Ranma ½ State of the Ranma Fandom

[ToastedPine]

I disagree...á a 'moar' or 'more' comment is normally worthless.

It gives the author no insight whatsoever on why you like it, or what direction he/she might go in, or if the point that was attempted to be made was, or if the readers got something completely different out of it.á What was disliked or areas of improvment or mistakes might help.

All of the above is what preview and C&C are for.

Generic good job comments are good for motivation, but you're right in that it doesn't lead to new ideas or an accurate impression of elements that have worked. It's good to have lots of MOAR comments, but generally, fanfic authors tend to need a little more substance.

One more try at simile:

Let's say Moar is like water to the author's plant. A plant needs water, and water isn't bad to the plant in and off itself. However, if it receives too much water and not enough sunlight and fertilizer, the plant tends to rot in its own moisture. How many times have we seen this happen to authors with great technical skill? Some of them self-destruct after their heads get too swollen.

 

[TeflonBooger]

A 'moar' is always welcome in this corner and i can't help but to smile at the more enthusiastic itterations

HE'S BACK!!!

:hail:? :hail: :yay:? :yay:? :yay:? :yay:? :hail:? :hail:

And it's GOOD!!!

:evil2:? :evil2: :evil2:? :evil2:

And there's lemon-hintage... would this be lemonade? ^_^

As Always, Look Forward To Moar.

:mmm:? :mmm:? :mmm:? :mmm:

 

[Lawra]

A 'moar' is always welcome in this corner and i can't help but to smile at the more enthusiastic itterations

I think I was physically ill after seeing that.

 

[Muramasa]

A 'moar' is always welcome in this corner and i can't help but to smile at the more enthusiastic itterations

I think I was physically ill after seeing that.

:huh: Why would you get ill with that?

 

[Luthorne]

A 'moar' is always welcome in this corner and i can't help but to smile at the more enthusiastic itterations

I think I was physically ill after seeing that.

:huh: Why would you get ill with that?

You're right, Muramasa. I can't possibly understand why people would find the obsequious groveling posts of squealing fanboys laden with almost as many emoticons as words to be vomit-inducing.

...waitaminute...

 

[Muramasa]

A 'moar' is always welcome in this corner and i can't help but to smile at the more enthusiastic itterations

I think I was physically ill after seeing that.

:huh: Why would you get ill with that?

You're right, Muramasa. I can't possibly understand why people would find the obsequious groveling posts of squealing fanboys laden with almost as many emoticons as words to be vomit-inducing.

...waitaminute...

You two need better stomachs then.

 

[Ordieth117]

I like the water simile. Also remember that distilled water (pure H2O) isn't nearly as good for the plans as water with mineral content.

That said, the one attempt I made at being an author, I appreciated -any- positive feedback, even just "I like this, looking forward to more" or some iteration thereof.

Me? I love the ranma fandom. Not the fanfic cliches necessarily, but how malleable the world is, and what some of the authors do with it. The same author can write an excellent story about something else, and I end up reading part of it and getting bored.

So I'll keep reading as long as I can find something to read.

Given my abysmal memory, and the quantity of good "older" fics, I'll almost always have something good to read or reread.

 

[Dumbledork]

Yeah, Ranma is really great. You can cross it with almost anything. Personally I prefer the later Ranma fanfiction to the earlier one. When I look at the really old fics from the 90s I can see a lot of differences with current fics. Nowadays there's much more diversity and people stick less to the slapstick canon. And that's what I like. And especially since most of the great fics of recent times are not Ranma/Akane.

 

[Garahs]

Personally I hate giving bad reviews. So if you see a Ranma fic at ff.net I haven't reviewed it's probably one I have no interst in or I think is really bad.

I also rarely leave constructive comments, but I think a 'I like it' or 'I'd like to read more' should be enough to motivate and encourage an author to give us more.

Unfortunately, it's this way of thinking that may be contributing to the crap on ff.net

Obviously you can't please everybody, but when only a single person is actively contributing to an idea, it's very difficult for it to be extraordinary. I can't be sure of every fic, but I've noticed a great deal of good stories involve multiple people giving a different perspective.

