UPDATES SUNDAYS
A group dedicating to producing a viable alternative of Fimfiction's Famous Featured Box. Which, as has been stated by eighty gazillion people across the span of human history, tends to favor popular stories a whole lot more than good stories.
So, what we do here is simple: We Feature Stories. Every Sunday, there’ll be a new update, which you’ll be able to find on the main group page (or, if you prefer to get notifications, you can follow Obselescence and get updates through the feed via Sunday blogs). Our crackpot team of story people will sift through the stories posted in the prior week and dig up a handful of stuff that’s probably worth your time. There’s no guarantee that you’ll enjoy it, but at the least it’s a bit of signal in the noise.
The Last Roundup FAQ
Suggest Stories for the Next Post!
Feature Post: Sunday 11/23/2014
Her Blood Ran in Hollows of the Floor by HoofBitingActionOverload
The time for Twilight to succeed Celestia as Bearer of the Sun has come. But as the abdication ceremony in which Celestia will relinquish her power approaches, Twilight begins to desperately search for a way to stop the ceremony and save her friend.
Morcraw ses: It's a deliciously grim and beautiful dark story. Really nice imagery and great worldbuilding tidbits.
Welcome to the Show by DWK
In the aftermath of their defeat, Aria Blaze and her siren companions struggle to figure out what to do with their lives.
Morcraw ses: In a strange twist of fate, it's a story that's focused on Aria after RR.
Aria tries to move on after their failure at CHS. Adagio is a butt. There's also some really cool world-building thrown in. The start of the story has been pretty promising so far.
Going Anywhere by Eakin
Who knows who you'll end up sitting next to on your next train ride?
Morcraw ses: A quick-n-cute tale that centers around OC-ponies. Normally that would be icky and untenable, but Eakin writes well and manages to make it all work pretty darn marvelously. Arguably the biggest complaint is that there isn't more of it.
Reformation Buddies by Metool Bard
Can former villains learn from one another without driving each other and everyone else insane? Discord seems to think so. Sunset Shimmer, however, has her doubts. And the Sirens aren't helping matters, either.
Morcraw ses: You can pretty much figure out from the description that this tale involves Discord and Sunset Shimmer hanging out. Also Sirens. There's a lot going on in this story, and indeed it's still ongoing, but it all looks to be pretty excellent.
Dawn by Titanium Dragon
Celestia raises the Sun for the first time.
Morcraw ses: A nice little bit of Celestia and Luna being Celestia and Luna. It's not going to blow your mind, but it's Celestia and Luna, and the world always needs more of that. Also check out the companion-sequel, Dusk.
WILDCARDS
Let Me Tell You About the Hole in My Face by Slavoj Zizek
Applejack tells you her only secret. It is about a hole. The hole in her face. The breathing, living hole in her face. (Inspired by the cover image and a recurring dream)
Morcraw's Wildcomments: One of the most disturbing things I've ever read. I kinda like it for that but at the same time there's not much to it beyond that.
An Open Door by SkycatcherEQ
A look inside Adagio’s emotional state and her journey forward roughly six months after Rainbow Rocks.
Morcraw's Wildcomments: A vector artist tries his hand at writing, and it's actually pretty solid. It does a good job of progressing characters naturally and does a great job of expressing how important song is to the sirens (Sirens?).
Also the editor is terrible and smelly.
RIP The Last Roundup. You were fun.
We have collected here to mourn the unexpected and harshly sudden death of The Last Roundup.
So is this group still a thing that does stuff? Or is it another group that was thrown In the witching well?
A group like this is absolutely essential to FIMfiction. I approve.
And if naming it after The Last Roundup is a reference to how a genuinely good episode about Applejack was overshadowed by a (groan) popular Derpy appearance, just as good stories can be overshadowed by popular ones, then that's very appropriate AND very true.
385675 I sure hope not. I haven't even had time to read a lot of these; it'd suck if they shut this down right now.
I just wanted to thank you all for the feature. I'm glad to see people enjoy my writing.
