Limited Resources · 1:03pm Dec 5th, 2020
So. I'm in a bit of a pickle. See, I schedule Friendship is Card Games as far in advance as is reasonable, which has lately meant as far as possible. My most optimisitic estimates had me prepped through the first week of February. However...
Well, this is at least partially my fault. I didn't check to make sure that the last issue of the comic's "Zecora's homecoming" arc came out last month. It didn't. it's coming out at some point in this one. And given IDW's past track record, that might well be New Year's Eve.
"Okay," I thought to myself. "I may be able to push up the third volume of the OEL manga. When's that coming out again? I know it's some point in early December."
Well, turns out that got delayed until March. Because, virally speaking, the country burned while Nero golfed this year. And I've hit my political quota for the month, so let's move on.
Long story short, without any opportunity to stretch for time as the sequential art drip feed provides new content, I've gone from as many as ten weeks of card blogs to two. The last of Pony Life. Maybe three if the next issue of the comic drops before the 21st; very maybe four if there's a holiday special this year and it comes out before 2021. That's far too many maybes for me, so I'm pose a question now that I was saving until the end of the year: Where would you like me to focus in terms of fan work?
Seriously, open to any suggestions that aren't pornographic here, folks. Written fiction, art, video, even music in theory. (Say, narrative albums like The Pink Side of the Moon.) Though something on the scale of Songs of the Spheres might be a rather heavy undertaking. Still, most suggestions welcome.
I don't know if it's been done yet, but maybe the EG music videos could be kinda fun.
Why not pick a story from your favourites list?
Speculation.
You could just... ...not make cards every week for eternity?
What an insane idea.
As for legitimate suggestions just pic a long fic you've read and go nuts. Or go read CRISIS: Equestria (the original).
-GM, master of oh hey look a shoutout, thanks.
Could I possibly bribe you into doing Iron Mage? (Though cards from from Group precipitation makes the most sense)
Shameless sci-set shipping.
I just found out about about FiCG rn, (went back to your last one to read it through and figured it out; really interesting concept you've got there :) )
idk if they've been done yet, but looking at fics I've read that might have some cardable characters I see potential in:
- Flight 19 (Collaborative)
- Business Trip (AlwaysDressesInStyle)
- Destinies (Sharp Quill)
- The Dread Chitin and the sequel, Outside the Reaching Sky (Karazor)
Aaaaand I've just noticed I've streched for less-likely-to-have-been-carded-already fics when this is only on Week 11 so idk if that's good or bad.
wishing you the least troubled projects and warmest futures
p.s. to all whom read this: hiii (also hope you have a fulfulled future :))
5410073
This is probably the best option, yeah.
Or, y'now, stuff from some of my fics, since I am Best At Ponies(tm).
Well, not really. Monochromatic got that honor, so I gueeeeess something like The Enchanted Library might work too.
Though heck, I don't even play Magic, so I dunno how well stuff will work out. Like, is there even a 'this creature will run away from combat and go have a drink instead' mechanic?
So I'm pretty sure you've probably read a decent chunk of the Winningverse and there's plenty of content to mine for cards there if you haven't already.
For comedic purposes, I suggest my very own The Pony Badfic Trilogy. It features the terrible OCs Hidden Princess, Special Snowflake, and HomoSapien McHumanName.
Or you could pick something that doesn't insult a sizeable chunk of stories on this site. You know, whatever works for you.
You could always draw inspiration from your own written works
Seconding 5410089's Winningverse suggestion, since you've done FICG for fanverses before.
Read the books.
5410072
Already done them, sadly. But thanks for the thought.
5410073
The big issue there is that my favorites list is about 4,500 stories long. Nine years of near-omnipresence means accruing quite the list of enjoyed stories. Hence asking for input; it helps me narrow down possibilities.
5410074
An intriguing thought, but I'd like to have some basis in previously established content. Otherwise it's more applying ponies to card games than the other way around.
5410075
I refuse. It's like Sisyphus in Hades. I've grown to appreciate the boulder. I've made friends with him. His name is Bouldy and he's an excellent listener.
5410078
Hmm. That does bear consideration, but I'd like to see a bit more of the world beforehand.
5410079
That's a genre, not a specific story.
5410080
To be clear, that's Week 11 of Pony Life. FiCG's been going for a lot longer than that. Still, thanks for the suggestions.
5410085
I've actually already done The Enchanted Library. Though the Flash Sentry Papers definitely bear consideration, as do other parts of your oeuvere.
Norin the Wary says "Hi." Heck, that might make for a promising crossover.
5410089 5410102
The Winningverse is certainly a strong contender. Lots of fascinating concepts and characters to work with.
5410091
No promises there.
5410098
That feels even more self-indulgent than the card blogs usually do. I'm saving my own stuff as a last resort.
