Fic recs, June 8th: Tankulis edition! · 8:10pm Jun 8th, 2020
I am usually disdainful of birthdays, but this year more than ever, I am feeling a distinct need for acknowledgement. If you feel like doing something to mark the occasion of my slow slide into mortality, there's the list of organization needing donations right now, and also this list for foundations supporting black trans people.
On to the reviews! The reader formerly known as Griffin Productions has taken all his stuff down, so our next reader is Tankulis Prime! He's unfortunately no longer uploading, and only ever did four readings, including Mr Stargazer's Monster, so there's not much to this. We'll just have a couple extras in this blog. But hey, good excuse to get a couple stories off my RIL, yeah? :)
H: 1 R: 0 C: 2 V: 1 N: 1
The Talk by Conner Cogwork
Reading
Genre: EQG Headcanon
Principal Celestia calls the Rainbooms to her office for an overdue chat.
I find I like the idea of Sunset telling the Principals all about Equestria, except that that is all this story is. Yes, there's a scene between just Sunset and Celestia at the end, and it's along the lines of what I like seeing between them, but it still involves a lot of Sunset just telling her backstory. The real heck of it is that, for the Equestria parts at least, everything Sunset's saying is things we, the audience, already know. She's just catching Celestia and Luna up on what they missed. So while the identity of the school's former principal is interesting, and there's that scene at the end I mentioned, overall this was really boring, and the writing quality wasn't good enough to make up for it.
Vaguely Recommended
Gem for a God by Derpator
Reading
Genre: Crackshipping/Character Piece
Discord contemplates his impending date with Rarity.
Even if I hadn't investigated the note in the description, I could have told you this was based on a sudden idea. It uses introspection in place of anything actually happening, and doesn't do a whole lot to try and sell its ship. Not that it's bad, necessarily; this is actually a really solid Discord piece. But it's distinctly one of a type that I've seen before, so just know what you're getting into.
Recommended for Shippers Only
Glow in the Dark, Shine in the Sun by TCC56
Sequel to Three Second Chances
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: EQG/Cozy Glow Redemption
Major spoilers for Three Second Chances, so be warned. Seriously, make sure you read that first, because it's great, for all that you don't actually have to read it first, for this is, in fact, not a true sequel. Though it answers the questions presented by TSC's third and most hand-wavey villain reformation, there's no Discord, and the time frame seems to be quite a lot more in line with the show's run rather than centuries after it. Which is not to say this story isn't also great, but if TSC was a lightning bolt, this is the thunder which follows: equally impressive, yet lacking in flash. Still, you can't ask for a better attempt at trying to reform Cozy Glow; the reason why it works I unfortunately don't want to talk about, because you'll find the discussion on the author's comment on the final chapter. Well, and the characterization of everyone is really strong. Like seriously, all the humane seven are envisioned as branched-off paths from their pony selves. It's really interesting to see Cozy interacting with them, because she knows the pony versions from being at the School, and thus understands what makes them tick, but every single one of them is able to throw her a curve ball she never sees coming. Cozy herself is written solidly, and the author wisely decided to just focus on everything she'd done in the show rather than trying to come up with a backstory or a motivation that couldn't be presented in broad terms. In all, it builds good tension — word to the wise, the Fluttershy chapter is raw and intense, do not ignore the warning at its start! — as we can see something going on that builds up to a cool reveal and ends with Cozy not being reformed, but on the right path. And that, really, is the only way you could have told this story and made it work.
Highly Recommended
Broken Mirror, Part One by Striker1959
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: Anthro Sci-Fi/HiE/Multiple Crossovers
I started reading this because Forrest McGilvray did a reading of one of the threequels (why start there?), and I never do anything halfway. This story, by the way, is the reason I posted this blog. Suffice to say, I will not be reviewing that reading. This started out decently enough, with the author having gone back and done some editing that seemed to work. But as much as I am a proponent of in medias res openings, the point of those is to hook the reader before you slow down and explain what's going on, not to start in the middle of the action and never stop. In other words, this author has a clear vision for what they want this story to be, they're just not interested in sharing what that vision is beyond "more action now". To the point, I had a lot of questions about what was going on in this story, and I got sick of none of them ever being answered. Things only got worse in chapter 4 when fucking Halo shows up and gets a page-long backstory dump while I'm still sitting here wondering why Dusk hates his grandfather so much. And that was just the start of it. How close is this world to the show? Why are the Princesses treated like annoyances instead of being given the respect they deserve? Who are any of these people? What do they look like? What does their organization do? Why do we need OCs in the first place when we're bringing Twilight Sparkle in to do multiverse portal stuff? Why does Dusk need a longbow? And on and on and on. I have read considerably worse stories in my life, but few of them were this dedicated to wasting my time.
DNF: 6/32
Getting the Band Back Together by FanOfMostEverything
Sequel to Blue Sunny Days and Pink Lemonade
Genre: Oversaturated World Comedy
Sonata's been missing Adagio and Aria lately. Road trip!
Man, we really need more than three tags per story. This had loads of humor in it, but you wouldn't've expected that from the tags. Anyway, diving back into the Oversaturated World as FOME closes up a hole (his words), we find Sonata being great, the other Sirens being themselves, and Mr. Discord trying to turn them into three people who actually want to be around each other. It's honestly kind of heartwarming, not to mention it unfolds the 'verse a wee bit more and explores some original ideas for where the other two might have ended up. Downsides are few, mostly the breakneck pacing (which is at least good for the comedy) and some slithery POV. Reading the previous story is not supremely required, so long as you can grok that Sonata is Discord's lab assistant and generally a nice (if bloodthirsty) person.
Recommended for Dazzlings Fans
At this point, I'm not sure if I'm actually capable of writing a story without at least some degree of humor.
As before, I am incredibly flattered and honored to get such praise. Thank you very much.
5280697
Not seeing a problem there...
5280697
Well, keep it up. :D
Why do you think readers remove their narrations?
5280883
Either falling out with the fandom or just falling out of it, and wanting to move on, rebrand, or just leave the past behind. It's hardly fair, but what can ya do? :B
Happy birthday.
Hap birf, my guy