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The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read.

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I have to to derec It's Always the Quiet Ones.

This fic isn't just not the best, it's outright bad, indulging in some of the worst fandom cliches imaginable. You know those SUPER! BADASS! Naruto/Harry/Xander fics? This is that, but for Luna. And not in any parody sense, oh it make some "comedy" in the sense of "look at our protagonist doing horrible things to people the writer doesn't like isn't that funny?" sense, but it genuinely seems to think that it's premise is a good fanfic idea, and not something that should only be written in order to mock the cliches through a premise so absurd no one could take it seriously.

The original rec description is "A nice oneshot in which Lovegood pulls a Lovecraft." What it actually means is that Luna is revealed to be from a family that can summon and control/friendship Lovecraftian entities. She then proceeded to summon one in the great hall have it unleash horrible Lovecraftian visions on Snape (don't worry he insulted her mother, and latter uses evil spells, so it's okay), have it be completely immune to everyone spells, and then have it go eat all of Voldermort's death eaters, and suffer absolutely no consequences.

It's frankly insulting to both sides of it's crossover. On the Harry Potter side it has Luna's imaginary creatures be real, which is one of the worst fandom cliches because it misses the entire point. That even in a world of magic not all things are real, and Luna is interesting for the contrast she presents, she's willing to believe our protagonists, but she also believes in things with no evidence, so what does that say about our protagonist's story? Making her 100% right misses the entire point. Furthermore, the wizards only exists in this story to justify her summoning it (Snape) or to stare ineffectively and have their magic be pointless against it.

And I could forgive this if the story was the tiniest bit Lovecraftian. Humans are weak in cosmic horror, so I could have wizards be weak. But it isn't the slightest bit cosmic horror. Luna summons it with absolutely no consequences, and it could have just as easily been replaced with a pet super dragon, for all it actually mattered. Cosmic horror is horror because it isn't safe, because we are insects and the other entities don't care about us, those that pursue the mysteries are fools that come to bad ends. Here Luna summons it like a pokemon. A story about Luna's family knowing forbidden lore and her getting so angry that she calls down something she shouldn't, bringing doom to her enemies and herself could be a really good story. This story isn't.
 
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DezoPenguin said:
Then, Salem calls for a parley, she just walks in, and the TSAB just bends over and says "thank you, ma'am; we're sorry" (as do most of Remnant's leaders), completely ignoring everything Salem has done. Basically, Ozpin is treated by the narrative and all the characters in it as some kind of lunatic for ever trying to stop her--despite the very personal suffering Salem and her followers has inflicted on the cast, to say nothing of the historical matters.
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Yeah, pretty much he has the TSAB act like an actual real-life government and work toward solving the immediate problems, much as they act in Nanoha canon, as opposed to acting like the noblebright jingoistic America Fuck Yeah fictional governments you see in absolute schlock like Stargate who refuse to compromise with terrorists even when the alternative is their stubbornness logically should gets millions of people killed over past sins that have nothing to do with the present situation.

I know it puts a hair up some people's ass, but I was pleased as punch to see someone not write teenage protagonists as having a solid grasp of realpolitik and write Happily Ever After without thought to why it hadn't happened already.

One of the greatest things about the Nanoha setting is that the TSAB is NOT simply 'the good guys' and Nanoha and her friends benefit from that. Having Ruby and friends go Super Saiyan and then pointing out 'this doesn't actually solve the issues of Grimm, and the despite their gigatons the TSAB can't just wave a magic wand and make everything okay for everyone' was actually really satisfying.
 
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drake_azathoth said:
Yeah, pretty much he has the TSAB act like an actual real-life government and work toward solving the immediate problems, much as they act in Nanoha canon, as opposed to acting like the noblebright jingoistic America Fuck Yeah fictional governments you see in absolute schlock like Stargate who refuse to compromise with terrorists even when the alternative is their stubbornness logically should gets millions of people killed over past sins that have nothing to do with the present situation.

I know it puts a hair up some people's ass, but I was pleased as punch to see someone not write teenage protagonists as having a solid grasp of realpolitik and write Happily Ever After without thought to why it hadn't happened already.

