General Fanfiction Discussion 2: Electric Boogaloo

[tehprognoob]

I suppose Lelouch is sort of this kind of person, too? (Burned by the system, raises flag of rebellion, etc. without the support of the Britannian citizens but with the support of fringe groups and extremists. Of course, Geass and the whole business with Britannia being sort of a dick to its conquered peoples is another matter.)

I was referencing to the in-story rebellion when I said, "doomed to failure." I'm still unsure whether the rebellion would really take off--for one thing, the rebels aren't exactly very strongly motivated. No economic stagnation, no oppression for the common Joe, no real reason to disrupt their way of living. Just a desire to not be controlled by a distant government in which they have no say. Similar to the American Revolution, except there is no natural barrier dividing the capital and the fringe provinces, no external power to back up the rebels (like France did), since the government covers the entire globe. (If you think about it, it's sort of like the Zeon War of Independence). Pitted against a well-entrenched government with a population that resists chaos, would this rebellion take off or choke out? The Americans won as a result of foreign intervention and Britain's sheer distance from America, the Zeons lost under similar circumstances (Gundam-boy notwithstanding). I guess I'm generally ambiguous as to the outcome of the war.

[ShadowCell]

There's no reason why they can't win, unless you don't want them to.

If your rebels aren't strongly motivated, then that would be an issue of characterization. By definition, they must have some sort of strong motivation, or else they wouldn't go to all the trouble and risk of being rebels. As for whether or not the rest of the public catches on, that depends on how you want the story to go. Do they win or not? After all, you're not writing a simulation of reality, you're writing a story. So you'd have to decide how the story goes.

You can draw examples from history for ways in which a rebellion against a powerful established order can fail or succeed.

[Soma Taozi]

Exactly, just look at a long time ago in history and you will see exactly what ShadowCell means.

I seem to remember foot soilders in a forest somewhere being convinced to team up with a bunch of furry teddy bears to fight against a highly trained and experienced army of soilders. They would have to believe in their own cause or else they never would have followed the plan of using post-medieval weaponary to destory the technogically advanced super weapons. In other words, I have a feeling that this had less of them being told to do it by a princess, a criminal, and a wanabe priest of a fallen order, and more to do with their own beliefs.

hmm...I am just full of bad jokes today...

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

Huh. Justice league of Gundams? I don't know if that's been done before but it sounds interesting, even though I'm not a big fan of superheroism (preferring instead an efficient and powerful police.)

Oh it's certainly not THAT. I don't think even the original Rogue Squadron concept was that far gone. I think the closest that Gundam gets to that is with Domon and his ilk. No this is going to be pretty much your standard Gundam war story that just happens to be a big crossover. (snort) When I type it like that it sure doesn't sound that exciting does it? Oh well, you'll just have to wait for the 1st chapter.

I seem to remember foot soilders in a forest somewhere being convinced to team up with a bunch of furry teddy bears to fight against a highly trained and experienced army of soilders. They would have to believe in their own cause or else they never would have followed the plan of using post-medieval weaponary to destory the technogically advanced super weapons. In other words, I have a feeling that this had less of them being told to do it by a princess, a criminal, and a wanabe priest of a fallen order, and more to do with their own beliefs.

hmm...I am just full of bad jokes today...

Hey, I'd take an army of Ewoks over the Gungans any day of the bloody year!

[Nitramy]

Had this idea for a post-DESTINY CE series in my head... even had a few chapters and a synopsis all planned out.

Basically, we have a moderate faction of the Blue Cosmos (if you want the analogy, the BC extremists = Master Asia; the BC moderates = Domon Kasshu) slowly gaining support in the Earth Sphere and the PLANTs.

Seven years after DESTINY, the BC moderates (now under a different name) make their political move, but a few dirty tricks by ZAFT and they get branded as terrorists and must now fight a losing war against both ZAFT and the Earth Sphere.

And soon, old and new faces will be brought to the forefront of war. Again.

Spoiler

The main character is a failed prototype - a genetic clone of (insert CE character here - Athrun Zala was my first choice) indoctrinated to the ideals of the Blue Cosmos.

She and the other "discarded" BC experiments are currently living in what once was (insert city name here; I was going for someplace in Europe); away from their former lives as deep-cover infiltration agents for Blue Cosmos until the war literally comes to their doorstep.

A Core Splendor crash-lands just outside the home they share with several hundred other refugees, and our MC decides to fly the thing away from their home to avoid the wrath of ZAFT forces.

She does adequately in her first sortie, and is recruited (along with her other fellow BC "discards") to the BC moderate faction (now reduced to fighting a guerrilla war against ZAFT and the EA)... of note is a redhead assigned to mentor her in piloting the Destiny Impulse - our requisite masked character.

