Transmute Jun
Queen of the Bird Missiles
I am a Swan.
40 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 04-04-2007
Posts: 20978
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I think you've got it right, Candi: RI is an arrogant jerk and an asshole, but as Tatsunoko intended him, he *is* supposed to be loyal to the 'good guys'. It was actually a comment on this site along the lines of 'what if Galactor rescued RI from the V-2 Termination Rocket and 'converted' him? that got me thinking. Eventually I decided that it would be more fun if RI were 'working for the enemy' all along, and that's when Ties That Bind began. And to make it even more fun, I tried to stick to canon as much as I possibly could. 
But really, that's the only fic (yeah, one fic, three parts) where I suggested that. In other fics I've made RI/Cronus a pompous jerk, but he *is* on the ISO/s/Federation's side. Heck, in Prom Night, I even had Cronus sort of redeem himself. 
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10-06-2010 13:29
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gatchamarie
Gatchamaniac
I am an Eagle.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 18-06-2009
Posts: 5129
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RI was an arrogant jerk with a mission! But, was he always such a jerk, or, at least, that much?! (surely, his harsh ways in teaching new things to young Ken is unforgivable!) Even if his character is not one of my favourites, I cannot help but sometimes ask whether he had become that worse due to the mission he had been assigned!
Taking into consideration that his character was already mildly arrogant, and hard, in nature, what may have been a difficult decision of leaving his family behind, the actual detachment, and the coolness he had to maintain every single day of his lone mission, may have moulded him into the person he had become over those long years he had to be assumed as missing. Going through such passages in life, where one has to suppress a lot of emotions in order to focus on the mission ahead, can be the cause of building up quite an undestructible crust! He even wept a tear or two, every now and then, from when he met his son again up till his last, suicide mission! Those moments must have been really hard for him! Mind you ... I still don't agree with the way he treated Ken, but I like to give everyone credit when possible!
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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!
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10-06-2010 17:15
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RIgirl
Babbling Loonie
I am a Red Squadron.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 12-04-2010
Posts: 2188
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I debated about whether or not to stick myself into this debate.
My take on his character has always been this -- what he appears to be by the time Ken meets him is either not what he really is or always was. He could have behaved differently in front of Ken because he might have been worried that Ken would remember him if he were nicer.
And yes, I know you're thinking, but what about Ken's dream about swimming/drowning? Honestly, I took it as a dream and not a literal memory of his childhood. Ken was dreaming--he acknowledges this himself--and just as RI pushed him to wake him up, Ken incorporated that into his dream that he pushed him under water.
Why is it no one ever mentions them running through the field chasing butterflies? Sigh.
Then again, the mental stress of everything he had to go through (and give up) could have easily made him cold hearted and unyielding by the time he meets up with Ken. But that doesn't mean he was always like that.
And as an aside, I'm always amused when people say he's a womanizer when there's absolutely no proof of that. The only woman he ever thinks of, mentions, or we see him with is his wife (Ken's mother). Even his last thoughts are of her and his son.
Okay, piece said. I'll just slink back into my little corner again. Mouth shut.
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"It is a rare man that is taken for what he truly is...We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream...." Peter S. Beagle
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11-06-2010 17:29
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UnpublishedWriter
Gatchamaniac
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 31-08-2009
Posts: 3156
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| quote: | Originally posted by RIgirl
I debated about whether or not to stick myself into this debate.
My take on his character has always been this -- what he appears to be by the time Ken meets him is either not what he really is or always was. He could have behaved differently in front of Ken because he might have been worried that Ken would remember him if he were nicer.
And yes, I know you're thinking, but what about Ken's dream about swimming/drowning? Honestly, I took it as a dream and not a literal memory of his childhood. Ken was dreaming--he acknowledges this himself--and just as RI pushed him to wake him up, Ken incorporated that into his dream that he pushed him under water.
Why is it no one ever mentions them running through the field chasing butterflies? Sigh.
Then again, the mental stress of everything he had to go through (and give up) could have easily made him cold hearted and unyielding by the time he meets up with Ken. But that doesn't mean he was always like that.
And as an aside, I'm always amused when people say he's a womanizer when there's absolutely no proof of that. The only woman he ever thinks of, mentions, or we see him with is his wife (Ken's mother). Even his last thoughts are of her and his son.
Okay, piece said. I'll just slink back into my little corner again. Mouth shut. |
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The ones who don't like him give him the jerk qualities. My version of RI is a decent fellow who had no trouble getting dates. Then he met Ken's mother and chased her until she caught him.
I admit that the idea that years undercover had changed him hadn't occurred to me. Fourteen years pretending to be something you aren't will change anyone.
And don't be afraid to jump in.
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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features
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11-06-2010 18:41
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