#crunchyvad

[silyabeeodess]

Anything on gumball and Darwin?

I do have posts in the works for them, but they're not ready yet. Just a heads up that I'll mostly be covering those headcanons with the first two seasons of the show in-mind since that's what had aired around the time that the original FusionFall shut down and I've been doing similarly with other shows in that situation.

[silyabeeodess]

A weirder question, but do you have any headcanons for how other countries react to the invasion?

This one's a little hard simply because the world of FusionFall would be drastically different from ours in terms of nations and territories. For example, a version of Earth closer to our own like in Ben 10 couldn't match the ruined, blown apart version of Earth in Adventure Time, and the history of Aku's reign and how he might've distorted the world would also contribute a lot to these differences. Like when discussing FusionFall's overall history and rules for how its world works, we'd need to keep in mind how the canon of the individual shows would conflict. What'd we'd likely end up getting is a version of Earth closer to Steven Universe's, where it's very similar to ours, but with noticeable differences in both landmasses and borders. Therefore, I wouldn't want to talk too much about places that aren't specific to the various cartoons.

To actually answer the question though, I can cover a few places below the cut:

To start off, I’ll recap on one point I’ve made in previous headcanons. FusionFall’s Earth has multiple territories and landmasses that exist in a heavier state of isolation compared to the modern world we live in--limiting travel and trade to these places.  In some cases though, it’s less of a push for actual isolationism causing this so much as their being difficult or even dangerous to access.  The Sea of Teeth and the “Wessst” block off Stormalong Harbor by sea from most people who aren’t skilled sailors.  Abysus is under the control of evos.  As described by the Chowder wiki, Marzipan sits on “an orphaned chunk of the Earth which is held up by a giant deity known as Hunk.”  As such, most of the societies who live in these locations are often self-sustaining out of necessity and very unique.  However, this also meant that they couldn’t easily get outside help when Fuse invaded.  Most were slow to get the tools/resources needed to fight off the spreading fusion matter infections and some lost contact with the outside world completely.  This allowed fusion matter to rapidly take over these places with little resistance.

Since I’ve talked about Aku City before for fun, I feel a little compelled to bring it up here as well, so please humor me with it as the first location I’ll cover.  Due to Aku’s reign, I actually think that Japan would be more prominent on the world-stage over the course of history than in our own. Like in Samurai Jack, there would be several isolated pockets of diverse cultures to the extent that some seemed to be living in separate eras (like the Spartans), but as Aku would take over more and more of the planet as time went on, the expansion of his domain would--albeit unintentionally-- expand Japanese culture among other countries over the centuries as well, or at least his version of it.  Even though Aku has been overthrown, there would still be evidence of this cause and effect in little ways across the world. Beyond the cultural aspect, anyone in positions of power/authority from his reign (that weren’t punished for serving Aku and overthrown themselves) wouldn’t want to give up their influence easily.  They would end up creating very distinct pocket-societies of their own, official or otherwise.  Nowhere would this be more prominent than in Aku City itself, which is now largely divided by the outer boroughs that heroes have pushed into in attempt to drive out Aku’s remaining forces and the dark interior of the city where the latter continue to rule nevertheless.  

Its interior has effectively become the FusionFall version of Star Wars’ Nar Shadaa or Mos Eisley, “a wretched hive of scum and villainy,” where crime lords reign.  While they’d ultimately have to accept some outside help during the invasion, it would still be an extremely dangerous place to go to--especially for heroes that might have a target on their back from any number of villains. The crime lords would be hard to work with either because they wouldn’t want to reveal themselves or because they aren’t going to let the Fusion Fighters, or outsiders as a whole, go against their wishes. As a result, they wouldn’t show much cooperation at all at the start of the war until they realized it was absolutely necessary, even stealing equipment and becoming an additional burden on the Fusion Fighters in Japan from trying to handle things themselves.  This would give the fusion matter infection in Aku City more time to spread without resistance, making it an even bigger mess to clean up than most other urban infection zones.    

Abysus is a similar situation, as few in the country were willing to work with non-evos.  Due to the existence of Van Kleiss nanos--at least temporarily through the Unstable Nanos--despite us never seeing the man himself, I imagine he still has his powers and is still ruling the nation as of the events of the war.  Thanks to his ability to manipulate Abysus’ environment, he was able to fend off the spread of fusion matter there in his own way... at least, for a while.  This pretty much tied Van Kleiss to one purpose--continuously trying to drive fusion matter from the land--to the point that it was all he could really put his energy into.  Following the idea that nanites can synthesize with a person’s IE (Imaginary Energy), Van Kleiss and other evos could use them to fend off fusion monsters to an extent as well without needing all the equipment most Fusion Fighters have.  These combined factors allowed Abysus to hold out early on in the war until Lord Fuse changed tactics: The events of the mission “Grounded” were taken to a much larger scale there, with fusion seedlings and a contamination to the soil interfering the population’s nanites and practically rendering them helpless.  This ultimately left Abysus with no choice but to work with the Fusion Fighters, with Van Kleiss himself even joining the nano project in the end.  These nanos in-particular seem to share Van Kleiss’ connection to the land in Abysus, at least in the sense that they can control nanite-infused plants with their “Vines of Abysus” ability, so most of their field testing in conducted there in order to try to clear its infection as rapidly as possible.  

