First Name: Joshua

Last Name: CLASSIFIED

Residence: Somewhere within 30 miles of Ann Arbor, MI

Age: 20

Date of Birth: CLASSIFIED

Gender: The Volvo logo

Avatar Picture: Princess Tweyelight Sparkle.

Religious Affiliation: Christian

Denomination: Baptist

Nationality: Born a citizen of the United States of America.

Political Affiliation: Right leaning

Pop or Soda: You bake with soda, you drink pop.

Coke or Pepsi: What about Faygo?

Sprite or Sierra Mist?: Sierra Mist, Sprite's too syrupy.

What is 22: That depends, what base are you using?

What is the highest grossing film of all time: Gone With the Wind...after you adjust for inflation (thought you got me didn't you?).

What is the highest grossing film of all time without inflation adjustments: Orbital Bombardment--oh wait! That's what should have happened. Sorry, I sometimes get the two mixed up. Avatar. (Now bracing for a flame-war).

Personal Motto: "What's the Difference Between a Plothole and a Retcon? A Fancy Name."

Favorite Movie (Overall): The Lion King.

Favorite Movie (Pixar): Up.

Favorite Movie (Drama): Forest Gump.

Favorite Movie (Action/Adventure): Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Favorite Movie (Horror): None.

Favorite Movie (Fantasy): None.

Favorite Movie (Sci-fi): Star Wars VI: The Jedi's Return/Revenge.

Favorite Movie (Star Trek): Star Trek IV: Whales!

Favorite Movie (Mystery/Suspense): Signs.

Favorite Book: The Jungle Book.

Favorite TV Show (Drama): Law & Order.

Favorite TV Show (Sci-fi): Stargate SG-1.

Favorite TV Show (Star Trek): Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Favorite TV Show (Cartoon): My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Favorite TV Show (Boring): NOVA.

Favorite TV Show (BBC): Doctor Who (2005-pres.)

Favorite Supreme Court Case: United States v Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coco-Cola.

Favorite War: The Pastry War.

Favorite (worst) Quote: "But right now, when the Japs are planting their hatchets in our skulls, it seems like a hell of a time for us to smile and warble: "Brothers!" It is a rather flabby battle cry. If we want to win, we’ve got to kill Japs, whether it depresses John Haynes Holmes or not. We can get palsy-walsy afterward with those that are left."

--Dr. Seuss

Favorite (best) Quote (from the worst person): "The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die."

--Hitler

I've been an avid fanfiction reader since 2006. I've read some pretty good stories, and so, every year, I give my "Fanfiction of the Year Award" to the story that I think is the best that I've read that year. The only qualification is that the story must be competed by December 31 of that year. Realistically though, it has to be a good story to qualify. Below is a list of the nominees and winners from years past, along with reasons why, and why they didn't win. The winning fanfictions are emboldened.

2012:

Ponies Make War/The Immortal Game- The first nominee and current frontrunner for the 2012 Award is one of the darkest and goriest that the FFotYA has seen. Originally called Ponies Make War it has since been renamed The Immortal Game. Personally, I like the original name more. I was put off from reading this story for some time due to it's less then stellar synopsis. That problem has, thankfully, been resolved. The story has an excellent plot, exciting fight scenes and characters on the brink of death at the end of chapters. The one main problem is how it will end. With the story being grimdark, everyone may die, something which would doom the story from winning. UPDATE: With the story's completion and no one dieing, it has all but clinched the 2012 Award.

The Upheaval Series- The second nominee of 2012 is able to weave it's plot better then even Prince of Destiny did. With no less then seven subplots going on at one time, The Upheaval Series (currently: Upheaval: Breaking Point and Upheaval: Reckoning), is a truly epic adventure that tells of the hidden war Equestria is waging and how the mane six are now embroiled in it. The major dislike, and the primary reason it probably won't win FFotY is the author's refusal to accept the events of Hearth's Warming Eve yet take the time to incorporate A Canterlot Wedding. You can't simply cherrypick which parts of canon you want and ignore (or in this case rewrite) the rest.

