Spotlight#26: Behind the Scenes

Happy April, Fools schmucks! Sorry I left on a cliffhanger, but I didn't have the time to finish the gym battle, so I guess I'll have to do this. This year in quite a decent 2021, I've wanted to show ditto a little more love and officially recognize it as one of my stories. To that effort, I've decided to officially explain the thought process that left me to create this story.

Fanfiction

Before I get into that, though, I guess I would need to discuss fanfiction. I'm pretty sure, like most people, I originally went into Wattpad with a negative view of it. However, my opinions have both evolved and stagnated at the same time. Overall, writing can't be in a box of restrictive rules, in my opinion. With a little reworking, nearly any concept, including fanfiction, can work. I think that Xzaviorwilliams Anime Tournament of Power taught me that the most. And I know that I don't have the greatest or most expert opinion given Ive only touched the tip of the iceberg.

And I know that these fanfics can often be a jumping-off point for writers to furnish their craft on something else. Certain what if 's, au's, and like are legitimately cool to me once I've read them as well. Still, I think my biggest problem with fanfic is that it feels too biased in a sense. There are certain fanfics I read, and I swear I can hear the huffed breathes and clacking keys of the author as they scream over finally having their oc best their least favorite character or make sure their favorite couple who "totally" had enough chemistry to have the original story completely focus on them getting together *cough (every tv show now) cough* overall. In contrast, I've had many reservations and opinions of fanfic. I've always wanted to do it at least once, but in my way.

Development

So I've had a couple of ideas for fanfic. DBZ, MHA, and RWBY, I think, were the biggest contenders. However, Pokemon was the first. I got into the franchise during the old Diamond and Pearl Days, and to this day, it remains easily the peak of the anime for me. The battle between Ash and Paul in the Sinnoh League was one of my favorite battles in anime, and I wanted to replicate that experience for a whole series. Originally the basic idea was to have a group of trainers on a worldwide mission to beat what would eventually be what Apex is now. With over-the-top action of course. People don't realize this, but Pokemon go crazy; you look at a Magikarp and think it's useless until you see it jump a mountain high (look it up). Get deep enough in Pokemon, and you'll see that these little mons are fucking gods of destruction that any ten-year-old can abuse as they want.

However, with my interest in the powerfully potent putty that is Ditto, I realized a story based on one gives many possibilities for crazy stuff. Shows like Ben 10 and webtoons like Urban Animal have taught me transformation is a great concept for both fights and characters. Combine that with a cute ditto fan comic on how it managed to raise a Charmander and the appearance of That time I got reincarnated as a slime, and the stage was set on making the ditto interact like a human. But the most important part I wanted to establish as this. I wanted this to be the biggest combination of honoring the source material while at the same time making this a story all my own. And trust me, it hasn't been remotely easy. Bulbapedia and Lord Arceus have now become my new religion.

What I mean is while Ditto will feature many Pokemon characters from both the anime and games, they will be used to fit the mold story in a way where I think is most accurate for the character. At the same time, I wanted to have original characters that would build themselves in the world and just tell a story off them; that way, I don't feel the need to be limited to other characters. This also means original concepts like Dark Evolution and something soon could get more traction, not to say that stuff like Dynamax, Mega Evolution, and Z moves won't have appearances though, in fact, think of my stuff as more innovative and creating on what came before in a unique way.

The best example of what I mean is usually my format. I narrate the chapters just like the narrator in every Pokemon anime episode while also having the chapter names based on the Pokedex entries from the games. I mentioned supplementary material like mystery dungeon as a game, and other regions besides the main eight will be making appearances, so don't worry. And of course, for the anime, I tried my best to replicate the funny strategies but streamlining the action by not mentioning many orders from the trainers. Overall with ditto, I'm trying to balance the usual Pokemon filler while still continuing Taylor and Kopi's stories, which has been rather challenging.

When it comes to previously established characters, I made sure to make them older but still let them have some fun. Gardenia, for example, in the games, her personality mainly had to resort to liking grass types while being a kind person. So I decided to give her a far more fairy-like appearance to highlight her growing maturity. I also made sure to have her interest evolve into other trainers that show promise like Taylor so she can also have her views evovle. Her Pokemon, if you pay attention, also has a mixture of her roster of moves from both the anime and games, with her Cacena being the same one James from Team Rocket gave her in the anime. I haven't the best at including all these factors, but I hope that after this battle, I can do much better.

Overall, Ditto as a story has evolved leaps and bounds from where I started back in the summer of 2019, and I think now we are about to reach a new age of the story while also seeing the peak of Kopi's power. Because this story started as a joke but now has become something special. Kopi's story is one of trying to find an identity when everything in the world tells you different, to take note of your life, to find your place, to become better and more introspective to find that truth that should only serve you. He has by far the most power of any character I've written, but he still has no purpose alongside it. And unfortunately, he'll have to suffer far more before he can find that answer to his identity, as we all do when pushed to our limits. But it sure will be damn entertaining as we see what this little slimeball can do. Happy April fools day everybody, hope you had a fun time, and I hope you stick around for the chapters to come.