#heavydbzfic

The revelation of how just incredibly nonsensical the whole “Dende comes to Earth” subplot and other pretty basic and glaring holes in character choices, worldbuilding, and main plot are what crystallized into Heavy, since initially the story started as a place to explore who Gohan actually is and what went into that, but then expanded into repainting the Dragon World and giving it a real depth as well as trying to retain that magic, mystery, and wonder of the original series in some form or another, even if that meant looking at it through a slightly less flattering lense. In truth, Gohan’s not so much the main character of Heavy as he is the crux of the entire story, since all the conflict revolves around him in one form or another and coincidentally he’s at the center of all the things that bothered me MOST about the original series.

This thought vis a vis Gohan/Dende: I’d always thought Gohan marrying his high school bully was just really… weird and uncomfortable, you know? Like I LOVED the episodes when he and Videl are actually learning to be friends and just generally being silly (that episode with Angela and the teddy bear underwear? A personal favorite of mine), but the minute it just suddenly became OVER THE TOP romantic at the tournament, I didn’t like it one bit- not when I was a child and first saw the series (I actually own the first Saiyaman episodes on DVD!) and definitely, definitely not now. It was all in the way it was portrayed and how it (abruptly, unrealistically- especially since the initial Saiyaman saga unfolded and characterized Gohan to be more like his father in the dating and, ah, “interest” department) unfolded that I didn’t like, and so I started thinking much more critically about the kind of person he was and the people he knew growing up, and in the interim I ended up watching some Frieza-to-Cell DBZ and realized that the character who most supported and echoed his values and philosophy AND who could identify with his background was Dende. That, and rewatching the show made it abundantly clear that Gohan was like 80% of the reason Dende was down to go back to Earth, with Krillin being the other 20%. (The clencher was the TFS jokes about Gohan/Dende. The moment they pulled that joke, the moment I realized “holy shit it was apparent enough to get knocked a little!” much like you’d have to be a slack-jawed fool not to notice at least the REASON so many people like, ship, or otherwise at least see a shred of validity in Kakavege within the show for all the crap Goku and Vegeta do in scenes together - which is exactly why they knock THAT one in TFS, too.) But the drive to deconstruct and reconstruct nonsensical and weird stuff about the series and open the doors to new possibilities was the exact conduit to what became Heavy.

As for the structuring of the actual plot of Heavy itself - I tend to think in narrative format and I especially jive well with storytelling devices like simultaneity and just… total complicated melodrama, honestly, so I don’t actually think the plot is all that spectacular, myself! I just think in terms of character and worldbuilding, I guess! Hahah! I didn’t think anybody would like it once I actually started to wade in the deeper waters! In fact, there was one point I almost quit because I set up the whole red herring in like Chapter 8 or something (when Gohan has that heart-to-heart with Goten) and absorbed the positive reaction to the idea that humans were pretty puny and powerless compared to Saiyans….. all while I the writer knew very well that I’d reveal the main antagonists as human not three chapters later, especially considering the general climate of the DBZ fanbase!!! The surprise of the concept and thought experiment (that humans are actually pretty formidable and have their own secrets) I was initially so excited to share, I then felt SURE was going to actually just tick a bunch of people off. And so, I was scared to actually reveal that until I got a really, REALLY disgruntled review from a reader who chewed me out for spitting on humans when it was humans who taught Goku the basics and also advanced stuff like how to sense ki- and then I realized that there were, in fact, people who were THINKING about that kind of thing besides myself and had any sort of interest in the Earthlings of Dragon World!! I think that particular person stopped reading the second they hit “send” and left that review, ‘cause BOY, they were pissed, but if not, and they’re still out there somewhere, reading this or reading Heavy at least until Terpsichore’s introduction, I’d like to say thank you for making your feelings known because you gave me the push I needed not only to simply introduce Terpsichore and the Circle (who is, in Heavyverse, in possession of the single greatest amount of raw ki of ANY human alive, even though he is not the best fighter), but to unabashedly put Thalia in as the strongest human being on the planet and not let the VERY IMMEDIATE naysaying on that latter choice deter me. In fact, soon, you’ll be learning quite a lot about Thalia’s backstory and the true reason for her strength, and I’m quite excited to see how the readers react to it, both for better and worse, since it’s actually deeply involved with the backbone of the Dragon World’s canon structure and mysteries.