CV12Hornet Cleans Out His Fanfiction Favorites List (Beware of Shit Taste)
- Thread starter CV12Hornet
- Start date
@Duncan Idaho would you mind posting a link to that XCOM fic you mentioned?
- Location
- Caracas
NERVous Breakdown (NGE/XCOM) (COMPLETE!)
NERVous Breakdown. XCOM/NGE ----- “So long as the stars are in the sky, trust in our watch.” A...
forums.spacebattles.com
now I dunno much about Xcom, but I enjoyed what was here. It even subverts my expectations, twice!
Cognitive Psience in Eastern Utopia + Collab
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
The initial appeal of this fic is pretty obvious: it's a crossover where someone is dropped into Gensokyo with an existing understanding of the supernatural, but not Gensokyo. It was an excellent concept in Marisa's Summer Camp and it's a good idea here, as well. And Goro Akechi is the ideal character to use here. "Gensokyo accepts everything" is a mission statement I've seen in Touhou works in the past. What I usually take this to mean is that Gensokyo will take you in as you are, not as you were in the past. Don't cause trouble, and Gensokyo will accept you no matter your past deeds. The perfect place for our false detective to get some much-needed growing up.
Unfortunately, the execution is poor, and I gave up in chapter 8. For one, on the technical side of things the narration is bad. It's too sparse, especially around the dialogue blocks; it's too passive; and it's just awkwardly constructed. The proximate cause of the dumping was the fic veering into proselytization on the wonders of organic food. That wasn't stated, but it's not hard to read the implications of pooh-poohing the pesticides of city supermarkets in favor of farm-fresh country farmer's markets. Look, I get enough of this in my current medical treatment, I don't need it popping up in my fiction, and as far as I'm concerned the science of food is pretty damn unreliable.
But the bigger problem is the plot structure. Rather than do something actually unique with this crossover, Madras_Eclipse shoves the Persona 5 plot of Palaces and Personas into Touhou, and I don't think the fit works. Especially when the first Palace owner is Yuyuko. There are Touhou characters I can see having Palaces, even accounting for inherent youkai natures. But Yuyuko, IMO, is not one of those. It smacks of bad fanon.
You're not on the list.
Listen. I am seriously hard up for good Hololive fic. Especially crossovers. The writing is good on a technical level, the entry point makes sense, Taylor is immediately scrambling to be buddy-buddy with Ina. I'm liking what I'm seeing here and want more.
You're on the list.
Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Honestly, my most recurring thought while rereading this is that I love Yui Aikawa. Imagine, if you will, this tiny, somewhat ditzy, very dorky, 13-year-old disaster lesbian. Yes, disaster lesbian. Echo keeps things PG but it's made very obvious that Yui is into girls and has the mentality of a dog chasing a car. She's also a Nanoha-tier artillery mage, super strong and durable even by Puella Magi standards, and thoroughly confuses other magical girls by her combination of raw power and idealism.
Can you see the influence of Puella Magi Adfligo Systema yet?
The good news is that compared to that behemoth this is much more briskly paced. Still not very fast on an objective level, Echo was planning to have Yui travel out of Nagamioka ages ago, but there's none of the sense of futzing around and repeated conversations that mar PMAS. Otherwise, though, the plots are very similar: have phenomenal cosmic power, devote phenomenal cosmic power to improving the lot of magical girls. This includes a lot of beating up bad guys.
Being an OC story with basically no ties to Mitakihara and plot events therein is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it means something new, and a resulting focus on magical girl politics I genuinely enjoy. On the other hand, it comes at a cost in focus for the plot. For all that PMAS wanders, the looming threat of Walpurgisnacht has a way of focusing voter attention - goodness knows that was a point I hammered in Tokyo. By the end of Arc 3, PMIM was starting to show signs of spiraling plot complexity, in the form of... whatever the hell the pseudo-familiars revealed then are. That's not say PMIM doesn't have a central plot thread, but it's just that: a thread.