So what I'm going for is a Victory Gundam-esque conclusion to the CE universe, where blind idealism falls into a pit, people make sacrifices, and the world finally sees the true value of humanity through the sacrifice of countless innocents.

[ShadowCell]

How exactly would a "moderate" Blue Cosmos work?

I mean, once you drop the "kill all Coordinators" part, you kind of don't really have a Blue Cosmos anymore.

[Nitramy]

I don't know, come up with a solution to the Coordinators' breeding problem?

Enough genetic modification and the barrier between Coordinators and Naturals would be gone, and the moderates would have essentially "killed off" all the Coordinators in a few decades or so.

[ShadowCell]

The breeding problem is only said to be between second-generation Coordinators. There's no indication that Coordinators can't reproduce with Naturals; FRAME ASTRAYS gives us Xist Elwes, the half-Coordinator Earth Alliance pilot, for example.

Besides, that wouldn't really "destroy" the Coordinators, it would just diffuse their superior genetics into the greater population. And for a group that sees the Coordinators as a taint, I'm not sure why their solution would be to spread the taint throughout the species.

There's other ways to cast anti-Coordinator sentiment, though; political, economic, social class, religious, etc. Blue Cosmos started out as an environmental group, so you could come up with some other angle on anti-Coordinator sentiment and have them pursue their goals by some means other than terrorism.

[Rob DS Zeta]

It's like, instead of massacring the Coordinators, sink them into obscurity and reduce them to nothing through propaganda and political influence.

...I can't imagine that being possible without destroying the PLANTs, though.

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

What do you guys think about crack pairings? You know, like MurruexKira, KamillexEmma, TieriaxSumereagi, or, just to be really out there, HamanxTreize.

Personally, I like 'em... as long as they're done well. Keywords: done and well.

[Rob DS Zeta]

Keywords: done and well.

I'd read it, if those keywords could be followed... and I actually had a feel for the characters. (I wouldn't read HamanxTreize, but definitely KamillexEmma).

[Antares]

I dunno, my pairing sense tends to be rather canon, and bordering on the NOW-AND-FOREVER -variety. For example, in my fic I put Cags and Athrun right back together.

On the rebellion idea: How ruthless do you want the rebels to be? Are they your heroes? If not, they could also start kicking up dust, framing the state's security forces for acts of brutality. Since there is some suspicion if not resentment already seeded in the general populace, that suspicion could start breeding resentment. Do the rebels consider their cause so worthy that they would be turn to morally questionable means to overthrow the government? I think LoGH might also serve you well in outlining a similar scenario in the case of the Lohengramm Dynasty's enlightened dictatorship.

And a moderate Blue Cosmos... ummm... yeah I have to go with ShadowCell here, you would be up to your neck in trouble trying to give them a coherent ideology to follow. It's hard to pick xenophobes as the hapless victims of malicious ZAFT aggression after all they've done. Although, claimed (and pretended) victimhood is a mighty weapon to wield and can be used to legitimize all kinds of nasty actions because hey, they'd do the same to us.

[Deathzealot]

/sigh/ I apologize for asking this but does anyone have the fanfiction Mobile Suit Gundam: To Thine Own Self... the abortive sequel to What Cost For Freedom? I have looked all over, even the Wayback Machine does not work. Figured someone might have a copy laying about. This has been bothering the heck out of me for several days now.

Thank you in Advance...

[tehprognoob]

(Necessary info for a fanfic)


In Code Geass, where was Lelouch quartered? It sort of looks like the school dormitories--Sayoko said that Nunnally was in her room during the Black Rebellion, but other indications, such as Kallen discovering a household expense book in an addon comic at the end of one of the mangas indicate that he is living in a private home. (The Ashford dwelling, perhaps? It makes sense that they would live close to the school)

[Rob DS Zeta]

I always thought he lived in the student council building/the student council building doubled as the Lamperouge residence. It's also possible that they had a villa on the Asford estate, or that they lived in a private dormitory.

I'm almost positive that they live near or on to the school grounds, though. When the cat steals the helmet, doesn't he go straight from Lulu's room to the school grounds?

[tehprognoob]

it would be odd for someone to live in the student council room, so I'm going to infer a private dorm set aside for them. Ashford can't just be a day school; no school that large (or rich; I wish my school had a goddamn Ganymede or such equivalent just lying around...orz) could be just for local kids, or are we talking a school for the super-rich with space for a few thousand occupied by a few hundred = =.

[Deathzealot]

As far as I know they do live in part of the student council building, I think Lulu mentions this to Kallen when she is inducted into the Student Council. She asks something about he got the clouths for her pretty fast and he responds something about them living in the building.

