[PART 8 OF REVIEW/ THE FINALLY]

IX: RECOMMENDATIONS: (If you enjoyed Maydorkiness, you’ll also enjoy these other fan fiction stories.)

[1]:Fighting For All That’s Good-by author (vanhoose)- Now doubt one of the best, if not THE BEST Kingdom Keepers fan fiction I’ve read, Fighting For All That’s Good is the story that I recommend to anyone who is a new or hardcore fan of the book series. It does so well in capturing the personalities of all the Kingdom Keepers and shows the power of their friendship in a way the books have never done before. In this story, the Kingdom Keepers have another life in a medieval setting and must go on a perilous journey in order to stop Maleficent from taking over the world. The medieval and fantasy setting to this story engulfs the Keepers in such a creative manor that it feels like you’re watching a Disney movie. In fact it’s so good, it too like Maydorkiness is canon to the Kingdom Keepers series. If you enjoy Kingdom Keepers fan fictions or are looking for a good Disney story, I highly recommend Fighting For All That’s Good. [REVIEW POSTED]

[2]:REBEL- by author (vanhoose) - A sequel to Fighting For All That’s Good, REBEL picks up on the Keepers journey as Maleficent returns after her death in Kingdom Keepers 6: Dark Passages. Only this time, instead of a fantasy setting, they are sent to the future in the year 2358 where Maleficent is in control of the Earth and all its countries. Now I’m going to be honest with you, I recommend reading this story for up to the first 20 chapters and decide whether or not to read the story in its entirety. Why am I saying this? The answer: REBEL isn’t that great of a story if you are not a HARDCORE Kingdom Keeper fan that will stick with a story like this to the end. If it’s not a great story then why am I recommending it to you (the audience)? Well what is in the first 20 chapters of REBEL is some really good stuff that I want every Kingdom Keepers fan to check out. There ideas of a futuristic setting and the potential that setting has for the Kingdom Keepers lore is something that I want to see other people try to attempt to write about in a new a creative way. If you’re looking for ideas to make a unique Kingdom Keepers fan fiction, then I recommend reading REBEL. [REVIEW POSTED]

[3]:When Worlds Collide- by author (Life’s-For-Living) - Now this something that may be an odd recommendation to those who enjoyed Maydorkiness, but this fan fiction is a 2014 Maleficent story. Now why I’m I recommending a 2014 Maleficent story to Kingdom Keepers fans, and why I’m I of all people who doesn't like the film at all recommending it to readers? As to why I’m recommending it to internet readers and Kingdom Keepers fans, this is an epic scale story that has a fantastic balance in terms of character development and story. While most fan fictions focus on one or the other, When Worlds Collide balances the 2 PERFECTLY and should be read by average readers to get an idea of how a great story is structured. It may not be the most well written story, but it’s got a lot of content in it that will be worth your reading time. And what is good about this story is that you don’t have to be a big fan of the 2014 Maleficent film to enjoy it! This is a story that can be enjoyed by anyone, including Kingdom Keepers fans. As to why I’m recommending it despite hating the source material, I have 2 reasons. The first is that at least THIS story is for the internet only and isn’t the Walt Disney Company butchering its own characters. And secondly, this story is written by my greatest friend on fan fiction. I’ve known this author for a long time and I will tell you, this is the type of author who deserves your reading time. What I’ve learned in life is that your friendship to those you care about is a bond that is worth preserving, even if it means liking a fan fiction of a source material you hate. This is a fantastic story that is worth your time and I’m telling you to go check it out and read it. It’s the only epic story of its scale on my favorites list and I hope that it will be on your favorite’s list as well. This is for my friend.

X: THE FINAL SAY

To finish off this review, here are my final say to the author of Maydorkiness. To Abby, this is Protodayka speaking to you, what you made here is a good story and I don’t want you to feel discouraged just because I rated this story low or got to into detail on the negative aspects. It’s just that how the story is now is just what it is compared to other fan fictions out there. I know this story is complete and that you may not want to make another Kingdom Keepers fan fiction ever again, but I do hope that this review helped in some way to understand why the story of Maydorkiness didn’t get that many readers to favorite and follow it. I can tell from the 4-th wall comments before and after each chapter that you’re a good person just wanting to write a fun story and that’s cool. I have to say you’re the first author to actually interact with the characters of the story by actually talking to them. I will say this, that fear of Maybeck being afraid of bunny rabbits, I’m definitely making that canon to his character (LOL). Overall Abby, if you had fun with this story then that’s what matters most. No author should write a story if they don’t believe in it or don’t find happiness while writing it. I hope you had a fun time with this story back in 2012 and in 2016 it was a fun read for me. Yet apart from that, I do hope this review also help to show that even after years of solitude a story can still be read and reviewed even when everyone else is gone. There hasn’t been a review for this story in 4 years, and now it has one of the biggest reviews on the fan fiction network. This review is to show that no matter how old your story is or how very little an audience there was, a story is always timeless. As long as there are readers out there, a story no matter how small will eventually be read. I enjoyed this story Abby and you have brought to life the character of Terrance Maybeck in a way that no one ever has and that’s the truth. I do wish for the best of you Abby and do hope to see you have fun writing other stories in the future.

And that people is my review for Maydorkiness. For anyone who comes by and reads this story, please feel free to share you thoughts in a review and I do hope you enjoy reading the tale of Terrance Maybeck. With that said, this is Protodayka signing off...BANG

[PART 7 OF REVIEW]

