Ranma ½ "I'd rather chew my arm off than read that."

[Ezit Meti]

The overwhelmingly negative responses to certain crossover concepts in the misc ideas thread prompted the creation of this one.

So, what crossovers with Ranma 1/2 would you rather chew your arm off than read? And why?

What I'm particularly interested in seeing is if anybody can come up with ideas that get around the primary complaints of other posters. Heck, it could even be a game if we're so inclined.

 

[Lord Raa]

In during Hairy Pooper and Emo McFailNinja.


But on a more serious note, things that don't make sense. People seem to think that Ranma works with anything.

I know that Ranma as a character can be versatile (change his guardian/sensei), but as a setting, it's less so.

 

[Amaretto]

I'll put up with most cliches and crosses I'm pretty easy to please but recently, where's the slapstick? Too many fics are just too boring because the writers take their plots far too seriously. I'd settle for a bad pun honestly.

 

[Tonyloco]

well I have a little rule anything recommended by Dumbledok has a 60% to 80% to fall in this category for me

No offense man but you do seem to have a awfully bad taste for stories.

 

[FinalMax]

Really, any series that a crossover doesn't seem natural is something I'd rather chew my arm off than read. Multiple crossovers also aren't on my reading lists for a reason. You'd have to make the story exceptionally interesting or an absolute parody to make multicrosses readable.

To give examples of where one can go wrong on crossovers, I have to say to look at all the various Loop threads. Groundhog Day should never turn into dimension hopping on its own, nor should it result in people gradually trumping the deities trying to "fix" the scenario. It happens frequently in multicross stories. The "main character" becomes some kind of author avatar, bestowed with all the things the author thinks would be cool and a couple extra for safe keeping. It makes the story dull, because all conflict (if any) is predictably resolved. You see how and when the conflict is resolved, and it doesn't really feel like the character accomplished anything.

 

[Master of Squirrel-Fu]

When Naruto is crossed with a modern day story, or more specificly when he was in the same verse all along.

 

[Dumbledork]

well I have a little rule anything recommended by Dumbledok has a 60% to 80% to fall in this category for me

No offense man but you do seem to have a awfully bad taste for stories.

Heh. I simply have low standards. I like most Ranma fics except for 99% of Ranma/Akane fics and yaoi fics. And I don't consider Ranma-chan+guy as yaoi.

 

[Chuckg]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on. And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.

But yeah, trying to get actual action drama out of the Loops is a dead end... there's no way it'll work, the Loopers are just too powerful. Comedy, yes. Romance, tragedy, soap opera, etc., maybe (after all, vast power doesn't solve all social problems either). But fight scenes? Nah.

The above logic also applies to crossovers, and hell, to fanfic in general. If you want to make a story where your protagonists have the Power Cosmic, go ahead -- but just remember that either 1) the challenges they face must be equally as powerful 2) the challenges they face must be things to which their power is not relevant, or possibly even an obstacle (see 'Superman trying to romance Lois Lane, early on'), or 3) If all else fails, at least make sure its still funny to watch.

 

[Dumbledork]

When Naruto is crossed with a modern day story, or more specificly when he was in the same verse all along.

I totally agree with this one. I've pretty much lost all interest in Naruto and there are but a few Naruto fics I still read.

Strangely enough Ranma in the Narutoverse is rather enjoyable but Naruto in the Ranmaverse isn't.

Too bad Kestral seems to have discovered Naruto a few weeks ago. Gods, Naruto Shippuuden just sux.

 

[Da-Guru]

Ranma/Bleach
Ranma/Gurren Lagan
Ranma/Eva
Ranma/Love Hina
Ranma/South Park
Ranma/Star Trek
Ranma/Star Wars
Ranma/Eiken

I could keep going. But I think you get the point.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Naruto Shippuuden just sux.

Strewth. If you're going to cop Trigun's peacenik message, make your protagonist at least half as awesome as Vash the 'Humanoid Typhoon' Stampede.

 

[Liam-don]

Ranma/Bleach
Ranma/Gurren Lagan
Ranma/Love Hina

I don't see what's so bad about those, actually. Ghosts, emotion-based powers, love comedy and wacky hijincks seems to fit right in R1/2.

Naruto's setting is also appropriate for a Ranma fic, even if the source is pretty bad.

 

[Nanya]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on. And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.

But yeah, trying to get actual action drama out of the Loops is a dead end... there's no way it'll work, the Loopers are just too powerful. Comedy, yes. Romance, tragedy, soap opera, etc., maybe (after all, vast power doesn't solve all social problems either). But fight scenes? Nah.

The above logic also applies to crossovers, and hell, to fanfic in general. If you want to make a story where your protagonists have the Power Cosmic, go ahead -- but just remember that either 1) the challenges they face must be equally as powerful 2) the challenges they face must be things to which their power is not relevant, or possibly even an obstacle (see 'Superman trying to romance Lois Lane, early on'), or 3) If all else fails, at least make sure its still funny to watch.

Aww...

And I thought I was doing a decent job in "Numbers in Nerima". *Goes off to sulk.*

 

[Lawra]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on. And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.

Except they aren't funny, they're just annoying fanwank.

 

[Chuckg]

Actually, you are doing a good job in "Numbers In Nerima", because the Numbers are Loopers only very technically -- this is their first trip around, they're not really any more powerful than they are in canon, and so there's all sorts of valid dramatic tension between them and the challengers they are facing. Ergo, nothing I said applies.

