The one type of fic I truly hate · 2:04am Jul 22nd, 2012
It’s whinny time! Remember, since this is not a site post, this is a personal opinion/thought/whatever. So no getting this confused with rules or stuff like that, okay?
So, this isn’t in response to a particular fic or anything, but more of a personal thing that I thought I would just share.
I HATE stories where the MLP cast has always been human.
Turning a pony into a human? Cool.
HiE? Not my favorite genre thanks to so much crap going there, but, hey I enjoy a few stories from that category.
(Even more) Anthro ponies? Sure, why not?
But... a world where they were always human just irks me. It makes me annoyed and borderline angry. I know, it’s a matter of taste and all but...
What is the point of that, I ask you? Why the hell would you want to write a story about ponies that were never ponies and will never be ponies and just happen to be named the same as ponies in the TV show?
Just so you can write a high school adventure story? Why do you need the Mane 6 or other ponies to write that? Are you really that lazy? Can’t you make up your own characters or even base them of the archetypes that the Mane 6 and others were based on? Is it just because you want people to read your story and you know that by renaming Rebbeca “Twilight Sparkle” it’s going to get readers?
To me, personally, a story where the cast has always been human has NOTHING to do with FIM.
As a mod, when the stories have so many references (because that’s all they are; references. It’s not Canterlot. Not Ponyville. And certainly NOT Equestria) that it is obviously ripped off based off FIM I have to pass them. And it kills me to do so for the reasons explained in this blog.
It doesn’t mean that the stories are all bad. Not at all. There are some good stories like that, but honestly, if you replace the names of Twilight with Rebecca, Fluttershy with Stephanie, Applejack with Andrea Jones and so on and so forth... it doesn’t change a damned thing because there is really nothing whatsoever that connects them to the world of MLP:FIM.
Honestly, it’s stupid. If you want to write high school drama fanfiction write an Azumanga Daioh fanfic. Or if that’s too mundane there’s always Totally Spies or Negima! or something else. Hell, go a bit older and you have Ah! Megamisama as an option with all the high school BS, magic and goddesses that you could want. Or Lum. Or Ranma. Oh, you cannot publish them here? Well... fanfiction.net is an option. Or the FFML. Or somewhere else. Put a link on your blog or something for the few that care.
A fanfic about humans with My Little Pony character names SHOULD NOT be in a site about My Little Pony fanfiction just because of the names. At least the ones where the whole of Equestria was turned into humans has a plot device behind why they are humans.
But, writing them as humans just because you want them to be human for some unknown, inane reason? It’s worse of a projection than the “Twilight” series. Seriously. And that is a bad, bad thing.
Spike is a dragon. That’s what makes the character, besides his personality. A human boy named Spike only tells me that his parents hated him or his birth was particularly painful to the mother.
“Princess Celestia” is not the title of a school proctor. Seriously. How tremendously stupid is that? And “Nightmare Moon” the bad teacher? WTF?
No. They are not pony fics.
This won’t stop people from writing them, I think, but hell I had to get it out. It’s a personal opinion, of course, but a word of warning. If you write one of the above... and I can simply replace the names and see that it has nothing to do with FIM at all other than the names? Oh, I am SO failing that with a grin in my face, a lighter heart and a fist pump at preventing such a thing from being here.
That is all.
Or not. Check Derp’s the Word because it’s awesome.
I know how you feel. By the way, feel better after letting all that out.
It's like you took the words right out of my mouth.
...I had no idea that was out there, and it sounds like I wasn't missing very much. Sometimes, I feel sorry for you mods. Thanks for keeping at it in spite of everything, though!
I hate Anthro stories with a burning, flesh-vaporizing passion.
I feel your pain...
Hmmm... I actually had a fic planned at one point where the ponies were humans... or at least human-esque. It sure as hell wasn't a high-school drama.
