Poniverse Mascot Summerpalooza Contest Winners!

[Batbrony 16,055]

Goooooooooooood morning, everypony!  Well, it's the second weekend of September.  You know what time it is?

 

 

YES!  Wait, I mean, no, well, actually technically yes but that's beside the point.  It's time... to announce the winners of the Poniverse Mascot Summerpalooza Contest!!!

 

 

OK, sure, not sure what you need the football gear for but please, continue.  Yes, after an extensive judging period (and seriously, thank you all for your patience), I and the other judges have finally reached a consensus on the winning fics.  There was some stiff competition to be sure, but we are confident that the fics we have chosen are the best of the bunch, and (for the most part) perfect for Poniverse canon!  Before I continue, as always, I want to thank everyone who took the time to write and submit entries for this; we enjoyed all of these fics and really appreciate the effort it took to put them together, and ended up with a very fair number of fics as well.

 

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Poniverse Mascot Summerpalooza Contest! 

 

 

Well that's... special. 

 

Winners

 

Terms and Conditions by Fahrenheit

 

Our best overall entry by far, Terms and Conditions is a wonderful ensemble fic featuring all of the Poniverse mascots (with the exception of Wordplay and his siblings) as they meet each other for the first time and embark on a nutty adventure together.  As with Fahrenheit's past work, the group interactions are splendidly written, with characters bouncing off of each other smoothly and interacting with each other in a realistic manner, the setting and story itself wonderfully inventive, unique, original, and creative, and chock full of splendid humor through and through.  It's most definitely a fun read worth anyone's time to sit down and read, a very clear-cut winner and wonderful origin story for the mascots as a group itself, and the best written fic for not one but two Poniverse mascots, Equestria.tv's Viridian Meadows and Poniarcade's Nova Blast.  Thank you very, very much for the wonderful read Fahrenheit and congratulations on your double win, you most certainly earned it! 

 

Summers of Change by Silver Letter

 

Winning for Poniverse's alicorn Princess of the Internet herself, Pixel Wavelength, Silver Letter's Summers of Change is both the longest entry of the contest overall and provides us with a backstory most suitable for Poniverse's leader.  While admittedly it will need to undergo some revisions in order to more smoothly fit into Poniverse canon, as is it's already a very solid fic which gives the reader a wonderful idea of just how somepony like Pixel could come to play such an incremental role in building and running something like the Internet in Equestria.  It also provides her with some nice characterization and personal history, even adding ponies from her background important to her besides any of the Poniverse mascot themselves, who do not actually make an appearance.  This is a Pixel Wavelength backstory through and through, and its focus on her and her alone is exactly what a character like her needed in our canon.  Wonderful work Silver Letter, congratulations, and if you haven't checked his fic out yet, do so, it's most definitely worthy of a read! 

 

Setting the Rift by Taialin

 

Compared to the other winning entries on this list, Setting the Rift is very different from the others in its feel, with the possible exception of Summers of Change.  Winning for Pony.fm's musician mascot Viola, Taialin's entry gives more of a look into the origins of her personality more than her special talent itself, and it works very, very well.  It's a sad and somber fic that I'm sure most readers will agree actually has some real-world parallels even, but also a hopeful one that gives the reader an idea of how a pony as reserved as Viola could come to join a group as sociable and interactive with online communities as Poniverse.  Definitely worth your time, this fic was the clear-cut winner for Viola, and we at Poniverse all thank you very, very much for writing and entering it, Taialin. 

 

Ogres and Oubliettes by Kolth

 

Our sole entry starring Pony Roleplay's mascot Wordplay (along with his older brother Road Map and twin sister Fair Dice) was thankfully a wonderful fic in its own right and probably would have one for the character even if other entries had been added for him.  Given that roleplaying itself is very different compared to some of the other Poniverse mascots' areas of interest, the fic actually does a great job of not just giving Wordplay a solid backstory but also giving the reader an idea of where exactly he fits into Poniverse and how his joining it comes to be.  It's also got some very entertaining roleplay segments to boot that even non-roleplayers will be able to understand and enjoy, as well as some very humorous commentary about roleplaying through the characters' interactions with each other.  A winning entry through and through, Ogres and Oubliettes is a fun read anytime and most definitely worthy of Poniverse canon. 

 

Creation of a Mediaverse by SFyr

 

Our final winning entry is distinguished in one very odd regard; it actually cannot be accepted into Poniverse canon.  This was something that I and the other judges struggled over very much, but given Terms and Conditions acceptance into Poniverse canon already, there was simply no way we could make this one work alongside that one.  However, that does not take away from its quality in the slightest!  Winning for MLP Forums' very own lovable mascot Buffy, SFyr's Creation of a Mediaverse was another ensemble fic just like Fahrenheit's Terms and Conditions, and is an origin story for the Poniverse group.  While it is not the canon origin story, it's a delightful read all the same; the characters' personalities are spot on, their interactions with each other are delightful, believable, and entertaining, and Buffy, its primary star, especially stands out, her characterization is spot on and exactly what we want out of her.  I cannot emphasize enough how much this fic deserves to be read despite not fitting into our canon, and hope as many of you as possible will do so (as you should with all of these entries).  Thank you very much for your winning entry, SFyr, and many congratulations! 

