Down Nostalgia Lane: Maxman

[spotto]

The PPG season three review is delayed because Firefox crashed during the typing of the review. In place of that, enjoy something a little different, but at the same time nostalgic as well! I've been typing up about it lately on this LJ anyway.

I wrote a fanfiction...? A fanfiction of what you ask? Is it Negima? Or Hetalia even? Maybe a story about the PPGZ!? Or maybe LF2? Well if you noticed the tags (or even the title) you would know.

That's right--a BEYBLADE fanfiction. Why you ask? I have remembered all the reasons I loved the Anime, and that reason is pretty much Max. (Some Rei too, but yeah.) So just like PPG, Digimon, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat, Weekenders, Pokemon, etc., we will revisit Spotto's childhood with the superhero MAXMAN!

Who is Maxman you ask? Well my young self loved Max to bits, my favourite character (after lots of Rei-loving too o_o) I noticed he seemed the most normal of the bunch, so my little imaginative self decided Max needed to be a bit more flashy, more heroic! Thus I created Maxman, modeled and inspired after Batman (similar to how Dogger is inspired after Spiderman) Maxman is everything Batman is besides the whole I-am-emo-antihero stuff, nor is he nearly as manly, but who cares! Of course then I break EVERY mold and name this whole adventure after the prime villain of the story, The Green Midget. Let's go!

Before the fanfiction though I also drew a bit. I haven't actually drawn ANYTHING for a long while so...it's a bit rusty, but because it is Maxman I took this opportunity to create one of those "improvement" comparisons from a fanart of old. In fact I did three! These will probably stretch the page unless you have a pretty widescreen monitor like me! But that's why this text is under a cut!



So...I wonder if I improved in the five years of drawing? Nah, that old fanart was totally much better. Look at the vivid colours of the old fanart, and the simplicity! This new one is pretty bad I say, looks more like I got worse. Haha I'm just kidding, but you've noticed I didn't even properly colour the new one. I haven't coloured in four years, seriously. So I likely won't colour the new one properly, I just threw in colour so I remember his colours for the future.



Of course we can't forget his arch-nemesis, The Green Midget AKA Kiki/Kevin of the White Tigers/White Tigers X/Bai Fu Zu (TOO MANY NAMES X_X) from the Anime. A relatively minor character in the Anime itself, I took a liking to him at the end of my Beyblade fanatic days. Oh right he's also the nemesis of Trenchcoat Max, which is Maxman's other alter-ego besides his normal-ego (does that make any sense?) regular Max. :P

I didn't draw Trenchcoat Max because I realized I couldn't draw trenchcoats, oh well. Moving on...



This is probably the worst of the bunch, I'm sorry any remaining Rei fans X_x. I actually never drew Rei from the Green Midget before, so I just took an old fanart and drew on a trenchcoat (see, I can't draw trenchcoats lol) in paint. So it's practically the same quality as before! Anyway I realized that it didn't seem in-character to put Rei in such a warm outfit with limited mobility, as I believe Rei is a detective with more of a hands-on approach rather than using silly cowardly guns everyone else does (or I just think he's too awesome for them) so his sleeves are ripped off and he doesn't wear a shirt. It's my story, I say Rei should be shirtless, oh and in an effort to look formal he puts on a tie. Ignore the awkward pose too, I wanted to draw him sitting down then realized I can't draw that either. SPOTTO YOU HAVEN'T IMPROVED AT ALL.

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Story time! I must warn you the fanfic is a bit...ridiculous. But yeah, otherwise enjoy maybe?

Maxman's Great Dilemma

Creaking back and forth, a shadowed outline rocked his office chair, legs up on his desk feeling all the more relaxed the more he listened to the sounds of his oil-starved chair. A few seconds later he started spinning around in his chair, fascinated with the wheels and utter mobility of his seat. He continued to rotate until he stopped, facing the massive window behind him that literally took up the entire wall. The sky was dark, the sun just starting to peek above the horizon, almost too shy to reveal itself because the light felt too agonizingly slow as it hit his face.

He adjusted his sunglasses while scanning all the rooftops before him; there was a great advantage to being in one of the tallest buildings besides the magnificent view. He could see everything this city had to offer on the peak of hill his home sat on and that gave him a great advantage over his arch-nemesis who made no effort to keep himself under stealth.

"Yes...it feels like today will be a good day," he muttered, rocking the chair back and forth once again, throwing his arms behind his head almost in a sleeping position, yawning to prove a point. No one would be there to witness it, but the boy's relaxation would be cut short.

"Boss!"

