Player Comments on Kelly Unicornstrider and Friends (1982-1985) Super Quiz

General Recommendation: A fun quiz game, particularly for those who haven’t seen the show in a while looking to revisit a little nostalgia. Definitely play the game before reading any reviews, as many contain giveaways for the answers.
Preview: Prove yourself a true Unicornstrider fan by getting a perfect score on this fun quiz!

=SPOILERS BELOW=

General notes:
Curses! This show’s theme song is going to be playing through my head for the rest of the week!
I’ve always felt a little late to the game when it comes to this series, given that I wasn’t alive yet when it was running, and even most of the talk surrounding remakes had died down by the time I could spell “remake”. My dad was a big fan of it though, and taped several of the episodes when it first aired. For years, I’d rewatch those tapes every time I was home sick from school, on an old VCR TV we could move to my room when I was bedridden.
It’s nice to finally run into other fans of the series. In particular, it’s fun to get some tidbits about season three, since I never got my hands on the tapes for those episodes. I can’t believe they really would kill off Little Lily, surely there was some sort of hint that she would return for season four.
After reading this quiz I was inspired to search again, and was able to find season three’s first episode on youtube. I did enjoy it, but something’s not quite the same about watching on a computer. It seems incomplete, somehow, without the patchy, grainy quality of the old VCR TV. But that VCR’s been broken for years, so I'm sure I can adjust.

…..

Have we reached the review cut off yet? Oh good. If you haven’t yet played the game, then you’d better go and do it now, before reading any of the reviews, or any more of this one.

General notes:
This game takes full advantage of the storygame format to make a surreal and unique piece of work that forges a direct connection between narrator and reader in a way a linear story could not. Games about games are tough to pull off without becoming overly melodramatic, but this game walks that line like a pro, drawing the player slowly into its web of uncertainty and doubt without ever forcing them into it.
Kelly Unicornstrider is not a real show, but the writing makes it feel very much like it could be one, and what’s more, one that you yourself have watched and cared about. The thematic elements, character names, and plot points referenced all evoke a very specific type of nostalgia that almost any reader will be able to connect to in some way. This show moulds itself to the mind of its reader, the player filling in the gaps in its plot with their own more personal details and memories. Did I watch KUaF? No, because it doesn't exist. But I feel like I did. I remember the black spires surrounding the molten lava moat and the steady falling of the Autumn leaves in Equinox.
This game is a master of the shifting tone, which in my experience is one of the toughest things for a storygame to successfully pull off. The writing swings from clean and disconnected, to friendly and lighthearted, to ominous and forboding, and to personal and uncomfortable. These tone shifts happen lightning speed, sometimes on the inside of a single sentence, yet they never feel forced or unnatural. They are sudden and uncomfortable, but deliberately, measuredly so.
One thing in particular about the tone shifts in ths game is the way it jumps back and forth on the surface from question-to-question, but still contributes to an overall rising mood. I’m reminded of the behavior of surface winds and prevailing winds; surface winds on any given day can be jumping around from moment to moment, blowing here and there seemingly at random. But in the upper atmosphere, the prevailing winds blow the clouds unwaveringly in a single direction, and exert a profound influence on the behavior of the less predictable winds closer to the ground. Reading this game, one first finds themself adrift and caught off guard by the jumpy, unpredictable surface tone—but as you read closer, you begin to glimpse the true tone and power of the story, and the powerful direction it’s really moving in all along.
Which brings me to another of the game’s strengths: Its pace. Too many similar games try to jump right in with unsettling material without first easing the reader into the game as it is theoretically supposed to exist, or go in the other direction, don’t drop any hints at all until the tone shifts completely. This game walks the line in the first few questions by dropping hints and the pulling back, giving tantalizing bits of information, and then sweeping along with the quiz. By the time the game’s tone shifts more completely in the later questions, the reader is already full of anticipation, sure that there’s more to this game than meets the eye and eager to know more, but hesitant about how to handle this uncertaintly, and already growing uncomfortable with the oddly personal way in which the game sees to address you, the player, personally.
This is a game that does not let the player gain firm footing. It tells you what you think is going on, and then it shifts, and then it keeps shifting. The reader is constantly stumbling forwards, trying to orient themselves to the new direction the game has taken.
Repeatedly throughout the game, it’s mentioned how though KUaF was ostensibly a kids show, it contained many disturbing or violent elements, elements that often went over the head of its viewers. I’ve found this to be the case for many of the shows/books I watched as a child. The way a work of fiction exists in the viewer’s mind can often take on a life of its own, shifting as its thought of and remembered over the years, until it has an entirely different personal meaning than the source material. Returning to the original work can then be oddly jarring and unfamiliar. This concept can also be seen as being true of childhood itself. Thinking back on childhood memories with a fresh perspective can sometimes reveal surprising and darker implications on events that simply did not occur to you the first time around.
At a certain point, everyone needs to take the simplistic lessons they’ve internalized from their favorite pieces of childhood media, and reconcile them with the real world. When those lessons inevitably mesh with reality in unexpecedly complex ways, it can be a struggle to understand how to continue with those lessons. Do you abandon them? Do you reinforce them and instead reject reality? Can you accept them as having value while still being flawed and imperfect? In a lot of ways, this game seems to be about the narrator dealing with that struggle—reconciling the lesson of never feeling shame with his inability to be completely proud in his own life, and trying to deal with the frustration and dissatisfaction coming from the show never having a true resolution.
Anyone who’s ever had an emotion of any kind eventually asks themselves the question of whether these feelings are unique and individual to themselves, or if they’re part of a larger shared human experience. This game seems to represent the narrator seeking a satisfying answer to that question, and trying to reach out and connect with someone else who shares their personal feelings. The way in which they reach out is through this ‘quiz’. It’s an attempt at connection that initially tries to be withdrawn and professional, but the narrator’s desperation and loss steadily bleeds through the text more and more until it overwhelms everything else. When the narrator becomes frighteningly personal, do you, the player, empathize and relate, or do you pull away out of discomfort? Do you remain aloof and detached, or friendly but professional, or take cruel advantage of his feelings of loss?
The game’s resolution (“You’re not, but you could be”) when you achieve a perfect score wraps it up in the only satisfying way it could. There can be no epiphany because there is no riddle, and there can be no triumphal victory, because there aren’t any bad guys. What we have instead is a brief moment of connection between an author and a fan, sharing an appreciation for a favorite show. There are no answers to the deep questions the narrator has about the world, but they can at least be shared.