VII: IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION

[1]:AN ANTHOLOGY SERIES FOR DIFFERENT KINGDOM KEEPER CHARACTERS: With what the story has done for Maybeck’s character, I would love to see this done to the other Keepers. I reviewed and favorite this story because it fleshed out the character of Maybeck that the book series couldn’t do. Now I would like to see that applied to all of the Kingdom Keepers by creating short stories for each individual Keeper in the form of an anthology series. Each story within the anthology would take place in-between each of the 7 books and can in a way rework the ending of the series which was horrible. I could see a short story for each of the Keepers in their own way. Finn’s story can be about him being a true leader and showing how bad*ss he can be. Philby’s story can revolve where he has to use more than just his brains to win. Charlene can be a story where she has to fend for herself and stand on her own. Willa can be a story where she really does show she’s on par with Philby when it comes to intelligence and can have a solid character, as she’s the most flexible out of the entire group. Amanda’s story can be where she learns the origin of the ‘fairlies’ and how Disney in a way created them. Jess’s story can be where she has to fight Maleficent and the only way to do so is to tap into her dark magic that she had when she was Maleficent’s apprentice Jezebel. And in all of those stories there is a chance of expanding on canon characters (like Wayne or Dillard), to create origins stories (like for the Fairlies or for Maleficent’s character), or create a mythos (in showing that the Disney characters and the Kingdom Keepers once existed in a previous life where magic existed on Earth). Abby if you are reading this, I know you have other Kingdom Keepers stories out there, but there mostly romanced shipping short stories and not character driven action pack stories. What Maydorkiness has done for Maybeck is a great thing for his character and I would love to see you do it again for one of the other Keepers. Whether you want to do this or not is entirely up to you, but if it does happen I’ll be the first to favorite it.

[2]:REBOOT THE STORY OF MAYDORKINESS: Despite the story of Maydorkiness being an okay read, there is no question that it could have been better. Well this here is an idea to make all the great potential this story has to offer to be reborn. Yes, I’m actually wanting the story of Maydorkiness to have a reboot after 4 years of silence. That’s not to say that EVERYTHING should be the same! With this review, this story now has all of its flaws addressed and how they can be improved. Now granted reboots of fan fictions have been hit or miss, but the reason why they miss is because their reboots are the same plot just with better writing. If that is the case, then the reboot of Maydorkiness can develop Maybeck’s character more. Or make Maleficent a greater villain by letting her go after Maybeck’s family. Or develop the Disney Princess to play a bigger role. Or allow more action sequences to take place. Or for that final climax to be better if not replaced with a more epic final fight. There is a lot of stuff that can be done in a reboot of Maydorkiness and all the potential I talked about in this review can have a chance to show itself in the form of a Version 2.0 of this story.

[3]:MAKE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Tying in with the anthology series idea, it would benefit your stories author Abby if you created some original character in the future for the Kingdom Keepers. While reading this story, there was one moment I wasn’t specific on and that was the death of Maybeck. While his final lines were cliché, I could feel the loss that the Kingdom Keepers had towards their friend and I did like it that Maybeck was revived, even if it didn’t make much sense, and the ending did feel like a satisfying ending to a good short story. Yet the feeling was a 50/50 to me. I wanted Maybeck to stay alive because he was a likable character, but at the same time I wanted him to stay dead and let the story stay strong with its moment in which the Kingdom Keepers never had, even towards Wayne’s death. They out of nowhere, I thought of an idea that this could work for an original character’s death. Yeah, how cool would that be to have an original character be a Kingdom Keeper? There are a lot of diversities out there that the book series didn’t cover. How awesome would it be to have an Indian Keeper (from India)? Or a Hispanic Keeper. Or a Russian Keeper. Or a Arabian Keeper. Or a Japanese Keeper. Or a country/cowboy Keeper? Yeah, I would love to see a fan fiction create original characters like this and let them join the 7 main Kingdom Keepers. Let them join the group, make them a very likable character, then kill them off. It would fit the series in terms of canon and expand upon the lore of the Kingdom Keepers. I say they must be very different characters with different diversity because most OC that are dubbed ‘the next generation’ of Kingdom Keeper are just rehashes of the original group. If you want to make a reboot of Maydorkiness or make an anthology series over all of the Kingdom Keepers, THIS HAS TO HAPPEN!

VIII: THE FINAL VERDICT

With the story, characters, originality, canon value, the good and the bad stuff all looked over, what do I Protodayka real think about Maydorkiness? The answer: kind of a mixed bag. On one hand I do like the story for building the character of Maybeck in a way the book series never had, but on the other had this isn’t the most well build Kingdom Keepers fan fiction compared to others in which I’ve reviewed. Now granted I can see that Maydorkiness wasn’t meant to be a big story and was just supposed to be a fun experiment in taking a basic story line with good moments and writing it out on a daily basis, but if Maydorkiness was meant to be a short story, then what is the reason behind that choice exactly? Why couldn’t it be a bigger story? Why couldn’t Maydorkiness take it’s time and give readers a well written and well-crafted story? Why couldn’t this story be updated every 2 weeks instead of every 24 hours? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but what I do know is that despite the many good ideas in which Maydorkiness expresses, not many of them are shown and the story feels like a rough draft to a much better story. With that said, the good ideas are in fact good ideas. I love the idea of having each of the Kingdom Keepers having their own story. I love the idea of letting the Keepers interact with other Disney characters other than the villains. And of course I love the idea of making a Kingdom Keepers story as one that captures the Disney magic feeling that many Disney fans have. I felt that feeling while reading Maydorkiness, and you know what it was great. Which brings me now to the final verdict.

(AS A 1959 MALEFICENT FAN AND A FAN OF KINGDOM KEEPER CONCEPTS) THE FINAL VERDICT FOR MAYDORKINESS BY AUTHOR (abzrocks1234) IS AN ALRIGHT…5.5 OUT OF 10: AN ABOVE AVERAGE STORY THAT IS AN OKAY READ TO KINGDOM KEEPER FANS AND AVERAGE INTERNET READERS ALIKE

Now I just want to clarify something. THIS IS A GOOD STORY! Just because the story has a near average score doesn’t mean it’s bad! It’s just that when comparing Maydorkiness to other Kingdom Keepers fan fictions that I reviewed, it’s just not up there. It’s not a fantastic story that will wow people everywhere, but it’s not a forgettable or boring story. For me, THIS is what an average fan fiction should be. A story that respect’s it source material, has some good ideas (presented or not), and is memorable. As the only short story I’ve reviewed, this is a good one that is worth your reading time. Whether you are a fan of the Kingdom Keepers or a fan of Disney, you will have an okay time reading the story of Terrance Maybeck, the tough kid with an artistic mind and a good heart.

