Bad fanon that trumps the canon for the far to long

[Epsilon]

ShinDangaioh wrote:

---

Harry Potter-Severus Snape is a good person and is looking out for Harry's best interests.




DC Universe-Batman can beat anyone. Oh wait, that isn't it bad fanon. That's bad canon

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Epsilon

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

...I am so, so glad I haven't been reading that. >.

[Herr Bad Moon]

Needs more whores.

EDIT: Curse you EML! You made the whores joke before I did!
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

[Sirrocco]

Hey, guys? Now that you've got your rant on, let's step back for a wider view.

Why do people read fanfic? They enjoy it, and sometimes they see interesting perspectives. It can be emotionally satisfying.

Why do people write fanfic? All of the above, plus the approval and respect of those who enjoy their writing.

None of these things are bad. People being Wrong about canon in big ways, whether reading or writing, does not make them bad. There is nothing sacred about
original fic, or the original series (for any original series.) Now, having people get into huge argument-fests when they have no idea what they're talking
about, this is annoying. Having people claim that they know exactly what (fil in the blank character) is like when they clearly don't, this is also
annoying. People should not do these things. They will, and nothing we can do will stop them, but they should not. People writing fanfic that happens to be
profoundly incorrect? That just means they are writing fanfic that you personally wouldn't enjoy reading. Me, I have certain moderately hard lines of
spelling and grammar that will ae a story useless to me. More-than-moderate levels of Mary Sue and/or character bashing will also ruin a story for me pretty
quickly. Lack of internal consistency, likewise - but that does not mean that I think people should not write these things. That does not mean that I feel like
people should require my approval to spread joy. If I do not enjoy it, but others do, where is the harm?

[Ayiekie]

I think it's good for people to write fanfic whether it's any good or not, because writing is an awesome hobby to have. I would never, ever tell anyone
to stop writing, regardless of what I thought of their work.

But I think it's much better when people write fanfic that shows an actual appreciation and caring for the series they're writing about, and I think
that is requisite for having a good fanfic. And when you're past the age of, say, thirteen, I think that actually knowing the source material is part of
that requirement.

[Lordpanther14]

My biggest problem with Naruto fan fiction has to do with Naruto's past. I know that it was rough and nobody loved him but I take serious issue to authors
writing in how he spent most of his life dealing with violence and assasination attempts. I don't think it was so extreme or else Naruto would be a lot
more like Gaara. Kill them all and let the kami sort it out.

Instead he actively seeks thier attention. Not something he would do if their attention brought threats on his life. Another point is that when Gaara talks
about how when he was five his own father tried to assasinate him, Naruto is shocked by it. When I think of Naruto's upbringing I think of a community
wide silent treatment. That no one would ever pay attention to him. If he went to a restaurant, he would never be served. When he was in class the teacher
would never call on him. I guess for most people it just doesn't seem harsh enough. I think it is cruel enough for a child to be crying for help and no
one will even acknowledge his presence. That's why Naruto would be driven to do the outrageous pranks and acting out in class. So people would be forced
to pay attention to him. If I could find some fan fiction that reflected that kind of past I think I could stomach it.

I'm also not a fan of all the Sasuke bashing that happens in most fics. Sasuke is not a perfect person, who never knows defeat, that needs to be torn down
but that seems to be the attitude most writers take towards him. In canon, he gets beat enough, by Gaara, by Itachi, by Zabuza. The list goes on but a fic
like Chuunin Exam treats Sasuke like he's getting what's coming to him when Gaara castrates Sasuke over and over.

If only writers treated all characters as fairly as Lathus does in Dark Titans. You can tell that the author doesn't like Ranma, especially as it's
made clear in the Author's Rants but Ranma doesn't fold like a lawn chair when fighting Ryouga or the Ink demon in his side story.

That's my bone with most fan fiction is that authors will pick there favorite character in the fic and then make them ridiculously overpowered and castrate
thier least liked characters. Letting them flail around in a geyser of their own blood while the main laughs it up with his harem. What I'm looking for is
some balance.

[Epsilon]

Lordpanther14 wrote:

What I'm looking for is some balance.

Hear-hear.

I am of the firm opinion that if you do not like a character you shouldn't write about them. If you are forced to, then find something to like about this.
For example, I used to hate Shampoo. But after circumstances forced her into our story we found a way to like her and she transformed into one of our favorite
characters.

------------------

Epsilon

[Bob Schroeck]

Richard Lawson once said much the same thing about Kodachi Kuno. He didn't like her, so he disposed of her quickly and mostly offstage in Thy Inward Love. Then someone talked him into writing an appearance for her in a sequel story, and somewhere along the line he found an angle on her that he liked, and afterwards ended up writing Roses of Shadow just for her.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Foxboy]

Right. Balance all the way. I used to not like Rei from Evangelion, being an Asuka fanboy,until I started writing IWATDP. I found something ineffable there ...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[jpub]

Frank Millar's Batman stopped being relevant to anything the moment he had him SLAP ALFRED.