While Stormalong Harbor is described as a port city in the MoF wiki rather than a micronation, it likely functions closer to the latter because the dangerous seas surrounding it would cut it from the mainland both physically and in government.  I imagine it existing in a similar vein to Sealand, but with Stormalong being farther out in the sea and largely having been abandoned rather than there having been a call for independence. Maybe it was once built as a waypoint for sailors/tradesmen, but the dangerous trip there and expansion of air travel made the harbor ultimately lose its worth as time went on.  In any case though, the city suffered hard during the invasion.  Struggling to get into contact with the mainland, with little to no military power of their own and no being as developed as the Suburb/City areas we know in-game, the fusion matter infection there rapidly deteriorated the docks. Better maintained and connected to actual land, Upper Stormalong is at least still in one piece while Lower Stormalong effectively fell into ruin.  The only thing most anyone who lived in the city could do was retreat.  Sadly, it hasn’t gotten much priority over other locations aside from simply keeping the infection there contained.  However, as the war would continue, there would be a rising concern that leaving it alone for too long would only cause greater trouble. People had little idea how Stormalong’s waters might be contaminated or what kind of new, underwater horrors might be created from it.  Teams like the KND SKWID Squad have given it the most focus, since their priority is making sure Earth’s oceans are safe during the war.  Ideally, they would like to use Stormalong Harbor as a base if it could be reclaimed and secured.   

Due to the regular use of IE by Ooo’s population, they actually had the easiest time fighting off the invasion despite their isolation from the rest of the world.  Nevertheless, due to lacking the same technology and having a different understanding of IE, they weren’t able to contain the spread of fusion matter as well as other places and fought against fusion monsters without the same knowledge of how to actually beat them.  (Since Ooo’s wizards seemed to have the best luck, many thought that magic was the key instead; however, it was really that there were a lot of wizards that just happened to channel their IE into their spells, making them more effective.)  Once Ooo regained contact with other parts of the world and they could share their knowledge/abilities, the people there rapidly started to regain their land.  

As for Marzipan City, Hunk was able to fight off the initial invasion a little bit, but even he couldn’t handle it forever.  We know that it’s possible that Hunk is suspectable to poisoning despite his state as a giant deity since Mung makes a point of keeping him from eating Chowder’s Burple Nurples in the episode of the same name. This means there’s also a chance he could be affected by fusion matter as well, even if it just makes him sick instead of outright killing him.  Moreover, there’s little Hunk could actually do outside of swat away external attacks: Once a fusion matter infection had spread in Marzipan, the people there were pretty much on their own.  (Also, just because he swatted those attacks away didn’t mean he stopped them completely: He likely just ended up redirecting most of them.)  Marzipan’s diverse species handled the infection in different ways, with non-organic beings like Shnitzel handling it better than others. Meanwhile, with it being a society centered around food more than anything else, there wasn’t really an effective army who could fight off the invasion.  Fortunately, Marzipan was a point of focus since it could help alleviate the global food problem caused by the invasion and the Fusion Fighters were quick to try to regain it to establish a base of operations there.          

[silyabeeodess]

Do you have any other headcanons for Post-War?

This would probably be something more along the lines of toward the end of the war or in the immediate aftermath: Despite how the entire world (and the universe at large) would be celebrating Fuse's downfall, many of Earth's heroes wouldn't have all that much time to relax. Soon enough, the villains would realize that the truce was either over or quickly coming to an end. Moreover, the period of global instability as Earth recovered from the war, keeping people busy, would be a prime opportunity for many of the villains to strike. Therefore, while the Fusion Fighters spread out across the stars will be focused on cleaning up traces of fusion matter on other planets, those still on Earth would also need to stay on high alert.

Starting with Vilgax, he would waste no time to strike at Earth's forces when they're weak/distracted. He'd already begun formulating--and enacting--plans once the war was clearly turning in Earth's favor. He also knew that, when everything was over, the Plumbers wouldn't hesitate to arrest him for his own tyrannical crimes. One big thing he would have to his advantage though is that the Plumbers would also be stretched, as they'd have the largest role in organizing the Fusion Fighters for their aid across various systems. Vilgax would plan carefully far in-advance to secure his escape and take whatever he could get his hands on in the process, be it the Omnitrix, humans to experiment on for their imaginary energy (IE), and/or samples of what fusion matter remained to see if he could use it for his own purposes. Plumbers and fusion fighters alike would be in a scramble to end his schemes, and Vilgax would inevitably slip away to come back for another fight in the future.

Even for those who got used to Demongo, no one would want to be anywhere near him at the end of the war because they'd all know it would be like standing next to a hungry animal with a soon-to-be-slack leash. By his own admission, he only participated in the war at Aku's command: There's nothing stopping him from going after all of the new targets he found to restock his collection of souls. Nevertheless, Demongo would also understand that he wouldn't have much time to work with either. Samurai Jack would swiftly come after him to protect any soldiers that might be in immediate danger because of him, pry out any information he had on Aku, and possibly put an end to him for the second time. Before his fusion stole the souls he had gathered prior to the war, Demongo still wasn't at the level he was when he faced Jack the first time, so he's not going to wait for Round 2 when he's even worse off. He's going to retreat back into hiding himself, handling whatever order Aku continues to give him and, on the side, quietly taking out his targets one-by-one when the time is right.

I don't think Aku would order Demongo to go after Jack immediately when the war ended, since Jack would likely be expecting it and he'd know that the chances of that succeeding would be slim. However, I do think Aku would wait and watch for Jack to let his guard down--to strike in some fashion right when Jack's allowing himself to take a breath after the war before returning to his life's mission. Also, while wouldn't expect the clean-up of fusion matter across the planet to go so well, the events of the war would inspire Aku with a wide range of ideas for corrupting various individuals to build back his own forces.

After some gloating over what was left of Fuse and his forces, Him is just going to sit back, relax... and cause problems on purpose like he always does.  He had the satisfaction of watching the tyrant that dissed him get destroyed, he’s got an eternity to plot a global takeover, so he doesn’t have a particular goal in mind after the war ends. The only exception would be if anyone in-particular got on his nerves during the war, since he had to play nice then to a point, Him’s going to come after those people hard just out of pure spite.  Also, since he’s a little more attached to the nanos of himself than others, he might check in with anyone who has one from time-to-time, for better or worse...         

Mojo Jojo is one of the handful of villains that actually wouldn’t take advantage the war’s end, simply because he’d have his own issues keeping him busy, specifically with his army of Monkey Minions.  For one thing, there’s a good chance that not all of the Spawn Simians would be cured by the time the war officially ended.  Some might have even gone missing, even if they recovered on their own from the break-up of Fuse’s hivemind after his defeat, and there’d be no telling what state they’d be in.  Another big issue is that fighting alongside so many other people in the war dissolved much of the superiority that the minions felt toward them: Some made friends and brothers-in-arms with their fellow fusion fighters, and they wouldn’t want to hurt them.  As a result, the monkey army would have a newfound rift and Mojo would struggle to maintain that half’s loyalty, or else replace them if they deserted.         

Similarly, Father would have so much to focus on with how the way affected his businesses that’d he’d be quiet for a little while as well.  However, he’d also have some new ears on the ground.  Since most decommissionings were indefinitely postponed due to the war, the KND were absolutely shaken by this and many within the group considered it a high security risk.  It also caused a long, heated debate among the operatives, with a growing belief that the rule of an operative’s decommissioning at the age of thirteen was too strict and that many of them had proven themselves as valuable KND members despite being teenagers--this, with the idea that the TND are still very much a secret, selective group at that point.  Meanwhile, those still in favor of the rule insisted that the aged-out operatives be rounded up as soon as possible.  Over a long period of time, the end result of this was the TND gaining a larger presence and them and the KND opening up to work with similar groups of teens and pre-teens.  Before that though, the in-fighting caused a ton of fear and tension among the operatives, which Father took advantage of by recruiting spies and gathering inside intel in exchange for helping operatives escape their decommissionings.                  

For Stickybeard, most events involving him would’ve happened while the war was still on-going, but since I don’t know when else would be a good time to bring it up, I’ll mention it here: Due to the mutiny that occurred early in the war, he’d have steadily been looking for fellow sweeteeth(?) to replace those that betrayed him.  That way, by the time the war ended, he could quickly return to plundering.  This recruitment proved successful, with only the competition of the mutineers and the time it took to repair the Sweet Revenge holding him back for a brief period.  

[silyabeeodess]

Do you have any headcanons for what can happen after the heroes win the war?

Overall, I think people would work to go back to the status-quo. "Once again, the day is saved," but on a much bigger scale. Heroes and villains will go back to fighting each other--if some with a deeper, newfound respect for their enemies; communities will rebuild themselves for the umpteenth time; and the bases set in civilian locations will be restored to their original purposes. The war won't be overly scarring simply because most of the people on Earth are used to chaos as it is. Nevertheless, there will be some bigger, more permanent changes.

For starters, while it will slowly become impossible to produce nanos as they currently are due to a lack of fusion matter, there will still be countless nanos already made that survived the war. With Fuse gone, they've fulfilled their initial purpose and will need to be integrated into everyday society. Some of the steps to do this were already taken during the war, like the construction of nano stations. These will become more regular in homes with large numbers of nanos, and a new line of businesses focused on their care will flourish.

Sadly though, not everyone will keep their nanos--be it due to circumstance or by choice. Some nanos will be put up for adoption just like Imaginary Friends. Fosters will open a new branch for them, but there will be some friction over worries of added competition for adoptions. Others may be added to groups like the Plumbers or Providence, testing the waters to see how they can adjust to a new place in a different, more rigid military force.

The Plumbers’ relations to and presence on Earth will increase. Following Fuse's defeat, soldiers from Earth would be sent first across their own system to deal with what remains of the war on neighboring planets. Some would then volunteer to help the Plumbers, travelling to other systems that Fuse invaded, but never fully conquered, to clear away any remaining infections as well. Earth will gain a bit more of a reputation on an intergalactic scale for Fuse's defeat, with other species becoming more familiar with humans and vice-versa. The Plumbers will be kept extremely busy during this period, seeing what can be salvaged of Planet Fusion to test the possibility of restoring Fuse's conquered worlds to their remaining former inhabitants. This will include heavy terraforming projects, with Azmuth working on some of them. (Another thing will be seeing if what remains of Planet Fusion can be removed from Earth's system due to the potential of space debris littering it or, much worse, large asteroids colliding with its populated worlds.  This work is unlikely to be completed in-full, meaning the system could end up with a few new planetoids; however research will be done in advance to limit the danger.)

Bouncing off that, the reason why I think Planet Fusion would be in such a state is because I don’t see Earth letting Fuse just walk away and attack the next planet in-line when the war’s over.  Given the nature of so many of its heroes and that humans have had a better chance at finally defeating him compared to other species thanks to imaginary energy (IE)--on top of the fact that Earth’s moon and other planets in the system would still be at risk--they’re going to take the fight to Planet Fusion eventually with the intention to beat Fuse once and for fall.  Since Fuse and Planet Fusion are symbiotic, both would be destroyed.  No Fuse or similar consciousness left behind means no one to drive Planet Fusion, and as fusion matter is cleared from its surface, the less stable areas connecting absorbed worlds are likely to be pulled/broken apart.    