[PART 6 OF REVIEW]

The sad thing is that this story does have good content in it and it did hook ME into reading it, but the short chapters most defiantly would have turned off readers into wanting to read the story. Perhaps if 3 chapters were bundled into 1 then this would have grabbed an audience. Overall, short chapters, very little content in those chapters, uneven pacing, and misspellings/grammar mistakes are the reasons as to why not many people or Kingdom Keepers fans favorited Maydorkiness. It’s cool to have a beginning, 4 sequences, and an ending for a story; but unless you have a lot to fill in between those moments, your audience will not be hooked to the story. I can’t help but feel there could have been so much more content in this story than there already is. To be honest, I would have loved to see this story as a full on adventure tale rather than a short story. So while it was nice to see a story like this be made under 1 month, it’s sad that the final product didn’t hook the attention of many readers.

[2]:NOT MAKING MALEFICENT A GREAT VILLAIN: Me going back to my favorite Disney Villain, the other big problem with this story is that Maleficent wasn’t a great antagonist. Instead of the all-powerful and elegant Mistress of All Evil from the animated film, what we get in this story is a low-key B level comical villain that isn’t that big of a challenge. How so? First off, the Disney Princesses manage to save Maybeck from Maleficent without a fight. Second, she goes down with a TASER of all things?! Thirdly, she sound way too generic when capturing Charlene or Maybeck and sounds like a dumb teenager near the end. This is supposed to be Disney’s greatest villain, but the story makes Maleficent so bland that it doesn’t give Maybeck a real foe to face. This is a villain that is so powerful that if you were to take Maleficent’s 1959 villain character have her face her 2014 hero counterpart, the original Maleficent would BUTCHER her hero counterpart. In fact you would need 100 hero Maleficent’s to kill 1 villain Maleficent. If it has wings, Maleficent will shot it down with lightning, like in Sleeping Beauty. If it’s armored plated, a swift of her hand would cut that person into pieces, like in Kingdom Keepers 3 at Test Track. This story’s Maleficent shouldn’t have a stupid weakness like iron (despite the old folklore) and instead make her weakness be the Stonecutter’s Quill or the pencil used by animator Marc Davis to create her. The potential for Maleficent to be a great villain to Maybeck was huge, but none of that potential was tapped into. So how could have Maleficent been a great villain in the story of Maydorkiness? 1. Dress her up in a modern outfit. Despite being in the 21st century, I’m sick of Kingdom Keepers stories keeping Maleficent in her same outfit as in the animated film. Times have change, so should Maleficent’s appearance. The only modern outfit Maleficent has worn in the Kingdom Keepers books is a full leather biker outfit, which I have to say fits her if it were animated (and it’s the only good thing the horrendous Maleficent movie showed). This would show that Maleficent is aware of the world around her and she isn’t some dumb villain living fantasies in a bubble. 2. Give Maleficent new abilities and let her explain why she’s powerful. It’s essential for a Kingdom Keepers story to give Maleficent new abilities and there could have been many in this story. Abilities like paralyzing her foes by giving off a magical stare, or for her to have extreme resistance to anything (meaning she can’t be taken down by drugs or a Taser), or letting her be physically strong and not just be someone dependent on magic. As for how she can tell Maybeck she is powerful, she can tell him that she isn’t a product of Disney, but is instead a magical fairy who was reborn by Disney magic as she lived in a time where magic once existed in the world, and the world wrote it down in fairy tales. And in that previous life, Maleficent could kill hundreds of fairies and thousands of humans with her powers. Not only would this be a stepping stone for the story to have a mythos to it, but in future fan fictions it could create new original characters that existed with Maleficent in that previous lifetime. 3. Analyze what makes the hero (Maybeck) strong, then make the villain (Maleficent) stronger than that. If you want your hero to have a real foe to face, then you MUST make the villain more powerful. Looking at Maybeck, what are his key characteristics that make him stand out from the other Keepers? Meybeck is 6 feet and 2 inches (being the tallest of the Keepers), has a cool guy vibe language (as he’s got a relaxed personality), and is can lift very heavy objects (being the strongest of the Keepers). So how should Maleficent be in this story? Maleficent should be 7 feet and 6 inches high (or 8 feet and 6 inches high if you include her horns), have an elegant/sinister tone of language (being omniscient), and have superhuman strength despite looking skinny (her high density muscles make her look like a skeleton but is more stronger than any human). What would make Maybeck scared, a Disney Villain that surprises his expectations and is stronger than him! 4. HAVE GOOD WRITING! If there is one thing that I want to be in front of every person who is writing a story with Maleficent in it, it’s that Maleficent’s character should have good writing in her dialogue. If I read a story with her character in it, I don’t want to hear a generic bad guy, I want to hear Eleanor Audley’s voice when Maleficent speaks on the page. I want to hear a villain talk in a story that makes me uneasy on my computer and makes me worry for however she is talking to. If Maydorkiness had these 4 elements in the story, Maleficent would have been a fantastic villain for Maybeck to fight. But alas, none of this is in the story, but I do hope that this will serve as a template for Maleficent’s character for any future fan fictions being written by this author. Abby, this is Proto speaking to you directly, PLEASE use this as a template for any future Kingdom Keeper stories you plan to write. This here is what you need to make the Kingdom Keepers fight Disney’s Greatest Villain.

