TV Tropes community

  • 🏰 The Fediverse is up. If you know, you know.
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
Lackadaisy said:
Ah, yes. Fun fact: Not only is this story about torturing cartoon ponies longer than War & Peace, the author is a whiny sadsack whose fans shut down any criticism to keep his feelings from being hurt.
Click to expand...

The only thing left is to write a fluffy pony fan fiction which is even longer.

@Jaiman, this is your chance to make autistory.

What do we know about the author?
 
I know this is off-topic and stupid but I remember a long time ago (and by long I mean last month,) that there's a bad webcomic wiki forum on tvtropes of how bad the community is. And most of their criticism seems on point on what there talking about. Their criticism feels the same.
-If it's a comic with a left leaning point of view they'll sperg out the shit out of it (except for assigned male, that's the only review I agreed with.)
-If the main character has super powers (mainly female characters) they'll call it a mary sue ad hominem
-If the story has exposition that made sense to the plot expect that person to bitch and moan that the story doesn't make sense
-If there's a minority character (usually gay or a different skin color that isn't a stereotype) it's now pandering
-If a webcomic creator made money off their work expect someone to deal out of it and make a huge conspiracy that their work is going to fail. (""How dare this person add effort to their webcomic by paying?!?AUDACITY!!)
-good luck getting your head chopped off if your webcomic just so happened if it's furry or fetish.

They used to have good criticism on bad webcomics but now it's feel nonetheless the same thing everytime. But of course one of the mods from tvtropes decided to lock it because of ""hateful speech"" or some stupid rules like that. Because oh no someone talking about something "hateful" that we don't secretly like? Lock the forum from the off-topic category!
 
OtterParty said:
does the author leak enough about himself to get his own thread?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge, he's been significantly quieter since he finished it, but TVTropes links to a sequel so there may be something there. Project AFTER's thread on it is a good place to look for caps and discussion on both the author and his "work." I think Somber himself even showed up to whine in the thread.
 
Pointless Pedant said:
The only thing left is to write a fluffy pony fan fiction which is even longer.

@Jaiman, this is your chance to make autistory.

What do we know about the author?
Click to expand...
According to that project AFTER thread he's a high school English teacher and apparently so suicidally depressed any criticism of his fanfic will cause him to off himself.
 
I got a bit curious, so I did a bit of calculating. As it turns out, the combined word count for all their Todd in the Shadows subpages is 201,918 words. That's more than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (198,227 words) and juuuuuust shy of Moby Dick (206,052 words).
 
Pointless Pedant said:
Why hasn't he, then? Plenty of people have called it autismal trash.
Click to expand...
Related: in that Project AFTER thread he showed up, seemed like he could handle people making fun of his fanfic just fine and would be willing to have a conversation with the posters in the thread...and then promptly posted about how his friends told him he shouldn't be around that kind of negativity (or something along the lines) and left the forums.
 
Xerxes IX said:
Related: in that Project AFTER thread he showed up, seemed like he could handle people making fun of his fanfic just fine and would be willing to have a conversation with the posters in the thread...and then promptly posted about how his friends told him he shouldn't be around that kind of negativity (or something along the lines) and left the forums.
Click to expand...

This is the thread in question:

http://www.projectafterforums.com/index.php?s=4d068d461589d80d2045b96dfb418ade&showtopic=3508&st=20

Somber said:
May I ask you a question that tickles me every single time I see someone bashing my story?

Why do you keep reading it?

I never claimed my story was good. I never said I was the best thing ever put to text. I have never told another person they should spend one minute reading it. And if you ask any one who talks to me, I am the first to acknowledge that it could be far better were I more skilled. I admit it is ridiculously long, and if I were a better writer it would be much shorter. If I could go back in time a year, I would have done quite a bit differently. The first 20 chapters would have been the first 10. Stable 99 might have survived. Heck, I might not have even done the marauders. There's no lack of places that the story couldn't be tightened up, but when you're writing and publishing chapter by chapter then you simply can't take the whole thing down and rewrite it to suit. Even if it would make for a better story. So let me be the first to admit that the story can be improved immensely, but that I and my editors are doing all we can. If that fails to meet your standards, I apologize.

But it still doesn't answer the question: why do you keep reading it? Really, by chapter 3 it's apparent this is not going to be a fun trip. By Chapter 6, if you haven't gotten the hint then maybe you should get a clue when she kills her home. Or maybe when Glory's wing falls off... that might be a good point to realize its only going to get ugly and bail. Or maybe by the first five pages of chapter one. This is not a happy story. It's a grim story. I make Blackjack earn her happy ending inch by inch, and I've had a lot of people ask how can she possibly keep going on after all that's happened to her. Is death her happy ending? I won't say either way. I also know that some think I don't pull off the grim, serious tone I try for. That I fall flat on my face. That's valid, but then not once did I claim to be good at writing grim-dark, drama, or fiction in general. And again we return to: why do you keep reading it?

Maybe you're striving to see me fail and fumble all the more laughably? Well, there's no lack of that, I assure you. But really, if that's your sort of amusement, you can find far more succinct portrayals of failure than my work. Really, one would think after the first two hundred thousand pages, even that would get tiresome. I'd suggest you're staying around to hope for some character development, but really, that would imply you care about the characters. But how can that be, given that you've so accurately pointed out their noisome flaws and boundless bad writing? Unless, of course, some of you really do sympathize with one character or another. I can not say.

Maybe the better question is the one you didn't ask: why do I keep writing it if I am aware of it's manifest flaws? Why don't I simply move on to trying to write better stories, give up writing all together, or simply cut to the chase, acknowledge my entire life is an utter failure, and blow my brains out? I mean really, a recursive fan fic as long as Harry Potter? One that's STILL not finished? That's failure so mock-able that really, the only step up is to check out from the world. A fic that dwells on rape, mutilation, death, and endless pony whining? It'd be more merciful to simply put me down.