Personally, as long as any story is being updated, the fandom is not dead. It may have its dry seasons, but there are still ideas that can be used.

It only takes one excellent fic to spawn a multitude of ideas.

 

[Dumbledork]

And I think it might not even bad that Ranma is not the most active fandom. There's still more quality all around than in Naruto or Harry Potter fandom.

There are so many HP and Naruto fics that you get completely lost. In my opinion about 95% of all Naruto fics are crap, while in Ranma you have at least 30-40% of decent fics.

I think that it's generally mature authors that write Ranma fics. People who grew up with Ranma, while I get the impression that most of the Naruto fanfic writers are 10-15 year old fanboys or fangirls.

 

[The Eromancer]

And I think it might not even bad that Ranma is not the most active fandom. There's still more quality all around than in Naruto or Harry Potter fandom.

There are so many HP and Naruto fics that you get completely lost. In my opinion about 95% of all Naruto fics are crap, while in Ranma you have at least 30-40% of decent fics.

I think that it's generally mature authors that write Ranma fics. People who grew up with Ranma, while I get the impression that most of the Naruto fanfic writers are 10-15 year old fanboys or fangirls.

just go to A-kon and You'll see how right you are h43r:

In any case I've heard said that Ranma can and has been crossed over with everything, is this true?

And for the love of god it won't leave me alone - are there any Super Sentai or Power Rangers crossovers with Ranma 1/2? I've got the weird urge to write one and I can't explain it, so please tell me there's one out there to read.

I've got this idea in my head of how to make a Ranma/P-Ranger/Sailor Moon crossover that won't leave me alone.

 

[Luthorne]

Of course there are.

For other Super Sentai series, you'd have to look them up individually, but I know Ten Faced Paladin has a Kamen Rider Den-O cross with Ranma 1/2 out there at a bare minimum.

Personally, I dislike the state of the Ranma 1/2 fandom in general. There is a general dearth of fanfiction being produced for it that I would consider good, with even the semi-decent ones being riddled with worn out, tired cliches that were stupid enough the first time around, liberal character raping, terrible crossover concepts, yaoi, unreadable grammar, butchered spelling, terrible flow, fanwanking, and a host of other irritations.

And oh, Dumbledork, you crack me up. You really do.

 

[Ezit Meti]

Think of a plot device. It's happened to Ranma. Either in canon or in fanfiction. Often both.

So yeah, it would be a heck of a lot easier to write a list of things Ranma 1/2 has not been crossed with than a list of things it has.

The only things I'd say for certain Ranma hasn't been crossed over with are things that are pretty much brand new. Or just don't get fanfiction written about them. I can kind of see a Liar Game crossover, with Ranma taking the role of Nao, and Nabiki being in Akiyama's role. For example. But I don't see anything even remotely like that anywhere.

As far as the "can" part goes? Well, the series is very flexible on what magic can and can't do. This lets you throw out things like time travel, parallel universes, demons, zombies, mechs, aliens... You name it and people will buy that it can happen. Just as long as the effort is put in to make the connection, but that can be said for most aspects of writing.

 

[Ordieth117]

The canon characters are also somewhat deep considering they're slapstick two dimensional beings.

They have flaws, relationships, strengths, goals, personalities. They're -capable- of growth, backsliding, redirection and failing. People have written about most of the characters doing some of the above in very believable ways.

Also, while there's a lot going on in their world, it's not so structured or convoluted that you can't easily branch off, intermingle, remove, replace, or reorganize things into a coherent story.

DBZ, for example, wouldn't be able to handle a restart story very well with any of the main characters. End story Vegeta gets sent back to Earth with his old lackey to take on young Kaccahrot? Can you say fish paste?

So yes, while Ranma and crew -do- get better, they aren't overwhelming so. It's fairly easy to apply or remove limitations based on the ruleset the author wants to describe. (Magic, Ki, Technology)

I'm rambling and I've put in my two cents.

 

[LORD_ARM]

Wow this thread is making me feel depress and old. I have been reading fanfiction for over 10 years now and most of it have been Ranma fanfics.