Specific notes:
-The description of what happens to Night Patrol steed’s pelts is quite well written, starting off informative in tone, before becoming more serious, and suddenly ominous.
-The bow of sorrows is a cool concept.
-The internal consistency of the show is particularly notable—for example, we learn that season two episode two focuses on Kelly’s rescue of Fleetfoot, and later, another question makes reference to Fleetfoot’s capture at the end of the previous episode. Extra levels of detail like this really add to the immersion in this game.
-I love the name Cantankerous Rex. Tells you everything you need to know about the guy. I like the way his and Flynocerous’s names evoke dinosaurs. All of the names in this game are great.
-The fanfiction segment is well done. The tone shifts quickly to that of the 14-year-old-narrator. Like many pieces of fanfiction, the story focuses on a chunk of plot and characters that does not seem to be as important in the show itself, dealing with what-if scenarios, and the internal thought process of the characters.
-Equinox is a good name for the fantasy land, particularly when we learn it’s always Autumn there.
-Never feel shame is an intriguing moral lesson for the show to focus around, and it fits well with what we learn of the moral compromises the characters are forced to make.
-“I have it here, on my desk”. This line, I think, really captures an important part of this story. Is the gem real? No. Even in the context of the show its existance is questionable. But its impact and what it means to the narrator is very, very real. The narrator admits “I don’t know what she wants me to do with it.” After emotionally inhereting the legacy and moral lessons of the show, the narrator is left with a life and world where he feels he has a mission of some sort, but doesn’t know what it is, and doesn’t know how to complete it.

Grammar
All good.
Mastery of Language
Knock your socks off good. As far as actual prose writing skill goes, this and Gower’s other works are easily among the best-crafted on the site. The language is not just poetic and moving, but every part of it, from the old fanfiction, to the formal phrasing of the questions, is perfectly crafted to fit its role in the story.

CONCLUSION: 8/8. Makes me want to rewatch the show from the beginning!

Yahoo! Perfect score! (Surprised I still remember it all so well.) So glad I found this game! Thank you so much for that, Gower! This quiz really brought back some sweet, sweet nostalgia! “And we will ride through the meadows in the early morn and be our bravest in the desert storm! A shining hero today is born, it’s Kelly Unicornstriiiiider!!!” I always loved KUAF when I was my kid. In fact, I think I still have some terrible fan art of Little Lilly and Cloudchaser that I did when I was about nine hidden away in storage somewhere. (I also remember signing a petition for a DVD release a couple of years ago… But I’m guessing they didn’t get enough signatures, because nothing ever came of it.) :(

Any ways, brilliant quiz! … But I’m afraid I have to correct you on the answer to question 4. Rhea-Lynn wasn’t exactly given the two-handed axe by The Weather Bee. It was left for her by Fargo when he went off to go adventuring alone. (Although I suppose it was technically the Weather Bee that told her she could have it. Had to re-watch the episode to be sure.)