[3]:MAYBECK’S STORY ARC/ THE FINAL FIGHT: Finally, we come to the disappointing character development of Maybeck. Now the story does a good job at bringing Maybeck’s character to life, but how Maybeck changes or what he learns isn’t build up in a great way. Some will say that his interactions with the Disney Princesses developed him by making him work with people, but that’s something that every Kingdom Keeper fan fiction has done with the difference being the people Maybeck works with are the Keepers and not Disney characters. Maybeck for the most part is the same character from beginning to end and doesn’t learn anything of big significance. Apart from Maybeck meeting new characters, I didn’t feel a change in his character throughout the entire story. Instead of the story developing Maybeck by his interactions and conversations with both protagonists and antagonists, the story instead just spells it out for the audience to read. In Chapter 5, Maleficent tells Maybeck that his is scared and useless and Maybeck just believes it; then in Chapter 34 Maleficent again tells Maybeck he is useless and he dies and comes back to life. Anything that happened between Chapters 5 and 34 have NOTHING to do with the story arc of showing that Maybeck is not scared. And what Maybeck is scared of isn’t even legit, such as slowing down the Keepers or not helping out. This arc for Maybeck’s character feels so forced and unnatural that despite the many good elements of the story, the audience doesn’t feel like their reading time was worth it as the protagonists goes on a journey but in the end doesn’t change. If that isn’t disappointing, then the climax to the story definitely was. That final fight felt so abrupt and so quick, I don’t know why it had to be included in the first place. The only worthy while moments in that final fight were between Maybeck and Maleficent, but even then the final fight was really bland. None of the Disney Princesses help out, the Keepers aren’t as significant as the story makes them out to be, and the fight between Maybeck and Maleficent is so quick, I really don’t consider it a fight. Why did Maleficent’s plan change from killing the Kingdom Keepers to wanting to attack the Disney characters? Was THIS supposed to be big moment in the plan to kill the Keepers? If so, then that plan was a very stupid idea! What was missing in that final fight was the emotion of conflict between the hero and the villain, having Maybeck’s character shine as he faces off a foe who threatens to kill his friends. The fight between Maybeck and Maleficent should have been epic, brutal, and memorable; yet sadly that isn’t the case. The ending is nice and okay, but the final fight before that ending is just not great. As for Maybeck’s character arc, what it should have been is that he is afraid to FAIL in protecting the ones he cares about or is scared to be a leader and be responsible for risking people’s lives. How great would that have been if Maybeck’s poor choices lead to the Keepers or the Disney Princesses to be hurt, or that he believes he can’t defeat Maleficent when she beats the crap out of him? The forced arc for Maybeck doesn’t feel in tone with the story and the final fight feels abrupt and wasn’t worth the reading time of the story. It’s a shame that is the case, because this story does have a lot of good ideas and content, it’s just those ideas didn’t have enough time to show their potential.

[PART 5 OF REVIEW]

V:THE GOOD STUFF

[1]:THE DIALOUGE AND LIVING ENVIRONMENT: The first thing I have to applaud this story for is to make the Kingdom Keepers actually talk like teenagers and not how an adult THINKS a teenager talks like. Throughout the entire Kingdom Keepers book series I never bought the dialogue that Ridley Pearson wrote down on paper, it just didn’t feel natural to what a real teenager would say. A teenager in the situations in the books would pent out a lot of emotion and definably swear (uncensored). I know it’s a Disney book and all, but come on Disney for a company who the leader in family entertainment, the least you can do is give teenagers an engaging and nostalgic books. (But then again you did butcher Maleficent’s character and made her a hero to just get extra cash out of her name.) BACK TO THE POINT! The dialogue (to a degree) sounds like how the Keepers would sound and what they say doesn’t sound stereotypical based on their characters. What both the Keepers and the Disney Princess say sound true to their character as well as the Overtakers (except for Maleficent who I will get to later). To me it is important for the Keepers to sound like normal people and this story does an okay job at that. Secondly, I don’t know why but the Disney setting just feels alive. For someone who has read extremely well written and detailed writing styles in other fan fictions, Maydorkiness somehow manages to create a living environment for its very simplistic writing. I believe because of the simplistic writing, the image is more clear to the reader as oppose to the overly detail writing found in the books. Like the dialogue, I couldn’t visually see what Pearson was trying to convey in the Kingdom Keepers books because the setting was way overly detailed that I couldn’t imagine the Disney parks, despite being there 3 times. Yet Maydorkiness in its basic writing allows the reader to get the basic idea of where Maybeck is then let THE READER fill in the blanks. If Maybeck was going from Cinderella’s castle to Seven Seas Lagoon, I can see it instead of the story detailing Maybeck’s walk throughout the park and attractions. With the natural sounding dialogue and the basic writing to create a visual image for the reader, Maydorkiness does a fine job at building a setting and conversation in a simplistic manor.

[2]:THE POISON AND IT’S EFFECT ON SBS: I know I already said why the poison idea was a great original aspect that was added to the story, but I just got to on the SBS aspects not the poison. The poison in this story is made so that the DHI of a Keeper stay’s solid permanently and for the wounds on the Keeper to transfer to their real sleeping body. Now granted, this is a well-known aspect in the books, but in the books it’s only when they are afraid that they become solid. In this story, Maybeck is 100% vulnerable to all things happening in the Magic Kingdom and this does up on the danger factor for his characters. And make no mistake, this story really does show how horrible this poison can be on the Keepers. I don’t know how the poison was made or why the Overtakers all of a sudden wanted to use it (which should have been explained), but it’s effect Maybeck really does show as it gives him sick feelings that anyone with the flu can understand and at times it helps create some tension in particular scenes like with Charlene and him trying to run from Maleficent. There are few scenes when it plays out in action, but it definitely does a great job at showing the horrors of what could be done to a Keeper when they are in Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. This was a cool aspect to the story which should have happened in the Kingdom Keepers books in book 3 or 4 and I love it that this basic idea’s potential is show in Maydorkiness.

[3]: ALLOWING THE STORY’S PLOT TO HAVE DIFFERENT SET PIECES: Will the story’s premise is identical to the books (finding a lost friend), the story of Maydorkiness managed to hold my attention by creating different set pieces in the setting. While the Kingdom Keepers books have nearly all of its sequences in Disney Park rides, Maydorkiness sequences are from the Disney Parks themselves and not so much the rides inside the parks. From inside the Cinderella castle, to under Seven Seas Lagoon, and even to the top of the Epcot golf ball aka Spaceship Earth. These settings are unique because they’ve never been used in a Kingdom Keeper story and I’m impressed that the author managed to make this a great Kingdom Keepers story without using any of the park’s rides. The story balances out its setting decently as the story takes place mostly in the Magic Kingdom and a little bit in Epcot. This story could have gone overboard with its premise and expand to the Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios, but thankfully the story doesn’t go that far and makes the Magic Kingdom it’s center piece in terms of setting, because it’s the most mapped out park in Disney fan’s minds. And of course in each of the set pieces, there are different characters for the protagonists to meet. I didn’t expect Merida or Tinker Bell to meet Maybeck while on his journey, so waiting for surprises like that is what made me want to continue reading the story. The set pieces and the surprise characters are the 2 things that make this short story to stand out from other fan fictions, but what is also important is that it makes the story’s moments memorable. Not so much on being epic, but just getting the image and feeling tack on the reader as they read. So what Maydorkiness does well does really well, but sadly there are some problems that have to be said.

