On Tue, 3 Nov 1998, Tom Flair wrote:
Dies Irae
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum - harnums@hotmail.com
'And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power
was given unto him to scorch men with fire.'
I STILL want to know where you come up with these quotes....
The Bible (Rev.16.viii -- no, I didn't know it off the top of my
head, had to go look it up. Well worth the time, though.) Revelations --
the trippiest book of the Book of books! Very cool reading.
Anyway, I've got a question concerning Saphron. Now, as portrayed
here (once he's attained full maturity), he's a God -- powerful and
unstoppable. I remember seeing a debate on RAAF a bit back; I think it
was Blade who submitted that Saphron was of unrivaled power (and then the
discussion degenerated into a silly debate of Saphron vs. various
Marvel/DC characters.)
Anyway, I'm curious -- _is_ he that powerful, and what makes
people think so? I've read (via translation), and seen v.38. Sure, even
in semi-mature teen form, he's pretty kick-ass strong (ie. blowing up
mountain ranges and all). He also showed some major weaknesses -- ie,
regeneration aside, he's ridiculously easy to stun.
The assumption seems to be that, a) he can regenerate any damage,
without exhaustion, and b) he's tireless. I dunno. Seems to give him an
unnecessary benefit of the doubt, here. Ranma didn't hurt him that much
previous to shattering him, and _that_ was enough to revert him to
infant-status. Whos' to say sufficient damage wouldn't just wear him, and
his regeneration ability, out?
And while he did run off at least two of the mega-blasts without
apparently tiring, who'se to say another one or two wouldn't have been
enough? Heck, Ranma seemed to be in pretty top shape himself, throwing of
Hiryu Shoten Ha's (or variants) without thought. Maybe there's something
in the air around Mt. Phoenix. Maybe they just ate their wheaties that
morning...
I could be wrong, of course. Did I miss something (translations
aren't always reliable, or maybe I just forgot) that answers my question?
Do they specificaly _say_ that adult Saphron is god-like in power and
unstoppable? (I do remember his fate -- as heat and light source for his
people -- seemed rather hellish to me. Wonder how they kept him in
check?) This is why I had trouble with the armies of the world being
unable to stop him -- seems a coupla sidewinders oughta blow him into itsy
bits that'd have a heck of a time regenerating... or at least blast him
back into an infant again. And as for a nuke...
I dunno. Any answers?
Oh, and BTW, question aside, good fic. Though I don't think I
agree with that characterization of Saphron.
Later!
-Mike Noakes
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