[Ranma 1/2] Spot the Difference!

[Brian]

Okay, this title is misnamed; this is the name I read it under ... 10 years ago.  This is, quite simply, a total character reversal of almost the entire cast of Ranma 1/2, with some of the inversions being relatively subtle, and some being hilariously backwards flanderizations.

The title is 'Almost, but not quite', now, and you can find it here:

http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/superhighway/Staik/staik.html

I don't typically endorse flanderizations, but this story is internally consistent, weirdly enough, and ... yeah, utterly hilarious.

Especially:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Tofu "Axe" Ono, and Crusader Tarou.

It made me laugh.

[Jason_Miao]

Oh, him.  IIRC, Staik repeatedly wrote multitudes of poorly setup Ranma-shockfics on the FFML.  His formula was to take some generic event, then copy-paste in two characters' names. 

After I'd figured that out, I think the only times I ever really seriously looked at one of his fics was to point out that just randomly picking names for generic situations for shock was moronically trivial, and "Akane Can Cook" where Gary cited "When Akane Can Cook" as having pulled off the joke far more elegantly (And that was cool, because who expects anyone to remember a spamfic?)

So, is he actually doing anything different in this fic?  Or is it more of the same?

[Brian]

It's a single gag applied to the entire cast.  I somehow missed him when he was posting (though ... I thought I was on the FFML at that time?  It's surprisingly unclear to me now).

Like I said -- it inverts everyone characterizations.  I found it amusing?  I believe, back in the day, Slacker did, as well....

[Dracos]

I vaguely remember Axe Tofu.

[Jason_Miao]

It's a single gag applied to the entire cast.  I somehow missed him when he was posting (though ... I thought I was on the FFML at that time?  It's surprisingly unclear to me now).

Were you on in the early 2000s?  I have the impression that you were, although it's been quite awhile, so who knows?  Staik told everyone that he was a published author, which was verified by several other people on Nabiki.com.  On the FFML, he had a fairly large following (at least, from the number of replies he'd get from posted fic, I presume so).  So, plenty of cred.

But frankly, if he hadn't written a fic that had a name suspiciously close to one I'd written two years earlier with a concept that read like it was pretty damn close, except sans sense of subtleness, I would have been unlikely to remember him either.

Like I said -- it inverts everyone characterizations.  I found it amusing?  I believe, back in the day, Slacker did, as well....

Yeah, basically, everything I'd read from him was the same sort of pull-the-rug-out-from-under-the-reader writing.  And come to think of it, that might be when I stopped assuming published = good.  Because if someone who could characterize and execute a scene that poorly could be a published author, who couldn't be one?

Anyway, keep in mind that I was, from evidence of FFML postings, in the minority on the FFML.  Plenty of people liked his stuff.  So if you and Slacker like his fics, I won't think that much less of you.


-edit-
Also, Flanderization?  What does Flan have to do with anything?