Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Did I watch the right video? Can someone link it to the right one so I make sure I am checking out the right one?

If it is, gak. I see. It's dark. Agreed.

 

If it's "September," sung by the Living Tombstone and animated by BronyDanceParty, then you're at the right video.

 

Fun fact: you know how the correct month of the RP is September? Guess what pony song that's a reference to. :ph34r::P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We decided earlier that "September" can also describe an Epic waking up from their Rending. 

 

….sorry to mention it. :wacko:

 

I've never really thought about it before, but that does fit almost eerily well. Had Frostfire's Rending been longer, that song would have described him to a T. :mellow:

 

Believe it or not, that's not even the darkest pony-themed music video on the Internet. :mellow:

 

I almost want to ask, but the part of me that doesn't want to be scarred for life has vetoed the idea.  :unsure:  :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I couldn't handle more than a minute. Seriously, who looks at a sweet cartoon show and says "Oh, that inspires me to do this"? 

 

This is why we can't have nice things. 

 

The sequel, [REDACTED], is actually a bit better. Still graphic, still very dark, but with a brilliantly composed score and a plot that ends on a hopeful note.

 

But yeah. There were two gorey fanfics in early MLP history that have influenced all others to come, and both are extremely out-of-character distortions of the show and its values. I don't mind a dark MLP fic--when done right, they can strengthen the values of the show rather than break them down--but the most infamous fanfics are the ones that seemed to relish attacking everything that's lovable about the show and its characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The sequel, [REDACTED], is actually a bit better. Still graphic, still very dark, but with a brilliantly composed score and a plot that ends on a hopeful note.

 

But yeah. There were two gorey fanfics in early MLP history that have influenced all others to come, and both are extremely out-of-character distortions of the show and its values. I don't mind a dark MLP fic--when done right, they can strengthen the values of the show rather than break them down--but the most infamous fanfics are the ones that seemed to relish attacking everything that's lovable about the show and its characters.

 

Darkness isn't bad. I'm watching the new Netflix/Marvel Daredevil series, and it is extremely dark. But that darkness fits. It fits the setting, it fits the character, it fits the plot. It makes sense, and seeing the main character remain a hero against that backdrop actually makes the darkness uplifting, as opposed to depressing. 

 

Those two fics? They're just dark for the sake of being dark. It doesn't do anything positive for the characters, or for the series as a whole. They didn't even make me see the characters in a whole new light. They just made me ill. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Darkness isn't bad. I'm watching the new Netflix/Marvel Daredevil series, and it is extremely dark. But that darkness fits. It fits the setting, it fits the character, it fits the plot. It makes sense, and seeing the main character remain a hero against that backdrop actually makes the darkness uplifting, as opposed to depressing. 

 

Those two fics? They're just dark for the sake of being dark. It doesn't do anything positive for the characters, or for the series as a whole. They didn't even make me see the characters in a whole new light. They just made me ill. 

 

I haven't seen Daredevil, and the reviews I've seen make me suspect it's a bit too dark for me, but I know what you mean.

 

A story in which Rainbow Dash discovers a horrifying conspiracy in Cloudsdale and finds herself with her loyalties torn between her fellow pegasi and her morals could be fascinating, and I could tolerate some darkness or violence if the story moved forward in the spirit of exploring the characters and the concepts its brought up.

 

A story in which Rainbow Dash turns out to have been EVIIIIIIL all along and is the head of this terrifying conspiracy, with the story reveling in as much gore and misery as it can before ending on a downer? That's less of a fanfiction and more of a slap in the face to the readers who are presumably reading your story because they love the show and the values that you have rejected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But is it really a dark fic, if the source material we're working from is pretty dark? I think grimdark really only applies to dark stories based on sunny works—like MLP.

Good point. Though, we do show a lot more of it than in the actual stories. I suppose that comes from writing immoral and, in some cases, immortal jerks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you guys had said that dark fanfics were bad, I would be laughing really hard right now, since that's basically what we are.

 

The distinction between us and Cupcakes is that we don't revel in darkness for darkness' sake. When an evil character commits an atrocity in the RP, it's only to illustrate the issues of the setting or to prepare a villain for his eventual comeuppance. If TwiLyght had spent a dozen pages describing Fortuity cutting Nathan to pieces while Funtimes giggled by his side, then she would have written a grimdark fic--and one I wouldn't be interested in reading. Being the good writer that she is, she instead hinted at horrific gore as a way of establishing what forms of evil Epics were capable of, and what kind of well-earned terror they could inspire in vanillas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...