Extreme Big Bang

Challenge
Name:	Extreme Big Bang
Date(s):	2013-2016
Moderator(s):	hoktauri (former), eosrose (former), gwyneth_valora (former), wyndewalker
Founder:	hoktauri
Type:	Big Bang
Fandom:	Multifandom
Associated Community:	"Extreme Big Bang". Archived from the original on 2017-04-30.
URL:
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Extreme Big Bang is a multifandom (including original works), big bang challenge with a minimum word count of 100,000 words.

From the 2013 rules:

What is an Extreme Big Bang? The Extreme Big Bang began with the idea to have a big bang writing challenge that required a minimum of 100,000 words. It later expanded to include art and other mediums, each with similarly "extreme" participant requirements, which are listed

Round 1

The first round of Extreme Big Bang ran from September 15, 2013 to August 25, 2014. The initial schedule had posting happening on July 27, but it was later delayed.

During the first round the minimums were:

• Fic: 100,000 words
• Scripts: a single script at least 120 pages long, or 3 scripts at least 45 pages each
• Meta: 25,000 words
• Poetry: 1,000 lines of text
• Podfic: 100,000 recorded words
• Art: 3 of the following (repeats allowed): fanvid (> 3minutes), fanmix (12 songs), illustrations (8 pieces), graphics (8 pieces), icons (100), music (8 songs)

Unlike traditional big bang challenges, which tend to have a primary work (usually fanfic), with a companion work (usually fanart) made as a sort of prize for meeting the minimums, Extreme Big Bang's first round instead focused on primary works, with the option for participants to find a collaborator to work with to make a companion piece. There were reduced minimums for companion pieces.

There were 150 signups for this round, with 100 writing, 22 podficcing and 28 creating art. Despite the high number of starting participants, only 3 fanfics and 6 podfics were completed. In a wrap up post, hoktauri suggested that the multi-media aspect, beta requirements, high art requirements, having a separate help comm, and mandatory check-ins were the cause of the low completion rate. It was proposed that round 2 should only include fic and art, along the lines of a traditional big bang with artist claiming fanfics. This change would disallow scripts, poetry, meta, and podfic for the next round, even though podfic was the most popular medium of finished projects.

Round 1 Masterlist

Fanfic

Protector by velocitygrass (Stargate Atlantis)

Summary: While most come to Atlantis as a last hope to find safety in Pegasus, Rodney McKay looks for an opportunity to work on his inventions. Nobody in Pegasus has been untouched by the Wraith, but Rodney has a shield that protects him. As a citizen of Atlantis, Rodney learns some truths that challenge how he thinks about the Wraith and himself.

Art: Protector Cover and Map by velocitygrass

Leave the battlefield, leave her hand by ariadne83 and somehowunbroken (DC Universe)

Summary: In Gotham everyone has secrets, even from the ones they love the most. Britta Wayne and Harvey Dent are no exceptions. Between Wayne Enterprises, Bat-duties, and raising a pair of Graysons, Britta had a lot on her plate already. But now they're trying to settle young Jason Todd into his new home in the midst of Harvey's campaign for re-election.

What could possibly go wrong?

Art: None

What Binds Us by ilcocoabean (Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, His Dark Materials)

Summary: When Gavin is nine he finds a window that leads to the city of Pulcrum where he befriends two children and a witch. Together they teach him about their world of daemons and the worlds that lie beyond. However his visits have to come to an end when Angels come to close the window. On the night of his last visit to the other world Gavin shares a dream with a witch who teaches him to see his daemon and undergoes separation. As the years go by he gets used to the idea of being one of the few people in his world who could see his daemon but that all changes when upon returning from a visit to England he finds that daemons are visible even if their humans can't see them. As exciting as this new development is, it only makes things awkward for him, especially when he sees how his daemon interacts with Michael's. Between falling in love and finding out who can see their daemons and who can't, Gavin finds his world slowly changing but will it ever be like the one he lost?

