Tempest wrote:

        I would like anyone who thinks that my thinking is wrong, to tell me
so (on the ML so everyone can see).  I'll be listing series and then
reasons for putting them together afterwards.

	Sure I'll take a look. There are four main things I check for when
thinking about cross-overs, Genre, Scale, Plausability and Interaction.
Though you don't nessicarily have to use all or in fact any of these
considerations, they do make the writing go smoothly.
 

::: The Heroic Adventures of Arislan/Record of Lodoss War/Vampire
Hunter D /Ninja Scroll/ ::: 
        All these series have a medieval, dark ages feel to them.  Sword
fighting, horse riding, and magic abound.  The first three could
easily be put together in almost any medieval atmosphere, while the
third might take some time.

	Genre: You've covered that for the most part. Here you have your basic
Greyhawk adventure, Dragon Lance/Forgotten Realms adventure, Ravenloft
adventure and Kara Tur adventure. Definately compatable with little
fuss.

	Scale: Power levels seem to all be on the same scale, about at 1-3
(anywhere between humans and Mecha) Arslan is lacking a bit as magic's
not as prevelant there. Nothing that can't be done in one world by Magic
that can't be done by Chi or Darkness. This is where a mix of Bastard!,
Magic Knight Rayearth, and R.G.Veda would fail in the suggested
equation, being far too powerful.

	Plausability: Lodoss is perfect for cross overs in the same time period
as it leaves SO much of the world undiscovered. Just what IS going down
on the continent of Alecrast (sp?) Both Vampire Hunter D and Ninja
Scroll can both be taken to isolated cultures (Romanian and Japanese) on
any planet and make nice additions to standard fair. Only Arslan seems
to have total world shattering effects. Still, once you realize that
Lodoss is only an island (must be the size of Greenland) while a whole
continent remains untouched, I can see room for everyone.

	Tech levels: Arslan has the lowest, followed by Lodoss, then comes
gunpowder wielding Ninja's and finally a future TOO far ahead of the
Vampire Hunters. Still, what can be done by robo horses and guns can be
easily accomplished by dragons and fireballs.

	Interaction: A prince, a hero, a ronin and a vampire? Verrrrrry
interesting. Races will mix best between Vampire Hunter D and Lodoss
will mix the best with the inherent misinterpretation of elves as
vampires and such. Arslan will be abit taken aback while Ninja Scroll
will simply chock it all up to Devils.

	Overall: Arslan is the only one that doesn't seem to bode well. It's
too self contained for an easy mix. The tech and power levels are a bit
low compared to the others and interesting interaction will have to be
worked on individually as the world view will either be shock or denial.
Basically, unless the author has some good ideas, they'd be better off
using Lodoss since the two share so much in axtual genre. 
	For a replacement, might I suggest Escaflowne?

::: Riding Bean/Sailor Moon/Bio Booster Armor Guyver/Tenchi
Muyou!/Golgo 13/Roujin Z/ 8-Man After/Project A-Ko :: 
        All these series have a modern day, mid 80's to early 21st Century,
feel to them.  They all have a heavy Earth, Japan atmosphere, being
that not MUCH space travel is involved, and they all take place
mostly on earth.  Robots, Power Suits, Magic, and general High
Technology reins.

	Genre: Your mixing comedies with grit and parodies with Ultra-violence.
I'd split them up to Salior Moon, Ako, Tenchi and Golgo 13, Riding Bean
(add Gunsmith Cats) and 8Man after, Guyver, Roujin Z. Not that mix and
matching CAN'T occur, it's just that with violence and comedy values
this different, the mixture should be kept fairly small and focused.

	Power Levels: Oh boy! You've got individuals whose criminal record
includes planet destroying (Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo) with guys who are
kind of strong and can drive cars real fast (Bean Bandit from Riding
Bean) This is one area I constantly cringe for whenever I read a
cross-over fic. Even spliting them makes for some weird fluxtions though
humor might influence things and you could always give Golgo a Guyver
unit. Power levels between 1-8 (humans and Super Novas)

	Plausability: Well, most of them DO take place at roughly the same time
and place, with Roujin Z, 8man After, and Project Ako being the obvious
exceptions. Still, a bit of moving around and this doesn't really
present to much of a problem.

	Tech level: Heh, check out the section on Power Scale.

	Interaction: Lot's of interesting personalities with lot's of wierd
goings on to play with. Still, Golgo and Roujin will seem a bit on the
flat side.

	Overall: I'd split them into Multi Dimensional Mallets (Tenchi, Ako,
Sailor Moon) Revenge of the Cyber Men (8man After, Guyver, Roujin Z) and
Chow Yun Phats! (Golgo, Bean) Crossing over more then this will take
alot out of the autor though the projects would be interesting to say
the least.
	Add Ranma and Dragon Ball to MDM, Giant Robo and maybe Bubble Gum
Crisis to RoCM, and Gunsmith Cats to CYP.   
 