Immediately the figure spun his chair back around from the sound of his door slamming open, standing there was a person barely taller than the door's handle, he was breathing heavily from the sight of his heaving chest, and he could barely speak without his shortness of breath enveloping all the words that came from his mouth.

"It's Maxman!"

The seated shadow grinned, "Perfect."

-

A drop of sweat slipped down the shivering fist of a somewhat nervous blonde, who stood outside a towering fortress. He had trekked through hell and back just to get here, the trees behind him ablaze, with smoke blending into the clouds above. He looked battered barely making it through the maze that had taken many of his comrades, only he stood here alone to fight a villain he knew was going to take a lot more than what he had just finished. Blood trailed down the side of his mouth, joining his sweat in a downward voyage forced by the forces of gravity.

He was surrounded by henchmen all dressed in black who were armed in some form, a pen that could shoot lasers, an umbrella that could deflect any attack, and even an old fashioned firearm. There was nothing to lose now that he had reached his destination, Maxman took one single step.

BANG!

One bullet flew, and almost in slow-motion, the superhero whisked through it, dodging it just barely with his red cape providing a sneaky conceal. Soon though that bullet would be accompanied with dozens of deadly projectiles, and Maxman was not the speediest hero around. His forearm sliced through the air, the turtle shell armour smashing back bullets in an instant, and soon the warrior blonde found himself on the other side of that confrontation, standing right in front of the entrance. He took off towards the doorway, but was instead greeted with another nasty surprise.

A gun was only inches away from his forehead, had Maxman been stopped even a single millisecond  later, he would have slammed straight into the Green Midget, his head right into the revolver. The blonde was practically frozen in time, his life could be over at any moment and suddenly the sweat on his face grew more. The Green Midget snickered, amused by how helpless his eternal foe looked.

"Greetings," he started, the smirk never ending, "Nice of you to drop in, Maxman."

Maxman said nothing, still finding the situation surreal, almost as if he was afraid that anything he said would have triggered his death.

"You have the most interesting hellos Maxman, burning down my backyard and kicking around my friends," the midget said, "It wouldn't be very fair for me to not give an equal return."

"You mean your lackeys," Maxman finally spoke up, starting to feel rebellious at this point, no matter how dangerous it was.

The Green Midget chuckled, "You should watch what you say...my finger might slip. Now tell me...what brings you to my humble home?"

Maxman gulped, but continued to glare straight at the Green Midget's violet eye, only ever able to see one with the other always hidden by the midget's oversized bangs, "You've taken something, I'm just here to return it."

"I feel insulted Maxman. You think I couldn't have returned it myself? Even so, I have no intentions of doing that," He responded, the other midgets felt like the conversation was going nowhere.

"That's why I'm here," the blonde responded coldly, "whether you like it or not I'm taking it back."

The Green Midget was only getting more amused as time went by, "You're in no position to be doing something like that."

"Why would you even take something so treasured? How can it benefit you at all?" Maxman asked, knowing he could only stall at the moment while his mind raced about trying to find a way out of this mess; it was his only hope of escaping alive.

"Let me tell you a story Maxman, a story of myself, long ago. It is something your kind would never understand, but perhaps right now I could persuade you to my cause...

"You see as a child I always reached for something, something I could never grasp into my hands. I was young and naive, and didn't have the power to reach that goal. No matter how much I tried, I always fell, I always injured myself trying, but I continued anyway, every single day. The days always grew longer, and as I achieved another inch into victory, I would fall back again, falling so behind that all the progress I had was wasted. As I grew older, I knew that the only way to obtain that goal, that purpose was to become stronger. Every single day I tried, I always tried to finally wrap my hand around that one true target I never was able to before. But today, today I finally had that chance, and after so many years of forgotten failures...I felt I deserved it, after all that hard work. I finally had something that you, Maxman, had for so many years...is that so wrong? Is that truly wrong in your eyes, hero?"

Maxman could not prevent a tear from escaping his eyes, but he knew where his mission was, "Even so, taking what isn't yours is wrong, no matter what the circumstances were, are, and forever will be!"

"You only say that because you never had to suffer the pain we went through, Maxman. You were spoiled in your childhood, you always felt what we never could," The Green Midget tightened his free fist, growling, his grip shaking, "You could never understand that feeling!"

The anger that brewed within the Green Midget was about to erupt, and his shaking, fumbling hand was finally going to hit the trigger, ending his mortal enemy for all...

"But I do understand the feeling," replied Maxman, tears flowing from his face, he could not stop his waterworks now, "I too once...was too short to reach the cookie jar!"

The Green Midget growled, "Liar!"

