Akechi

In some sort of twisted way, I'd argue that APTX-4869 qualifies here. Which is definitely what I'd choose. I mean, who doesn't want an untraceable poison that can be used to kill people for fun without being caught to become an adorable four-year-old genius, ?

It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Is there actual proof that they have met him/her/it in person and aren't just contacted by phone and such? I didn't know that. I mean, if DC follows up on its overly sci-fi plot, Anokata could even be the codename of a supercomputer or something and not a person as far as I'm aware.

I'll say it again: "for all we know", . I rather doubt it personally, but until he or she has a name and a face, there's no real certainty to his or her existence. Besides, I still put "impossible to convict" or "psychological control" ahead of having a big, evil organization.

You know, while it's very possible that I'm not up to date on my teenage romantic jargon, last I checked, you "fall for someone" and not "fall" in general. Of course, you guys know better, xD. I mean, you know it pretty clearly when you're falling from the meaning I know of it, what with gravity pulling you down and no solid object breaking the fall.

"The Criminal" by a mile. Kaito Kid is pretty much comic relief, BO members are but pawns in a bigger plot and Anokata, for all we know, is just an imaginary figure Gin uses to control the BO members. I really don't know enough about Snake to judge him, but I doubt he can outdo the immortal master of all crimes who has a perfect disguise and manages to perfectly frame others for his crimes, often with irrefutable evidence, going as far as to have them confess. Or, if I want to be all profound, I can instead go on about how "The Criminal" can take over the negative feelings people harbour towards others and turn them into real crimes with painful reprecussions for all parties involved regardless of the usual natures and personalities of these people. Beat that, Conan. The best you can do is force a criminal into a suicide she he likely would have committed anyway and even the best of lawyers would have much difficulty convicting you for.

Does buying thirteen at the same time count? Yay for birthdays. And having no life, xD.

The fact that I can't is what makes her an awesome character, . Haibara has been shown to be more than just one thing. I mean, for example, if I say "smart", then I fail to represent her entire situation with the Black Organization (you'd need several words for this alone), her great attachment to her deceased sister, her pleasantly sarcastic attitude towards (yet overall appreciation of and trust in) Conan, her almost motherly treatment of the Detective Boys (and even Agasa, xD), her occasionally shown interests in fashion (slightly random, but makes her seem normal beneath her BO-induced personality)... The list goes on. Her awesomeness is made by the fact that there's so many different aspects to her personality - so much depth to her character - that you'd need pages and pages of writing to completely capture her. This is especially interesting because it's contrary to most other DC characters, who are very lacking in depth. I mean, give me two words each and I'll pretty much manage a description of most other characters that they won't contradict more than once in fifty cases, especially since there's usually some general cliché in popular culture upon which they're based. *sigh* I am a Haibara fanboy...

For a second there, when I saw a thread titled "What's on Your Mind?" with 700 pages, I assumed that DCW was filled with misunderstood geniuses who ramble on and on about the state of their minds and the way they look at the world. And this is despite having seen several forums with the same thread. Well, I suppose I'm close enough, right, xD? As for what's on my mind, lately, I've been wondering whether or not anything is. It's also a good topic for conversation if you like people giving you strange looks and making clearly flawed excuses to be at a safe distance from you.

Thanks. (For 100 pages, though, that's more easily summarized than I would imagine, xD) I don't think I'd be of much use, though, so I'll stay in the audience for the moment. Looks like this'll be a lot of fun to read, .

Reading the first few pages and the last few pages, it seems that this would be a lot of fun to follow. Since it's a bit difficult reading over 100 pages with more than a few off-topic posts, would any of you be oh-so-kind enough to briefly summarize the plot of this story so far, ? I'm beyond impressed with all your collective writing skills and ability to cooperate already, though, . Pretty much every other RP I've seen online seems to have had a completely incoherent plotline with its characters and such a jumbled mess.

Ran will probably be depressed for a while, especially considering how weak she is and considering that every time something goes wrong, she starts crying for Shinichi, but, as long as Shinichi, as Conan, plays his cards well ("Don't cry, Ran-neechan," and "Shinichi-niichan is stupid.." kind of stuff), she'll get over it. I actually rather hope this happens. Realizing that there can be no permanent antidote for him, Conan takes a temporary pill for the final time and confronts Ran. He tells her to stop waiting for him and says some other cheesy stuff. Then, as Ran bursts into tears and he's about to turn back into Conan, he tranquilizes her. ` But since Gosho has promised a "happy" ending and this would likely count as "tragic", I suppose this won't happen.

He probably got it from DCTP. This one's based on Akako, apparently. So, 1-6, I'm guessing?

I rather agree with most of what you said. I would say that Conan is less perfect than Shinichi, though. Although, as you mentioned, Conan is still rather accepted by the police force, it's more than a fair challenge for him to get involved in investigations, what with Megure getting annoyed and Kogoro throwing him around and all. It's harder investigating the crime scene for him than it was for Sherlock Holmes, whom you mentioned earlier, at least (unless that changes drastically post-Reichenbach Falls, which I haven't read). And, even if this is somewhat remedied by Agasa's gadgets, Conan still has several problems as a result of his size. I'd really say that Gosho manages to control his tendency to make perfect protagonists a fair bit with Conan, even if side-characters are way easier to relate to (three cheers for Haibara). Also, I think that Kid in DC is far, far worse in this regard than Kid in Magic Kaito, being an antagonist. If you see his point of view, you get to see that his tricks are sometimes tough to pull off. In DC, however, you just see him doing everything perfectly. Having a perfect character with almost no real challenges is pretty much adding insult to injury. May I make use of your barricades?

