Phoenix Reborn FAQ (Frequently Anticipated Questions) v 3.0
March 10, 2023
by Victar, (vctr113062 [at] aol [dot] com)
Victar's Archive: https://www.vicfanfic.com
List of Questions:
1. Hey! Where are the Mortal Kombat characters?
2. But WHY did you get rid of the MK characters!?!?
3. Why isn't [my favorite Tekken 3 character] in a bigger role?
4. What? Are you crazy? Look, Namco's storyline doesn't say that about [my favorite Tekken
character]. It says [blah blah blah blah]!
5. Didn't the Soul Edge characters live 400 years ago?
6. Who is the interviewer?
7. Why'd you pick this weird interview format, anyway?
8. How long is this humongous monster!?
9. Are you going to write another sequel?
10. Why is everyone speaking English all the time?
11. Hey, I know Ogre is the final boss of Tekken 3. What's this "Toshin"?
12. Why don't you dress up your stories with HTML?
13. What do all those symbols mean, anyway?
14. Huh? Where'd the mailing list go?
15. Why don't you get this stuff published in a real book?
16. So where can I find back chapters and stuff?
17. How do I pirate video games?
1. Hey! Where are the Mortal Kombat characters?
1A. Oh, they're still around, it's just that most of them are 20 years older and in
semi-retirement. Sorry, no MK characters make a personal appearance in Phoenix
Reborn, which is why I haven't posted it to the Mortal Kombat newsgroups.
The truth is, I became less interested in MK characters and
more interested in the Tekken
characters. I've never really played much MK since MK1. It was Tekken 2 that I loved playing.
Tekken 2 so utterly fascinated me that I had to write Ashes of the
Phoenix. I needed the
backdrop of MK3 and its characters mostly to stage conflict and plot. Now, in my warped
dreamland imagination, the Tekken 3 storyline and characters had sufficient conflict to carve out
a saga on their own (well OK, with some help from a few Soul Edge characters, King of
Fighters '98 characters, and one Battle Arena Toh Shin Den 2 character. :). It took almost a year
for me to warm up to Tekken 3, but certain Tekken 3 characters (particularly Jin, Julia, Bryan,
and Hwoarang) inexorably drew me in and compelled me to write a sequel.
2. But WHY did you get rid of the MK characters!?!?
2A. Well, maybe this will illustrate it better. It's my percentage "like" list (from 0-100%) of the
video game characters in Ashes of the
Phoenix:
Tekken characters
Alex: 90%
Angel: 90% (I loved writing that scene with her & Kazuya)
Baek Doo San: 50%
Doctor Boskonovitch: 25% (I wrote him in only out of convenience)
Bruce Irvin: 50%
Ganryu: 55%
Heihachi Mishima: 5%
Ishida & Kimura: 85% (OK, so they're not Tekken chars... I liked 'em anyway)
Jack-2: 10%
Jun Kazama: 100%
Kazuya Mishima: 95%
Kuma: 10% (he was there mostly to fight dragon-Kang)
Lee Chaolan: 95%
Lei Wulong: 95%
Michelle Chang: 55%
Wang Jinrey: 60%
You might notice that the four characters I liked above all, Lei, Jun, Lee, & Kazuya, were the
major stars of the story. :)
Mortal Kombat characters
Catsclaw: 55%
Jax: 40%
Kabal: 50%
Kung Lao: 65%
Kurtis Stryker: 50%
Liu Kang: 25%
Nightwolf: 50%
Noob Saibot: 50%
Raiden: 50%
Reptile: 50%
Sonya Blade: 65%
Shang Tsung: 10%
Shao Kahn: 5%
Sindel: 50%
Sparky: 50%
Sub-Zero: 70%
Other video game characters
Rock: 40%
Seung Mina: 80%
Takeshi Fujioka: 75%
T. Hawk: 60%
Chief Thunder: 50%
Wolf Hawkfield: 40%
And in Phoenix Reborn:
Angel: 90%
Anna Williams: 85%
Armor King: 75%
Bryan Fury: 90%
Catsclaw: 55%
Doctor Abel: 35%
Doctor Boskonovitch: 50%
Eddy Gordo: 40%
Forest Law: 25%
Goro Daimon: 50%
Gun Jack: 25%
Heihachi Mishima: 50% (he makes a much better villain, now)
Heishiro Mitsurugi: 85%
Hwoarang: 75%
Ishida & Kimura: 90% (I like the "kinder, gentler" new Ishida & Kimura)
Jane: 50%
Jin Kazama: 95%
Julia Chang: 90%
Jun Kazama: 100%
Kazuya Mishima: 95%
King the First: 25%
King the Second: 25%
Kuma: 15%
Lee Chaolan: 100% (I really like him as an angel & a good guy)
Lei Wulong: 95%
Ling Xiaoyu: 75%
male-Mokujin & female-Mokujin: 10%
Mrs. Chang: 50%
Nina Williams: 20%
Panda: 15%
Paul Phoenix: 10%
Seung Mina: 80%
Shingo Yabuki: 95% (I didn't just write him in, he freaking took over...)