[tehprognoob]

Ahh, so a private dorm seems sensible. (A pretty big dorm, I must say. The meeting hall is bigger than my entire home = = damn rich people.)

[Rob DS Zeta]

Honestly, dude, so long as you don't make a big deal out of it and keep it in line with the rest of the plot, they can live wherever the heck you want them to.

[ArcticHeart]

I wasn't sure where else to post this, so I decided to post it in general.

This is an idea for a Mecha story that I had recently, but I didn't want to get too ahead of myself just in case it turns out it isn't any good. I have the history outline and the basic designs of the first five Mecha for the series but nothing complex and I wanted opinions on what I have here from people who know a lot about Mecha Anime before I went beyond this.

if this is in the wrong forum, sorry but I wasn't sure where else to post this. I'd like your honest opinions here, I'm not sure what to think of this idea and I'd prefer opinions from people who know a lot about mecha and the series they come from.

In the history of this series, two different kinds of advanced humans appear on earth, Magi or magic users, and Psions who use psionic powers. both were created artificially with Magi having been created when groups that could charitably be called "cults" used their magical or shamanistic influence to bring magic back to the world and begin to grant the power of magic to themselves and other humans who believe or are "converted".

Psions, on the other hand, are created when a project meant to be used to repair brain cells damaged by head trauma, comas ect causes those used as test subjects, and subsequently the scientists who created them, to gain psionic powers.

Eventually these two groups of "supermen", or whatever generic term to use, spread out through conversions and of course normal people are scared to death of them

And since whatever governments or United Nations council things exists at the time is afraid that if they try to exterminate them it will cause a war they can't win, they decide to do what is, in their minds, the only logical solution, to round up ever member of each group and segregate them into their own nations where normal people aren't allowed to go and only members of a specific group are. Vancouver Island becomes the nation of Magi while Japan becomes the nation of Psionics. This seems to settle normal people down and since the two super groups are relatively small enough that this isn't a problem, things settle down for several generations.

However many years later (I've yet to determine how much, but probably a century or more) the two nations are overcrowded to the point that the natural resources cannot support the nations (and the world's governments "forgot" to send them aid) and as can be expected, each of the two nations, Magi and Psions, decide to take revenge on normal humans; since the powers of people born with Magic or Psionics are much stronger than the original members of the nations (who were given powers later in life) the latest generations easily overpower the technological militaries of earth, cutting across Asia and North America heading towards Europe over the course of a decade or more.

Because the technology to turn normal humans to psions was lost, those born with magic or psionics are more powerful than converted humans, and both sides see humans as inferior, neither side decides to turn normal humans into more Psions or Magi.

when the Magi and Psion armies meet in Europe, both decide that the others is inferior to them and war breaks out between them, with normal humans now considered by both sides to be on the level of animals to their eyes, either collateral damage or enslaved by either side to use as meat shields/cannon fodder by the use of enchantment magic or psionic mind control

While this is going on, the normal humans, their numbers drastically reduced due to the war, decide to escape earth and leave the two races of "superior humans" to kill each other off. They congregate their resources into three factories, one in South America, one in Africa, and one in Australia, where the fighting hasn't yet reached, and managed to build giant robot workers which are able to take a large amount of resources into space and construct giant Space colonies over the course of about 5 years, allowing humans to leave earth to live in the colonies only a short time before fighting reaches the areas where the constructions and launches took place

The normal humans are mostly content to live in space while the Magi and Psions (both of whom scorn technology as their powers easily defeated it and therefore can't follow them into space) fight it out. But when the first generation of children are born in the space colonies, tests reveal that normal humans having migrated to and surviving in space has caused an actual natural evolutionary response of Technopathics and mind shielding. To clarify, the children who are born in space, due to the residual effects of magic and psionics used on the same planet as their parents coupled with the shift in environment to outer space has made the children immune to mind control from either magic or Psionics and granted them the ability to operated machines with their minds

As though their minds are like a universal controller of sorts; the ability is relatively minimal at birth but can be trained like any natural ability to greater strengths

As these abilities persist and appear in all children born in the colonies, humans, for once, don't dismiss the new development as something to be feared, partly because the sort of kinda maybe learned something from the events that led them there, but mainly because since every child was born with these abilities the parents of all of them were very protective and it was realized that killing these children was A) immoral and B) foolish as it would lead to their extinction

On Earth, the war rages for a long long time, with neither side able to gain ground for any significant period of time. Things only get worse when each side actually finds a practical application for technology they salvage from each of the abandoned factories. Mages create suits of powered armor called Magi Armor that not only protects them but enhances the spells they cast through the suits, like scaling up a bullet to a cannonball, sort of.