Circling back to Yui, one of the pluses of this fic is that the character interactions are great. Everyone has a distinct personality and personality quirks, and Yui especially is good for some laughs between her disaster lesbian status, general dorkiness, and high sociability. There's a trio that settle in Nagamioka that have wonderful dynamics between them. Mentor figure Maiko is a treat: cool, aloof, and also even more of a dork than Yui. Really, these character actions carry the quest in between acts of politics and violence.
You're on the list!
Rex Raptor and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Island Tournament + The Fairy Queen of Tilea
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
You can tell this was inspired by Nothing is Sacred, lol.
It's not as good as that quest. This is one case where the narrow focus of the story, purely on Duelist Kingdom with no real wider plot it's a part of, hurts it. This is not helped by the fact that it's Duelist Kingdom at its whackiest, i.e. there are no fusion cards, just thousands of possible fusion combinations from existing cards that are all enumerated in a giant rulebook. Duelist Kingdom was already asspull central, and it's even worse here. Or destruction damage, which was... actually, thinking about it I think it might have actually been semi-consistently applied in the manga this working off of.
Still, the duels are fun and the quest doesn't just take place in the offscreen dark matter of the original story. Rex and Koyo dueling Keith's minions actually matters. How much was still to be seen when the quest died, but there's no duel between Jonouchi and "Ghost" Kozuka, and subsequently no rivalry between Jonouchi and Keith. Rex also duels Yugi for the five star chips he needed after the duel with Kaiba, and while Rex of course loses he at least puts up a solid fight.
Overall, a solid read. You're on the list.
It's always fun when a high-powered fantasy anime makes contact with a more grounded Western fantasy setting. Alas, this fic is not very good. Oh, I have no problem with the plot direction and characterization, but the technical skill of the writer is just not up to the task, something I was afraid would happen.
Bye.
- Location
- Somewhere in the Ashes
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Destruction damage is actually mostly consistently applied in the anime too, but no one ever mentions it. It's never explained, it doesn't happen super often, and when it does no one talks about it, but it does happen in the Duelist Kingdom arc.
- Location
- Somewhere in the Ashes
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No. It's a Duelist Kingdom bit of weirdness where, if a monster is destroyed via card effect, its owner takes half that monster's attack points as damage. Considering the card pool of that arc, this basically means when Yugi drops Mirror Force on someone, they also lose a bunch of life points.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
I'm not going to read it, because the only "quests" I can manage to read through are those with either only one decision at the end of each chapter, or those that get reposted with just the chosen action, because otherwise it just destroys readability and interest for me, but I do find Duelist Kingdom stories interesting if they keep the actual DK rules in mind.
And man, do they get weird, thanks to the fact that they hadn't worked out how it would work as an actual card game. But things like no direct attacks, only one monster can attack per turn, if you don't have a monster on the field and can't summon one, then you lose the duel, give that tournament it's very own, very unique flair, and I always find it sad if a fic just uses modern rules for it or Battle City.
Worldwide Web + Q + Operation ECLIPSE
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
This is a full-on fusion. No Parahuans, just Netnavis. It's an intriguing premise that immediately establishes a strong emotional core and solid technical competence. I have a feeling grief and the recovery from it are a big thematic core. Unfortunately, it's also shaping up to be an action-oriented fic and I am just not vibing with the battle system. I think I might be spoiled by the Megaman Battle Network manga, which had very fluid, shonen-style combat. This video-gamey "move on tiles" setup just is not doing it for me.
You're not on the list.
Yeah... not gonna lie, I strongly suspect this would've been one of those stupid, wanky villain Deku fics that jack up his intelligence to comic book supergenius levels while also gluing an idiot ball to everyone's hands. Nonetheless, I was willing to give it a shot, and it loses me immediately on technical incompetence. Please. Keep your tenses consistent, I'm begging you.
You're not on the list.
