Do you enjoy grimdark?

[Wolf-Boy 54]

Personally, I'm not real big on grimdark.   I liked reading it until I read "Cherilee's Garden."  I'm not sure what made me decide not to read it anymore, but that story just killed it for me.

[AegisReflector 886]

I think it's stupid. I know it's fan created content and the creators are trying to have fun with the show, but to me, it actually hurts the show's charm and personality. The show is meant to be light-hearted and cute, and when I look at these sorts of writings it just makes me utterly facepalm with me thinking "Why?".

 

I usually enjoy dark humor but when someone writes a full-length grimdark then it just becomes annoying.

[Moon Rat 4,772]

I do enjoy SOME grimdark storie/artwork

The Loony Luna tumblrs/artwork are always quite fun for me heck, I even had my avatar set as Loony Luna once.

 

my biggest irk with Grimdark are the stories and artwork of ponies being dismembered...

Something like Sweet Apple Massacre

 

[DeiStar 248]

Grimdark is great when applied correctly.

 

I enjoy a great grimdark fics or pictures from time to time.

 

Although some people need to understand that stuff like Cupcakes or SAM =/= grimdark.

 

Cheerilee's Garden? Grimdark

Rainbow Factory? Grimdark

Cupcakes? LE EPIC SLASHER LULZFIC

[MelancholicMemory 2,025]

I enjoy the genre, although i have found that a very good portion of grimdark content is poorly made. I love the horror genre, and i have a dark sense of humor so grimdark is appealing to me, although i recognize its not for everyone. Cupcakes wasn't great, but it did inspire a lot of good grimdark like CrookedTree's ask blog and Rocket to Insanity (and all of its alternate versions). Probably my favorite MLP Grimdark fic is Silent Ponyville (1&2). I like the fanfiction, Rainbow Factory, but not the song it is based on.

 

Also,.unlike most people, fanfictions like SAM don't really offend, scare,or horrify me. I'm just like "meh". Cupcakes had potential to be an entertaining slasher fic, but it did not live up to that potential.

Edited December 10, 2012 by MelancholicMemory

[YesIAmTori 285]

I love grimdark, Rainbow Factory (and it's sequel) are my favourites and I love Cheerilee's Garden as well. Tumblrs like ask Pinkamena and Lil' Miss Rarity are/were (RIP Pinkamena) great, you just have to have a sense of humor. Oh and does For Want of a Dawn count? I loved that story.

 

I do enjoy SOME grimdark storie/artwork

The Loony Luna tumblrs/artwork are always quite fun for me heck, I even had my avatar set as Loony Luna once.

 

my biggest irk with Grimdark are the stories and artwork of ponies being dismembered...

Something like Sweet Apple Massacre

Link to Loony Luna? Edited December 11, 2012 by YesIAmTori

[Moon Rat 4,772]

here you go you will more than likely have to sign up for an account there to se some of the images as they are tagged with either Grimdark or Seizure Warning and are spoilered, enjoy

 

 

 

I love grimdark, Rainbow Factory (and it's sequel) are my favourites and I love Cheerilee's Garden as well. Tumblrs like ask Pinkamena and Lil' Miss Rarity are/were (RIP Pinkamena) great, you just have to have a sense of humor.

 

 

Link to Loony Luna?

Edited December 10, 2012 by ~ds8~

[YesIAmTori 285]

here you go you will more than likely have to sign up for an account there to se some of the images as they are tagged with either Grimdark or Seizure Warning and are spoilered, enjoy

 

 

 

Already have an account, in fact, I have two! Something about minecraft ponies and then an ask tumblr. I had the ask one when I couldn't draw at all.

 

here you go you will more than likely have to sign up for an account there to se some of the images as they are tagged with either Grimdark or Seizure Warning and are spoilered, enjoy

 

 

Ahaha okay thanks! Time to regain my fear of the dark! Woohoo!

This sentence serves the purpose of reaching 100 characters, please disregard.

[Nouth 496]

Umh... Nope. I don't enjoy gory stuff in general, and ponies slaughtering each other is a bit too strong for me xD Maybe I'm just too soft, but I know it's not for me, so I avoid it like the plague (© Chaotic Dischord).

[Magpie 623]

Nah, it just isn't interesting. I write some dark adventure kind of stuff, but it never gets gory, if only because I find it boring.

[Moon Rat 4,772]

I also do not normally read much fan fictions anyway but some of the artwork is pretty good

 

Anyone here who does enjoy reading grimdark fanfictions could you recommend me a good one besides Cupcakes and SAM

 

 

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I tried reading some of those kinds of stories, but I really don't like them. I'm not a huge fan of reading, anyway.

 

I heard part of that Cupcakes story and it was disgusting.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Champion RD92

[Starshine 16,333]

Oh boy I LOVE grimdark.

 

 

Be it perpetual war for survival, corrupt bureaucrats demanding innocent sacrifices just to maintain the society from a lack of rainbows, or an individual's struggle to maintain his sanity in a world where sanity and time as a concepts are butchered in daily manners.

[~Asuka <3~ 867]

It's not like it's bad, but it's just not my type of artwork.  It doesn't fit the show if you ask me.  That doesn't mean that there isn't some grimdark out there that's of really high quality, but most of it just isn't for me.  

