My Top Ten Favourite Fanfics schedule!

While my original plan was to do my Top Ten Favourite Fanfics on a weekly basis I have decided now to move it to a fortnightly basis. I apologise for any inconvenience this causes however doing so gives me some more free time to work on my writing and exams, as well as to re-read the longer fanfics within my top ten favourite fanfics and thus have them fresh in my head upon analysis. Cheerio!

Title: Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario

Author: Ze Dybbuk

Category: Super Smash Bros

Genres: Comedy/Crack

Rating: T

Chapters: 4

I must say a brief word first to those who do not know what a crack fanfic is. A crack fanfic, almost always a comedy, is a fanfic that defies logic, one which often includes the craziest of settings and situations that would be deemed absurd even for the very series the fanfic is written for. Crack fanfics are easy to write and brimming with humour but are often weak on description, have miss-presented characters, and lack both grace and intelligence. Ze Dybbuk’s four chapter work on the other hand is a genre breaking crack fanfic that is fleshed out to the fullest and is layered with intelligence.

Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario is the first in the Fatty and the Kid series, otherwise known as the Fluff series, and stars Ike and Pit as its central protagonists. The story starts by introducing us to the focal character, Ike, who since being knocked out of the current season’s tournament has put on weight, a lot of weight. He was eating his chicken as per usual when his roommate, the completely insane Pit, storms in upset that he lost in a cut-off match against Lucario. It seems though this loss had inspired Pit though as he now believes Lucario is an unspeakable evil plotting something with his cohorts, Mario and Wario (deduced from how their names all end with ario). Pit drags the reluctant Ike into finding out what the Cult or Ario are up to and amazingly enough Lucario, Mario and Wario are plotting a sinister scheme. Along with Link and the Ice Climbers it is up to the dynamic duo to find out the cult’s scheme and put an end to it. I’m serious, that is the plot to this story.

First off, do not let the ridiculous plot fall you into thinking someone simply decided to write a bunch of random things with no correlation and publish it as a story, everything bit of plot details fits together and ends up making perfect sense by the end. It is amazing how such a thing is done, but even minor details are clues as to how all of this will end and what exactly the truth behind the Cult of Ario is. Such a thing is even mentioned by Pit in chapter three when he says “it’s very disturbing how well it all fits.”

The writing in this fanfic is top quality. Descriptions are vivid but not heavy enough to slow the fanfic down. Details are to the point and allow the story to continue without hindrance and word choices are often of a higher standard seen in most fanfics. Any time a poorer spot in writing occurs it is almost always intentional, being a part of the narrative humour. Furthermore, every drop of this fanfic is funny. Every description is either a joke, or something that is building up to a joke. Every character line and action is both purposeful and hilarious, and there are hundreds of references to both the fandom of Super Smash Bros and each series the characters of Super Smash Bros are from. Nothing is wasted as the sole goal of this story is to make you laugh, and I believe it accomplishes it quite well. The intelligent part I often praise this fanfic for comes from its never wasted humour. The setting is one of crack and yet there is logic within the sprawling madness. Jokes lead on to other jokes and events build up to bigger events. Other demonstrations of intelligence come in collaborating of the humour with everything, narration and description are not scrapped to make this fanfic funnier, and they are included to make this fanfic funnier.

My final point of praise (though I shall warn you this is also a major point for criticism) is the characters. Ike plays the typical straight man, an overweight straight man but he plays his role well by being the only character whose sense of logic is exactly the same as the normal person. When things are weird, which is always, he is the one who questions the reality of the situation. Pit plays as the main funny man, being the funniest and most out there character of the entire cast. He does thing on a spur of the moment basis, often drags Ike into whatever problems are at hand, and all the crazy events are either his doing or revolve around him. However Pit’s insanity actually finds its best expression through Ike, the receiver of most of the problems caused by the wacky crack events. Pit’s seemingly illogical ideas begin to make sense through his conversations with Ike and yet he retains the role of being utterly impossible to predict. Interestingly enough, a norm for most crack fanfics, Ike is alone in being the straight man as he is truly the only sane character. Every other character has their own quirks and while Pit defeats them all in performance, they all play brilliant funny men. The closest to straight men other than Ike would probably be Lucario, who goes about his actions as if it normal. For him, the strange events are the norm for this world and thus he is unaffected by the very things that make Ike question reality, but at the same time Lucario does not act crazy one bit.

Criticism is hard to find in a fanfic where every inch is lovable but analysing this story would be useless if I could not find faults to it. First off, while the plot is absurd anyone, the subject is a serious matter but the characters still take it in their stride. The reality of the seriousness of the end result is unfortunately something that is missing and though this is not the type of fanfic that tends to have such elements it would be one that would cause the story to excel. The introduction to the story is also a bit loose, as though this fanfic is the first in the series it does not bother to explain the grouping of the smashers or the first encounters between each of the characters, events that often brought to light in most fanfics which are sadly missing in this one.

I have praised the humour nonstop, particularly it’s wide coverage, however this wide coverage also proves a problem. The drive to make every part humorous has left spots where as a fall back the author has used swearing to create the comedic moment. While it is funny the path the fanfic had been taking was child friendly but those odd moments of cursing, particularly the use of a C-word that us British folks have always considered the worst and most offensive swear word of all ruin this. It may be minor, and it may only occur in the odd spots, but is disappointing to see such talent fall back on foul mouth humour tricks.

Thus the final point of criticism is reach, the characters. While they are funny and used to the best of effects they are not themselves. Many of the characters do not seem to be the characters they are supposed to be and the route which is taken can appear at times to be simply using the characters names and background but adding new personas. This can easily be avoided, simply exaggerating some features (such as Mario’s accent or Navi’s annoyingness) do not change the character, and noting ironic nods (such as having the bearer of courage Link as a coward) is a nod to the perception of the character and thus pays tribute while still fiddling round with how the characters are supposed to be. At times in this fic, other than their names, the characters act nothing like the ones they are supposed to be, or at least are supposed to be based on.

Here ends the analysis of my 9^th favourite fanfic of all time. Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario by Ze Dybbuk is a crack comedy and the first in the ever growing Fatty and the Kid series of fanfics. It maybe crack but this fanfic is deep and is brimming with astonishing description and detail. It demonstrates the potential of all crack fanfics out there, and proves that though such a writing style maybe easy to make, it takes a true master to polish it to perfection. The reward for this fanfic is an obvious choice, ‘Best Crack fanfic’. Congratulation Fluff and Circumstance of The Cult of Ario.

Questions, Thanks, and Bamboo Blade!

First off all I need to ask all my very few readers a quick question, how do I reply to messages? So far the only way I've been sending messages has been to comment on peoples blogs but is there another, simpler way?

Anyway the reason I have made this blog. Well first is to reply to J_3_s_5, thank you for reading my blog. As for your questions, my documents are fine and even if they were damaged I go about creating backups on memory sticks and CD's every now and then so I never have to fret too much about losing data. I didn't lose a drop of data. Sorry about the loss of yours.

However that alone is not the only reason to make a post on this blog. Tomorrow I plan to do something I never do, lie in. I plan to curl up in a nice warm bed and watch the entire first series of a recently brought anime. The catch is that I have not seen a single episode or chapter of this anime that I plan to watch tomorrow. I know that it's a bit of a stupid thing to do, especially considering its £40 price, but I've heard good things about it and it was the best offer I could get at the store in terms of value (I could buy 13 episodes of an anime I have watch previously but they were priced at £30, and they were the long series anime’s which would take ages to purchase the entire series).

I may comment upon the anime itself, a sort of hackneyed review of an entire day spent watching. But it looks nice, has a nice sounding plot and will hopefully make tomorrow very entertaining and work free for once. Thus tomorrow I shall watch the complete series of Bamboo Blade.

Reason why I did not update!

A virus. Well a specific kind of virus generated by security companies to force you into purchasing their products but my computer was attacked by one and as such I couldn't access all my documents. So anyone who does read this (does anyone?) I'm afraid I could update this weekend as a result of the virus.

As a result I will upload number 9 in my top ten fanfics next weekend (which is this weekend). This is but a quick post to explain things so sorry if its a bit rushed. Cheerio!

