"Between A Rock And A Raccoon" commentary & notes

REFERENCES: 

-- The title is a play on the saying "between a rock and a hard place".

GENERAL:

-- I started watching Steven Universe before I did the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie. And either I was watching Amethyst saying that she didn't ask to be made or Rocket's angst-fueled rant in the middle of the movie, was reminded of the other character (I don't remember which one) having a very similar moment, and more or less reacting like this:

Admittedly I've not seen the last Guardians movie, and that's honestly because I have MCU fatigue. IMHO the internet abuses the heck out of slang terms like "x fatigue", but in this case I will use it because that's how I feel towards the MCU -- general indifference mixed with weariness, especially when I heard about the fates of Lila and the rest of Rocket's fellow experiments. One of several things about the MCU I've gotten real annoyed with is them killing off the heroes' loved ones near constantly in every other movie (while keeping less interesting, insipid/or annoying characters around). They kill off their villains way too quickly too.

-- A friend actually got me into Steven Universe! I did not start off with the first episode however, which I'm sure Connie would disapprove of LOL. I stuck with it, even though the episode I came in on was kind of boring (it was the one where Onion had gotten hold of some Gem artifact and was using it to multiply things). I find many of my viewpoints on the show differs from a lot of other people's. I don't mind the townies any, because I feel that having a supporting cast is handy for fleshing out a fictional world, among other things. I like the Diamonds, especially Yellow, though Blue is right behind her. Why yes, I do support Nazism/genocide/racism! How did you ever guess that? /s 

🙄😄

-- This idea had been floating around in my brain for the longest time, and I'm so happy to be able to finally write it out. Having characters that share common ground come together and talk is something I find really satisfying, and I wish more people would write stuff like that. Especially if one character has figured out how to handle a problem or a situation and can advise the other one.

-- I think I've only ever seen like two or three Steven Universe/GotG crossovers out there. None of them featured Rocket and Amethyst interacting in any capacity. Such a missed opportunity for some good character development/interaction. Unfortunately, missed opportunities like that are pretty commonplace for fandoms in general.

-- I do believe Amethyst would find Drax hilarious.

-- I couldn't resist having Rocket snap at Amethyst “And don't you even think about trying to sing at me!” XD Personally, I'm very impressed that SU has a number of songs that I actually really enjoy and still listen to to this day because they're bangers. Not every show (or even movie for that matter) has songwriting on that level. At the Elena Of Avalor subreddit I once admitted to finding the songs in that particular show super bland and something to skip through. Yes, even Esteban's song in that one episode. And Victor and Carla's one time attempts at rapping was so cringey that even my TV screen wanted to look away in embarrassment. Another poster there was very shocked by my admission. I wanted to reply "Gee, I'm sorry I don't like modern-day basic bubblegum pop and whatever the heck that was that Victor and Carla were trying to do", but my response to her was polite. I think the vast majority of songs in the Disney shows that have come out in recent years are aggressively mediocre, if not outright underwhelming. I would honestly prefer if they cut the songs out all together, because all they do is just eat into time that could be spent on furthering character development/or the plot.

So yeah, again, real impressed over here that SU's music is so good.

-- I don't particularly like raccoons, as in the real animals, but Rocket's a pretty interesting guy. I like both his voice actors, Bradley Cooper and Trevor Devall in several of the cartoons respectively. They suit him. When he actually looks like an actual raccoon and not some kind of demonic terrier, that's pretty cool too lol. In the future I may do a Character Corner feature for Rocket, as he will be appearing in a couple of STARS-verse stories coming down the pipeline. Amethyst? Well, while I really started liking her after she underwent her character development, I probably won't be doing one for her unless I do some SU stories. Which I have considered doing, but taking into account everything else on my plate, unless I have a really, really good idea for a fic, probably won't be happening.

FUN FACTS:  

-- Rocket denigrates my favorite Crystal Gem. 😯

Something about A03 I just learned

So you know how you put in all the tags for your story, and there's the relationship field? Well, that can be used to describe any kind of relationship in the fic, not just romantic pairings (which is what I'd always assumed). Here's how you're supposed to distinguish between non-romantic relationships and romantic ones:

[Character Name] & [Character Name] = Rivals, enemies, friends, family, etc. 

[Character Name]/[Character Name] = romance 

I've gone in and fixed this on my stories. Personally, I just tag the relationships that are actually important to the story, because there is an issue of people tagging every single ship there is, including background ones. This means that if you want to read something featuring a particular couple and try searching, in some cases you get back a bunch of results where said couple just gets a mention or the like. It's pretty annoying.

What happened to the latest chapters of New Dogs on Fanfiction.net and a few other things

-- I've been trying to update New Dogs on Fanfiction.net, but the struggle is real. My Microsoft Office license expired around a month or so ago, but since I've switched to using Google Docs to write my stuff it doesn't really matter. Plus Google Docs is actually free. Back when I did have Microsoft Office, it was just simply a matter of changing the .docx file into a .doc document under the "save as" field and then uploading it to the site, but the system's so finicky that updating multichapter fics there is a chore now. I keep getting error messages even though I've tried uploading new chapters as a rich text file or copy and pasting it. C&P did work, but then when I moved on to the next step, the new document wasn't there. But I was able to post Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions just fine.

I still have lots of praise for FF.net and think it's a viable source for reading and posting fanfic, but they make it hard because the site has gotten so janky at this point. I mean, on my end the sixth chapter of New Dogs doesn't even come up. I just get an error message. I saw a lot of people saying to just keep hitting enter until FF.net finally accepts your story, but I can't continuously do that because of issues with my hands.

-- So now that Hell Is Paved is done, the next one-shot will be much lighter in tone. I honestly don't know when I'm gonna get around to writing up the notes for Hell Is Paved. I know I do have a lot to say on the topic of xenofiction and how the subject of predator/prey dynamics has been handled in a number of animal-centric worlds.

-- Currently working on The Stranger and A Horse Of A Different Color.

-- This is kinda off topic, but the one bad thing about choosing not to engage in fan communities means you have no way of knowing if somebody out there might've saved some fan art or a fanfic that you really love but got taken down, because you have no clue who's safe to approach and who isn't. At this point, any cool fic or art I see gets saved to a flash drive/cloud/etc.

STARS-verse Dreamcast

Always fun to imagine who could voice the characters in your works, and that's what this post is for. I should note certain voice actors are different from the ones Evil Writer selected for his Quick Strike-verse, and that this is just how these characters would sound per my setting. I ended up hitting upon the idea of having different VAs for STARS, especially since some of the characters have gotten touched up for my AU.

Hoping to be able to do one of these for almost every story I have featuring OCs, or fics where a character doesn't have a voice actor for whatever reasons.

I'll update this list every time I post a story with new characters.

Lord Death: Oded Fehr
Roles: Ardeth Bay (the 1999 The Mummy), Ras Al Ghul (Young Justice).

I think he's done more voicework at this point than live action roles? My selecting him was a nod to the character's Middle Eastern roots in the QS series. I feel he could successfully portray a sinister, domineering, cold sorcerer. 

Lady Dread: Bebe Neuwirth 
Roles: Lilith (Frasier, Cheers, Wings), Mirage (Aladdin), Belladonna (All Dogs Go To Heaven: The Series).

Randomly remembering Mirage one day was what nailed Neuwirth as Dread's VA. Dread isn't as over the top the way Mirage is all the time, but I think Neuwirth could easily dial it back some as needed. She sounds playfully sinister and elegant, all the while relishing the idea of mowing down the good guys or any innocent people who get in her way for for kicks (yes, she will be a reoccurring villain). 

Zaygos: Robert Englund 
Roles: Scarecrow (Injustice 2), Freddy Krueger (og A Nightmare On Elm Street series).

If you're a horror fan, then you already know who this guy is. One October I was watching the (really fascinating) documentary Never Sleep Again, which is about the Elm Street movies. I thought "Y'know, t'd be a nice little nod and a wink if the OC bad guys in STARS had VAs who were known for being horror villains." The perfect Zaygos voice would be a mixture of Anti-Pops from Regular Show and the Khan in The Master of Orion.

The jury's still out on Kaymat, Vile, and Lustfox, though I have a couple of potential choices for Lustfox. 

Tyron: Liam Neeson 
Roles: Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List), Qui-Gon Jin (the Star Wars prequels). 

What else can you say about Liam Neeson? He was a shoe-in for Tyron all way back in the day thanks to the movie Rob Roy. The man's voice just exudes regal gravitas.

