Requiem for a Loud (Again)
So, in my review of Syn....whatever they way you pronounce that phobia, I was asked what were my initial thoughts on another notorious fanfic in the Loud House fandom; Requiem for a Loud. For starters....my relationship with the fanfic was sketchy at best. Whilst I was browsing TV Tropes, I stumbled on this fanfic completely by accident. After reading the summary, I assumed that the story was going to build up to some great big joke, so I decided to start reading. Reading the first chapters sent several different emotions through my mind; I felt sad, depressed even. It came to a point that I found it extremely difficult to look at the show again after reading the story. Every time I saw Lincoln, I was only reminded of the fact that he's going to die soon in the fanfic. And yeah, I am stating that now: I am quite certain that Lincoln will die at the end as requiem means "mass for the dead." If Lincoln doesn't end up dying meaning that all of these emotional scenes that were being delved on were entirely pointless, this would be my most likely reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZkC26-3t6U.
So, yeah, at the time, I really loved this story. Normally, I tended to hate fan fiction because of how they often try to make children's shows grimdark by introducing subject matter that the actual show would never do. That's why many Creepypasta based on kids' shows suck. But no. I actually felt that I was reading pure gold here. It did what many stories fail to do for me; actually make me feel sad and empty. I mean, yeah, the touching moments were there to numb the pain a bit, but at the end, I still felt empty knowing that the story won't be having a happy ending. I mean I loved the story so much to write an unofficial spin-off based on it that UnderratedHero himself actually liked. Butttttt....I consider it an old shame now. I read this story around the time that I was becoming a fan of the show (I was more a passive watcher), but this one story rocked my world. It inspired me to write stories based on the show with one currently having 235 reviews and 96 faves. And that's coming from the fact that I'm currently a junior in college with no writing background prior. I owe a lot to this story as well as that one that I can't say or spell.
However....I lost interest in the story. Many factors went into the story. For one, some of the chapters seemed dull. Really, even if I listen to the story being read on YouTube, my mind was wondering several times. I just felt bored reading the story. That doesn't help with the fact that the chapters are long. While I do read a few good books here and there, I normally am unable to finish them because they would be that long. It's a miracle that I was able to finish reading Stephen King's IT before the book fell a part. I don't know if it's because of my Asperger's, but reading Requiem constantly felt like a chore than leisure. Besides that, my other issue with the story was how it tries to make you feel bad for Lincoln's predicament. I mean, he's dying of a terminal illness and his family is devastated. But, here's the thing. The more I watched the show, I just didn't really find myself being fond of Lincoln. While Lincoln is relatable, I just found him...uninteresting. He's to this show like Kermit is to the Muppets. He's the straight man for the more colorful characters. Besides that, there were several moments that Lincoln had that showed him as being a jerk. He was selfish, mean, and often got into fights with his sisters for the most flimsy of reasons. With that being said...I couldn't really bring myself to care that Lincoln was dying. If it happened to a more interesting character...maybe I'd raise an eyebrow at that, but because it's Lincoln...I mean, Lincoln gets the short end of the stick several times. So him getting a terminal illness would be the most logical next step. That's not helping how half the fandom practically worships Lincoln like a god or Christ figure. I found myself gagging multiple times while I was reading the story. I just find this really terrible to Lincoln, because it ignores the mistakes that he did prior to this.
Going back to the sad scenes...Like I have said in a previous blog, I found myself laughing at some scenes that were supposed to be dramatic, but instead they come off as being artsy. I honestly found several scenes cheesy. For instance, when Lucy finds out the truth about Lincoln's condition, she runs to the junk yard to mope. Lincoln comes, tells her a poem, basically saying that regardless of whatever happens, he's always going to be there for her. And then he says the same thing to Lola and Lana. I get that it's a heartwarming moment and all that, but I also felt my eyeballs roll back in my head because of how cheesy everything was. Or then there's when Lincoln's doing his bucket list after he was informed that a boy that he met at the hospital died (which felt pointless, btw). Just....really, I couldn't help but joke about the severity of this situation. But that's not what I disliked the most about the story.
My last point on this story is that I felt that the author was making things darker for the sake of adding on to them feels. Of course, a story where an 11 year old boy dying is dark enough, but the author decided to include a scene where Luna - a 15 year old girl - actually drinks and...does some things with some random stranger. I mean, what the heck, Luna? Your brothers' dying, and you decide to get schwifty with some boy? Lori had every right to get mad at Luna for that. Okay, I understand the point of this scene: Luna is so depressed about her brother's oncoming death, that she decided to do this to leviate the pain a bit. Even then, I was that close to dropping the fanfic. Besides that, Lisa was also taking caffeine packs to stay awake as she tried to work on an antidote. Besides the fact that the chapters are long and often boring, my other complaint was the inconsistent updating. Now, I get that the author has other things in life to do like college work (I mean, him and me both), and the like, but I found it annoying having to continually wait for an update of the story as my interest in the story was waning by then. Most infuriatingly was the "fake chapter." On April 1st, UnderratedHero updated the story where it seemed as if it was going to be the conclusion to the overall story. But then it amounted to "Ha, ha! Fooled you; five more chapters to go!" To say that I was peeved beyond belief is an understatement. I was enraged by being duped by this. I mean, yeah, it was April Fools' Day, so what should I have expected. But that was the breaking point for me if the story was worth continuing to read or not. After hearing all of the praise and seeing the continuous recommendations for the story, I just slowly began to dislike it more for its obvious flaws. The story is overrated people; realize that. Since that chapter, I could've sworn that the story was dead, and I began to forget about it. I know that by the time I'm typing this that the story was finally updated, but I couldn't even care anymore about that. At that point, I just saw the story as some overrated piece of fan fiction that tries to be dark for the sake of being dark, or force you to feel bad for Lincoln and the family when I honestly couldn't care less.
I do appreciate the intention for the story; Lincoln is the glue that holds the family together. He is the emotional support. The story delves into what if Lincoln were to disappear? How could the family move on without him? Would they ever recover. The highlights definitely have to be the sisters' reaction to the news. You see how each sister expresses their grief in a different way; Lynn feels that everything is her fault, Leni tries to stay optimistic, Luan temporarily becomes a mime. That was the real reason as to why I even cared about reading the story. While I may not like Lincoln, it is made quite clear how important he is to his friends and family.
Anyway, that is my little blog on Requiem. Again. Hopefully, this is the last time that I'll be discussing this story. You don't have to agree with my points, but I'll respect yours as long as you are civil and respectful of mine. As always, AustinDR, out.
Final score: 8 1/2 out of ten stars