Earth itself will also require some terraforming, given how many locations were distorted thanks to the widespread fusion matter infections. The Darklands will be an area of strong focus due to the severity of the situation there and out of concern for preserving what's left of its ancient wildlife.

There's going to be a greater split among Earth's populous over how active people should be in future crises. Some will crave the old sense of peace they used to feel before the war and choose to abandon their fighting days: Others won't be able to mentally leave the battlefield and instead choose to continue taking up arms. Some of these will be more practiced wielders of IE, both on the side of good and evil.

Research into IE will continue, but won't be as intense since the need for it isn't there. Mandark put too much into his Imaginasium to give it up, so that will become a separate part of his company focused on the study of Imaginary Friends and realms. Meanwhile, Dexter doesn't really have much interest in studying IE besides ensuring the health of nanos and updates to the Spinal-Arch. He'll be more inclined to work with independent researchers.  Weapons won’t really need to channel it anymore; however, some specialists like those under Estroy and Dr. Ghastly may continue to push it just to see what the limits are to IE’s destructive potential.  (The Con Carne and Estroy Weapons Depots will also continue to give discounts to Fusion Fighter veterans in order to limit the decrease in business after the war.) 

There would be an unofficial holiday marking the start of the war rather than the end of it due to many already using it as a collective "birthday" for their nanos. Over time, the celebrations would grow, extending to veterans as a means of reuniting with each other and then to the wider public as a way of highlighting a period of global unity through hardship and the achievements made over the course of the war.

The more isolated regions of the world would become more active in global affairs.  

Once Fuse himself is no longer an issue, Vilgax and other villains might try to sneak samples of whatever remains of fusion matter away to see if it can be used to suit their own ends.  If Aku has regained his strength by then as well, he’ll creep out of hiding to see how much ground he can take back before Samurai Jack realizes he’s active again.  

[silyabeeodess]

Have you written anything for the Saturday family?

The Saturdays can’t seem to catch a break, as while the war with Fuse rages on, V.V. Argost continues to wreak havoc and gain power. The villain might applaud the fusion fighters on his show, Weird World, but it’s pretty much all talk: Of course he wants Earth to win, he’s just not going to derail himself from his own work and thinks there’s enough people to fight off the invasion without his support. The family has been stretched particularly thin, which is why they don’t work on missions together as often.

· V.V. Argost was a threat on his own, but now they have to defend cryptids and other humans from Fuse’s army as well. It isn’t as much of an issue for the latter, since the fusion fighters are so well-established, but few understand or would even try to defend cryptids like the Saturdays do. It’s a struggle even to locate them. The Saturdays are also helping investigate how isolated civilizations—like those in the Devil’s Canyon—disappeared when the war began.

· Doc and Drew are two adults who don’t fully agree with groups such as the KND being involved in the war. They may have raised Zak in their line of work, but they’re also very protective of him. They trust what kids like Zak are capable of, but never want them to risk putting their lives on the line if they don’t have to. They’d hate for any parent to have to go through the terror they’ve experienced bringing Zak on dangerous missions. As such, they’re uncomfortable working with the young operatives and when they do work with them, they feel like they have to take the lead and shield/guide them.

· When studies into imaginary energy begin, Drew was the most intrigued by it. Doc was more reluctant and dismissive of it, due to its ties to magic, but couldn’t deny its results against fusion monsters.

· While Zak is a teenager, he hasn’t had much of a chance to develop his social skills and fits in better with people younger than him when he does socialize. On top of having to go on the run for a while, he was homeschooled due to the family business and how much they travelled, and their home/HQ was pretty isolated, meaning that Zak didn’t have m/any neighbors his age to spend time with either. He often gets along better with cryptids than other kids, still spending the most time with Fiskerton and Komodo.

· There’s a small part of Zak that is upset with this. He knows he’s gotten to see/do more than most people his age and is proud of his family’s work: He also just feels like a bit of an outsider sometimes, like he doesn’t always know how to talk to people. He wonders what he might’ve done had he lived a more normal life, especially after spending time at the KND jungle base.

· Fiskerton is actually more social than Zak is, inviting both himself and his adopted brother along whenever there’s something fun to do at the base. It took time for him to get used to other people as well, but he really grew to like a lot of the KND operatives and kids such as Mac. He's really popular with them as well.

· All members of the Saturday family hate being split up—it’s especially hard on Drew, since she lost a family once before—so they contact each other as often as possible. Calls can go on for hours and whenever they do have the chance to meet up in-person, they always spend as much time together as possible.

· According to the mission, “Bad Behavior,” while Zak’s powers don’t work on Fusions, fusion monsters are nevertheless drawn to him. I’d like to think of this issue as something similar to if you suddenly had two queen bees in one colony giving off indistinguishable pheromones to one another. Fusion Zak would act as the normal “queen,” but fusion monsters have difficulty immediately telling him apart from the real Zak. As a result, some may follow him or even try to “protect” him. The Fusion’s aura isn’t that different from Kur’s essence locked away in Zak, both aligned in their goal to destroy humanity, which can send mixed-signals to the monsters. Thankfully, the real Zak can typically get a safe distance away before they figure things out because he can’t access the hivemind.

· Still figuring out his own abilities, Zak doesn’t really know how to teach his nanos how to use theirs. Nevertheless, they’re extremely useful for quick escapes from large groups of fusion monsters.

[silyabeeodess]

Do you have any headcanons for Rex?