But I can't. Because there are people telling me to keep going.

I know that if you have no respect for me, I can't imagine how little you think of fans of my work. But despite everything; despite the horrible writing and the ponderous length and the hazy motivations and the convoluted plots and the "Mary Sue shinji ikariness" of the characters, they still want me to keep going. They draw pictures from scenes that inspire them. They've even made musical lists to complement the chapters. Two different teams have approached making voice readings. Some incredible reader is translating it into Russian. I've had people e-mail me telling me how the story has inspired them to do better. To get over sexual traumas and abuse. Who have been moved to laughter and tears. Some of them have donated substantial amounts of money to keep me alive after I lost my job last November, keeping me from ending up on the street. All because, in spite of how horrible the story is and how lame the writer, they enjoy it.

I have no illusions of my own worth. When I die, an infinitesimal portion of the world will briefly mourn and then I'll be forgotten. Project Horizons will linger on; read by fewer and fewer with every month, until it too will be forgotten. My editors will go their own ways, and I hope that they will look back on their time and work without regret. My readers may stumble across other stories that stir up a few nostalgic feelings and there may be Project Horizons art in some deviant art account buried behind newer work. One day, even the gdocs themselves will go away, and the copies, and then it will be as if I never wrote this work. But for now, there are people who do value it. For now, there are people who want the story to go on; no matter how long and terrible it is. I've asked my readers if they wanted it wrapped up quickly; the response was overwhelmingly negative. So the story will go on. Because as long as there is one person who still wants to read it, I'll write it for them. Because it's all I can do that is of any meager, fleeting value in this world.

But you don't have to keep reading it, and you can't say anything bad about it that I don't know. If you can think of suggestions for improvement, I'd be glad to listen to them. Your insight on Rampage's motivation was valid. Why IS she still with Blackjack? Why is she still in the story? I guess when it's finished, if you care enough to keep reading to the end, you can tell me how much better the story would have been without her. But in any case, I've spoken long enough. If you don't like my story, please, find another you do like, and be happy.

Goodbye.
Click to expand...

Summary:

:autism: :autism: :autism:
 
Because I'm probably more autistic than they are, I decided to do the same calculations for The Nostalgia Critic since I didn't really need faith in humanity anyway.

580,333 words. 580,333 goddamn words.

Here's some comparisons, to give you an idea of just how unnecessarily long and thorough this all is (with pictures to illustrate how this shit would look as an actual book):

Gone With the Wind: 418,053 words
Stephen King's IT: 444,414 words
The entire Lord of the Rings series, including The Hobbit: 550,147 total words
Atlas Shrugged: 561,996 words
War and Peace: 587,267 words
A Suitable Boy (no picture for this one; couldn't find one): 591,554 words

And because I'm already sperging hard here, the character of the Critic himself has multiple subpages devoted to all of his tropes, too. 40,122 words.
 
Last edited:
Darwin Watterson said:
Because I'm probably more autistic than they are, I decided to do the same calculations for The Nostalgia Critic since I didn't really need faith in humanity anyway.

580,333 words. 580,333 goddamn words.

Here's some comparisons, to give you an idea of just how unnecessarily long and thorough this all is (with pictures to illustrate how this shit would look as an actual book):

Gone With the Wind: 418,053 words
Stephen King's IT: 444,414 words
The entire Lord of the Rings series: 550,147 total words
Atlas Shrugged: 561,996 words
War and Peace: 587,267 words
A Suitable Boy (no picture for this one; couldn't find one): 591,554 words

And because I'm already sperging hard here, the character of the Critic himself has multiple subpages devoted to all of his tropes, too. 40,122 words.
Click to expand...
Jesus Christ how horrifying.

I never expected the autism would even reach a level beyond critical.
 
Darwin Watterson said:
Because I'm probably more autistic than they are, I decided to do the same calculations for The Nostalgia Critic since I didn't really need faith in humanity anyway.

580,333 words. 580,333 goddamn words.

Here's some comparisons, to give you an idea of just how unnecessarily long and thorough this all is (with pictures to illustrate how this shit would look as an actual book):

Gone With the Wind: 418,053 words
Stephen King's IT: 444,414 words
The entire Lord of the Rings series: 550,147 total words
Atlas Shrugged: 561,996 words
War and Peace: 587,267 words
A Suitable Boy (no picture for this one; couldn't find one): 591,554 words

And because I'm already sperging hard here, the character of the Critic himself has multiple subpages devoted to all of his tropes, too. 40,122 words.
Click to expand...

And every single one of those books is shorter than Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons.
 
Xerxes IX said:
According to that project AFTER thread he's a high school English teacher and apparently so suicidally depressed any criticism of his fanfic will cause him to off himself.
Click to expand...

That is pathetic.

Setting yourself on fire like monks did in Vietnam to protest a tyrannical government is an arguably insane yet ballsy way to die, and the cause in question was not a bad one to die for IMO.

Letting people crush you to death with rocks instead of allowing yourself to participate in the mockery of justice known as the Salem witch trials and be declared guilty by a kangaroo court anyway is a honorable reason to off yourself because you are standing against a perversion of justice and you would rather die than be party to such depravity.

But killing yourself over people telling you your fanfic sucks?

If you really think that's worth dying for, go right ahead, I doubt the world at large will care or suffer for your absence.
 
9c00594db2494c384f3893745e50d9e1.png

these fucking comic strips on the main page are painfully unfunny.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom