Fanfiction.net: the good bits

[Vehrec]

You are free to explicate fanfics as you wish. I still say say that you are both seeing things that aren't there and being rather pathetic. Let's face it, you don't get much more pathetic that doing Fanfic Exegesis/Eisengesis.

Way to duck out. Mearly restate your posistion without backing it up?

I mean, I go through all the trouble of writing that up and this is the thanks I get! And I think I addressed your OTHER points well enough to get a response to.

I'm so underappreciated!

Given that Neither of us is Tenhawk or is privy to what;s in his head, what kind of "back-up" am is supposed to find?

My position is that it is fallacious to try and pull meanings out of a text where none have been hidden in the first place, so literary citatioon is rather out, isn't it?

Shouldn't you learn how to spell citation before you tell people to stop doing it? And in any event, I happen to agree with Majin more than you. I could feel that it wasn't very good from reading just one tiny little side stroy. What about all the other bad stuff I must have missed?

[Majin Gojira]

Given that Neither of us is Tenhawk or is privy to what;s in his head, what kind of "back-up" am is supposed to find?

Conscious decisions of the author are not required for dramatic analysis to occur. All that's required is a viewer. It's how legitimate reviewers work. Hell, by your logic, all art analysis is out the window!

My position is that it is fallacious to try and pull meanings out of a text where none have been hidden in the first place, so literary citatioon is rather out, isn't it?

ARGH! The grammar! IT BURNS! Ya know it's bad when I can spot it.

It does not matter whether the author intended a meaning to be drawn out of a story. Only how strongly it can be supported by the analysis of the production.

[Satori]

Given that Neither of us is Tenhawk or is privy to what;s in his head, what kind of "back-up" am is supposed to find?

Conscious decisions of the author are not required for dramatic analysis to occur. All that's required is a viewer. It's how legitimate reviewers work. Hell, by your logic, all art analysis is out the window!

My position is that it is fallacious to try and pull meanings out of a text where none have been hidden in the first place, so literary citatioon is rather out, isn't it?

ARGH! The grammar! IT BURNS! Ya know it's bad when I can spot it.

It does not matter whether the author intended a meaning to be drawn out of a story. Only how strongly it can be supported by the analysis of the production.

I disagree. If an author did not intend for a story to convey a certain message, claiming it does is nothing more than twisting someone else's words to your own purposes. I suppose you'll make a wonderful politician someday. Fanfics may be written to convey a point, or they may not be. In this case, I'd say the fanfic is written for enjoyment of the writer and readers. It certainly is not intended to conveny any misogyny... Plenty of guys stand back and gawk at Xander-Sue too, I might note, which kills a good chunk of you so called evidence. You've made nebulous claims about supposed misogyny, backed by examples of incidents easily explained by a variety of different things. You have nowhere near a compelling case for anything.

By the way, have you still got that MST you mentioned earlier?

[Majin Gojira]

I'm getting the strong feeling that this discussion should be split from the rest of the thread.

I disagree.

You've obviously never studied art.

If an author did not intend for a story to convey a certain message, claiming it does is nothing more than twisting someone else's words to your own purposes.

Ever hear the phrase "The medium is the message"? Where on earth do you think that comes from? There's over 40,000 years of Art History, all of which has been analyzed. That's half the renesance you're throwing out the window.

To expand your theory: Dante's inferno loses its alegorical nature and Da Vinci might as well have white-washed walls for a living if your assertion holds true.

Art can be analyzed. There's an entire methodology to it. You've obviosuly enver studied the subject in your life so stop making an ass out of yourself with your baseless, uneducated claims!

I suppose you'll make a wonderful politician someday. Fanfics may be written to convey a point, or they may not be. In this case, I'd say the fanfic is written for enjoyment of the writer and readers.

Ever actually stop and think what makes a story enjoyable? Ever study it?

I have.

I hated most of it, but got something useful out of it.

I can tell you structure, thematics, and other elements that make stories enjoyable to readers. We start in a status quo, until the initial trigger is reached. Triggers in a story lead to heaps, which set up new triggers, until the final heap is reached.

Most of my knowledge pertains to film and television, but is still usefull for other feilds on generic terms.

It certainly is not intended to conveny any misogyny...

So your grand rebuttle is "No it isn't!"? That's fuckin' rich. Your own arguments prevent you from even attempting to back up your points, so your really up shit creek without a paddle.

