Ho-Hum and the Alien Visitation
Author's Notes
Well, time to shamelessly rip off Nanya and share my thoughts on this story... ;-P
Honestly, the concept for 'Ho-Hum' had been jumbling inside my head for quite a while- I even had the prologue and first two chapters roughly planned out in my head. It started when I was thinking about my favorite character, Rei Ryghts, and her initial plan to get rid of the CPUs... while it quickly devolved into 'kill everyone who opposes me/rule the world' (as usual for these kinds of plots), I couldn't help but think that she might have had a fair point, what with Neptune slacking off, Vert busy with tons of games, Blanc with her awful books and Noire with her cosplay hobby. And then I thought, 'what if some concerned citizens decided to take it upon themselves to give the goddesses a wake-up call, except they truly meant it'? That was pretty much how the concept first formed, and I quickly decided that the leader would be Overlord Momus, who was a lie by Arfoire in the original game, but I thought that someone would take up his identity for 'real'.
Linda and Warechu were shoo-ins for being members of this new bad-guy group, which I decided to call Ho-Hum, because what self-respecting organization would call themselves THAT?! XD Of course, the proper name, the House of Humiliation, was a more sensible moniker, and emphasized that these guys weren't out to destroy the CPUs and Gamindustri like previous villains.
Generic Ninja #25 was originally just a silly concept unrelated to Ho-Hum, and basically my idea of a parody of old ninja cliches. The number was completely random, though I did once think about having 24 other 'Generic Ninjas', with #25 being the only competent one. But once I finally committed to actually writing the Ho-Hum story, I decided to make him Momus' second-in-command (though he was partially usurped by MAGES. later). I didn't have his identity nailed down at the start, but eventually went with it being Steamax sans his purple ninja armor. (I know some of you think he's a straight robot in canon, but that's an argument for another time.)
Speaking of commitment, the thing that stopped me from writing the story early on was because I couldn't think of any way to make it unique from other stories that likely had a similar premise (after all, it's a big internet out there). But then, when I was doing research on a new video game, inspiration struck me! Which game was that, you ask?
Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
(Cue readers going HUUUUUUHHH?!)
Okay, specifically, I'd fallen for (not in a romantic way) Sothis, Byleth's snarky spirit companion who was eventually revealed to be the creator goddess worshipped by the Church of Seiros, albeit long dead and manifesting as a result of her heart being merged with Byleth's at birth. Yes, I shamelessly spoiled myself, deal with it.
So, while researching her on TV Tropes, I learned that she had possibly come from another planet (Fell Star), making her an extraterrestrial, which would explain the weird technology wielded by 'those who slither in the dark' (long story). And then I thought, 'what if Sothis came to Gamindustri as an alien visitor'?
Yes, that's right, Sothis was originally supposed to be the alien goddess from the distant Animenga star cluster (obvious portmanteau of 'anime' and 'manga'.) Since there were anime cutscenes in Three Houses, I figured it wasn't too much of a stretch... This is why Oracle Neon called her goddess 'Ma'nabatea', because Sothis was the mother ('Ma') of the Nabatean dragon race in Three Houses proper. And then I decided to combine this idea with my old 'Ho-Hum' concept, and thus the story took it's final form!
But, when I published Chapter 4 and revealed the 'First Contact' angle, Nanya asked if the Animenga goddess was Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and I realized that was SO much more fitting than what I had planned! Thus Sothis was scrapped and Haruhi descended from the skies in Chapter 5.
Haruhi in this story is a mishmash of her canon self and the Angel Lilith from Neon Genesis Evangelion (explaining her connection to Oracle Neon ;-), with a little bit of Beerus the Destroyer from Dragon Ball Super mixed in. (Thus explaining why Dragon Ball is her disciple.) Haruhi Suzumiya, Evangelion and Dragon Ball are all iconic anime franchises, which is why they were the first representations to show up. ;) Dragon Ball is just a female Goku, while Neon is mostly Rei Ayanami with a few of Asuka Langley Soryu's traits mixed in (her red hair decs and issues with dolls).
Back to Ho-Hum. I added Dogoo Man as the 'muscle' of the team, and threw in Kuma just because. :-P Then I realized I needed someone a little more strategy oriented, so 'Generic Soldier #20' was created. After a little brainstorming I decided to have his true identity be Adrian from 'The Misadventures of Hyperdimension Peashy' to keep things simple. But that came with a problem- why would a patriotic soldier like him join a villainous group? It had to be because the leader was someone he knew he could trust.
