furaffinity.net/full/13058777/ TO BE A MAN ... This story more properly begins with the November 16, 1993 parody of Rudyard Kiplings poem *If --* because whereas it was undoubtedly meant in jest, I assert with sincerity it is actually the original poem by Kipling which best applies to him: unceremoniously fired from his job as an actor due to no fault of his own he perseveres and despite his complete inexperience becomes a competent police officer, even he then even weathering the consequences of the presumed death of his first partner. With his losing everything yet through perseverance overcoming his childishness, he therefore actually seems to become more human than toon and -- as Kipling might say it -- he does indeed become a man. I view that message as an inspiring gift even though the way it is delivered is indeed an eccentric one (and truthfully, Bonkers does remain eccentric despite growing out of his childish immaturity), hence how it was with joy I came across the fanfiction of _the New Cases of the Toon Division_ by Slayzer. Fanfiction is generally not all that good as it is written by fans and as it tends to be unoriginal, but Slayzers story has a plot twist at the end of its Chapter 1 first part (click on the drag down menu parallel to the Next button and drag down to the We Have Regretted Nothing or click the Next button to see the second part) which results in the surprise I view as a metaphor for how apt applying the original version of Kiplings *If --* actually is. https://fanfiction.net/s/6896276/1/The-New-Cases-of-Toon-Division In a similar case you may recall how various version of _Pinocchio_ portray him transforming from a living wooden puppet into a real human boy due to him finally becoming responsible and thus maturing over time, although in the case of Bonkers here the concern he voices to Miranda around the time he starts asking awkward questions about his tail (admittedly he never did quite look like a bobcat due to being given a better-looking design, thus for instance how he never had a bobtail) shows he still does have some further maturing to do, although it is still an inspiring addition to the inspiring gift of finding the cartoon bobcat Bonkers to be one of the most inspiring and thus even one of the most *human* fictional characters I have ever encountered. An added benefit of Slayzers story is that Peaceblossom also appreciated it so much after its 2011 posting that thorough art and fanfictions of her own she has continued to depict events after the end of Slayzers story, most recently (as of this writing) with her _Bonkers Ever After_ story (see https://fanfiction.net/s/10387966/1/Bonkers-Ever-After). In short, he continues to become more human and thus more-mature in behavior as a result of what happened to him, which thus has positive consequences for those about him. This in itself is something of an irony as in contrast, I once knew an individual supposedly mature enough to have a forum yet who as it steadily deteriorated under his dysfunctional management then let his pride lapse into megalomania and finally into narcissistic personality disorder so that he finally declared himself to be an elder god, at which point I joined the exodus of those that left. I do not want to be an elder god, I simply want to be a man. Even if that man is indeed an orange fuzzy bobcat. allpoetry/If....
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 08:29:41 +0000