Do you enjoy grimdark?

[Hawk 100]

Frankly I find most grimdark distasteful.  I didn't become a brony out of some bizarre desire to take a world devoid of many darker elements and then corrupt the shit out of it in fan fiction that makes one wonder if the writer ever bothered to take an english course.  And honestly, I personally think that most writers/artists of grim dark take it way too far. 

 

I can accept the stuff that uses grimdark with a great deal of subtlety mixed with the occasional positive moment, those kinds of stories are good as it is a far more believable and interesting.  But once it goes to nothing but negative after negative after negative event happening for the sake of being a grimdark story is when it becomes bland and uinteresting. 

 

Some of my favorite stories have used grimdark in subtle and possibly unintentional ways to the point where it could be more how one views the story than anything else.  Best example would be Friendship is Optimal.  Even though it could be considered that all the characters involved had happy endings, the second to last chapter (SPOILER WARNING BTW) basically depicts what could be considred the end of the human race  brought upon us by our own creations and the extinction of all other life forms on the planet.  That kind of subtle grim dark is the only type I  remotely like.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Hawk

[FedoraMemes 582]

I like most things of the paranormal/gory/creepy genre. However, if a grimdark story isn't written very well, and is full of cliche's, then the chances are, I won't enjoy it very much.

[Sky Warden 2,243]

Grimdark 'eh? Well, pretty interesting.

If an adventure with dark settings, survival, massive war, depressing dark hours and horribly-evil villain is what you call grimdark, then I like it, but if it's about sadistic and insane gore, no thanks.

I love action and horror adventure and I don't mind if it contain many slashing scene (massive-war-action), but insane fleshy things are disgusting for me.

[Starshine 16,333]

but if it's about sadistic and insane gore, no thanks.

We have a word for what you described there, it's snuff.

 

Grimdark as a term is originated from Warhammer 40K's slogan, "in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war!"

Grimdark originally is all about the state of despair and hopelessness. It doesn't necessarily murder or mutilation or even rape, a fic about a village taken hostage by a cackling dark god can be considered grimdark even if there is not a single blood or violence shown.

 

Over these years people kinda forgot which is grimdark and which is snuff, and tend to mix them all up.

 

I hope you can find the grimdark genre enjoyable :V

Edited December 11, 2012 by Starshine

[Sky Warden 2,243]

We have a word for what you described there, it's snuff.Grimdark as a term is originated from Warhammer 40K's slogan, "in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war!"Grimdark originally is all about the state of despair and hopelessness. It doesn't necessarily murder or mutilation or even rape, a fic about a village taken hostage by a cackling dark god can be considered grimdark even if there is not a single blood or violence shown.Over these years people kinda forgot which is grimdark and which is snuff, and tend to mix them all up.I hope you can find the grimdark genre enjoyable :V

Ah yes. That's what I meant with grimdark. I really enjoy that genre. In movies, novels, games, fanfics, or any other media.

About those "snuff" things, no thanks, haha.

[Zacharias 191]

NO, No, and no.

In fact, It's kinda difficult for me to decide whether I despise grimdark, or rule 34 more...When I became a brony I did it because I was expecting a cute, innocent show, which I got, but most fan content just ruins the experience for me...if I want slaughter and horrible things I just look at the real world.

Edited December 11, 2012 by Zacharias

[Arkane 270]

Nope. I dont. The thought of candy colored ponies in a grimdark setting.. well.. Its not that I dont like it.. its just I cant take it seriously. I would either shrug it off or giggle at it before moving on.

What I'm okay with is when ponies are humanized, set in a grimdark setting. Atleast its a bit more "in-context."

[Vinyl Scratch (Filly)™ 936]

Why yes, yes I do. I love it, Grimdark is my favorite genre. Sure I like 'normal' genres but I have to say i do love Grimdark. Why? Because I am a sick ba*****

[MagmaKnight 17]

Sometimes I enjoy grimdark/horror fan fictions but grim dark art really doesn't appeal. I like grim darks when they actually work not just random ponies slicing each other for no reason.  

[One 498]

Yeah I enjoy it. I usually also find it a little funny and laugh during it.

 

The first grimdark thing I read was Cupcakes, my reaction was about- "What the fuck is this shit?! I like it..."

[Homura Akemi 974]

I like it very much, when done appropriately.

 

Cheerilee's Garden? Haven't done yet.

Rainbow Factory? Yes.

Rocket to Insanity? Yes.

Cupcakes? Overrated. Good concept, but could have been 1000x better.

Edited December 22, 2012 by Dιѕмajo

[Alleviate 342]

I often love decent Grimdark stuff. Mainly fics though, 'cos my imagination is waaay better than any artistic gore/horror.

I think that the Silent Ponyville series are quite possibly the greatest Grimdark pieces ever written (Especially the first one, that got me into horror...Damnit..) 

 

Cheerilee's Garden was an interesting Gorefic with a decent plotline and quite detailed scenes, which I enjoyed, yet I can see exactly why others might not. Cupcakes was very, very mediocre....a weak plot, a load of random holes...Meh, some of the alternate sequels are very good though: Business is boomin' Is a a brilliant continuation of the story, and it's fairly decently written too.  Berry's tests was another good Grimdark..Based on SAW, so yeah, avoid it if you don't like that sorta thing basically. 

