Stephan Sokolow's Blog

Make A Wish by Rorschach’s Blot

Length: 50 Chapters, Complete (plus several sequels)
Sources: Harry Potter (Concept from “The Man Who Knew Too Little”)
Rating: 5/5

And now the Harry Potter fanfic which is a candidate for “most 3rd-party sequels”: “Make a Wish” by Rorschach’s Blot.

For those who haven’t already heard of it, the basic plot is that Harry Potter sees a brochure for the Make A Wish foundation and, convinced that he won’t survive the final confrontation with Voldemort, takes a surprise vacation rather than going back to Privet Drive with the Dursleys. Of course, we all know that heroes can’t just take a vacation.

Harry becomes his own version of “The Man Who Knew Too Little”. Enter “Mr. Black”, super-spy extraordinare. For those readers who aren’t familiar with “The Man Who Knew Too Little”, the core plot element is that dumb luck can convince even experts that a clueless goof is a super-spy. Just imagine the kind of fun they can have with someone who isn’t such a goof.

This is the kind of story that has to be seen to be believed. The mix of accident and intentional action is masterful, the grammatical quality high (just the occasional typo or two), and the humor plentiful and believable without being overdone. For example…

Harry walked back to the magical section of town and found a place to sit. Flipping through his guide book, he soon found the section on Hungarian Horntails.

The Hungarian Horntail is one of the most recognizable of the Dragon family. Its Black scales and bronze horns make it easy to identify and the market for black dragon hide has exploded since the emergence of the Dark Lord Grabhold who dressed his followers in dark colors in defience to the previous tradition which had the dark lord dressed in purple and his followers dressed in pink . . .

Of course, it also helps that the Lovegoods aren’t idle either…

“I have something more important for you to report on.”

“What?” Luna blinked curiously. “Did we finally get proof that the Malfoy family was descended from house elves?”

“Not yet,” Laetus frowned. “The Ministry still won’t let me have one of them for testing.”

I love it when certain people become convinced that they’re also secret agents.

Anyway, be sure to read this and don’t forget the sequels and omake. 🙂

Birth of a Name by nonjon

Length: Oneshot
Sources: Harry Potter
Rating: 5/5

In fanfiction, there are certain trends which you can count on. Of these, the most notable is probably the choice of focus. It’s rare to find stories which focus on aspects of characters that the original story never touched on. (or never touched on very well) Another such trend is that when somebody does have a good idea and that idea doesn’t conflict with the original story, it usually becomes part of the shared body of “unofficial official” facts.

Today’s Harry Potter fanfic touches on both of these as it answers the question “How did Tom Riddle figure out that his name could be rearranged to spell ‘I am Lord Voldemort’ and how can we make it funny?” It’s “Birth of a Name” by nonjon and if you’ve ever read a fanfic which mentioned the Jumbliatus curse or said that Salazar Slytherin’s pet basilisk was named “Blinky”, then it has had an effect on you.

The fic is written from a first-person perspective and starts with a young Tom Riddle walking into class and dreading the weekly “Friday Fun Spell”. I especially enjoy this because, not only does it provide a glimpse at how a teenage Tom Riddle might have thought, it also takes the opportunity to provide believable teenage versions of several of the other characters who would have been going to school somewhere around the same time. I do suspect that some of the characters in question might have been a little too old to be in the same class, but that’s not the main focus of the story and, given how effective the humor is, it’s not a big problem.

After all, how can you take a future evil villain seriously when this is going on inside his head?

I write my full name down on the paper. I quietly hiss, “Jumblio” and watch the magic change ‘Tom Marvolo Riddle’ into… ‘Lord Leotard Mom IV’? Really? What the hell happened to the first three mothers of Lord Leotard? You know what? I don’t think I want to know. I try the spell again. “Jumblio”.

‘Tim Doom Lardlover.’ Okay, at least we’re getting some variety here. Something tells me I can do better than that one. I mean there’s got to be something good in there, right?