Not to mention the emotional drama (see point 2 above), and the funny.

 

[Dumbledork]

Ranma/Bleach
Ranma/Gurren Lagan
Ranma/Love Hina

I don't see what's so bad about those, actually. Ghosts, emotion-based powers, love comedy and wacky hijincks seems to fit right in R1/2.

Naruto's setting is also appropriate for a Ranma fic, even if the source is pretty bad.

I agree. And I've also read 2-3 great Ranma/EVA crossovers.

 

[Liam-don]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on.? And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.?

Except they aren't funny, they're just annoying fanwank.

I don't know, I haven't been through it all but I thought Ringlach's Nanohah snippets were entertaining at the least.

But yeah, serious conflict just can't work in there. The characters are too stupid powerful for that.

 

[FinalMax]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on.á? And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.á

Except they aren't funny, they're just annoying fanwank.

I don't know, I haven't been through it all but I thought Ringlach's Nanohah snippets were entertaining at the least.

But yeah, serious conflict just can't work in there. The characters are too stupid powerful for that.

I have to agree with Lawra on the reality of the Loops. It's more a symptom of a larger issue, but that's not entirely relevant to this discussion. I personally found some of the poorly disguised character bashing for some versions totally annoying, as well as the effectively sick relationships that developed.

In truth, the only way one could use drama in the Loops is literally in an end-game scenario. We can't get it to work if the next bit is back to the same dumbfuckery that results, but drama can be injected into the Loops if you mean to end them permanently. Our only problem is that someone will eventually necro those threads, thus repeating an undesirable cycle.

 

[nuclear death frog]

I made a couple posts in the Ranma loops thread a long time ago, near the thread's beginning, but haven't read it in ages. I don't think I've looked at the other loops threads at all.

 

[Dumbledork]

I made a couple posts in the Ranma loops thread a long time ago, near the thread's beginning, but haven't read it in ages. I don't think I've looked at the other loops threads at all.

I tried reading one or two of them but quickly lost interest.

 

[Liam-don]

I also glossed over most of it because a lot of things in there irked me.

I have to agree with Lawra on the reality of the Loops.? It's more a symptom of a larger issue, but that's not entirely relevant to this discussion.? I personally found some of the poorly disguised character bashing for some versions totally annoying, as well as the effectively sick relationships that developed.

In truth, the only way one could use drama in the Loops is literally in an end-game scenario.? We can't get it to work if the next bit is back to the same dumbfuckery that results, but drama can be injected into the Loops if you mean to end them permanently.? Our only problem is that someone will eventually necro those threads, thus repeating an undesirable cycle.

True but that just means drama doesn't fit, and it's not the only genre out there.

 

[Chuckg]

In truth, the only way one could use drama in the Loops is literally in an end-game scenario.

No, personal drama also counts. After all, it is possible to sustain a stable romantic relationship throughout the Loops (if not a monogamous one), and some Loopers are trying. That right there is both a set of a lasting consequences and goals that carries over between Loops without being reset -- and its one where the vast powers and experiences of the Loopers don't always add up to an auto-win button. Looping Nabiki's unfulfilled desire for finding someone or something more romantic/deep than the 'friends with benefits' she has going with Ranma, who she already knows is taken as regards anything more serious, that's an example of a plot seed that could be used for serious dramatic purposes without requiring the Loops to be solved. Or, if you want more possible ideas, Nanoha and Fate, the Loopers' single most stable couple (and one that can't get away from each other, given their status as Shared Anchors) could start developing relationship problems of some kind... problems that have to be resolved, precisely because they can't get away from each other, they virtually always Loop together. And so forth.

Also, the recent invention in the HP Loops thread of "Nemesis Loopers", the various foils and arch-nemeses of the prime Loopers having gotten together to found their own organization of doing harm across the multiverse, and who due to a quirk of Looping metaphysics often tend to only enter Loops as the Anchors are leaving them, meaning that they have lots of unhampered time to prepare for meetings with their counterparts... well, that's another attempt to get some actual dramatic potential into the Loops ('challenges equal to the protagonists') without having to end the Loops. I can't tell right now if its going to be a successful attempt, but at least someone's trying.

Again, there are few (not zero, but few) fanfic ideas that are automatically DOA, there's just some that are harder to tell than others. In some cases, a lot harder to tell, but still possible.

 

[Mercsenary]

There's a reason the Loops work best as comedies, yes -- comedy is the one genre where auto-win protagonists are still entertaining, because the point of comedy isn't that there's dramatic tension, its that amusing shit is going on.? And curbstomps can be amusing, if given the right choice of target and method.?

Except they aren't funny, they're just annoying fanwank.

As the saying goes: Too much of anything is a bad thing.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Ehhh... all this bashing of the loops threads is kind of surprising to me...

Some have put in the extra effort and have ongoing arcs of stories inside the loops threads... Both Nanya and ringlhach come to mind, but a few others... the one by Amaretto is another, and there was one at the beginning of the year that was somewhat interesting.

My main thing with the loops threads is it seems to be sucking some authors time away from their other works. Innortal for example I've not seen updates to even the more recent stories in some time. Ditto for a few others.

 

[Chuckg]

I quite like the Loops, yes.