 

Decently written/created Grimdark is always good in my book, the crappy stuff isn't so hot..and gives the rest of it a bad name..

[RippedOffMattress 314]

Yes, oh god yes I do. It's a shame you don't really see a lot more of it now. (Or at least good ones.) It was things like Cupcakes and Crookedtrees's Pinkamena Diana Pie blog that really got me into the fandom. It's a shame Trees had to go, and that nobody really seems to care about grimdark things anymore.

[Mellow 73]

I love the grimdark genre. Not always the pure blood and violence kind but mostly the stuff that actually has a good story. I don't have a problem with the gory stuff it's just boring to me unless it has a good story line. Like the All good things series (which happens to be the first fanfics I ever read)

[F7UC 43]

I love grimdark and dystopic literature.

 

If all GD fics were as good as cupcakes.. That feel when no fics with the same atmosphere and idea as in 1984, The Road etc

[The Stranger 812]

To be honest yes I do love Nightmare Fuel or as people call it grimdark stuff. I'm not sure why to be honest. I've always loved creepy things since I was little. Dark, creepy, scary things intrigue me. I guess i'm an odd one. 

 

The grimdark part of the mlp community is the third reason why I became a brony.

[Ion 279]

I try to avoid grimdark MLP stuff as much as possible. 

 

I'm not opposed to grimdark in general but it has to make sense. I'll stick with Warhammer 40,000 for that I think. It makes little sense in Equestria.

[Carnival_Cat 18]

does the pony pov series count? here is the trailer:

 

 

and here is the actual dark world

 

please let me know it does count because i feel forcing derpy to carry a muffin on her back that used to be her daughter around a castle, aging and dying just to be reborn as a filly and start the cycle over, all  while having a swarm of birds try to eat dinky(if you hadn't guessed, she is the muffin!) is pretty dark!

Edited December 23, 2012 by Nightmare Whisper

[NavelColt 22,880]

This thread appears to be related to the My Little Pony franchise and/or the Bronydom in general. Thus, it has been sentenced to Sugarcube Corner.

 

This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

[Sonata18 105]

No!!!!!   I can't do gore or extreme violence even in movies... much less pony fics.  I'm a huge fan of happily ever after and sunshine and rainbows.  I watch Walking Dead and True Blood, though... but I have to close my eyes like every other second. 

[Wubsie 1,123]

lolno

Especially not with ponies. That's just twisted. Why would someone take something so happy and colorful....and make it dark as god knows what?

Seriously that makes no sense, might as well make a grimdark fanfic about the fucking Wiggles....

Edited January 10, 2013 by ~Wubs~

[NavelColt 22,880]

In a word, I wouldn't lose sleep if every grimdark fanfic ceased to exist, and the genre vanished off the face of the internet.

 

I despise grimdark. I'm already not a fan of characters being portrayed out of character inside fan media, but taking it to a litterally horrific extreme makes me scowl. Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, the list goes on, and they are all bogus. And as a side point, grimdark is far more worthy of recognition for being the 'dodgy/eerie' side of the fandom that most people avoid, not R34. You see R34 in every fandom. Sure many people don't like it but it's absolutely nothing new. Do you see grimdark in every fandom? Yes, but not nearly to the pathetic extreme we have in this fanbase. The cuter the show, the more certain groups in a fanbase (or groups outside of a fanbase) feel the need to tear it to pieces by making it as horrifyingly grotesque as possible.

[uuunph 288]

It's alright to me. Many fanfiction writers fail to read the grim in grimdark. They make it all gore and killin'. A good grimdark fic emphasizes on grim nature, making life expectancies generally low, and living conditions to be shit for the characters inside. It should be a huge struggle, little to no hope left, is a good indicator.

 

Take some popular fics, like Cupcakes and Sweet Apple Massacare, for example. The two obviously didn't have too much effort put in, so they were far from good, not horrible to me, though. Sgt. Sprinkles himself said that Cupcakes was no more than a joke, IIRC. Nevertheless, the two fics are insanely popular for being notoriously gory.

 

And now we have a huge wave of writers attempting to ride on this popularity by making their own terrible grimdark fics. Somehow, they actually do get attention (Rainbow Factory especially), because people aren't tired or reading about ponies being ripped apart for the thousandth time. Really guys, you don't find that boring after a while? Come on...

 

I'll restate the point I made to start this off, "it's alright". It's alright like any other genre of literature, since genre shouldn't actually affect quality. The problem, is that people throw everything they know about writing out the window, and we get terribly characterized, highly implausible gorefics that aren't the slightest bit engaging.

 

</rage>

[Crayon 6]

Couple years ago I watched too many horror movies and I get so bored with them. Grimdark fanfics are just same. I have read Cupcakes and Rainbow Factory and they were okay because I think they're made to confuse the readers by bringing something unexpected to the world of pastel colored ponies. Though I agree that they're not written very well. I don't really enjoy grimdark but these two stories were like general knowledge of bronies so I had to read them!

 

However, I think Railrunner is right, grimdark shouldn't be gore and killing. I do like grimdark if there's not blood or internal organs.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I like grimdark artwork more than stories, but then I'm really not much of a fanfiction guy and it's hard to find grimdark stories where the ponies are actually acting in character. 

 

Also, I don't think this quite qualifies as grimdark because it's so upbeat, but I LOVE the cupcakes video by MisterDavie.