VI: THE BAD STUFF

[1]:[THE BIG PROBLEM]: CHAPTERS BEING TOO SHORT/ GRAMMAR AND SPELLING MISTAKES: Now that I’ve mostly gone over the positive aspects of Maydorkiness, it’s time to address the big problem of the story. Despite this being an okay short story, why is it that it’s only gotten single digit numbers of people in terms of being favored? The answer: the chapters of Maydorkiness are way too short and the story as a whole was typed up too fast. Now in the originality section I said that this story being completed in only 1 month had drawbacks, well here they are. First, if the chapters are too short, then it doesn’t hook the reader into wanting to continue reading on. If the first chapters of the story do not hook and catch the attention of a reader in any sort of fan fiction, no matter what you lost a reader; and that is what happened with Maydorkiness. Secondly, the short chapters are of conversations not sequences. With a short chapter being uploaded every day, does the content in that small chapter carry any value or leave any impact on the reader. No. Instead of great action sequences or moments to capture the atmosphere of a setting, the story’s chapters only deal with character conversations that are very short. This not only makes the chapter not have much content, but because of the short conversations the story doesn’t allow any character development to happen for Maybeck or the other characters. Not only that but some aspects of the story are not answered at all; like how did Maleficent create this SBS poison or how is Maybeck ‘slowing down the team’ as Maleficent implies? Thirdly, because a chapter is being uploaded every day, the pacing of the story is off in the beginning. When Maybeck is injured in the Magic Kingdom, the story then translate that action done to his body BEFORE the action takes place. For example, when Maybeck gets stabbed in the leg, the story later goes to his real body having a cut on his leg. So why is this bad if it’s logical chronologically? Wouldn’t the end of a chapter show something going on with Maybeck’s body, then the beginning of the next chapter shows what’s happening to Maybeck? This here would have held the reader’s attention into wanting to continue reading the story at the beginning, but the pacing of the story doesn’t manage to hold the reader’s attention. And finally, the grammar and spelling mistakes. Oh boy. This moment this story misspelled Maleficent as ‘Malificent’ I knew there was going to be a spelling and grammar problem but wow. There are more misspellings in this story as compared to other stories I’ve reviewed and the grammar/dialouge is off. For example; why do the Keepers scream way too much? All caps should be made for moments where they are at the top of their lungs or are emphasizing a BIG moment. Now granted, misspellings can be forgiven if it is rare in the story and there is a lot of words to reader, but with such short chapters there’s no reason to why there has to be these many misspellings and grammar mistakes in Maydorkiness. This shows that the story was perhaps made TOO FAST to the point where the author couldn’t go back and correct any misspellings. Now I can forgive grammar mistakes, as I myself am not too great at that, but I can see why many readers where turned off by the story because of its misspellings. You MUST have very little if not any kind of misspellings in a fan fiction if you want your audience to continue reading the story, because if they don’t buy it that the author is making the story as good as possible, what’s to guarantee their reading time will be worth it?

[PART 4 OF REVIEW]

OTHER CHARACTERS- (THE OVERTAKERS): Finally, there are the Overtakers or the other Disney Villains. For the most part, the Overtakers are just in the story for the sake of being in the story. The Disney Villains such as Ursula and Mother Gothal feel like cameos rather than characters. Now granted I don’t expect every Disney Villain in the Kingdom Keepers books to be developed, as I say that should be focused on only Maleficent, I do however expect them to deliver an impression on the reader weather it’s by good writing or a thrilling action sequence. I would have love to see Maybeck and Ariel fight off Ursula. I would have love to see Maleficent dominate her presence in the face of the other Disney Villains. But sadly the story doesn’t go there. Overall, the Overtakers are expendable characters. They aren’t needed at all, and if the story needs some minor enemies to fight the Keepers, why not allow original villains to be made or give us demonic-magical minions for the Keepers to fight? The Overtakers for the most part weren’t necessary and to me are not that important in the story of Maybeck.

