Author's responce to a review of a review of a fic. *bogleg*
Foxtrot and Vixxy Wrote in Big Flamin' Kanji -
(The lights come on in the theatre, revealing the forms of a familiar
looking elf and halfling.)
Vixxy: Elf?? Halfling??? [glares at Travis] You never told me
Frito was an elf?!?!?!
Foxtrot: I have to admit, this is a surprise to me. Perhaps if you could
explain this, Travis, Mike?
Actually, Travis has made this clear on any number of occasions. :) The
Review of episode 1 of the Nameless Saga opened with
The lights come up in the theatre, to reveal the aristocratic elf and the
greedy halfling.
It's been mentioned a few other times as well, in several reviews.
Foxtrot: What? No tones of outraged ranting? I^Rm surprised, Frito,
that you didn^Rt at least try to insult them or say anything derogatory
towards their ancestry and pets....
Vixxy: But they could have been referring to Windir when they said "elf".
Remember, we^Rve never seen them before in all of Travis's C&C's.
Foxtrot: Good point. I^Rll let them clear this up.
They were refering to the elf, Windir. Frito remains gagged, as shown by
the "mghfdgghdhfh" noises he makes.
Vixxy: What I didn^Rt know is that she^Rs a Shampoo clone! Why should
she speak in a pidgen dialect if she was born Japanese?
Asuza speaks (at least in the Anime) in Kawaii-Japanese to her "pets",
which can be shown as baby-talk in English. It's been done in many a fic.
(She picks up Windir...er, Tartuffe......and runs for the exit after
Frito.)
Foxtrot: And considering exactly *who* Tartuffe was, I think
that Frito should be Tartuffe and Frito can be Moliere.
Vixxy: Who was Tartuffe?
Foxtrot: A character in a Moliere play. A lecher and a hypocrite,
a swinder and an all around bad guy.
Ah, but he was also haughty, pompous, and full of false piety...there's a
case ta be made either way. :)
Foxtrot: Nice bit about the Rats and their personalities.
Too bad they^Rre all blending together. That^Rs the wonder
of having Windir and Frito, they^Rre so polarized, it lets
the author have the benefit of two completely different
points of view. Same thing for Baliesu and Ami when
they do their reviews.
Indeed. I noticed the blending myself. Problem is, Windir and Frito (and,
possibly, Baliesu and Ami) were created for the purpose of fic reviewing,
where the polar nature works well. The Rats, on the other hand, were
created as the protagonists of a fiction series, with their characters
already established. On the surface, and especially without the rest of
the Blau Teufel crew to work off of, they tend to seem much like the same
person with different accents. This is especially pronouced in the script
format, which prohibits in-depth looks at thought and enviornment, and
puts a greater emphasis on dialogue. (Poor Mahon suffers the most from
this.)
Vixxy: Well, they should! Any reviewer worth his salt reads the
prequels to a story he^Rs reviewing. That way, they don^Rt get lost
when there are allusions to the previous stories.
To say the Rats are lazy is like saying the ocean is damp.
Mike, however, has read all the prequels. He's lazy too, but he reads
more. :)
Foxtrot: What nationality are the Rats anyway? I take it that Seamus
is Irish and Giles is a Brit, but what about Mahon? Or are they all
Irish?
Giles is English, Seamus is Irish, and Mahon is Welsh; as are their RL
counterparts.
Seamus: 'Course, except fer that the two fics have damn near nothin'
in common.
[Vixxy facefaults]
Vixxy: But he just explained the similarities...!
Foxtrot: You see what I mean? It seems as if Mike is
taking the "Windir" approach to Fanfic Reviewing
while the Rats are comic relief. This could work out
great, except there already is a precedent set, that being
the duo of Windir and Frito
Actually, Seamus's statement was quite serious. TIL is a serious,
emotional fic that has very few, if any, comedic elements in it. Aftermath
and it's prequels offer a blend of 2/3 comedy and 1/3 drama in the classic
Pratchett style. With the exception of the Kuno/Nabiki subplots, the
storylines of the two fics have next to nothing in common.
Foxtrot: I'm very surprised that you have this feeling, Mike.
I can think of many Sailor Moon 'fics that I've seen
(most of them written by Chris Davies) that would
give the best ones Ranma 'fics a run for their money.
Some examples that come to mind are "The Healing
of Senshi Urre" by John Biles, and Chris Davies'
"None of Your Business".
And I'm sure that they're excellent pieces of writing, with wonderful
plots and superb dialogue. I'm not disputing the quality of SM fics, I
just hate SM with a passion; which makes me reading a SM fic a Bad Idea.
Vixxy: For first time reviewers, they did a great job. Not up to my
standards, but still good.
I'll take that as praise, I guess. :) Thanks for the review of the review.
- Mike of No Particular Title or Handle
===/\=====+==================================================================
/ \ l Mike Loader - Lincolnite, Amberite, Illuminatus, Discordian,
/ () \ l Journalist, Author, Traveler, Historian, Java Fiend.
/ \ l Trier - LA - LV - Kiev - Reno - Hong Kong. Fnord.
-------- l mloader@scs.unr.edu
==========+==================================================================