Just to be safe…

My copy of Rainbow Dash: Reading Rainboom! arrived in the mail today, and as expected, it’s eerily relevant to Homestuck^2.

The story begins with Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash (she’s so spunky) in line for a book signing by Dash’s favorite author, A. K. Yearling. Dash’s old flying coach, Puddle Jump, is in line too, and he asks them if they can help his students to get excited about reading. When they arrive at flight camp, the fillies beg Rainbow Dash to tell them stories about her exploits, but Twilight says they’re here to teach them about reading. Rainbow Dash reads from some of the Daring Do adventure books by A. K. Yearling, but oh no! Dash’s favorite books put the fillies to sleep! What will our heroes do?

Twilight reminds Dash that “everypony learns a little differently,” and they take a break. On the break, the students practice flying, and it turns out that they’re HUGE NERDY DORKS about aerodynamics and cloud formations and the history of flight. Twilight Sparkle looks up some relevant history in one of the history books that she brought (which Rainbow Dash thought were SO BORING), which gives Dash an idea. She snatches the history book, reads it to the students, and it turns out they love it. Our heroes learn that stories that interest one pony don’t interest everypony, and that reading is cool.

After some wiki deep-diving, I learned that the character of A. K. Yearling (who actually is Daring Do, the Indiana Jones-like adventuring pony about whom she writes) within the broader world of MLP has deep thematic connections to Homestuck^2. There’s an episode involving her specifically about fanfiction, S6E13, Stranger than Fan Fiction, in which a pony named Quibble Pants hates all Daring Do books after the original trilogy because they’re unrealistic, but eventually learns the lesson that people can like and dislike what they want and that’s okay. Her initial appearance, S4E4, Daring Don’t, explores fan involvement in writing, when Rainbow Dash helps Yearling on an adventure and is then featured in her next book. And in S9E21, Daring Doubt, the ponies read a book considering Daring Do’s exploits from the villain’s perspective, and learn that rather than rescuing artifacts from a monster, Daring Do has been stealing them from a guardian tasked to protect them; they learn that listening to all perspectives is essential to understanding the true shape of a story. As a show with a fanbase just as involved, rowdy, and problematic as Homestuck’s, it’s hardly surprising that MLP introduced a character to explore these issues. I highly doubt any of this will be relevant to Homestuck^2, but it’s an interesting parallel.

So there you go. I made the sacrifice of $6 to bring you the gospel of Reading Rainboom. Do with this information what you will. And I’ll keep hanging onto the book. Just to be safe...

Detective Pony pages 21 and 46, as written by detective-pony

Click here to see yesterday’s page. Click here for high-contrast black and white pages. Fullsize images and transcribed text under the cut. (These pages have small-ass, dense-ass text, so you might want to read the transcription.)

Keep reading

In celebration of Canon Day, let’s look back at the dumb joke page I thought of in the shower that turned into a critical plot point and became a (beyond) canon meta-meme.

edit: to anyone reading this who hasn’t seen the original, this is what the refrance. It’s a page from my edited version of Detective Pony, which you can read on AO3.

“i knew framing our teacher for arson was a good idea!”

weird last name sounds like the result of a speech impediment

Look at this gorgeous Anna Harley art. Look at it.

In which @some-triangles continues to write the most convincing Dirk ever (and I know it’ll slightly annoy him to hear me say that (and that’s exactly why he’s so good at it)).

Wanna read a four page paper about meaning in transformative works and by that I mean Homestuck?

No?

Well good, ‘cause this is actually a four and a half page paper about meaning in transformative works by which I mean Homestuck by which i mean Detective Pony.

Keep reading

A-, needs more doodles of ponies in the margins; see me after class.

But seriously, this is very cool and thought-provoking! I’d love to hear the aftermath of turning this in.

I said I would do it.

Arrangement of:

Not my songs, Detective Pony is by Sonnetstuck and you should read the shit out of it.

I’ll probably do a full song for the fic at some point. 

This is now the canon soundtrack of pages 50-65.

I think the thing that gets me the most about Detective Pony is the fact that there are three Pony Pals.

Dirk has three friends.

One Pony Pal (Pawnee) is implicitly identified with one of Dirk’s RL friends (and his guilt about his relationship with said friend) through the alcoholism schtick.

Dirk’s Detective Pony is the story of three innocent children being corrupted by Dirk’s insidious influence… and the happy ending is one in which Dirk and his influence are entirely removed from their lives.

