that universe, a soulmate is not necessarily a romantic interaction. And yes, I see the story as entirely about Twilight's anxieties.
4970032
Which is weird, because when I met you at BronyCon I thought "here is another one of those cool kids who have it all sussed out because they're socially skilled and emotionally stable--not like me!"
(Also, "-- so what the fuck is HE doing here?")
4970267
It's all a lie!
Deep down, we are all Twilight Sparkle, and life is Lesson Zero.