I've got a bigger post in the works for him, so these will be just some minor points for now:

Due to FusionFall already combining the various cartoon worlds into one, the events that would occur during the Ben 10/Generator Rex crossover are different: Rex and Ben would know each other already thanks to the relationship of the groups they work for and public identities in their teens, so there's no misunderstanding and their first meeting isn't a battle. Overall, they have a good friendship and work well together as a team. If anything, it's typically their similarities that can cause them to clash on occasion. When the both of them have some free-time, they'll hang out together often.

Rex's brother, Caeser, is even more swamped with his research than usual due to the added troubles of the war; however, it's almost entirely by choice. He loves what he does and gets tunnel-vision easily when it comes to his job. Outside of field tests, he typically stays cooped up in his lab. Someone, please bring this man food so he remembers to eat. He and Ben also get along pretty well and debate smoothy flavors. Rex's participation in the war tends to keep him at the Providence Outpost in the City, so the two don't get to see each other as often outside of Rex's visits back to HQ--typically when the teen is still working, either helping train fusion fighters or getting called in to deal with an EVO.

According to the FusionFall wiki, Rex would survive during the events of the Future, as he was seen there on his Rex Ride. He likely missed the Battle of Tech Square, prioritizing the evacuation of civilians across the City as it fell.

Since Rex's machines are basically an extension of himself through his nanites, his imaginary energy (IE) is already synthesized with them. So long as they have a strong enough IE, he and similar EVOs can fend off fusion monsters without needing all of the equipment a typical organic being would. Nevertheless, he still can't regulate his IE itself and his body can't withstand fusion matter exposure without the use of a mech form. His best means of defense typically are his "block party" gauntlets.

[silyabeeodess]

Anything for Major Glory?

While Demongo did take Major Glory’s soul, he actually wasn’t one of Demongo’s initial targets.  Major Glory is still an incredibly popular superhero and his disappearance naturally brought up a lot of global attention that Demongo didn’t need when trying to raise his army and his own strength back to what it used to be.  However, when heroes started disappearing, Major Glory and a few other prominent heroes began to personally investigate the Darklands.  When Demongo was found by them, a fight was inevitable. Major Glory is incredibly strong, but with the numbers against him and some of his friends among them--making it difficult for him to give 100% of his strength into the fight--he was eventually overwhelmed.  

It’s really hard to get a sense of time or space in Demongo’s otherworldly prison, so when Fusion Demongo stole all of the souls his original counterpart had collected, Major Glory and most of the other prisoners didn’t know what was happening until the flames trapping them changed from their usual blue to a distinct green.  Only the ones sent out during the pair’s fight had some idea of what was going on: For most, the transfer was more of a sensation of being thrown around in a whirlwind, their consciousness thrown from one place to another.  Needless to say, they weren’t much happier with their new warden.   

As mentioned in Demongo’s post, he doesn’t automatically gain influence over someone after capturing their soul: He has to wear down their will before he can make them follow his own.  And Major Glory’s willpower is insanely tough to break.  That combined with the risk of revealing that he had his soul prevented Demongo or his fusion from using him much.  It would take a while to break him down and the main thing that was doing it during his capture wasn’t personal suffering, but seeing the other heroes he fought alongside slowly give in around him.     

When everyone was finally freed at the end of the mission “Warriors Reborn,” while Major Glory did want Demongo arrested, the war with Planet Fusion took ultimate priority.  He was able to talk down anyone else who wanted justice or vengeance for what happened to them in order to quickly organize the returned heroes for the war effort.  Once they had a full grasp of the situation and a bit of time to recuperate, many of them took leading roles among the fusion fighters.  Major Glory planted himself at Mt. Neverest to help with the Academy’s formation and continue as a commander over the other superheroes.           

Major Glory has some mixed feelings when watching all of the Fusion Fighter's new recruits at Mt. Neverest that range anywhere from "Oh cool! Maybe we'll find some new heroes for the organization!" to "Oh no, I'm getting old..." While there's too much chaos around him for it to take too much of his thoughts, it's starting to occur to him that he isn't getting any younger--especially after his loss to Demongo. His generation of heroes is starting to move on to the next phase in their lives and the next generation is stepping up. From a young age, Major Glory has put so much of himself into being a good hero that he hasn't yet figured out what he's going to do when it's time to hang up his cape. He doesn't really want to hang it up since being a hero is what he knows he was meant to do. He's got a few more years before it actually becomes an issue, but it is something he thinks about.  For the time being, his greatest focus in that area is keeping an eye on young fusion fighters to see if there are any future supers among them.  

I don’t think Major Glory would necessarily get jealous of someone younger than him rising as a hero as drop in his popularity or ability would more likely be seen as a personal failure; however, he would hold young heroes to brutally high standards.  He can be particular over the littlest things from slightly being late to whether or not a recruit keeps their quarters clean.  This is due to his own strict upbringing and the high expectations he also places towards himself and his equals.  If he's harsh on you, it’s more likely because he thinks you can rise to those standards.  It doesn’t mean he’s always right and he can often be too extreme, but he does mean well.      

Major Glory and the other heroes from the AWSM still have a positive relationship with the Powerpuff Girls, and they’ve worked together from time to time.  After the events of the episode “Members Only,” things within the hero organization greatly changed.  At the end of the episode, the AWSM became the Society of Associated Puffketeers, but it only lasted so long after that.  For one thing, simply put, the name didn’t stick: The acronym, SAP, doesn’t really match up to what came before.  For another, while it was nice, the PPG wanted to join a club of superheroes, not have a fanclub for themselves.  As such, the organization is being restructured, not just to allow more female members, but also to review the requirements for membership overall.  Depending on the end result, it’s possible that it and the Justice Friends could end up merging.   

