What are you reading?

[Brian]

I know what you mean.  Right up there with 'Brilliant; hasn't been updated in five years' as far as really hammering home the missed opportunity....

[Ebiris]

Points of Familiarity crashes and burns. -_-

That's some pretty devoted trolling.

[Dracos]

Huh... I was rereading it since it updated.

I guess I should've checked the new chapter and made sure it was a chapter instead of Trollmess.

[thepanda]

I was just about burnt out on Naruto fics, and then I read this. A fun bit of fluff that is actually complete. Definitely a palate cleanser.

[Kt3]

I was just about burnt out on Naruto fics, and then I read this. A fun bit of fluff that is actually complete. Definitely a palate cleanser.

Nice find.  I'm enjoying it quite a bit myself.  Definitely a refreshing change of pace.

[sarsaparilla]

A Haruhi fic I had been keeping an eye on, LiftToDrag Ratio, was just updated after a long wait (no linky, it's trivial to find it on FFN). I had thought that the story was moderately promising, basically a crack fic done right (odd premise, serious story) ... and then came this latest chapter, where Haruhi first forces Kyon into breaking the masquerade, and after the fact uses her newly gained control of powers to casually and dismissively override Kyon's will and put him into sleep so that she doesn't have to talk with him about it (because she got antsy). Aaaand this was supposed to be a romantic fic. >_<

But seriously? I thought that wanton use of mind control was the sole prerogative of complete monsters.

I'm sorry for venting my feelings here but I hope that this short rant will be enough to permanently bury the squick. The good thing is that the entire story so far is so short that there wasn't any serious investment in reading it.

[Brian]

I felt that story was actually headed downhill with the chapter before this, though will echo your sentiment, generally.  That last chapter was not well handled.  I suspected it was heading into 'author didn't plan this out in advance' territory earlier -- that last chapter just seemed to confirm it for me. :\

Admittedly, I also felt characterization was a little off on almost all fronts, too.  Still, always irksome to see an entertaining, if not brilliant, story slide into madness like that.

[Anastasia]

Agreed with the above about Lift to Drag ration, though I'm inclined to give it one more chapter. Haruhi just found out she might have god-like powers and panics a bit. That doesn't make her a monster, it makes her a human being who made a mistake.

I'm not optimistic about the fic, but we shall see.

[Dracos]

I was just about burnt out on Naruto fics, and then I read this. A fun bit of fluff that is actually complete. Definitely a palate cleanser.

Pleasant enough fic, if kinda a lame-win in the end.

[Jason_Miao]

Pleasant enough fic, if kinda a lame-win in the end.

Spoiler: ShowHide

How else could it have ended it?  A harem-fic would be a viable alternate ending, but that kills the established tension so would just lead to an unforgettable story.  An ending where "everything goes back to normal...but the protagonist is just a little bit better off" seems like a reasonable way to end a story, especially a light story like this one.

[Dracos]

Pleasant enough fic, if kinda a lame-win in the end.

Spoiler: ShowHide

How else could it have ended it?  A harem-fic would be a viable alternate ending, but that kills the established tension so would just lead to an unforgettable story.  An ending where "everything goes back to normal...but the protagonist is just a little bit better off" seems like a reasonable way to end a story, especially a light story like this one.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I would've totally taken a mass date chaos scene or a fight over naruto scene.  Sure, it could've ended the same.  Or could've spun off into little narratives on how it might go down each of their victory paths or it could've ended in harem.  Whatever, the actual final scene wasn't what made it a lame-win, it was the final chapter leadup.

The thing that made it lame is that at least half the girls knew there were other people going after Naruto, who they were, and as well were under the decision that 'hey, I've got to get him first'.

This does not blend naturally into the 'he's been an unthinking playboy and now everyone turns on him, this event passes by and now things are slightly better'.

Some of the last chapter, he can't even vaguely be blamed for.  He stood Temari up for a date at an unspecified restaurant at an unspecified time?  What is he, a mind reader?

The setup for a ranma style 'everyone and their cousin is chasing the playboy protagonist to punish him physically for his playboy ways' was a left field event to the way it was built up.  Too many of the girls knew at least a solid picture of what was going on.  They needed to be more ignorant of each other's attempts for it to work.  That every single guy took the 'We'll beat on Naruto' approach instead of the 'We'll up the stakes by supporting our friend!' approach was lazy and easy.

[Dracos]

Daybreak part 1 had a decent chapter.  Initial villians are deduced and their feint recognized.  http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7478793/1/Daybreak_Part_I

Wanderer updated, but it's only semi-coherent.  The author clearly struggled with the fight setup he had at the end of last chapter.

[thepanda]

Wanderer updated, but it's only semi-coherent.

So par the course since the Team Rocket promotion exam?

[Dracos]

Pretty much.  Sputter/random.

I can't recall many (any?) dimension hopping stories that actually work out alright at all.  It's generally just too much of a separation of setting from character.  Without a foundation of "Character has binding to world"  or "cast has binding to character" it's really a bunch of irrelevant events.

I guess maybe Stargate?  I never watched it though.

[Brian]

Stargate is planet hopping, not dimension hopping.  Dimension hopping is just an expansion on the ancient Wagon Train concept (considering that Star Trek was originally pitched as 'Wagon Train: To the STARS!').  Admittedly, with AUs, you also have the potential to have character interactions where one character has considerably more experience than their counterpart, which should add an interesting element; it depends, I suppose, on if the goal is 'let's visit strange new dimensions!' or 'Man, that wish %$*@ed me up.  Now there's zentradi beach volleyball and Tesla Batteries!'.  Er, nevermind that last one.  I meant: 'Well, this is familiar, but different.  Now what?'

...yeah.  I think the closest thing I can think of is ... that CLAMP story -- Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles?