For me I would use Dixie, Cash, Waylon, Floyd, and Granny Rose from Fox and the Hound 2, but I would make it a story of sex, drugs, outlaw country, and all kinds of crazy shit, think of the stories from Tales From The Tour Bus

I would start with Robin Hood, but I'd make him a wolf. And instead of an outlaw, he'd be a lawman. He'd be a workaholic, in part out of a sense of obligation towards his vocation, but really because he lives for the chase. Instead of being friends with, and adored by, functionally all of the locals, his reputation would be a salt-and-pepper mix of respect and fear, depending on the individual's attitudes towards lawful behavior, and he would maintain very few friendships but have many professional acquaintances throughout the region.

I'd move the setting from the English woodlands into a verdant fictional countryside that had been blessed with countless springs erupting from a neighboring mountain range. A magical orb that is kept under constant vigil is the source of this blessing, fueling a nation built on trade and agriculture, owing to many rivers which provide inland access and easy irrigation of farmland.

Instead of rescuing a damsel and one-upping an illegitimate king, the story would be about saving the nation from an attempted conquest and certain destruction. A neighboring nation seeks to expand itself and sees its agrarian neighbor as a likely target. Their plan is to send infiltrators ahead to steal the water orb, and then send in its armies to restore order after the nation's leadership fails to deal with the crisis. The protagonist finds himself caught up in the pursuit, combining his regional network of contacts and experience tracking bad guys with the nation's army and resources to recover the orb. But in a twist, as they catch up to the thieves, a particularly villainous member destroys the orb rather than allow it to be recovered.

The villains' connections to the neighboring kingdom are discovered at the same time, and war is now inevitable if the hero's nation is to survive, as they will literally be facing famine within a season, and rivers and lakes begin to dry up, which is sure to leave previously wealthy trading ports utterly destitute. In the chaos, it's only a handful of individuals around the protagonist who believe it's possible to replace the water orb, but only by reopening a gateway to another world that had been sealed in a previous age after prophecies of immeasurable death and destruction. It also requires infiltrating the nation they're about to go to war with.

A desperate plan to take up the infiltrators' identities eventually gets them to the gate, as armies begin march towards bloody, full-scale war. The protagonist's party re-opens the gate, steals a new water orb from the strange world beyond it, but are forced to only hastily attempt to close it on their return. Though chased the entire way by the belligerent kingdom's forces, they make their way back to the border of their nation and deliver the new orb, which restores bountiful water to the realm and renews hope for the nation's future.

Their plot utterly foiled, and now having to account for their neighbor's full attention and strength, the belligerent kingdom halts its campaign and sues for peace.

The end. (But in a sequel, the portal to the other world gets reopened, only this time from the other side. And they like aggressive military expansion too, only with much less strategic undermining and much, much more classical death and destruction. Permanently closing the gate by any means necessary is the only goal, in the hopes of containing the threat. Story 3 would involve finally neutralizing the invaders' threat.)

General-Rusty said:
For me I would use Dixie, Cash, Waylon, Floyd, and Granny Rose from Fox and the Hound 2, but I would make it a story of sex, drugs, outlaw country, and all kinds of crazy shit, think of the stories from Tales From The Tour Bus

That sort of story (take a bunch of pre-existing characters toss in sex, drugs, and violence) has been done quite a bit, but not once, to my knowledge, even remotely well.

Then again, very few fanfics utilizing characters from existing franchises are... actually good. So there's that.

Clawdragons said:
That sort of story (take a bunch of pre-existing characters toss in sex, drugs, and violence) has been done quite a bit, but not once, to my knowledge, even remotely well.

It can work if you carefully 'rough up' the whole world evenly -- star wars, for example, can be turned very adult without much effort... the problem is that many of those utterly disregard the actual characters involved. Luke skywalker is probably going to explode the first time he sees a boob, but he's not going to turn into the Master Pimp withn 3 months of leaving tattooine.

and that's what so many of those stories really screw up: the characters.

Then again, very few fanfics utilizing characters from existing franchises are... actually good. So there's that.

This is also true.

But man, those good stories are gold.

(it also depends on what you're looking for out of a story. if you're just wanting luke-and-han-fuck, you've got very different desires and expectations than someone looking for a million word epic about the fall of the Empire, at the hands of Leia Skywalker, Han Solo and Luke Organa.

(and man, luke-and-han-fuck is WAY easier to get a good story out of. That's an IDEA, an INSPIRATION, then a few days of writing and polishing. Boom, one chapter of set up, scenario, emotions and sex. The million word epic? that takes time and dedication and plotting over months if not years. Those are totally different skills and different audiences.)

(sorry, I'm a big fan of fan creations. It's not all for me, but some people do marvelous things.) (and then there's a LOT of crap)(I've read so many stories where it's like... the author has a checklist of pairings and now that those are all established, then the plot can happen.)(or wish fulfillment fantasy where the main character is clearly an author insert of ultra power...)(some like those, but not me. that's okay though.)

Oh to actually answer the question.. hmm... I feel like zootopia has a pretty versatile cast. You could probably place those characters into a lot of different settings and still make them WORK... (as opposed to, say, Frozen, where the characters are pretty snug-ly fit together, and there are a lot of relationships that would need to be maintained to keep the spirit of t he characters. Or brave where there are only a few characters, but so much of the characters are tied up in the story that if you take the story away from the characters, they don't have a lot of ...character left)

and probably something in the fantasy or scifi setting. I'm always a fan of crossovers... so... zootopia/star wars? :D Little bunny determined to be the first Rabbit Jedi knight, despite everyone telling her that she's too small ("THa'ts what they said about Master Yoda too!" "really?" "well, no. but I like to think they did!") and meeting some shyster fox smuggler...

Or maybe.... a little rabbit growing up in the middle of no where, dreaming of something bigger and better... only to get pulled into... well.. a galaxy of adventure. lots of introspection on if she really CAN do this... but she can't really go back to the farm, after all, the empire burned it down....

:)

SnowWolf said:
(as opposed to, say, Frozen, where the characters are pretty snug-ly fit together, and there are a lot of relationships that would need to be maintained to keep the spirit of t he characters. Or brave where there are only a few characters, but so much of the characters are tied up in the story that if you take the story away from the characters, they don't have a lot of ...character left)

I dunno. For one, the original question was about choosing individual characters in a vacuum, so there's no reason you couldn't, say, nab Elsa and throw her into Star Wars canon to create some kind of hybrid tale that thematically and tonally sits somewhere between Prequel Anakin's arc and TFA Rey's. A child with abandonment issues because her family interpreted her Force sensitivity as a dangerous curse and hid her, and she only comes into contact with the Jedi (or other Force users, as appropriate) in her early adulthood.

Layering in Anna, she could still easily fill a role as ambassador to self-acceptance as she single-mindedly chases after her sister and turns her away from irredeemably falling to the dark side. Or she could be pulled into a different story on her own, as long as she remains the beacon of "friendship" who will pursue that one person at all costs to try and save them from themselves.

But to continue the two together, they could be natural gearheads, and collaborated to build a childish droid named Olaf, who is maybe a bit too optimistic about the possibility of becoming a full human.

If we wanted to bring in Kristoff and Sven, as well, they're the easiest to translate out of the whole lot, with Kristoff becoming a low-end rimworld trader and Sven his alien furry sidekick. Maybe just go full Wookie for Sven, because "fanfic", "Sven" will obviously be a nickname earned because he has flowing golden locks and understands what shampoo and conditioner are, instead of Chewbacca's mottled brown mess of shag carpeting.

Star Wars makes it easy. :P

Edits because I clearly can't proofread myself.

SnowWolf said:
(sorry, I'm a big fan of fan creations. It's not all for me, but some people do marvelous things.) (and then there's a LOT of crap)(I've read so many stories where it's like... the author has a checklist of pairings and now that those are all established, then the plot can happen.)(or wish fulfillment fantasy where the main character is clearly an author insert of ultra power...)(some like those, but not me. that's okay though.)

Just to be clear, I'm a fanfic writer. I also like to read fanfics sometimes. I'm definitely not saying that people can't do well, I'm just saying that the majority are bad, and that's for a plethora of reasons.

I have a whole suite of opinions on the matter. I read way too much. Like, I went on a binge yesterday and read half of one of one of the Stormlight Archive books yesterday. Which, if you're not familiar, those books are around 1300 pages long. So a fair binge, that was.

I'm happy when fanfic writers get things right. Mostly just because I like good stories in general. I'm just... picky, I suppose.

It's funny you bring this topic up, because in a few years, Disney's copyright over Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pete is suppose to expire. They will be public domain characters and anybody will be able to make money off of them. Sadly they would be the only ones for a while.
I wouldnt mind, being able to freely use characters like Sunnie Gummie or Princess Eilonwy from Black Cauldron.

We're writing fanfictions now? uwu

Jinx_Jackal said:
in a few years, Disney's copyright over Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pete is suppose to expire. They will be public domain characters

bold of you to assume disney won't renew the copyrights or whatever

BlackLicorice said:
We're writing fanfictions now? uwu

bold of you to assume disney won't renew the copyrights or whatever

It's not bold of me. They ARE trying to renew, but under U.S copyright law it's extremely unlikely. 95 years is the maximum for copyright before it's completely public access.
The timer was set in 1928, when Steamboat Willie was released. That was 90 years ago.

you kno a lot of old disney movies are based on fuck old fairytales. im pretty sure that those stories are public domain, so absolutely no laws stops you from making your own version of cinderella or whatever as long as its distinct enough from the disney's variation of the story.

JackJack attacks everyone!

(Note: I haven't seen Incredibles 2)

More seriously? I think crossovers that group similarly-themed characters together would be cool. The boy from Big Hero 6 and Tinkerbell, along with any other inventors (Wallace and Gromit?) (fix-it-felix? Would he be too broken in this instance?), for example.

The best would be getting all the musicians together and hearing them play something epic.

ikdind said:
I dunno. For one, the original question was about choosing individual characters in a vacuum, so there's no reason you couldn't, say, nab Elsa and throw her into Star Wars canon to create some kind of hybrid tale that thematically and tonally sits somewhere between Prequel Anakin's arc and TFA Rey's. A child with abandonment issues because her family interpreted her Force sensitivity as a dangerous curse and hid her, and she only comes into contact with the Jedi (or other Force users, as appropriate) in her early adulthood.

Layering in Anna, she could still easily fill a role as ambassador to self-acceptance as she single-mindedly chases after her sister and turns her away from irredeemably falling to the dark side. Or she could be pulled into a different story on her own, as long as she remains the beacon of "friendship" who will pursue that one person at all costs to try and save them from themselves.

But to continue the two together, they could be natural gearheads, and collaborated to build a childish droid named Olaf, who is maybe a bit too optimistic about the possibility of becoming a full human.

If we wanted to bring in Kristoff and Sven, as well, they're the easiest to translate out of the whole lot, with Kristoff becoming a low-end rimworld trader and Sven his alien furry sidekick. Maybe just go full Wookie for Sven, because "fanfic", "Sven" will obviously be a nickname earned because he has flowing golden locks and understands what shampoo and conditioner are, instead of Chewbacca's mottled brown mess of shag carpeting.

Star Wars makes it easy. :P

Edits because I clearly can't proofread myself.

I love you a lot right now. I LOVE IT :D

(and I was mostly talking about ..anna and elsa are sisters with a close relationship that's gone cold. Hans is a shady dude who's after power and thinks Anna's the answer. Kristoff's a good guy who wants to help out... etc etc. Hans can, by nature, be all kinds of predatory scum, but that defines his relationship with Anna. It'd be... weird to write a story where he's just a good guy not really doing anything skeevy. You could write a redemption arc for him and that would be lovely, but he's gotta start with the same hand, y'know? )

also nah. Sv'aanacca is a perfectly good wookie name. As much as "chewbacca" is a wookie name, for all the Ch-sounds and b-sounds they seem to have c_c

but I love this idea and I want to read it XD

Clawdragons said:
Just to be clear, I'm a fanfic writer. I also like to read fanfics sometimes. I'm definitely not saying that people can't do well, I'm just saying that the majority are bad, and that's for a plethora of reasons.

I have a whole suite of opinions on the matter. I read way too much. Like, I went on a binge yesterday and read half of one of one of the Stormlight Archive books yesterday. Which, if you're not familiar, those books are around 1300 pages long. So a fair binge, that was.

I'm happy when fanfic writers get things right. Mostly just because I like good stories in general. I'm just... picky, I suppose.

Sorry :) Most of the people who say that fanfic is bad generally are the sort who don't "get" fanfic... I definitely agree that the majority are bad.

I, like you, am a reader :) (Eee! first time stormlight reader? I need to read the 3rd one, but I wanna reread the first two again first...) ) So I feel you. (My binge last night was a 120K word Harry Potter fanfic... stayed up way too late. Whoops...)

I do have high standards -- I personally prefer those long epic what if stories over the snack sized shipping, and they're a lot harder to pull off right. ;)

(sooo... can I ask what fandom you write for? :)

Jinx_Jackal said:
It's not bold of me. They ARE trying to renew, but under U.S copyright law it's extremely unlikely. 95 years is the maximum for copyright before it's completely public access.
The timer was set in 1928, when Steamboat Willie was released. That was 90 years ago.

Copyright didn't use to last that long and that's thanks to Disney, that is. They even have a name for it called the Mickey Mouse curve . They'll probably lobby congress to extend another 20 years past life again

pc-king said:
Copyright didn't use to last that long and that's thanks to Disney, that is. They even have a name for it called the Mickey Mouse curve . They'll probably lobby congress to extend another 20 years past life again

I know copyright has changed over time and depending on the year or circumstance, copyright is handled differently. If I remember correctly, copyright is 75 years + 20 if you managed to get an extension which is 95. From what I read, Disney has already renewed once before. They'll most likely wont get another one, which is why they made that whole 90th birthday show. It was them kicking and screaming to maintain compete control over Mickey.

SnowWolf said:

Sorry :) Most of the people who say that fanfic is bad generally are the sort who don't "get" fanfic... I definitely agree that the majority are bad.

I, like you, am a reader :) (Eee! first time stormlight reader? I need to read the 3rd one, but I wanna reread the first two again first...) ) So I feel you. (My binge last night was a 120K word Harry Potter fanfic... stayed up way too late. Whoops...)

I do have high standards -- I personally prefer those long epic what if stories over the snack sized shipping, and they're a lot harder to pull off right. ;)

(sooo... can I ask what fandom you write for? :)

First time Stormlight reader, yeah, though I've read a fair bit more of Sanderson's books. I really like the sorts of magic systems that he writes.

Currently on the third one, about 200 pages in or so, so basically just beginning it.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to write recently, due to my current living arrangements. Difficult to get time alone. I've kinda been considering trying something more original sometime.

As for what I've written fanfiction-wise, to be honest? Mostly Pokemon stuff. And of the short, "these characters gunna bang tonight" sort. Though I've done some longer stuff. Current long project has been stalled for over a year though because I'm not entirely happy with certain parts of it, but I am terrible at rewriting. And, again, living situation.

SnowWolf said:
Hans can, by nature, be all kinds of predatory scum, but that defines his relationship with Anna. It'd be... weird to write a story where he's just a good guy not really doing anything skeevy. You could write a redemption arc for him and that would be lovely, but he's gotta start with the same hand, y'know? )

Oh, sure, but I'd have him either seduce Elsa or become an adoptive big brother to her, instead, the choice depending on how salacious we want to be. Either way, he'd be a Sith who recognizes Elsa's force sensitivity and sees her as the ally he needs to overthrow his master. He stirs up her resentment towards the world for having to grow up isolated and afraid of herself and the two run off with each other.

So then Anna, sensing the change in her sister's attitude, goes running off after them with Olaf, the droid who's going to become human someday, and hiring our lovable pair of traders who can't afford to turn down an honest buck.

