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

Unknownlight Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 5th 2013 at 6:51:19 PM

Fo E fics without angst or monologues? Hmm, Pink Eyes, Anywhere But Here, and Memories are the first ones that come to mind, though the latter may still apply if you're picky.

RN452 Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 7th 2013 at 7:25:25 AM

Good to see that we're returning to Fallout Equestria. I can't say if the comparision to Spec Ops is accurate because, while I played the game, I didn't read the fic. It would be interesting to compare to the original Fallout 3 game though, I mean, more in depth.

Pannic Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 8th 2013 at 9:14:36 AM

That'd be somewhat tricky, as I'm only a few hours into Fallout 3 (up to the point where Moira's asked me to irradiate myself. Also, she talks to the player as though they're five years old). So I'm only really familiar with certain broad strokes - for example, Littlepip starting the quest by going after Velvet Remedy after she leaves is a parallel to the game, where the player leaves the fault to find their dad.

I could make a comparison there - the father, James, is very important to the plot of the game, because Project Purity was his invention, so searching for him actively advances the plot. With Velvet they find her by chapter 8 and then they kinda just wander around for several chapters until the actual plot shows up in chapter 25.

Also, I'm not really far enough into the game to judge, but James doesn't seem to suck as much as Velvet. That might mostly have to do with the fact that he's voiced by Liam Neeson, though.