It was called 'Champions of Harmony' and it was a fantasy-adventure starring the mane 6 where all of them were members of the various 'races of man.' Applejack and Pinkie were humans and a fighter and a bard respectively, Rainbow and Fluttershy were elves and were a ranger and a wildsman, and Twilight and Rarity were druids (a race that had a horn) and were a sorceress and an enchantress respectively. It was a sort of Dungeons and Dragons esque thing, and the story was going to focus on the conspiring forces of Nightmare Moon and Discord basically breaking the world.
...I scrapped it because it was too generic with only the human angle making it interesting.
Yes, please DO check out Derp's the Word! It's awesome! (And I'm totally not biased as one of Deleteh's most faithful minion... <.< )
Indeed.
Agreed. I used to roleplay online for a long time, and to this day, I can't look at something like that and NOT feel hatred. Not that there aren't good high school-based fanfics (or in my case, roleplays) out there; I just haven't seen one yet.
My lord, I feel like a nerd.
I too share this opinion and would gladly join you in the fistpumping.
If it's a pony it should stay a pony, that is the truth.
those stories make me
so hard.
Agree with you 100% all the way.
Indeed
242586 The funny thing is that you didn't have to post that at all. You could have stopped at: 'You and I have a different way of looking at it' and been done with it. What was the point of the rest of that other than to garner attention?
Now, on to the blog post, I completely agree. It's mainly why I hate HiE too. The focus isn't on the ponies, it's on the humans. What's the point of writing a fic about ponies if they aren't even the pivotal character in the story? Now, if I were a mod (i.e. knighty, to be more specific) I would fail almost any story that had the word human in its description or in-story. Unless it was like Spiders and Magic.
I've never seen a fic like this. I guess my mind filters out stories with the "human" tag when I'm browsing.
You put my most hated fic on the line of fire.
GET OUTTA MY HEAD.
You put EVERY DETAIL as what I hate most about it into words I couldn't.
242586 >Implying that disagreeing on something is called "Whining"
I can give you WHINING.
"OOOH, THE PEOPLE ARE SO MEAN HERE! OOH, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAAAAAND ME, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
That's whining. What I was doing? Putting out my opinions. Get it right, or don't say anything that isn't true. Gonna talk behind me, don't even try.
I agree. And so much potential is wasted, imo, when they just have them always be human and living like humans.
The only reason I'm not going to re upload one of the stories I wrote is "The rate of humans going to Equestria is too damn high!"
encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQr9_ZxXgTig0CwP5BcfRmokwFzfchlZacRnp1z3Us_RoDTfLlrqA
Plus, on top of the rate being way too damn high... You said most of it, but I mean, the whole "Humanized pony" just has no logic backing it up.
I think at this point there's more humans in Equestria than ponies.
I have to say, I agree.
The mere words "Its the mane six as humans but transposed to a small town in America" In the story synopsis is enough to make me pass it by instantly.
I come here to read MLP Fan Fiction. As Wanderer said, the type of stories mentioned here are NOT MLP Fan Fiction.
I can't find a like feature for this blog post, so I'll just say it in the comments: I salute you, good sir, for puting into words something I've been trying to for years
242607 why do they never have them as human, yet acting like ponies? that'd make it interesting!
edit dang it, if my internet hadn't crashed I'd have gotten first comment! not that I'd shout "first" or anything; it's just that I feel a sense of accomplishment doing so, and as such my opinion is the first read, and that makes me try to be as eloquent as possible. tl;dr: when I get first I tend to act like less of an ass than usual.
242658 ..... EPIC IDEA dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Bonbon_OMG_LOVE.png
I see this thread and feel reaffirmed hope for mankind... then again I see anything from Wanderer D and I get that feeling.
HiE, PoE, and Humanized... they CAN be done, but can they be done well? I have seen a few worth my interest, but my standards are rather lax.
A high school slice of life story doesn't really fit this niche very well. Maybe for a alternate universe crossover. But its not really Pony fanfiction without... well... ponies.