Psions, meanwhile, create Psion Frames, sort of exoskeleton suits of body armor that all them to project a defensive field around their bodies and that also enhance their psionic powers when worn

Up in space, things are observed and its decided that something needs to be done or this war will eventually leave earth uninhabitable. Deciding the take advantage of the Technopathic abilities of all but the original humans (most of whom are dead or dying from age) they decide to build mecha and train soldiers to pilot them; to keep the mecha from being stolen or hijacked they aren't given a key or startup button, instead the only way to activate them is for a technopath to interface with the machine, acting as the "on switch" or sorts. At first, five of these giant robots are built as super-prototypes (to test limits and new tech) and they prepare to invade and re-take their home planet.

The mechs are called Senti-Mechs names because the “sentient minds” of a technopath are the only things that can activate them, to prevent Magi and Psions from stealing and using the mechs.

The series starts with a space landing invasion of Greenland where the five pilots of the first five Senti-Mechs have to clear out the communications and RADAR stations of the Magi and Psions to allow the support teams and mechanics who will repair, rearm, and support them to land as well as to build a power base on earth.

Shine Weapons are purple energy weapons that are actually superheated plasma, but one person said the shots and swords looked shiny, and the name “Shine Weapon” just stuck.

The first five senti-mechs register their pilot’s metal pattern so only the original pilot can activate it and control it with their technopathy.

The first five are as follows:

Senti-Mech #1: Melee specialized, armed with solid axes that have superheated blades and a pair of token ranged weapon, two small machine guns in the chest that are only a bit larger than human sized weapons. Ranged capabilities are practically nonexistent.
Special Weapon: Shine Swords, hilts that project plasma blades formed by an integrity field, powerful but limited use or they may overheat the projectors or worse, melt them.

Senti-Mech #2: Medium ranged assault specialized, armed with machine guns, missile launchers on the legs and shoulders and solid edged knives on the hips, the knives are heated (but not superheated like the axes of #1) but the melee capabilities are rather weak.
Special Weapon: Shine Gatling, a large eight-barreled gatling gun that fires plasma rounds powered and cooled by the backpack; the cycling nature of the gatling gun is the only way for a rapid fire plasma weapon to avoid overheating or meting the barrels too fast.

Senti-Mech #3: Long ranged support/bombardment specialized, armed with long ranged mortars on the shoulders and long range shelling cannons that fold under the arms to be held by the hands but have a recoil that require the feet to anchor to the ground to avoid being knocked down. Has a solid edged combat knife stored on the right hip, the knife is not heated and the weight of the mech’s heavy armor limits maneuverability so the knife is a token addition.
Special Weapon: Shine Sniper, a large sniper rifle stored in two parts, one on each of the mech’s shoulders. When assembled it makes a large and long sniper rifle that the mech can just support as long as it is anchored and with a viewing scope that the mech’s camera links to. The weapon fires plasma rounds over a long distance with pinpoint accuracy. The barrel is rather thick with a relatively small barrel hole for the plasma to eject through; this is deliberate as the thickness of the barrel helps keep it from melting too quickly an as a consequence the shots are much narrower than those of other mech’s shine weapons but without the same power reduction.

Senti-Mech #4: Transformable flight enabled hit-and-run specialized, armed with a pair of heated swords that are stored on the legs and a small three barreled cycling machine guns concealed in each forearm. Able to transform into a jet form that resembles a Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut with the wings folding out from the back of the legs and the main jets in the feet and rear skirt armor (which also allows the mech limited flight and long distance jumping in mech mode); there is a heavy machine cannon in the nose of the fighter mode. The transforming mechanisms and hidden weapons in the arms reduce the suit’s durability against attacks however the suit can still withstand the G-Forces of high speed flight thanks to its design and is meant to dodge attacks rather than absorb them.
Special Weapon: Shine Rifles, a pair of rifles stored on the hips or under the wings for use in flight mode (operated technopathically in fighter mode), these weapons have a lower output per shot compared to other shine weapons but this lower output allow for a more stable frame thus allowing more frequent usage with lower risk as a trade off of lower power than the others.

Senti-Mech #5: Experimental command type specialized in all range attacks, armed with a heavy machine gun, a heated sword, a shield and small missile racks on the legs. This mech is more well rounded than the others but lacks the specialization to excel in a particular form of combat, however its shield allows for better defense as it is made of a denser alloy than the rest of the mech.
Special Weapon: Weapon pods, six large pods attached to the back of the mech that can detach and fly around independent of the mech under the technopathinc control of the pilot; each pod has stabilizers and jets on either side of its weapon to allow for flight and maneuvering under gravity. Two of the pods use a gatling gun, two have a 12 unit missile rack, and two mount shine cannons; the shine cannons are more powerful than the rifles used by #4 and must be used sparingly and the other pods have limited ammunition