::: Fist of the North Star/Casshan, Robot Hunter ::: 
        Both of these shows fit into my "Post Apocalyptic" category.
Usually this means some War was fought that has devastated most of
the planet.  Humans are usually scarce, and trace amounts of what was
in the previous category (Robots, Magic.. etc.)  Usually this results
in vast amounts of the planet being controlled by unknown people.

	Hmmmmm, I can't compare much on this as I haven't seen Casshan. Still
be carefull with Fist as the Scale on that one is set pretty high. I
WOULD add Battle Angel to that list though.
 

::: Wicked City/Doomed Megalopolis/AKIRA/Ghost in the Shell/Demon
City Shinjuku/Venus Wars/E.Y.E.S. of Mars ::: 
        These movies are in another homemade category, similar to Post
Apocalyptic, but is called "Post Atomic" or "Post Disaster" category.
 In this category, there is heavy damage or some war being fought,
but its highly localized (yeah, like all the cool stuff only happens
in Japan).  For instance, the Dark Worlders appearing in  "Wicked
City", the earthquake caused by that Hitler lookalike in "Doomed
Megalopolis", or the Nuclear War that is described in the opening of
AKIRA.)
        For some reason, magic and/or mystical things are more common in
THIS category, perhaps an inbred thought that if we were to survive
the apocalypse we would adapt ourselves by discovering magic. How
knows. Mutation, Re-building are more common than Robots now... (but
not unheard of, i.e. Ghost in the Shell).

	Genre: Nothing wrong here expect the difficulty of mixing Magic, Tech
and Psonics.

	Power Scale: Those with magic and psi skills seems to reach pretty far
ahead of the tech heads. scale is between 1-5 (humans and City
Destroyers) Still, without there knowledge or in secret, a well placed
shot seems able to put any of these guys off so the difference is not
TOO bad.

	Plausability: I'm gonna destroy Tokyo...No! I'm gonna destroy it!...NO!
NO! It's MY city and I'll be the one to...etc. Plus a few of them aren't
likely to encouter the others, being off world and all. Still if all the
guys hit at once I'm sure the results would be epic.

	Tech Level: Those who fail in tech make up for it in raw Psi and Magic.
No real problems here.

	Interaction: More meglomaniacs and power freaks gone mad then you can
shake a bokken at. Almost too many, still most of them are unique enough
to make more some nice converstions. Also, seeing Psi, Magic and Cyber
mix is always interesting.

	Overall: So many choices, so little time. I can't see to much trouble
with anything. The writer needs to keep a good grasp of all the players
and how they opperate but can probably just sit back and enjoy the show.
The only difficulties are off worlders (Venus Wars) and past stories
(Doomed Megopolis)
	I'd add Ai City and maybe Silent Mobius.

::: Gall Force/Dirty Pair/Lily C.A.T./Odin/MacrossII ::: 
        These are the generic futuristic stories that speak of large Mecha
or ships, and intergalactic conquest/discovery.  In this category,
you find more NORMAL people, without magic, or machinery.  The
exploration is in the vast new ground there is to cover.

	Genre: Mostly problems with basic levels of fun. Dirty Pair blowing up
planets with readers laughing instead of bemoaning lives lost. Gall
Force succeding and yet failing in that painfull way. Lily C.A.T trying
to terrify while Macross seeks to instill us with hope (and INCREDIBLY
bad dubbing)

	Power Levels: I'd say my two Pair will beat your full house of
explorers anyday. I'm afraid I'm a bit unkowlegable on Odin and Lily
C.A.T. to make much more of an assesment. Scale between 1-8 again.

	Plausability: Multiple earths at differnet times. The Dirty Pair would
be the easiest to reconcile, I'm guessing they are somehow inadvertantly
responsible for ProtoCulture. Still, most of these will be a bit of a
stretch.

	Tech Levels: See Power Levels.

	Overall: Heh, I'd love to see more "Lovely Angels" crossovers,
inadvertantly melting most of the other universes to slag. Still, and of
these might work with a good bit of tinkering on the authors part. It
won't be easy, but good writing rarely is.

                ::: Gall Force/E.Y.E.S. Of Mars :::
        These series have a major thing in common.  They _END_ with the
beginning of the human race on Earth.  These stories are more or less
explanations of things that happened Way before written records.  An
interesting idea, and easily crossed over, since neither one ever
showed earth at the time of their arrival.

	Haven't seen E.Y.E.S so I'll refrain from comment.

        These categories are not lists of all the series that fit, but all
the Anime series that __I__ have seen.  Feel free to tell me if an
anime series really doesn't fit right before I go and do something
rash like.. I dunno.. make a fanfic out of it.

	If you willing to put in the work and let your story build, ANY
crossover is possible. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

(And the Moon was as blood, the Storms crashed and the Seas BOILED!)
(Typical, thought the Lobsters)  
      /  
 Oo
(~, )
 V