We pick a story from fanfiction epic Mega Man: the Series, but rather than the eponymous Blue Bomber, this story focuses on his brother/housecat Break "Proto" Man. The author's commitment to their corpus is very impressive - almost as impressive as their ability to feel affection for Captain N: The Game Master, which Amado and Tory find mega-difficult. Link to the web site: http://mmhp.net/TheSeries/BookList.html...
If there's one thing we love more than actual fanfiction, it's navel-gazing about what does and does not count as fanfiction. If fanfiction is using other peoples' material without permission, who is allowed to give that permission? The author? The rights-holders? Your child self? The reincarnation of William Shakespeare? The fictional character Sephiroth, speaking to you from another dimension? Does it matter if I was raised on a fanfiction commune? One thing's for sure: our answers will be com...
Kai and Sergio of the So You Think You Can Fanon podcast join us for a battle of the oceanic titans, as written by professional author C.L. Werner. Japan has a Deep One cult problem, but don't worry, your tax dollars are at work in trying to fix it. Godzilla is ready to throw down with anyone who looks at him funny, up to and including a giant stone pillar. Cthulhu is a very sleepy space wizard. So You Think You Can Fanon: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/so-you-think-you-can-fanon/id150508...
In honor of that day where you can buy heart-shaped chocolate, we discuss the concept and practice of shipping. Is it shipping if we don't actually like the characters involved? How about if we're so goddamn basic that our ships are canon? And how do shipping containers fit into all this? (They fit into a cargo ship very well.)
Serena joins us on this Monday to talk about Wednesday, but not the Wednesday from Tim Burton's Wednesday, although you'd better believe we talk about that anyway. In the story, Wednesday must decide how to fulfill the honored traditions of her Nightshade ancestors... no, not the Nightshades from Wednesday... look, the important thing is that Pugsley got buff, okay? Link to the story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68398
Gaelan returns to offer his expertise as an art therapist while we try to figure out how to provide therapy for "old Batman." We revisit "Only One Can Wear the Crown," a Batman Beyond fanfic, with Gaelan's new hot takes. Spoiler alert: he definitely thinks Bruce is gay for Dick--Dick Grayson, that is, what were you thinking? Tory fumbles a lot doing Amado's job and they didn't even have to find the fic! We all learn to appreciate Amado more and maybe, also, ourselves.
We welcome back ChaosBlue of the Fanfic Maverick podcast, a true Fanfiction First Responder ready to jump into action to help in any fandom emergency. A natural catastrophe pushes Jim's powers, and his relationship with Blair, into uncharted territory. Simon is our audience identification character in wanting those two to hook up. And the story puts forth the controversial thesis that people are pretty good, actually. Link to the Fanfic Maverick podcast: https://www.fanficmaverickpodcast.com/ Li...
At what point does "movie adaption" become fanfiction? Possibly when you double the number of Marleys and add a talking rat. Or maybe not, but that's not going to stop us from talking about the Muppets' first big foray into classic literature. Gonzo has more range as a dramatic actor than Amado thought. The Christmas Ghosts are the best one-shot Muppets ever. The movie is available for viewing on Disney+, and probably on a VHS shoved into the back corner of your garage.
Tory, Amado, and Della (and don't forget Mark!) look back over their hastily-scribbled session notes about The Gamers, which might not be fan fiction but is definitely a fan project. And what they're fans of is goofing around with a bunch of your friends being low-key assholes to each other as your character fumble their way forward to an inevitable villain confrontation. The essence of roleplaying. Link to the film: http://deadgentlemen.com/projects/the-gamers-series/the-gamers/...
Telepathic homeless orphan high-school student Miki Segusa finds herself psychically linked to the King of the Monsters himself. Will they be able to relate to each other? Will Godzilla defeat the Flying/Psychic-type kaiju, Jagereth? Will the real treasure be the friends we made along the way? And will G-Force do anything useful? (In order: yes, yes, yes, no.) Link to the story: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2804025/1/Godzilla-Vs-Jagereth
We plunge into the DCAU ass-backwards with two short Batman Beyond stories. In "Only One Can Wear the Crown," Bat "Bruce Wayne" Man reminiscences about how goddamn good Dick Grayson was at acrobatics. (Spoiler: very good.) In "Hope Is The Thing With Leather," Max finds herself drawn increasingly deeper into the bat-lifestyle, which is a great idea that nobody ever regrets. Links to the stories: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7091848/1/Only-one-can-wear-the-Crown https://www.fanfiction.net/s/309633...
Anime Music Videos: the carefully-crafted works of transformative media that we watched in our youth, largely because downloading full episodes of anime off the internet was nigh impossible. Tory, Della, and Amado each pick a few AMVs to discuss, and somehow we don't hit any Evanescence songs. (We've got U2 and Linkin Park covered, though.) Amado tries to force his arbitrary categorization dichotomy on the others to limited success. Links to the AMVs: Jinnai and the Bugrom Live (El-Hazard): http...
Soviet and/or Eastern European Planeteer Linka is transported to an alternate (?) future where she died five years ago, but her troubles don't end there - she'll need to survive a cruise ship full of villains, environmental devastation, Central Park, and maybe a Balrog if we're lucky. Also, romancing sad future Wheeler. Link to the story: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2819108/4/Alternate-Destination
We continue to stretch the ambit of our podcast by discussing proto-Gainax's fan animations for the Nihon SF Taikai science fiction conventions. It's a kind of fanfiction, although the narrative that emerges is mostly "what if all of early-1980s sci-fi crashed into each other and exploded?" In the time it took you to read this, a woman dressed as a playboy bunny could already have beaten up Godzilla, Darth Vader, and a Xenomorph. Daicon III and IV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZqXJotlBY Rem...