"No...There was a time when I was barely up to my mom's knee. The counters towered before me, always intimidating me, but I always tried to reach the jar. I jumped, I cried...I even tried to climb on a chair, but in the end, I fell down!"

The shorter boy was almost at his limit, his voice cracking, "Liar!"

"I can understand that pain, and I don't know how hard it must be to have to deal with it for so long. I know how lucky I was...to grow..."

"Shut up!"

BANG!

Maxman found himself lying on the ground, looking up now at his enemy that he was so used to looking down upon, but he was not on his back because of the pain that emitted from his knee, the bullet had shattered his knee cap, leaving him immobilized. Despite the turtle shell armour that protected such a delicate area, the Green Midget knew how to break through the seemingly impenetrable armour with his own intelligent and wit. What surprised him though was not that he was hurt, but that the Green Midget had not killed him.

"Now you can see how we always felt...always looking up, always feeling small!" The Green Midget cried, his gun still pointed at Maxman's head, "Your pity is worthless here! After you're dead, I will eat that cookie with pleasure!"

His grin was almost maniacal, but Maxman felt no pain, only the sadness that engulfed his heart from such despair the Green Midget had to go through in his life, and finally it was this day that Maxman understood why his arch-nemesis did what he did. Maxman was conflicted even though the next few seconds could be his last, was what he was doing even heroic at all? Was what he was doing right?

"You see...we are not midgets. You are just too tall," The Green Midget prepared to fire again, this time the deathblow, but a sudden war cry was heard from the dense forest and a wildcat leapt into view, tearing through all the midgets in its path in an instant, its claws almost sinking into the Green Midget's skin, but his own craftiness enabled him to escape unharmed, and soon the only ones in front of the large building was the cat and Maxman.

Maxman was overjoyed, "Rei! You're alive! I thought you got eaten by the monkeys!"

"Almost did, but I managed to escape," He noticed Maxman still on the ground, "Are you okay?"

He struggled to get up, "That nefarious Green Midget found a way to break through my defence, but I can still fight!"

"Your steel wall defence!? He's stronger than we thought," Rei noted, "...are you sure you can still fight?" He lent his hand for the down hero.

Maxman suddenly batted the kind gesture away, "I don't want your pity. You don't understand how it feels to be in my position, always looking up!"

"...eh?"

"You're taller than me."

Rei sighed, "You shouldn't listen to the Green Midget. He's trying to manipulate you."

"But you don't understand the pain he went through...the pain I went through...I can understand his motives Rei," Maxman started, "I'm not sure if we should even stop him, maybe he deserves that cookie. He never had one before."

Rei Kon knew exactly why he was on his mission. He was a decorated veteran detective of the Hiwatari Police Force and knew that crime was crime, no matter what it was. Their most well-known and successful member was Trenchcoat Max who disguised himself as the vigilante Maxman during the night. He knew that they couldn't return to the office without retrieving the stolen item, whether it was all the money in the world or a simple cookie, especially Maxman. Rei picked up Maxman by his cape, his feline glare penetrating into Max's soul.

"What kind of hero are you? No matter how much they deserve something or not, they can't take what isn't theirs. If a man worked all his life only to make a scrap of money and then commits lottery fraud, would he be allowed to get away with it!?"

Maxman only took a second to reply, "No."

"Then stand up and man up! We need to get that cookie back!" Rei said with a firm, fierce voice. Maxman adjusted the turtle shell plate protecting his knee, red seeping through the opening near the shin. He had come prepared in case something like this happened, the technical genius Kenny had designed his leg armour to keep his body weight upright in case any of his legs failed him, but he didn't know how efficient it was, particularly in terms of running.

His companion noticed Maxman's delay, "So you are hurt, aren't you?"

"It's okay," Maxman started, "Like you said...stand up and man up!" He stood up, the wind picking up, almost challenging the superhero's strength to rise, but he answered the challenge well and at this point of time, little would knock him off his feet.

The hero turned towards the direction the midgets had fled in pointing dramatically at the area of disturbed trees and grass, "The Green Midget better watch out because nothing he says will turn the tide anymore!"

"Besides," Rei began, "if we don't retrieve that cookie before Kai notices his snack is missing, we're all fired."

 -

Before I end this entry I must ask anyone who actually made it to the bottom of this page. I've uploaded four Japanese themes of Beyblade somewhere and I wonder which one you like the best? One, two, three, or four? They're all a character's theme, but I will leave it to your ears to decide your favourite.
1.

2.

3.

4.

Anyway until next time (likely the PPG review :X or me ranting about relatives coming over, or the first day of the school year, etc.)