LEXICON COMMENT:
This author interview was written late March 2000.

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What is your name or nick?

Belinda R. Kelly

What is your E-mail address/addresses?

brkelly@uq.net.au

How old are you?

23

Are you female or male?

Female

What is the name of your home page name and what is its URL?

Um, it isn't up yet but should be by next week. I think. 'World of Chaldis' at www.uq.net.auzzbkelly

List the Transformers fanfics have you written. Where can they be found?

Lexicon Note: Right here!

Time and the Hunter (Soundwave 'Secrets of the Universe special) Andraxus 1-6 (in Conquest) 1-2 are on some websites (or were at some stage). The Zero Conundrum (on my hard drive) Andraxus 7 (on my hard drive with the rest of it in my head) Unity (Shockwave/Origins of Cybertron story that vanished a few years ago...) Chasm profile (on Raksha's webpage, I think)

Which, of the Transformers fanfics you've written, is your favorite and why?

The Andraxus series. It's basically one big novel in large chunks. I think I like A7 the best even though I haven't finished it yet. (I will at some point. This year even!). I also liked the way how A4 came together but 6 I wasn't too happy with for some reason.)

Which is your favorite Transformers fanfic written by someone else and why?

I like Raksha's stuff. I like its big scope and grandeur. I really want to read the entire complete saga at one point. The characters are well fleshed out and it really comes alive for me. I also really enjoyed this fellow's 'Generation 2' story but I can't remember who wrote it at this point. It was really big and had over 42 episodes. Sorry for being vague, I read it at uni ages ago.

What influences you to write Transformers fanfic the way you do?/What inspired you to write Transformers fanfic?

This all goes back years ago when the US comic ended and I was left to think up my own TF stories at night in boarding school. I had a huge universe going there - Andraxus is the distilled version of all that. There's stuff I'll never write, like the Carnavorus saga

How much time do you usually spend writing Transformers fanfic?

Not much at the moment. I plan to finish off A7 at some point this year. It's just so looong... And I'm worried that it won't cap of the series properly or conclude all the points I've planned to raise, but I'll get around to it.

What drew you to Transformers in particular?

The cartoon and comics. After my parents divorced when I was about 12, the series was a safe place to go to and I never forget about, even when I went to boarding school and university after. The only MUSHes I could get into were TF ones and I really enjoyed hanging around people who shared the same interest.

Who is your favorite Generation 1 or Generation 2 Transformers character (fan-created or official) and why?

Starscream. I really relate to him. I really hated to see him die. See, I'd seen the third season stuff in the video shops and couldn't work out what happened to Starscream. So finally I found the movie and just kept watching that first twenty minutes over and over again. It was like a dose of cold shock to me. In my TF universe, I wanted him to live forever but it didn't quite turn out that way...

What do you like most about the official Generation 1 and Generation 2 canon?

Probably the characters, even though some of those early episodes are so silly it's hard for me to watch them now. I subsist on fond memories.

Who is your favorite Beast Wars character (fan-created or official) and why?

I like Silverbolt, because the toy's quite nice. I'm also fond of Dinobot. I was pissed off that he never made it to Beast Machines. I normally root for the bad guys but their characters were boring, to say the least and they mainly transformed into icky things, like insects.

What do you like about the Beast Wars canon the most?

The cartoon was fun to watch. About the canon, well it kept the TF universe going even after the comic and everything was dead and over. That's why I like Beast Wars.

What do you like most about the Beast Machines canon?

I like how we're back on Cybertron. I like the metal landscape. The story's pretty good, but it could be a bit faster. I think I like BM more that BW.

Who is your favorite Beast Machines character (fan-created or official) and why?

Hmmmm. Jetstorm and Thrust are interesting (though not in the capacity of dead BW characters). I like the new Megatron - he's kind of more interesting and menacing than he was before. The good guys are kind of bland at the moment, though I don't mind Blackarachnia or Cheetor.

I hate TFs that are too ... anthromorphic, I guess. I like them as intelligent machines best. I used to think female transformers were stupid, but they've kind of crept into the canon now with BW and BM ( I could always over look that episode with the female TFs before and Arcee.) I still think TF sex/reproduction is silly, but I respect other people's visions of the TF universe. One thing I disliked about BW was how they got their upgrades. It was a quantum surge or something and they'd be the new toy. Gah - where's the engineering in that? I liked the old stuff because you had to be built into a new form, engineered and stuff.

Have you had any interesting feedback as a result of your Transformers fanfics?

I like feedback on more stories. I guess I should have raised the profile on Andraxus by releasing it to the newsgroups and putting up a webpage, but I was more interested in completing the whole thing than publicising it. Oh well.

How much time do you spend online? What percentage of that time is devoted to Transformers?

I used to be a real MUSH addict. All my time was spent on various transformer MUSHes. I don't have the time now, working and all, but I enjoy the occaisional jaunt back to TF MUSHes now and then. Currently I've only got Verge at TF:TLY, he's interesting but not as fun to play as Chasm was. I couldn't bear to let Verge go though. I wouldn't mind playing that character again - he was my attempt to create a persona character but that didn't wash and he became something else to me. I really miss playing Hun-Grrr (I was the first Hun-Grrr at TF:2005). He was the character I've most enjoyed playing, really. Catch me in some really old TF:2005 logs as Onslaught or Hun-Grrr...

Which Transformers newsgroups do you use? Select any that apply.

alt.toys.transformers

rec.toys.transformers.moderated

Have you any other comments to make about Transformers fanfic?

Not really. I wrote more for myself than for an audience, but I do enjoy reading what other people produced. There's some really good fanfic out there.

The End