There aren’t any hard feelings between him or Dexter, despite their interactions in Dexter’s Laboratory not always being positive.  Dexter is and will likely always be a huge fan of his and that’s how Major Glory largely sees him: As a fan.  The episode, “Figure Not Included,” would’ve probably been the worst strain since Major Glory literally brought Dexter to his attorney over copyright infringement for making some action figures. However, there are a few reasons why I don’t think an actual lawsuit went through and it was mostly just to teach Dexter a lesson.  The most obvious is that Major Glory is polite to Dexter when seeing him, if stern, and directly asks him “if he learned his lesson.”  Secondly, it would’ve been a throw-away case since this was just a kid making toys for himself and a few of his “friends” with no money involved even if Major Glory wanted to go through with a lawsuit. Third, while the action figures Dexter made were dangerous--a threat to both the kids and his brand--they were still impressive.  It’s highly likely that, once Dexlabs was established, Major Glory had some tech or merch made from there due to his connection to Dexter.  He’s also happy that Dexter has come a long way from being a genius, if sometimes reckless kid, to both a leader in the scientific world and among the Fusion Fighters.            

[silyabeeodess]

Have you made a headcanon of Juniper Lee?

I’ve done just a couple for her in different sets like for the Character Fates for the Future and Nowhere, but I can go ahead and list some more now. :)

Juniper’s always had to balance her role as the Te-Xuan-Ze with her normal life, and when the invasion began, it felt like that struggle was raised to the highest difficulty imaginable.  Fighting supernatural beings became less of an issue, as even many of the more dangerous ones were worried of the threat Fuse posed to Earth and were willing to make enough of truce to step back; however, now she had to constantly battle against fusion monsters--which greatly outnumbered her, were really only weak to imaginary energy, and could respawn--on top of handling her regular duties.  For a while, all she could really do was gather her allies to help fend them off.  Needless to say, she was extremely relieved when Earth’s forces gathered together to form the Fusion Fighters and planted a base in Orchid Bay.

Grim was the first to find June, believing that her abilities would more useful to the war effort if she were able to travel freely to interact with other supernaturals in other parts of the world.  (While he’d never personally met her before this, he already knew about the Te-Xuan-Ze and has met a few of them in the past.)  There are Underworlders who regularly interfere with the lives of mortals, but there aren’t many humans who can meet them on an even playing-field and even less who would try to see them eye-to-eye.  True, June could always access magical realms to reach some of them, but the ones that more-often stayed in the human world would be at risk.  Furthermore, there were some exceptions to the Underworlders overall hands-off approach to the war, like Him’s original intention to ally with Fuse.  There was no way for June to perform her duties as well if she was confined to Orchid Bay, so he made a deal with her to break her free from the city’s magical barrier as long as she continued her work. 

While she was naturally cautious at making a deal with the literal incarnation of Death, it didn’t take her much time to agree to his terms.  Sure, even if she’s never been able to leave her town since she became the Te-Xuan-Ze, she’s gotten to see some amazing things in the magical realms.  However, that doesn’t mean it didn’t bother her, especially as the years wore on.  She can’t go on big trips with her friends.  She couldn’t join any club activities that required her to go out-of-town, like many away games in sports.  She can’t really go to a college of her choice if she wanted to.  Any big dreams she had, like being an astronaut, were lost... until now.  In this kind of situation, as important as her job is, there can’t help but be at least a little buried resentment.  After years of feeling suffocated by a strict, mostly thankless role that she’s had to keep secret, she finally has a chance at a little bit of freedom and she has no intention of messing it up.  While she is stressed as she’s been put in a leadership position among the Fusion Fighters, she works hard to do right by those around her at all times. 

June did have some concerns about leaving Orchid Bay since she’s protected the area for so long; however, Grim’s wide reputation was more than enough to organize most of the supernaturals that lived there and stop them from causing trouble.  Beyond her gratitude for their deal, the more she got used to him and talked to him, the more she started seeing him as a friend.  

Even as a commander, she’s still an independent agent.   Before June’s arrival in Nowhere, studying its magic totems and many ruins, she took on a bunch of missions that let her travel around.  She saves some of her money for souvenirs wherever she goes and always takes pictures, as she’s unsure how long her deal with Grim will last.  When the war ends, she may be forced to stay in Orchid Bay again: Since this seems to be the loophole she’s been waiting for, it’s her hope that she proves herself enough that maybe she can convince whoever she needs to to let her keep her freedom, be it Grim, the Magical Elders, or someone else.  

She still sings and plays the guitar, and people enjoy listening to her music.  She in-turn still likes rock and is a big fan of the Gangreen Gang’s music.        

Since the Ledgerdomain is a magical realm, it’s possible that June may have visited it at some point; however, either due to its sheer scale full of powerful sorcerers or Adwaitya’s takeover, it doesn’t seem like the Te-Xuan-Ze is given much notoriety there. 

June enjoys studying aliens and their tech due to her space interests, and if she wasn’t the Te-Xuan-Ze might’ve considered becoming a Plumber.  As it stands though, right now, she’s going to focus on getting to explore the rest of the Earth itself. (If she can’t leave Orchid Bay in normal circumstances, she definitely won’t be allowed to leave the planet.)  If given the chance, she would love to ride a working spaceship.  She takes advantage of any investigation in Area 51.5 to check out the various spacecrafts located there.  

[silyabeeodess]

Have you written anything for Time Squad based on their Retro placements?

