User blog:Weavillain/Fanfiction Spotlight: Louds vs Loud

So, it looks like the last installment was well-received. Although, it looked my recommendation wasn't exactly...obscure at that point in time. In hindsight, it makes sense since "Worst Sister Ever?" was a pretty new story at the time I made that blog.

Well, this time, I hope that things will be a bit different because I'm going to be digging a lot deeper for this one. Today, I'm going to be recommending a story that was wrapped up in early February of this year. It's a multi-chapter story called "Louds vs Loud" by deranegdperson. As of now, it only has 18 favs and 12 reviews, something that I find to be quite the shame, considering how much I like this fanfiction and believe that it deserves more attention. Also, for those of you who don't know, derangedperson is also responsible for writing "Sacrifice Fly", a story that I consider to be one of the very, very, very few fics that deserves the label of a well-written NSL fic. I might consider spotlighting that story at a later date, but for now, we'll be focusing on "Louds vs Loud".

So, before we dive in, I'd like to briefly go over the guidelines that I'll be using when talking about this fanfiction:

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?

And also, if you'd like to leave a recommendation for me to highlight in the future, please review these rules:

For wikia fics specifically:
 * 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.

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

Synopsis: April Fools Day has come around again, but this time the Loud family are fighting back. Who will win this great prank war?

Status: Complete

Why I love this fanfiction/would recommend it: So, where do I begin? Well, I suppose if anything, I should talk about what this story centers around and what it does right with the premise.

As the synopsis suggests, we have yet another story about April 1st!Luan, but this time around, instead of her family running and cowering in fear, they're going to fight back and hope to get a one-up on Luan this time around. To do this, Luan agrees to a competition between her and her family on April 1st. The family gets to prank Luan as a team while Luna retaliates back. Each successful prank equals one point. Whichever team scores the most points by the end of the day wins. That's basically the story in a nutshell, but such a simple explanation doesn't do the story justice. To explain why, I'll be talking about Luan's portrayal in the story.

See, April 1st!Luan has a very divided reception with the fanbase. Some people find her malicious, sadistic prankster side hilarious while others are put off by the portrayal and feel that she's way too mean-spirited to be funny. Well, as for me, I think that it could work, as long as the execution is competent enough (see "Fool's Paradise". See, I can sympathize with those who think that April 1st!Luan isn't a likeable character. Yeah, I know that I'm more known as the guy who thinks that the fandom should take a chill pill a lot of time and not overreact to episodes and implications that they find bad, but even I have my limits. "April Fools Rules" didn't endear me to her character at all, and a lot of it had to do with the "tone" of her pranks, which came off more as Ramsay Bolton torture methods than silly pranks, and her motivations, which was to manipulate Lincoln's fears and spur him into falling into her death traps, all while hoping that Ronnie Anne would cap everything off.

In "Louds vs Loud", however? We get to see more of that Luan, but this time around, her portrayal is much better. Instead of someone who seems to get her jollies off of psychologically torturing her victims, she's instead written as a character who takes a lot of pride in her April Fools shenanigans and how flawlessly she can get the drop on everyone with her assortment of pranks and witty schemes. Plus, her pranks are far more innocent, which creates an effect of humorous juxtaposition between her goofy pranks and puns versus the over-the-top reactions to her pranks from both her family...and the friggin' SWAT team! Yeah, SWAT shows up, but I'll be getting into that a little later.

Anyways, I understand that some of you still may not find this side of Luan satisfying, especially if you still carry somewhat of a grudge from Luan's April Fools episodes. Maybe you think that Luan should get hit with some karma for all of her "sins". Or perhaps you're not convinced that she had her family's best interests in mind and was only about entertaining herself. Well, I'm here to say that this story has you covered on both ends. At the end of the story, after the competition is in the books, we find out that Luan is thrilled that her family joined in on the April Fools fun for a change because in her words, "comedy's meant to be shared". It practically spells out for us that while yes, Luan is proud of her April Fools prowess and the "terror" she can inspire, she'd rather feel like her family shares the same enthusiasm that she does with the holiday.

And as for the karma? Well...I guess you'll have to read the story for yourself to find out about that, won't you? I'll just say that out of everyone in this story, Luan is the one that's hit the worst and not in a "cartoony" way, either. It's not super dramatic and serious, though, so you won't have to worry about feeling horrified.

Now then, what was that thing I was saying about the SWAT team? Yeah, they make an appearance, and their part of the story was hilarious, possibly the funniest part of the story besides...well, everything! This story's tone and humor is something that I can see taken from the show, with the pranks and reactions falling in line with some of the classics from toon physics. Not once did I feel like any of the pranks went too far or were too cruel; there was a great balance of creativity and comedy from Team Family and Team Luan. I already talked about what I liked from Luan, so I'll do the same with everyone else.

Everyone else was written pretty spot-on with how the show has them. The only nitpick I have with is with Leni, who I felt used "like", like, way too much in her sentences. Like, she only did it once in, like, "Undie Pressure", so, like, seeing her say it so many times was, like, kind of annoying. Besides that, though, I can't see any discrepancies with their portrayals.

The story was also pretty well-paced, not dragging with its flow while also not speeding things up.

And if there's one last thing that I have to give the author credit for, it's for the puns. My God, do they ever work here. I usually only find puns funny when they're not said unironically, and that's kinda what we get here. Instead of them being said because they're "funny", they're used (by both Team Luan and Team Family") in conjunction with one-upmanship, as a means for both boasting and for jovial taunting/bantering.

All in all, if you want a lighthearted, funny, entertaining story about the Loud House and April Fools mischief, this is the story for you.

And that about does it. Remember, if you want a request done, refer back to what I posted earlier in the blog. Also, feel free to point out anything you'd either like me to add or cut back on for future installments.

'Til next time! :D