Ghost Mike's Ponyfic Review Monday Musings #24 · 5:02pm Aug 15th, 2022
Was dedicating three weeks solely to the 16 stories written for the Who Crossed Over My Little Pony? contest the best idea? Maybe, maybe not. Oh well, the reviews are all prepped now, let’s ride it out to the end.
I won’t deny: the first batch of contest entries, which I reviewed last week, they were a rather rough bunch. Perhaps that’s partially because they were largely submitted pretty quickly after the contest’s announcement, whereas the remaining ten stories, all published in the last week before the deadline, had more planning time gone into them. Obviously not a hard and fast rule – a fair shake of the best entries for the Thousand Words Contest came early in the submission period – but certainly a contributor. A part of me is wishing I’d started a week earlier, so the roughest selection wouldn’t have landed on my birthday, somewhat marring the celebratory nature of that blog. And yes, I could have varied up the review order, but I felt, and still feel, that reviewing them in publishing order ensures no selection bias.
In any case, they served as a good indicator of the difficulty of both crossovers (a fiction genre, in both fanfiction and otherwise, I tend to think has a very shaky hit ratio, and for good reason; they’re convoluted to no end and invariably inconsequential to their parent franchises), and writing visual cartoon logic and characters in a written-only format. Happily, this week has a much more solid roster, with two of the contest’s four entries that placed, in its 2nd place entry and its one Honourable Mention. Not bad! Put it this way, there’s entries here strong enough to break through the crossover and cartoon-as-written barriers, and then some.
This Week’s Spectral Stories:
"Trixie Rabbit" by Amereep
Tirek Season by TheDriderPony
Quantum Schlep by AugieDog
Pegasus Levitation (The Art of Equestrian Animation) by Mockingbirb
The Dover Boys in the Forest, or a Pest in Ponyville by Kris Overstreet
Weekly Word Count: 22,434 Words
"Trixie Rabbit" by Amereep
Genre: Comedy/Random (Crossover)
Trixie, Other
4,253 Words
March 2022
One day before her grand performance in a repeat town, Trixie’s prized stage rabbit manages to escape. As luck would have it, a new rabbit practically falls into her lap, a lanky bipedal sort with a wisecracking attitude and nonchalant reaction to Trixie herself. Not as lucky are Trixie’s efforts to rope him into her act, for even unicorn magic seems to not be enough to get him under her control.
No ‘basically’ about it, this one is nothing more or less than a Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny short. The distinction is important: as Looney Tunes scholars know, there are subtle but pervasive differences in how most of their characters are written and characterised based on the director (for instance, Bob Clampett does the best Porky Pig). In essence, Chuck Jones’ version is a more calm, collected, in control depiction of the trickster. Happily, this is a fic that has really done its homework as to what ‘makes’ a Bugs Bunny short, as evidenced in the overlong Author’s Notes. Now obviously, it takes more than effective mimikry to do shorts of this variety, and this one also does an admirable job of looking at the usual context of Bugs’ adversaries, comparing them to Trixie, and adjusting Bugs’ reactions and attitude in this short accordingly.
Beyond background semantics, Trixie is obviously a great choice to pair with Bugs, and like all his shorts, much of the fun comes in seeing how Bugs outwits her at every turn. And as dialogue is still a factor, this survives the transition to a prose format better than silent cartoon slapstick, even if the exquisite visual timing of many of the beats gets rather diluted.
Truthfully, that’s about all there is to this; a largely problem-free recontextualisation of Bugs as a foil for Trixie that results in an enjoyable short, though not a remarkable one, with most of the gags lacking that x-factor to make them linger in the mind. But given the medium displacement, producing even a competent short without any massive issues is worthy of note. Nothing to write home about, but strong enough to work beyond being a contest entry. If one likes Bugs Bunny shorts. And if you don’t: what are you doing here?
Rating: Pretty Good
Tirek Season by TheDriderPony
Genre: Comedy (Crossover)
Other, Tirek, Mane 6
6,438 Words
March 2022Placed 2nd in the Who Crossed Over My Little Pony? Contest
With the magic of every non-alicorn pony in Equestria under his control, Tirek is well on his way to being the sole source of magic, and its de facto ruler. He’s so sure of this, a brief encounter with a wacky rabbit on his hunt for the last alicorn barely registered. That is, until said rabbit returned to assist the juvenile princess in defying him, in the most annoying manner possible.
