1. What is your name or nick?

I am Darzoni, or Darz, or just Darryl

2. What is your E-mail address/addresses?

lrdjhiaxus@aol.com or dpark063082@aol.com

3. How old are you?

I just turned twenty-one, so I feel old.

4. Are you female or male?

Male

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

I don't have a home page to speak of.

6. List the Transformers fanfics have you written.

Machine Wars (Unfinished)

TF:War Concordance

The Dark Homecoming

Divided We Fall

Persistence of Decision

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

I very much like The Dark Homecoming. It came out very easily and in a day. I've since edited it because of things I don't think should have happened, but all in all, it is a satisfactory introduction to the Transformers: War universe for the readers. Every other fanfic I've tried to write in the TF:War universe has been a tremendous struggle to keep consistent with the concordance document I have and write it well at the same time. In particular, the story that recounts the opening battle of the First Great War has been taking a very long time to write.

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

I liked a piece I commissioned from Mariejose Diaz (At least, that's what I think her name is). The narrative switched between the Transformers that evolved to what you see in TF:War and the internal battle that occurred in Unicron when Hot Rod opened the Matrix. I don't know how to quantify why I like it other than the writing style had something about it that made it seem... I dunno. That emotion you see on somebody's face when they know they've lead a good life and they're about to die to protect all they hold dear is what it reminds me of. Noble sacrifice, you know?

9. What influences you to write Transformers fanfic the way you do?

Frank Herbert's Dune novels. Hands down the best science fiction I've ever read in my life. There is a whole believable universe behind Dune, and it shows in how Herbert wrote the novels. Layers and layers of complexity are woven into a coherent story. Like most good storytellers, Herbert also works in social and ethical morals into the stories. I try to emulate that on some level in that I try to write Transformers in a way that reflects our own world and history. So that the reader can see ourselves in the things the TF:War Transformers do.

I'd have to say that Stephen King is a big influence as well. His works tend to focus largely on the interactions of the characters and the psychological motivations behind the characters. An excellent example of what I'm talking about is Misery. The book is downright grim, and leaves you feeling sweaty and dirty after reading it. I mean, this woman really is a psycho, and scares the hell out of me.

In the cinematic arena, I'd have to chalk that one up to Mainframe Entertainment's work on Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Visually, those shows were spectacular. The story editors for each did an excellent job. Yeah, yeah, whine all you want about Marty Isenberg and Bob Skir, but does anyone remember how many complaints the first season of Beast Wars drew? Same thing with the first season of Beast Machines.

Musically, I'd say Pink Floyd. Very dark music when you consider it. Few happy songs after Syd Barret left, lots of moping about and doom and gloom, that sort of stuff.

10. What other Transformers fanfics writers write in a similar way to you?

Honestly, in these past years since trying to write TF:War, I have not had the time to really sit down and write my own work, let alone other people's. And worse, I can hardly remember the fanfics I enjoyed when I did have the time to read them.

11. How much time do you usually spend writing Transformers fanfic?

Maybe a grand total of 10 hours a year. Which is sad because I have this whole saga mapped out in my head and no time to write it.

12. What inspired you to write Transformers fanfic?

Raksha. It's not that I hate her, I just disagree with her. The people I hate are those folks who think she's some sort of goddess and anyone who disagrees with her is a bad person. But then, fanaticism on any level tends to rub me the wrong way.

I was really mad that she thought that the Autobots were the bad guys and the Decepticons are good guys. I'm sitting there stewing about it thinking "Well, if the tables were turned and the Decepticons were in power, they'd treat the Autobots worse than the Autobots treat the Decepticons now." And that's pretty much why the civilian population of the Autobots on Cybertron have been crammed into a ghetto. I'm pretty sure the Autobots never forced that upon the Decepticons.

13. What drew you to Transformers in particular?

I dunno. Maybe it's because I've been obsessed with them from childhood? Actually, between my early childhood and Beast Wars, I had really sort of forgotten about Transformers. Then one day in 1996 I'm flipping the TV channels and catch a glimpse of the 'Power Surge' episode of Beast Wars and suddenly all these happy memories of wasting days playing with TFs came back. So I got back into them.

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

It may sound weird, but I like Jhiaxus. A rather fascinating character if you look at him. He is/was in severe denial about his true nature (bloodthirsty tyrant), and along comes Optimus Prime with his 'archaic' ways, and wakes up this nasty side of him he had buried. Then too, I always have a sympathetic spot for poor Mindset, since he was one of the few 'Cybertronians' who got a name, and then Furman bumps him off using the Swarm.