III: THE ORIGINALITY

With the character’s now overlooked, how much original ideas can be found in the story of Maydorkiness? The answer: well there some ideas that are good, then there is what could have been good, and then there are some that are just not great or bad. First off, what are the good original ideas of Maydorkiness? The highlight out of this story is the inclusion of the Disney Princesses helping out Maybeck on his journey. They’re involvement in the story was the core element in this story capturing that Disney feeling and nostalgia; a feeling no other Kingdom Keeper fan fiction has captured before. Another thing that the story adds new is that this story really does show the horror of Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. In the books SBS has mostly just been limited to seeing the characters in a deep sleep while their DHI is at a park, but here in Maydorkiness, Maybeck’s character’s interactions in the Magic Kingdom translate to his body back at home. Now really think about that. Even if Maybeck survived a cut in the Disney Parks, he would bleed out at his house and die. Now there could have been ways to make this logically work, like how does water appear out of nowhere and come out of Maybeck’s lungs or his skin just magically tears open when cut; but for the most part I allow that to slide as these effect are a result of the poison Maleficent gave him. This allow the reader to be worried for Maybeck’s self both in the Disney Parks and at his home. The final good thing this story does originally is by surprise an element I’ve NEVER talked about before in a review and that is the time of completion. Whereas most fan fictions stories take months to finish, Maydorkiness as a short story that is completed in only 1 month; meaning every day a new chapter was added. And for a story being written very fast, I have to say the overall product is not that bad. It’s got good and memorable moments and because it’s a short story it can be remembered easily. However, this story made in under 1 month does have drawbacks which I will get to later in this review; but now let’s look at what COULD have been good in Maydorkiness. The first is the magical sketchbook that Ariel gives Maybeck, the one that allows anything you draw to become real. Holy ****, this is original idea that should have happened in the Kingdom Keepers book. Just imagine what our characters could draw to help them on their journey. Would they create a lightsaber, or a machine gun, or a jetpack, or an armor suite in order to fight Maleficent and the Overtakers? NO. Instead the story only utilizes it only once, to make Maybeck and Charlene escape. I mean why did they need training form the Disney characters if they had that magical sketchbook? All they had to do was draw up some automatic turrets and that’s it battles over. The magical sketchbook could have led to so many great action sequences or serve to be essential to the plot. Wouldn’t it have been more interesting for Maleficent’s goal to find the sketchbook, rather than doing the generic plot of killing the Keepers over and over? The second element that was of wasted potential was the amount of violence in the story. I love stories that are graphic in its violence, and after reading how sadistically Maleficent tortures Maybeck near the end, I wished that feeling was translated through the entire story. This would show that our characters can be in serious danger and will get scars from their journey. It’s a minor thing in the grand scheme of the story, but one that should be noted. Now let’s get to what isn’t original or is bad. The first is that the plot at times can be repetitive, like Maybeck and Charlene getting captured. A situation like that works if done twice, but by the third time the scenario becomes repetitive and boring. I will say drowning both of them in a room in the third attempt was creative, but it feels very familiar to the situation in the movie Tangled where Flynn and Rapunzel were trapped in the water filling cave. Speaking of which this brings me to Maybeck’s revival in the end, which feels derivative of Disney animated movies. Maybeck’s final lines to Charlene before he dies are the exact same lines from Beauty and the Beast, along with other cliché final says; and his revival from the tears comes from Flynn’s revival in Tangled. This revival moment in the end is a mixed bag because you want to see Maybeck live but at the same time how does this ‘magic’ work and how can it bring people back from the dead? The last thing I will say is that there are no original characters in this story at all, but this can be excused as the Disney characters substitute the lack of OCs in Maydorkiness. So overall, there are some good ideas in Maydorkiness, but there are ideas that had potential and were never presented in an imaginative way and there are elements of the story that feel to dirivitive from Disney animated films.

IV: THE CANON VALUE

TO THE KINGODM KEEPERS SERIES: Is Maydorkiness worthy of being canon to the Kingdom Keepers books? The answer: YES. I said it in the story section of this review and I’ll say it again; Maydorkiness is a story that deserves its place to be canon to the Kingdom Keepers lore. I could see Maydorkiness as a short story in an anthology series in which each story takes place between each of the 7 books in the Kingdom Keepers series. Maydorkiness chronologically would be Kingdom Keepers 2.5; as in this story Maleficent is free, much like how she was at the end of Kingdom Keepers 2: Disney at Dawn. But the main reason as to why this should be canon is because it’s the only story to truly flesh out the character of Terrance Maybeck. This story has made me like this character in a way none of the Kingdom Keepers books or fan fictions have done before. I want to see more of this guy go on adventures and play a more important role in the group. A fan fiction to do that to one of the major characters deserves to be canon for that. Yet apart from Maybeck’s character, the other essential reason is to why this story is canon is because it does capture the Disney magic feeling that Disney fans want to feel when reading a story like this. I want to fly with the Disney Princesses. I want to meet and laugh with Tinker Bell. I want to meet and enjoy the characters from my childhood. But most importantly above all else, I want to be that the kid that uses his/her imagination and wits to fight off against Maleficent and the Disney Villains. I wanted all those feelings in Kingdom Keepers but never got, but did get in the story of Maydorkiness and I Proto congratulate you Abby for making a great short story.

[PART 3 OF REVIEW]

The first is Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty, who could have been a princess that would be just as important as Cinderella for one reason. Aurora comes from the Sleeping Beauty film, the same film where Maleficent comes from. For the life of me I don’t know why Ridley Pearson and Kingdom Keepers fans alike have never dwelled on the idea of getting and insight on Maleficent through Aurora’s character. How awesome would it have been if we got some insight into how Maleficent’s has been the dominate Disney Villain in the Disney Parks. Like what if in the 1970’s when Disney World was open and the character’s came to life, Maleficent killed Prince Phillip (the prince who kills Maleficent in the animated film) in front of Aurora’s eyes. And from that experience, Aurora (or this story can call her Rose) swore that she wouldn’t let anyone die at the hands of Maleficent. This would serve as a great motivator to get Maybeck home or to defeat Maleficent. I mean come on, Aurora is the only Disney Princess to NOT see her villain, so why couldn’t Maydorkiness do just that? The second princess I felt was underplayed as well was Tiana. Out of all the Disney Princesses, I am amazed that Tiana wasn’t a greater friend to Maybeck. I mean they are both of the same race, so that would lead them to understand and relate to some social problems. Yes, this is an elephant in the room topic, but it would’ve added a bit of realism to the story, and make Tiana a more fleshed out Princess; because to be honest, NO ONE writes about Tiana as a Disney Princess in stories. With those 2 princesses aside, on a very minor note the last Princesses I felt got underplayed were Jasmine and Belle. They could have been the ones to give a little advice on how things worked with characters in the Magic Kingdom or to give confidence to Maybeck, but the story just doesn’t go there with them as they’re instead are characters who pop out of nowhere and go. The very last thing I want to say was the HUGE missed opportunity of having the Disney Princesses play a role in the action sequences. Like how did the Princesses help Maybeck escape from Maleficent when he was poisoned? How did Ariel manage to drag Maybeck to safety when they faced Ursula? Why didn’t Mulan and Merida have a bigger role in the final fight? Why did Ariel just leave Maybeck on the docks to face Maleficent alone? There is was so much potential for Maydorkiness to have the Princesses deliver some serious action. Like in saving Maybeck when he was poisoned; how awesome would it have been if Mulan, Merida, and a trained Aurora took on Maleficent physically, while the other Princesses rescued Maybeck and it was a big fight sequence in seeing Mulan, Merida, and Aurora fighting Maleficent? Holy **** that would be awesome! In the end, the Disney Princesses were a great addition for the story. While their potential for making a great story was wasted, I do give Maydorkiness high credit for finally making a Kingdom Keepers story where good Disney characters help support and save the Keepers. And to be honest, if there was one group of Disney character I would like to team up and fight the forces of darkness, it would be the Disney Princesses, geared up and dressed in black. Oh yeah, that would be cool.

