My Fanfic Review on Hearts and Help (and a Breakdown of Fluttercord in General) · 4:53pm Mar 20th, 2019
My first fanfic review since analyzing “Pony of Vengeance”, and my third overall. Man, I can’t believe it’s been so long.
Anyway, I wanted to make my comeback to analyzing fanfics by reviewing a Fluttercord one-shot called “Hearts and Help”.
Here’s the summary of it, which I had made myself:
After the events of Season 8’s “A Matter of Principals”, Fluttershy decides to have a talk with Discord about his behavior towards Starlight and the rest of the School of Friendship’s residents.
However, upon Fluttershy confronting him, Discord tells her something extremely surprising, even more so after discovering it as the reason for his behavior and actions. The reason...being her, as well as something Spike had told and taught him during the events of “The Break Up Break Down”.
In addition, Fluttershy discovers something surprising about herself. That thing...involving Discord.
I know, it’s probably surprising that I would read and review a Fluttercord story, especially after expressing my dislike for it. However, I decided to take a chance, to see if I was missing out on anything and if this could change my mind.
Sadly, it couldn’t turn my head around. Here’s why:
I understand entirely this would be the first MLP story author MusicRock807 made, but, I just can’t ignore the flaws the story had.
The narrative wasn’t very straight. Before it ever came to the point of what the story’s about, it had often been showing Discord and Fluttershy’s interactions in episodes before “A Matter of Principals”, like “To Where and Back Again”.
While I can tell that they were flashbacks meant to display what’s been going on before the story’s main time, MR807 just didn’t put in enough attention to give more clarification on that. Because of not doing anything like italicizing the words for the times before when the story takes place, as well as not putting any of these in...
...it made everything seem too jumbled up and crammed together to the point of confusing. It made me start to wonder “When is it ever going to come to the point?” All in all, everything felt like 4 stories crammed into one.
Another problem was that the story ran into another expectation of mine: a bland and cheaply done romance.
Before anyone asks, yes, I have read other fanfics featuring Fluttercord. Each of them were posted on Fanfiction.net, and that’s where I read them.
Anyway, you see, something I don’t like about Fluttercord is that in each story I read involving the pairing, there was little to nothing compelling about the romance.
It’s often like every time someone tries to do a romance story about Fluttershy and Discord, things between them become precisely how I described it: cheap and bland. The romantic bond barley gives off any spark, in my opinion. Nothing between the two characters seems to connect beyond that of Friendship.
In addition, the characters seemed to have lacked their spirits in the story, which is another thing that I find to be common in regards to Fluttercord stories. Each time someone makes one, something about the way Fluttershy and Discord are depicted doesn’t feel right, and this story is no exception.
Yes, I’m aware of how well the two were depicted in “Discordant Harmony”, and I whole heartily agree that the Fox brothers perfectly kept the essence of the characters. But, for me, the bond didn’t really seem to stretch beyond the two of them being best friends no matter how much Fluttercord fans cheered. And, I’m aware of Discord and Fluttershy’s character developments as of late, such as Fluttershy having a certain fondness for Discord’s chaotic nature and being able to stand up for herself more. Still, though, no matter how much development the two had, the chemistry just doesn’t seem to click beyond that of friendship.
On the positive sides of the story, however, I will say that I thought this was a really sweet story. I admired the reconciliation between Fluttershy and Discord, and I can’t help but picture the concept of the two reconciling after everything that happened as really canonical. Minus the romance, of course, which was still rather cheap for them.
Plus, I admired how MR807 was able to help the environments and surroundings become clear pictures through words and descriptions alone, an example coming from the part where Discord and Fluttershy were in the janitor’s closet. When the descriptions of where Discord and Fluttershy were came into play, I immediately couldn’t help but feel like I was actually in that closet.
Another thing I admired were the descriptions on how each character was feeling, as well as how something felt after touching it. A prime example of the latter came from the descriptions of how the fur and hair of each character felt. It was Fluttershy’s thoughts and feelings in particular that I found myself having the clearest pictures of.
All in all, personally, I thought that this story was really cute, and I admire the creativity behind it. However, it wasn’t enough to change my mind about Fluttercord, and it seemed to have all of the qualifications I expected.
So, I rate “Hearts and Help” three out of five stars. Definitely still rooting for Discord and Celestia as a romantic couple, that’s for sure.
I somehow knew you'd not change your mind about the ship. I have a bit of cheap romance as well. When you have to resort to extreme measures, you're in for a bad time.
Eh, I've read Fluttercord stories also. They've never gotten me totally on board the ship, but I don't find them terrible. I also don't find Fluttershy and Discord out of character, so maybe you and FlutterCord fans just have different opinions on what constitutes as the essence of their characters.
I fail to see how you're in the position to refer to this person as a 'rookie' as part of your critique with yourself having as many fics
5030652
That's in essence what it all boils down to with fans and their ships
5030683
Because the story MR807 made was the user’s first.
5030728
I understood why you said it; but I wanted to make the joke anyway
5030761
Oh.
This story sounds somewhat interesting, I might read it eventually, but I’m not really a big fan of FlutterCord either.
5030761
What did you think of this review overall?
5030891
Godslittleprincess already said everything that I could say about it
5030894
Oh.
Well, okay then.
5030651
What do you mean by that, exactly?
5031085
Like either reaching hard for a ship that wouldn't work out as well as it sounds on paper, or resorting to sensual fiction to produce stimulation instead of heartfelt relationships.
5031089
Oh.
Is that something that you did yourself?
5031092
Not neccesarily. Other people have done it, is what I mean.
5031094
Ahhhh, now I see.
5030683
I just fixed the sentence up.