The website Starmen.net has earned the distinction of being the most prominent community for fans Earthbound. They have taken what was once only a game and morphed it into something far beyond that. The website features a standard review of the game and related games but also contains user contributed material like theories, "flukes" (graphically altered scenes using in-game graphics), comics, artwork, poetry and stories, and a webboard for community interaction. Let's take a look at some flukes: (thanks to Starmen.net for letting me use these without permission... but I'm giving credit where credit is due at least. Oh, and all the images are linked to their original location.)    Granted all of these aren't entertaining for people who don't know the game (and even for some who do [ha!]), the important part is that they're being made. These scenes take object from all parts of the game and locate them in one scene to a desired effect (effectively "paper" collage). I particularly like the Carrot Top 1-800-CALL-ATT image. It takes a recognizable topic that is totally unrelated to the game and makes use of the game's "New Age Retro Hippie" character in a totally new way. The "fluke" is a collage for the masses. Zip files have been made containing sprites from all the characters in the game and many different backgrounds with instructions on how anyone can make one of these images. It requires only MS Paint (so no need to pirate Photoshop) and the website is happy to accept submissions from anyone (as long as the material is appropriate). Another fascinating section of the site is "Fanfics". Fanfics (fan fiction) have often been described as "the lowest form of fiction writing known to man (maybe second to high school poetry)". Fanfic is basically "fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other dramatic or literary work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters," to quote the Wikipedia The appropriation of this type of material gives fanfics cultural significance. Because of the nature of the material it is hard to get in trouble for non-profit work that uses only the names and story of something. It's quite difficult to say you own the rights to the name "Paula". It is also even easier to get involved in because it requires just a text editor and a mediocre grasp of the English language. Literature also allows material to be appropriated from all possible sources as long as it can be described in words. Fanfic would have no meaning without collaging truly foreign materials together in a new form with new meaning.
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