2011:

Lion King: A Pride Divided, The- Our first and surprisingly only Lion King nominee for 2011 once again is a bit of an anomaly for FFotY. Unlike most stories that are nominated, Divided only has 23,391 words (a full 2,088 words less then unexpected Surprise) and is, currently, the shortest multi-chapter fanfiction ever nominated. Despite it's shortness, it's a great story. The main draws for the story are it's unique, original plot and it's cleverly placed and organized antagonist. The only major downside is the ending seems very quick and abrupt--the author could have easily made this into a 20 chapter story that would all but clinch the award; instead, it's a quick ten chapter story that could have, but sadly didn't, win the award.

Past Sins- It's the first non-Lion King fanfiction to ever get the award. Quite an accomplishment. Regarded on Equestria Daily as a "six star" story, many of those who have read it are probably not too surprised that it finds itself the winner. Like almost everything MLP related, however, there are those who dislike it. I am not one of them. I've read countless MLP fanfictions since October, when I finished up Pokemon, and I must say that, of all them, I consider Past Sins the most balanced. It has an almost perfect mixture of the various elements that make a good story. A little angst, comedy, action, and sadness blend into an enjoyable and truly original story. That's the other important thing--originality. There are countless "Rainbow Dash breaks her wings" or "Twilight botches a spell and is in an angsty AU" stories out there but Past Sins manages to avoid those tired plots and have one that's all it's own. With it's completion some time prior to my reading, it can, and has easily won FFotYA.

Empty Room, The- I will admit that I have two fanfiction weaknesses. The first, as Pridelanders: Part 1, can tell you, is cubs. I love cub stories, especially cub Simba stories (although I've been less then ecstatic about the SNL stories that've been posted), and that has lended extra weight to certain nominees. While The Empty Room lacks cubs (or should I say foals?) it does have my second weakness in abundance--evil versions of good characters. I scoured the MLP fandom trying to find a "Evil AU" story and while I did find several that had evil versions of good characters (Dusk and Dawn, Sunset, and Severing and it's sequels), they were either too dark for me to fully enjoy or simply weren't exactly what I was looking for. Then The Empty Room came along and hit the nail on the head. Not only does it do evil well, it also has a very good plot to go along with it and several plot twists that you try to predict, but fail. My personal favorite fanfiction of 2011, but sadly it didn't win. With only a few days left it was still several chapters from completion and so, was ineligible from winning.

2010:

Unity Saga, The- I've broadened my horizons in 2010. Our first nominee for 2010 comes not from the Lion King, but from the complicated and complex world of Star Trek/Star Wars. That's right--not only is it not a Lion King story, it's a crossover too. The Unity Saga is an epic six part, 750,000 word fanfiction odyssey that stretches over two canons and took me a solid week (four hours a day!) to read. My understanding of non-Lion King fandoms is quite limited so if it tells a massive cliche then oh well. Sadly it's only nominated due to it's length. I guarantee that you'll get nominated if you write a 750,000 word fanfiction--that's in a fandom I like (Fallout: Equestria notwithstanding). Saga had two main problems that ensured it didn't win FFotY. The first is the plot. Do you expect a 750,000 word fanfiction series plot's going to be easy? It makes A Mufasa Story look like a four month old baby. The second, and far bigger problem, is the antagonist (at the end). I hate, HATE, villains who are the bad guy simply because they're "insane" or want "revenge". It's a cliche that expands beyond the fan-world and percolates canons. Guess what motivates Saga's (final) antagonist? "Revenge" and "insanity". I won't spoil anything but the choice of the antagonist isn't very good, and it seems as though there's some forced shifting of the character's personality by the author. Voyager fans probably won't be happy because of it, even if Seven of Nine is the primary protagonist. Also, if you like any TNG, DS9, or Star Wars characters then don't read it because, by the end, they all die (except for Sisko, because he's a Prophet don'tcha' know).

heirs of hope, The- You wouldn't expect the 2010 FFotYA would go to a story that isn't capitalized (that's how it's "capitalized" on the site), but heirs caught my eye. Heirs had something that very few TLK stories have now-in-days--a refreshing, completely original plot. The story hybridizes the "Banishment" and "Rouge Invasion" plots, and tells the story in a neat orderly way. That being said, just like '09, the frontrunners (Intertwined, The Lion King: To Be Alive) failed to take the prize (due to not being completed by December 31). Heirs was, throughout the year, the "defacto" story to win. It wasn't "spectacular"; it didn't have a complex plot; and it was under 70,000 words but it's plot was something I hadn't seen, and, compared to some of the other stories I've read this year, is well deserving of winning the Award. Update (old): The story now IS capitalized. Update (old) v2.0: For unknown reasons, the author has decided to "rewrite" the last seven chapters (apparently it has to do with betareading). Even though it's no longer complete, it still qualifies because I read a completed version of the story.

