Bloopers, Deleted Scenes & Backstories

How Did I Create Project: Titans?

Well, the simple answer would be a very long series of events that started when I was in fifth grade. The long answer would be to explain every excruciating detail of the process. So, since I'm in the mood to torture people, here we go with the long answer!

So...a long, long, long, long, LONG time ago, back when I was a little kid, I met a girl who introduced me to the wonders of roleplaying. We started to write a roleplay (RP) based around Pokemon (we were both kinda geeks back then), until suddenly she cold-shouldered me and never looked my way again.

Anyways, one day, I was browsing through my old Google Docs for kicks (and maybe to laugh/cringe/curl-up-in-the-fetal-position-and-cry at some ridiculous OG stories I started for school), and I came across the RP. It was SUPER badly written, so I figured I would try to rewrite it. I completely scrapped the idea of our original RP (a couple of twins and their friend who left to Alola because of a quest from Mew--I was a fifth grader, okay? I wasn't very familiar with the Pokemon canon back then), and I came up with the idea of using Gia in an RP.

At first, she was just Giovanni's daughter and did a bunch of missions with Meowsie. The RP was about her setting off on her first journey away from Team Rocket. I knew I wanted her to have a talking Meowth named Meowsie (a little nuance because her dad has a Persian, the evolved form of Meowth), and I was OBSESSED with Alola at the time I created her, so I chose an Alolan Meowth. Also, Alolan Meowth is probably one of my favorite regional variants of all time. Don't argue with me.

It was in the RP that I conceived the concepts of Gia, Maddie (originally a rival-turned-friend like Blue or Bede), Griffon (can't remember what his place would have been, but still an older brother figure), X (who basically stayed the same), and a scrapped character named Tank, who would have potentially served as a love interest like Piers did in the fic. He was going to be the first friend/rival Gia would encounter on her journey, and act as a guide as she stepped out into a real journey for the first time.

Gia herself was originally WAY more of a geek than she ended up being in the final cut. I admire the clinical nature she had in Project: Titans and how her character arc allowed her to open up to others, but I miss the sweet little nerdy girl. Her first pass was much more timid when it came to socializing, and she acted like a character from the actual anime rather than a fanon OC. She was awkward, and a little blunt, and had a tendency to infodump about Pokemon to whoever was around (mainly Tank) rather than internally monologue. Now that I'm realizing it, she was DEFINITELY autistic-coded to a frankly incredible degree. The biggest change though is that Giovanni wasn't a massive douche.

Then, I got bored with the RP. I mean, I can only write in RP format for so long until I get bored or headache or both; besides, I was also on a QOTV binge at the time, so I had that taking up the majority of my free time. But I didn't want to scrap the Gia idea; I mean, I LOVE Pokemon, and I knew wanted to have a story about somebody from the Pokemon universe. Then, I remembered an amazing prompt I had gotten from my science teacher.

In the middle of our genetics unit, she told me that my next character for a story should be someone created in a lab, or someone with genetic editing of their DNA. BOOM! Enter Project: Titans plot! Because of an offhanded comment made only once, my teacher inspired my first completed fanfiction. Add in my obsession with Pokemon Sword & Shield (and Piers), and you have the story.

And...yeah, that's kind of it. I know I said it was a very long process, and it was--I mean, it took me at least two years to get to this point--but I condensed it down into something you guys could understand. So, that's it. That's how I got the idea for Project: Titans.