Art: None

Podfic

Seyruun High Jinx: Summer Special by Opalsong (Slayers, Tokyo Babylon, Fushigi Yuugi)

Summary: This is the second story in the four-part High Jinx series.

Art: Cover by Opalsong

Seyruun High Jinx: Next! by Opalsong (Slayers, Majo no Takkyuubin | Kiki's Delivery Service, Tokyo Babylon, Pet Shop of Horrors, Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan | Clamp School Detectives, InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, FAKE)

Summary: The 3rd story in the series about the Slayers' band, here with their rise to stardom and the big Musical - Syndicate showdown.

Art: Cover by Opalsong

You Are The Moon Series by RsCreighton (Les Misérables)

Summary: It's been six months since Grantaire left the Musain and her crew -- and her captain -- behind him, but the quieter life he'd hoped to make for himself is thrown into turmoil when a convict and his daughter crash down into the middle his little outer-system settlement.

Art: Cover by RsCreighton

In The End We Have Each Other by RsCreighton (Les Misérables)

Summary: Enjolras has spent pretty much the entire bus ride to the Musain trying to predict how this will go, but the thing that surprises him isn't that Combeferre isn't the first to notice, or that Joly doesn't start spouting something about infant mortality rates and immediately demand that everybody bathe in Purell. No, what startles Enjolras the most is that he manages approximately half a step through the door into the back room where they all meet before Grantaire rattles his glass down on the table in the back that he's taken for his own and drawls, "Is there something you forgot to tell us, Apollo?"

That silences the room, predictably enough. Everyone breaks off their conversations and swivels to stare at him. At him, and at the baby carrier that he's got hooked over one arm.

Art: Cover by RsCreighton

Hold Your Heart Into This Darkness Series by argentumlupine (My Chemical Romance, Danger Days The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys)

Summary: A Danger Days: True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys AU

Art: Cover by dapatty

Love Like Chocolate / PandaOcean by ailurish (K-Pop/Super Junior)

Summary: He is an epicurean; a lover of food and wine and nothing else. His attitude is almost as famous as he is, and the only thing you need to know is that the kitchen is his territory and you do what he says, when he says it. Without question. Lee Hyukjae has never been the type to bend easily to anyone, and that alone makes them a bad combination from the start.

Art: Cover by savetomorrow

Controversy

When hoktauri suggested disallowing works other than fic or art, there was immediate and vocal protest against the idea, specifically against dropping podfic, which, it was pointed out, produced the most works in round 1.

The way to get more people writing is not, in my opinion, to take away the option for other people to make other kinds of work. The way to get more people writing is to attract more writers. -malnpudl

Three of the people who actually managed to complete the challenge were podficcers. Why would you remove the podficcing option? Even though I'm not a podficcer, excluding podficcers would definitely ensure that I wouldn't participate in future rounds. -akamine_chan

Can I ask what your reasoning is for suggesting removing Podfic - a fanwork form that is increasingly being included in the more popular bigbangs - when arguably the last round of EBB would have been embarrassingly light on works without the inclusion of podfic? -wenchpixie

I've completed several BBs solo and as a co-writer. I'm disappointed to see that you're considering eliminating the podfic option for this BB. As others have pointed out,the trend is to be more inclusive of a variety of fanworks, not less. More and more BBs are including podfic. If you need to reallocate your responsibilities with your other mod(s) to free up your own time that's understandable, but there's no relationship between eliminating one type of submission and getting more of a different type of submission. If your goal is to have more fic writers participate and finish, you are focused on the wrong thing. I will definitely not sign up if you eliminate podfic as an option, and I know many other writers who feel the same way. -fabu

I think that eliminating podfic from the next round would be a big mistake... Please reconsider excluding podfic from future rounds. -rubytuesday5681

re: podfic I think it should be allowed in. For someone to podfic a story *that* long is an incredible amount of time and energy - that I feel is in line with the comm challenge. -raktajinos

I would be interested in possibly signing up in the future as a podficcer. I see that most of the comments to this post are people upset at the idea of podfic being cut from the process, and I'd like to add my voice to that. You've said in multiple comments that nothing is set in stone and you can still be swayed, and I would hope that this outpouring of support for the inclusion will convince you to keep including it. -paraka

When polling possible participants for next round, 6 of the 22 people responding said they would sign up next round to create podfic. Of the 18 people who responded to the post (including the mods), 13 were in favor of keeping podfic, 4 didn't mention podfic, and the only person who spoke against keeping podfic was hoktauri, the mod who suggested dropping it in the first place. hoktauri repeatedly responded to pro-podfic comments stating that dropping podfic was "just a suggestion" and "not set in stone" but also would not confirm whether or not podfic would be allowed in the next round.