And didn't I already say that INTENT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER? So stop claiming "The author didn't intend" or "You can't know author's intent" when I've already dismissed it!

If you claim that you can't prove authors intent or even dramatically analyze a peice, claiming that I'm doing it wrong is fucking hypocritical.

Plenty of guys stand back and gawk at Xander-Sue too, I might note, which kills a good chunk of you so called evidence. You've made nebulous claims about supposed misogyny, backed by examples of incidents easily explained by a variety of different things.

How can a claim be nebulous if you admit that I back it up with examples? Isn't supporting with specific sitation the exact OPPOSITE of Nebulous?

So there is only one way to interpret the evidence now? You've REALLY never studied dramatic analysis!

You have nowhere near a compelling case for anything.

Your own claims prevent my case from being heard by you, so your own analysis of the value of my analysis is worth exactly bupkis.

By the way, have you still got that MST you mentioned earlier?

Yes I do.

I think I may post it here. Eventually, though it's not your typical MST. It's a PPC fic (Protectors of the Plot Continuum). The premis being that the MSTers go from fic to fic and cite the horrendousness before destroying the infecting sue or world.

[Satori]

Ever hear the phrase "The medium is the message"? Where on earth do you think that comes from? There's over 40,000 years of Art History, all of which has been analyzed. That's half the renesance you're throwing out the window.

To expand your theory: Dante's inferno loses its alegorical nature and Da Vinci might as well have white-washed walls for a living if your assertion holds true.

Art can be analyzed. There's an entire methodology to it. You've obviosuly enver studied the subject in your life so stop making an ass out of yourself with your baseless, uneducated claims!

Yay for strawmen! I love analyzing literature, actually. It's great fun if you have something worth analyzing... Hint: NOT FANFICTION.

Dante INTENDED The Divine Comedy to conveny, metahphorically, a whole slew of subtexts and implications. Tenhawk, as far as i can see, just wants to write Badass Xandersue.

Your English Teacher would fail you for turning in a paper that attributes a whole bunch of Subtexts and hidden meanings in a Text wehere the Author isn't trying to convey some pithy profound point. There's a reason why Literature classes use Mark Twain and Charles Dickens instead of Ann M. Martin or K. A. Applegate. Because Applegate and Martin don't have any great literary techniques or hidden metaphors for you to explicate. If you turned in a Paper entiteld "Misogyny in Animorphs", your teacher would not be happy.

It certainly is not intended to conveny any misogyny...

So your grand rebuttle is "No it isn't!"? That's fuckin' rich. Your own arguments prevent you from even attempting to back up your points, so your really up shit creek without a paddle.

And didn't I already say that INTENT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER? So stop claiming "The author didn't intend" or "You can't know author's intent" when I've already dismissed it!

PROVE IT. Why doesn't intent matter? Intent damn well MATTERS, as far as I can see. Take this example: If Passage X in the Qua'ran is intended to be a metaphorical illustration of Doctrine Y, but Sect A takes it literally and commits hate crimes because of that, we HAVE A PROBLEM.

Saying that X author wrote Y piece of Literature as argument for Gun control, when in fact X is in favor of Gun ownership and wrote Y to convey the importance of having firends to help wityh one's grief, is BS, if not an outright lie.

Getting my point here?

How can a claim be nebulous if you admit that I back it up with examples? Isn't supporting with specific sitation the exact OPPOSITE of Nebulous?

The Moon is made of green cheese! It has all these pock marks and rents just like my favorite brand of cheese so it must be! It's not like the moon's irregular surface could have been cause by Meteor Impacts or anything!

"Evidence" doesn;t prove yoru point unless you have enough of it, and it is consistent. I can show you scars on my hand as evidence that am in fact TEH JESUS and was crucified, but would that demonstrate anything?

So there is only one way to interpret the evidence now? You've REALLY never studied dramatic analysis!

That's precisely the point. The "evidence" you put out doesn't conclusively show Misogyny, given the wide variety off reasons tenhawk may have chosen to write that way.

I think the basic disagreement boils down to you thinking you can interpet Literature any way you like, while i feel that interpetations too far from the intend of the author are invalid.

You are, of course, free to continue explicating all you like. I still call it BS.

