#requiemforaloud

[robbyrobinson]

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

[robbyrobinson]

Final Thoughts on Requiem

I’m rather conflicted; on the one hand while I do love “Requiem for a Loud,” but on the other, I really think that UnderratedHero’s dancing dangerously close to having the story be dark for the sake of being dark (read drama). Now don’t get me wrong, the fanfic is very powerful in its premise -- that being Lincoln dying -- and I feel that UnderratedHero does have something to say about the story. I totally agree that Lincoln is the emotional center of the family (even though he can be a selfish jackass sometimes), I find the idea for “Requiem” slightly laughable. No, I don’t mean in a comedic way, but in how it relates with the canon series. There is no way in hell that Nickelodeon would ever allow an episode like that to be made, not even as the series finale. When you say “Lincoln is dying” over and over in your mind, it comes off as slightly off putting.

But while I do agree that the point of the story is how would the family go on without that emotional center, I am slightly opposed to most of the ideas that UnderratedHero implemented. Before I get into them, I will make it a point that I don’t hate UnderratedHero; don’t know the guy personally, did speak with him a few times on FanFiction.net. I would say he’s a nice guy, but I just don’t know anything remotely about him. The fanfic honestly came off as being too cruel towards Lincoln. I mean Lincoln due to die is bad enough, but then you go into his older sisters’ reactions, and they’re all broken wrecks. Naturally that is to be expected, but then there were a few....interesting. For one, Luna, in her depression, decides to drink and have sex with a complete stranger. Need I tell you that Luna is roughly 15 years old? Underage drinking and sex. Throw that into the fireplace and burn it. Now I’m not against an author taking some creative liberties, but this came off as jarring as I felt that there wasn’t a point to it. Well, technically there was, but I felt that that was the point UnderratedHero was walking on thin ice.

Besides that, he introduces a cancer-stricken boy to Lincoln who dies a few chapters later. What was the point of that? Yes, Adrian does inspire Lincoln to make his final weeks count, it came off as cruel to introduce him to Lincoln and befriend him, only to literally kill him off a few chapters later. I mean, what the fuck, UnderratedHero? But that’s the least of my concerns. Not only do you have all of these tragedies to add onto the feels pile, but you also find out that Bobby and Ronnie Anne lost their mother in a car accident. Bobby grieving for Lincoln is bad enough, but having it later turn out that he lost his mom.....

At this point, I vowed to stop reading “Requiem for a Loud.” I don’t hate the story for being “dark,” but I just feel that UnderratedHero is playing most of the darkness up for the sake of drama. I don’t regret reading the fanfic either. In fact, I never expected him to actually respond to my take on his story. Granted, I probably dropped the bomb early, but it was actually surprising. In fact, UnderratedHero actually inspired me to do fanfics myself, even though I initially hated them. One story I recently finished is about Luan and how she became the way that she was because she had a sadistic teacher who pushed her off the deep end.

With that, those are my final thoughts on “Requiem.” I respect the author for bringing this story to life, but I do criticize him for dipping his hand too deep in darkness.

[robbyrobinson]

Remembering Lincoln

It's funny how a tragedy could bring a family together. It hasn't been less than four years after the Loud family was forced to part with Lincoln. What started as a simple trip to the park revealed itself as a nightmare when Lincoln passes out from blood loss. It only went from bad to worse when Lincoln was diagnosed with brain cancer, meaning that he only had a short amount of time left to live. Lincoln had been suffering from symptoms pertaining to the wretched disease that went unnoticed by his family. By the time that they were made aware of the young boy's condition, Lincoln slowly drifted into the final stages of the malady. Although distraught by the announcement, Lincoln tried the best to his ability to instill good memories in his sisters so that when the time came, they could fondly think back about the time that they had together. As the week slowly went by, the cancerous cells slowly drained Lincoln of his energy. It had gotten to the point it was recommended that Lincoln spend a few nights in the hospital. Even though it pained them to do so, they obliged. His younger sisters - Lucy, Lola and Lana - were made aware that their brother's health was failing, and naturally, they didn't take it well. While his younger siblings expressed their sadness in different ways (Lucy, who was morbidly fascinated by death sniffled at the announcement for instance), arguably the worst reaction was Lisa's. Taking it upon herself to find a cure for her brother's illness, she was made to realize that there was no hope for her brother.Usually the stoic, the reality of the situation drove Lisa to tears, and she destroyed her research.

Eventually, the Loud family went to the hospital to request that Lincoln be removed so that he could attend his sister, Lynn's, game. The hospital respected their wishes and provided a wheelchair for Lincoln. And then it happened. As the game was nearing its climax, Lincoln leans over in agony, grabbing onto his chest. The family immediately rushes to the hospital, where they are informed that the cancer was spreading to his heart. Lincoln ultimately died with his loved ones around him. His sisters eyes were filled with tears as they saw the life slowly drain out of his eyes. Before he passed off to eternal slumber, he swore that he could see his friend, Adrien, standing beside him with a warm smile on his face. Lincoln's funeral was a rather simple one. His family invited all who would attend. Even Mr. Grouse, the resident grouch of Royal Woods, took time to pay his condolences to the grieving family. It would seem that his gratefulness to Lincoln for giving him a one-way ticket for Christmas really rubbed off on him. The funeral service was dreary at first. Lincoln had tried to encourage his sisters to be strong in the events of his passing, but they were completely shattered by their loss. It takes Luna suggesting that they remember all of the funny times that they had with their brother to lift their spirits slightly. After they had finished on what they had wanted to say about their brother, others took part in the discussion. Clyde reminisces on the misadventures he and Lincoln engaged in, Ronnie Anne talked about how she used to tease him a lot, Grouse remembered when Lincoln's action figure was tossed into his backyard and he kept it, etc. Eventually, the family opted to cremate Lincoln, because they feared that Lisa would try to bring him back through science. Lincoln's ashes were placed in an orange urn jar that sat on top of the fireplace, out of the reach of the younger siblings. Even though it was only a few years after Lincoln's death, the family didn't seem as energetic as they used to be prior to the devastating experience. Lincoln was hardly mentioned in any discussions by his sisters, as they feared that this would trigger traumatizing memories of watching their only brother die slowly from cancer. It became such a problem, that Lynn Sr. and Rita opted to keep the spare bedroom off limits. Taking a lock, the room remained unopened for quite sometime. With that, the Loud house became less loud.

