(Jeez, I need to find something else to do. I'm getting worked up over an
arguement which will never be resolved, since it boils down to viewpoints in
the end.)

I suppose you're right. It's about time to give this one a rest. 
There is, however, one point that I can't let go unchallenged:

How many times do I have to say it? The character development is
taken from false premises. It's flawed. It's wrong. It is untrue to
the original characters as well as their logical development, at
least as I see it.

Even if I did believe that the character development in TBE was 
totally unbelievable, I would object to this statement. Fanfiction is 
not about limiting yourself to the author's original intention. It is 
about exploring areas that the author can't, or won't, explore 
him/herself. (Indeed, there's no bloody way Takahashi would have done 
something like this in the original Ranma series - this story is 
serious and dark, and R1/2 is, for the most part, light and fluffy 
slapstick comedy and amusing parody, bad puns, etc. It just doesn't fit.)

There is, however, no such thing preventing fanfiction authors from 
broaching these subjects. There's nothing forcing you to like the 
story. However, that doesn't give you any right to call it "flawed" 
or "wrong". If you don't like this story, fine. Go write fanfics the 
way _you_ think they should be done until the cows come home. Point 
out _legitimate_ weaknesses in other people's stories. But don't try 
to make others write stories the way you think they should be 
written. That kind of thinking _is_ flawed and wrong.

Oh, dear. I'm ranting again. 


 

- Sean Connor (connor@meena.cc.uregina.ca)

        "It jams." - Intel TV ad, referring to the Pentium chip.