I think I may post it here. Eventually, though it's not your typical MST. It's a PPC fic (Protectors of the Plot Continuum). The premis being that the MSTers go from fic to fic and cite the horrendousness before destroying the infecting sue or world.

Please do. I'm interested to see how many continuity errors you found.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Erm, I have autism spectrum and mild dyslexia, and I can punctuat, and use Grammer better then that. ANd if I am writting fic, part of my problem is I know my work has to be heavily edditted.

[Vehrec]

Your English Teacher would fail you for turning in a paper that attributes a whole bunch of Subtexts and hidden meanings in a Text wehere the Author isn't trying to convey some pithy profound point. There's a reason why Literature classes use Mark Twain and Charles Dickens instead of Ann M. Martin or K. A. Applegate. Because Applegate and Martin don't have any great literary techniques or hidden metaphors for you to explicate. If you turned in a Paper entiteld "Misogyny in Animorphs", your teacher would not be happy.

Well, your teacher might not be happy, but if you can back up your assertions. . . Should we not even look twice at the use of the word Nigger in Huck Fin because Mark Twain didn't intend his book to be a time capsule of period culture and racism? By your arguements, all unintentional subtext is inadmissible simply because the author wasn't actively trying to convey a message. To me, that sounds like a lot of bull. It might be more reveiling about the author than his/her message, but maybe that's more important in fanfiction. If the author has Misogyny on his mind, and is writing for Buffy, I personally wouldn't read it, simply because of the clash of original and newer vissions.
Does that make sense?

[Majin Gojira]

Yay for strawmen! I love analyzing literature, actually. It's great fun if you have something worth analyzing... Hint: NOT FANFICTION.

Because why? What differentiates fanfiction from other written work?

I'll tell you: Nothing!

Dante INTENDED The Divine Comedy to conveny,

But you've stated we can't know author's intent. Way to shoot yourself in the foot!

metahphorically, a whole slew of subtexts and implications. Tenhawk, as far as i can see, just wants to write Badass Xandersue.

Doubleshot Contradiction!

Concession Accepted. You just made a claim about the text of Fanfiction! You're one of us now.

One of Us. One of Us. etc.

Your English Teacher would fail you for turning in a paper that attributes a whole bunch of Subtexts and hidden meanings in a Text wehere the Author isn't trying to convey some pithy profound point.

I once wrote a paper on how A Nightmare on Elmstreet preyed upon the lingering fears and trauma of the Vietnam War.

Did you repeatedly fail english (well, given how you type), or did you just not have teachers tell you that "As long as you can back up your assertions with the text itself, you're argument can be supported?"

There's a reason why Literature classes use Mark Twain and Charles Dickens instead of Ann M. Martin or K. A. Applegate. Because Applegate and Martin don't have any great literary techniques or hidden metaphors for you to explicate. If you turned in a Paper entiteld "Misogyny in Animorphs", your teacher would not be happy.

I can hear my high-school English 2 teacher say it: "Acutally, I think that would be an interesting paper to try and prove. I don't think it would work, but if you want to try then go ahead."

He was also a crazy liberal who let us watch "The Simpsons" for parrallelism to the current work we were reading.

The reason why those texts are chosen is not only because of their artistic meric, but because of their cultural impact, by the way. Literature reflects and, at it's best, influences culture.

Vehrec covered the next point I was going to make, so I won't repeat it.

PROVE IT. Why doesn't intent matter? Intent damn well MATTERS, as far as I can see.

Because, believe it or not, you can't know it. You can only infer it. Aurguing that "This is what the author means" can never be that strong an arugment. When writing an argumentative esay for literature, you use one thing and one thing only: the text. The text is what matters -- the actual content produced. That is what is there and that is what can be analyzed.

Have you ever actually taken a creative writing class? If you have, they will tell you that people will bring their own experiences and histories to any work their reading and will interpret it differently.

When essays or reviews are written about it, they use the text to support their interpretation of the peice, which may be wholy different from what the author intends.

The Moon is made of green cheese! It has all these pock marks and rents just like my favorite brand of cheese so it must be! It's not like the moon's irregular surface could have been cause by Meteor Impacts or anything!

And you say I use strawmen! HA!

"Evidence" doesn;t prove yoru point unless you have enough of it, and it is consistent. I can show you scars on my hand as evidence that am in fact TEH JESUS and was crucified, but would that demonstrate anything?

