I'm back!

Dear loyal watchers,

A few things...

I am not dead:

I just wanted to make that clear. Haha. 

I have been particularly inactive here on DA over the last couple of months because some IRL things have been complicating my life a bit. I got a new job in another part of the country. There was quite a long 6-day road trip, driving from the east coast, all the way inland. But my new job seems to be going well. It sure feels nice to finally have a steady, if modest, income. I am finally finding my new routine, allowing me to set aside more time for art.

My intention is to take my web-presence a bit more seriously, going forward, as I believe I would like to expand into some more ambitious activities. That takes commitment, and I plan to do that, while also balancing “real life” at the same time. So if you don't see more frequent and regular activity from me, feel free to call me out on it. Haha. XD

A Moment with Dr Wolf:

Another reason I've been away from DA for a bit, as some of you may be aware, is that I have been contributing artwork to a certain MLP analyst over the last few months as well. So what time I've had for art has been spent on that. DrWolf is a popular MLP analyst on Youtube who has made a decent name for himself, giving his reasoned and insightful thoughts on various MLP topics, as well as with his popular series “A Moment with Dr Wolf”, where he interviews other analysts' personas, in the style of a psychotherapy visit.

Most recently, he has even expanded into canon characters, starting with Fluttershy, with a pre-written script and some great voice actors. I had the privilege of helping to make that one happen with my art.



It was a lot of work, and kept me away from other projects (like the Demon Slayer comic, which I still promise you is on my To-Do list), but I was only too happy to work on bringing that scenario to life. You can find it here.

www.youtube.com/results?search…

I am also currently working on one more AMWDW video, which should be completed soon, and posted on DrWolf's channel soon after. This I believe will be my last AMWDW video for the next while, as I really think I need to take a break from that, and do some other things for you great watchers right here on DA. I may come back to AMWDW for one or two more videos, but I am leaving it up in the air as to when that will be.

I will be back again with a new entry on my future art plans. I am hoping to expand into Patreon, for instance, and do some interactive stuff there. But I will let you know when I have that more worked out.

Fallout Equestria Review: (mild spoilers)

One of the things I did, especially while working on the Fluttershy AMWDW video, was listen to the Dramatic Reading of “Fallout Equestria”, by CrazedRambling on Youtube www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…. First off, CrazedRambling is a pretty decent voice actor, and does a great job of bringing that story to life, especially considering how LONG that story is. I understand he is still working on one of the sequels/spinoffs, “Project Horizons”, which I am currently working on listening to.

I wanted to listen to this story in order to finally understand the hype that surrounds this fanfiction, so for those interested, I will leave my thoughts here, now that I have finished the story.

The author, Kkat, does a great job of making the world of Fallout Equestria feel unique and complex, and distinct. It's somewhat of a harsh and depressing world, but also one that you feel strangely motivated to want to explore and lose yourself in. Especially when the connections are drawn between the starkness of the dismal future and the happier, more innocent world of the canonical Equestria. Some of these unique elements may be directly derived from “Fallout”, which I believe is a video game series I am not familiar with. So your sense of originality may vary, if you happen to know about “Fallout” already.

Regardless of the originality of the setting though, the characters are certainly very well developed. Little Pip is one of those OCs that has managed to become widely known within the MLP fandom. Her motivations, flaws, desires and weaknesses feel real and relatable, and flow organically through the narrative. Same goes for her companions, Velvet Remedy, Calamity, SteelHooves, and Xenith are similarly well drawn and likeable in their own ways, much like the real MLP characters.

I enjoyed the exploration of how the innocent pony world fell to self-destruction, despite good intentions, and mainly due to fear and naivete. It was interesting to consider a somewhat realistic scenario of how the idyllic world of the Equestria we know might yet make the kinds of mistakes that we might make that could lead us down a destructive path. In particular, we see how the virtues of some of the mane 6, in the form of flashback, get corrupted in the days leading up to Equestria's disaster, and ultimately lead to misguided actions.

And in the aftermath, we see what the harshness of the wasteland does to the “good” little ponies who inherited the world that came after. They try to hold onto the goodness within them, but circumstances keep forcing them to make harsh and morally questionable choices. Some ponies resist it, some successfully and some not, while others embrace the “harsh truth” they see about the world, and do morally bankrupt things without remorse. This idea is also explored in The Walking Dead, which is another series I like. In these kinds of extreme settings, where it is kill or be killed, steal or be stolen from, etc, how do you hold onto your morality, your humanity (or in this case equinity), and still live with your conscience? Most of us will hopefully never have to go through such experiences in real life, but it is an idea worth exploring, as it gets down to the root of what is truly important. Would we be willing to lose the essence of who we are, for the sake of physical survival, or is our sense of humanity more important than that?

For me though, the climax of the story was somewhat unsatisfactory. I won't give it away, but I personally was not sure what to feel. Little Pip ends up making a hard choice, but it didn't feel to me like it was given the weight it should have been given. I was not sure how to feel at the end; happy for Little Pip, or not? Another criticism I might offer is that the story seemed to run a bit long in places. The plot could definitely have been streamlined and tightened up to perhaps be a little more direct and effective. However, if you are all about pacing yourself through the world of Fallout Equestria, and spending time with these characters for its own sake, as I can understand you would, then this might not be a problem for you. I offer this nitpick of a criticism because there really is not much I can say about this fic that is critical.

So would I recommend this story? Most definitely yes. If you consider yourself a “hardcore” MLP fan, then this is one of those big fandom creations that you might want to be familiar with. It is quite dark and violent at times, and there is some bad language that may not jive with your impression of MLP, but if you don't mind those elements, and you want a smart, well-written story with compelling characters and themes, then this one is for you.

Anyway, that is all from me for now.

Cheers.

Starbat