With a non-stop barrage of quotes like these, it’s not wonder that this is one of the handful of fics which have made me laugh out loud. I haven’t noticed any grammatical errors, but it’s an extremely short story, so I don’t want to spoil the ending. I’ll just say that it puts a whole new spin on the events mentioned in the original Harry Potter books and leave you with one more incentive to read it:

‘Model Tom, Viral Rod.’ Hmm, you know if Rod ever became a massive all-powerful festering diseased dark wizard, I might be willing to include myself and my dashing good looks in a partnership. Wait… no I wouldn’t. I’d still kill him. “Jumblio.”

The Wild Horse Thesis by Calamity-Queen of Cordite

Length: 18 Chapters, Complete
Sources: Ranma ½, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Rating: 5/5

And now for the story which is without a doubt the best of the fun Neon Genesis Evangelion fics I’ve read. Yes, it’s time for “The Wild Horse Thesis” by Calamity-Queen of Cordite.

This is a definite 5/5 and, if you ignore the “apples and oranges” problem inherent in comparing fun/funny/WAFFy fanfiction with realistic/serious fanfiction, then this is the best Evangelion fic I’ve ever found. (Normally I wouldn’t be so hasty to make such a statement, but this is the only work of fiction (fanfiction or original) which I’ve re-read 6 times.)

For those who don’t already know, It’s a Ranma-Evangelion crossover. The basic plot is that, thanks to some outside help, Gosunkugi actually gets some functional magic to use against Ranma and manages to use it without Murphy’s law kicking in. The next thing Ranma knows, he’s been banished into a set of Evangelion tapes.

Thankfully, he isn’t going into things blind. With the only anime character (at the time) to have a crappier life than he does, it’s Ranma’s favorite anime. On that note, the story takes advantage of a rather interesting presentational construct to follow two storylines at once: Ranma’s adventures in Evangelion-land take place as the rest of the Nerima crew watch the “Neon Genesis Evangelion ¼” tapes which arrived in the mail… complete with a thought-revealing 3rd-persion omniscient viewpoint. Prepare to see preconceptions erode. The big reason I like this is that it feels like a “[character names] read their own story” fic without all the boring repetition of the canonical plot. Best of both worlds.

As for “both worlds”, “Neon Genesis Evangelion ½” is no ordinary alternate universe. First, there’s the inherent fun from keeping Ranma’s curse intact… made even better by a skilled author with a creative mind. However, on a more general level, the story relies heavily on character interaction, which makes for a very unique mix of the familiar and the new. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that if anyone can prevent third impact, it’s Ranma Saotome.

The “outer story” back in Nerima does have a bit of a problem with Akane-bashing and other fanon clichés, but it’s tempered by the rest of the story and, as with “Chaotic Future”, it’s part of a successful effort by a skilled author to intentionally draw on certain “fanon Ranma” elements for their utility or humor value. Given how well the overall effect works, I have no problem with it.

Anyway, this is really one of those stories where the whole is far greater than the sum of it’s parts, but I can at least leave you with a couple more humorous snippets.

“Shampoo no like Airen living with purple-haired slut.”

This caused nearly everyone at the table to sweat-drop and someone

muttered something about pots and kettles being black.

“Hiya, Pop,” Ranma said cheerfully as he entered Gendo’s office.

“What do you want, Third Child,” Gendo said coolly. “I’m very busy.”

“Yeah, you look it too, sitting there lookin’ all diabolical with your hands steepled in front of your face,” Ranma observed with a smirk, while walking around Gendo’s desk. “I bet you were in here busy practicing that all day, weren’t ya? Well, I think you need some exercise and I got some frustrations to work off.” Ranma reached out and snagged his ‘father’ by the lapels, hoisting him up out of his seat. “So we’re goin’ down to the gym and havin’ a father-son bonding session while we beat the crap outta each other. Sounds fun, huh?”

“So that was the 17th angel?” Misato asked as she and Ritsuko walked up.
“Yeah,” Ranma said. “One more to go, well, maybe two more if you count Gendo.”
Ritsuko snickered.
“I wonder what he’d think if he heard his own son calling him an angel,” Ritsuko asked.
“The bastard would probably be flattered,” Misato answered.

Enjoy. 🙂