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT DETECTIVE PONY

but right now I just want to talk about how sonnetstuck’s Dirk wrote himself into the story WAY before Dirk Strider the antagonistic author insert character shows up, because Acorn is also Dirk. he’s identifying with the pony, and projecting his own feelings of guilt and self-hatred, as well as his fears. that’s why Acorn is terrible, murderous, doomed to hell and deserving of judgment, as well as powerful and legendary–he’s Dirk’s self-aggrandizement and self-loathing in equine form. and there’s the issue of control–Acorn’s position as a pony of godlike power who lets himself be mastered by Anna, his owner, is also really reflective of Dirk’s very much suppressed desire to belong to his friends–that is, to be subject to them in a way he can never consciously allow himself to be, to let them guide him, make decisions, &c so that he doesn’t have to–he feels as though he always has to be pulling the strings, he can’t let himself trust them to take care of themselves, let alone him–but deep down, he wants to be able to let them take the reins.

so removing Acorn from the heroic role he apparently occupied in the original text reflects back on Dirk–he’s not a hero, he can’t measure up to the image of himself he has cultivated and performed for his friends. by rewriting so that Acorn doesn’t solve the mystery or save the day, he casts doubt on his own abilities, and by making Acorn a reprehensible mass-murderer, he symbolically knocks himself off the pedestal completely. Acorn-as-Dirk implicitly makes the same suggestion that is later made explicit with the comparisons of Dirk-Strider-the-character to the minotaur and the serpent: Dirk is a monster.

BUT unlike Dirk-the-character, Acorn is distinguished by a single virtue: he fucking loves Anna. he is utterly loyal, devoted, & protective of her, and it’s mutual–a genuine, profound bond. they care deeply for each other, to the point of willingly sacrificing everything, and the Pony Pals stick together, too, even when it means following Anna into hell. and that’s the only real meaningful thing in the horrible world of Detective Pony, the only source of hope, the only thing that ultimately stands between the world of the text and its utter annihilation.

the magic of friendship, if you will.

I can’t believe I forgot to reblog this. This is some grade-A analysis of my bullshit.

It’s here. My next big project.

A satirical political dating simulator.

I have a Kickstarter for it running now. It includes a free downloadable demo.

I’m going to try not to post too much about this project here, since you’re presumably following me for Detective Pony, not other stuff. But if you want more frequent updates, you can follow my new blog just for Grand Old Academy or its Facebook page.

All the details about the game (and backer rewards, stretch goals, etc.) are on the Kickstarter page itself, but here’s a quick rundown: the game is modeled after a Japanese high school dating sim in its structure, but all the students in the school are figures from the American Republican party. You play as America, and you can elect to romance one of seven suitors (up to 10, if certain stretch goals are met). The game pokes fun at both the dating sim genre and this year’s Republican presidential primary.

One might say, “Does making these events into a game trivialize, or at least normalize, the very serious issues raised by these candidates in this election, such as xenophobia, racism, sexism, and more?” To which I would reply: you’re not entirely wrong. And the game will address that point. (But not the demo, since you can’t have a third-act twist at the beginning of the first act).

One might also say, “I’m just here for jokes; can’t a game about serious issues still be treated lightly? Aren’t controversial issues the ripest targets for comedy?“ To which I would reply: you’re not entirely wrong. The vast majority of the game’s tone will be lighthearted and comedic. If you enjoyed the first half of Detective Pony, you’ll probably like this game. And the aforementioned “third-act twist” is fairly minor, and won’t excoriate you if you’re in this camp.

One might finally say, “Aren’t you just trying to have it both ways with those above paragraphs? Trivializing political events and situations that have actual, weighty consequences on people’s lives, then promising that you’ll do some vague thing about it? Isn’t that hypocrisy?” To which I would reply: You’re not entirely wrong. Now give me money.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter one last time. And if you can’t contribute financially (the final game will be free if it gets funded, btw), you can still help out by reblogging this post (or this one on the other blog), liking and sharing the Facebook page, or through word-of-mouth. Thanks, and now back to your regularly scheduled Pony Pal content.

Let’s see if we can’t get this funded, because DP getting arrested for insulting President Trump’s honor with a dating sim would be a pretty wild story

#FreeDetectivePony2017

#FreeTheSeventeenMillionWhoDaredInsultTrump2018

#ThisHashtagRedactedByTheBureauOfCorrectInternetOpinions2019

#REMAINCALMSTAYINDOORS2020

#REMAINCALMSTAYINDOORS2021

#IfYou’reReadingThisStoneTabletInTheFutureDon’tRepeatOurMistakesLearnFromOurHubrisI’mNotSureWhatYearItIsButIThinkIt’s2022

#ReelectTrump2023

may we please take a moment to adore jeanne betancourt’s cat.

(blog post)

Jeanne Betancourt's sincerity makes me happy to be alive.

This is the @detective-pony trucks.  It’s mostly about Nicolas Cage.

Also contains a Trucks Exclusive: DP’s next project, revealed.

Have you ever wanted to listen to me nervously babble into a crappy microphone while two professional truckboys (with a much better microphone) talk about Face/Off with me? If so, you're in luck.

attention attention naked-bee’s detective pony podfic is the most glorious thing i’ve ever witnessed i am so hooked.

i have class tomorrow and here i am listening to a hellponies trashstory by dirk strider. i need to sleep yet i can’t until i know how this odyssey unfolds. what is my life.

“Hellponies trashstory” is a pair of really good portmanteaus. (Also, “portmanteaus” is a good word.)

If anybody hasn’t yet done so, I highly recommend that you check out naked-bee’s Detective Pony podfic.