On Fri, 18 Jul 1997 19:18:55 PDT, "Chris McNeil" <kumonryuu@hotmail.com>
ranted:

If you want to see a fic where Cologne is treated better, write one. 
^_^  But I wouldn't get your hopes up that others will hold her, or any
other character's ICism as sacred as you do, because the infinite "what
if" possibilities are part of what makes fanfic so facinating.

Unfortunately, Krista has hit it on the nose.  If you expect ANY 
character to be consistantly consistant with the manga, then prepare 
to be sadly disappointed.  Is Ukyou a Shampoo-clone?  Does she hate 
Akane?  Does she not care about Ranma's feelings?  No, no and no.  But 
many fanfics portray her as such.  Is Ryouga a worse fighter than 
Ranma?  Is he dishonourable?  Would he try to have Akane agaisnt her 
will?  No, no and no.  But it happens anyway, in fanfics.  Is Ranma a 
very honourable person?  Has he given Ukyou good reason for her NOT to 
beleive he loves her?  Is he the best fighter in the series?  No, no
and no again.  But...see the point?  You've convinced ME of your
viewpoint, Wong my friend, and I'll take it into account in future
fanfics, but you're wasting your time if you expect everybody, or even
the majority, to follow your ideas.  Your best bet is to try to 
convince people you get into discussions with via e-mail.  But
dispelling widely-held illusions is pretty damn near impossible.  
<indicates RAAF, where I (and a few other manga-knowledgeables) am yet 
AGAIN proving that Ryouga is NOT inferior to Ranma in combat, that he 
is not a slimeball and Ranma is not a moral paragon, and, until 
recently, that Pantyhose Tarou, in either form is one of the most 
dangerous fighters in the manga>

Yadda yadda yadda.

I'm gonna get SPAM demerits for this one, but I have to say that I'm
really sick of this kind of attitude. (I also think this is not at all
what Krista was saying.)

There are MANY different interpretations of the characters. This comes
(in part) from the fact that canonical Ranma is a COMEDY, while many
fanfics are serious stories. There's inevitably some ambiguity when you
go from one to the other.

What we should be asking about a particular character interpretation is
NOT "is it canonical". Despite Blade's belief to the contrary, there is
no unique answer to this. You give me any interpretation and I can
probably find some evidence for it (except for the fact that I have far,
far, FAR more worthwhile things to do).

What we SHOULD be discussing is which interpretations work; Which ones
make good stories. Obviously there is no one answer to this either, and
the answer depends on the particular story. The cold-hearted Cologne
works in Hearts of Ice because the story focuses on the other
characters' reactions to her machinations. If you were doing a fic with
Cologne as the protagonist, you'd want to be more balanced.

 So my advice?  Don't get worked up over it.

Yeah right. You never do, huh?

 Or start a Church to Cologne and brand all blasphemous
fanfic writers as heretics.  ^_^

Yeah, we're all REALLY be impressed when someone does that. (That's
sarcasm, in case anyone can't tell.)

Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics