After reading too much DBZ fanfiction...

[parron]

...I need to do some quick ranting.

It's not because of the blatant OOCness -- I know that Marron isn't a slut, and that Vegeta isn't a Tragic Hero, and that Yamucha is not a Baby Eating Idiot, but idiot fangirls will be idiot fangirls.

It's not because of the sheer ignorance of the canon -- Yes, Goku shouldn't be in the picture after DBGT, Vegeta and Bulma did not produce Trunks out of Tru Wuv, and Gohan wasn't beaten by his mother as a kid, but I know better and can ignore those idiots too.

It's not even because of the crap plots -- I don't care if Goten and Bra have Tru Wuv for eachother but Vegeta won't let them sleep together, thank you very much. I also couldn't care less about Gohan being evil, deep down. It was only good the first time, and even then to call it good is a stretch.

No, my rant today is about the DBZ world.

Honestly, if I see *one* more story where Pan goes to college in California, or where Tokyo is supposably the location of Capsule Corp., or where Oolong and Roshi have an intrest in watching "The Man Show" and Bulma appears on "60 minutes," I'm going to scream.

Sure, both our planet and theirs are called "Earth," and sure some of the land features look simaler... but it's not the same planet! It seems like such a minor point, and I probably should be ranting about *why* Goten and Bra stories make me want to puke, but right now it is annoying me to no end.

Goten is not going to listen to Linken Park on the radio, Trunks will not have a Mercedes, Goku doesn't shop at the Gap *or* Old Navy, and I'm pretty sure that Bulma's jewlry doesn't come from Tiffany and Co.

Satan City is not the "biggest city in Japan outside of Tokyo," and believe it when I say that West City isn't, either. As nice as France is, Gohan and Videl did not go there for their honeymoon, and Bulma didn't graduate from Oxford.

The year is not 2004 when DBGT took place, in fact you're over a thousand years off on the high side. The Son family is not Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant, and I don't want to see Goku in a confessional booth or Pan having a Bat Mitzvah -- *ever.*

Let's not forget the technology. I highly doubt that Apple computers OR Microsoft exist in that world, and I'll raise an eyebrow if I see Trunks using one. Bulma has no need for a Lexus, firstly because of Capsule Corp. and second because that company doesn't exist, either.

Honestly... is "Parallel World" such a difficult thing to understand?


(Sorry for the rant, but I don't know where else to put this and I'm QUITE frustrated, thankyouverymuch. >.< Thanks for your time... I guess.)

[SaiyaJedi]

Let's not forget the technology. I highly doubt that Apple computers OR Microsoft exist in that world, and I'll raise an eyebrow if I see Trunks using one.

Akira Toriyama, however, uses a Macintosh. That should certainly count for something (at least it should in my eyes, since I'm a Mac-head myself). I agree that it still shouldn't show up in fanfiction, though.

This reminds me of something... how about we go through the series and point out all of the actual, real-world references that occur in the series and movies? You know... things like Roshi's "Best in Japan!" line from DBZ movie 8, the "Super Mario Bros." game on Brief's desk when Goku first goes to Capsule Corp. HQ, Satan's "Game Poy," and various references to the series itself and / or its creator and staff members.

Thoughts?

[parron]

I'm a Mac-head too, that's why I listed it before Windows...

In any case, I've noticed (although I'm no-where near the guru levels of some of ya'll here) that a lot of these references are in humor scenes... and so might be for humor purposes. Besides, as long as it wasn't a "Gameboy" I think my point still stands. I don't mind a few minor things, like the game and what-not, but you'd be surprised at how many people can't grasp the "OMG DBZ World isn't in Japan!!!" thing.

[Neon Z]

Hum... If I remember correctly, one of Gohan's teachers, from the filler Sayaman arc, talked about Chinese history...

[omae no kaasan]

Maybe just my opinion. But reading fan-fics, just in general, is somewhat equivalent to tearing off one`s penis over the course of an hour, then being forced to watch as two women devour it and vomit it on your face. Then choking to death on your own penis vomit.

But maybe that`s just me.

[Jerseymilk]

You have quite a vivid imagination omae. ^_^

[Zackarotto]

Woo! Mac-heads!

That's pretty bad torture, Omae. Now, make it 72 hours worth of that in an Itachi illusion, where it can happen several times over the course of one second, and that's roughly how bad it is for me. God, I love Naruto.

I remember hearing that we got to see a map of Earth during Dragonball, and it looked like some early stage of our Earth where everything was closer together. I thought that was pretty cool.

[Dayspring]

Maybe just my opinion. But reading fan-fics, just in general, is somewhat equivalent to tearing off one`s penis over the course of an hour, then being forced to watch as two women devour it and vomit it on your face. Then choking to death on your own penis vomit.

But maybe that`s just me.

**Shakes back and forth** Dirty...

[The S]

Ugh... I'm surrounded by Mac-obsessers...

But I'm not going into that. This isn't a Mac Vs. PC topic, and I personally hate those topics anyway, because the arguments basically go around in circles...

Anyway, I rarely read fanfiction because much of it is utter bullshit. Hell, my unfinished fanfic from 1998 is better that half of the crap out there. The only fanfic writings I've read that are actually good are the ones at http://idcs.dyndns.org/namekpride/.

[TripleRach]

Trunks will not have a Mercedes,

Pilaf had one.

