Fanfic genre I don't get: Real World AU's

[Morganite]

Haruna is from The World of Narue. (The manga at least; I have the anime but haven't watched it yet, so it's possible she doesn't appear.) I'm not sure if it's supposed to be something that a lot of ships do, but she and another ship named Bathyscape both have human forms. (Bathyscape also turned part of herself into a house, if I remember correctly.)
It's kind of hard to explain Haruna's situation without being pretty spoilery, but I'll seize upon any excuse to mention the part where she poses dramtically with a ladle. '.'
(The other example, in case anyone wondered, is Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl's Jan-Puu. Who my understanding is got the body as a sort of remote after they learned how to do it in the process of reconstructing Hazumu. Unlike her, the ships in World of Narue seem to be able make the rest of the ship disappear when not needed, and bring it out with no notice if needed.)
-Morgan, really wants more World of Narue manga..."I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, or espers here, come sleep with me."
---From "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
-----(Not really)

[Necratoid]

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Yes, the anatomical part of it, sex, can influence this heavily, but is not required.

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DKnight54, I said this in a previous post. Sex (the anatomical part) is an influencing factor... but if nothing changes about a charicter, but their sex it won't change their gender. The other changes that come with the sex change will have influence though.
If the charicter is born the opposite sex and raised as that sex its different, that if the charicter gets switched at some point and still remembers the being the opposite sex. Things may change over time. The sex and gender changes are different, but related.
Dor instance the term 'Sundance' was a ritual performed by some American Indian plains tribes. The ritual was a manhood cerimony where they set up a tall pole. They then tied leather straps/rope/twine to the top of a pole. THe other end was tied to a strong stick that was put through the candidates chest (through/under the muscle) and the leather tied to both ends of the stick. They then wet the leather straps so they with shrink in the sun, eventually pulling the candidates off their feet. It starts at sun up and end at sun down. And your arms/hands are tied up so you can't use them.
The goal is to jump up and down until the straps/stick break and the candidate manages to pull themselves free. If your unable to break free but still trying that counts too. So your not doomed if they use overly good materials. Those who don't give up or bow out get to be considered the men/warriars of the tribe, sex reguardless.
They have 4 major genders in this society (social roles are major part of offical genders). Male: hunter, fighter, husband. Female: gatherer, resource processor, child raiser, wife. Their are also two other major genders. The Warrior femalesL take wifes, hunt, kill (Want kids tip off your sex male buddies to the 'job' oppening of sperm donar). And the male wives who do all the jobs of the sex female wives... and are the wife that doesn't get pregnant. No stigma is attached to any of these roles and all are equally valuable.
I may have not made this clear, but social roles are major parts of a society's recognized genders. Modern western societies don't offically sanction more than two offical major roles. Though they have many, sometimes loud secondary genders and several subgenders that don't follow the two main genders perfectly.

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But in an AU where Tenchi was born a girl? the social requirements alone would ensure that she would then be alot more feminine, and possibly not take up kendo.

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The Kendo requirement is not actually Tenchi's choice... its Yosho's choice. He blatently taught Tenchi's mom in at least one of the canons. It a family tradition/honor thing.
If the charicter is just a female Tenchi only certain traits can be altered, or its not Tenchi. You can change things a around and still have the same basic charicter. However this is alternate universes and not a gender change in the same charicter.
Sex and gender are only two parts of a charicter or personallity. If the person is evil or good. Violent or calm. Happy or sad. Are influences in the charicter, but not going to automatically change the gender of the person. Sex changing or altering the gender of the charicter are only applicable if you do it to a charicter that was a different one of either earilier. If your just skipping to a universe where Ranma or Tenchi or the like are born a different sex or have a life long different gender it is not the same thing.

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What's important to me in this sort of thing is that a character also retains the critical elements of their personality - things that make them recognizable.

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I agree completely here, as I've said in the past of this thread. There comes a point where I'm not longer reading about the charicter the writer told me I was.
I thnk that Canal from Lost Universe fits the 'Battleship turned girl' genre. She should be used more often... even if its only her confused a random series on vacation.

[Florin]

Zone of the Enders: Doleres, i. In which an Orbital Frame believes that she's a cute little girl.--
"An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo."
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[Bob Schroeck]

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Zone of the Enders: Doleres, i. In which an Orbital Frame believes that she's a cute little girl.

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From Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein, Lazarus Long's starship Dora, whose AI switches back and forth between professional woman and 12-year-old girl.
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Bob Schroeck]

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But in an AU where Tenchi was born a girl? the social requirements alone would ensure that she would then be alot more feminine, and possibly not take up kendo.

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Don't be so sure. Check out Keener's Bishonen Muyo: Ken-Ohki!

-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Acyl]

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See gender is a purely mental construct. Yes, the anatomical part of it, sex, can influence this heavily, but is not required. These are two separate, but related, things that got thesaurused into one word with two spellings.

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I'm not entirely sure about that, really. I was under the impression that the division between sex (biology, anatomy) and gender (mental, identity, etc) was more of a contemporary 20th century sociology thingy. Starting mainly with Simone de Beauvoir and her 1949 work, "The Second Sex". She was one of the first to make an issue about it, anyway. But even she didn't use the terms - I think that's a modern thing.
I think most people grok the actual idea, though - that there's a separation between gender identity and the biological form the mind's housed in. At least, these days, we're more open to different sexualities and so on.
The notion's also sunk far enough into the mainstream that we can find, hell, pretty decent discussions of the topic in Ranma fanfic. It's not like all authors are ignorant of the implications. =)
Regardless, though...
I believe the Cosmic Pervert-Force is bigger than sex or gender.
Fanboys write horrible lemons, fangirls write horrible yaoi (lemon or otherwise), both sides have porn.
A while back, I was in a comic store with a couple of friends. One was a self-confessed fangirl, one was this normal dude completely ignorant about the whole anime subculture. So fangirl starts squeeing over this manga volume, professing her undying love for the protagonist - and describing what she wants to do to him in, ah, extremely graphic language.
Normal dude stares.
Him: "That's just...that's just wrong."
Me: "Hm?"
Him: "I'm glad guys don't go crazy like that. You don't see guys masterbating to cartoon characters."
Me: "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA---" (collapses on floor)
Him: "What? WHAT? You mean..."
Me: "You have NO IDEA."
-- Acyl

[ordnance11]

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From Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein, Lazarus Long's starship Dora, whose AI switches back and forth between professional woman and 12-year-old girl.