Clawdragons said:
First time Stormlight reader, yeah, though I've read a fair bit more of Sanderson's books. I really like the sorts of magic systems that he writes.

I've only read stormlight and mistborn (I tend to burn out after too much of one author's works) but they're good stuff. Stormlight is one of my favorite series out there. I hope you enjoy it <3

Currently on the third one, about 200 pages in or so, so basically just beginning it.

ooh you're ahead of me then :D I hope it's good! :D

I haven't had a whole lot of time to write recently, due to my current living arrangements. Difficult to get time alone. I've kinda been considering trying something more original sometime.

As for what I've written fanfiction-wise, to be honest? Mostly Pokemon stuff. And of the short, "these characters gunna bang tonight" sort. Though I've done some longer stuff. Current long project has been stalled for over a year though because I'm not entirely happy with certain parts of it, but I am terrible at rewriting. And, again, living situation.

That's cool :D I've read a few pokemon fics (mostly.. original character, darker setting stuff. not like ultra grim dark, but, y'know.. more realistic.) but hey. these characters are gonna bang fics are good stuff too :D

I've written a few fanfics.. but most of my efforts have either been in roleplaying in franchise-based settings (mostly star wars, but also Harry Potter and Star Gate.) (roleplaying in this case meaning, me and my hubby, writing our own adventure stories... not... strangers online stuff.) I've written a real non-fanfic novella, but it was pretty awful. It needs about 50% more plot and less "standing around talking"... I'm working on a big original thing... but I'm at... hmmm... To use an analogy. I have the star wars universe. I know about the republic and the Jedi and the empire... but I'm not exactly sure how the empire does it's thing (is it open war? is it subtle politics? is it sudden or slow? Is it welcomed or hated?) or how the jedi fit into it. I'm also not sure if I want the story to take place BEFORE the empire, during the empire transition, or AFTER the empire. I also don't know if I want to focus on a polititian, or a war hero or some farmers over on Naboo. It's a big galaxy with a lot of stories in it, and a long history... but where to start and where do I start carving out the shape of this story?

So to speak.

Anyway, I hope you find more writing time soon-- a living situation like that is hard. been there, done that, almost murdered some folks.

(for me, the best rewriting I do is starting at the beginning and jsut... doing another editing pass. I end up with more words and I can tuck in more details there. especially after a year or two when the words aren't as FRESH in my mind. It's what I'll end up doing with my novella when I give it another shot. but I also gotta figure out that 50% plot first. *Sigh*

ikdind said:
Oh, sure, but I'd have him either seduce Elsa or become an adoptive big brother to her, instead, the choice depending on how salacious we want to be. Either way, he'd be a Sith who recognizes Elsa's force sensitivity and sees her as the ally he needs to overthrow his master. He stirs up her resentment towards the world for having to grow up isolated and afraid of herself and the two run off with each other.

So then Anna, sensing the change in her sister's attitude, goes running off after them with Olaf, the droid who's going to become human someday, and hiring our lovable pair of traders who can't afford to turn down an honest buck.

Of course. XD and I love that XD I was just talking about the limitations of it. THey are relatively flexable though :) I think I'd end up placing Hans as a politician who recognizes that Elsa could become a powerful political tool if she embraces her power and enables her to get some of that influence and training while keeping Anna near and dear and in his pocket...

aaaand... I think..... It's Kristof who's tryign to convicne his friend Anna that Hans is up to no good, but she just can't see past that, as Hans strings her along and gently feeds her crush, without ever... encouraging her to act on it... But it's eventually Olaf who says something like "well that wasn't very nice." which brings down Anna's carefully constructed castle of lies leaving her jsut with the thought that Kristoff was right.

Hans realizes this, at some point-- maybe he's good at reading people, maybe he is minorly force sensitive-- and Anna's awful at hiding her feelings, so, well, the only thing to do is construct an 'accident' where Anna's suposed to die, or gets stranded off somewhere.... ("I told them it was dangerous to go so close to a star about to go nova, but they wouldn't listen!") with the plan that he'll then sweep Elsa off her feet into his arms in her grief and....

But! Despite his evil plot, they manage to escape anyway and... :D