With everything, the sisters grew older. Lori had graduated from high school, and went to to acquire a fairly well-paying job after college. Leni was working at a restaurant as a waitress, Luna and Luan were hardly ever home. The younger siblings were also getting older as well. Lily in particular was starting to learn more words. Lincoln would've loved to have witnessed Lily's training going well without a hinge. Lily had become quite the adorable young girl as one could imagine. At four years old, Lily was mischievous, getting into trouble whenever she could. She expected her older sisters to play with her every now and then, but she didn't mind playing by herself. She was playing with a bouncy ball one Wednesday afternoon, and she tossed it down the hall. Unsurprisingly, the ball overturned vases and other breakables. The ball then bounced off of a door that slowly creaked open. Giggling, Lily scampered to retrieve her ball. She was about to head back downstairs, but seeing the empty room open sparked her curiosity. Lily quietly waltzed into the room, and was fascinated by what it held. Lily walks over to the bed, and she sees a cute stuffed rabbit sitting on the bed sheets. Without any consideration on her part, she makes a grab at the stuffed animal, accidentally roughing it in the process. She hides the torn rabbit underneath the bed, and she he heads over to the counter. She sees a picture of a young boy that she didn't recognize. The young boy was in a family picture dated 2016, and to her surprise, he had white hair. No one in her family, barring Pop Pop, had white hair. She squinted at the picture in deep thought. She seems to remember this boy from somewhere, but she couldn't place her finger on it. Maybe if she were to show the picture to her older sisters they could clarify on the identity of the boy before her.

Lucy, Lola, Lana, and Lisa were sitting on the couch watching a show at that time, when Lily scampered into the room. "Hey, I found a picture," Lily says in an excited tone. Her sisters didn't seem to acknowledge her presence that much, as they continued to watch their show uninterrupted. "That's nice, sister unit," replies Lisa in her usual monotone. Lily, seemingly unfazed by this, continued to speak. "I found this picture in some locked room, but I don't know who this boy is." The remote drops on the floor with a thud. "R...room?" Lily shakes her head excitedly. Upon further expression, Lisa realizes that Lily had gotten the picture from the locked room. A great silence engulfed the room as the sisters tried to process the situation. "So, who is this," Lily says more forcefully. Her sisters looked at each other for a long time contemplating on who should be the one to tell Lily. Sighing, Lana sits down beside Lily and, with a heavy heart, she explained the mysterious boy to her. "Lily, this was your older brother, Lincoln." Lily's jaw drops in surprise. "I have a brother? Where is he?" Lana tugs at her shirt nervously before continuing on. "You see Lily, your brother was sick for an awful long time, and he didn't get better." Lily scratches her head in confusion. She got sick a few times, and the only thing that she needed to feel better was medicine. "So?" Lily says without a hard of hostility in her voice "mommy always makes me feel better whenever I feel sick, so why couldn't Lincoln get better?" Her older sisters were feeling the waterworks coming on, but they felt compelled to continue. "He...he," Lana began before warm tears overtook her. Lola consoled her, and she took over. "Lily, remember when you had that pet butterfly you've had once and dad accidentally crushed it?" Lily nods. "Well, Lincoln's in that same kind of situation that your pet was. He's...he's dead." Lily still couldn't get a grasp of what she was trying to tell her. "But, if he died, why don't I remember him?" Lana pat Lily's head tenderly. "You were so young when Lincoln left. He loved you so much and would've loved to spend time with you."

Lily didn't know how to meditate on her sister's assuring words. She wanted to feel sad that her brother was gone, but she just couldn't fathom that she had special moments with him. What's more, she felt angry that her sisters got to know him longer than she ever could. And yet she could recall some distant memories of spending time with some boy when she was younger. "It's not fair, all of you got to know and love him! Why, why does it have to be this way?" she yelled. Lana looks at her with understanding eyes. She dips Lily from off the floor and hugs her deeply. "Sometimes, there isn't a reason why this happens." Even though the sisters were greatly saddened by having to come to terms that their only brother wasn't coming back, they decided to take this as an opportunity to show Lily glimpses of what her brother was like. With Luan's help, the sisters watch home videos of the time that Lincoln spent with them. What caught Lily's interest, was when it came to her interaction with her brother. She witnessed him playing with her, and tucking her in at night. A lump began to form in Lily's throat as tears burned her eyes. Soon, all of the sisters were crying, but they were tears of joy as memories of Lincoln poured out from them.

[robbyrobinson]

Requiem for a Loud...

Reading ‘Requiem for a Loud” recently, and I am just really, really wanting Lincoln to die already. I’m getting torn up by the plot of the fanfic, and it’s supposed to be about 10 more chapters long. I mean, seriously....