Gah, I wish I could like this. It's a crossover that leans heavily into the Outside Context Problem. Eggman and his tech is bewildering for Citadel space. And hey, IDW-era Sonic! Always nice to see that around. At the core is a good story. Sadly, Lermis is ESL and it shows. Beyond the fact that there aren't enough contractions used, the severe lack of "had"s is glaring, and overall it's just really is easy to tell English is not the author's first language. I tried to power through but gave up.
You're not on the list.
Death_Sheep
Cat Owned
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I know that feeling. There was a Harry Potter fic I came across a few years ago that had a really intriguing premise, but reading it was like trying to eat cornflakes without milk: dry and slightly painful.
The Westerosi II: Subprime Directives
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
The Westerosi II: Subprime Directives (ASoIaF / Star Trek-ish)
By: Mal-3
So, if you liked The Westerosi, you're going to like this one. It has all the same appeal - I still love Jade as a character, I still like the Trek-esque star federation and its explanations for all the weirdness, I still love the Outside Context Problem nature of things. An example of the weirdness? Dragons are a bioengineered anti-Other mechanism. An example of OCP-ness? One of the points hammered home throughout this story is that the Westerosi just don't understand that Jade isn't here to play the Game of Thrones. It just does not compute in a classical case of psychological projection.
So, yeah, if it was just more of the same, I'd be happy. But the fic also throws in a new angle: Jade finally gets to go outside Westeros, and also to corners of Westeros she didn't go to in the first fic. It's geographically a lot more expansive, is what I'm saying. Not only does it put her in contact with more locations - Mal's take on Valyria is fascinating in a familiar way1, Qarth a refreshing change from Westeros - but also characters. We get the whole breadth of the ASOIAF cast here.
And that really nets us some good character interactions. My favorite, frankly, is Cotter Pyke and Tormund Giantson. The two nakedly don't like each other, and paradoxically that nets each other their respect. Plot-wise, we've got basically all the canon ASOIAF players on the table now, up to and including Aegon and Daenerys, while Jade's off playing Indiana Jones in Essos. There's her, ah, extortion of Qarth at the end of her stay - look, there's just a lot of good stuff happening here.
Wrapping things up, there's Jade's ongoing man versus self conflict. This was present in the first fic, but it's very clear now that Jade's morals and convictions are slipping a bit in the face of pragmatism and a, by her standards, morally backward society that pushes all her buttons. And she knows it. She berates herself for her show of force in Pyke, and freely admits that Daenerys could not have been better crafted to tempt her to stick her oar into the War of the Five Kings. Very on-point with the source material, I think, and since it doesn't linger overmuch on the recriminations a welcome change from the usual morality of the ASOIAF verse.
Now, if only it wasn't hung on a cliffhanger as nasty as what the first story ended on...
You're definitely on the list.
- The madlads were confining gods, or at least god-adjacent beings.
- Location
- Soviet Canuckistan
Westrosii is such a good story; I re-read both parts semi-regularly and hope Mal's muse steers them back there again. And if not, what we have is well worth reading.
Mal-3
Fun Tyrant
I think I commented on this in the SpaceBattles thread, but I feel it's worth pointing out: the Temple of Balerion scene in particular draws a lot from a specific passage in Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion, a book I haven't read in almost thirty years from an author I haven't read in twenty[1]. There's a lot of other things in Valyria past and present, but for me that's the key part of the whole sequence. Except for the next part, which I can see but can't put into words.
[1] Simmons and I parted ways in 2004ish, when he fell all the way down the Eurabia hole and it infected his next two "big idea" books. A pity.
Raiders of the Lost City
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Now, this is different.
ASOIAF/GOT fics generally can't help but be about the plot of the books: the War of the Five Kings with the Others looming ominously over the proceedings. This a tendency with fanfic in general - while a great appeal of fanfic is to explore the unexplored corners of the original story, authors tend to prefer to do that with characters rather than plot and/or setting.