Taiyou & Tsuki Kagura: 50%
Taki: 75%
Tiger Jackson: 5% (hate hate hate his outfit)
Toshin: 0% (the bastard murdered MY JUN!!!!)
Tracy: 55%
Wang Jinrey: 60%
Yoshimitsu: 25%
You might notice that characters that I like less than 75% tend to get very little space on the
actual page. Since this included all the MK chars, they all had to go. The one character that I
didn't like too much but devoted a lot of time to anyway was Heihachi, who I needed as a villain.
And for what it's worth, I like him much more now than I used to... ^_^
3. Why isn't [my favorite Tekken 3 character] in a bigger role?
3A. There just wasn't room to focus on more than a certain number of characters (mostly the ones
who had ties to the Mishima syndicate and/or whom I really liked). All the TK3 characters have
been referred to though, and most have shown up for at least a cameo near the end.
4. What? Are you crazy? Look, Namco's storyline doesn't say that about [my favorite Tekken 3
character]. It says [blah blah blah blah]!
4A. Short answer: it's an alternate Tekkenverse. This is also why Jin's eyes are jet black instead of
their official brown (as can be seen in his rendered art pictures, or his action figure). Anytime you
see a detail that you know is a blatant contradiction to Namco's official storyline, just
remember: it's not quite Namco's Tekkenverse, it's an alternative Tekkenverse. It's also an
alternate SNKverse - King of Fighters games past King of Fighters '98 had no effect on the story.
Long answer: Since this
fanfic is the sequel to Ashes of the
Phoenix, its first adherence is to the Ashes continuity. I
plotted the basic Ashes outline well before TK3 existed (in fact, I started work on it before
TK2
even had endings), so if anything, it's a miracle that Ashes did not contradict TK3 any
more than
as it turned out (particularly with regard to which TK2 characters were killed off by TK3).
As for the new TK3 characters... this time around, I
focused more effort on capturing
the general personality of the characters as I see them in TK3 (i.e. what their looks, moves,
backgrounds, music, and victory sequences imply to me about what they're like) and less effort on
staying in touch with Namco's official TK3 storyline. I admit that I have unashamedly taken more
creative license with video game characters than ever before. It's the way that the story and the
characters were in my head... whenever I looked at, say, Hwoarang in his evil black leather outfit,
I couldn't see him any other way.
I will also admit that I had a personal grudge against
Namco's TK3 storyline, and that was
what happened to Jun. I liked Jun. I wrote a novel about Jun. I missed Jun. When she came back in
Tekken Tag Tournament I was somewhat happier. At the time I created the outline for
Phoenix Reborn, however, I felt like Namco's official storyline could all go in the Mishima
syndicate incinerator.
5. Didn't the Soul Edge characters live 400 years ago?
5A. Yes. Seung Mina, Taki, and Heishiro Mitsurugi are descendants of their legendary Soul Edge
ancestors, and they happen to have the same names because the names have been handed down
through the generations. So has the family resemblance (well, more or less).
6. Who is the interviewer?
6A. It's a secret. Same goes for most other mysterious curiosities that may catch your
attention. Hey, if I've got you intrigued enough to wonder, then it means I'm doing my job
right!
Okay, okay. If you MUST know immediately, then just
skip ahead to the final chapter. But is that really as much fun?
7. Why'd you pick this weird interview format, anyway?
7A. It's just how the story came to me. I heard so many different voices in my head, talking
in first person, and I had to somehow incorporate them all. The distance of a third-person
viewpoint just didn't have the personal touch.