In one comment thread, malnpdl asked:

Why do you want to eliminate media types? Why exclude anyone from participating?

To which hoktauri replied:

The original intent behind the Extreme Big Bang was, "What if there were a Big Bang with a word count minimum of 100K?" Allowing more and more media types took focus away from that... With regard to podfic, I feel that while they're a generous contribution to fandom, they aren't a transformative work in and of themselves. The EBB is about the creation of new fanworks; podfics are more of an expansion of works that already exist.

Many podfficers and podfic-supporters took exception to the implication in that statement that podfic was not enough of a fanwork to be included. (In wanks past, fans unfriendly to podfic have often stated that podfic isn't a fanwork. Making such a claim is guaranteed to upset many podficcers; see Podfic Permission.) Even though hoktauri later backpedaled on the assertion and said they would defer to podficcers' valuation of it, it was enough, along with the suggestion to boot podfic, to make podficcers wary.

So I'm trying not to let my anger get all over this comment but I have to say I am upset that you are considering removing podfic as a fanwork option for round 2. I saw in the comments that you don't consider it a transformative work, which, whatever. But it IS a fanwork and it does take lots of time and energy to create and has been successfully included in many other big bangs in similar ways to fics (including art claims, etc.) Seeing as how half of the completed projects were podfic, I don't understand how you think eliminating podfic as an option will INCREASE PARTICIPATION.

You know what? Forget trying to be civil. I AM REALLY ANGRY RIGHT NOW. I am one of the few people who actually completed their extreme big bang project this year. Being excluded from the next round feels like a slap in the face. My work is not ~worthy of being included and my efforts were clearly a waste of time. I am not welcome to participate in the future. I am not welcome here.

Right. Thanks.

ETA: I am too angry about this to ever consider participating in this challenge again, so yeah, go right ahead, exclude podfic, do what you want, what the fuck ever, I'm done. -argentumlupine

It is especially disheartening to find that a mod doesn't understand podfic as a transformative work. (I can say that the covers I created for one of the completed podfic projects was very much inspired from the podficcers performance and was a joy to create as result.) For a mod to be dismissive podfic as a fanwork not worthy of next round is greatly offensive after the excellent, albeit limited, experience I had with the challenge. Any good will and consideration of participating next year has been completely obliterated. -dapatty

The main reason hoktauri listed for wanting to disallow podfic and other work types was the time it took from them as a mod.

Every form of work we allow requires a different level of involvement and focus; as primary mod and the creator of this challenge, I bear the brunt of that involvement and focus. My taking time to focus on podfic takes away from my time to focus on fic and art, so yes, disallowing podfic would allow me, personally, more time and energy to direct toward attracting those writers and artists.

When eosrose pointed out that, as the podfic mod of the challenge, she handled the podfic mod duties, hoktauri replied:

But I did? I spent a lot of energy creating the requirements and rules, answering podfic-related questions you weren't sure of the answer to, drafting the posting template, and made a number of edits at your request to keep things smooth for the podficcers. These were all valid modly duties, sure; and I'm not saying I did all or even a majority of the podfic-related work, but I did enough of it that it stressed me out and took away from energy I would have spent elsewhere in the challenge.

eosrose went on to express hurt at the implication that she hadn't done her fair share of the work, and listed all the duties she'd done, including non-podfic related jobs. Even though hoktauri reassured eosrose that her work was appreciated, this, as well as hoktauri's continued insistance at disallowing podfic, likely contributed to eosrose's decision to step down as mod.

