I sometimes read stories that claim to be RGRE but just read like a harem anime.

For example, I read several chapters of Everyday Life With Guardsmares and at no time did I notice any particular role reversals. Am I missing something?

Any other stories in the Reverse Gender Role Equestria (RGRE) group that don't seem to fit the admittedly vague genre?

7682355
I'd suggest this story called, "Preunification Anon."
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/499685/preunification-anon

7682355

I've not read that story, but when looking at the page, I didn't see anything saying that it was RGRE.

Maybe it was added to this group by mistake?

7682357
That would explain it.
7682356
I love that story. Can't wait until the next chapter.

Alot of the RGRE stuff is Anon and I hate anon stories. Flesh out a guy with a name for christ’s sake! I can’t stand anon at all so over half of the RGRE stuff is unreadable to me

7682364
I like Anon fic in rgre, but it would be nice to see more unique human OC fics. They exist on this site though, you have to search for them.

7682355 Misleading premises or sometimes they don't understand what really the rgre is.

na I have been ben having doubts about others of whether or not its RGRE but I feel that they are not trying Revers the roles and in stead just making males, female and females, male and claiming RGRE. I want a story that actually explores that concept how would a society form if females were dominant for all of its species life.
like the story a bout a baker and his wife (The one with the rainbow cake for the cover art) that devolves into a abusive relation ship like Sure it is RGRE but its just a abusive relation ship and if you change the genders back it remains unchanged I feel that this format has more potential then that.
Like why do stallions have to be weaker to be subevent to mares, it could be like stallions are just used for there strength to move stuff and for propagating the species so they are not educated and they wind up being considers dum.
why do mare take on the masculine role in RGRE is what I'm trying to say
there is so many ways to take this concept but so far I have not seen it go anywhere other then where it stated as a fetish.

I suppose it's to make it easier for the reader to project themselves onto them, but yes I agree,

The Main Character should be a character.

The Anonymous of Long and Short of It manages to be a pretty good character though, not a blank slate at all.

Can anyone think of any other stories that may have been added by mistake? I feel like I read some before, but I can't recall... I'll probably go sweep the Main Folder later.

7682355
"Everyday Life With Guardsmares" is only light in the RGRE spectrum and isn't focused heavily on it.

f you want a good example of RGRE try "The long and short of it".

7682364
I'm sorta in the middle with a love hate relationship with anon stories. Sometimes they are unreadable ii will admit.

7682370
I remember reading a story using the explanation that the reason why mares are so dominant and stallions so "weak" is that the ratio between mares and stallions we're lower. Which caused the mares to pamper the stallions to their every whim and shelter them. I can't remember the story name but I know I read it.

7682364
Anon Jr from Junior is also pretty great, but she's Anon's Earth Pony daughter.

7682374
I’m not looking for Anon stories. I detest them with a passion and I refuse to read any of them. Please stop suggesting Anon stories to me because I really, REALLY hate them

7682370
I agree, the Just Reverse Everything way of doing things just seems a little uninspired to me.
I mean, for smaller stories it's fine.

Entirely Improbable is a pretty good, but canceled, story.

7682378
Really? What you detest isn't the lack of originality or bland personality but just the name itself?
...okay.

7682364
Y'know, I used to feel the same way, until I had something of an epiphany: Anon is just a name.

Just like with people, characters are more than their names. Whether or not a character is likeable is determined by their actions in the story. I've read countless stories where a named human character was a massive, unlikable prick. I've read countless stories where Anon was a really entertaining character.

It's just a name, and doggedly insisting that a story is automatically bad because one of the characters is called "no-name" is a very silly thing to do.

Especially considering how inexorably linked the MLP fandom is with 4chan culture. Forget about RGRE, half of all fanfics that feature a human character use the name Anon. If you refuse to read stories with that name attached, you are severely restricting your pool for finding good stories.

7682373
My favorite 'explanation' for RGRE is also the More Mares Than Stallions scenario, since there's the built in explanation that mares needed to compete with each other to get attention. so jobs that earn a lot of money/respect/fame are traditionally for mares, who want to show off.

7682384
Hey, if they don't like the name then they don't like it.

While it's a shame they miss out on some great stories, if they can't stand the name then that kinda ruins the whole experience.

Though I suppose one could could download a .txt of the story and just replace all 'Anon' or 'Anonymous' with John Smith.

