Interview with Leondude · 12:53pm Sep 8th, 2019
Interview with Leondude
by Nailah
“Alright, now tell me, my dear friend, what inspired your username?
Response: Why myself, of course. My name is Leon and I am a cool dude.
“What drew you into Mlp?
Response: Ooh, now this one is quite the story. It first started out in my younger years when I spent most of my time watching YouTube Poops and other funny stuff on the internet and then I encountered a YTP called Friendship Is Mayo. Since that I adore the artstyle of the show (along with me looking at a few baddies on Villains Wiki), that was the first step towards me becoming a brony. The next step was when I discovered TvTropes and the various pages belonging to fan content of the show (mainly through my discovery of the Nightmare Fuel page for non-canon works related to the show, which sadly no longer exists). Since that the fan videos I watched on YouTube were really good (especially the ones in the Top Ten Pony videos back when JHaller was making them) I decided to give the show itself a watch to see if I like the show as well as the stuff the fandom makes (mainly because, in my mind, it wouldn’t make sense to like a fan work and not like the show the fan work was based on). The first episode I watched was Lesson Zero (the one where Twilight goes nuts) and, after a few more episodes, I was hooked.
“Who is your favorite pony and why?
Response: Twilight Sparkle. She reminded me of me when I was in my school years. Nerdy, loves reading (though I mostly read wikis rather than books), prone to fits of anxiety, I can see why people theorize she might be on the spectrum somewhere (oh, and I easily relate to characters on the spectrum whether they’re confirmed or not so that’s a bonus).
“Favorite episode and why?”
Response: Twilight’s Kingdom, if only for that Dragon Ball Z-esque fight between Twilight and Tirek and for solidifying Discord’s redemption (after he had a brief relapse into villainy, of course).
“What inspires you to write?”
Response: I have a very good imagination. Always have ever since I was little. I suppose what inspired me to write is that there’s a difference between reality and fantasy but I can easily imagine the characters in my head going on little adventures of their own. Plus, I really like gaining positive attention so if my work is praised, then I’m happy.
“Tell us about your favorite story, and why it inspires you to write. It doesn't have to be mlp specifically!”
Response: You know, it never occurred to me what my favourite story is. Do comic-books count? Because if they do, I suppose I’d have to go with either Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, or Old Man Logan (the last of which even inspired one of my stories). You know what, I’m gonna go with Watchmen on this one. While The Dark Knight Returns gave Batman his balls back (so to speak) and Old Man Logan takes place in an alternate universe where most of the heroes are dead and the bad guys rule over America (which became a post-apocalyptic wasteland), none of them had the same impact Watchmen did. The story of Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe where costumed heroes (only one of which has actual superpowers) are real and are eventually outlawed, America won the Vietnam War, and the world is now on the brink of World War III (oh, and they replaced superhero comics with pirate comics in-universe). After the death of a former costumed vigilante by the name of Edward Blake, AKA The Comedian, the morally uncompromising Rorschach goes off to investigate and believes there may be a conspiracy to kill (or neutralize in Dr Manhattan's case) all the remaining heroes. To say the story has a few twists and turns as well as acts as a deconstruction of superhero comics would be an understatement.
“Give us the background of the author! Tell us all about you. Well in a short summary.
Response: Well, I am on the autism spectrum, I aspire to be an animator when I’m older (or when I get Adobe Animate for my laptop), I’m willing to do some voice acting on the side. My other interests include Star Wars, Batman, SpongeBob, Team Fortress 2, Rayman, Shantae, DOOM (especially the 2016 game) and...uh...That’s all I can think of at the moment when it comes to my interests. Ooh, I also like watching videos on YouTube (mostly Let’s Plays and clips of things I like nowadays) and reading TvTropes articles.
“With Mlp coming to an end, tell us one thing you have learned from your experiences, and how it has helped you to grow?
Response: Well, it opened up a lot of opportunities for me, I made my fair share of friends on this site, and I do believe my writing abilities are improving, with most of the stories I write being better than the last (most of the time but I’m still growing the beard, as TvTropes would say).
“Is there anything else you'd like to say?
Response: Yes, I’d like to give a shout out to the sidewalk, as the yanks call it, for keeping me off the streets.
;)
Thank you for allowing me the pleasure of interviewing you, you have truly been a pleasure to talk too. I hope you continue being awesome.
-Nailah.
Leondude's Fimfiction page: https://www.fimfiction.net/user/339971/Leondude
Thank you.