Maybe admins should actually pick featured every three days so we don't need groups like this or have to deal with the same stories sitting in featured for weeks.
380453
I don't fudge my numbers.
Including today's post, we have featured 35 stories (49 if you include the Wildcards).
The first 4 posts occurred before the bookshelf update (which was October 8th), so it's much harder to tell if the stories were featured or not. Thus, for those 4 posts (and perhaps future posts as well, given some stories may have still come out before the bookshelf update despite the post coming after) , we'll guesstimate. And to accommodate varying definitions of featured, we'll consider 4 different intervals of "featured": 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 total views.
Post #1
Little Deceptions - 4320 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
My Domestic Equestria - 269 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Forbidden Melodies - 2191 views
- Featured on 3 intervals.
Any Cost - 1419 views.
- Featured on 1 interval.
The Malignant Magnet - 112 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
So, from the first post, 1 story was definitely featured, another was almost certainly featured, a third might have slipped in, and the final 2 were far from featured.
2.5/5 featured seems like a reasonable number, but given the current feature box, it's pretty reasonable to assume nearly 1500 views is good enough for getting spot #7, so we'll bump that up to 3/5 featured.
If we count the Wildcards:
The Queen of Queens - 1219 views
- Featured on 1 interval.
Diamond Tiara Gets Filthy - 8311 views.
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
If 1400 views is just barely in, I'd consider 1200 to be just barely out. So that's 1/2 on Wildcards being featured.
Post #2
Pointless - 2834 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
I Am Demon - 1525 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Quills and Sofas - 459 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
A Friend of a Friend - 3855 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
Three Goddesses, the Apple, and the Stallion - 1016
- Featured on 1 interval.
Just like Post #1, we're at 3/5 featured. So that puts at 6/10 overall without the Wildcards.
Post #2 Wildcards:
Chemistry - 1237
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Warmongering - 6374
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
Again, like before, this would appear to be 1/2 Wildcards featured, which makes the overall total 8/14.
Post #3
The Enchanted Library - 3191 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
Applejack Goes To Magic School For Some Reason - 1771 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Up From the Wilderness - 274 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Passing the Time - 3807 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
Of Mirrors and Madness - 306 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Another 3/5 for a running total of 9/15.
Post #3 Wildcards:
A Rubber Mask of Emotions - 347 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Not The Hero - 1837 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Yet again, 1/2 for a running total 12/21.
Post #4
The Sweetest Water - 389 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Three Solos, One Cadence - 473 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Moonwhacked - 1769 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Veneer - 973 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Harmless - 1172 views
- Featured on 1 interval.
Deviation! 2/5 featured for a running total of 11/20.
Post #4 Wildcards:
Commander Hurricane [Does The Nasty With] Every Mare In Cloudsdale - 3206 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
Wonderbolts Morale Specialist Rainbow Dash - 1201 views
- Featured on 1 interval.
No deviation here. Still 1/2 for a running total of 15/28.
Now, the point of the intervals is to allow you to make your own conclusions on what "featured" is, but for my purposes, we'll stick with 11/20 and 15/28 as our running totals.
Post #5
Refraction - Pre-bookshelves - 2367 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
All of It, for Her - Pre-bookshelves - 101 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
The Sticky Showdown - Post-bookshelves - 5055 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
- In the Featured bookshelf.
Skyward - Post-bookshelves - 310 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf.
Necro-Semantics - Post-bookshelves - 6238 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
- In the Featured bookshelf.
2 confirmed featured, 1 confirmed not. It's pretty easy to figure out the other 2, though. 3/5 for a return to normalcy and a running total of 14/25.
Post #5 Wildcards:
The Late Afternoon of the Zombie Gerbil Horde - Pre-Bookshelves - 1083 views
- Featured on 1 interval.
Cafeteria Control - Pre-bookshelves - 1720 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Wildcards remain the same: 1/2. Running total: 19/35.