Rhea-Lynn: But Mr Weather Bee, Fargo wouldn’t have gone adventuring without his axe! Something terrible must’ve happened to him!

Weather Bee: Oh no, Rhea-Lynn, I assure you Fargo’s fine… In fact, he told me before he left that he wished to leave the axe to you. You were always a good friend to him, and he wanted to be sure that you never forgot how much he cared for you.

Rhea-Lynn: You mean he left without a weapon? That doesn’t sound like something Fargo would do. It’s too dangerous! Perhaps we should go looking for him?

Weather Bee: You dare to question the great Weather Bee? Insolent child! Just take the axe and go! I will not be called a liar by the likes of you!

Rhea-Lynn: I never called you a…

Weather Bee: GET OUT!!!

That was a pretty tense ending. I remember The Weather Bee seemed to avoid the friends for awhile after that, and spent several episodes crafting potions in his basement. I don’t think he eve spoke to Rhea-Lynn again until after she lost her hand.

The fanfic was adorable! Wasn’t keen on you shipping Kelly with Eric though. Kelly would never go for Eric, because she knows how Lily feels about him. In the show, after she was kidnapped by Cantankerous Rex, Lily as much as said that if she lost Eric, life wouldn’t be worth living. Not to mention the shrine that Lily kept in the attic of photos that she’d secretly taken of Eric, and the handful of belonging that she borrowed from him, and the plaster that she ate so that a little bit of Eric’s blood would always be inside of her. If Kelly stole Eric from her, I don’t think her little heart could’ve taken it. There’s no telling what she might’ve done. (I actually had a fan-theory when I was little that Eric also got sucked through the vortex, and he was actually Sir Humble in disguise! Unfortunately, the show was cancelled before my theory could be either confirmed or denied.)

Would’ve been nice if some of the question were a bit harder (I think the quiz is a little too easy for us hard core Kelly fans.) But other than that, it was a really great quiz! Probably the best on the site. In fact, I think the quiz would probably be even more enjoyable for people who don’t know the show so well, since there’s so many fun facts to learn. Any way, I highly recommend this quiz to hard-core fans, casual watchers and KUAF virgins alike!

Keep on reaching, Gower! Kelly will always live on in the hearts of her fans, and one day, she shall return!!! (But knowing Hollywood, they’ll probably make a terrible live action movie by the director of those God-awful Alvin and the Chipmunk films, and we’ll wish they left poor Kelly to die in peace.) :p

Please just read the story without looking at any reviews.


I've read this twice now and I'm still really struggling with how to handle writing about it. As the rating and the fact that it's featured might suggest, there's more going on here than you'd assume at a glance. I want people to understand that this "quiz" is phenomenal and absolutely needs to be experienced, but I don't want to reveal too much.

Again, if you haven't played yet, then go do that before you continue reading this or any other review.


This is a brilliant work by Gower that kept me enthralled and unsettled right up to the end. It's not *necessarily* a horror story, but words like 'haunting', 'extremely uncomfortable' and even 'gradually increasing dread' come to mind to describe the tone.

I think the structure of the questions means that a lot of readers won't start realize what's going on until #4. Even if you're using the back button and just going down the list, you will probably have moved on once you get the right answer. If you've played it the first time like that, I recommend going through again and taking the time to read every wrong answer too. Every option adds to that unsettled feeling I mentioned before.

After #4 is tellingly when the quiz structure starts getting changed up as well.

There's more I want to say here, I really just admire so much about this story and the very...unsettling (yes, again)...way it pulls the rug out from under you and then flings you into uncomfortably personal territory with the narrator. (Who is presented as Gower himself, guy who writes storygames and posts on forums, for that extra meta feeling...)


Ultimately though the more I type the greater disservice I'm doing to anyone who ignored my requests and warnings up top and is reading this without having played. So....go and freakin play it! Until the words are inside your mind, we'll never understand each other, no matter how many times I touch your username on my screen.

I feel like I grew up watching this show too now. It was like some twisted Neverending Story, and after reading this I can remember it all so vividly.

This is a pretty amazing quiz and a great read!

Due to the fact that I am old, and was alive during the 80s, I am so embarrassed by my pitiful score on this quiz. This TV show changed my life.

I remember begging my parents to remember to tape it on the VCR so that I could have my friends watch it at my birthday party. Needless to say, I had all the fan gear and action figures, and spent countless hours in my room creating new stories for Kelly. I believe my mom still has an old box in her attic with all this swag.

