Text Review Roundup: "28 Pranks Later"

Rainbow has clearly been taking dimension-hopping lessons from Pinkie

Time for another summary of what non-video reviewers thought of the latest episode. As ever, I don't claim this to be a comprehensive survey of such people, but hopefully there are at least enough to be of interest. As always, click on the reviewer's name to read their review for yourself. There's a newcomer to TRR this week in the shape of Michaelsety. Do let me know if there are any other text-based reviewers you'd like me to feature here!

There was quite a mixed reception to this episode, with Rainbow's characterisation coming in for particular criticism. Here we go:

ArthurCrane – generally positive ("I (mostly) actually like this")

Articles of Destroyer – mixed (rated 6/10)

BatBrony Reviews – mildly positive ("just an OK episode")

Derpy News – mildly positive (graded B)

Michaelsety – very positive (graded A)

Louder Yay – mixed (rated 3/5; "it isn't really a S6 episode")

Super Recaps – negative ("had the potential to be something much more")

The Super Mario Brony Blog – extremely negative (rated 0/5; "how not to write an episode")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – mixed ("by no means terrible, although it'd possibly be less frustrating if it were")

Ponyfic Roundup 120: Spotlight on Whom the Princesses Would Destroy

These Olympics have been fantastic so far, and not only because my own country is doing better than expected. (Sheesh, that men's keirin final, though. Don't do that to me, Jason Kenny!) But back to ponyfic now. I wouldn't normally post two Spotlight PRs in the space of three weeks, but I've ended up having more to say about this story than I was expecting for a piece of under 20,000 words. Here we go:

Whom the Princesses Would Destroy by GhostOfHeraclitus
OCs and Celestia
Comedy/Slice of Life; 20k words; Oct 2012; Teen

Behind the scenes of a perfectly normal visit to Canterlot lies chaos. Also, custard.

Now here's something different, and it was probably even more different when it appeared four years ago. This is a story about the Equestrian Civil Service – and if you're thinking Yes, Minister then you're not far off. (If you're not, go and educate yourself!) Its protagonist, Dotted Line, is a fun character, though most of the others are well thought out too. Don't expect a slavish Yes, Minister clone, though; it's more imaginative than that. Later on, in fact, it's more reminiscent of early-mid series Discworld stories. The fic's main flaw is a persistent tense problem: the present is repeatedly used where the past (or occasionally the conditional) is called for. Apparently this was a deliberate decision; since English is (I think) GoH's third language, it's understandable, but it's still annoying. Recommended, though, since it's good fun and doesn't overstay its welcome. ★★★★

After the break, a few more detailed – and spoilery – thoughts.

A bit of role reversal

Normally I review other people's stories, but this is about other people reviewing my stories. I hope you'll indulge me in a post that has no significance at all beyond me being pleased about it. I've had two very nice reviews of my ponyfic in the last couple of weeks:

First, Chris reviewed the very silly Shining Armor's Amour's Armour, a fic that is much more a piece of silliness than an actual good story but which has unaccountably become one of my most popular pieces. As he quite rightly says, it's not a fic there's any point in reading if you don't like contrived puns – but who doesn't? It's also well timed, since the story was inspired by a passing comment from Cerulean Voice, a long-standing author who has made the entirely understandable decision to retire from ponyfic and give priority to that strange thing we call Real Life.

PaulAsaran reviewed another of my stories, It Doesn't Matter Now. This is a fic that I do think is a good story – it's also by some way my most read fic – and I'm very pleased by the comments Paul gave about it. I think he makes a fair point about its brevity, but then that's what I do. I'm sure someone could have made it into a wonderful longer fic, but I was never that someone. So as with Chris's review, albeit from a rather different perspective, I'm very happy with that.

(That's enough self-promotion – Ed.)

Episode review: S6E15: "28 Pranks Later"

Was there a Cookie Monster joke in this ep? If not, why not?

In the last two weeks, we've had an episode I loved and an episode I... didn't love. This time around we had a brand new writer to My Little Pony in the shape of F. M. De Marco. They had previously worked on Littlest Pet Shop, however. With zombies having been canon since Pinkie mentioned them way back in "Bridle Gossip", I was rather hoping that we'd get a fun yet just slightly scary episode. What we actually got was...

Pony Music Library 21: "Vicious Lies"

You know what? It's been a while since I posted a PML entry – so let's do something about that right now.

( Text link )

What? "Vicious Lies"

Who? d.notive

Which? Original song

When? February 2012

Why? Oh my goodness, this takes me back. When I joined the fandom, in spring 2012, this was one of the first tracks I found that really turned me on to how great brony music could be. Back then, the whole "New Lunar Republic" / "Tyrant Celestia" thing was still fairly popular, and though I've never been very interested in that in itself, this song demanded my attention. If you have any interest at all in Depeche Mode, you'll recognise the style, which is ideal for a tale like this. I don't know when I last heard someone mention this song, and that's a crying shame.

Text Review Roundup: "The Cart Before the Ponies"

Ah, the briefest glimpse of what might – should – have been

All right, time for another Text Review Roundup. I imagine you all know the setup by now, but just in case: this is a summary of what non-video reviewers, a group that doesn't interest EQD but does interest me, thought of the most recent episode. Clicking on a reviewer's name will take you straight to the review in question. And this time, the reception was generally rather poor.

Articles of Destroyer – negative (rated 5/10; "Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all are written very terribly")

Batbrony Reviews – mildly positive ("utterly predictable [but] better than average")

Derpy News – mildly positive (graded B)

KrisSimsters – equivocal ("could have been better")

Louder Yay – rather negative (two stars; "I was rather underwhelmed")

The Railfan Brony – very negative (rated 2/10; "a big disappointment")

Super Recaps – negative ("largely tedious to sit through")

TheDragonWarlock – rather negative (graded C-)

Thrond Media Pony Corner – negative ("the show at its least interesting")

Valiant Venture – mixed (rated 6.5/10)

Ponyfic Roundup 119: And she Dances on the Sand

I'm not a very sporty person on the whole, but I have been enjoying the Olympics. Despite all the usual problems, most of them self-inflicted by the IOC, it's still good entertainment. Especially seeing my own country's team repeatedly failing to live up to its potential. I've lost count of the number of athletes who've come fourth or sixth or something when they should have got a medal. The worst thing is that we may come behind Australia for the first time in three Games. Argh.

Anyway, ponyfic now. Still no five-star stories, but never mind; there's still some good reading to be had here.

Everypony Hates Dash by Eskerata
What do You do With a Drunken Unicorn? by Tumbleweed
Iron Wing and the Demolition Crew by KingMoriarty
Monochrome by A Man Called Horse
Cold Front by Pascoite

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0