Pretty much my thoughts exactly. There's a lot of promise here, and quite a few of the stories are really god, but so much of it just feels very mean-spirited towards the original cast. Which is funny, since RDD wanted the mane cast to still be good-but-more-flawed ponies, but didn't hit the mark when he started the universe. And that's not getting into the issues surrounding why Celestia went insane.
I have two questions. First, when you say that most of the characters are villainized, the only ones I can think of are Twilight, Zecora, and Applejack. So who else are you referring to?
And second, which fan beliefs are mercilessly crushed?
Hi
^ He's reffering to the Flanderization of all the mane cast and some other fan favorites as well. Rainbow Dash is completely unlikeable with only her compassion for Fluttershy as a redeeming trait, Fluttershy is completely unable to function in regular society instead of being simply shy. Rarity's become a manipulative bitch, Pinkie Pie has her fun qualities removed so she's just an annoying party animal, and Octavia is outright evil. Finally, fans of Celestia aren't happy that her sister didn't redeem her and left her in her miserable condition, when in canon the sister who didn't become evil went to great lengths to redeems her counterpart.
Secondly, quite a few if you look hard enough. Fans had their own interpretations characters' personalities, which were rarely acknowledged, and often extremely subverted because of these interpretation, which turns some people off. Really, there are only a few A Us that doesn't rub some people the wrong way, and this story wasn't one of those.
^ Okay, um, wow, a goodly portion of that grossly misleading.
- First and formost, Luna never "left" Celestia in a miserable condition. Say what you will about my choice to have Celestia become a recurring villain, but at no point did Luna react in a "oh, okay, back to the sun for you!" cavalier attitude. It was clearly destroying her inside to have to banish her sister a second time and I imagine that at least some small part of her was RELIEVED that she escaped. Luna all but begged Celestia to come back. Remember also that in LNLD she didn't know that Celestia would be coming back, there was no thousand-year prophecy, Luna thought that Celestia was banished forever and that she couldn't do anything about it, so she never had a chance to construct any kind of cleverly manipulative plan to compliment Celestia's in the mane universe.
- Pikie Pie is still Pinkie Pie. She is EXACTLY the same, the difference is that ponies react to her in a more realistic way, namely, no one could possibly stand to be around somepony that is THAT hyperactive ALL THE TIME. I would think this point would be driven home given that I copied almost word-for-word her initial speech to Twilight at her welcoming party for Trixie. Note that Trixie enjoyed that party, too.
- Octavia is evil? I see we're someone who read "Musicians & Dreamers" and decided to ignore any of the follow-up fics that redeem her. God forbid we have character development. Although I would hardly call Octavia "outright evil" in any event, it's not like she tried to kill or steal something, she just tried to further her own career, and not even at the expense of somepony else's - what she wanted Lyra to do really would have helped Lyra's own career. She was an ANTAGONIST, not evil.
^^ For all the grievances I do have with the Lunaverse...yeah, RDD is pretty much right here. Celestia went evil all on her own, not because she was possessed like Luna. As much as I hated the way it was handled, the circumstances were far different between the two. Octavia was an antagonist in one story, and went through a story arc soon after that left her as a nicer character. And Pinkie...well, okay, Pinkie's interpretation bugs me, too, but not in quite the same way you put it.
Are the characters flanderized? Yes. Are there things that rub me the wrong way about this AU? God, yes. But still, a lot of your points weren't all that correct.
^^
-I should have clarified the Celestia point. It wasn't that Luna had the choice to and didn't, it was that you, the author, simply didn't have Celestia redeemed, as her sister was in the main continuity. You may have justified it in your story, and other readers will accept it. However, it is the reader who ultimately decides if a story is what he wants to read, and giving a bleak outcome for a character that they love in the main canon can turn them away from a story. -Pinkie Pie is the same, in a universe that is most definitely not the same. Choosing to keep her identical, knowing that it would only make her unsympathetic, and without allowing her to realize a way to be both fun and not annoying, that decision turns off fans who like Pinkie Pie's character. - Perhaps the Octavia example wasn't the best one, I was unaware of any follow up fics. In fact, I stopped reading after skimming the first one.
That's my next point: I read one, but lost interest. You see, every reader has a "breaking point," when they decide that they don't want to continue reading. The point can be raised by having sympathetic characters, giving them development, explaining the backstory properly. And then it can be lowered by a plot development they take badly, the treatment of a character, too many dumb jokes... it could even be before it's read, with a simple alienating premise. And that's what I'm saying: the treatment of these characters by the story, not in the story, reached my breaking point, where I decided I'd rather read a story where the main cast aren't turned into unsympathetic character.
You might say "well if you haven't read it, then don't talk about it!" But this is the point of reviews; they shouldn't be about why I like it, they should be about why you would like it. And if I didn't like a story because of its treatment of these characters, you might not like it too, and I'll have saved you precious time.
You may blow me off, and other people who think like me off, but think: Do you want to be alienating potential readers before they give your story a real chance? How many readers are you willing to sacrifice because you're dead set in your own interpretation? I'm no writer, but I'd definitely be considering these questions.
"Do you want to be alienating potential readers before they give your story a real chance?"
Intriguingly, by turning away without actually reading most (or even more than half) of the stories, you're basically setting up to do exactly the same thing here.
The majority of posted Lunaverse stories don't feature the "original" M6 at all, or if they do it's in minor roles that don't conflict with their canon interpretations - for example, Fluttershy has a brief scene in "Helping Hands" that could easily be shifted with no problem into the main universe. Conversely, some stories, such as "Musicians and Dreamers," have no appearances by actual characters from the show (sorry, but Octavia, with her 4 seconds of screen time, does not count).
However, your posted comment, by focusing on the flanderization of the M6, is giving the impression that this is *all* that the Lunaverse does, when this is emphatically not the case - especially now, as the majority of the some 25-35 stories in the Lunaverse would not in any way conform to your review.
So. There we are.
I seem to be pretty late to the party, but as the original writer of this review I see an old question posed to me about my Writer on Board comment. Specifically, this was in response to the whole 'Lyra is turned into a human by zebra magic' thing. The narrative goes out of its way to point out that Lyra has no idea what a human is, and most definitely does NOT enjoy the experience. Which is fine... but then they revisit it. Again. And again. And again... eventually it just gave me the impression the author REALLY hated the 'Lyra is obsessed with humans' fanon, and I found myself saying, "Jesus, okay! I GET it! Move on!"
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Mixed feelings
As the title suggests, the Lunaverse gives me mixed feelings. It's an interesting idea, and for the most part I'm a fan of the new Elements. The stories are for the most part well written and have a lot of character; they stand apart from what they're based on while still paying homage in a clearly recognizable way. On the other hand, I'm not fond of what the authors have done to the original mane six and other focus characters.
While it's perfectly legitimate to point out how differently their personalities would be and how their lives might've gone if Celestia was the one to lose it and be sealed away rather than Luna, the Lunaverse seems to outright villainize most of the characters we know and love in order to give its own cast a chance to shine. Even that is okay to a degree, but Lunaverse has them acting fairly out of character to facilitate it. The entire setting also seems to have a hint of Writer on Board, as well, with several common fan beliefs being rather mercilessly crushed. The whole point of the Lunaverse is to be something different, but at times it comes off pretty heavy handed in this regard.
All in all, an enjoyable read that is well fleshed out and has a pleasing narrative flow. It's got great characterization, some good jokes, and interesting setups. But it's not without its annoyances.