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

Oh boy I LOVE grimdark.

 

Well, look at that. I was gonna bring 40k up as an example of grimdark done right.

To those unfamiliar with the setting: Humanity is constantly beset from all sites by demons, traitors and aliens, resulting in allresources and personal freedom having to be sacrificed in order to survive, creating an absolute nightmaish totalitarian state.

The important point here, is that it makes sense that these circumstances would create this setting.

My problem with most grimdark fanfiction is that in-universe it just wouldn't turn out that way.

For example: I really wanted to like Equestria Divided. It has a lot of thought put into it and is just a very interesting setting. If the Mane Six and other cast weren't involved. If this was set at an earlier time (e.g. before Discord officially took over), a lot of different fractions warring for control over Equestria would make sense. But as it is, I'm constantly thinking "This wouldn't happen. The Mane Six would not act that way.No freaking way".

 

Even that can be excused, if the grimdark serves the telling of a good story, but most fics tend to be just gruesome/gory for the sake of being gruesome/gory (The Sweeney Todd aspect of Cupcakes has potential for a wicked little story, but it's buried too deep under the torture porn).

Edited December 11, 2012 by Silverwisp the Bard

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Nah, I never was that big into gory things. I mean I just find most of those types of stories hard to believe because they are put into character roles that are out of character.

[Jeddaven 42]

Where it's applicable, yes, I find that grimdark if out of place in MLP, but it's great in applicable settings. Warhammer 40k is a perfect example.

[PlunderSteed 1,252]

Grimdark is great when applied correctly.

 

I enjoy a great grimdark fics or pictures from time to time.

 

Although some people need to understand that stuff like Cupcakes or SAM =/= grimdark.

 

Cheerilee's Garden? Grimdark

Rainbow Factory? Grimdark

Cupcakes? LE EPIC SLASHER LULZFIC

 

This.  A lot of people assume that all grimdark is gory, and that everything gory is grimdark.  Not so.  Some of the best horror stories ever written don't even depict a single drop of blood. H. P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" is an example, and it's even from the famed "eldritch horror" genre.

[Enigma 200]

OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!

I love me some greemdark!

Not a huge fan of grimdark fanfics as I don't read fanfics but I love grimdark art \ o wo/

[Southern Belle 6]

Umh... Nope. I don't enjoy gory stuff in general, and ponies slaughtering each other is a bit too strong for me xD Maybe I'm just too soft, but I know it's not for me, so I avoid it like the plague (© Chaotic Dischord).

 

 

THIS.

I mean, I do like some gore with my stories I read, but things like  Sweet Apple Massacre and Cupcakes just make me curl up in a ball under my desk, reach for the nearest thing I can find, and just rock back and forth whimpering.

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

Personally, reality and much of TV and fiction is depressing enough so I don't seek out anything dark. Plus due to a phobia of mine something about organs really bugs me so yeah, not reading anything gory. When I joined the fandom I saw repeated references to Cupcakes and Rainbow Factory so I read synopses of them on Tv Tropes and they just sounded so despicably screwed up to me that I couldn't imagine ever enjoying reading them. I've heard that there are even more messed up things than these but I don't have any desire to find out about them. Bottom line is, the lightheartedness of MLP is one of its most appealing features for me, and as grimdark is basically the opposite of that I avoid it like the plague.

[Starswirl the Trixie 975]

The only truly Grimdark fic I've read was "Rainbow Factory", which is usually cited as the epitome of Grimdark (if Cupcakes/Sweet Apple Massacre aren't).  The biggest problem, apart from the spelling/grammar mistakes, was that it was too short.  I don't feel that the characters (particularly Rainbow Dash and Orion) were developed enough; some additional social commentary on Cloudsdale was also needed.

 

But apart from that, it was one of the better fics I've read, if only for the ending scene.  And my main complaint is that there wasn't enough of it.

 

I'd recommend it if you don't mind some gore.  The darkest part isn't "gore", it's the quite terrifying world built in the story.

 

 

I was once told that SAM, for all its faults, actually has some beautifully written dialogue/themes.  Any truth to that?

 

[sLORT 28]

I  absolutely love Grimdark! Just the thought of gore, despair, and ponies brutally slaying other ponies is so wonderful and interesting to me for some strange reason. oh god someone please help me

[joeyh3 153]

To me, it depends more on definition. A lot of people associate the term "grimdark" with random violence/gore, like "Cupcakes" and "Rainbow Factory". I didn't really like either story because they were mostly focused on violence and gore, with no deep, thought-provoking storyline. Instead, it's just violence and gore - boring. 

 

But then there are grimdark fics with a full story, and those tend to be a lot more enjoyable for me. Some of them may have a lot of gore, others not so much, but they still paint a grim picture - no hope, bleak future, suffering, etc. A good example of this is "The Night That Never Ended" - it just portrays a universe where there's pretty much no hope for the future getting better, depression, fear and gloom everywhere, etc. That's the kinda fic where you end up feeling bad for the ponies involved. That's what makes a good Grimdark fic.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

No, grimdark isn't my style. It's way too far from the spirit of the show, what it's supposed to be and why many of us watch it in the first place. But it's okay if people want to write it, because I don't have to read it. (And I usually don't.)

Edited December 11, 2012 by TailsAlone