My Top Ten Favourite Fanfics: 10) Marth's Curse Reeditized

Title: Marth’s Curse Reeditized

Author: Pikana

Category: Super Smash Bros

Genres: Gender Bender/Romance/Comedy

Rating: T

Chapters: 17

I could have chosen many fanfics to place in at number 10, heck I even had plans to add another fanfic by this same author at number 10, but of them all Marth’s Curse Reeditized stood out. Not just because it’s a gender bender fanfic or because it features several authors (including myself) as characters but because it is simple on the outside and deep on the inside. When you first glance at it, it’s simple in its premise, it’s plot and it’s storytelling but even within that there is a surprising amount of hidden depth and by the time you finish reading you will have seen the realism and darkness that lays beneath all the smiles and insanity. Admittedly the reverse can also be said, for even in the darkest and most philosophic of moments there will always be something to make you smile; be it subtle or in your face.

First, I should summarise the plot. I will not though spoil too much for you as I’m doing this top ten thing is in part, to get people reading these terrific fanfics that can all be found on Fanfiction.net. On a very stereotypical happy day the smash bros are spending time at their pool, all having a good time. Pikana, the authoress of the world (and Pikachu’s girlfriend) arrives, only for Marth to accidentally kick her in the head. Pikana, who is easily angered, and Marth, who had been dealing with quite a bit of stress that morning, begin to fight only for the authoress to pull out her plot book. The author’s plot books allow them to change their worlds and the characters within it however they want (they are effectively god-like when in their own worlds) and so Pikana uses it on Marth to...turn him into a girl. I’m serious; her revenge scheme involves turning Marth into Martha.

The story revolves around Martha’s struggle to adjust to what she hopes is a temporary time as a girl, her dealing with the consistent pranks by the various authors, and the problems emerging with her best friend Roy. While I don’t need to explain how Martha has to adjust to the new lifestyle I should explain the other two parts to the story. After Pikana curses Marth she gathers a group of her author friends and pays them to play pranks on Martha, and sometimes whoever is with her at the time (mostly Roy), but the pranks are done in order to set Martha and Roy up in order to have them fall in love with one another. This varies from up-skirting Martha in front of Roy to pouring a scent based attraction solution on Martha, causing Roy’s brain to go haywire around her. Thus the third and probably the most important part is discussed, the relationship between Martha and Roy, in which the romance comes in. Before the gender change Marth was Roy’s best friend, and still is the most supporting for Martha in all this time, however as a result of some hidden persuasion they begin to realise they have feelings for one another. This becomes even more frustrating for Martha as she receives letters from her fiancé, Sheeda. That’s the plot but there is a good amount of depth involved in it, particularly in how Pikana’s plans are not all they seem to be.

There is a lot to love about this fanfic as it does have a lot within it. The writing is pretty good on average but excels into the realm of simply marvellous from time to time, the last chapter being the best example of the great writing within. Marth and Roy, considering their situation, are more in character than the majority of super smash bros fanfics. As for the most part they are under either stress or being influenced by the hidden conspirators of the plot, their reactions are different behaviours are to be expected. When characters such as Kirby are taken from their normal structure it is often with good intent, furthermore Kirby provides some of the greatest humour in the entire fanfic.

The fanfic has a wide array of humour, it can be crack and it can be simple, it can be referential or it can be subtle, even intelligent humour is present. Not a single chapter goes without a laugh and that includes the darker, more serious chapters. Though don’t fret, the constant comedy hijinks do not ruin the reputation or mood of the more serious moments, the humour actually transforms itself so it fits in with the current situation, usually making it subtle, ironic or sarcastic. The dark moments themselves are written beautifully, the author being an expert at portraying sinister emotions and how the characters deal with them. Tone is also something done well, there are plenty of them and you can always tell what tone is currently set.

The introductions of the fanfic, Marth’s situation, and the authors are all done briskly, the setting of the plot being done without delay and yet not spoilt by its speed. The ending, though it goes onto a sequel, isn’t a cliff-hanger. You could easily end the fanfic there with only one question looming over your shoulders, a question that if I were to talk of would ruin the entire point of Pikana’s grand scheme. The ending mixes in all the best parts, the gender problem, the comedy, the romance, the psychology and philosophies, the struggle between choosing who to love, and it all written wonderfully. The ending is superb and few fanfics, or even published stories, can match up to it. Compliments must also be made to the childbirth scene, which is a more intense and adrenaline fuelled moment than the majority of action scenes.