 

Well, that's all the winning entries folks!  We've finally got some canon established for our lovely Poniverse mascots, which means that we'll be able to continue to build upon them throughout different areas of Poniverse as well as incorporate into future contests, both on Fimfiction and elsewhere.     Once again a big thank you on behalf of all of Poniverse and its staff to all the authors who took the time to write and enter fics; they were all enjoyable to read, and we hope you will all continue to write and improve your craft so that we might see you all in future fanfic contests.  Enjoy this bit of news to open up the second half of Season 5, everypony, and hope you all enjoy the upcoming new episode!  Have a wonderful Saturday! 

 

 

Brakes not included  :comeatus:

[Standard User 2,127]

Guess I will have to read Terms and Conditions, if it's as good as you say. Along with all these other great fics that college life has kept me away from.

 

Congrats to all the winners! We done did went and did good.

[SFyr 1,982]

Ohhhh! I've really been excited to see who's stories won, and find out what the final canon will be! 

...I'm honestly a bit surprised I managed to win a spot with my story (was NOT expecting that after seeing some of the competition, haha), but I have to say, it's an amazing feeling. Looks like I got a few awesome stories to look forward to reading though. 

 

Congratulations y'all!

And thank you to Batbrony and the rest of the people involved with this competition. Y'all are awesome. 

Edited September 12, 2015 by SFyr

[Treble Sketch 360]

Woho

Couldn't wait to read them.... Just as soon as I finish pre-reading 700k worth of Fo:E stories ^^"

(/r/falloutequestria )

[Taialin 217]

Setting the rift

While cool as the rain

Spurning her love

And feeling no pain

 

But learning to walk

With help from a friend

Finding emotion

And feeling again

 

---

 

Compared to the other winning entries on this list, Setting the Rift is very different from the others in its feel, . . .

 

I roleplay Rarity in the Equestrian Empire, so drama in any one of my stories is pretty much par for the course. I seriously don't think I could write a story without drama if I tried. 

 

Anyways, I'm excited I won, but I'm more excited about all this new canon we've got for our wonderful Poniverse mascots! All the winners are definitely worth a read! (Just set aside an afternoon for Summers of Change if you plan to read that one; it's a long one.) As for the prize money, I'll just put it back to Poniverse. It's nothing compared to what I've gained from the friends I've made here.

 

And about the reviews I did for every entry in this contest—they were a lot of fun to do. I hope everyone got at least something out of my comments. I am, however, just one writer and one reviewer, and one who has no formal education in writing. Take what I said with a grain of salt.

 

That being said, I'm probably not going to do this again (all the reviews, not the writing). About ninety thousand words to read in all, plus about seven thousand words worth of review and replies took me about twenty hours total over three days to complete. Twenty hours that I had a lot of fun with but almost certainly won't be able to spare again. Holy Sea of Negativity on a cucumber sandwich, now I know how you feel, Batbrony! So much word and review   . . . no read cannot anymore.

 

(Also, I am totally using that as a curse from now on.)

[J.R. 3,183]

Congratulations to the winners. Good job guys.

[CheeryFox 23,822]

Congrats to all the wonderful Ponies! ^^ 

[North 288]

>did not win

>goes into corner and cries

 

Congratulations to all the winners! You earned it!

Although I did not win, I will take it as a learning experience.

And, Batbrony, you'll be seeing me at the next contest. 

Edited September 14, 2015 by North

[Starlight Fan 538]

>did not win

>goes into corner and cries

Is there room in that corner there?

^{_{*carefully hides all evidence of my badly rushed story* you saw nothing}}

 

Haha, I'm kidding. I did it for the lols fun anyway.

 

Congrats to the winners! They were all really, really, really good! *insert more motivating, optimistic phrases here which my negative little brain cannot comprehend*

[Standard User 2,127]

And, Batbrony, you'll be seeing me at the next contest. 

 

Which brings up an interesting, albeit slightly off-topic, question: how often do these contests happen? Is there any kind of timeline or schedule we can look forward to, or will they pop up as Poniverse sees fit? 

Edited September 15, 2015 by Kolth

[North 288]

Which brings up an interesting, albeit slightly off-topic, question: how often do these contests happen? Is there any kind of timeline or schedule we can look forward to, or will they pop up as Poniverse sees fit? 

I'd say they happen every 2-3 months, and they happen more often during major holiday months, such as November, December, February, and the Summer months. As this is my first year here, I could be wrong. You might want to ask Batbrony if you want a spot-on answer.

[Standard User 2,127]

I'd say they happen every 2-3 months, and they happen more often during major holiday months, such as November, December, February, and the Summer months. As this is my first year here, I could be wrong. You might want to ask Batbrony if you want a spot-on answer.

I figured that was the case, but I'd be interested in contests happening more often even if there isn't a prize.

[Batbrony 16,055]

Which brings up an interesting, albeit slightly off-topic, question: how often do these contests happen? Is there any kind of timeline or schedule we can look forward to, or will they pop up as Poniverse sees fit? 

 

We're trying to make them a more normal occurrence, and judging normally wouldn't take this long, but there's still a limiting factor given that any staff involved in something like this have real world responsibilities, myself included, and unlike an art contest where you can probably take 10 minutes looking at different pieces, judging contests like this takes quite a bit of time.

[FlyPie 86]

I didn't participate but it all looks awesome! 

[Griffen Slayer 27]

What I would like to know is what happened to the mascot design contes that took place last year?

[Jeric 46,860]

What I would like to know is what happened to the mascot design contes that took place last year?

Shift won and we announced Buffy Dec 2014. We are currently at the end stages of picking her cutie mark.