[Disruptor]

True. Balance is essential. Slayers for example:

Naga's laugh has been said in fanfic to be able to shatter glass. That is a little much for me to believe, since it doesn't happen in the manga or
shows. All she does is scare people.

Don't get me started on how overblown people make Amelia in fanfic and ignore the fact that in Slayers Try she refered to herself as the weakest of the
group and stopped going off on justice speeches at the drop of a hat.

Lina in a bunch of xover fics has been shown to be majorly power hungry, greedy, and self-centered. In canon, she has let stuff go without a reward and this is
when she was working with Naga. The witch Michelle comes to mind.

Then there is the bit where the only thing that Zelgadis is shown doing in fanfics is drinking coffee, ignoring the canon bits of when he did eat quite a bit.
--------------------
Tom Mathews aka Disruptor

[Necratoid]

This gets into one of those fun things that colors what it is that ends up important in fanfiction... importance to the writer. What struck the writer as
great about the thing they are writing about in the first place. What the person or group in question actually latches on to. What makes them intrested in
something so much they decide to produce homespun works that are off branches of whatever it is they latched onto. It doesn't even matter if its works of
fiction, historical events, pottery, or music, outside of English classes/paying jobs, people tend to create things in fields they are actually intrested in.

In fanfiction, people tend to write about whatever aspect(s) of the canon, or derivatives thereof, that they can personally latch onto. Which is how we get to
say, Uber HOTT, Vampire Sasuke making Cute, Innocent, Normal, Basically Powerless Naruto into enslaved, fledgling vampire minion.... which in the twisted minds
of this breed of yaoi fangirls means Naruto is in for a fun, fun , happy time involving centuries of blood letting, Naruto being cut up and tortured (a lot) by
Sasuke, and endless graffic scenes in which 'Naruto' is violated. Brutally slaughter of the female cast comes at no extra price. That they somehow
lost the ninja thing, most of the personallity of the cast, the setting, the elemental attacks, and any logical reason why this connects to anything Naruto
outside the names of the characters. For Fledgling vampire 'Naruto' and for those that aren't yaoi fangirls this is very much mentally, and for
'Naruto' physically, harmful. Also, this same group makes webcomics. Beware.

Lordpather14 is creating a bit of fanon of a fanfic there... In Chunin Exam Day, its not Sasuke that is getting bashed in that Gaara castration thing... its
the Naruto, who is so far off the deep end by this point that he thinks that such a thing is the most hillarious thing EVAR. For more details, look up the
thread I made explaining my views of that scene, as well as the fanfic itself. As of part 46, my conclusions from the teen chapters are holding true. Though
considering the timing of the 'mine the forest and bomb Pedo-Snake to hell' chapter, that or it could just be he was reading/heard about my
explaination and ran with it. I put Lordpanther14's complaint in the same category as those that decide that take the slapstick in Ranma 1/2's anime
as clearly a hostile, social commentary of the horrors of domestic abuse. They missed the point and/or context.

The point on Amelia is another good segway into what often makes large parts of relatively canon based bad fanon... Charicters are utterly unable to grow as
people/characters. That is were most of the Ranma 1/2 bad fanon comes from, charicters gain no life experience. Its rather this hardcore method of playing
FFX I've heard of. Basically, you ignore the sphere grid and play the entire game with level 1 charicters... that is they literally never get more
powerful, even as the plot progresses and enimies get increasingly difficult to kill. Barring new items and the occasional new summon. Its possible, but save
extremely frequently. Just as its possible to have a fanfic/show where no character advances past where they are as a person during their intro scene. At
that point the fics/show is doomed or GTO shows up and brainfries people into character growth.

[ECSNorway]

Or it's a sitcom intended more as slapstick than as story.

Like, say, most of modern American television.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Lordpanther14]

Even if the Gaara castration is more of a commentary on the mental state of the Naruto in that fic. The fact remains that Sasuke receives a lot of negative
criticism from a lot of fan fiction. In canon, Naruto and Sasuke have a big sibling rivalry relationship. Naruto going as far as thinking of Sasuke as a
brother. I think I've only found one fan fiction where that was a major theme in the story.

As for the depth of the violence, I don't think I would have a problem with it if it was happening to someone I thought deserved it, like Itachi or
Orichimaru. The story is about ninjas and people have died in the canon and are likely to die in the future. It's a bloody world they live in and I
accept that. Makes the battles more real that there are consequences that stick with them. Not like Dragonball where the world blows up during a fight and
then it gets wished back just the way it was before.