Finally I get onto the authors, to which out of all currently completed author fanfics this is definitely the best one. Now fanfics with authors, or self-inserts as they are also known by, aren’t generally well received, and for good reason. The authors tend to be overpowered, steal the focus from the actual characters, and tend to always come out smelling like roses. While here the authors are powerful, without their plot books which give them control over their worlds, they are about the same level of strength as the smash bros. While the authors are vital to the story of this fanfic, being the cause of the events and the reason for the events moving the way it does, they do not steal the spotlight from the smashers who have even more memorable moments. Also, through their squabbles much of the humour between the authors involves them causing immense pain to one another, in the comical sense of course. There characters are made clear but they also develop over time, presenting more and more of themselves as they interact with the characters and become more involved in the sinister plot to which inspired the gender change of Marth (yes, there is some deep sinister plot behind the reasons why changing a man into a woman is needed). Each are individuals and express themselves differently, one of the highlights of the author moments would be in chapter 14, the only chapter that puts the authors at the centre of attention (though a serious moment near the end helps lead the fanfic to its finale). In this chapter the difference in reason for aiding Pikana are revealed, and the idea of doing wrong for the greater good is discussed through the usual comedy and one of the few fight scenes.

I can’t praise this fanfic forever though and so I must now enter the territory of criticism. Tone, though it is something I praise it is also something I must criticise. It varies too much and some readers don’t feel comfortable unless a tone is set for the fanfic, and this one changes when it feels it is needed. For me, I liked how the tone fit the writing, but I must admit that it changes very quick and doesn’t give some readers the time to adjust. A further problem is while some chapters are written fantastically; the writing is not consistent on one level. When the writing is not as impressive it is made obvious by the truly great writing the previous or later chapter, and this tends to be when you notice the faster paced, less described author scenes, to the smash bros set scenes where romance and comedy have to be on the go quite often, and described with detail contently in order to project the romance or emotional struggles.

While the authors have been used better than any other fanfic I do think it would help if their individual views were highlighted more often, particularly when Pikana’s motive for changing Marth’s gender is revealed and the concept of doing wrong for the greater good is raised. This is at least raised in Chapter 14 and makes a return in the final Chapter 17 for the authors.

My final criticism is in part about the sexual humour, and in part about one or two character presentations. I’m not going to complain at the featuring of sexual comedy, it works well considering it’s a gender bender and the author is good at utilising it. I do however complain, mostly in relation to chapter 12 which is the worst offender, of the copious amount of unnecessary sexual referencing. By the end of chapter 12 it had given the idea that nearly all the smashers had some sort sexual craving or fetish, particularly Link and Zelda of which had some of the strangest comments applied too. The presentation of their relationship, as this was one of the pairings in the fanfic, was not the joyous kind that soothes your eyes but more the dark and sexually explicit kind that began to disturb me. As one last comment I also felt chapter 12’s 101 rules were far too long, and quite a few of the rules (which often featured a sexual reference) repeated themselves.

So here you have it, my tenth favourite fanfic of all time. Marth’s Curse Reeditized is a remake of the original Marth’s Curse (also written by Pikana) and it has improved by tremendous leaps and bounds. It is a rare gender bender that gracefully pulls you in, tricking you with simple beginnings and then overloading your brain with deep questions, before rounding it off with a beautiful and somewhat saddening ending. It is the prequel to the upcoming remake of Wrath’s Journey and is a master of relationship exploration and development. Though its varying tones and skill level may frustrate some readers it is generally enjoyable for all and as all my top ten are, a must recommend fanfic. Furthermore it is proof that author based fanfics can work. If I were to create an award just for this shining gem I would dub it with ‘Best Gender Bender’. Congratulations Marth’s Curse Reeditized.

Qucik Word on my Blog and my Fanfiction

First off I give my thanks to J_3_s_5 for commenting and my thanks also to jess.boland for deciding to follow this blog. Certainly a surprise as I didn't expect anyone to even read this blog, let alone comment and follow it.

For those who do not know of Fanfiction, a subject that this blog is pretty much devoted too, fanfiction is writing based on prexisiting works, be it stories or games, or any other form of medium. I am a member of Fanfiction.net, a site that allows me to upload my fanfiction. The community has helped me feel at home and the site is quite welcoming. Anyone who has ever thought, 'I wonder what would happen if this happened?' or 'What would a sequel for this be like? or even 'I really wished those two characters were a couple?' then pop on over and give it a look.

Anyway I'll be uploading my first 'proper' post today and it will the first of my top ten favourite fanfics (I will not be posting any of my own for obvious reasons). Well I better get started on the post if I want to upload by the end of today.