It's a little difficult since Retro ended before the second Time Squad update. I'm not sure how I would account for those lost missions, as all I can find are the descriptions for them. I can make some headcanons using the OG game and Part 1 update: Just please take these with a grain of salt. I also won't really be able to cover Otto or Buck since they weren't introduced in-full, so this post is definitely focused on Larry.

· In the mission “Bring Me the Head of Larry 3000,” we learn that Larry was blown up in the Battle of Tech Square. He isn’t thought of fondly by the other characters, with no one feeling any remorse over having to use his circuits to remake the time machine and Numbuh Five calling him “crazy,” so I doubt he was around long enough for anyone to have any kind of attachment to him. More likely, he was there for Dexter’s research participants since it’s too much of a coincidence for a time cop to be at the exact point they reappeared on the timeline.

· His, Buck’s, and Otto’s goal would’ve been to return the research participants to the past as soon as they arrived in the future to limit damages. While they’d likely have it in their records that these individuals would play a massive role in the war effort, they’d think the latters’ jump forward into time—their disappearance—is what would’ve partly contributed to the state we find the world in with Fuse’s nearly complete takeover. They wouldn’t take into account what knowledge the research participants would take back, instead worrying over what would happen if they were killed in the future and never able to fulfill their roles.

· Unfortunately for the Time Squad trio, the Battle of Tech Square was rough on them. They were split up, resulting in Larry being on his own to try to carry out the mission. Emphasis on try. He managed to reach some of the heroes to alert them on the situation and the importance of finding the research participants, like Numbuh Five. However, even those who had a minute to spare to listen to him during the fighting thought that Dexter—who had been preparing for the research participant’s arrival since they were first lost through time—had a better plan than this strange robot. When Larry tried to do the job himself, that’s when he was blown apart.

· Following the game’s events, with the research participants returning to the past and bringing the blueprints for nanos with them, no further involvement from the Time Squad (organization) was needed. There was some worry over the existing wormholes and paradoxes, but not enough to directly involve themselves with those individuals again so long as the events of history continued to play out as they should. (Although they are on a bit of a watch list since they’re time-travelers themselves. It's worth noting too that the Time Squad Organization isn't fully trustworthy, given their willingness to lock people away who refuse to agree with their methods, as shown in the episode "Repeat Offender.")

· Here’s where I bring in Retro and things get iffy. Larry’s head was a vital piece to rebuilding the time machine in the future, so if Larry is saved during the Battle of Tech Square as the Part 2 Update mission “Back to the Future (Part 1 of 3)” would’ve had us do, this would’ve caused some problems with the timeline. We also have the matter of individuals appearing in two places at once in the timeline, like the player reappearing during the Battle of Tech Square unless they saved Larry before their own, initial arrival in the future—which, as mentioned when covering Professor Paradox, could cause a rupture to the timestream. Given the missions that follow, it seems that devs also shared this mindset, but since I can’t read the missions in-full to know exactly where they were going with it building up to Fusion Larry’s appearance, I’m extremely reluctant to cover them.

· However, sticking with just the first update, we find something very interesting. In Retro’s mission, “First Contact,” Larry doesn’t seem to know who we are, referring to the player as “one of the locals.” This is despite the fact that these characters should have met already given images of Larry��s head installed to the time machine in the future show his eyes lit-up, functioning, and that he is very unhappy with the situation. What I derive from this is that, while this is our second time meeting Larry, it’s his first time meeting us—meaning he came to the pastprior to his mission in the future. This is further backed up since Larry didn’t even know about the invasion itself, stating in the mission “Time Run Amok” that according to his records, “Earth wasn’t conquered by an alien planet until 56,897 AD” and that the fusion monsters “aren’t meant to exist at all.”

· It’s hard to say how reliable Larry’s records are, given that in “Time to Groove,” he thinks that Benjamin Franklin lives in Genius Grove. He’s getting his historical knowledge mixed up. Obviously, the fusion monsters exist and nothing outside of changing Planet Fusion’s route across the galaxy or making sure Fuse never came to be in the first place is likely to alter that. Earth isn’t technically “conquered” yet, and won’t be so long as the war is won, so he might be looking at things from the perspective of someone from the future and downplaying the events of the invasion. We see this evidenced too in how he thinks the player can stop the invasion within a day before realizing that the fusion monsters can respawn in no-time. Again, this would show that this Larry is playing catch up to the one we meet in the future.

· This interaction may have even been the reason for Larry’s appearance in Tech Square to begin with. With the player and him having already met, they could’ve been on his mind enough to research their involvement in the war once the robot regrouped with his team. Noting their importance, of course the Time Squad would try to save them and the others involved in the time-travel experiment, bringing everything full-circle.

· In these missions, Larry says that the team was investigating an anomaly in time. Whether he’s referring to the time-travel experiment or what would’ve been the events of the second update is hard to say, but his time pod was likely thrown off course in either case.

· Despite the destroyed pod we found in the Darklands, Otto and Buck are likely perfectly fine. Buck might not have many brains, but he is a tough fighter and they landed close enough to the base in Hunter’s Crest to reach safety.

[silyabeeodess]

Have you written anything about the Mayor yet?

I'll cover him and Miss Bellum both below:

It probably goes without saying that the Mayor doesn't have much of an active role where the war is concerned. Like in the PPG show, he stays pretty oblivious to what's going on beyond the calls he needs to make for others to step in and save the day. Nothing highlights this better than the "Mayor's Assistant" mission arc, in which--instead of rewarding the player for their impressive track record as expected or sending them on an important mission--he has the player get pickles for him and run a simple challenge.

