Thank you! And meme!

[avocado_love]

Thank you all for your cool birthday wishes. I had a great day, and I'll probably post about it later. In the meantime I'm going to do that meme that's been floating around (Stolen from jakia ). So hit me with your best shot! *Attempts not to break into song*


So hit me.

Top 5 fandom-related anything. And I DO mean anything.

Examples: Top 5 fan fictions, Top 5 things I wish were different in fandom/fan fiction/whatever. Top 5 hottest guys in fandom. Top 5... Star Trek episodes. I dunno, I'm running out of ideas, but you get the drift. Harry Potter readin' Kakashi commands you to ask. :D

Comments

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

Problem three: Incompatible ideologies

I remember the first A/N crossover I ever read. It featurers Aang summoning a much older Naruto to help him. Naruto the began a mass bell test with all of the gaang, then ordered them to come at him to kill. When Aang object Naruto begins patronizing explaining how he has to kill. That was when I closed the browser. It wasn’t the different ideologies, it was how one was so patronizingly dismissed as stupid that pissed me off. And that’s the problem, Naruto and Avatar have different ideologies, and worlds, and most people casually mass them together in a way that tramples over one.

In Naruto, you kill you opponents. Maybe you should save them if they are “good” people. But otherwise, kill them with no remorse. In Avatar saving someone is a good thing. Yes, you have to fight, and people will die. But keeping them alive is the morally superior route, even if they aren’t a “good” person.

Furthermore the worlds are different. In Avatar, the war is an abomination. People should not fight, and it is tragic that people so young are being thrown into it (Zuko’s speech about Ozai challenging him at 13 is a case in point). Naruto by contrast has twelve year olds trained as death machines as normal. And while they may not want major wars the need low level conflict in order to fund the village. The villages are fundamentally military institutions with mercenary business on the side. Avatar, by contrast, has been careful to show peacetime bending applications as well.

Now the problem isn’t that this difference exists. Plenty of good stories come from competing ideologies. The problem is that people look at the surface similarities (Aang and Naruto are both fun loving and have a great power, Zuko and Sasuke are both angsty with evil siblings etc) and the bigger problems are either skimmed over or on side is made to be complete wrong. Aang should have a series problem with kids being trained purely for war, yes he fighters, but it’s for necessity, he doesn’t kill people for money. Heck even Toph should probably have some problems with lethal tournaments. A realistic Aang would probably was to destroy the entire hidden village system, seeing is as fundamentally promoting conflict. On the other hand neither side should be presented as fools, or utterly wrong. There is nothing that turns me off a story faster than when to sides debate and every time one side is shown to be “obviously” right.

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

Once again you have proven the ability to think about things much deeper than I ever could. ;D

While these are all great points, and very valid. You could also flip them and say they are more challenges than limitations. Of course Aang would be horrified as 12 old assassins. Of course Kakashi could probably kick Aang's ass, even when he's in the Avatar state (okay, maybe not...). But that's the point! Let's smash them together and find out what happens. Let's set them on a mutual quest for an object. What an adventure it could be!

Then again, this is fan fiction and you're right that most people skim over the details or don't bother with them all together. All these things have to be taken with the right consideration, and they have to be done by the right hand. Most don't bother. I still await for the gem that actually does, though.

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

Part of that I agree, the incompatible ideologies should be a challenge, not a problem. However I'm less convinced of the viability of the power levels. Now I've occasionally seen good fusions with very different power levels, but it usually only works when I want to see one side get smashed. I want the USS enterprise to come into the universe of serenity and smash the revers. I want a powerful empire to show the cylons up. I want alucard to show Edward Cullen what a real vampire is like. I really don't think I'd fine Kakashi killing Aang nearly as enriching. (not to mention given Naruto's higher death count, half the Avatar cast would die in the first encounter, which I don't think makes for a good story)

Now you could have the Avatar crew adapt, and learn, but even that has it's problems. If Avatar has to learn from the ninja's then the ninja's have already won the ideological debate, as they've proven their philosophy is stronger. And everything else aside, both shows have a "right makes might" ideal.

Like I said, the easiest way to handle that is probably to subtly bump up Avatar's powerlevel. Cause otherwise the fic going to come off as "Naruto's so much better than Avatar" as each of the Avatar cast is massacred by the Naruto cast.