The Potato Lab: Talking about writing with a terrible, horrible fanfiction author (me!)

Spuddies here, I wrote this on May The 4th... Star Wars day, as in May The 4th Be With You. I'm here to discuss four questions which will be both relevant to my fanfiction projects, and to any original projects (which I hope I can share with people online, because I have a really hard time getting anything significant done.) Also, I wanna discuss inspiration, which is very important to any author, professional or not.

1: When will SH50k Wave 1 be finished?

Since I consider it my most prized fanfiction work, the ultimate science fantasy kitchen sink battlefield simulator, I'll probably be done with Wave 1 by the end of 2023, if I choose to put all my spare time into it.

2: Are there any other upcoming fanfictions to churn out? The Genshin Impact Zelda crossover was canceled.

Yes, plenty of them. Here's a list:

For starters, I almost certainly will be planning on rebooting Legend of Genshin when Tears of the Kingdom comes out. It'll be taken in a different direction, though.

Dreamforge: Journey To Imaginationland

Remember that South Park episode of the same name? Well, this is an anthology of stories that goes out of its way to mock, parody and criticize every single fictional universe I can think of. Expect a lot of fandom nerd trivia and filthy jokes and offensive memes.

Avatar: Hammer of the Elements

What happens when the Imperium of Man from Warhammer visits the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender? Insanity will ensue, and the story will follow the lives of Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko and Toph as adults, who have become commanders of the Imperial Guard, in a regiment made up solely of Benders. Will their supernatural martial arts skills prove to be useful in the eyes of the Emperor's servants? Who knows!

Project Entropy:

A grand crossover of works of fiction that have commented on environmental issues and the declining health of our sickened planet, which is probably already doomed to die if you ask me. Still, I wanted to point out why people still care, and so I put together everything from the Lorax and Captain Planet to Final Fantasy 7, Michael Vey, that one game where pigs farm humans, and Avatar (both James Cameron's movies and the one by Nickelodeon.)

Bravo, PETA, you gave me an idea for creative writing. And that's sincere, by the way. As for the name of the crossover, the word "entropy" means "decline into disorder or chaos." Which certainly describes the whole climate change and overall ecological crisis of the 21st century.

Captain America: Power of the Patriot

Think of the Spider-Verse, but for Captain America, and with military men from all over the country with enormously varied and diverse backgrounds. I have EIGHT different versions of Captain America written down somewhere, and YES, I KNOW, the superhero genre is overdone as hell. I'll address that issue later.

Godzilla NES Creepypasta: Zenith's Wrath

The ultimate battle of demon destroyers, facing off against the powers of Hell. Based on the bestselling video game creepypasta, but with other characters besides Godzilla, Mothra and the rest of the classic Kaiju. Who is here to kill demons, fiends and devils, you ask? None other than Tanjiro Kamado, John Constantine, Bayonetta, Dante, Guts, Ruby Rose, Kaldor Draigo, and of course, the Doom Slayer.

3: What original works have you put out or at least planned? Do you ever talk about your actual life apart from fanfiction?

Can't give you any of my personal information or big details about my life, I wanna stay anonymous and faceless. Spuddies is just a fried, potato-flavored avatar meant to be cranking out crazy stories for the sake of entertainment, nothing more. But I do have original content ideas from time to time.

Such as:

A Crowded Universe:

Think what would happen in history if the Moon, Mars AND Venus were ALL habitable. And if interstellar travel wasn't so difficult to achieve. We're talking about a full-blown "imperialism and colonization in space" scenario, woe be to alien civilizations in our way.

There will be interstellar expeditions parodying Lewis and Clark, space piracy resembling what happened in the Spanish Main, colonial wars akin to the American Revolutionary War and the Native Americans' battle for survival, and of course, massive ecological devastation.

The Elemental Chronicles:

Not the most creative name, and not the best attempt at epic fantasy, but I'm putting it up here nonetheless. Imagine if the Four Nations from Avatar were represented by European countries (or perhaps colonial New World countries) instead. It would make for a lot of interesting worldbuilding, and martial arts wouldn't be the sole way of channeling a magic system.

I'm carefully studying the history and culture of countries like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina as well as Canada and the United States to make sure I can understand what I'm doing here with this ATLA spin-off concept.

The Limit Breakers:

Are you tired of DC and Marvel dominating the superhero genre? Do you want more stuff in the same "indie dev comic book" category as The Boys, My Hero Academia and Invincible? Well then this one's all for you!

Limit Breakers takes place in a timeline when superhuman powers and mutations have slowly but surely started to manifest in certain humans over the course of history, and it just gets more common as time goes on. Tall tales like those about John Henry, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and even Chuck Norris are completely rooted in reality, and a whole cast of other heroes and villains is bound to show up and clash in an earthshaking battle. What will you use your newfound powers for? How will you break your limits?

In other news, regarding the status quo of the world in this alternate universe, the Soviet Union becomes the United States' closest ally just after WW2, when Stalin is overthrown by a new rebellion of capitalist pigs, who set out to rebuild their once glorious country and make it rise from the ashes of war... but a bunch of other countries become Communist regimes to even things out, so America and Russia won't have it all easy as the dominant nations on the globe.

The P.F (Peregrine Falcons) Squad:

Precisely what happens when you watch Spy Kids and read N.E.R.D.S (National Espionage, Rescue and Defense Society, it's a good series,) and you also want to also jump on the bandwagon of making kids into secret agents. Except it's more like Kim Possible because all my characters in this tale are older teenagers, whereas the characters in N.E.R.D.S were between 11-13 years old.

4: What is the primary source of inspiration you've had to write on the fanfiction platform?

I really can't say. There's no one chief source.

Starhammer 50k is as ridiculous and over-the-top as it is because I watched some YouTube videos editing the final battle scene in Avengers: Endgame to literally include everyone. Entire legions of fictional heroes and villains trampling each other and causing multiverse-spanning mayhem. Watch the videos by Kuba Preisner, McSuperfly and ToxicFirepower if you wanna know what I'm referring to.

Then there's my personal wish that Genshin Impact wasn't a horrible gacha game with medicore gameplay mechanics... if Hoyoverse dropped the gacha focus, Genshin could be just as good as Breath of the Wild and other famous modern Zelda titles. That was what made me start writing The Legend of Genshin: A Tale of Two Heroes.

I also grew up playing Smash Bros and Kingdom Hearts, and after realizing how many fictional properties Disney owned, I thought a platform fighter would be the perfect way for the Mouse and company to succeed while also giving gamers the best possible experience.

But that hope went down the drain after seeing how badly Warner Bros Multiversus failed. I still wrote something about a Disney Smash Bros fic though, and shared it, it was otherwise unrelated to the much more popular works in the same basket.

Happy May The 4th and Revenge of the 5th! Also, it's been 40 years since Return of the Jedi released.

Stay tuned for more.