[Deus ex Machina]

I feel your pain Parron, but I think you're looking at it the wrong way. By definition, fan-fics are just that, fiction based on the series. Their can be no "right" or "wrong" fiction, only entertaining or not.

That's part of the appeal of writing a fic anyways; is Trunks the 6th member of Backstreet Boys? Does Goku eat obsessively because of an emotional disorder? Is Bulma really a slut? In the world of fiction, anything goes. And if that means that Goku lives in the forests of Edo Japan, or Mr. Satan was really born in Texas USA, well then that's just a part of written fandom you're just going to have to accept.

[Mochi]

I feel your pain Parron, but I think you're looking at it the wrong way. By definition, fan-fics are just that, fiction based on the series. Their can be no "right" or "wrong" fiction, only entertaining or not.

That's part of the appeal of writing a fic anyways; is Trunks the 6th member of Backstreet Boys? Does Goku eat obsessively because of an emotional disorder? Is Bulma really a slut? In the world of fiction, anything goes. And if that means that Goku lives in the forests of Edo Japan, or Mr. Satan was really born in Texas USA, well then that's just a part of written fandom you're just going to have to accept.

I agree. ^__^ That's why it's called fanfiction. I don't read them, but I've written stupid and cute ones out of boredom.

[Jerseymilk]

I think Deus has a point. I mean if you're expecting to get DBZ fanfiction that's canon, then either look specifically for those types or don't read fanfiction. I don't read much fanfiction myself because it's never really interested me. From the little I've seen though, fans usually take liberties with a character and/or series. I think it's just part of fanfiction as a whole.

[Alias]

Hey! Some of us adore fanfiction!

If not for fanworks, I probably wouldn't still be wandering around DBZ sites. I love fanart and fanfiction, they're about the only thing that truly holds my interest after seeing the complete series. Sure, video games and new figures may be fun, but those aren't enough on their own. When I was waiting for Harry Potter and the OotP, the only thing that kept me patient was the fanworks. Many of which were better than the actual book turned out to be (very depressing!).

As for references to the real Earth... In the manga, there's comments about Godzilla at one point, and Bulma has Jump Comics volumes on the way to Namek.

omae: Ew.

[parron]

Maybe I am taking fanfiction too seriously, but I've been reading fanfic for three + years now, just as long as I've been in the DBZ fandom. I probably, like Alias, wouldn't be here today if not for fanfiction. The thing is, it's going to seed on ff.net... about a year ago it seemed that everyone was writing well, and now... pfft.

In any case, let me just give a mini-rant: "It's just Fanfiction!" is the one line I hate more then any other. It's not just fanfiction. I did not spend three years learning to write good stories for no reason. Just because it's a hobby doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want with it... sure, liberties may be taken, and AUs are fine, but you are not writing Original Fiction starring characters that happen to look like and have the same names as people from a show/book/whatever. The whole point of it being fanfiction is that it still remains true to the spirit of the Dragonball (or Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, whatever) world.

I've read too many stories where there's no such thing as a "Saiyan," and Vegeta is just a normal human. Piccolo and Dende don't exisist, and niether do the Dragonballs. Is this a Dragonball story? No, and I wish it would stop pretending too be... I don't care *how* much like Trunks the main character acts, because it simply isn't fanfiction.

When I read fanfiction, I'm not looking for plots (too much) or staying completely true to the canon (within reason). I'm looking for a story about the characters of the Dragonball series IN the Dragonball world, not for a story where can change Vegeta for "Joe" and Bulma for "Beverly" and still have a logical story.

>.< So there.

[Jerseymilk]

Just because it's a hobby doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want with it... sure, liberties may be taken, and AUs are fine, but you are not writing Original Fiction starring characters that happen to look like and have the same names as people from a show/book/whatever. The whole point of it being fanfiction is that it still remains true to the spirit of the Dragonball (or Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, whatever) world.

If that's the requirements for writing fan fiction, then there are ton of people out there that don't know how to do it.

[Xyex]

Following close to the Dragonball World is a good way to go, but it's not needed. You can make your story as different from the normal as you want. Most people do get tired of seeing DB/Z re-hashed in Fanfic style and like to drop them into something tottally different. i.e. A recent Fanfic undertaking I've heard about, the DBZ universe and the Naruto universe are getting 'flipped' around. (In other words, what would Naruto had been like if the Z Warriors were the stars and what would DB/Z have been like if the Naruto characters were the stars.) It sounds intresting to say the least, but it's still in early 'production.' And if I know the group of authors planning this as well as I think I do one of two things will happen. 1) It will never be started/released/seen by the public. 2) It'll blow everything else out of the water and put the orignal Series' to shame.

[Jerseymilk]

You either have a lot of confidnce in them or none at all.

[parron]

I'm going to disagree with you on the "nice but not needed" vein... when I read Dragonball fanfiction, I don't want to be reading a Sailor Moon story instead. When I read Slayers fanfiction, I certainly don't want to be reading X/1999. Maybe the story will be good, or great. I don't know. But if it's just Naruto all over again with different character names and appearances, then it's not a DBZ story... it's a bad copy of Naruto.

That doesn't make much sense, but I don't know how else to put it...

[Jerseymilk]

I understand what you mean. As I said before, I guess you just have to try and find ones that stay true to DBZ canon. It's the only thing I can see to do.