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

The humans in G1 and G2. The relationship between humans and Transformers is what I would call pretty accurate in the comics. Humans are pretty xenophobic in real life, so I'd say the fact that most humans think the TFs are bad is a good guess. Earth basically gets the shaft in the Generation 2 comic. The Warworld shoots the hell out of it from orbit, Bludgeon and crew go on a rampage, and oh... Jhiaxus has Los Angeles turned into a crater. Basically the humans who kept saying that Transformers were bad get vindicated and mankind's innate xenophobia is thus justified.

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

Megatron from the animated series. This is a villain who somehow managed to further his master plan despite the interference of our heroes. I can't say the same for the show version of G1 Megs. I mean, with him, it's always "Decepticons Retreat!". At least BW Megatron was verbose enough to -vary- what he said if he called a retreat. Sheesh.

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

The fact that Larry DiTillio and Bob Forward sort of stumbled into connecting it with the G1 canon.

18. What do you like most about the Beast Machines canon?

Rhinox being a turncoat. Now that was quite a nice plot twist. Yes...

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

Optimus Primal. He's one of those few leaders that realized that you have to take your arch nemesis with you to the grave if you want to end the cycle of conflict. He died a noble death, and better yet- nobody brought him back to life so his death wasn't cheapened.

20. What do you like most about the Robots in Disguise canon?

Red sportscar. Best. Running. Gag. Ever.

21. Who is your favorite Robots in Disguise character (fan-created or official) and why?

Sideburn. See answer to question #20 for why. Maybe I should write a fanfic where he actually gets his wish...

22. What do you like most about the Armada canon?

I like Minicons. Minicons are neat. And at the time I'm writing this, my brain is turning to mush. Anyway. I was one of those few kids who liked Micromasters. Probably because my parents could hardly afford the larger TFs. So I had a lot of Micromasters as a kid. My only wish was that they were more poseable. A little over a decade later, I get my wish.

23. Who is your favorite Armada character (fan-created or official) and why?

Well, the comic versions of the Air Team are quite amusing. I think it's the fact that they plan totally crazy things and yet they don't see it as crazy at all. In fact, they're quite serious about what they're doing.

24. What parts of your Transformers fanfics are based on events in real life?

Gee, do you really want to get into that? Most of the concepts and themes in my work are drawn from human history, particularly World War II. I don't want anyone to forget the horrors of WWII and what went on during it. To be blunt, it is the darkest chapter in history. Nuclear weapons, systematic medical torture of prisoners, concentration camps, racism, systematic bombing of civilian populations, etc... This really humanity at its worst. There were no 'good guys' in that war.

25. What would you like to change about the Transformers fanfics you've written?

Uh... I'd like to change the fact they're fanfic and see them animated one day.

26. What do you consider to be a trite or overused theme in fanfics and why?

Self-insertion. Irritates the hell out of me because it's usually blatant, and horribly written. In fact, I remember the impetus for World's Worst Fanfic was a particular series of self-insertion fanfics.

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

Yeah. I never expected to get a 10. I almost fell over in my chair when I saw that. Then I saw that the average rating was for the fanfic was something around 9.5 and was even more amazed. I also saw that 200 some people had looked at it. I'm still blown away that people think I write well, since there's always something I'm unhappy with.

I'm very happy that Firebird picked up on what I was trying to accomplish. I was literally writing The Dark Homecoming from a cinematic viewpoint. I was listening to 'Sorrow' and suddenly I got this enormous vision in my head that eventually turned into the Dark Homecoming. I tried very hard to record it into words, but there's stuff left out like the mist rising from the ground, the details on the civilians and vehicles, etc. I mean, it came through with perfect clarity. Sure most people would find that kind of creepy if it happened to them, but I'm fairly used to that sort of thing happening to me.

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

Well, I spend too much time online. Hours. I don't get to devote -any- of that time to Transformers anymore. I used to devote -all- my time to Transformers. Don't know what happened, but hey, here I am. I mean, as I write this, it is now 1 am my time.

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

alt.toys.transformers.fanfic

30. Have you any other comments to make about Transformers fanfic?

Nothing at all other than I wish somebody would take the really good stuff and publish it in an anthology. Sci-Fi does it so often with their genre that I'm surprised Hasbro hasn't thought of it. I mean, some authors write very well and deserve some official recognition.