I have a burning hatred of high-school fics. They are a scourge and should be cleansed by plasma hellfire.
The story concept has been done to death, and they're almost all bad due to being written mainly by high-schoolers/ uncreative children.
242620 ...A fellow Babylon 5 fan... dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_rainbowderp_flip.png
242701
Oh, we are still around... Just few and far between. Which is greatly disappointing in my opinion.
Never will be another science fiction show with the scale and quality of writing Babylon 5 had it seems...
242707 I know! I dressed up as a Psi-cop for a Sci-fi themed picnic my sorority sisters had.... nobody knew what I was
Mundanes... But seriously... that series is the best Sci-fi series out there...
242679 the best idea I can come up with is having them be human, and then they get stuck in equestria with their pony counterparts, or vice versa
I don't especially care for "Ponies 'R' Human" fics either but I also don't especially care for double standards.
The greatest difference between a "Ponies 'R' Human" fic and a normal fic is that you can't write one with all OCs and still have it called a FiM fic.
That's why characterization is super important. If the characters are so unrecognizable as their canon counterparts that they might as well be OCs, while the fic doesn't even have ponies in it, then of course it should be failed.
Then again, I don't feel that should be limited to "Ponies 'R' Human" fics.
There are tons of stories that have fuck all to do with FiM's characters, themes, or even universe. I don't see "Ponies 'R' Human" as being the greatest divergent feature among these fics by far.
242602
Genre bias is never a good thing.
Yes 90% or more of all "Human" fics are utter garbage, but that is not a reflection on the genre, it's a reflection on the authors who write it.
The authors are not writing "Human" genre fics, they are mostly writing "self-insert" genre fics. The fact that it's a human self-insert is incidental as it could easily be a pony or a ponified human self-insert.
Human fics are much harder to write well than normal fics, yet most authors who write them are the least skilled, experienced, or "ethical".
Your reasoning for not liking them, though, because the story "focuses" on a character that's not a pony, is not especially sensible.
What about stories about Spike? Oh, you just meant canon characters? What about pony OCs then? Oh, you meant Equestrians in general? What about universes in which Equestria is a part of, or connected to, Earth?
Sorry, but character focus taking away from the characters YOU want to read about is not a logical bias.
One of my pet peeves with this premise is just the fact they do rename Twilight Sparkle to something like Rebecca, oh and high school fics in general. Thank GOD there aren't that many of those one this site.
242679
I could make a few recommendations for better ones.
You prefer original or crossover based humans?
Drafting up an Externals chapter that's going to tear the PrH genre a new one. Thanks for the idea Wanderer. Btw, if anyone is asking about me on chat, direct them to my latest blog post.
Agreed. Not as an insult to any authors who do this, but these fics usually aren't my fancy either... Again, just an opinion. If there are any particularly good ones though, I enjoy them.
I don't mind it if they are quite literally human in Equestria, DH's story of a human Twilight and Celestia was quite moving. I will also say I find SleeplessBrony's story about humanized college student's interesting, but mainly because the character's are somehow still the same from the show. Well that and, it's SleeplessBrony, come on.
In general, I look at the tags like this: hmmm, dark, romance, hu- no. adventure, comedy, hum- no.
Humans must stay out of Equestria, since they'll just bring all the pollution with them, and we'll be left with generically-colored ponies that are not capable of sentient actions.
Self-insert HiE's are my least favorite, followed by Cupcakes lookalikes and Fluttermac stories. Fluttermac is worst ship, there is absolutely no dynamic between the two.
Hee hee... whinny time.
That is why I name my 'human' ponies as Follows:
And there you have it, my human name list for the Mane 6.
242727 Don't get me wrong. I don't hate all HiE. I've seen maybe, four or five that have caught my interest, but even you said it yourself. The vast majority of HiE, Human, blah blah blah are total shit. I literally avoid every single romance and human tagged story because, as the saying goes, poni should poni poni. Not human should human poni. There's a reason why it's called My Little 'Pony' and not My Little Pony and Various Human Friends, or My Little Pony Humans are Magic.
