My words

C> Caroline's statements
R> Ramon's statements
B> Brenda's statements
Z> Zen's statements
E> Erin's statements

B>	Change is inevitable and no one is arguing against it.  What
B>is being argued against is change without suffucient justification.
     Where do we stop at "sufficient justification"? According to
Kun-chan, if it deviates from the manga, it's OOC. Period.

C>What I'm talking about when I mean 'OOC' is the character suddenly
C>acting like that for either a very convoluted reason, or for no reason
C>at all ... I don't mean like, say, over a long series where there is
C>a lot of character development and such things ... But what I call
C>'character development' is developing the character in the way that
C>the manga shows ... not developing the character in an opposing way.
     Have you ever read "Yearnings"? It's a BGC story where Priss ends up
sleeping with Leon. It takes place somewhere after episode 6, but before #7.
By your definition of character development, this is completely absurd.
However, given that the author did a very good job of writing it, and
explaining Priss' actions, this type of character development doesn't tie
in with the development of the story, but makes sense.

     So, are you telling us that a fanfic is either "RT's bland and
undeveloped characters" or "it's an elseworld story"? I can't agree

C>No, I'm saying IC or elseworld story ... And, as I've discussed with
     No, you are saying "follow the manga or it's elseworld". Technically,
*EVERY FANFIC* is elseworld, since we aren't writing the manga itself.
It doesn't matter if we expand on anything, or if we go another direction,
because we are deviating, however slightly, from the manga.

C>Chris Willmore, there's no way that Ranma can be happy, with his
     So, you and Chris Willmore are the only two who can have opinions
on the matter?

C>characteristics given in the manga, with anyone but Akane. To get Akane
C>out of the picture, she'd have to die.
     Why? Aren't we allowed to be creative?

Z>Maybe some authors just think that there is more than one way to
Z>skin a cat (Gomen, Shamps) - It is a writer's *job* to take things
Z>apart and put them back together again.  If you accept that there is
Z>only one way to do things, then there is no point to writing any of it.  
     Exactly. I would assume we are writing fanfics to look at things
in ways which *CAN'T* happen because the end goal of the manga is for
Akane & Ranma to admit their love. Because this was RT's declared goal,
any and every other paring for Ranma *HAD* to be dismissed.
     She wanted her Ranma 1/2 to end a certain way. Some of us might
want to see something different.

B>Neither I nor anyone else said that it was impossible for a fict to
B>develope the characters in a way that Ranma and Akane marry people
B>other than each other and aren's miserable  about it.
     Actually, Kun-chan is.

C>Then Ranma would be heart broken and a shadow of his former self. It's
C>impossible to write one, otherwise, without using magic to make Ranma
C>fall for someone else.
     Again, we can't be creative? Ranma can't recover. Seems very OOC,
considering that he *DID* adapt to being 1/2-girl.

C>So Takahashi wants wifes to beat their husbands?
     Probably not. At least, I hope not. I just said that to make people
think about it a little.

C>Ranma's hurt is emotional and it lasts MUCH longer than a beating.
     I'll agree there, but it's still not an excuse.

C>Plus Akane's beatings are for comedy effect.
     That same argument can be applied in reverse.

C>What Ranma does actually makes Akane feel she's worthless, most of
C>the time ...
     And then again, there's Akane being absurd and not listening to
Ranma. That's a hell of a way to make someone feel worthless.

B>it would take an immense amount of justification to make the characters
B>develop so that they break up and aren't both crushed by it.
     Who said one or both wouldn't be crushed? Likewise, who said they
couldn't recover?

B>	That's the key.  Justification.  What is really being said is
B>that Ranma and Akane are in love and have gone through trials that
B>would have scared Hercules to defend that love.
     Of course, coupled together, they more than match Hercules, and
the story is set in such a way that this kind of thing is almost normal.

B>And while this can be
B>changed in a fanfict, justifying the change is going to be INCREDIBLY
B>difficult.  I have yet to see any fict that can be considered to really
B>justify this sort of thing.
     Really? Admittadly, some of the justifications don't work, but then
again, some of the justifications for Akane or Ranma saying "I love you"
to the other don't work. Hell, Ranma doesn't even do that when pressed.

Z>Phooey.  People fall out of love too!  And if Akane treats the people
Z>she loves the way she treats Ranma, you are welcome to her.
     And two excellent points from Zen's corner.

R>You make it sound that Ranma's world is about predestination.
R>Whatever he does it will just revert back to the old situation.  
     My God! Do we agree on something here? :)
     Seriously, though, this is another excellent point. What Kun-chan
says is that if it doesn't have the same end goal as the manga, it's
wrong. It's elseworld. Well, let's face it, technically, all of our
works are elseworld. Why? Because they aren't RT's Ranma 1/2. Never
were, never will be.
--
Ben Kosse bmk7411@cs.rit.edu
BGC Otaku and worshipper of the Red-Eyed Goddess. Member of ShAS.
Anime, RPG's, computers, poetry (read/write), music (listen/compose).
Author of the Bubblegum Crisis theme pack (see the homepage below).
Homepage with anime and other interests. (http://www.rit.edu/~bmk7411)