One of the greatest things about the Nanoha setting is that the TSAB is NOT simply 'the good guys' and Nanoha and her friends benefit from that. Having Ruby and friends go Super Saiyan and then pointing out 'this doesn't actually solve the issues of Grimm, and the despite their gigatons the TSAB can't just wave a magic wand and make everything okay for everyone' was actually really satisfying.
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Admitting that it is far too impractical to crush your foe is true to life. So is demonstrating that you are not to be pushed around. If the grey goo murder machines that the grim are cannot be stopped, then why stay where they are. You are inherently missing the point that were Remnant the only world present in the setting the story's ending would have logic. It is not, and so does not. Giving an oppressed people who have been purged by an oppressive and dictatorial power a country to call their own is a very real response (Israel). Any impracticalities in relocating Remnant's population is counterbalanced by the part where the planet is literally trying, and in many cases succeeding therein, to kill them.

Firepower is not the only solution. It might be the most satisfying, but there are other options.
 
clockworkchaos said:
On the Harry Potter side it has Luna's imaginary creatures be real, which is one of the worst fandom cliches because it misses the entire point. That even in a world of magic not all things are real,
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One of the reasons I and others I've talked to think that Luna's imaginary friends being real is a brilliant cliche is that there is so many things wrong with dismissing her beliefs as most of the Characters do.

One thing is that Luna's detractors dismiss her beliefs entirely with the reasoning that it doesn't match their own preconceived notions. Out of the two groups, Luna makes her case using feild research and theories, while those who call her Looney use logical fallacies.

Another is that Luna's cryptids are not unreasonably absurd creatures, compared to some confirmed magical creatures, they are rather dull and mundane.

Also some of Luna's cryptids resemble some mythical monsters from other cultures, and stating that nothing resembling them is real is claiming those other cultures myths have no basis in magic.

And finally it gives a bad message to the fans, that no matter how much others look down on them, as long as they can look down on someone else then everything is all right.
 
Armored Gensokyo

I can not say that this is legitimately the best fanfic ever, but I kind of love it without any degree of guilt involved. It starts of kind of messy, from what I remember of it the beginning had a fair amount of pacing and occasional grammar problems, but it eventually blossoms, and even from the very beginning I can't help but love the character characterizations, as well as the crack ship of Yukari Yakumo and Shu Shirakawa who actually feel like the characters they are supposed to be.

Also the Yuugi Hoshiguma and amnesiac Beowulf pairing is awesome too. Remilia starts out being somewhat bland, but evolves into a decent "I'm done with everything" snarker, and the less I talk about the Double Nineball team the better.
 
Well if we are nominating stuff by unpretty, i gotta say that Hollywood is one of my favs. (Miscellany is a snip collection, but i feel hollywood works fine as a standalone fic)

Batman showing up to provide editorial oversight to a play based on him is hilarious.


Also, it's image based, but Nominal is just the best. Bruce actually has a spreadsheet of reasons he is unhappy.
 
Two recs, both of them (longish) Pokemon oneshots, both 2nd person, and both share the honor of actually getting me to tear up a bit and when it comes to fiction that is goddamn rare.

lucifer One shot from the perspective of Giratina about his creation, banishment, eventual capture in the events of Platinum, and beyond.

Even the Stars An alternate version of Pokemon X where the MC didn't escape the blast of immortality from the ultimate weapon.
 
Reki said:
By far the best MLP fanfic is Whom the Princesses Would Destroy. It's a lower-deck kind of story, about the Canterlot bureaucracy, and the complete and utter chaos that results from Twilight coming on a surprise visit to Celestia. It's basically a mix of MLP, Yes, Minister, and Pratchett.
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Absolute yes on this one. Will also rec. Can't imagine why I didn't think of it earlier, I've never met anyone who read it and didn't like it.
 
Matou Sutegobana said:
One of the reasons I and others I've talked to think that Luna's imaginary friends being real is a brilliant cliche is that there is so many things wrong with dismissing her beliefs as most of the Characters do.

One thing is that Luna's detractors dismiss her beliefs entirely with the reasoning that it doesn't match their own preconceived notions. Out of the two groups, Luna makes her case using feild research and theories, while those who call her Looney use logical fallacies.

Another is that Luna's cryptids are not unreasonably absurd creatures, compared to some confirmed magical creatures, they are rather dull and mundane.

Also some of Luna's cryptids resemble some mythical monsters from other cultures, and stating that nothing resembling them is real is claiming those other cultures myths have no basis in magic.