So something like Raiders of the Lost City, that do something completely different without throwing out the whole setting, that craft a storyline that you could easily see happening in the original universe, are always a treat whenever I find them.
The basic plot of the fic is that Tyrion Lannister, expendable, is dispatched to the east in search of his uncle Gerion Lannister, who had gone to search for the family sword Brightroar and vanished. Accompanying him is a mix of canon characters and OCs, the former biased towards a whole bunch of people who seem to be fan favorites - the sellsword Bronn, Asha Greyjoy, Davos Seaworth, Sandor Clegane. Though I don't think Maester Qyburn is a fan favorite, though I could be wrong. That character exploration is definitely a selling point - we really get to dwell on the inner thoughts of many characters, crafted with obvious care.
But for a fic like this, the primary draw is the pulp adventure plot and the setting its set in. Let me be blunt: Gogossos is fucking horrifying. CaekDaemon spends a good half the story hyping up the island, this terrible place where flesh sorcerers crafted abominations and let them run loose. An island that eats men and ships alive, and which you need to leave as soon as possible if you wish to survive. And Gogossos delivers. It's just wrong on a fundamental level. The abominations are indeed horrifying. Tywin's sojourn into Gogossos' sewers is straight-up a horror movie that we see coming because the entire damn island has primed us for it. Our protagonists are capable people. But against this island, they likely would've gone the way Gerion's crew.
Enter Daerion of Volantis, a sorceror at the head of a small army intent on smashing his way to the center of the city to reclaim some lost secret, though the exact secret is kept vague until near the end of the current chapters, though the presence of Melisandre and Thoros is a clue.
Y'know how I said this is something completely different? Well, not quite. Turns out, in this version of canon Gogossos is the origin point of dragons. Yes, dragons are a magical abomination artificially crafted, and Daerion wants those dragons. What a twist, and something that neatly recontextualizes a vast chunk of the story and creates natural, high-stakes conflict on the spot.
I love this fic to pieces, it's such a unique piece of literature. The only problem is that it hasn't updated in years, and ended on a major cliffhanger. Whyyyyyyy.
Well, hope springs eternal. You're on the list.
MaHaL
Conductor of the Choir of Death
- Location
- Canada
Every time I go through my list of watched/followed/whatever fics I see this one and feel compelled to re-read it in vain hopes there's a new bit.
all fictions
I hate you! (it's not against the rules!)
- Location
- Mons Regius
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Raiders of the Lost City is definitely one of my all-time favorite ASOIAF fanfics. It is, essentially, both a pulp adventure and a heist/caper: a motley crew is assembled, and it is made up of misfits and shady characters who skirt the edge of legality or outright cross it (sellswords, smugglers, pirates, etc.). Tyrion could have added one or more of the Sand Snakes to his crew and it would have made sense with thetype of story that is being told. And, outside of Tyrion, the characters are not as much used in fanfiction so I wouldn't call most of them fan favorites except for specific subsets of the fandom.
(Davos is used, but only when Stannis is the focus, unlike here where he is his own character outside Stannis and the Team Dragonstone story. Same for Sandor, who is usually used for Sansa-focused stories, whereas here he is divorced from that context.)
It's part of the fic's main points, it uses lesser used or known characters (when was the last time I saw a fic with Anguy? Or even featuring Balerion the cat?) for its cast.
While I love the Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and all these people to bits, it is not unfair to say they are overused and overrepresented on the fanfic scene. So what better ways to use "lowly" (in a manner of speaking, two scions of Great Houses are present after all) characters instead of the nobles of the Great Houses than having an adventure that wouldn't fit the high-class game of thrones?