Some participants questioned the validity of hoktauri's claims:

I know, too, you've said that the time and effort to support podfic is the main reason why you'd drop it. But I'll admit, I'm slightly confused by that. When you listed the ways including podfic took up time, your reasons were:

I spent a lot of energy creating the requirements and rules, answering podfic-related questions you weren't sure of the answer to, drafting the posting template, and made a number of edits at your request to keep things smooth for the podficcers.

Which, most of those things are one time efforts? Like, now that you've got the requirements, rules and posting templates, you don't need to duplicate that work, you can reuse it next round. Sure there might be tweaking involved, but you could probably push any needed tweaks off onto your dedicated podfic mod.

As for questions to answer, there's no getting around that, there's always going to be questions, so that is something you'll have to deal with, but I would think since you had a dedicated podfic mod, that the only questions that would end up with you, were the ones with wider implications than the podfic parts, otherwise Eos would have just answered them herself.

And, full disclosure, I follow Eos on a number of sites, and we're friends, but I'm not quite seeing the logic where dropping podfic from the comm, and therefore losing a co-mod is really going to save you time in the future. Surely the help Eos provides will save you more time than the few questions podficcers bring forward might take up. -paraka

I see from your other comments, some of which were somewhat pejorative, that it's not a form that you, personally, enjoy - did you start modding this challenge simply to fulfill your personal fannish consumption requirements? That would not be my expectation of a challenge like this (certainly, I will not be joining any challenge that is set up on such a basis) but it is always a possibility (although it would be courteous to state as much). -wenchpixie

While the mood in the comments section of the poll was mostly cajoling, the reaction on twitter was less so.

...so I realize I dropped out of xbb early, & this doesn't have much weight as a result, but as a podficcer, I don't want to work w that mod on ANYTHING. props to everyone who had the energy to try to engage w the xbb mod, and extra <3 + mega props to @eosrose for all yr work. -jinjurly

I take it REALLY PERSONALLY when people belittle podfic which is why 99% of the time I avoid places where people spout anti-podfic attitudes @akamine_chan I am legit crying as I type my comment I am so pissed off and insulted @akamine_chan I am so tempted to remove my extreme big bang podfic from the AO3 collection because apparently it is not WELCOME there @akamine_chan if I'd known that I would have done HYHITD for BBB or podfic big bang instead. I KNOW my work is welcome in those places

It'll be interesting to see if EBB ends up excluding podfic next year, and if it'll matter one way or another after this. :-/ -parakapodfic

@ParakaPodfic No way will I ever have anything to do w/ that challenge & mod again. I hope the challenge falls apart #petty #grudgeholder -agentumlupine

@argentumlupine yeah, I debated whether it was even worth it to say anything because I doubt any podficcers want to work with that mod. though, I would also accept next round being, like, ALL podfic for the finished projects as a suitable fuck you. I'm pretty pissed that the mod is being all 'it's just a suggestion, not set in stone or anything' when, really, if you were willing to be swayed into keeping podfic, wouldn't ALL THESE COMMENTS SHOWING INTEREST IN KEEPING PODFIC be enough? -parakapodfic

@ParakaPodfic I'd be genuinely surprised if it did? That bridge looks on fire from here. -vworpvworp

3 days after hoktaui posted the round-up post and poll about changes to the next round, eosrose stepped down as mod:

After much consideration, I have decided to step down as the podfic mod for extremebigbang. For that, I apologize... Due to the high dropout rate, it is clear that many changes need to be made to further the success of the challenge. Some changes are obvious. Some are not. The challenge itself needs to be simplified. One of the suggested changes made by one of my fellow mods was cutting down on the sort of fanworks that would be allowed--and that list of potential cuts, unfortunately, included podfic. Even more unfortunate was the feelings of alienation that quickly sparked in the podfic community when the possibility was suggested... With my decision to leave, the possibility of excluding podfic in the next round is almost a certainty. Perhaps in another round or two, when the challenge is on more stable footing, it will be time to return to the more ambitious, inclusive approach. With experience comes bravery! I understand the disappointment some of you may be feeling, but please know that there will still be opportunities for podficcers to challenge themselves. There is talk of reviving amplificathon’s podbang challenge, the annual podficbigbang is currently in its fourth round and still accepting participants, and I am working on a way to incorporate an “extreme” podfic challenge into next year’s podficbigbang schedule.