By now, I’ve noted in most prior reviews of this contest’s fics the obstacles inherent in translating a Looney Tunes short (Bugs Bunny or otherwise) into both prose form and the world of MLP. And, also, balancing that series’ tone with that of MLP. Happily, this short trumps all those concerns, resulting in something where concerns of tonal mismanagement, comedy usage, character, pacing and so on barely registered, allowing the knowing and clever silliness of the situation and the gags therein to dominate.
As weird as it sounds, perhaps the greatest triumph here is how Bugs’ arrival doesn’t derail this into him making a joke of Tirek for the whole story while the ponies stare in bewilderment. No, Tirek is still very much a threat, giving as much as he takes, and while TheDriferPony does let Bugs slap him silly in most individual moments here, it never derails the focus here. This direction could easily go too much the other way, yet through some alchemy, the balance is hit, making for a laugh riot that still has serious stakes and characters we’re invested in. That the ponies aren’t sidelined into oblivion, and are still kept relevant (though Discord oddly vanishes early on with no explanation, and Spike isn’t even mentioned as being present at all) is a big part of this; Rainbow Dash and Rarity get brief but funny side bits, and Twilight’s involvement in one of Bugs’ plans mid-story easily makes for the comic highlight. The climax continues this, with one of the most brilliant riffs on Looney Tunes I’ve seen yet combined with a playful cross-studio jab that still mostly remains fair and true to how Twilight’s Kingdom played out.
Thus, with all that in order, the story purrs along, with nearly every joke producing at least a smile, many a chuckle and a fair amount a laugh, all with immaculate pacing (every time a moment or scene is about to drag, things move on, making for a really efficient 6.4K). Even the best “replicate the original shorts’ vibe” entries so far are mostly just decent diversions, enjoyable without being really recommendable. Not this: whatever one’s doubts about these cartoon crossovers (and believe me, I have them plenty), this overcomes them all and is very nearly hitting the ceiling of what can be done in this mode. Great stuff.
Rating: Really Good
Quantum Schlep by AugieDog
Genre: Sci-Fi/Slice of Life (Crossover, Alternate Universe)
Applejack, Big Mac, Other
5,211 Words
March 2022Honourable Mention in the Who Crossed Over My Little Pony? Contest
Horace Horsecollar has been stuck leaping from cartoon universe to cartoon universe, locked into the body of one of its inhabitants and compelled to change the fate of future events for the better. With only Mickey from his home as company (via a hologram only he can see), he continues on, hoping he can get home soon.
His next destination? A world of pastel equines. And his host body? A broad red farmer stallion, brother to an orange farmmare for whom “stubborn and hardworking” is a polite identifier. All right on the heels of harvest season too.
This is only the second primarily serious story for this contest (I mean, we’re talking classic cartoons here, comedy is naturally going to be the main instinct), but it’s by no means a downbeat, glum story. As I understand it, the basic scenario is a riff on a early 90s sci-fi show Quantum Leap, but that was no obstacle to enjoyment here. In fact, I was surprised how involved I got into Horace’s plight, that of his own stubbornness in how to manipulate events to tire Applejack out so she eventually asks her friends for help (thankfully, the fic doesn’t overemphasise this “ah, so that’s how the episode’s madcap events happened!” angle).
It’s ironic (and intentional, probably), that he’s helping Applejack during the events of Applebuck Season, of all ponies, given Horace himself was kind of a background character even in his own era of Disney funny animals, with both Donald and Goofy later taking his main personality traits of a short temper and exaggerated confidence for handling difficult situations, and ran with them, and thus he vanished into obscurity. I’m sure to most people, he’s just a vaguely Goofy-looking minor Disney character. Thus, while he does incorporate traits and characteristics from several depictions of the character here, he’s mostly written as his own thing, a more grounded depiction, and that applies to Mickey as he corresponds with the mouse over the story’s course too. I can imagine this going wrong, jettisoning what makes these classic funny animals work, yet it manages to work wonders here, creating an energetic yet humble and rather moving tale.
There’s a few other things that make this fic excel. Knowing the episode as we do, the fic capitalises on that to wring more tension from Horace’s sideline perspective as he setups and sabotages tasks, especially with intelligence from Mickey’s end on how important it is he succeed, lest Applejack’s family lose the farm, move away and have the Elements separated when they need to be nearby. Then there’s the use of patchwork memory to explain his rationale, especially with more coming back as the story progresses, leading to him finally recalling what he lost at the end, before a funny-yet-tragic surprise ending leaves us with an emotional punch to the gut.
Not my favourite entry thus far (that be Tirek Season above), but easily the most surprising, doing wonders with a non-comedic situation. Though given how capable AugieDog is as a writer, that shouldn’t be too big a surprise. Two thumbs way up from Ghost Mike!
