I tried to ignore Troll boy. I really did.

I tried to ignore everything; his lame-ass C&C, his author-bashing, his
profligate disregard for etiquette, evrything. It hought he was an attention-
seeker out for a little notoriety, and that if I ignored him long enough, he
would go away, and those of us in the anti-establishment movement could regain
control and conduct things with a modicum of class.

Then...... THEN..... I saw this.

Now. I'm. MAD.

As a fan, reader, and aspiring writer in Lawsons TIL universe, I'm very upset
at this pathetic attempt to discredit it as quality fanfiction. AND I notice
he didn't even have the guts to CC a copy of this to Lawson himself. 

Thy Inward Love_ was Lawson's primary work. He wanted to write a 
 continuation fic, so he HAD to write in all the characters he didn't 
 like. 

Ummmm...... no.

Who says he has to write in charachters he doesn't like? There are any number
of ways you can ditch a charchter in the beggining without going to any
trouble at all. Like Ryoga and Akari. He could have simply removed them both
off to the side with each other, boom. No fuss, no muss.

   He copped out by joining Ranma and Akane from the start, 
 automatically shutting out everyone else, and cheating the reader out of 
 a Final Battle. What we get instead is typical Lawson: Make Them See The 
 Truth.

CHEATING the reading out of a final battle? I beg to differ.

Lawson's story is CHARACHTER driven, NOT plot driven. It neither needed a
Final Battle, nor would one have been at all desirable. And what, prithee, is
wrong with making them see the truth, hmm?
  

 Ukyou's portrayal was okay, if you ignore Lawson's bizarre idea of her 
 madness. 

It's no more bizarre than Zen's idea of Akane's madness, albeit more
improbable. You have to examine both sides of the coin.

   How he copped out of dealing with Akane's greatest rival for 
 Ranma's attention by having poor Akane injured in a fight was a sin and 
 an insult to the best all-around female character in the series. 

No.

Takahashi herself once almost injured Akane in a fight with a disgruntled
Ukyo. Or aren't you familiar with the Okonomiyaki bombing incident at the
wedding, hmm?

 Since, he has put out her purely obligatory prologue, a small part in his 
 forgettable Next Generation fic, along with every other character. 

*ahem*

What of "The Ingredients of Okonomiyaki" one of the best damn angst-ridden
soul searchers I have ever read, eh? 
 

 I will say that he perhaps doesn't dislike Ukyou because she got a cameo 
 in the _TOP_ series, which is next to impossible for anyone he doesn't 
 like to get in.

If you want to know whether or not he dislikes Ukyo, how about oh, I don't
know..... actually ASKING him?
  

 Kodachi, although he made no bones about slamming this character, he 
 used to good effect to wrap up the relationship of his second favorite 
 couple, Nabiki and Kunou. She got her obligatory prologue and cameo and 
 then nothing, until Lawson falls in love with her. He admits all of 
 this, by the way.

Admiting that you disliked a chrachter nough to deal with her quickly and move
her out of the way does NOT count as a slam.   
  

 Shampoo's portrayal was pathetic. You see, she REALLY doesn't need to 
 follow the laws of the Amazons--it was something she only did because 
 she sort of felt like it. 

The "optional" kiss of death/marriage part of fanfic convention. Nobody can be
faulted for using it.

   She would have let it go at that, but that 
 evil manipulator, Cologne, forces her into trying to kill Akane. Good 
 thing for the ending that Akane's skill in the martial arts had 
 increased a hundred fold. 

Martial arts skills in Ranma 1/2 have a LOT of leeway. There aren't any hard
and fast rules for people's power and skill as long as you adhere to certain
guidlines (i:e having Ranma defeat Cologne after a long grueling battle is
okay; having him waltz through her, Happi, and Ryoga without ever breaking a
sweat is NOT) and don't go out on a limb. TILkane is just at the upper side of
her potential strength area, that's all.

 But that evil, underhanded Cologne saved 
 Shampoo from defeat. Ranma's had enough, so he doused himself with cold 
 water and took the fight to Cologne. Of course, if it wasn't clear 
 Lawson had lost all credibility at this point, he does an admirable job 
 of proving it when he has Ranma attain a level of skill that at least 
 equals that of Cologne's. 

Who says Ranma couldn't be as good as Cologne? As far as I can tell, they've
never had an actual knock down, drag out fight to the death in either the
anime OR manga continuity. givien Ranma's skill level by the end of the Manga,
his defeating her after a long struggle is entirely credible.

That was even more bizarre when he had Ranma 
 beat Happi. Obligatory prologue and the cameo follows, than absolutely 
 nothing.

Read the epilogue to Magic, boy. "Adjustments."
  

 Then, finally, Ryouga gets his turn. Typically, you would expect Ryouga 
 to go on another 'long journey' upon learning that Ranma and Akane are 
 getting married again like he did the first time. Nope. Lawson has some 
 Ryouga-bashing he wants to work out of his system. So poor, delusional 
 Ryouga shows up and gets into a fight with Ranma. You would expect their 
 'Final Showdown' to be spectacular. It was boring and cut short by the 
 Ryouga-basher's favorite device: Akane Finds Out About P-Chan. The king 
 rival in the series gets dealt with as an afterthought, manages to be a 
 secondary character in his prologue, and dies in _Magic_. Awww.

_King rival_? As if.

In FIGHTING, certainly, Ryoga is Ranma's most powerful and foremost adversary.
But in the romance arena, he's not even a pathetic contender. He never let's
Akane know how she feels, and never takes any actions towards her that can't
be viewed outside the realm of ordinary friendship by her.

I'll give you Magics detah scene. But just barely, and only because of the
resurrection
 

 His fanfiction, aside from the obligatory mentions here and there and 
 the supporting roles in _Magic_ have been absolutely free from any 
 mention of any character he doesn't like. On the other hand, characters 
 he does like regularly show up; Kodachi, Kunou, Nabiki, Kasumi, even 
 when they don't really need to be there. In _TOP_, Lawson displays a 
 willingness to contort the laws of Ranma into modern art to keep 
 characters he doesn't like out of _TOP_.

Unless you explain how, I will never in a million years buy that explanation
for TOP.

And, if by some amzing miracle Lawson HAS been condunting a secret conspiracy
against those charachters he doesn't like, thta's his perogative. this is
fanfiction. you're allowed to fold. spindel, and mutilate the charchters you
hate.
  

 Am I reading too much into things? No, this is confirmed by Lawson 
 himself.

Only if you SEVERELY twist his words around.
  

 Am I saying this is bad? No--or, at least, it's a lot better than openly 
 bashing a character.

Oh, sure. You write an entire letter about Lawson's supposed charchter
assasinations, then turn around and say you meant nothing bad by it. Uh-huh.
Right.

-Mercutio
"A plague 'a both your houses!"