The name Anonymous rarely has any influence on the character.

7682389
Yep, and that underlines my point pretty well. Because you could do the same thing with pretty much any story. Not just fanfics.

You could turn Harry Potter into The Adventures of John Smith, and it wouldn't change the story in any meaningful way.

I'm not saying that people have to read or like Anon stories, I'm just trying to share a bit of advice. From someone who used to dislike Anon stories.

7682373

I remember reading a story using the explanation that the reason why mares are so dominant and stallions so "weak" is that the ratio between mares and stallions we're lower. Which caused the mares to pamper the stallions to their every whim and shelter them. I can't remember the story name but I know I read it.

Maybe you mean 'The Prince Returns'?

It was deleted, but it was about Celestia's younger brother. Discord was responsible for altering the gender ratio and there's more stuff involved. The protagonist (the brother) also acts like a stallion from Canon Equestria.

7682382
He means stories involving anon. He never said just because there's 'anon' written on the title. (although that usually involves anon as a character and that's what he is avoiding )

7682355
There are many stories that don't fit the RGRE criteria. I also don't know why they are mixed with proper RGRE stories in the group. Must be lazy inspections

Part of the reason my RGRE story doesn't involve 'anon' or the 'human becomes pony and lives in the Everfree Forest' archetype is that there are just too many of those.

7682400
With a text document, you can open it and perform a Replace All which will replace all instances of the chosen word with a word or words of your choice.
For example, you could replace all instances of 'Rainbow Dash' within a story with 'Blue Fast'. It is a global change to the entire document, not the title.

7682403
I'm sure they don't want their stories in RGRE then, what can be done to correct such mistakes?
Besides starting a thread to complain about it.

7682405
There's a slight problem with that.

Some stories take anon's archetype too seriously. Like having literal green skin and being bald. That kind of physical body, and ponies are like 'kay, good' mostly because they haven't seen humans (unless it's a story where at least Twilight has seen the humans from EQG)

Also, many anon stories have origins in this '>be me, anon' format, and the stories revolve around what he does or sees, and how silly it looks to ponies around him.

7682409
But there are also stories like Long and Short of It, where there's basically nothing about the character connected to 'Anon' besides coat color and cutie mark.
Also, a green and bald John Smith is perfectly reasonable. Who's to say who can be green?

7682355
7682357
I don't actually know why Everyday Life With Guardsmares is in the RGRE group, as it isn't particularly an RGRE story.

7682414
It's probably because anyone can add a story to the group if they so desire. There is no one examining the stories as they get added to a folder or the main category. Kinda the reason why there's a mess of RGRE, 'harem/badass' stories, and stories that just involve a male and many females mixed in there.

7682416
Is there actually nothing that can be done?

7682418
To get a story removed from a group, the author would need to ask an admin.

7682414
I believe that it is RGRE, its simply more of a modern view on gender rolls. Remember that the typical RGRE stories are cave man/drag the weaker gender around by the hair type, or 1920's stay in the dam kitchen, type mind sets. EDOAGM is more of a current take. Women aren't much different from men these days, while there are some subtle differences, many could legitimately say that there aren't gender rolls anymore. After all, if you write a story about a McDonalds cashier and his day on a shift, there really wouldn't be anything major that would jump out at you that screams WOMAN, MAN. Not unless you wanted to really point out the differences.

In my opinion, Everyday life is a subtle RGRE.

I guess what Im trying to say is that RGRE suffers from the same problem that Christian stories suffer from. Rather than focus on a character having a different mindsets, the authors often pull out the sledge hammer and mercilessly beats the reader over the head with the concept until the story is propaganda or a farce. The characters become exaggerated caricature rather than real people. Something I tried very hard not to do in my story.

Monk
“To say that Twilight Sparkle went bugfuck would be like saying the Incredible Hulk had some mild anger management issues.” -DustTraveller

7682477
In Guardsmares, there is a part where one of the mares kicks a guy in the groin and everyone points and laughs.
Imagine a guy kicking a girl in the crotch, she falls to the floor crying and a bunch of guys who are our main characters point and laugh.
It's not rgre. Nothing is reversed. It's just a harem anime with horses.

7682477
Guys are treated as sexually agressive while mares are more passive. Mares in military is a rarity.
Guys are portrayed as the dominant gender, which is something that always feels weird to me in MLP since the land has been ruled by mares for around 2000 years and with almost every major politician/hero in their history being mares.

