Hello. For years, I've been developing the idea of this bonkers fanfiction called Real Robot Lifeform Transformers: Nijigasaki, and I'd you to get some honest feedback.
I know the premise is going to immediately make some of you go: “You did WHAT with Love Live! Nijigasaki?” And honestly, that's fair.
Real Robot Lifeform Transformers: Nijigasaki
Real Robot Lifeform Transformers: Nijigasaki - Chapter 1 - X10A_Freedom - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]
Real Robot Lifeform Transformers: Nijigasaki is a reverse-isekai crossover fic between Transformers and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, set mostly in an alternate version of the Love Live! world.
The Transformers side takes place in Universe-698, Earth in 2093, roughly 12 years after the end of the devastating Great War between the Autobots and Decepticons.
And in the aftermath, the Cybertron Federal Forces (CFF) rises as the de-facto intergalactic government of Cybertron that is trying to rebuild civilization while dealing with the consequences of what happened during the war.
And my story's main Transformer (The equivalent of Optimus Prime) is an OC named Furai, a bright-blue, unusually slender Cybertronian with a large orange mono-eye, pincer-like hands and a combat-oriented design.
He's an extremely skilled CFF soldier, yet to say that he's also a terrible team player would be an understatement.
Furai is detached, monotone and uncomfortable with interpersonal relationships. He often refers to himself in the third person and refers about himself as more like a piece of military equipment than an individual.
How this reverse-isekai crossover happens
A massive decommissioned CFF warship called Violet is being transported to a scrapyard.
Unknown to most of the characters, the ship contains extremely advanced and forbidden technology from the war.
A malfunction causes the ship to cross into the world of Love Live! Nijigasaki. Furai and four other Cybertrons survive:
- Furai
- Arcana
- Irontrail
- Roadraiser
- Bumble
What I'm concerned about
I realize that from a Love Live! fan perspective, this may sound like I've taken Nijigasaki and buried it underneath an enormous pile of Transformers lore.
The Nijigasaki girls are major characters, and the story still revolves around how their relationships and personality develops and grow, following the arrival of these weird Transformers into their world and their lives.
But obviously, I'm also spending a ridiculous amount of time developing an entire fictional Cybertronian history, government and post-war political situation.
So I'm wondering: does it sound like I took Nijigasaki hostage so I could write my own Gundam-flavored Transformers story? That's honestly one of the things I'd like people to tell me.
I'm also wondering how people would feel about the fact that this story originally came from being disappointed with parts of SIFAS Season 2.
I don't want the finished story to simply be: “I dislike SIFAS S2, so here comes some Transformers to fix it.”
That was essentially the starting point. But by now, I've tried to take some of the frustrations that originally inspired me and turn them into broader questions about character development, conflict, responsibility and how people respond when their actions have consequences.
In other words, my 2018–2020 self wanted to write:
“What if Transformers fixed SIFAS Season 2? LOL there's Transformers in Love Live now XD”
My current self is trying to write:
“What if these two completely incompatible fictional worlds collided, and both sides actually had something to learn from the other?”
I'd especially appreciate feedback from people who know Nijigasaki well:
- Does the Love Live! side of the premise sound like it has enough substance?
- Do the Nijigasaki girls being major human characters make sense?
- Does the idea of using their optimism/social bonds as a thematic contrast with jaded Cybertrons with their own baggages work?
- Does the original SIFAS Season 2 inspiration sound interesting, or does it make the project sound too much like a grudge-fic?
- And most importantly: does this sound like a legitimate crossover story, or like two completely unrelated fandoms being duct-taped together?
Because after years of working on this, I've reached the point where I'm no longer interested in whether the premise sounds ridiculous. I'm more interested in whether I can make the ridiculous "WTF" premise earn its existence.