But as I grew up, I put these things away since many folks didn't understand my fascination with this series. And as time is wont to do, I have forgotten much. My heartfelt thanks go out to Gower for rekindling my old memories of good times and lessons learned.

Also, I wish to let Gower know that I appreciate his quiz, and it truly isn't just about a simple point for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this quiz. It is some fantastic writing (obviously... I mean, Gower wrote it) and wonderful nostalgia for fans of the show.

I just clicked on a random game not knowing this show existed but now I need to find a way to watch it after reading this. Thank you for that.

This... I like this. I really like this. I like this so much that I don't want to spoil anything in my comment. There's nothing for me to say about this storygame that hasn't already been said, anyway.

What I will say, though, is that I was intrigued and engaged the whole time. You expect stuff like this to have its good bits and boring bits, but this was so good at activating the reader's "huh?" response with the first couple of pages, and then moulding that into an "oh..." response with the last few. I'm going to replay this again and again; I adore this well-executed concept.

I never saw the show but I got some questions right just from guessing. Even though I've never seen the show before I thought the quiz was really good and it made the show sound really interesting. I'm going to start watching it now. Maybe when I'm finished I can take the quiz again and get a perfect score.

I don't even know if Kelly and the Unicornstrider something is a real show, I just tried it out of curiosity. After reading it I don't really know how to feel, I liked the part where you rubbed lotion on my skin though. 6/8 kept me entertained even though I have no idea what the fuck I am doing.

*BIG SPOILERS FOLLOW*

This is another meta, "trick" piece.

I knew it was a trick from the title because I know far too much about 1980s TV; I've read quite a lot of stories about fictional TV shows before; Gower's written "trick" pieces before; and I've been playing a lot of "trick" interactive fiction lately.

I can enjoy these, and the writing's solid, but it feels very unresolved; undeveloped. I wanted it to go somewhere further. Unresolved can be OK, too, sometimes, but "the writer is lonely" is not much character development.

In the 1980s, I was a boy. And a fan of shows targeted at girls. I've been very alone at times. I've been on the net, with its distancing and "do they really care when I put this out there" and "On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog", since before it was the Internet. This feels like it's rehashing old territory for me, and as a result was unsatisfying.

I liked how this started... but I wanted it to say something more than it did. Or maybe I just wanted a healthier, happier outcome as an *option* for the quiz creator -- there are too many "there is no healthy outcome" games these days. Maybe I'm missing a secret ending, but I did go through more than once.

An intriguing way to tell a story, through a quiz constructed by a man incapable of letting go, seized by that chain of nostalgia we all feel for the things we loved in our childhood. But this time the chain is pulled taut and choking, and its disheartening and disturbing to see a man caged by his past, a past he knows he cannot escape. not really. Unable to let go, he has become frozen, stuck in time; always falling, just like his heroine Kelly. This could be a twilight zone episode almost. (this is my second time writing a comment as the first appears to not have posted).

What a pleasantly original and unique story! You should ideally play it without any prior knowledge. Note that it becomes quite dark / depressing in case you aren’t interested 8n that sort of thing.

Very unexpected and interesting. Show was before my time and I thought for awhile there that the gimmick was every answer I gave was "correct", making up details to an imaginary show with the gimmick being that I'd have more and more intermediate details to have to deduce to continue to be correct, which would get more complicated and tougher to figure out. But while that might've been interesting for a short while, this has a much more lasting impact. I'm sure I'll continue to think about the story you've crafted here for awhile.

The best way to describe this game is disquieting. It effectively uses the quiz format to achieve some genuine dread and tension.

This story came to my attention and I took a look. I originally looked at the title and thought, "Oh, another quiz." I was born in 1974 and I've never heard of this show. At the time, I watched a lot of cartoons, so I'm surprised by my ignorance. I imagine it's like Rainbow Brite and horrible. But that's not the point. This is a solid piece of writing and it made me laugh out loud, which is harder and harder to do in my senescence. Great job!

**Please do not read this review unless you've already played through the game**.

I honestly think this was my favourite story of yours to date. I saw it on your profile initially, but I didn't read it, since I didn't know the show. I should have known better...

You had me hooked from start to finish. I read through all the endings on this one. (At least, I think I did). There was one ending where I got more points but, I chose this ending because it was the only one that turned out half-decently for your self-inserted protagonist. And I really wanted to find that 'happy' ending.

The writing in this was so poetic, it was incredible. I read through each and every option for all of the choices, each one causing the narrative to turn even more sinister, but at the same time adding more depth to your tale.