So you think the evidence is insufficient? That's exactly how I WANT you to argue. You're using my methodology even while you are decrying it.

Can you be any more hypocritical?

That's precisely the point. The "evidence" you put out doesn't conclusively show Misogyny, given the wide variety off reasons tenhawk may have chosen to write that way.

Okay then, how do YOU interpret the belittling of women through inaction and 'lessening' of their prowesses in order to support and elevate a male character?

I think the basic disagreement boils down to you thinking you can interpet Literature any way you like, while i feel that interpetations too far from the intend of the author are invalid.

You're claiming author's intent when we both apparentlyt agree that you can't know it?

You really are a mass of contradictions.

You are, of course, free to continue explicating all you like. I still call it BS.

Without stating why or suplementing a better interpretation. That's crap skeptisism. "You're wrong because I say so" is no better than "I'm right because I say so".

Please do. I'm interested to see how many continuity errors you found.

We nuke the story shortly after Elan appears, but we STILL manage to find a bunch.

We also rip into Tenhawk repeatedly for putting line breaks in the middle of the SAME FUCKING SCENE.

[Satori]

Rakeesh deosn't get enough reviews.

His Dreams, Not Dreams , which is just about the best KOTOR fic i've seen, has a piddly 9 reviews.

[Sean Mulligan]

Shadows of the Future, A time travel fic where Obiwan goes back from Mustafar to Episode One and he tries to stop Anakin from turning to the dark side. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3054756/1/ It is also on Forcenet.

[Sean Mulligan]

A young girl travels to the Star Wars Universe using virtual reality. A very graphic version of Episode One. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3264456/1/

[Sean Mulligan]

A higlander/Harry Potter Crossover where Methos is Salazar Slytherin.
When Past and Present Collide.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1892595/1/

Harry Defeats Voldemort but decides that he should go back in time and kill Riddle as an infant. He ends up adopting Riddle instead.

Altered Destinies

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3155057/1/

Cordelia makes a different wish and changes the Buffyverse drastically

The Price of Wish

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/94924/1/

A believable Gaston/Belle pairing

Picture This a Beauty and the Beast fanfic

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2831327/1/

A Xmen/Gattaca crossover

Night http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1691570/1/

Amos Diggory reflects on his son. The Best Thing I ever did.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2857242/1/

The Path of Glittering Darkness. The story of Snapes childhood.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1626507/1/

The Martian Manhunter Veronica Mars is trapped in the Buffyverse.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3417335/1/

[dragon]

ok don't know if its been posted yet. But Complled to play by Hotpoint is pretty good. Illyria doesn't like the way things go so she goes back in time to cahnge stuff. Ends becoming friends with buffy and falling for weasley.
Compelled to play agin is the first part.
link

‘

Do you wish the two of them rendered unconscious?’ Illyria asked Buffy seriously.

Buffy weighed up the offer. ‘If they don’t stop squabbling right now yes’ she replied.

Spike and Angel together looked at Buffy and then at Illyria who was now wearing her patented “I’m going to get to hurt something” smile. They both immediately went silent and tried to look inoffensive which resulted in Illyria pouting instead.

[Academia Nut]

That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange æons even death may die

Apologies if bringing this old thread back annoys the mods, but its significantly more useful to just post here than make a new one as it cuts down somewhat on reposting the same stories again (although Elsewhere and Elsewhen has been posted three times already in this thread despite being on the first page where most people would look first).

Anyway, thanks to a certain writer on this board, I now have a NGE bug in my system, which has been exacerbated by the following story:

Shinji and Warhammer 40k

While the subsequent chapters have something of a drop in quality, probably due to the fact that the author is posting at an absurd rate, that is somewhat like saying the story is half as good because it went from 16/10 to an 8/10 because the first chapter (technically a 62 page prologue) is good enough to read alone. Things do seem to be picking up a bit again though, although how the author treats the Asuka-Shinji dynamic will probably make or break the story.

As an indication of how mind bogglingly, ridiculously Awesome this story is, Rei eventually goes on a one-clone vigilante "WAAAAUGH!"

Yeah, if that doesn't terrify and intrigue you, nothing will.

[phongn]

That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange æons even death may die

Anyway, thanks to a certain writer on this board, I now have a NGE bug in my system

I hope you've read COAEG.

