Live Blogs Pannic Reads Stuff He Hates

Pannic2012-06-30 18:18:12

In the event that you just clicked this more or less at random and have pretty much no idea what this is, allow me to explain:

Fallout: Equestria is a fanfiction, a crossover between the Fallout series of video games and the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It may be the single most popular fanfiction in the entire fandom of the latter. The story is 45 chapters long plus an epilogue and an afterwards, clocks in at a word count higher than War and Peace (unless I'm mistaken one tragically misguided fan put the story on Wikipedia's "list of the longest books ever" page. Obviously it was removed), and has a large fanbase of its own, spawning fan art, fan adaptations, music, and even fanfiction of its own.

Fans have praised it for worldbuilding: the story actually does not go for the usual "character from video game meets ponies" premise a lot of lazy crossovers opt for, and instead works it into the backstory how we get from the universe in the show to the post-apocalyptic radioactive wasteland that we recognize from the Fallout games. Or I would recognize it if I'd played the games. As it is, I am waiting for a sale on Steam or GOG. The main characters of the story are all original characters, and they have been praised as "OC ponies done right" and "the best OC ponies in the fandom." In any case, the protagonist Littlepip is fairly instantly recognizable to many in the fandom, whether or not they've read the story. The story's length also qualifies it as something of an "epic." In any case, it has had praise heaped on it and is considered by many to be the best fanfic in the FiM fandom.

At this point, I have cleared chapter 13. I do not think the story deserves the praise it receives. I view it as horrendously overrated. As I go through the story, I will detail my problems with the story, along with general mockery.

The general Fallout: Equestria thread did not approve of my incessant riffing on the story and suggested I take it to a liveblog. Well, that's what I'll do.

A note that for the parts I have already read (the first thirteen chapters), I will be largely dealing from memory. As such, they will most likely not be as detailed as when I return to the stuff I haven't read. In any case, let's get started. Hopefully this isn't redundant as Perpetual Lurker is also doing a liveblog.

EDIT: It seems my complaining cannot be confined to a single fanfic. As such, I have decided to turn this into a multi-story liveblog!

Comments

Sereg Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 20th 2013 at 4:47:21 AM

The Ballon Orb will make more sense later.

And I honestly don't see anything evil about wearng the bones of the long dead. Morbid, but not evil. It's not like they were using their bones anymore. Though I tend to be a little on the pragmatic side. I'd rather have my dead body used as clothes than just sit buried in the ground being useless. Of course, organ donation is far superior.

Pannic Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 20th 2013 at 11:41:09 AM

Point is she's a one-dimensional cacklingly evil bad guy who dies as soon as she's introduced. I suspect she exists solely to justify the Goddess not sending Littlepip with a note that says "Hey, don't shoot her, she's cool."

Anyway, finished chapter 38. This should be a fun update.

Unknownlight Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 20th 2013 at 1:43:17 PM

The main reason Chapter 37 is treated so significantly in the story (besides its length) is because Kkat had that chapter roughly planned out since the story began, and she said she'd been looking forward to writing it for a long time. Thus, it's treated with more impact than it ought to have, considering that there's still an entire book left.