I don't know what it was about this that I liked so much. Maybe it was the fact that life isn't as perfect as we want it to be, that sometimes bad things happen whether we want them to or not. (And those awful things sometimes come disguised.) Maybe it was the fact that I wasn't sure what to expect going into this quiz, and the sheer shock power stunned me, causing me to be curious as to how much darker the story can get. Whatever it was, it struck an emotional note with me.

I think this is the first story I've rated an 8/8. Well done.

Really enjoyable

God this game is good. Now before I spoil anything, GO PLAY THE FUCKING GAME. It does not matter if you have never seen this amazing show. Don’t look up the show, don’t read any reviews, just pick every single option in this story and come back to this review then. I can not say how important it is to not be spoiled by these reviews. This game is too go to be spoiled so go play it now, or I’ll sacrifice you like Kelly.

Now I have to say, as not only a writer, though also a super fan of this show, I loved this story. It is so enthralling to be consumed by the nostalgia of this show. While I’m not old enough to have seen this when it first aired, a few years ago I was an addict and consumed every piece of media for this show imaginable. Hell, I even have the old plushies, and the kelly one alone set me back a good 60$.

Back whenever I first watched this show I even wrote some fan fiction on it, about ten thousand words of fanfiction to be exact, though there is no way I’m posting it here. It is god awful.

Though in regards to the quiz itself, I loved it. I captured what I loved about the show, while challenging my knowledge of it’s more obscure details. I did get a perfect score though, so I guess I am a superfan after all.

In any case this is one hell of a read, written by another super fan of this amazing show. Your undying commitment to the show and kelly is admireable, and I happen to have a mint condition copy of the issue you were talking about. So if you wish to buy it off me, please pm, though it is not cheap, let me tell you.

I loved this story, and I give it a 6 because while I love it, a quiz can only do so much.

6 out of 8

Well... that was rather cryptic, but nice reading nonetheless, the tone was set properly and the uniqueness that the'words' are trying to conserve with 'you' was a very nice twist. Flawless grammar but that's rather expected from you Gower.

As for the actual quiz, I really have no authority to judge since I heard this show for the first time, and only played this because I like you... Uhhh I mean because of the free point I got a big fat 0 though, which wasn't really that surprising.(And I totally did NOT choose the sunscreen option)

Jokes aside, good atmosphere and setting, and please write more quality content like this!

THE PAGE DON'T LET ME PUT MY REVIEW

Really fun quiz! I thought I loved KUaF, but it turns out I'm a bit of an amateur compared to the author!
Kinda weird that he never mentioned going to KellyCon though, I would've thought a big fan like him would have loved it. I remember back at KellyCon 1999 in Miami, wearing my Weather Bee costume and meeting a cute girl dressed like Rhea-Lynn. I'd go into more detail, but a unicornstrider doesn't kiss and tell! It's a shame they've discontinued the con, but I guess attendance was slipping. It's always fun to remember though!

Meh, I liked the short lived spin off Night Patrol Rides Again (1986) a lot better.

Susanna McKray who originally created the Night Patrol characters managed to maintain ownership of her characters and independently backed a show with just them and it was awesome.

It time jumped like 100 years in the future long after Kelly and company had been utterly defeated by a regrouped Night Patrol. Cantankerous Rex came back from the grave and became the leader like he always wanted to be.

Best of all, they never bothered with any of those moral lessons at the end of the show. It was just C Rex trying to re-establish order over the chaos that was going on in the land. As supposedly “evil” the Night Patrol was supposed to be, The Maelstrom was like 10 times worse. Susanna was obviously inspired by H.P. Lovecraft when designing the things coming out of it.

I guess it was supposed to be geared more towards older kids because they were getting away with stuff that they didn’t even show in KUaF, but I remember they still had it on during Saturday mornings.

I imagine the body horror type stuff that occurred on an entire city in Episode 12: Nightmare Storm was what finally caused the executives to pull the plug though since there was only one more episode after that. Sort of annoying that it ended on a cliff hanger.

Got all the action figures too, even the really rare “Eye” of The Maelstrom playset. Glad I snagged that from some idiot just selling it for ten bucks at his garage sale in the 90s. Lol.

I just featured Avery's comment, but I want to address the stuff about Fargo that was a big part of it. (Derailing a little here maybe but it's relevant to the quiz to, not just the show.)

The scene Gower is discussing, where Lady Leora and Fargo meet Weatherbee...that scene is from the pilot episode, which is not the same as the first episode. People who didn't watch older shows probably weren't aware of this, but things often change between the pilot and 1st episodes as various things are finalized. See the pilot of the original Star Trek, for instance.

