> And that one weakness turned out to be the beginning of the end for poor
> Arthur's kingdom. ^>^ I don't think it's fair to lancelot to compare him
> to Ranma. Lancelot's good qualities completely dwarfed him one weakness,
> while Ranma's good qualities would have quite a hard a hard time
> dwarfing his immense ego, his complete lack of care for his fiancee(s),
> his big mouth, his knocking another person into a cursed spring, and
> many other things... In fact, ranma's good qualities couldn't dawrf a
> gnat. 

Okay, but that ain't the point.  My point was that nobody is perfect, 
even the greatest men had their faults.  Ranma, true, has quite a 
few, but I think you're being way to harsh.  He does have a care for 
his fiancees and knocking Ryouga into the cursed spring was an 
accident.
  
 > Because he's afraid of Ryouga. he knows if he decided to narc on Ryouga,
> Ryouga would turn him into a bloody mutilated corpse.
> Ok maybe not, but it was -ranma's- decision to initiate the 'vow of

Sorry, I think that if Ranma ever attacked Ryouga full force, holding 
nothing back, Ryouga wouldn't win.  

> secrecy', with no help from Ryouga. So while he is being considerate to
> Ryouga, it's not as if Ryouga had asked him for it. And because Ranma
> didn't tell Akane, the guise has continued so long that if Akane found
> out now, it would completely destroy Ryouga. Had she found out right
> when Ryouga's curse was revealed, things never would have gotten as
> thick as they are, and Ryouga wouldn't have to bear the extra burden of
> worrying about Akane discovering his secret. So while Ranma may have had
> the best intentions in mind, he unknowingly has caused Ryouga much more
> worrying and anxiety than necessary. Ryouga will probably develop an
> ulcer at a very young age because of Ranma.

Yeah, well hind-sight is 50-50.  We can always say "if I did this it 
would have worked out better".  Ramna was being considerate to an old 
friend, despite the fact the "old" friend wanted to kill him.  Ryouga 
got into the whole mess himself for not coming forward with the truth 
at the beginning.  It's his problem, not Ranma's.
 
> He's only protecting his reputation. He never backs down from a fight
> whether it is necessary or not. Look at the Kunou intro arc. kunou
> challenges Ranma to a fight, and ranma, being the logical, rational
> thinker that he is, decides to solve it non-violently...er...wait, no,
> i'm thinking of another person. No, Ranma dives right in and fights
> Kunou. Was he protecting someone here? No, not quite. The fact that

That's because Ranma always excepts a challenge, especially from some 
bokken-weilding nut who he never met.  Okay, and perhaps he wanted to 
show off his stuff in front of Akane, but that's a normal guy thing, 
wanting to impress a girl.

As for your comment about 'decides to solve it non-violently' he had 
done this several times, heck it's pretty much the case everytime Ryouga 
attacked him.  In the Ryouga intro, Ranma tried to talk and settle the situation
without fighting, but Ryouga was bend to vengence. 

> Wishy-washy? heh heh. When Ranma tries to hold onto multiple women
> simultaneously it's called 'wishy-washy', but with kunou, it's called
> 'two-timing'. heh heh. Anyway, Ranma treats Ukyou and Akane nicely
> because he doesn't want to lose either of them. Never does he come right
> out and say that he's officially dumping one of them, indicating he
> prefers to hold on to both of them while not actually making a
> committment to either of them. I think that's pretty lame. 

True, he doesn't want to loose either on of them, he doesn't want to 
hurt Ukyou's feelings.  You may think it's lame, but it shows that he 
cares for them both.  A commitment is a pretty big thing at such a 
young age, but his actions pretty much show who he's in love with.  
When he admits it to himself, he'll be able to let the others go (not 
without a big blow-from the others, but that's a given:)  As for Kuno, 
he claims to be in love with two women, actively pursuing and wanting 
to date both of them, probably would marry them both if he could.  Hardly 
what Ranma wants with his fiancees.
  
> So ranma is an egomaniac who feels that he -NEEDS- to be the best.
> That's a good point? Sure, he's got drive and ambition, both of which
> could be classified as good points, but he takes things a little too
> far.

This is true, he wants to be the best at what he does.  You make it 
sound like a bad thing, but why settle for second-best?  He strives 
to be on top, and when the dust settles, he usually is.  Because he 
knows it and isn't very modest may make him egotistal, but I never 
said he was perfect:-)
 
> Whether he does it for his mother's sake or for his own life is
> debatable...I mean, I'm sure he treats his mother nicely simply because
> she's his mother, but acting manly for her? If I knew that my mother was
> going to force me to committ ritual suicide for acting feminie (which i
> dont, mind you ^>^), I'd sure as hell be acting as manly as possible
> too.

It's Genma who is the coward in this instance, though.  Ranma wants 
to tell his mother.  Then Genma would put the fear of god, er, Nodoka in him, 
and he'd reconsider.  It's fear, yes, but it's good for Ranma to know 
a little fear once in a while, might put a damper on the ego.
 
> Teasing. A good point? *smirk* He manipulates others to get what he

Actually, no, I didn't mean it as a good point.  It's just a part of 
who Ranma is.  He has a mischevious side to him.

> wants. I don't find his 'teasing'to be very nice at all. Dressing up and
> claiming to be Ryouga's fiancee, knowing how desperate Ryouga is for
> someone to love him...

Yeah, well this was more out of the jealousy on Ranma's part.  And how 
does Ranma know how desperately Ryouga wants someone to love?
And even if he did know, he wouldn't want another man to be hitting on 
the woman he loves.

>Becoming Kunou's pig-tailed girl simply as a means
> of manipulating him, knowing he would do anything for those he loves.
> Ranma toys with others emotions for his own cruel satisfaction, and i
> find that to be incredibly mean.

Ranma HATES being the pig-tailed girl and discourages Kunou whenever 
he can.  When he seeks him out, it's usually for a greater cause than 
'cruel satisfaction' on Ranma's part. (ie.. trying to get Kunou to 
shave his head so the school can be pardoned).  He may enjoy 
poking-fun at Kunou's denseness, but Nabiki is the one who benefits the 
most from Kunou's infatuation with the pig-tailed girl, not Ranma.
  
> Um...he turned out a manipulative, bad mouthed, egomaniac. I don't see
> that as much better.

He's arrogant, and eogtiscal with a big mouth, yes.   But's that's 
just the icing...the rest of the cake is much better;)  
He's a nice guy.  It's clear that you don't agree, but it's true that 
it can't been seen withoug looking past the exterior, through all the 
brassness and the front he puts up to the heart of the man.

KTF, AD, USSRTFW:SR (^_^)ooo<

-----------------------------------------------------------
~Lori G.
Lgorsch@epi.umaryland.edu
"May God stand between you and harm, 
    in all the empty places where you must walk." -Sheridan, B5