Entirely Improbable is canceled, but I think is a pretty good example of RGRE in that it doesn't just turn mares into belching, fighting frat boys.
Mares act in ways that are considered feminine, but are absolutely the ones who 'take the lead', while stallions are more passive and prone to 'follow'.
The tendency to take charge and follow aren't particularly masculine/feminine but are associated with those genders due to culture. In rgre, those particular roles are what is reversed.
What is the role reversal in Guardsmares?

It’s my experience that people will put stories into as many groups as they can get away with. The good hie list is supposed to be added to by others and have a certain number of likes, but I see people add their own brand new stories all the time. If the group owner’s away, authors will play. And if the rules aren’t enforced, nobody will listen to them.

7682355
I lot of people mistakenly add harem anime-type things to the rgre group.

7682373
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/27874/xenophilia

7682386

7682355
I think it is considered RGRE is mainly because we look from the female cast perspective and witness their sexual fantasies or perverted thoughts. Plus, even though it is subtle and not really apparent in the dating game, there does seem to be a common trend of mares in higher social status above stallions.

7682931
A female perspective does not make RGRE.
And if the RGRE elements are so subtle I question if you imagined them, that's too subtle.

7682941
IIRC the author himself doesn't even really consider it RGRE so I think you're the correct one here.

7682384
What this guy said. Getting upset over a name (especially the name of a generic self-insert character) is silly and frankly dumb, for all the stories you'll miss out on (what with you avoiding the Anon in Equestria genre).

7691080
Dude first off fuck you for being a dick with your original comment. Yeah I saw it mister high and mighty. Not everyone has to agree or like everything you like so stop throwing a bitch fit over it. Second, I personally find Anon to be extremely lazy writing. Its an excuse to not give the main character a name and backstory because the writer doesn’t have the talent to make the reader connect with them if they had those things. There is a reason why you will never see any actual published novel use Anon.

7691143
Jesus, bro. Calm down.

7691280
You didn’t see what he originally posted.

7691143

Yeah I saw it mister high and mighty.

Neat.

so stop throwing a bitch fit over it.

Says the man who appears to be blowing a gasket over some jackass on the internet.

because the writer doesn’t have the talent to make the reader connect with them if they had those things

You heard it here first, folks: if you write using a character archetype or naming convention that... whatever name the guy I'm replying to has (I don't give enough of a shit to check), then you have NO talent and you CANNOT make your readers connect with you. All those amazing stories here on fimfic using Anon as a character? SECRETLY ACTUALLY SHIT. You fools, can you all not see that the talented writers with hundreds (often over a thousand) upvotes on their Anon-starring stories have TRICKED YOU? Fools. FOOLS. Your eyes have been deceived!

There is a reason why you will never see any actual published novel use Anon.

I feel like saying "no shit, Sherlock" would still be insufficient when it comes to pointing out how astoundingly obvious this is. I don't think you'd see any My Little Pony fanfiction works being published into a big-boy novel either, so your point is kind of a big nothing burger.

You didn’t see what he originally posted.

That's right, he didn't. I realized after a minute that I was being a huge asshole and that the level of aggression in my post wasn't necessary at all, and so I deleted it and made something objectively more constructive than the first one instead. For what it's worth, I genuinely apologize for being a dick.

7691305
You’re literally the guy who lost his shit because of a comment I made about a month ago. Now you’re pretending to be in the right? Get bent asshole! Anyone would have responded the way I did if they woke up and saw the crap you spewed their way over a harmless opinion.

7691300
I didn't, but whatever they said, I don't think it's worth getting that mad over.

It's just some random, anonymous user on the internet. It's better for your mental health if their opinions don't matter to you.

7691305
Believe it or not, there are actually multiple published books that use the name Anonymous. Though most of the ones that use it as the name of a character were written by 4chan users and published by one of those companies that will publish anything.

7691315
Wait, really? I had no idea. It's easier to get something published than I thought. Are these books you find in-store, or are they more of the "I wrote a fanfiction and want the novelty of having it in book form on my shelf" kind of deal?

7691445
As far as the fiction books go, most are being sold on Amazon. None of them are available in any brick-and-mortar store.

But most published works that use the word are non-fiction books either mentioning someone who was anonymous, or are talking about the concept of anonymity.