Lion King: To Be Alive, The- If you would have told me that Alive would be nominated for FFotY when I started reading it, I would've laughed at you. The story really didn't have anything going for it through the first six chapters (standard Zira kills Kopa story) until Zira didn't kill Kopa. That was first of what's been a number of pleasant twists and turns that's lead to what we have now--a story about attempted genocide. Alive isn't yet completed and it'll be interesting to see if it wins as it's in a tough fight with Intertwined (see below), but it is a story that (thanks to it's second half) is worthy of nomination. Update: It appears as though To Be Alive won't win due to the fact that the author has predicted a completion date of July.

Intertwined- MinisterSweetGoodKid certainly has a knack for writing (her previous story, Love Is Blind, won the 2009 FFotYA). Unfortunately my gripes about Love Is Blind have persisted over to Intertwined (slow plot and huge amounts of dialogue)...until you hit, you guessed it, the later chapters. Just like Alive, Intertwined didn't get FFotY good until the last few chapters (subversion and civil unrest). Couple these with very good writing (a running theme of Minister's stories) and you get a sure fire FFotY nominee. If only she would do more stories with these kinds of exciting plots. Let's just hope that the excitement persists to the climax. Like Alive, Intertwined isn't completed and it'll be another no-holds-bar cage match (a la Pridelanders v Destiny) to see which one (if either) will claim the prize. Update: As with To Be Alive, Intertwined won't be finished before the deadline.

An unexpected Surprise- You could call Surprise the exception that proves the rule. Normally a story with 1200 words per chapter would never be nominated for FFotYA; however Surprise is different. What it lacks in chapter length it makes up for with a fascinating plot and speedy updates (the reasons why its nominated). Unfortunately it didn't win. Why? Well, a combination of reasons. I really do like this story, but I've blindfully overlooked some critical problems with it because of that like. The biggest is the realization that the author holds a bias. I hate when an author's biasness is evident, it's the very reason that Shadows of the Past failed to take the '08 award. In this case, the author is biased toward Simba--going as far as to not kill him off when the situation warranted it; and against Kiara (a popular bias in the Lion King fan community). Don't get me wrong-- *spoiler warning* Kiara being evil is a great plot-- but what I realized is the author cleverly made her evil to kill her off. Her evilness, despite it's plot value, is another problem, violating a character's preset personality (the Fundamental Order of Characters as I like to call it) is a big no no--but I overlooked it, because of my very own bias towards the story. In short, there are simply too many issues with Surprise to warrant it winning the Award. It's a great story, but not FFotYA worthy.

2009:

Love Is Blind- The 2009 FFotY was the "default" story. Love Is Blind is good, but it suffers from some problems that would normally prevent it from winning. These problems mainly revolve around the plot--which is boring. This 100,000 word story has a plot fit for a 50,000 word story. The story drags along and the dialog becomes tedious. So why did it win FFotY? Because no other really good story was able to be finished by 12-31-09. Even with all of it's problems, Love Is Blind is still most definitively worth a read.

Pridelanders Part 1, The- My personal favorite fanfiction of 2009 and the front runner for FFotY wasn't finished (and still isn't) by 12-31-09. Now renamed The Pridelanders, this story tells the all-too-cliched "what if Simba didn't go to the jungle" plot. The plot isn't what makes this story good, the characters are. Friction, tension, and schisms all make it seem like your watching an episode of DS9 (not a bad thing). The character development is superb. It also helps that I've always been a sucker for cub stories. Even so, it wasn't completed by the deadline and so can't win the award.

Lion King: Prince of Destiny, The- Throughout the year Destiny and Pridelanders were in a no-holds-bar cage-match to see who would win the award. Pridelanders had the benefit of speedy updates and cubs, while Destiny wove a plot like a Persian tapestry. In the end, neither won. They both failed to meet the deadline and so had to be disqualified. Destiny's a great story. It may tell the all-too-repeated "Kopa" story, but it tells it better then any other I've read. It even has a twist (that I foresaw in chapter 2). It's a great story--just needs to be completed for it to really become great.

