And I am filled with despair.

Here's the thing, Pannic. Some people don't care about musicals. Some people hate musicals. I am one of the latter.

You could build monuments to how much I despise musicals (yeah, I stole that from Ginger, what of it?)

I thought ham meant, being over the top.

The term originally referred to the type of behavior typical of overwrought actors, after the ham fat used in theatrical makeup. It generally refers to someone acting (melo)dramatic.

I read that as Discord and was very confused.

Goodnight.

well yes, but it's specifically going over the top for the sake of going over the top.

If you're going over the top because you're having a nervous breakdown, well, that's not the same thing.

G'night Syd.

I'm imagining Rarity's hamminess rubs off on Fluttershy a little

Everfree Expedition: Day 17.◊ Living in the Everfree Forest, Zecora has been a bounty of information for the Expedition Team. Brownstone drops by to interview her every few days, but today he felt like learning about her homeland instead.

I'm quite happy with how Zecora turned out, actually. Her foreleg with the rings is a little messy, and she's a little too plump, but I'm happy on the whole.

Re: Mary Sues. The term originally meant a Wish Fulfillment Author Avatar, but over time it came to mean any fan character that is over-idealized to a ridiculous extreme in the context of the story, such as being strong enough to defeat the Big Bad when the main character can't, being so beautiful it hurts to look directly at them, and/or having a canon character fall madly in love with them at first sight (even defying canon ships and orientation).

There have been many attempts to quantify what a Mary Sue is over the years, but at the core, I define a Mary Sue as a walking black hole of attention. When a Mary Sue is present in a story, all action comes to a screeching halt until the Mary Sue progresses it, often in a completely different direction. Canon characters forget their original motivations and can now only think of what they want in relation to the Sue. Morality becomes a simple matter of whether or not the Mary Sue likes the person.

As a corollary, Mary Sues are almost universally badly written, and tend to simply pile on superficial details like distinct physical traits, super cool equipment and powers, and special names and titles rather than develop an actual character. Any flaws the character has or mistakes the character makes are either meant to be endearing, aren't actually their fault, or weren't intended to be flaws or mistakes by the author in the first place.

That being said, the term is frequently abused to mean "any character that gets more screen time than I think they should" in common parlance.

I'm still picturing Fluttershy somehow finding out what the Doctor is doing to the Mimiga in Cave Story and getting angrier than anypony has ever seen.

I want to see her angry enough to lift a bus.

That reminds me of how Prometheans can get several powers to doulbe or triple their strength, improve rerolling, etc. to the point where they should be able to juggle buses practically. I guess that can be considered the Earth Pony line of Prometheans.

@Ed: Are there even buses in Equestria? :V

Well they had that little cart thing in MMDW.

Well, there was that tourist bus in MMDW.

EDIT: Ninja'd like a baws.

edited 13th Aug '12 11:31:36 PM by edvedd

I finally got around to reading Human. It very much reminds me of the later arcs of Latias' Journey. Disturbing as hell, but funny and surprisingly creative.

And then everyone gets assimilated into Zombie Borg Explodey's hivemind and the entire story just spectacularly loses its shit

edited 13th Aug '12 11:36:46 PM by Pykrete

Twi and Rarity getting ready.

Pykrete:

@Pykrete: Is that an MLP fic or something? Also, nice art Kuroi.

@Kuroi: Nice :3

I wonder if Rarity ever helps the Spa Twins sometimes.

Fluttershy: Druid/Barbarian?

edited 13th Aug '12 11:59:14 PM by KylerThatch

Rarity working part time at the spa? Why not! They all have the same eyes.

I knew a pony named Mary Sue. She was an alicorn who was omnitalented and her cutie mark was just the words "look at me!"

Oh by the way, I'm trying to stay up all night. Anypony wanna help me?

@Surprise: She sounds charming, and it's mid afternoon over here, so I'm afraid it wouldn't feel quite right for me.

edited 14th Aug '12 12:08:37 AM by edvedd

Ed: It's a somewhat controversial Human in Equestria fic, yes.

Ace and Ed: Thanks.

*Totally knows the pony twins Mary and Sue*

It is a fanfiction, yes. EQD's had it up.

It's...weird.

That's probably the best word to describe it, yes. Very much a love it or hate it sense of humor though, and rather joys in making things as wildly screwed-up as possible, so yeah.

edited 14th Aug '12 12:23:33 AM by Pykrete