And that's its other strengths, the plot in itself is very original. Too often do fics just redo the same events, from the Rebellion to the War of the Five Kings to the War of the Dawn (and now, the Dance of the Dragons). Here, the story takes full advantage of Planetos being a vast world outside the confines of Westeros, and yet it's not completely made-up original content, but instead making use of background lore to flesh out a plot that still makes sense to take place in that world. Usually, fics that go outside Westeros tend to only use Jon as a mercenary in Essos, for the sole purpose of having him meet Dany, because Jon being a bastard has many avenues if he wants to make a mark for himself outside the Night's Watch, and has the background justifying him evolving in high and low places both. So seeing such an exotic adventure without being a Jon vehicle is a breath of fresh air.
I can only think of a few ASOIAF fics that elicit the same feeling in me, and most of them still use the more habitual characters. Scream Against the Storm has a plot completely outside the bounds of Westeros and any canon storyline while making full use of known elements and lore, but the main character is still Stannis Baratheon. Chasing Dragons has a completely different, extensive war in Essos way before canon, but it's still an extension of the Rebellion with all the well-known cast of it. Purple Days is a time loop and a story of redemption and adventure, but still features Joffrey as the protagonist (though that is novel) and is still ultimately tied to the Long Night. Life and Honor fully explore little used or even canon areas at the Wall and beyond, all before canon, but it is centered on Jaime Lannister and is still related to the Long Night. But An Adventure in Oldtown, by the author of Life and Honor, is a bit closer to the vibes of Raiders, featuring a city only seen briefly in AFFC, lots of obscure and original characters, and centering around a murder mystery to be solved by Arthur Dayne and his squire Jaime, a very original plot.
Raiders deftly mixing canon without sticking to it and original content without feeling completely out of place with the setting is a tour de force.
I only have a minor complaint, and it's very much my personal taste: Asha's identity should have stayed secret much longer. It was really fun to see her use the alias she used to fool Theon, so the readers would catch on on who she is while the other characters would be unaware, but Esgred is found out by the second chapter. This feels like a huge wasted oppotunity that could have served for Asha's character arc: maybe her identity is exposed much later and it leads to a break of trust with the crew. Or she comes to trust them and revealing her identity to them is proof of her faith in them. Anything but what was done. Which ties into my second complaint: the fic should have kept Euron as a villain. Euron is extremely pulpy, deliberately so, which makes him a fun villain little used in fics that aren't deep in the fandom. He could have also been the personal antagonist to Asha this adventure, maybe revealing her identity if it's to be an accidental reveal, and the obstacle she would defeat to come into her own by the end. And a pulp adventure with faction going after a particular artefact is very fun when it's a mêlée à trois, as seen in Pirates of the Carribean.
That's enough rambling.
(Davos is used, but only when Stannis is the focus, unlike here where he is his own character outside Stannis and the Team Dragonstone story. Same for Sandor, who is usually used for Sansa-focused stories, whereas here he is divorced from that context.)
It's part of the fic's main points, it uses lesser used or known characters (when was the last time I saw a fic with Anguy? Or even featuring Balerion the cat?) for its cast.
While I love the Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and all these people to bits, it is not unfair to say they are overused and overrepresented on the fanfic scene. So what better ways to use "lowly" (in a manner of speaking, two scions of Great Houses are present after all) characters instead of the nobles of the Great Houses than having an adventure that wouldn't fit the high-class game of thrones?
And that's its other strengths, the plot in itself is very original. Too often do fics just redo the same events, from the Rebellion to the War of the Five Kings to the War of the Dawn (and now, the Dance of the Dragons). Here, the story takes full advantage of Planetos being a vast world outside the confines of Westeros, and yet it's not completely made-up original content, but instead making use of background lore to flesh out a plot that still makes sense to take place in that world. Usually, fics that go outside Westeros tend to only use Jon as a mercenary in Essos, for the sole purpose of having him meet Dany, because Jon being a bastard has many avenues if he wants to make a mark for himself outside the Night's Watch, and has the background justifying him evolving in high and low places both. So seeing such an exotic adventure without being a Jon vehicle is a breath of fresh air.