In this case, the pilot of Kelly Unicornstrider is pretty universally considered superior. Not nearly as ham handed with WB's dialogue in that scene, for one thing. When he explains that Fargo is gone, Leora just stares at him a long moment looking very pale and like she's scared or wants to cry, then mutely walks away. (She cries then and kind of hugs herself as she walks, but silently.) Also, it's "he will have his own adventures, as I will", not that he "left" to have them, which was a little goof in Gower's description. Small but important difference.

I never bothered with the official first episode when doing a rewatch. So...even if I don't always make it through a full binge watch, I saw the pilot every time. I literally have it memorized.

Anyway, Leora and Fargo. (and yes, now you know where Leora got her username from, if you didn't recognize it before.)

Remember the scene in the beginning right before Fargo was called inside? He and his friends were hollering and running around playing "Indian". He had a toy axe, or rather a tomahawk I guess. The camera lingered on it longer than necessary. Actually that whole scene would probably be hilariously offensive to modern audiences, thinking about it. Furthermore, look at the "war paint" he's got on, and then look at the pattern on the blade of the axe later. Remember too the soft crying sounds that would come from the axe sometimes. That's how Rhea was able to find it again that time she was lost in the Amaze Cave, and they were mentioned at least twice that I can remember after it was hung up in Fleetfoot's stall.

I'm not just doing some epileptic trees theorizing here, it was pretty obvious what was going on in context, and why would a wizard just have a giant battle axe wrapped up in chains in his closet? (Yes yes, I can already hear you say I'm overthinking a throwaway joke...but the show was one that consistently rewarded paying attention to details so I don't see how this is any different.)

Anyhow, this theory and the idea that Weatherbee was always intended to become a villain in the third season has been pretty much accepted as canon in the various fan communities. All the shots of him brooding over the potions and then the grotesque crying sculptures in the basement...just the lighting and music let you know there was something ominous going on. I legit think he would've wound up the true villain of the entire series...but I guess we'll never know back.

Still, you have to ask yourself sometime why he REALLY wanted to send Kelly back to Earth so badly.

Don't read this review unless you've read the story.

It took me a few playthroughs to get to the best parts of the story. At first I thought this was just a silly quiz about a silly slightly-dark children's show but as others have stated, that's not really true.

The show never existed. The narrator must have made this all up. He is obsessed with this game tv show and he is supposed to be like 38! That's not all of it. This man is lonely, needy, and manipulative. He got mad at me and tried to guilt trip me. That motherfucker! This dude is dangerous and potentially pyromaniacal.

This is pretty great. It's really cool that Gower was able to craft such a character.

If you are reading this, your really shouldn't. It's best to go through the game instead. It's just that kind of thing, ya get it?
Also, this won't be a review or anything, just my thoughts. I don't think a review is needed, or suits the game.
I haven't played storygames on here for a long time. Not to say many of them aren't good! Just that it's difficult as of late to keep my interest, or to hit me in that place... This game didn't have a point. It didn't really have an end or a beginning, just a collection of bitter, melencholic thoughts that bite more the farther you get in. And the author is less of a person and more of a tangle of half-frayed string, bones boiled down to stagnant memory. There's people like that, ya know, and it felt like they were there.
I really like pointless things, and so I really liked this. I just finished the game but I already forgot my title.
You're such a mysterious figure, Gower! I clicked on this game just to see what you'd be like! Sooo extra mysterious! How I'd like to see more!

I can't wait to go through this again, just the small tidbits of horrifying information were delightful and I'm definitely creeped out. This was a good read. Thank you!

Any of you faggots who read reviews before stories, stop right now. Don't read this. Don't read any other reviews. Just play the damn quiz.

Now that that's out of the way, we can get to my comments on the Kelly Unicornstrider and Friends Super Quiz.

It started off making me laugh. the interlude for the fanfiction was so hilarious, yet so real. It called me back to the days of wandering around Quotev to find shitty stuff to mock.

I continued to be amused as I read. The Caribbean part in particular was just so weird and out there. It was hilarious, but then it wasn't hilarious.
Things got weird in a different way. The quiz grew increasingly eerie the more I read it. Now I have always loved stories that left me feeling haunted by them for a while, but this managed to do that long before I finished reading even the half of it, which is impressive.
When I was reading it, I almost showed my phone to the student sitting next to me and told him to go read it right then and there (class hadn't started yet, professor).

I didn't though, as much as I would have liked to. I decided taking the time to explain why I was telling him to read it would break the experience up too much.