OTHER CHARACTERS-(THE OTHER KEEPERS): As the last group of protagonist to look over, there are the other members of the Kingdom Keepers. Well, what is there to say about them? The answer: not much really. Apart from Charlene, all the other Keepers play a very small role to the story and have barely character to work off of. Finn is still the one who see the best in things and leads the group. Philby is still the geek who’s all technical. Willa who still doesn’t have a defined personality in the Kingdom Keepers is just whatever the story needs her to be; which in this case is the caring one. Amanda does nothing with her fairly powers and Jess just dreams up the future as usual. Some characters from the books don’t even exist in Maydorkiness, like where is Wayne or heck where is Maybeck’s Aunt Jelly? For a story centered on Maybeck, you think the relationship between Maybeck and his aunt could have been build stronger. In fact, why couldn’t the story build the friendship between Maybeck and Philby to be a bit stronger as it’s through Philby’s friendship as to why Maybeck escapes death? This could have been fixed if they interacted more in the introduction or if more chapters were added to the story in the beginning or near the end. With all the Keepers being extremely underdeveloped this story would’ve been a bad story, BUT since the story is centered around Maybeck’s character (as the title implies) it’s understandable why the Keepers aren’t as developed as the main focus is on Maybeck. So out of the other characters if the friendship between Maybeck and Philby was explored more, as well as Maybeck’s relationship with his aunt, then I would have no problem with the underdeveloped canon characters.

Canon Characters- (Antagonists)

MALEFICENT: This is it. The one character I’ve been DYING to talk about and the sole reason as to why I’m still reading the Kingdom Keepers series even if I don’t like it. Maleficent in Maydorkiness is the main antagonist of the story and the leader of the Overtakers. Despite what the lore says, I do not consider Chernabog the main antagonist of the story because he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t do any major damage to the characters or their families, nor does he not have a nemesis relation with any of the Keepers. Maleficent’s character has done all of that in the books and so she, not Chrenabog, should be the main antagonist of every Kingdom Keeper fan fiction out there. [This is coming from the #1 villain Maleficent fan on ]. With that said, I’m afraid it’s going to go downhill from here when talking about this character. So how is Maleficent’s character in Maydorkiness? The answer: horrible in comparison to other Kingdom Keeper fan fictions interpretation of the character. First strike, there is no epic fights between Maleficent and any of the other characters including Maybeck! One of the most anticipating moments in any Kingdom Keepers story to me is a fight between our heroes and my favorite Disney Villain. The only fight scene where Maleficent does some action is the final fight which is so bland and lack lusting, that I have to talk about it later on in the review. Second strike; there is no unique writing in the dialogue between Maleficent and Maybeck. The most essential part of Maleficent’s character is her ability to psychologically torture people by talking to them and trying to get in her enemy’s head. Yeah sure she mocks Maybeck when he first crosses over, but there is no emotional impact to any of that and her dialogue all falls flat on its face because it doesn’t feel earned due to a lack of backstory on Maybeck ‘slowing down the team’. I never believed a word she said was threatening or gave a sense of uneasiness. I can’t believe Maybeck just blindly accepts everything Maleficent’s says and doesn’t try to talk back to her and make their conversations a mind game. Maleficent in Maydorkiness does evil but doesn’t sound evil, that’s the best way I can describe her character in terms of her dialogue. Third Strike; there are no new powers or abilities added to Maleficent’s character. So the story doesn’t want to make Maleficent talk as a menacing villain, okay so does the story at least give her new powers that up her evil factor to the characters? Not even close. Her powers are limited to only 2 basic powers; that being teleportation and throwing fireballs. I mean she doesn’t even use a staff in this story nor transforms into a dragon; what is with that?! This is a character that is supposed to be Disney’s Greatest Villain, but the story just tries to minimize her presence in the story as much as possible. Now normally, the inner Maleficent fan in me would rant out into how much potential was wasted for Maydorkiness, but ever since the 2014 Maleficent movie (which I’m trying my hardest not to think about) I don’t feel that much hate to the story because at least Maydorkiness made her a true villain and one that does evil actions. I said early that she does evil but doesn’t sound evil, well there is only 1 scene in the story of Maydorkiness where Maleficent truly does an evil deed, which is her KILLING Maybeck! What made me favorite Maydorkiness is that this is one of the very few fan fictions where Maleficent actually kills 1 of the 7 Kingdom Keepers. This is something I’ve been wanting to see in a Kingdom Keepers story for a very long time and this story delivers that. If it weren’t for this scene in Maydorkiness I wouldn’t have made this review for the story. But still, Maleficent’s character in this story is just not a great villain. I could get into detail of what this story could have done with Maleficent, but for here I’m reviewing how she is and not as what she could have been. I’m not asking for anything big like a back story (but should still be done, I’m looking at you Abby), but at the least this story should make our characters as well as the audience fearful when she’s present in the story. What better way to develop Maybeck’s character than for him to face off against the greatest Disney Villain of all time.

[PART 2 OF REVIEW]

II: THE CHARACTERS

Canon Characters- (Protagonists)

