Silentcook's rants

[Helbereth]

It's completely subjective what is and isn't a bad concept for a story; the only way to know if it won't work out is to write it.

This exactly. I think the things you find wrong with cross-over fiction are solved through quality writing. If you do so properly, assume nothing, and know the source material, it will not be easy, but it's not impossible to combine two different worlds without the issues you (Silentcook) described.

Granted, some combinations are more ridiculous than others. Trying to cross a superhero tale with desperately debaucherous doujin denizens will probably end up lacking the structure to support the audacity of both universes. Why anyone would even attempt to combine those worlds is beyond my scope of imagination, but this is the internet and Rule 34 is alive and well.

However, if you treat both worlds with respect, I think it's possible to transplant characters from one story into another; consider "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" as an example. Clemens, were he alive today, would probably approach crossover fiction as an extension of that kind of exploratory literature. Even something like "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" could be considered a cross-over story; transplanting two imbeciles into various periods of history and having them meet a variety of historical figures. Granted, some of the characterization in that film is probably rudimentary at best, but many of those historical figures don't have any more than a perfunctory biography available; it didn't make the movie any less enjoyable.

[Silentcook]

Silentcook's rants

OPINIONS in definitely non-trace amounts

WHY WRITING A CROSSOVER IS generally A BAD IDEA.

I COULD have used "Watch out: opinionated fgt" in huge, screaming red font for a subtitle instead, but I thought it would have been a bit too muchplus I try not to do anything that I would not appreciate from a regular user.

Rather, I'm mildly pleased that despite my disgust for the subject matter, you seem to think I managed to write down something vaguely approaching objectivity.

I still wish that crossover attempts were recognized to be at the "don't try this at home, kids" writing skill level instead of the "training wheels" writing skill level, though. Or at least, that more people thought of them that way.

[Megumeru]

I still wish that crossover attempts were recognized to be at the "don't try this at home, kids" writing skill level instead of the "training wheels" writing skill level, though. Or at least, that more people thought of them that way.

I like that. I like that term, hell might as well coin it.

This is a crossover...
...and welcome to Jackass!


Yeah, it does have that feel when I think about it...
believe it or not, my first training wheel was a crossover ( ) between Harvest Moon and Medal of Honor--and that was when I'm still active as a ghost writer about a five-seven years back

never tried anything as wild as that again...farmer into soldier...hahaha...outrageous

[Heartless Wanderer]

I am a fan of good crossovers.

I also agree with Silentcook's rant, here.

Crossovers are quite possibly the trickiest stories to pull off with any level of grace, landing perhaps a few miles above "self-inserts that actually don't suck" on the "you really need to be a god-tier fanfiction writer to pull this off" scale. I am a proponent of the idea that any idea can work if it is executed correctly, in other words, exactly what Doomish said. An unfortunate side effect of the masses being able to publicize their work freely and without the pesky interference of publishers and editors (read: people with standards and reasons to enforce them) is, however, that the oodles and oodles of product that really ought to have been utterly and completely rejected to begin with can be put out there with impunity, and as a result all of the stuff that should have been accepted winds up getting lost in the crowd. It takes diligence on the part of the seeker in order to find it. And the trickier the concept, the higher the shyte-to-shiny ratio gets when you start running circles in tall grass.

...

I'm not sure why I chose to illustrate that with a Pokémon reference just now, but the more I think about it, the more it fits. The shitty self-insert is the Pidgey. The shitty Naruto-sheds-his-orange-skin-and-becomes-a-cliche-badass is the Rattata. And the shitty crossover is that Magikarp you bought off that one bloke for a ridiculous 500 Poké-dollars, invested way too much time into training, and then somehow turned into one of the meanest motherfuckers in the entire game.