Fair enough, but, by your logic, if Conan has few votes because of his apparent arrogant jerkfacedness, then the same should apply for Shinichi, which it doesn't.

Some 20 days late in responding, but anyhow, does "he" refer to Conan or Shinichi? I ask this because the title of arrogant jerkface would really be much better suited to the latter, but if you are referring to Shinichi, then your answer makes little sense relative to my question. That is, of course, unless you mean to say that people like arrogant, jerkfaced characters.

I'd rather dislike it, personally. I watch DC, partially, at least, for its Japanese culture. The way they go about their lives, their traditions, their ideals... That kind of stuff interests me. I'd hate to see it replaced by other cultures. Besides, the recent London arc already caused something of a plot hole with the 24-hour pills (it lasted a much shorter time in the imposter Shinichi case). For Haibara to manage to randomly improve the pills or for Conan's immunity system to weaken seems like a terribly inadequate explanation. This happening again would make the whole "I want my body back" concept idiotic since he seems able to turn back whenever he feels like it.

Oh, I see, xD. With analogies like that, you could probably make it as a proper romance writer! To me, it sounds cheesy (I feel very cynical now), but most ShinRans are probably loving your dramatic account of their relationship, .

Are you sure you aren't overdramatizing it just a little bit? And that is something of a feat because Gosho already puts a lot more romantic melodrama in DC than is required, . Honestly, I've probably seen that scene where he first utters "Edogawa Conan" several dozen times, if only because of the movies, but in no way can I imagine any theoretical dagger going into Conan's heart at that point. He seems more amused by it than anything. And after that, probably all the way to Desperate Revival, he rarely seems to be affected by his own lies. Whenever Ran is close to finding out, he's more worried about her reaction to having taken a bath with him than anything else. Off the top of my head, the only times I can think of when Conan actually looks sad about his situation with Ran are when he turned back first (the first Heiji case, I think it was) and the end of the Desperate Revival arc, when Ran comes close to crying. Most of the rest of the time, he just seems irritated, but nothing close to having "the dagger with the venom of guilt and loneliness" stabbed into him. Now, for Ran, you may have more of a point, since every time anything goes wrong, she just thinks "Oh, Shinichi, wherefore art thou not here?" Even then, though, your dagger analogy is too much. It's not as if not having Shinichi around prohibits her from living her life normally. Sure, she misses him. A lot. And she cries about it, too, but when, most of the time, she's acting just fine, the whole "venom of sorrow and longing" analogy goes too far. If you're going to suggest that she does feel bad about it, but doesn't show it, then you're using the same logic as some of the improbable pairings, whose fans just get some vague hints from here and there and pretend that two characters are in love with each other. Now, I don't think anyone can seriously deny that Shinichi and Ran want to have a romantic relationship (and DC will pretty much certainly end with them together), but you're making it sound like the sky will fall upon us before they can change their minds, which isn't really true. Sure, they definitely like each other, but it's not some sort of eternal, "they can't live without each other" thing. I can't actually argue with the rest of your post, mainly because I don't care about AiCon either. I'd actually prefer if Shinichi went all romanceless Holmes-like, with Haibara being his wittier and more useful, but much harder to impress Dr. Watson. (I guess that counts as AiCon, xD) But I suppose it's more likely that he'll fall for Ayumi than that he'll stay single...

You just managed to make the majority of forum members feel bad about themselves. You just managed to make those who just follow the anime/manga online without having as much as seen any authentic merchandise feel especially bad about themselves. xD. With some unavoidable jealousy, I have to admit that your collection is quite impressive. You're really quite devoted to have bought pretty much everything that's available to you.

Actually, looking over it, you're probably right, but Haibara is probably between Kogoro and the Detective Boys in significance because of her extreme plot relevance. I'd say that she's much more of a protagonist than Heiji and Kazuha, who have about the same time. And really, she should get more than ~5% of the opening if the Detective Boys are getting like ~10%. That said, I just realized that Kogoro has suffered far more than Haibara. All of 2 or 3 seconds, and even that shared with his rarely appearing wife, despite being the third most important character, is harsh. I guess I am overreacting, though, since the past few openings have actually given Haibara even less time (with Tear Drops giving her none at all). It just seemed to me like she's being excluded because of her appearance after all the groups, I suppose.

Now, I completely agree with that. I love the whole symbolism of Haibara being lonely but finding friends in the Detective Boys. It highlights what is probably the only real character development in the series. That's not what I was complaining about at all. All I was saying is that there wasn't enough of her, . I mean, even characters like Eri and the FBI, who are occasional guest characters at best, had a more significant role in the opening. Just one small scene makes her look like a minor character on the verge of being phased out of the series completely. Now, it's not as if I expect every opening to be as Haibara-centric as Revive (even if that would be awesome), but six seconds shared with other characters who already had their share of the opening is too little for me. Wow, I feel like a Haibara fanboy now, xD.