Lion King 3: Chosen Ones, The- Chosen Ones is the FFotY equivalent of an episode of E! True Hollywood Story. It was the early front-runner and it dominated...early on. It showed so much potential, looking back almost makes me want to cry. As we approached the deadline, the quality of the chapters began to sharply decline and the plot began to erode. You could literally see the story being murdered by the author. Then, the author updated, and never did again. Chosen Ones remains uncompleted and probably will forever. It is a tale of what happens to so many stories. They hold so much in them, but it will never be; because the author will never finish them. Update: *Gasp, it must be Halloween; because Chosen Ones has risen from the dead.

2008:

Rafiki's Tales: Evening- 2008 was extremely difficult for FFotY. There were simply so many awesome stories that I read that year that it made deciding very, very, difficult. The Rafiki's Tales Series will always be special to me; despite the fact that it is, as of this writing, uncompleted. It was, and is, the only fanfiction series to ever successfully give Chronicles a run for its money. Even though there are five stories in the series, two had to be disqualified because they aren't completed. I picked Evening because of it's perfect blend of politics and action, two of my favorite plot elements in a story.

Lion Sue, The- It was so difficult that two stories had to win the award. The Lion Sue is what a one-shot should be. It comes, punches you in the chest with it's point, and leaves. I would recommend that any up and coming Lion King author should read this story, simply because it points out the atrocities that we, the "fictioners", tend to do to the story and the characters. It really is a great piece of work that should get you thinking, and it's, currently, the only one-shot to ever win FFotY.

Shadows of the Past- This story is the (now second) longest Lion King fanfiction I've ever read, and it's blending of semi-canon elements is what rocketed onto the nominee list. Sadly, Shadows of the Past had one key flaw, one that doomed it from winning. It was a pro-Scar story. That is, Scar was misunderstood, Mufasa was mean to him, Ahadi abused him, etc, etc, etc. I hate Scarist stories. They take the canon and twist it into a barely recognizable heap. It's for that reason that Shadows of the Past failed to win FFotY.

Innocent Prisoner- I debated for years as to which story I should give the FFotY honors to, Innocent Prisoner, or Evening. Innocent Prisoner has the honor of being the only M rated fanfiction ever to get the nod. It tells a fantastic story that directly inspired me to write Claw & Order. The reason it didn't win is because it's not original. It's based off of season six of the British show Bad Girls. Update: Sadly, the author of Innocent Prisioner decided to remove the story from the website. As such, it is no longer viewable--quite a shame.

Memoirs of a Blue Bird- It is the only Zazu fanfiction I've ever read, and yes, it's actually very good. It tells the "biography" of Zazu, from his birth to the time of his retirement. It has a solid plot, and portrays Zazu's personality very well. It's a very good story. Sadly there's only so much you can get from him and, as a result, the plot isn't nearly as exciting as the other nominees this year. The ending is also somewhat boring. It starts at his birth, why doesn't it end at his death? If it were 2009, or even 2010, this story would probably win, but '08 was very competitive and because of the competition, it didn't.

2007:

Legacy of Ahadi- 2007 was the year I started really reading Lion King stories. Of course, you can't read Lion King fanfictions without reading Chronicles. Legacy was awesome but it didn't cover main events in the movie (specifically Simba with Timon and Pumbaa). Because of that, it didn't win FFotY.

Spirit Quest, The- The second of the Chronicles series, Spirit Quest mainly revolves around Rafiki and his life. It also focuses on one of the main elements that makes Chronicles so special--religion. Despite this, Spirit Quest seemed to drag its feet ever so slightly, particularly at the beginning. It too didn't win FFotY.

Shadows of the Makei- The 2007 Fanfiction of the Year Award went to Shadows because of it's fixing of the problems that both Legacy and Spirit Quest had. It covered the whole of the movie and it had religion AND it didn't drag it's feet. It might be darker then the other Chronicles stories but compared to some stories I've read, it's a walk in the park.

Under the Acacias- The final installment of the Chronicles series was... a disappointment, not enough not to get nominated, but a disappointment none the less. You could call it a "sequel" to Legacy. It has it's fair share of problems though. A stale plot, little religion (one of the magical elements of Chronicles), and a lack of focus on main characters doomed Acacias.