I can only think of a few ASOIAF fics that elicit the same feeling in me, and most of them still use the more habitual characters. Scream Against the Storm has a plot completely outside the bounds of Westeros and any canon storyline while making full use of known elements and lore, but the main character is still Stannis Baratheon. Chasing Dragons has a completely different, extensive war in Essos way before canon, but it's still an extension of the Rebellion with all the well-known cast of it. Purple Days is a time loop and a story of redemption and adventure, but still features Joffrey as the protagonist (though that is novel) and is still ultimately tied to the Long Night. Life and Honor fully explore little used or even canon areas at the Wall and beyond, all before canon, but it is centered on Jaime Lannister and is still related to the Long Night. But An Adventure in Oldtown, by the author of Life and Honor, is a bit closer to the vibes of Raiders, featuring a city only seen briefly in AFFC, lots of obscure and original characters, and centering around a murder mystery to be solved by Arthur Dayne and his squire Jaime, a very original plot.
Raiders deftly mixing canon without sticking to it and original content without feeling completely out of place with the setting is a tour de force.
I only have a minor complaint, and it's very much my personal taste: Asha's identity should have stayed secret much longer. It was really fun to see her use the alias she used to fool Theon, so the readers would catch on on who she is while the other characters would be unaware, but Esgred is found out by the second chapter. This feels like a huge wasted oppotunity that could have served for Asha's character arc: maybe her identity is exposed much later and it leads to a break of trust with the crew. Or she comes to trust them and revealing her identity to them is proof of her faith in them. Anything but what was done. Which ties into my second complaint: the fic should have kept Euron as a villain. Euron is extremely pulpy, deliberately so, which makes him a fun villain little used in fics that aren't deep in the fandom. He could have also been the personal antagonist to Asha this adventure, maybe revealing her identity if it's to be an accidental reveal, and the obstacle she would defeat to come into her own by the end. And a pulp adventure with faction going after a particular artefact is very fun when it's a mêlée à trois, as seen in Pirates of the Carribean.
That's enough rambling.
Vyslanté
The self is a prison
- Location
- European Union
Damnit, and it looked so interesting and tempting!
Interesting to see you go through ASOIAF stuff. The only fics I've really read are The Greens, The Blacks, and The Reds and Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon, and I've never really waged into the fandom further.
- Location
- My house, probably
- Pronouns
- He/Him
In this case, it sadly doesn't. Caekdaemon announced some time ago that he was quitting the ASOIAF fanfiction scene due to no longer being interested in the setting, which is a shame because he is easily one of the fandom's best writers.
The Trial of Winterfell
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
The Trial of Winterfell doesn't have the expansive worldbuilding of Raiders of the Lost City. It does indulge in some worldbuilding, fleshing out the North a bit in the time it spends there. But this is even more of a character piece than Raiders, and that gets the focus.
I'm deeply impressed by CaekDaemon's ability to show off a character from another's perspective. Arya's chapter is a master class on writing Sansa, for example, and Chapters 6 and 7, for all that they're from Theon and Eddard's perspectives, are all about Robert. But that's not to say he doesn't do interesting character things with with perspective. Tyrion's chapter is brilliant in Tyrion's lack of understanding of the situation. He's groping blind in the dark and that clearly comes through. The fic also avoids bashing characters - Catelyn gets an opportunity to overcome her antipathy toward Jon, Theon is as ambitious and mean-spirited as ever but more directed, Jaime is presented as the protective big brother he is to Tyrion.
And, I suspect, this is why Cersei makes minimal appearances.
The actual fic, plot-wise, is still in the buildup stages. It's clearly going to be a giant clusterfuck once everyone of importance in Westeros shows up at Winterfell, but as it stands, the plot is almost entirely around the discovery and researching the trial. It's to CaekDaemon's credit that this is still fun to read. The character focus helps a lot, of course, but he manages to make law research compelling. That takes fucking talent.
It's a pity Caek's dropped out of the fandom, but nonetheless I enjoyed this. You're on the list!