In the wake of the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series, we return to Fernwithy's take on young Leia, the Alderaanean princess who is also a senator who is also the bio-kid of a fascist supervillain who used to be a child slave. Could it be that underneath Vader's cold shell is a deeply wounded man desperately seeking personal connection? Probably. Is any relationship with him going to end in horrible betrayal? Oh, definitely. Link to the story: http://fanfic.theforce.net/fanfic.asp?action=view&ID=368...
Erstwhile fanfiction author and Arcade Spirits co-writer Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne joins us to talk through his background in anime fanfiction. There are plenty of digressions along the way, as we talk old anime fan culture, the utilization of nostalgia in fiction, and Stefan's one degree of separation from Bryan Lee O'Malley. Link to the author's webfiction: stefangagne.com Link to the Arcade Spirits site: https://www.arcadespirits.com
Sara B. rejoins us with a strong recommendation to the world of music RPF. In Liverpool circa 1958, John Lennon is a charismatic asshole, while Paul McCartney is less charismatic but also less of an asshole. Together, they make music and have outrageous chemistry together. Stuart Sutcliffe is also there. Everyone needs to be a lot nicer to poor George Harrison. Link to the story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/188089 Link to Sara's AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storyshark2005...
It's time to investigate a 100 year-old fanfic zine, with Vincent Starett's The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet (no, not like a small town). The author writes what he knows, and what he knows is bibliophiles. The more Sherlock moves like some kind of dog or spider, the happier we are. We expect more of Watson. Link to the story: http://www.bestofsherlock.com/story/unique-hamlet-text.htm
Taran joins us, ready for a moderate amount of Ultraviolence, as we chat about the beginnings of the classic Improfanfic headliner, MTCFF Ultra. It's a wrestling-style gonzo megacrossover where Gambit, Dan Hibiki, Lina Inverse, and Shinji fight under the sponsorship of God Herself, Kasumi Tendo. But the real struggle is for each author to keep their predecessor's plot threads going. Link to the story: mtcffultra.com
Actual fanfiction writers OutHereNow and EveHypo555 of the Canon Divergent podcast join us to talk Buffy. Spike commandeers a company jet to deal with a crisis from his past in Italy. Italy is also where Buffy is half-heartedly sleeping with the hottest supernatural being on the continent. Could these two crazy kids get back together? Maybe it would be a good start if someone got around to telling Buffy that he was still alive? Link to the story: http://spikeluver.com/SpuffyRealm/viewstory.php?s...
Post-series Buffy needs a vacation, and what better way to relax than to spend some quality time with your erstwhile enemy who totally stole your body at one point? Well, beggars can't be choosers. Link to the story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35958
We continue our ongoing series discussing the fundamentals of fanfiction. This week we discuss crossovers, what we ourselves look for in a good crossover and elements we found in some not so good crossovers.
Taran, also known as the deadly Podcaster X, joins us to talk Rurouni Kenshin. The guys fall in a freezing lake and it's up to Kaoru to nurse them back to health. Sano is about as good a patient as you'd expect. Kenshin/Battousai overcomes his psychological trauma through fever-induced therapeutic roleplaying with edged weapons. Link to the story: http://www.sekiharatae.com/Akabeko/fanfic/fever/index.html
As a break from our usual routine, we sit down to hash out what the definition of fanfiction is, once and for all. Della's community-based theory sounds like too much work for Amado. On the other hand, Amado accidentally talks himself into categorizing Disney's Snow White as fanfic. RPF continues to stress us out.
Taran joins us to do the same thing we do every night: read an old fanfic and talk about it. Classic anime movie Akira is smashed together with Animaniacs... and long story short, Akira wins. Brain's friendship with Pinky is front-and-center, while Pinky's friendship with Crow T. Robot is sadly secondary. Wayback Machine link to the first chapter: bit.ly/rfrakatie
Annie of the Fangirls Library and Audio Fanfic Podcasts leaps temporarily into our recording room to discuss a post-series-ish Quantum Leap story. Ziggy is breaking down and Sam is losing his self-identity, so Al is willing to do whatever it takes to bring him back home ASAP... and the best way to do that is definitely lying to him about them being in a long-term sexual-romantic relationship. It's possible that people might be acting a wee bit out of character? The Fangirls Library podcast: http...
We set a course for pirate shenanigans with this collegiate radio adaptation of LucasArts' classic adventure game, The Curse of Monkey Island. They've got one banger of a script to wrestle down to size, and a limited number of thespians to cover the roles. You work with what you have, even if what you have is a rubber chicken with a pulley through the middle. Link to the audio files: bit.ly/comiradio
Pop culture chronicler Aja Romano introduces us to a story about two kids who really love Go... and each other. Hikaru has the most wholesome sexual awakening a queer himbo could ask for. Waya has to put up with a lot, but not as much as Hikaru's mom does. Sai's absence haunts the story. (See what I did there?) Aja Romano's website: https://www.ajaromano.com/ Link to the story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20460...
We summon Chris from across the dimensional void to help us tackle one small corner of the expansive Undocumented Features universe. Exiled from her home world of Cephiro, post-series Utena Tenjou needs to make a new life in the 25th Century. Luckily, she'll have the support of author-avatar-offspring roommate Kaitlyn Hutchins, Kaitlyn's friends and family, and a steady trickle of familiar Ohtori faces. Really, there's a whole lot of support going around in every direction - it's all very wholes...
Special guest Brihana joins us on a trip to the future Seattle of the Dark Angel TV series. It's dark, but probably not as dark as our actual present. When Alec's tryptophan run goes south, he's forced to take refuge at Logan's place, and we've all read enough fanfiction to know where this is headed. (Towards some thoughtful characterization, obviously.) Link to the story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46739?view_full_work=true Link to the podfic: http://audiofic.jinjurly.com/all-kings-horse...