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How about Andromeda? An intergalactic warship whose AI pesona is that of one hot babe.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Bob Schroeck]

Would you believe I've never seen Andromeda?
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Epsilon]

The AI in Adromeda turns out to not just be one hot girl, but TWO!
(The scene where the geek engineer designs the Andromeda AIs android body is... amusing)
----------------
Epsilon

[classicdrogn]

My mouth... er, money, I mean... is on Lipumira from Maps when it comes to starship hotties, or possibly her sister-ship from the first episode who got trapped in the core when the Earth was reassembled. If for no other reason than because I'd love going a few worlds over to Tokyo-3 and buzzing them a giant cristian-style angelic space ship, maybe making a strafing run on whatever kaiju-type angel was handy.
- CD The evil giant watermelon aliens in that are fun, too
Sarcasm-hime's Lipumira cosplay page.SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Morganite]

(Wow, this is quite a topic diversion I've started. I'M PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF THIS. '.' )
I was mostly just thinking of ships that actually have physical bodies, not just projections or holograms. (I *believe* that leaves out Canal, not really sure about any of the others...)
The thing that's interesting about the ships in World of Narue is that it seems to be a normal capability of the ships, not anything unusual.
-Morgan."I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, or espers here, come sleep with me."
---From "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
-----(Not really)

[Bob Schroeck]

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I was mostly just thinking of ships that actually have physical bodies, not just projections or holograms.

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Minerva in Ed Becerra's later Legion's Quest stories...
...and several of the AIs in Time Enough For Love "retire" and move into meat bodies. But I suspect that's not what you mean.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[ordnance11]

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I was mostly just thinking of ships that actually have physical bodies, not just projections or holograms. (I *believe* that leaves out Canal, not really sure about any of the others...)
The thing that's interesting about the ships in World of Narue is that it seems to be a normal capability of the ships, not anything unusual.

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If that be the case, Andromeda would definitely qualify. She does have a humanoid body...but the crew calls her "Rani" in htis manifestation..her avatar.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

Rani? I thought it was "Rommie."
--Sam
"Sidekicks don't kiss!"

[ordnance11]

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Rani? I thought it was "Rommie."

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*checks the Official Website*
Huh, you're right.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Necratoid]

Andromeda -is a super carrier with manufacturing capabilities... Not a battleship. The guns are extra, but she is more capital ship carrier. So no, she wouldn't count. Also I think she is past the cute stage and that descripter seems aimed at a different ody/personallity type.
I felt Canal counted as the topic was gender and mind more recently.. but if your talking mechanical cber meat body that a different issue.

[Foxboy]

Re-hashing Horror movies:
Y'know, lifting the plot and baddie in toto and inflicting them on "beloved" characters.
Like many people ask of Horror writers, how messed-up are these folks? Putting the Ranma 1/2 cast through Saw or Se7en seems a little, I dunno, off? And leaving the dialogue from the movie mostly the same?
I mean, a Horror story with more original elements I can see. Like a "Twilight Zone" -ish loss of persona or humanity for the Jusenkyou victims, or a gradual Lovecraftian reveal of how alien goddesses really are in Aa! Megami-sama!
Again this is just "recasting." Many characters in anime are well-suited to the genre they are originally from, but their roles in Horror are way different.
80's horror movie version of Naruto: Either Sasuke or Naruto would be the "slasher" of the piece. Either Sakura or Ino would be the survivor, but my money is on Ino because she's blonde. Everyone else dies messy deaths, especially if they break all the rules from Scream....
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Florin]

I just had a very strange vision, in which the typical movie slasher is running in fear, trying to get AWAY from Team 7 before they kill him.--
"An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo."
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[Morganite]

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...and several of the AIs in Time Enough For Love "retire" and move into meat bodies. But I suspect that's not what you mean.

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Well, that depends on what I meant, or for that matter if I had a point in the first place...
When I made the earlier post, I was thinking of the whole "Let's draw gundams/transformers/etc as cute girls" thing. But in the later post, I was thinking of "spaceship that also has a physical body".
I'm still not sure I have a point though. '.'

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I just had a very strange vision, in which the typical movie slasher is running in fear, trying to get AWAY from Team 7 before they kill him.

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Oh my yes.

[deadpan29]

I consider the horror recasting fic to be a subset of another genre I don't get. Recasting any movie, play, or story with characters from another story and then railroading those characters into the same actions and dialog as the original cast. What's the point of writing a story that already exists, just with characters that look different? Especially in a written form of media instead of a visual one?
I can see doing this with humor and with allowing the characters to be themselves in this different setting, doing and saying different things. It's the ramming of the characters into actions and thought processes that don't make sense from them that becomes aggravating in short order.
The horror examples are especially egregious instances of this because a horror story usually involves characters who are essentially helpless against the evil they face. If you take a character who is far from helpless and make them act helpless, then the fact you are doing so becomes blatantly obvious.
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No, I don't believe the world has gone mad.  In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.