5410106
The chapter books are a consideration. I keep forgetting they exist. Thanks for the reminder.
5410085
Small problem there. He's already done TEL.
5410075
Blasphemy.
I second what 5410106 said, the books offer some great material and they definitely need more recognition. Most of them. A couple are of questionable quality, but it's always fun to see you rip into something for once. But most of them are good, from what I've seen, and occasionally even more stuffed with nods to the fandom than the comics could ever hope to be.
Aside from that, yeah, just pick whatever fics you like. It's your series of blogs.
But if I do have to make a personal suggestion on fandom content to review...
Friendship is Card Games: Friendship is Witchcraft
And ask me for directions if you ever choose to do that, I'm one of the relative minority of people who actually kept track of where to find both the unaltered versions of the episodes and the shorts, which most people skip over.
Edit: One minute. I was late by one whole minute and FoME pointed out what I did too while I was still writing my comment. Oh well.
5410153
Sort favorites list by view count / upvotes / age, and go down the list?
At least age won't change with time?
Maybe try to collect all the cards you've sprinkled around elsewhere, and then save them up for when you've really run out ideas?
...while going along that train of thought, stopping at Zennistrad, I ended up realizing that Ghired has the most placeholdery name since maro itself, being a combination of his colors.
5410166
Poor choice of words here. I know what you mean in-context, but...
What about the original G1 series? You could design cards using the color pie, power level, and mechanics from the early days of MTG as an exercise. Alpha, Legends, etc. Like, of course ponies would have Banding.
I don't know if you've already done them, but why not one of the fics with particularly unusual OC's like Changeling of the Guard, The Iron Horse (by Hat Man) or My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped?
I think we can all agree that we'd like for you to do cards based on our fics.
As for ways to narrow it down, perhaps you could do things by character. Focus on stories that feature Ditzy (or Derpy) for a while, then focus on stories centered around OCs, etc. You could focus on short fics or on long-form ones, on stories that started and/or finished in a particular year...
But also, you should totally do some cards based on Tastes Like Heresy or The Crystal and the Mirage.
If you promise to do the Swirliad when all three volumes are finished maybe that will help provide motivation to write them
(I am mostly kidding. Motivation is not a limiting factor. This is the closest I can get to self-promotion.)
To Perytonia?
5410205
Iron Horse is... bad...
Sort favorites by low views? Or have a volunteer/vote on shenanigan.
A bunch of shorter works seems like it would be easier to manage, though longform has more to draw from.
I do also really like 5410214 as a suggestion: do a dozen or so variations on a character or their actions, and link up the inspirations.
My suggestions for the pot:
The Mask Makes The Pony, as I haven't seen the kudzuverse on here and it's reasonably self-contained if longer.
Night Watch, which has obvious inspirations, but does Pterry proud.
School Daze and Mendacity for the "classics that need no introduction" category.
Laughter is Faith and The White Mare for the inevitable "rewrite of the pilot" category.
DERPA and It's A Kind Of Magic because I'm not sure how they only have <1000 views.
Alternately, do a reverso blog and grade the best of the cards all us poor schmucks produce.
What about silent ponyville
Its been awhile but it's an excellent series
5410165
The assorted abridged series definitely bear consideration, to say nothing of the chapbooks. I may tap you for that FiW rundown sooner rather than later.
5410192
As long as I don't have to emulate mid-90's Magic templating.
5410205
All things to bear in mind, though the only one I've read among them is Changeling of the Guard, and I'd like to wait until a story's complete before cardifying it.
5410214
I hadn't considered a thematic approach. It's certainly an interesting possibility.
Tastes Like Heresy could work, but I'm tempted to wait for the official D&D set to come out before tackling
goodlawful mischievous ol' Grandpa Merc. The current poster child for lightning-breathing dragons in Magic seems more like Rainbow Dash's ancestor.5410221
I do want to stick to completed stories, and with a book of the Swirliad finished...
I'll bear it in mind.
5410311
Some excellent suggestions in there. The Wibblyverse in particular deserves much more love. Thank you for them. Though I will say that years ago, I had to tell kudzuhaiku that I only had enough time and energy to read either him or the rest of the site.
5410633
They didn't have templates. That was the whole problem.
It's tempting to just say "my stuff", either jokingly, seriously or seriously-until-someone-asks-in-which-case-you-say jokingly, but ultimately there are undoubtedly many, many works that would make for far better blogs.
That said, while I'm sure you'll already have thought of this, I might as well give my advice: think about the stories you know, like and want to talk about and/or promote... then figure out which would make the most fun, unique and interesting cards. After all, just because a story's good doesn't necessarily mean it'll make for great cards and, much as I, a non-player with some rudimentary knowledge of MtG like your comments and commentary, the cards do kind of feel like a large part of the heart of these blogs, so I think following that would be the way to go.