Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Mini-Reviews Round 87

If you've been keeping up with the NHL playoffs, you'll know that they're now over.  And, if you're just wondering which fanfic won (see hereherehere, and here, in order), the answer is...




Crushing hopes and dreams since 2011

Fallout: Equestria, a.k.a. the Chicago Blackhawks, won in six against a Friendship is Optimal/Tampa Bay Lightning team decimated by injuries (their goalie, they've just revealed, played almost the entire series with a torn groin, which... ouch).  Congrats to Kkat by association, and to me directly; I made $30 off that win!  Anyway, on to your mini-reviews.



The Regalia, by Autumn Wind

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  One of Celestia's guards indulges a shameful desire.

A few thoughts:  I'm being as coy with the summary as the author, but for a "it's not what you thought it was" 1000-word short-short, it's not terribly subtle.  At least, that was my impression; with stories like this, any fun is in having your expectations upset at the end, and since I gathered what was happening before I even started the fic, I didn't get much of that.

Recommendation:  While not poorly written or any such, this fic is only worth reading for the entendre-twist ending; if you're looking for a quick twist (and don't spoil it for yourself by figuring it out in advance), this will provide.



Verse Averse: Tales of the Versebreakers, by various authors

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  A collection of short stories about the Versebreakers, a group of ponies tasked with using poor meter, unrhymable words, and other tricks to stop or curtail musical numbers throughout Equestria.

A few thoughts:  This collection came about as a result of an excellent minific horizon wrote (featured here as 4th District Court, Canterlot, 11:35 a.m.) which introduced the Versebreaker concept, which he and other authors then took and ran with in various directions.  There are some lovely individual stories in here--in fact, almost all are lovely individually, though I want to especially mention Sharp Spark's Manehattan Takes Rarity for combining bureaucratic comedy with a stupid/wonderful ending pun), but those stories don't always play nice together.  For example, 4th District etc. (which is straight comedy) has as its lead-in a tragic tale which turns what is, by itself, a hilarious take on Equestria's tendency to go Full Musical at a drop of a hat into the bleak coda to a story about a pony whose job is literally killing him.  That disconnect stuck out the most, but the authors of this collection went with everything from straight comedy to faux-noir to world-destroying (I'm not sure what genre to call that, exactly, but there's a story that strongly suggests that Equestria is destroyed Twilight and the girls probably fixed it with a magic rainbow, actually.  That's kind of their thing, innit?) to, of all things, commentary on European colonialism.  Individually, though, the only real miss was horizon's On the Roof, which posits capital H-Harmony as a supersentient force which in the mold of Gaia from Asimov's later Foundation books and, like those books, posits the destruction of individual will as an ultimate good.  I found that... disturbing, and the way that story climaxes feels an awful lot like watching a murder unfold to thunderous applause.  That notwithstanding, it's certainly very effective, and I enjoyed all the other stories to varying degrees.

Recommendation:  If the concept of ponies having a specific agency that deals with rogue musical numbers doesn't appeal to you at all, I can't help you.  But otherwise, this is definitely a set worth checking out, even if only to skim a few of the more interesting-looking selections.

32 comments:

  1. Verse Averse sounds interesting, seeing as I, myself, have often dreamed of ruining spontaneous musicals, but unfortunately have never actually seen one happen in my lifetime. Lucky for you, Chris, my interest resulted in my clicking the link, and discovering that it lead to The Regalia! Feel free to correct that whenever.

    Other than that, I have no interest in Hockey, nor in Fallout: Equestria, nor in $30, so I shall be on my way! Good day, sir.

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  2. Clearly, the Blackhawks won because they had ponies on their side: http://mylittleblackhawk.tumblr.com/tagged/my-little-blackhawk

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    1. Woah, it's been a couple of years since I've seen that site! I've been hitting a bunch of old-in-fandom-terms stuff the past few days, somehow.

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    2. Nooooooooooooooo! Please, Chris, say you're not one of the mindless masses who can't spell "whoa" correctly!

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    3. Surely in modern terms it's just an onomatopoeia? There's no 'correct' spelling for it.

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    4. I may be mindless, and I may spell "woah" the way I think it ought to be spelled, but I'll have you know that my doctor thinks that I'm at an excellent weight, thank you very much *sniff*

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    5. If it's an onomatopoeia, what sound is it imitating? And if you say "the sound of someone saying 'whoa'" I'll smack you through the internet.

      http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whoa
      http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suggestions/woah

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  3. I stopped watching MLP because season 4 wasn't holding my interest (last episode was Pinkie Apple Pie). Now I see quite some excitement over episode 100; worth it to get back into the show?

    (Also, as a non-regular commenter, I would like to say I've been following OMPR and would like to take this moment to thank and praise Chris for consistent, high-quality updates over the years. You've really helped my writing.)

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    1. Season 5's been surprisingly good so far (with the exception of Discord). Couldn't hurt to give it a shot, right?

      ALL HAIL CHRIS, LORD OF REVIEWS!!!

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    2. Glad you enjoy the blog, zz! As for the show: episode 100 notwithstanding, I've felt like season 5 to date has been a significant improvement over season 3 and 4. Of course, if your problem is "the show doesn't hold my interest anymore" rather than being a season-specific thing, there's nothing here that's likely to change that. Up to you, I suppose!