The quiz has a lot of delayed effects in the choices, which suits it well, even though it frustrates me as a reader who feels the need to read every choice--especially when I am going to be publicly posting my comments like I am now.
It gave it a conversational effect almost, and the bits of repetition in the replays only added to the atmosphere of madness. I tried to find all the pages, but I am sure I didn't. What I did read was enough, I think.

This is a very unique quiz, and I think I will be coming back to it again in the future.
Maybe I will tell my classmate to take it.

When I started reading this storygame quiz thing, I was already unsure whether or not this was an actual television show or not. Without knowing anything about the (nonexistent) show, I just clicked on the quiz and wanted to read whatever it was that Gower had written. When I started going through the questions, I found it interesting to hear Gower’s description of this childhood cartoon. Once I saw the fan fiction however, things began to get darker. The questions afterward were warped, and reflected dark emotions that the imagined author character was struggling through. He was searching for some meaning in his life, and only found it through this one show, which he decided to share with others. I really enjoyed how the lighthearted quiz began to get darker and have more depth. I was really drawn into the story behind “Gower” and even put off doing my homework to see what every answer had to offer.

Just like mizal said in her review, this isn’t technically a “horror” story, but it definitely evokes dread and uncomfortable vibes. I don’t want to spoil too much in this review (as it is much better to experience the story for yourself), so I’ll just say a few final things. Jelly Unicornstrider and Friends is not a real show, yet by the end of the quiz I felt like I had watched and analyzed every episode that was released. Gower is an outstanding author and story creator, and I will definitely be searching for any story games he releases in the future.

Now what are you doing still reading this (especially since I know this isn’t a featured review)? Go take the Kelly Unicornstrider and Friends (1982-1985) Super Quiz!

I get the feeling that I shouldn't write anything too in-depth just because, well... even saying there IS a surprise might sort of ruin it. Hopefully nobody's in the habit of reading reviews BEFORE they read the story.

But there's something almost... Heartwarming? About seeing someone used to another system of storygame writing entirely, writing almost a love-letter to the quiz story, which is in some ways a very CYS format. Everything, from the ratings system to the trappings of the genre was addressed in its own little way. Not in the "Lol Self-Aware" metahumor typical of your usual outside observer, but in a way that displays genuine thought by virtue of our narrator's lack of self awareness.

I don't really have much to add to the discussion, but I had to give my compliments to the chef. This was the best free point I ever earned.

I thought this was going to be a dumb quiz, but now I'm in tears and questioning life. Well written, Gower. 8/8.

I would recommend not reading any reviews before reading this story. In particular, do not read this review.

Well, that was quite the experience. It sometimes felt uncomfortable, like getting to know someone a little too well, a little too abruptly, their secrets blossoming too soon, before spring, flowers wilting before they ever stood a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed the direction that the author took this quiz in. This was the most unique piece of interactive fiction that I have ever read. In general -- for most stories -- it's not too hard to predict whether a particular choice will expand the branching tree or simply progress the current branch. This story was deceptive; there were numerous times when I expected to progress, but found myself discovering yet another fleshed out nook or cranny.

The author's brought Kelly Unicornstrider to life. With respect to the show, his attention to detail was sensational. There were plenty of nods and flourishes that revealed how much care was put into that aspect of the story. The writing was also terrific and every page was a pleasure. There were three or four unintentional typos that I caught, but they didn't detract much from the prose.

My only major complaint with this story was that it was too short. 10,000 words does not suffice when the author clearly has so much to say.

An excellent story overall!

Has a good twist to it :)

Ask and you shall receive. Also, these comments and suggestions are worth exactly what you paid for them. Oh yeah, I also tend to have fun with these, so hopefully you do not have thin skin and don’t get offended easily. I’m not trying to insult you or make fun of you, I just like having fun with words.

On to the story!

Kelly who and the what? I used to watch some serious cartoons, but I’m not sure I believe that’s a real thing. I’m thinking you just made that up. But hey, at least it’s not just a regular quiz. A super quiz is just so much better. I mean, the only way better than that would be a super-duper quiz, and I haven’t had enough beer for one of those today, so I’ll just head on in to this one.

See, now I recognize all those other shows, but not this KUAF thing. Well, and that Galtar one. But you’re good at making things up, so while I don’t believe these are real things, they sound close to real. It’s a nice layout, works well, but a title of “The First Page?” I guess it is the first page, but still, “Introduction” might be just a bit more useful, just sayin’

Nice and clear question one. Easy question with good choices that are close, so it’s not immediately obvious which is the correct answer. And since it’s all made up anyway, one answer is as likely as another. Fortunately, I guessed right. I’m a little worried that you’re humming a tune to a made-up show while I’m reading this. But why would there be a meadow next to a desert storm? That’s now how weather works. Was this a climate change show that was supposed to make you feel bad like captain planet? But hey, at least you sing when you go to war, for whatever that’s worth.

