User blog:Weavillain/Fanfiction Spotlight: Worst Sister Ever?

Ever since I considered myself to be a member of the Loud Crowd, I've seen plenty of beautiful, awe-inspiring creations from a fandom that truly appreciates a great cartoon for its characters, settings, and stories. Of course, as a fanfic writer, I'm more partial to looking out for great fanfictions more than any kind of created content. Over the past year or so, we've truly seen plenty of great stories, some of which explore beyond the restrictions of the show. There's UnderratedHero's "Requiem for a Loud", Samtastic 3.0's "Burning Secret", and themaninthecouch's "The Live House" just to name a few. But the thing is, I don't really need to tell you much about these stories because of how well-known they are in The Loud House community.

But what about fanfictions that aren't as popular? Believe me, as someone who's as obsessed with this show as I am, I can assure you that these hidden gems exist, and I've had the pleasure of reading them over and over again. That's why I find it to be a shame that, despite their quality in writing, story, and characterization, they're not as well-known as some of the "classics".

That's my inspiration for this little..."series" of mine. I'll be highlighting some fanfictions that I feel don't get the attention and respect that they deserve. In doing so, I'll be talking about the fanfiction with the following guidelines:

Synopsis: I'll give away the summary of the story, but if there isn't an "official" one, I'll be writing one down myself.

Status: I'll just be letting you know if the story is complete or yet to be finished.

Why I love this fanfiction/would recommend it: Pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?

Pretty simple, right? Well, with nothing else left to do but get into this "review", let's dive in with today's story,[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12618857/1/Worst-Sister-Ever "Worst Sister Ever?" by TakeBackTheFalls.]

Synopsis:  After Lori finds Lincoln's letter on why he thinks she is the worst sister ever, she is extremely hurt and will admit it to no one but Leni. Taking pity on her, Leni gives her pieces of advice that proves she's not just an airhead blonde.

Status: Incomplete

Why I love this fanfiction/would recommend it: Like the author said, there are so many "Brawl in the Family" and "No Such Luck" fanfictions out there, and I've personally found most of them to be rather lackluster and unsatisfying in the presentation and the story as a whole. I mean, how many times can you essentially read the same story, with some of the same annoying tropes (St. Linc and Ron the Death Eater sisters/parents" before your patience is spent?

Thankfully, TakeBackTheFalls's latest story isn't another one of those stories and instead, we're dealing with a sequel to the episode, "Get the Message". Now, if anyone has a good idea about the reputation around this episode, they'd know that this is widely considered to be Lori's worst episode to date, and quite frankly, I'd agree with that assertion. It hardly showed any redeemable qualities in Lori's character, and on top of that, she was rather callous for a petty reason. While I don't think her actions necessarily condoned a "Worst Sister Ever!" voicemail, even in hindsight, I can't exactly blame Lincoln for being ticked off by her.

So, what does TakeBackTheFalls do about this? Well, from the sequel endings I've seen, they all have Lori apologizing immediately to Lincoln, usually because her parents force her to. While that can be somewhat satisfying, it's also far less interesting than what TakeBackTheFalls does with this story. While it's not complete yet, meaning that an apology isn't completely out of the question, what happens in the first chapter promises a grand finale, nonetheless.

The ending of "Get the Message" has Lori angrily chasing down Lincoln after she's finished reading the "Worst Sister Ever" rant he had for her. It implies that Lori's more incensed than truly wounded by the diatribe. But with Chapter 1 of the story, we see that this isn't true. Lori is deeply offended by the idea that Lincoln considers her to be his worst sister. And it goes even further than that; she also wonders if her other siblings, namely Leni, feel that way about her. I can't help but feel some sympathy for her. While it's true that she's not the nicest sister, I feel that Lori has a lot of responsibility to bare with being the eldest sibling, and that all she wants is for the house to remain intact and for her family to be safe. She even says that she feels like the "third" parent of the house, a sentiment that I can personally get behind.

The thing that makes me feel even more sympathetic towards Lori is when we find out more about why she's offended. Yes, while Lincoln's words did hurt her, what makes it worse is that she actually feels that Lincoln actually has a point. It'd be easy to write Lori to be too prideful and scoff at the notion, but her vulnerability and insecurities, things that the show has alluded to several times, doesn't allow that. Of course, the story shows that she still had her pride, in that she doesn't want to confront Lincoln about her hurt feelings, but it's a reasonable addition to the story because Lori doesn't want her authority, something she cherishes, to be usurped from her. That's why it's all the more poignant when the person she does reveal her wounded feelings to is Leni, someone who may not look like a trust confidant but is proven to be far more valuable than first impressions could suggest.

Now, let's talk about Leni here. This, to me, is one of Leni's best portrayals in that it's very accurate to her canon self. Usually, when people want to write Leni as someone who's head "is more than just hot air", they turn up her competence to out of character levels to compensate for her stupidity, and that's something that betrays Leni's character. She's stupid. There's no getting around that, and any attempts to either work around or lessen the impact of that character aspect feels like author favoritism whenever I come across it. Thankfully, that's not what happens here. In fact, the only real "pearl of wisdom" that Leni offers is at the end of the story, when she tells Lori just to tell Lincoln the truth. Before that though? Lori has to translate the advice that Leni tells her because it appears to be utter nonsense. And you know what? That works extremely well. It show's Leni's caring side, Leni's canon stupidity, and how visceral the understanding between both of the sisters are. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that TakeBackTheFalls just copied and pasted segments of a script from an upcoming episode; it's that faithful to the characters and an overall, heartwarming first chapter to what's sure to be a great finished product.

And there you have it. I won't be ending this segment here, though, because there's something I want to get out of the way right now.

Yes, I will be taking requests, but the thing is, most people know about the fanfictions that go on this wikia, which means that a lot of them aren't really all that obscure, at least in comparison to the FF.net ones. Therefore, if anyone wants to leave me with a request for a wikia fanfiction to highlight, they must follow these parameters:


 * At the time of your request, the comments, left by anyone except the author, must be ten comments or less.
 * They cannot be written in script format.

But see, that's for a specific classification of fanfictions. I have other general parameters for request:


 * I won't consider self-recommendations.
 * Any requests must be left on my message wall.

So, with all of that out of the way, let me know what you think about this "series". Give me some pointers for next time around, and other than that, I hope you enjoyed reading this and hope you consider taking a look at the recommendation.