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    3. >with the exception of Discord

      HERESY

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    4. Pretty sure most people found Discord annoying in Make New Friends, so that wouldn't be heretical

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    5. Honestly, you're the first real person I've heard express negative sentiment about the episode. Even 4chan was raving for it, and I've found that they're the hardest segment of the fandom to please.

      It also happened to me my personal favourite episode of the season so far, so I'm afraid I must ask you to stand down and surrender yourself to the Holy Inquisition for questioning.

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    6. Are you kidding? Tons of people were complaining about Tree Hugger, despite her being the best part of that episode (that freakin' whinny bit was hysterical!), so while it was well received, I'm hardly the first person to say anything negative about it. Not sure where you were that you didn't see that. I actually enjoyed the episode overall. It was just Discord that I didn't like

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    7. Negative about the episode. I did see complaints about Tree Hugger. And I disagree with those too. Tree Hugger is best pony.

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  4. And my record of having Chris pull problematic implications out of my stories remains unbroken!

    Seriously, though, I'm going to have to contest this one (in implication, I contend; but CERTAINLY in degree). First, and I can't stress this enough, musicals can only take you over when the music's playing; we explicitly see full control return to Lyra afterward, both here and in the Fugue State prequel. Comparing a temporary, reversible loss of individuality to murder just seems unfair ... and that's not even getting into how the entire point of the story, the fundamental purpose of On the Roof's versebreakers, is to acknowledge Harmony as perfect and then overrule its decisions. If that's not Man spitting in the face of God, fighting to affirm the core value of individuality in the face of a power big enough to wipe it out without even noticing, I don't know what is.

    -h

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    1. One time I burned my mouth while eating Microwaveable Pizza Roles, but I kept eating them, so I get what you're saying.

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    2. Now I'm imagining a tabletop game where each player controls individual toppings: bacon, mushrooms, extra cheese, capers and acrobat

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    3. ...Ooooh, Pizza Roles. I get it. Sigh. Will there ever be a sentence I write that I don't have to go back and correct?

      Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls Pizza Rolls

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    4. (spoilers)

      @horizon: fair enough, but I definitely didn't pick up a "temporary, reversible" vibe from the story. Lyra's been fighting against the music her whole life, and that battle is the cornerstone of her identity as a pony. That fear/hatred of being sucked up into song is what defines her, more than any one thing... until one day, she's forced to participate in Harmony, and within four verses she "accepts" the inherent goodness and rightness of being part of the musical, and desires now to act in accord with Harmony where before she hated and feared it.

      Now, perhaps that's just a case of Lyra realizing, of her own volition, that everything she knew about music was wrong. But what it looks like is some high-level personality destruction: a pony goes out on the roof, and a different pony comes back down, wearing the same skin. My reading was that, by exposing herself fully to Harmony, she ceded her essential identity, and the casual instant acceptance of that which was anathema to her moments ago only reinforced the idea.

      As for the purpose of the Versebreakers... I like the idea you put in that post a lot more than the one I came away with from the anthology, courtesy of Master Class: "she was proud to be one of those who safeguarded the music of Harmony and prevented ponies from twisting it into something unhealthy or malicious." What I got from that story was that the Versebreakers were an essential functionary of Harmony, rather than safeguarders against it.

      Of course, that's not what you wrote. I probably should have taken my advice to treat each story individually a bit more to heart!

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  5. I am long past anyone's help, Chris.

    Anyway, it seems I enjoyed that first one a lot – albeit quite a while ago. Re-reading it now, I find it a bit too forced, and it could definitely use a title change, but it's hard to have too many issues with such a short story that works.

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    1. It should also be noted that the mere title of the second story puts it firmly into I will never, ever read this territory.

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  6. Of the Versebreakers stories, I've only read horizon's original one, and I found it clever fun. But the whole reason the versebreakers were funny is because it came as a surprise. Knowing that a musical would happen and that they'd turn up again going into a whole series of stories ruins that surprise, and for me at least, takes away the whole point of reading them. Now if they're good stories on their own, such that this is just an anthology of shorter works in which the versebreakers turn up, though the musical itself and their appearance aren't important plot elements, then I suppose that's fine, but then I think there's a branding issue here, since that's what's getting the advertising. It's like reading a murder mystery anthology titled "101 Killings in which the Butler Did It."

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    1. I think it's closer to a murder mystery anthology titled "101 Killings in which a Detective Becomes Involved."

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  7. FoE vs. FiO? Of course FoE won. At least you really know your hockey, Chris. I will never question your evaluation thereof in the future.

    While I loved the Canterlot courtroom fic, I really never saw the appeal in extending the joke. You talk about a couple of the entries, but is that collection overall worth reading?

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    1. I would say so. One of the key points here is that it's not extending the joke. It's running with the concept behind the joke in a bunch of different directions to set up stories with various types and tones. Some were better than others, and if you end up reading it I'd suggest giving a little space between the rest and "Heart of Silence," as although it's enjoyable in its own way the tonal, setting, and stylistic disconnect with the others can be pretty jarring.

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    2. @ PP: depends on what you want. If you liked the sheer goofiness of the idea, you should check out Augie's, Caliaponia's, and Sharp Spark's first stories. If you're interested in the Versebreakers as a worldbuilding concept, the whole collection is worth looking through, as long as you go in thinking of it as a loose anthology rather than a coherent whole.

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  8. The Regalia was the very first story that I read back when I joined Fimfiction. It's amusing for what it is.

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