It's not that he's selfish when he does some of these things, just that he's incredibly simple-minded. He doesn't see an issue calling people in in for basic errands because they're there to help and he doesn't recognize the gap between situations. He tries to do the best he can for the city, but most of his efforts come across as slapping a band-aid over a stab wound: They're well intentioned and look good, but rarely solve the actual problem. The second half of "Mayor's Assistant" furthermore serves as an example of this since the Keys to the City challenge the Mayor conducts is a fun activity for citizens "to find the most capable leaders of tomorrow to help fight Fuse today," but it serves no real purpose. It's just a race, and the keys are given back to the Mayor for the next challenger to find once it's completed. It doesn't really find leaders or fusion fighters, or give anyone a boost in status: At most, it just helps increase morale.

That last line pretty much sums up the Mayor himself and how he manages to stay in-office: He's good for morale. His usually friendly, upbeat attitude and mild appearance appeal to the townsfolk. We're shown in the PPG movie that the Mayor was already in-office before the girls were born, so despite how upset people were with the high crime rates in Townsville at the time, it's likely this charisma that convinced them to elect him in the first place--and his status only improved once the PPG became their official superheroes. There are those such as some of the Dexbots who question his intellect and say "his leadership has failed" multiple times, but there isn't enough support on that side for people to kick him out of City Hall.

The saying "behind every great man is a great woman" comes to mind in regards to the Mayor and Miss Bellum. The latter might not make a physical appearance in the game, but she is absolutely working behind the scenes, as noted by the statues of her in Townsville Park, the Mayor's calls for her when he calls the player over the comm, and his mention of her in "Going Downtown (Part 3 of 4)." This mission also lets us know that the Mayor is part of the nano project. The Mayor clearly doesn't understand it nor does he show much interest in having a nano modeled after him, so it's likely that this was Miss Bellum's idea given how he gives his item for nano enhancement at her instruction. There are multiple reasons she could've had this done, in order to give the Mayor some importance to the war effort and keep up his image for the public. It makes him look like he's more involved than he truly is and he stands to gain some benefits as a fusion fighter without taking as much of the risk.

It's a wonder to some why Miss Bellum doesn't take office herself at this point since she pretty much already runs things. For personal reasons though, the mayor's seat just doesn't interest her: She's not attracted to power or prestige, and she doesn't like being in the spotlight. The PPG wiki describes her as being a "recluse," backed up by how easily Sedusa took her identity in the episode "Something's a Ms." We can conclude this further with her character design itself since Miss Bellum's face is almost always out of sight and covered by her hair--a trait that can indicate seduction, but also shyness or solidarity. Miss Bellum doesn't seem to be timid by nature due to her wit and willingness to fight when the need arises, so it's likely the latter. Rather than be a public face attending several events throughout the year, she would much rather enjoy her privacy within the comforts of her own home.

Miss Bellum also genuinely has a lot of respect for the Mayor as a person. She knows he's a moron, but he's a moron with a good heart. When he temporarily lost his position in "Impeach Fuzz," she accepted it, but also saw how it crushed him since his identity is so tied up in his position. She's also been shown to be extremely attached to him as evident in "Speed Demon." Taking his place would feel like a small betrayal of his trust. Nevertheless, both the Mayor and Miss Bellum have been recognized for their contributions, again noting the statues of them as reference.

[silyabeeodess]

Do you intend on writing lore for characters who were implied to exist but weren’t in game or side characters of already represented shows, like Sunny Bridges, Adam Lyon, the Delightful Children, etc.

I've touched on them a little already in some other posts for headcanons, like the ones for Father or the Sunny Bridges' Auditorium, and it's something I've definitely considered: I just haven't given them their own posts yet since I have been a little on-the-fence. I don't mind creating headcanons for them even though we don't get much beyond reference/cameo--or even covering something more original like the Spinal-ARCH, which was just an idea I came up with as a way of explaining how players could summon different things like wings, tentacles, etc. freely--so the only thing that's really stopped me is the worry that I might miss some in-game dialogue from an NPC or other material when writing them.

Even when I make headcanons, I try to put official canon first. If there's something iffy/contradictory, say between the lore in individual shows vs. the game vs. the other shows, I'll pick/make adjustments for whatever I feel makes the most sense. So, for example, if I wrote about the KND Moon Base, I'd hate to miss context like the KND having lost contact with it--a fact which we typically just hear in-passing between NPCs as we're running around the different areas. People are free to ask on those topics/shows if I don't bring them up: The posts just might not be as polished.

[silyabeeodess]

How would you integrate later FF shows, like Secret Saturdays and Sym-Bionic Titan, into your story?

I’ve touched on the Secret Saturdays a little since the Secret Scientists were introduced earlier into the game.  For both of those shows though, I’d first go off of what was available in the Academy Version when they were introduced more heavily, see how the pieces fit with the OG version, and go from there.  Incorporating more of the individual characters in easier--like the Sym-Bionic Titan trio’s backstory can still easily fit in Fusionfall as the intergalactic refugees they were in their show. What’s harder is tackling those bigger plot points from those shows that involve global issues/calamities and that other characters from other shows would ultimately be affected by if we were to strictly follow just one set of lore.  In this case, I try to find where they may have similarities that can overlap in FusionFall.   (I wish I had the game bible to work with too, but oh well.)  

Adventure Time is one example of a later show I’ve approached in this way to go into a little detail about some of the world’s general history in headcanons: I tied the first Catalyst Comet with Aku’s arrival to Earth as a fragment of the Black Mass, but limited the scale of the Great Mushroom War. When I finally get around to covering Generator Rex too with the rest of these later shows, I might have to talk about the Nanite Event in a similar fashion.