And finally it gives a bad message to the fans, that no matter how much others look down on them, as long as they can look down on someone else then everything is all right.
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I disagree with this, on four points. First, the idea that Luna builds her case using "field research". It takes two fact

1. Luna does field research.
2. Luna believes in cryptozology monsters such as "Crumple-Horned_Snorkack"

and concludes that she 'makes her case using field research", I don't think this is accurate. To make a case using field research requires that you not only have the research, but that the research supports your case. It is that that second requirement that Luna fails. Despite numerous attempts, she and her father have not managed to catch, photograph, or in any way obtain any evidence of any the creatures she mentions. She preforms field research, but the research does not support her her conclusion. If we consider the mere combination of belief and field research evidence, then we come to several interesting conclusions. People in the real world believed in faeries and attempted to find them, therefore those who believe in fairies are right, the same applies Big Foot, the Loch Ness,or any other Cryptozoology.

Nor is it fair to categorize her detractors as only dismissing her via "preconceived notions". Hermione (who has the most antagonistic relationship with Luna's claims) did not believe in magic at age 10, yet by the time she had met Harry she had accepted it with no qualms. To claim that she somehow is rule by "preconceived notions" does a disservice to her character. Hermione is somewhat self-righteous and doesn't take well to people claiming things she believes to be wrong, but she is capable of adjusting her worldview when said worldview is proven wrong. She tends to value book-learning over other forms of knowledge, but these books such as "fantastic beast" were written by people who preformed field research, so her beliefs are actually based on field-research (unless you take the view that only first hand field research has any value which brings with it a host of other problems). Even though she tends to value books and schoolwork knowledge more, she's been show to adjust her believes when Harry and Ron's adventuring forces her to confront that her worldview does not correspond with what she actually experiences.

I would actually argue that the person most biased by "preconceived notions" notions is Luna. She inherited her beliefs from her father, and has refused to change them despite any evidence to the contrary. She's never been able to find or photo one of the beasts. Every trip to find them has produces nothing. No other zoologist has been able to find one, ever. Despite all of this she never reexamines her believes. During her school years Luna is incredibly closed minded the creatures, she believes they exists, and no evidence can make her change this stance. In contrast we know what Hermione would require to change her stance, either provide an authoritative source, or show her one.

The second point I disagree on is that her creatures are no more fantastic that creatures which exist and that this points offers evidence in their favor. Consider two animals the octopus, and the jack-a-lope. The octopus is a eight-legged shape-shifter, capable of regenerating it's own arms, which are also where it stores a parts of it's brain. I think we can all agree that a octopus is a fairly fantastical creatures. Contrast this with the jackalope a creature that is simply a rabbit with horns. It is rather dull and mundane creature, and yet it isn't real, and the octopus is. The world isn't under an obligation to insure that only the most normal creatures exist, and to claim a fantasy world is is supporting world-building that is both unrealistic and dull.

The third point "stating that nothing resembling them is real is claiming those other cultures myths have no basis in magic." is the only one that actually offends me. First, it's claiming a self righteousness by claiming that not having a fictional creature exist in a book is somehow dismissing other cultures. Secondly, because I am rather skeptical of it's claim. Please point me to any evidence that Rowling based Luna's creatures on real world mythology. Third, because it leads to terrible world-building. Demanding that all creatures from mythology exists means that the only type of writing that can exists is the fantasy kitchen sink. This in turn leads to generic worlds, where every world is exactly alike, since they all induce the exact same creatures. Good worlds and stories are defined as much by what the author doesn't include as by what they do.

Finally, I disagree with your interpretation of the message. Harry, is the viewpoint character, and Ron and Hermione tend to be the other leads, and their experiences are what inform the world and the messages. None of the three get any joy from Luna being wrong, Harry and Ron are mostly disengaged, and Hermione only finds frustration in it. There is no way to read this as "they can look down on someone else then everything is all right" without and incredibly tortured reading. In my original post I already talked about what I feel the actual message is. Harry Potter is a series that is cynical about information coming from authority, especially so in the latter books. The Ministry and Daily Prophet suppresses news of and are later co-opted by Voldemort. Luna (and by extension the Quibbler), offers a contrast, an alternate source of information who is willing to help and believe the protagonists. Yet rather than simply declare "Authority bad, alt good" the books offer a interesting take, with their willingness to engage in non-mainstream beliefs letting them see the problems, but also causing them to pursue their personal believes, even long after the evidence has mounted against them. Rejection of authoritative information is both valuable and dangerous.
 
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clockworkchaos said:
I disagree with this, on four points. First, the idea that Luna builds her case using "field research". It takes two fact...
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This may not be the place for giant Harry Potter essays vaguely defending the weird morality of JK Rowling (re: predestined evil, bullying, child abuse, depression, etc). Especially ones that specifically deny the value of magical thinking in a setting that runs on it?

Also, more on topic, fourth to Nominal.
 
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