Now, Self-insert OC's are just as bad as humans and such and, let's be honest here, you can smell a self-insert from a mile away. I'd also like to point out that I didn't say anything about specific characters. I used the generalized term 'pony' while writing that out and you should know that Spike doesn't count towards any argument you might have. He is part of the canon story (along with the three diamond dogs, crackle, discord, etc.) and as such should not be included in my dislike section. I figured that it would be obvious and I'm sorry that you tunnel visioned my words.
Now, Earth <=> Equestria stories can be written well (there's one that I read that was pretty good), but again this goes back to it just being a way to stick yourself in a story and make it seem legit.
I should also take this time to tell you that I have written stories with OC's (well, one, but still) as the focus. I do not mind them (and love quite a few of them) as long as they are well written and not self-inserts. Now, say, if your OC main character was some random shit like a kangaroo or some retarded thing like that that has nothing at all to do with the My Little Pony universe, then you should be drawn and quartered.
tl;dr: My Little Pony is about ponies (and canon non-pony characters), not humans or kangaroos.
I have incurable genre bias towards any story involving humans. The slightest reference to them irks me, no matter how comical.
I try reading and tracking well written human stories, but in the end they always end of being the stories which makes me wonder "Why am I tracking this?" and then proceed to hit "mark all read" at each update.
This type of story is the reason I can't read ‘Sonic’ fan fics anymore. That and the ungodly amount of poorly written gay-porn.
Anyway, I think the name replacement test should become an official rule on the site. Because seriously, we do not want to end up like ‘Sonic.’
242586 If you have a legitimate reason for it, you are already on a different level than most I've read. Like I said, it's not like they are bad stories or people should stop writing them just because I don't like them.
242602 Well... the thing is, as a mod I cannot (and will not) let personal likes/dislikes decide what will pass and what won't. That's why this is personal opinion... it doesn't necessarily mean I am 100% right.
242707 Aw you say it as if you were all alone
242798 Horse Puns will save the universe!
242885
Well, gentlemen of good taste such as yourself go without saying...
There are a few fans on the site here that I know of at least.
Luckily for me, I have not had the misfortune of reading those sort of stories that you so hate. That said, if your description of them is even half accurate, they sound so horribly terribad that my eyes would start bleeding two sentences in...
...And yet you have the most gloriously meta, HiE, human-based, self-insert fanfic on the site.
Not that I am complaining, I agree with the major points in principle, after all.
Though I think it is self-insert that is the most dangerous of mary-sue story-ruining issues, I recognize the issues. Want someone who can "learn" about the friendship? Don't use a human. You've got plenty of canon species that aren't pony-interacters. Use a diamond dog, use a changeling, heck, use a hydra (the facial expressions imply it is at least partially intelligent). And then things work just fine. Human problem solved. But self-insert problem...
If you replace every instance of "human" with "farmboy griffin", you still keep the meat-stigma, the hands, the foreign viewpoint, the stories would fundamentally be the same, but they would still be subpar. "Oh hai, im Griff the Griffin, let me mount you twilite" "Oh yes plez grif yay yah"... Admittedly some self-inserts have good spelling and grammar, but it's the thought that counts.
Entire cast as humans, though? Degrassi has a fanfic forum, I'm sure.
242573 Except he doesn't hate anthro stories. He hates humanized stories that take the characters and nothing else from FiM.
I'm mostly with you!
...But I did find one that was good. I can't for the life of me remember the name, but it just sort of won me over.
But I think it was on GoogleDocs so the point is moot!
242920
Except I wasn't referring to his likings, I was referring to mine...hatings...ponies
242923 Ah, sorry. The 'I know your pain' implies that you know what he's feeling, that your pain and his are the same.