Post #6
All In - An Applejack Noir - Post-bookshelves - 459 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- In the Featured bookshelf
Dune Goddess - Post-bookshelves - 222 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in the Featured bookshelf.
Pinkie's Bleh Day - Post-bookshelves - 289 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in the Featured bookshelf.
Taking Another Career Option - Post-bookshelves - 1367 views
- Featured on 1 interval.
- In the Featured bookshelf.
Parenting is Easy, I Swear - Post-bookshelves - 3644 views
- Featured on all 4 intervals.
- In the Featured bookshelf.
So. 3 confirmed featured, 2 confirmed not. Easy 3/5, right? Well, if you look at the numbers, you'll ask yourself, "How in the hell did 459 views get featured?" So my question to you is: Do you consider this to be featured? If no, 2/5 and a 16/30 running total. If yes, 3/5 and a 17/30 running total.
Post #6 Wildcards:
Twilight Sparkle Gives a Vector Mechanics Lecture - Post-bookshelves - 323 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf
The War and What Came After - Pre-bookshelves - 1662 views
- Featured on 2 intervals.
Another 1/2 for a 22/42 or a 23/42 depending on your thoughts on the noir fic.
Post #7
Wings - Post-bookshelves - 356 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf.
Dreams of Ponyville - Post-bookshelves - 751 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- In Featured bookshelf.
Trixie and the Dazzlings Kick Zombie Buns in a Mall - Post-bookshelves - 454 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf.
The Whispering God - Post-bookshelves - 186 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf.
Diary of the Fallen Sun - Post-bookshelves - 102 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
- Not in Featured bookshelf.
A clear cut 1/5, but I'm not sure how the 751 view fic got featured. I don't have any real explanation, so for my purposes, I'll count it. That makes the final running total, excluding Wildcards, 17/35 (or 18/35). Either way, that's right around 50%.
Post #7 Wildcards:
Stranger Than Dictation - Pre-bookshelves - 960 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
Duet in the Folk Style - Pre-bookshelves - 986 views
- Featured on 0 intervals.
The first non-1/2 on the Wildcards at 0/2. This brings the total to 23/49 (or 24/49). Either way, that's just under 50%.
So, given the numbers, I'm inclined to disagree with the assertion that most of these stories appeared in the feature box.
380452 Well, you'll show favor to this collation naturally.
380448
I struggle to see how bias factors in to, "Oh, has been this been featured? Y/n."
380447 We've? So, you're apart of this group's management system? Then, you have a biased view.
380445
I said mindless crackfics, not general crackfics. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference there is between the two.
Also, I contest the claim that most of these have been in the feature box. Give me a little bit of time to check the fancy-schmancy bookshelf that has every featured box story in it and compare it the stories we've featured.
380403 "Twilight Sparkle Gives a Vector Mechanics Lecture"
No crackfics, eh? But, what I am saying is most of these stories were, or still in, the Feature Box.
379507
Um, the Popular box is one of the easiest things to get into. The Feature box, on the other hand? Well, it's not easy and it's also a pile of poop.
These stories, on the other hand, are at the very least okay. They're not the mindless crackfics or clopfics you'll see dominate the Feature box.
You know, I'm looking at the whole group feature box thing, and I'm noticing most of those stories are actually in the popular box, or at least were. Although I appreciate the admins getting a bit more interactive and personal with the fandom, I don't really see the large difference.
An Alternative Feature Box Group Run by Site Admin's
Sweet. Hopefully new tallest will start getting the regeneration they deserve
Also maybe may chances of getting pick will increase!
375698 GET OUTTA HEAH!
375698
375695 *Grabs Regocomics*
I'm sorry for yelling at you Regocomics, now what I'm gonna do now: I'm gonna learn ya how to play butt-ball.
Seeing as you're in my basement.
Step 1: Neva tell ya parents
Step 2: NEVA TELL YA PARENTS!
375693 Oh, Death approaches! Better skedaddle!