On the heels of eosrose's announcement, the inevitable cut of podfic occurred:

I am posting this on the heels of eosrose's announcement that she is, unfortunately, stepping down as a co-mod. Although I am sad to see her go, I understand her reasoning behind it. When she stepped in as a co-mod to allow the inclusion of podfic into the Extreme Big Bang, I was glad to count her modding experience as a boon to the challenge's future success. gwyneth_valora and I have discussed the future of the Extreme Big Bang in light of eosrose's decision to leave, and have decided that podfic will, in fact, be disallowed in the coming round. -hoktauri

There was no reaction to the news on the comm itself, but on twitter podficcers were unsurprised.

While Round 2 of Extreme Big Bang ran, the community Podfic Big Bang ran an "Epic" round as a podfic friendly replacement with a 75,000 word minimum. It produced 5 completed works for the 2015 round and another 5 during the next year's 2016 round.

Round 2

Shortly before starting the round it was announced that wyndewalker would be joining the mod team for round 2.

As per the round 1 wrap up post, many changes were implemented for round 2, including optional check-ins, lower beta requirements, lower art requirements, and only fic and art would be allowed.

Sign ups for round 2 of Extreme Big Bang were from September 15 to October 14, 2014, with 33 participants signing up to write and 2 to make art for round 2.

Artist claims went up April 20, 2015, and 4 stories were listed for claims. Posting for Round 2 began July 28, 2015, with an Amnesty period of an extra week ending August 16, 2015.

In a Round 2 wrap-up post, wyndewalker announced that the two remaining mods from round 1, hoktauri and gwyneth_valora, had departed due to "RL commitments" and that they were looking for a new co-mod. In the same post wyndewalker admits that they "fell down on the job a little bit" due to inexperience, but that they were hoping next round will be better. There were two major changes suggested:

• Allowing someone to sign up with an incomplete work from a previous round but with a higher minimum requirement.
• Reopening the Help Community as an optional, participant-only place for various challenges and community help.

There was also an accompanying feedback poll. Though it was specified that no new categories of work (ie. podfic) would be added in round 3, there was a possibility of it in round 4.

Round 2 Masterlist

Life-Changing Encounters by velocitygrass (Stargate Atlantis)

Summary: Seven times John and Rodney met and changed their lives forever.

Blood and Bone by perryvic and Zaganthi (DCU Comics/Smallville)

Summary: Her fingers closed over the cuffs. "A year of Personal Service to Master Wayne. You will be of his Household, his inner circle. It is my task to prepare you for that role as the Emperor himself has taken an interest in your capabilities. You will become a Personal, Alexander. One to be proud of."

We were soldiers by perryvic and Zaganthi (Sherlock BBC/Sherlock Holmes)

Summary: He slept, and dozed, and drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness for a while. Every once in a while, someone gave him directions and he followed them. Every time he opened his eyes, the room seemed to be different, the bandages on his body different. He took to doing a quick inventory every time the fog cleared a little. He was mostly sure he wasn't in Germany -- he'd done that trip once, and it didn't feel like that, which was strange.

Things had calmed down some, and he was a bit floaty from what he assumed was drugs. He knew the names of some of the medical staff but struggled to recall them. Then he did recognised someone. John. John Watson, heading over towards him.

"Evening Colonel," John said pleasantly. "How are you feeling?" He picked up the chart.

John was a sight for sore eyes -- and Seb was at least experienced enough to not let it go awkward. He had a whole fucking battalion to run, and no much time for a personal life. "Wasted." He blinked, hard, pushed through it. "I need to speak to Lt Col. Hall, and I need the S2. There's been a security breach..."