Aurora: Drew Barrymore 
Roles: Danielle (Ever After), Josie Geller (Never Been Kissed).

Another voice actor carried over from the QS-verse verse. Sweet, but not a pushover, with down to earth, and -- call me stereotypical for saying this -- girl next door energy. 

Cyan: Rob Paulsen 
Roles: Holy crap, just go and watch a cartoon, especially one from the late 80s-'90s.

I've already discussed this dude here before and why I like him so much. I think he's talented and versatile enough to devise a voice that could fit Cyan in this "What if my fanfics were an actual animated series" scenario.

Streetwise: Daveed Diggs 
Roles: Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton), Andre Layton (Snowpiercer).

Diggs ultimately won out because his portrayal of Lafayette has such a cheeky, energetic vibe I thought fit Streetwise perfectly. He also succeeds in not sounding like an American putting on a corny French accent.

Dama: She's been more of a tricky character to cast, but a friend of mine ultimately landed upon these four actresses. Either Laura Fraser, Karen Gillan, Sharon Rooney, or Amy Manson

Laura Fraser 
Roles: Kate (A Knight's Tale), Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul).

Karen Gillan
Roles: Amy Pond (Doctor Who), Kaylie Russell (Oculus).

Sharon Rooney
Roles: Rae Earl (My Mad Fat Diary) Lawyer Barbie (Barbie).

Amy Manson
Roles: Merida (Once Upon A Time), Maladie (The Nevers).

Looking over the profile EW wrote for Dama as well as reading the fics she's appeared in, I landed on her characterization here as someone who's inwardly torn about her heritage at times, but also fearless and ready to face down trouble with a can-do attitude and cleverness. So a voice actress would have to successfully embody those qualities. The only one I'm actually familiar with is Frazier and Gillan.

I don't have anyone for either Eric or Blades yet. For the latter, I'd prefer a authentic Japanese actress. I've had a couple of ideas for Eric, but am still in the process of sussing them out. Originally Tom Hanks was going to be Powerplay, but now I'm considering a younger voice actor who's a native Canadian. I have no shortages of choices there to choose from.

Oh, FYI, Professor Hubert's og voice actor, David Doyle, passed all the way back in 1997, so EW brought up the idea of recasting Hubie in the QS-verse. My own personal choice for STARS? Jeffrey Combs. I really like the idea of someone who played an amoral scientist in the movie Reanimator voicing another scientist character that's more upright.

The context behind this scene is super unhinged (an understatement), but that's still like the standout line for me in that movie.

New fic!

Title: Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions
Universe: Watership Down/Oren's Forge fusion/crossover.
Rated: T.
Genres: Drama/Tragedy.
Key character(s): Hemlock, General Woundwort.
Warnings: Alternate universe, canon mixing, crossover, violence.
Summary: Individuals can justify their acts of brutality and cruelty to themselves all they want, but ultimately they who live by the sword shall perish by it.

A03 link: Right here
Fanfiction.net link: Right here 

"New Dogs, New Tricks" Chapter One commentary & notes

REFERENCES: 

 

-- Forgot to mention this in the last post, but the fic title is a reference of sorts to the title of Eric and co's debut story in the Quick Strike-verse, New Dogs On The Block. I wanted a twist on it as a nod to that particular story. In the Friendship Is Magic fandom, a lot of people were doing AUs that shifted the roles of that series' characters around, with some plots being rewrites of canon episodes, so a number of rewrites have titles which reference the original episode. I thought that'd be fun to do here. New Dogs, New Tricks is also of course a nod to the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Though I do wonder if it seem like I'm implying that the canon Rovers don't have any new tricks of their own, as it were. Which is not my intention -- in fact, one certain character will finally get his chance to shine in NDNT.

GENERAL:

-- I do feel like the Master creating the Transdogmafier would have a domino effect on the setting. I have yet to see any fanfics touch on that. It's just like one day the Road Rovers are there, then the next, there are more animal people who've seemingly come out of nowhere walking around and humans don't react to them, like they're something that's always been around like birds and vehicles. It's like the author started out at point A and then skipped straight ahead to point C. Missed opportunity for worldbuilding there.

 -- I chose to make Professor Hubert a bloodhound/basset hound mix. The Master proclaims he has the best sense of smell in the world. Well, in the dog world that title belongs to the bloodhound. I mean, they're kinda famous for it. People back in the old days of fandom called him a bloodhound. But Hubert's markings don't look very bloodhound-like. They are however more similar to a basset hound's. Bassets are regarded as being right behind the bloodhound in terms of their noses. So I was like "Heck, smush 'em both together. Mix-breeds are cool."

- First draft I had Hubert listening to the Beastie Boys on a Walkman. Regarding Project Circe that he mentions to the Master -- if you know your Greek myth and you look at this chapter, you can probably put two and two together about what kind of project Hubert was working on for Shepherd.

-- The Master being psychic is an idea I got from a fan writer named Chris Chestnut. I think it's an good solid explanation for why he can do the weird stuff he can do.

 

-- Yep, no Hunter or Shag in this story! This is a writing trick I picked up from another writer who goes by Dimensional Gatekeeper on FF.net -- shuffling characters around in order to spotlight other characters, as well as breaking up one large group of characters into several smaller ones. It's a way of seeing how they might behave without the entire team present, or with different characters in the mix. Plus, writing an eleven person team all hanging out together for an extended amount of time can get tricky. Some characters' voices can also end up getting drowned out, or the writer runs the risk of everyone all sounding the same. So it's also a good way of making sure every character gets some attention.

So Colleen might be absent for the next story, or it could be Muzzle/or Blitz (I mean, Muzzle didn't always go with them all the time in the show either).

-- My issue with many Road Rover OCs isn't necessarily the fact that people feel the need to create them, but how they aggressively dominate everything and aren't handled particularly well. Some feel like they would fit better in an original world of the author's own personal vision rather than the actual show itself. The canonical characters get no attention or development, and that's if they're even in the same story as the OC (although the OCs usually don't really evolve as characters any either). Or one particular canon Rover gets glazed and the rest treated like the Three Stooges as well as not being as special and morally upstanding as the writer's favorite Rover is. The Rovers' focus shifts from saving the world to helping out the super special OC with their own personal issues. Granted, that tends to revolve around a villain OC that's connected to the OC, but everything still ends up getting tied back to the OC. 

Now, I do find the concept of fan-made Rovers extremely appealing, firstly because the show's setting feels kind of empty, and secondly, I think the Master would want to create more Rovers to help out. Not a literal army -- that line from the Master about not wanting to create his own army was a very deliberate choice on my part, as I've seen a bunch of fics where that was indeed the case, and it just begs the question of how is RRMC able to support all these Rovers living there. And why hasn't crime just been wiped out by the Rover army? I also think having a ton of characters ends up taking away from the special-ness, as it were, of the ones we're supposed to be following in the fics.

At any rate, why not have other characters around for the canon Rovers to bounce off of and interact with? OCs equal new character interactions and relationships. Hunter and co can make new friends, new enemies, or new love interests. Or maybe some of them are neutral towards one another. That's what I'm interested in. Plus, with characters like Hunter and Colleen, I think they need pushback from other people who might *gasp* not look at them like they hung the moon, or even just disagree with them sometimes (FYI, I feel the same way about character dynamics in Sonic The Hedgehog and Elena Of Avalor. Bring in new/or different characters around the main group who can then look in and observe the inner circle). I mean, Blitz is the only one ever shown to be critical of Hunter in any way, and is often shown as being in the wrong the overwhelming majority of the time. I don't think that's realistic. Granted, we're not going to see much in the way of criticism towards Hunter or Colleen from this particular batch of new heroes just because they don't start out as having that kind of personality, but I've got some OCs of my own who will handily take care of that in the next story. :-) 

Also, the new Rovers in NDNT come from countries that it makes perfect sense to have Rover representation for. France is one of the nuclear powers, while mid '90s Japan and Canada were both global powerhouses. It's also brilliant to have this lineup of presidential pets be interspersed with dogs who already have homes with regular citizens.

 

-- This is my thought process -- a dog born on the streets, or one that constantly lived outside would not have any frame of reference for what a werewolf even is. Aurora knows about them (or at least werewolves in fiction) because she has a home and her master watches horror movies, so it's something she's picked up via osmosis.

-- Here's a basic rundown on those other RR teams I referred to as already existing here:

 

The Wild Kats: These guys were created by Greywolf Lupous. Dusty, who's a mixed-breed cat, is their leader. The rest of the team consists of Sugar, the siamese/burmese mix who's basically their Colleen, Trouble, the half manx half Maine Coon witch's cat, and Moffet the tech genius. There was a fifth character, Dinamite, Sugar's brother, but I ultimately chose not to use him because he's pretty flat and doesn't bring anything new or unique to the table. The Kats were first formed as a team when the Master called on them to rescue the canon Rovers, who'd been captured by Parvo. 

The Maddog Bounty Hunters: What it says on the tin. They belong to Greg Willis. Outlaw the mutt is their leader. We also have Beowulf the Great Dane, Silver the coyote, and Sapphire the Siberian husky. As mentioned in NDNT, their tech expert is human named Wesley Hawk. I think these guys are pretty unique (something that's I personally feel is lacking in most modern day OCs) and have some pretty creative backstories. There's more details I've left out but will cover when the Maddogs actually pop up in person. Also, props to Willis for how he handled the cano-mutants by remembering that they're actual threats that were only made that way thanks to General Parvo.

The Freelance Rovers: Yet more creations of George Aguirre. They're an international team of Rovers that were said to have several bases across the globe in George's fanfics, but I'm thinking that in STARS they'll just have one in Europe somewhere and a backup base elsewhere in case the first one gets discovered by villains or something. The few stories I've found starring them have not really been forthcoming with info about them or what exactly their specialty if any is. Their leader is a greyhound named Blades Broadsword. I'm not going to use every Freelancer there was, because with a number of them the only info I have is a name, maybe their breed, and nothing else. I do have a few ideas for the FRs, though this is mostly in the capacity of them being background characters. Same verse as before -- I'll talk more about my approach to them when they actually start appearing in the flesh then.

-- There are two variants of the akita, the American version and the Japanese. Obviously Blades is the Japanese subtype. They tend not to like other dogs or strangers very much.

-- Writing the scene where the new guys get to show off their respective personalities was very fun. Comparing the Master to musician Edgar Winter was just simply too good a joke/reference to pass up, and the surfer dog from Cali was the perfect guy to make the observation. In fact, I'd like to start a trend of other characters comparing the Master to famous guys, fictional characters included, with long white hair.

FUN FACTS:

 

-- If you're curious as to the thought process behind the new guys' powers, here they are as shared with me by EW: 

Eric: EW just thought that flight would be a cool power to have.

Powerplay: His breed; labs are famous as being water-loving dogs.

Tyron: A character from the series Big Bad Beetleborgs. 

Streetwise: The Super Punch was inspired by another OC who had a "super howl" as their power (though I don't know if that power was based more in soundwaves or if it was a shockwave). EW's twist on the idea is basically a joke based on Streetwise's breed.

Dama: Not really sure, actually. Apparently illusion casting was Aurora's original power before she got  invisibility.

Aurora: The Invisible Woman (Marvel Comics).

Cyan: Cypher (Marvel Comics).

Blades: A character from an obscure cartoon called Skeleton Warriors.

Reader reviews and responses, #2

This time we got a PM from Impishdude over on Fanfiction.net.

Hi! I just wanted to say that even though your Antoine story was never finished, it had a huge impact on how I view the character.

For a long time, it felt like most interpretations of Antoine focused primarily on his insecurities, mistakes, or comedic moments. Your story was one of the first that showed him as someone capable of growth. A person trying to find his place in the world rather than simply serving as comic relief.

Reading it made me realize I wasn't the only one who saw more potential in Antoine than what canon often highlighted. It inspired me to develop my own interpretation of him, focusing on his struggles with belonging, self-worth, and learning that courage isn't the absence of fear, but continuing despite it.

Even though the story was canceled, the ideas you explored stayed with me. I wanted to thank you for helping me see Antoine in a different light and for inspiring me to create my own version of his journey. Your work meant more than you probably realize.

Thank you, thank you! One of the things I've grown to really love about storytelling (original/or fanfiction) is how it gives us the ability to share our ideas and thought processes with one another -- and in this case, more people appreciating a certain character than what you might've been initially led to believe. It's just cool to see people be brought together in spite of whatever religion, gender, political viewpoint, race, or wherever you may be in the world. I also think it's wonderful to be inspired by others, or have other people be inspired by you. Even even if it is just one person, that's still absolutely amazing. 

Keep on creating, folks.