Climbing A Ladder of Questions (Patreon)

Similarly, since I just posted a Climbing Together chapter, there are a few questions I thought about bringing up here:

1. How do people think about tournament arcs? Personally I loathe them with a fiery passion, but here, with the crossovers involved and the motivations of Geese and other baddies, they… kind of make sense. Too much sense for me to ignore. So I am wondering how people would like me to tackle them: full-on announcer POV watching the fights including the main characters, or just concentrating on a few fights and speeding through it, while showing more about what is going on behind the scenes? Should I embrace the slapstick comedy in some of these fights, or keep them all serious?

2. Character deaths. I am thinking of killing off several characters as the story goes that in canon live… mainly because no one really dies in Capcom LOL. One of which is Guile. Another of whom is Blanka. I… eh. I just don’t like his game backgrounds or how he has been portrayed in any of the media. I remember he was once a victim of Bison’s bioengineering ( think in the OLD Street Fighter cartoon), but that has apparently been set by the wayside since. Similarly, I think Sagat might be in for the chop, after a good redeeming arc. A few others, both good and bad. Basically, I am wondering how deadly the fights can get.

3. Should I introduce Herb, Pantyhose Taro, Saffron and Ryu Kumon into the story? Unless I have Ryoga run into someone who can train him, they are the only canon Ranma characters who will continue to be a threat to Ranma and the others after the next two arcs, by which time Ranma, Shampoo and Mai will be far stronger than they are in canon. And yes, that includes Mai. But there are problems with introducing each of them:

a. Ryu Kumon is an asshole. His skill set is super destructive, sure, but I don’t know if he brings enough to the party to matter.

b. Taro means I’d need to have Happy near Ranma. Mai and Shampoo would not approve… or enjoy that at all. Happy will make an appearance eventually, but how much of one is up in the air. He’s comedic relief, he lacks the killing instinct or desire for power of the real villains in the world, so it doesn’t make sense for him to stick around for long, even if he would provide a good opponent for Ranma and co.

c. Herb has no reason to search for Ranma and come into conflict with him. But he’s an arrogant dick who could easily be sent by his father to prove the superiority of their folk in any tournament. Good or bad is up in the air.

d. …Without Ranma searching for a cure, would Ryoga on his own (with maybe Genma and whoever else has been cursed) be enough to force Saffron to interact with the world behind his people’s lands? Saffron’s a great enemy, who I’ve never used except as background. So would seeing him compete with some of the other villains for who will dominate the underworld, and from there the world be interesting, or does he not bring enough to be interesting.

4. What do people think of Ryu, Ken and (maybe) Chun Li joining Ranma and his group as they go around the world? I am thinking that’s too many characters, but it would force me to bring a larger number of villains together to deal with them, pushing the main plot forward faster.

5. Cammy. Still struggling with what to do with her in the long term. I initially thought of Ranma and his crew saving her from getting brainwashed, but now I don’t think the timing will add up. So should she be one of the Killer Bs and saved from it? Should she be one of many clones? Should she be a British agent captured and turned? Or should I just not bother much with her, since I already have Mai set to join the duo?

6. I have recently discovered the Street Fighter X Tekken story line. Thoughts?  A part of me enjoys it a lot, but other parts go… no… that’s not going to work with this story.

I may have more questions over the next few days. Stay safe and have a nice weekend everyone!