That whole thing with blood seems a little dark. That sounds like a 70s cartoon more than an 80s show. And the guy dying from the feet up? Yeah, is a pretty dark show you’ve made up. Your 14-year old self had some interesting thoughts. I guess Freud would have something to say about your feelings for Greg and your inability to ask him out. It was the 80s, that was okay, right?

There are certainly some interesting options for choices throughout. And quite an endless stream of trivia related to all these things for this show that exists only in your head. But at least you have scraps of made-up comics to go with your wandering mind. I chose the point ending. That… wandered around quite a bit, there, didn’t it? Certainly now what I expected. You’re a weird guy, Gower.

Spoilers ahead

This blew my mind, really well done Gower. To be honest I sort of expected this not to be some innocuous quiz about an underrated cult classic show named "Kelly Unicornstrider and Friends" given your fervor for it, but I didn't see the direction it would take at all, and was pleasantly surprised. I liked how a lot of things circled around and came back, I was attentive to those small details having read it out-loud.

The parallels drawn between the characters actions in the "show" and other.... events are fun and dark. I found myself laughing occasionally, both out of humor and nervousness for what obsessive response the writer would come up with next.

Some people might think this was r/im14andthisisdeep, but whatever I enjoyed it. And plus, I still got my point so meh, that duck/grain of sand analogy can go fuck itself. 7/8

3deep5u vapid postmodernist rubbish 1/8

So OK, I'm a child of the 80s as well, and "Kelly Unicornstrider" must have been on North Dakota public access TV or something, because I sure never heard of it... although this is a plausible name for a Saturday morning cartoon series from that period, right between the Care Bears and My Little Pony.

And sadly, a lot of this is how a lot of fanboys and fangirls tend to talk (except about the suicide part).

I enjoyed the call-outs to Fraggle Rock, Alien Nation, and a few other highlights of the decade. I would also add to the list of kiddie TV shows with surprisingly strong narrative arcs and memorable characters: Robotech (the first part, not the later "generations"), the Mysterious Cities of Gold, and even Muppet Babies.

I was not a He-Man fan, although I remember being strangely attracted to the show. That was where I learned that glass is made from melted sand, a fact I remember to this day. This is because there was an episode where He-Man rubs his hands really fast on the desert sand to make a plate of glass, which he uses as a mirror to deflect a laser beam from one of Skeletor's henchmen.

Mind. Blown.

(Actually, I don't think the phrase "mind blown" was in use yet back in the Reagan era. The word "awesome," when used in the same context, was still new and edgy.)

There were other shows I watched religiously, too: G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Thundercats, Transformers, and especially Voltron. However, I doubt I could stomach any of this schlock today, as these were pretty much just 30-minute toy commercials. I was hooked then, but it would trigger my Gen X cynicism now.

Did I ever tell you I got to be Papa Smurf in a parade once? Long story, that.

On the other hand, it's best not to discuss the cartoon version of the Dukes of Hazard. Not everything from the 1980s was all that good.

Bonus question: what TV show was about a family traveling through alternate universes, trying to find the city of Emar?

A well-crafted comedic storygame, I genuinely laughed out loud a couple of times. There were a few minor typo's, (not the intentional ones) that appeared a few times.

Wow.

That was uh... Wow.

This review contains a few spoilers. Read at your own risk.

What I thought was a quiz about an obscure show I never heard of turned out to just be an experiment in storytelling. And you know what? I'm not even mad. This was really something else.

At first when I answered the questions and there were a few paragraphs explaining the right answer or why this answer is wrong, I thought you were just having a nostalgia fueled sperg fest. I was fine with it, after all I get that way too, but then I realized: you're actually forming a picture of the show in the reader's head, because it never actually existed. Searching the supposed full title results in dolls, searching "Kelly Unicornstrider" gets me cars for some reason. No obscure cartoon from the 80s at all. So, you invent this show and its mythos, fool the reader into thinking it really DID exist, and then drop the real story onto them.

The fact that the quiz slowly went from an actual quiz to you sharing some fanfiction to anecdotes about your life and how embarrassing it was to be a fan of a "girl's show" was nice. You managed to make the shift really well. Plus, this was never really meant to be a quiz at all; just a story with some philosophical musings, disguising itself as a quiz. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by that.

6/8