[Academia Nut]

Twice, and you have now posted that fic for the second time in this thread (three if you count the other, shorter lived thread that you can create an infinitely recursive loop with due to both linking each other).

Maybe now that CthulhuTech is out there will be sufficient interest for the authors to finish the last fucking two-to-three chapters!

*foams at mouth over that little frustration*

[phongn]

Twice, and you have now posted that fic for the second time in this thread (three if you count the other, shorter lived thread that you can create an infinitely recursive loop with due to both linking each other).

Yes, and I'll continue posting it!

Maybe now that CthulhuTech is out there will be sufficient interest for the authors to finish the last fucking two-to-three chapters!

*foams at mouth over that little frustration*

* snort *

John Biles takes forever to finish anything. He took eleven years to finish Sailor Moon Z, and then by cutting out a planned chapter!

[Academia Nut]

John Biles takes forever to finish anything. He took eleven years to finish Sailor Moon Z, and then by cutting out a planned chapter!

That makes it no less frustrating and mouth foam inducing, especially when somehow a guy who isn't even a native English speaker can somehow post 86k words in 13 days and still have it be Awesome.

Not including this little one shot he also posted during that period:

Alternate Soul Society For fans of Bleach and... well, best not to ruin the surprise.

[Trogdor]

Seeing as how this thread's been bumped, I shall add one I found.

Juxtaposition Transformers AU, but basically G1. A young college professor is involved in a bad car accident. Strangely, the driver of the other car is never found. Not long afterwards, she begins to hear a strange voice in her head...

[JohnBiles]

Twice, and you have now posted that fic for the second time in this thread (three if you count the other, shorter lived thread that you can create an infinitely recursive loop with due to both linking each other).

Maybe now that CthulhuTech is out there will be sufficient interest for the authors to finish the last fucking two-to-three chapters!

*foams at mouth over that little frustration*

Hi there, I'm one of the co-authors of COAEG. Here's the thing. I don't get paid to write fanfic. In fact, I don't get ANYTHING to do it, except the satisfaction which comes from knowing I've created something I can be proud of (and sometimes, if I'm lucky, a few fan letters and some recognition).

Unfortunately, I cannot in fact support myself in our capitalist society purely on aesthetic satisfaction supplemented by fanmail and the occasional moment of recognition. Rather, both I and my various co-authors (Jeff Hosmer for Sailor Moon Z and Rod Malipatan for COAEG) have to work for a living. Jeff works as an editor for the ATF, and Rod is management at an ISP. This means they both sit in front of a computer all day and at the end of the day, they often have little energy left to devote to fanfic writing.

I myself work 2 jobs in order to stay afloat. This often robs me of the energy to write. In addition, fanfiction is not the only call on my free time.

Further, please remember that COAEG chapters are very big (and Sailor Moon Z chapters even bigger.) The longer COAEG chapters are about half novel length. Some SMZ chapters are anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times the length of an average novel. (Where Average = the length of the Wizard of Oz, which I have in .txt form for comparison)

Sailor Moon Z, in toto, is 4.11 megs of Text. This is equivalent to writing 20 Wizard of Oz length novels. Yes, it took 11 years because it was a LOT to write.

I would be a happier man if I had more time to write these days. But I'm not getting paid and I think I am nonetheless producing at a pretty good rate, especially since SMZ and COAEG are not my only projects. (I have written and released a total of 60 megs of fanfic since 1993. That's not counting unfinished drafts.)

As for COAEG, it's one more chapter to go and we're done. Assuming I can get enough of Rod's time for us to get it done any time soon. But we'll have to see.

[Academia Nut]

Well... do I ever have egg on my face now.

Ummm... yeah...

Anyway, I apologize if I offended you, I was just venting. I like your stories, and I know and understand that life gets in the way. I wasn't angry at you, just annoyed at the fact that it had been so long since the last update. I mean, when the last chapter comes, that will be awesome beyond belief, but until then so long as I don't direct it at you, I'm entitled to gripe a little bit, aren't I? I mean, I'm Canadian, if we're not entitled to gripe about everything we would have conquered the world in a fit of pique long ago.

But yeah... damn...

Man, how does one even respond when someone registers just to tell you off? And they're right? Ahh... I'm going to have to change my sig to something like, "John Biles registered here just to tell me to stop whining". It's weirdly an honour in a way.

[Duckie]

Well... do I ever have egg on my face now.