I deliberately decided that Phoenix Reborn would
be a large-scale literary experiment. In addition to the new interview style, each chapter has one
other off-format piece of text (in Chapter 5 and Chapter 27 it's the epigraphs).
8. How long is this humongous monster!?
8A. Over 1000 pages. I am so glad it's done. I worked SO hard to write it, so I'm extra
thankful to everyone who has taken the time to read it!
9. Are you going to write another sequel?
9A. No, my days of writing Tekken fanfiction are over.
I have finished a new fanfiction novel, Memories of an Overlord, an isekai-genre fantasy based on the mobile RPG Journey to Kreisia. Memories of an Overlord is set in a different continuity from all of my other works.
I am not planning to write any more fanfiction.
10. Why is everyone speaking English all the time?
10A. They're not necessarily speaking English. When two people who share a
non-English native language are speaking to each other, you can usually bet they're conversing in
their native tongue. For example, if Jin and Heihachi are talking in private, you can probably trust
it's all in Japanese. It's just that the interviewer has translated everything for your benefit.
Translation brackets "<.>" are used only in the rare case
when one character is speaking in a
language that another character overhears, but does not understand. This is because I think
translation brackets are clumsy, unwieldy things, and I much prefer quotation marks. I also
used this entire system in Ashes of the Phoenix.
When characters are speaking English, though, it is
frequently because English is one of the
commonest tongues people use to get around the language barrier.
11. Hey, I know Ogre is the final boss of Tekken 3. What's this "Toshin"?
11A. "Toshin" is Ogre's Japanese name. It got changed when Tekken 3 was brought stateside.
In many role-playing games, an "Ogre" is a run-of-the-mill monster that your favorite
player character routinely whacks for a handful of experience points. It's just a way, way too
unimpressive name for a corrupt god out to consume the whole world.
A closer phonetic represantation of Ogre's
Japanese name would be "Toushin" or
"Tohshin," clearly representing the longer "oh" sound. But those didn't seem as imposing to me,
when written out.
12. Why don't you dress up your stories with HTML?
12A. I've translated all of my fanfiction into HTML! Enjoy!
13. What do all those symbols mean, anyway?
13A. They're my ASCII text conventions for various effects:
"_" enclose stressed words, akin to underlining or italicizing.
"<.>" enclose translated foreign language phrases (see 10A) and sound effects.
"*" enclose the voices of spirits.
"#" enclose the voices of dragons.
"( )" enclose private thoughts or telepathic communication.
"%" enclose voices saturated with supernatural darkness.
"+" enclose computer voices, or other "programmed" voices.
"[ ]" enclose private technological communication.
"~" enclose the voices of Elder Gods.
14. Huh? Where'd the mailing list go?
14A. The Phoenix Reborn mailing list is deactivated, because the novel is complete
and I don't want to be mistaken for a spammer.
15. Why don't you get this stuff published in a real book?
15A. Because I have written about characters owned by someone else. The only forum this story
will ever see is the Internet. I do not, and will not make monetary profit from it in any way, not even through ads - my web site is advertisement-free.
16. So where can I find back chapters and stuff?
16A. I'm always happy to e-mail my video game fanfic as files in ASCII text, to anyone. Just send
me e-mail and ask. You can also
access all my work from my web site,
at
https://www.vicfanfic.com
There are other web sites with copies of my fanfic, but many of them are missing chapters, or
have annoying little proofreading errors that I didn't catch until after I distributed the
final draft. So overall, I'd rather you went to my site.
17. How do I pirate video games?
17A. I don't know; I'm not a tech savvy person.
Some video game pirates are committed to preserving out-of-print physical and delisted digital video games that would otherwise be outrageously expensive or lost forever. I regard piracy of out-of-print or delisted video games with respect. I disapprove of pirating any game that is available for legitimate purchase from the publisher, though.
Victar
"Michelle? Mother!"
"You have conquered Ogre. Now, the key to control Ogre
is this pendant. It was all
Heihachi's evil plot."
"I'll never let Heihachi get away with this!"
"No, Julia. Wait. Julia, hatred is not the answer. Do you
remember why I taught you the
powers to fight? It was to protect mother Earth, not to destroy. Now, let's go home. Back to
Arizona, where the land awaits us."
- Julia Chang and Michelle Chang, Tekken 3 for the Sony
Playstation