Rating: Really Good
Pegasus Levitation (The Art of Equestrian Animation) by Mockingbirb
Genre: Slice of Life (Crossover)
Twilight, Dinky Hooves, Silver Spoon, Other
3,443 Words
March 2022
So how would animation be made in Equestria anyway? Twilight takes Dinky Doo to a travelling cloud museum that has an exhibition on pegasus animation, something neither of them are all that familiar with. Along the way, they run into difficulties as regards the opinion of others on differing animation types.
This is an interesting angle, seeing what form animation might exist in an Equestria that is at the ‘correct’ technology level normally seen in the show when it doesn’t contradict itself (never mind that, given the presence of black-and-white showreels, the answer would be 20’s-era cartoon shorts). Given the answer ends up being a unique pegasus spin on forms of shadow puppetry much older then cinema, the fic ends up having less to do with animation then you might think. Instead, it’s largely a springboard for an “Underappreciated Dinky” fic, one that is… okay. Evidently I haven’t experienced enough fanfiction of the filly to have formed the kind of Best Filly opinion many have of her not-necessarily-in-canon mother Derpy. But even given that, there isn’t much to this. Dialogue’s rather inorganic, with Dinky fluctuating between an actual filly and a “tv” filly that’s really a wisecracking adult; things are explained/hoofwaved in poor shorthand, and the fic’s main arc and character thread gets rudely inserted at the ending after lying dormant for a while, to provide a conclusion about self-worth that, while nice and sincere, is largely mechanical.
Oh, and the cartoon crossover aspect? An ending gag present purely to allow the fic admittance into the contest.
That said, the basic story of the fic is fine, Twilight’s characterisation is reasonable, and I do like the meta layers applied to animation in this world as executed by different tribes, even if the story would be better-served jettisoning its rote character arcs to focus purely on that. If you can live with that imbalance, or have a strong affinity for Dinky, there’s something here.
Rating: Passable
The Dover Boys in the Forest, or a Pest in Ponyville by Kris Overstreet
Genre: Comedy (Crossover, Human)
Mane 6
3,089 Words
April 2022
In their latest effort to protect their fiancée Dora Standpipe from the repulsive Dan Backslide, the Dover Boys inadvertently send themselves and Dan through a mysterious portal into a world of equines. The Boys continue their search without a care in the world, while Dan tries to make do with the bountiful riches present here. In both cases, the ponies of Ponyville are not amused.
First things first: because this is riffing specifically on a classic one-off 1942 parody short by Chuck Jones, this story would be totally incomprehensible to someone who has not recently seen the short (or the Reanimated version, one of the earlier takes of this fine tradition of indie and underground internet animators). I can only imagine how, without that context, all this would seem like the biggest pile of random, nonsense non-sequiturs. Not a hard problem to fix, as the short is in the public domain – you can even watch it on the Wikipedia page – but it’s a fair warning. Most other entries for this context only require vaguely knowing the associated characters and series, but this is a whole nother ball game. That short itself, one of the earliest examples of limited animation, is a delightful piss take of the old (and horribly dated) Rover Boys books, with wonderfully absurd non-sequitur humour and satire. That said, it was a one-off for a reason, with its leads, the Dover Boys, depicted intentionally as blockhead jerks for a reason.
Given that, what does this story do? After the quick opening, it mostly has the three leads repeating their “search endlessly” gag from the short, and while Backslide switches from kidnapping Dora to making money off of ponies, it’s still mostly repurposing gags from that short into this new context. So it is, for better or for worse, reheated leftovers mixed with the ponies getting more and more agitated. That said, reheated leftovers of a short this classic still has the means to be fun, and by and large this one hits that; Rarity and Fluttershy’s reactions are the highlights, but repurposing Derpy into one of the short’s better recurring gags, alongside a climax where they’re all sent back to their dimension, must surely take the biscuit.
Again, utterly indecipherable gibberish without a working knowledge of the original parody short. But with that, it’s an absurd little kick, with nicely zippy pacing and the right winking tone. Not a bad non-sequitur by any means.
Rating: Decent
Spooky Summary of Scores:
Excellent: 0
Really Good: 2
Pretty Good: 1
Decent: 1
Passable: 1
Weak: 0
Bad: 0
Only read Augie's, and this time, I was the person who approved it for EqD. It was fun and a nice homage to Quantum Leap (which I never watched that much of).
The main thing:
I was worried about when putting "Quantum Schlep" together was how well it would play to folks who didn't know Quantum Leap. Glad to see that worked out OK, and glad you enjoyed the story!
Another Mike