Ummm... yeah...

Anyway, I apologize if I offended you, I was just venting. I like your stories, and I know and understand that life gets in the way. I wasn't angry at you, just annoyed at the fact that it had been so long since the last update. I mean, when the last chapter comes, that will be awesome beyond belief, but until then so long as I don't direct it at you, I'm entitled to gripe a little bit, aren't I? I mean, I'm Canadian, if we're not entitled to gripe about everything we would have conquered the world in a fit of pique long ago.

But yeah... damn...

Man, how does one even respond when someone registers just to tell you off? And they're right? Ahh... I'm going to have to change my sig to something like, "John Biles registered here just to tell me to stop whining". It's weirdly an honour in a way.

This somehow needs to be preserved for posterity because of how hillarious it is. In my own perception of the universe this is totally getting stored as the following exchange.

[Enter Academia Nut and forumners. He is foaming at the mouth.]

Academia Nut: "God dammit! Why the fuck won't John Biles hurry the fuck up? I want my fic!"

[Enter John Biles in a puff of smoke]

John Biles: "Dear sirrah, I have registered here to tell thee that I am unable to discharge my duties towards thine entertainment because I am not paid to write Evangelion fanfiction any more than I am Sailor Moon fanfiction."

[Exit John Biles in puff of smoke]

Academia Nut: "Oh."

[Exeunt]

Just made my day. In consolation there's probably nothing one can say in response to that.

[Academia Nut]

It is kind of surreal, no? In my defence, the swearing was for emphasis over the fact that I wanted to see the last chapter, not as some sort of insult towards Mr. Biles. This is SDN afterall, swearing is like breathing here.

And I can froth at the mouth with impatience all I want, I don't expect the story to come any faster. I mean, I could very easily bitch about Stravo, Kuja, or Elheru Aran not updating their little bits of awesome fast enough for my taste, but I know its not going to get me anywhere, and would be very rude to boot. Plus then I would expect people to bitch at me for not updating my own stories fast enough.

Ah... to be Canadian, what a paradox. Bitching is born into us (seriously, when the weather outside is so cold that the only visible part of your face while walking to the bus is one eye, bitching is all you can really do), but we wouldn't want to be rude about it.

[Duckie]

The real question is technically whether he was vanity surfing and found this (lame) or via link tracking of our link(s) to his fic (sensible). ^-^

Anyhow, treble the recommendation for COAEG, it's quite good. I'd actually state that it's better than the real Evangelion, which was cool IMO until the creator suffered his panic attack or whatever at the end. Lack of budget?

And it also has the greatest line in cthulhu mythos, and perhaps all of fanfiction, even if it's a bit out of character for Shinji or whoever the narrator is.

"I can do this." Rei said. She hefted the foot and
a half across, incredibly crude star with an eye of flame in
the middle. Monkeys with typewriters could have done a
better job, and it didn't look like it could hold anything,
let alone an Angel. A chain closed into a loop with a
padlock ran through the top of the star to use to 'bell the
cat'. Assuming this would work, which none of them were too
certain of. It felt like stopping an Angel with a sling
shot. This is what the A-Team would have done. Although
they would likely have put the Elder Sign on their van and
run him over.

[Academia Nut]

It was a combination of the company being nearly bankrupt in the end and director Hideaki Anno going nuts for a while there that produced insanity of the last episodes, particularly the final two.

End of Evangelion was his revenge against the otaku that sent him hate mail and death threats for what he put a bunch of fictional characters through. His response can thus be best characterized as 'extreme'.

Oh, and I hope John doesn't just show up once to deliver a single post. It would seem mean spirited to at least not accept my apology like a gentleman. And I am hoping that it was someone else from here that pointed out that I was disrespecting him, as I respect him as an artist and for him to do a drive-by rebuttal over vanity surfing feels rather shallow.

Oh, and I prefer the whole "Rei's dreams transforming into sakura petal strewn shoujo anime/manga love triangles, only to be inexplicably invaded by Deep Ones". The disconnect between the original Eva is at that point so extreme as to cause a minor brain aneurysm, but in a good way. The mind boggles at what such wit and intelligence could do if turned towards something already insane, like Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann. Although Gurren Lagann with anything is really an unfair fight. Even Nyarlathotep would just go "Fuck this, I'm not risking it with these guys".