In that case, the only person who could fit that criteria, and have the connections necessary to bring all these people together, was IF the guild intelligence agent. It also explained why Linda got out of jail after 'The Mech Suit's Turnabout'- Iffy 'bribed' the warden, who happened to be a former guild agent himself!
Of course, every villainous group needs a thief character, so I brought back Tenten Ryghts from 'Law & Order: Leanbox- The Lynx' to fill that role. As for little Peashy, she was simply recruited by Adrian asking her nicely. After all, her big sister's boyfriend could NEVER be a bad guy, right?! XD
BlackGatomon/Bastemon/Lilithmon from the final arc of 'Hyperdimension Peashy' was added so Momus had disposable mooks- the Tenga- at his disposal for lower-level jobs. I always intended for the Demon Lord to double-cross him at some point, with her virus creation Diaboromon becoming the True Final Boss. (It's also why I spared BlackGatomon at the end of the 'Disgaea/Armored Rangers' arc. ;)
MAGES. was a later addition to the team, after a comment from another review by Nanya inspired me to do so. It also helped to weave the 'villain team' and 'First Contact' storylines together, since MAGES. could have conceivably sent herself to the Animenga Cluster by accident, and just assume she was in another dimension instead of another galaxy. XD It was also justified by Momus wanting the person who created BlackGatomon's restraining collar to keep a close eye on her, just in case.
Fran was literally a last-minute addition to make the final confrontation with Ho-Hum a bit more interesting. At first I thought about using Saber with a mask to hide her identity, but I was afraid this would end up giving away Momus' true identity before the big reveal. I considered using Rider/Sharon Kuiper in her place, but after finishing the Fran Arc of 'Neptunia Guild Files', I realized the Black Berserker was a much better idea, as she could have been reasonably 'deceived' by Momus into joining (the truth being that IF told her it was a test of the CPU's combat capabilities, which was kind of true anyway XD).
Now, as for the Animenga delegation that arrived later... The Gundam series was another shoo-in to be represented, but I only really know about Gundam Wing and G Gundam, so the choices for representation were obvious. ^^; Wing Gundam is basically Heero Yuy in all but name, While G Gundam is mostly Rain Mikamura with a bit of her lover Domon Kashu mixed in. (Don't get dirty with that, please.)
As I commented in her debut chapter, Urusei Yatsura was made an old woman because the anime came from waaaay back when. The character herself is mostly Lum Invader with Oyuki's kimono and Benten's chain/fighting style. Mikuru Asahina should be obvious, since Haruhi, Kyon and Koizumi had already appeared. As for why no Yuki Nagato, I feared she would be too similar to Neon personality wise, and the character roster was getting a bit bloated anyways. (That doesn't mean that Yuki won't appear in a future story, but it'll most likely be her human self from the Disappearance alternate timeline.)
Princess Asseylum comes from a slightly obscure anime, but I liked her character in Aldnoah ZERO, because while she embodied the 'pure classic princess' trope, she also showed she wasn't afraid to pick up a gun or rocket launcher when necessary. She seemed a bit deeper than the main character or his rival, for sure.
At first Plutia was only planned to come into conflict with Oracle Neon over her dolls, but after one commenter (Alia-of-AGL) on DeviantArt complained about too many fight scenes, I brought her back for a small filler arc to apologize for flying off the handle and show the aliens her Planeptune. It also allowed me to bring Adult Neptune into the story plausibly, the excuse for her absence being she was grounded by her mother Umbriel (who previously appeared in 'Mother's Day, Ultradimension Style').
The airship hijacking arc where BlackGatomon ultimately double-crosses her fellow villains came about partially because I was on a bit of a Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote kick, as evidenced by the coyote himself making a cameo appearance. As for the Undertale cameos, it's an idea I adapted from a scrapped plot for 'The Misadventures of Hyperdimension Peashy', where the monsters, after emerging from Mt. Ebott, make contact with humans living nearby and Vert and Peashy go to greet them. I junked the idea because I didn't know much about Leanbox's topography at the time, but when I studied the Gamindustri map for researching this story, the inactive volcano at Leanbox's south end helped justify the mountain climb and the Undertale characters' appearance. On a side note, I might have them show up again in a future story, also adding Asgore, Toriel, and Frisk herself (It's Neptunia, so Frisk will be a girl, naturally ;)
...I think that's all I have to say about this story. Shout-outs to both Nanya and Alia-of-AGL on DeviantArt for their suggestions and critiques which helped make this story so much better than it could have been! As for future plans, I plan to finally get back to 'Neptunia Guild Files' and 'Fate/Kyon's Order: The Return', hopefully finishing up the flashback arc for the former. Until then, Nep on! ;)
-Derald J. Snyder, March 27, 2021