MAYBECK: The kid with a foul mouth, artistic brain, and a hot shot personality; Terrance Maybeck is the main protagonist of the story in which we follow. Most Kingdom Keepers fan fictions try to involve all 7 of the Keepers, but here it’s only 1 Keeper and that’s a good thing as it allows the character of Maybeck to be fleshed out in a way that hasn’t been done before. For me personally, if I were to choose only 1 character in the Kingdom Keepers to do a stand-alone story, that character would be Finn, but this story serves nicely in fleshing out the character of Maybeck. Maybeck in the Kingdom Keepers series is made to be a tough teenager, who has a charm vibe to him; but despite 8 books in the series, I never once believed that Maybeck was the ‘cool’ bad*ss kid that Ridley Pearson wanted him to be. Now I have to say ‘thank you’ Abby because after so long, I’ve finally read a Kingdom Keepers story that brings that bad*ss kid to life. Maybeck in this story has a personality that I can only describe as likable. He can be the no BS person and be very serious when the moment calls for it, but he can also find the goodness in any situation. You just know deep down that this guy isn’t going to get a scratch but in a good way (where nothing can hold him down not like there is no danger to his character). Yet what I have to mention is this story allowing the magic of Disney to translate from the story to the audience by the use of Maybeck’s character. Instead of being shocked and awe like most character would, he instead takes the magical moments and enjoys it. This works so well with his character, as his expression to the magical moments makes the audience themselves want to be in his position. I mean serious, how cool would it be to fly with the other Disney characters and land on top of Epcot. He works well with the other Keepers as well as the Disney characters, making him a person who is willing to work together with people; a very important trait when dealing with a group story and a trait that was missing from his character in the books. But what really sold me for Maybeck’s character is that he is just a normal guy. What do I mean by that, I mean he is an African American character and this story doesn’t try to add in the stereotypes for this type of race. I know this is an elephant in the room topic, but I have to commend the story for making Maybeck just a relatable nice guy and not some stereotypical black kid that teens envision. This story could have EASILY had the racial stereotypes for Maybeck’s character, making him the hot-headed backstreet punk character who uses street slang; but thankfully there is none of that in Maydorkiness. Maybeck is just a teenage guy, trapped at Disney, and is protecting himself and his friends; it’s as simple as that. This allows the Kingdom Keepers lore to have some real diversity in it, something that was never felt in the books. In fact the story does so well in making Maybeck an interesting stand-alone character that I actually wanted him to PERSONALLY fight Maleficent in the end, a feat that I believed only belongs to Finn’s character as Finn in a way is the un-official nemesis to Maleficent in the Disney Lore. With that said, I sadly do have some flaws to address to Maybeck’s character in the story. The first being as to why he believed Maleficent’s taught so easily when he first crossed over. Throughout the entire story, Maybeck has a believable character in realizing the situation around him, but when Maleficent just tells him that he’s a failure and he just believes that 100%, that felt way out of his character and not natural to the tone of the story. I know the story has to set an arch for Maybeck’s character, but if that were so then this story NEEDED an introduction to show Maybeck was a liability to the Keepers, as that was the whole point into him going on this adventure, to prove that point wrong. Even so, Maybeck in this moment in the story would have talked back to Maleficent, but not in just blurting out curse words, but mocking Maleficent herself saying that despite being the Mistress of All Evil she can get her *ss kicked pretty easily by a bunch of teenagers. That right there is Maybeck! Apart from that, what is also disappointing is that we don’t see the physically strength of Terrance Maybeck. Being the strongest of the Kingdom Keepers is a key characteristic into Maybeck’s character when comparing him to the other Keepers as well as being the tallest of the Keepers; so why didn’t the story show those characteristics more? Despite those 2 negative elements to Maybeck’s character in Maydorkiness, I overall enjoyed Maybeck’s character. The tough likable guy who knows how to bring people together and has a courageous heart in facing the forces of darkness has finally been personiflyed in Maydorkiness and I have to congratulate the author of this story for achieving such a feat that has pleased me as well as Kingdom Keeper fans.

CHARLENE: Out of all of the other Kingdom Keepers in the story, Charlene’s character is the only one that manages to grow and leave an impression on the audience. Of course since this is Maybeck’s story, it’s only fitting to also include his love interest. Now the first thing I have to make clear, is that despite having to be saved twice in the story, she’s not a plot device or a damsel in distress for Maybeck to save all the time. She does show that she can hold her own as a stand-alone character, not to mention she’s the first one to go to the Magic Kingdom to save Maybeck. So the story does an okay job at showing she can stand on her own, but is her character as interesting or developed as Maybeck? Sadly the answer is no. While the story has the potential to make Charlene an interesting character and love interest for Maybeck, none of that potential is shown in a well-developed manor. For example; when training for the final fight, Charlene shows she’s got some serious martial art skills and the description to her fighting style shows that she can deliver a great fight, but in the final battle we don’t see Charlene do any of that. How cool would it have been if Charlene helped Maybeck fight off Maleficent in the final battle? As for her relationship with Maybeck, yeah it’s not very believable. I mean her character goes up and down into her liking for Maybeck. She says she doesn’t like him, but it’s obvious both to audiences and the fictional characters that she does. The problem with this element of the story is that the love between Charlene and Maybeck doesn’t develop nor does it feel naturally earned. To make a comparison, let’s look at a Disney film that has no doubt had a strong influence on this story; Tangled. In the film, the 2 main leads Flynn and Rapunzel start off as mutual pals, then become friends, then become lovers. Their love grew as a result of their relationship and interaction with each other on a simplistic journey; a journey mind you that nearly killed them. Something along that line should have happened between Charlene and Maybeck. Instead Charlene just says she doesn’t like him, then unrealistically switches gears and says she like him. It just doesn’t feel right. All in all, Charlene had potential to be an interesting character and have a strong relationship with Maybeck, but the story just doesn’t show it. This can be explained for the most part that the story was written in under a month as the published and completion date show. If the story wasn’t being updated every day back in 2012 then maybe this flaw could have been corrected. But alas, what we got is what we got and how Charlene stands in the story is just ‘meh’ at best.

THE DISNEY PRINCESSES: After such a long time, FINALLY there is a fan fiction on the Kingdom Keepers where the Disney Princesses play a vital role to the story and are in their Disney character from the films they come from. Originally I was going to label this as ‘Disney characters’ but for the most part the only good Disney characters to help Maybeck are the Disney Princesses. So how do the princesses work in Maydorkiness? The answer; pretty good. Now granted they aren’t fully developed characters in this story as the story needs you to recognize them from the animated films, but the princesses stay true to their nice nature, but also do more and provide serious help when need be. Mulan helps train the Keepers during the final battle. Merida from the movie Brave gives Maybeck a bag of magical wisps to help him find his way. Rapunzel from Tangled helps heal Maybeck’s stab wound from Ursula. Even Ariel herself helps Maybeck by giving him the magical sketchbook. But out of all the Princess, the one that definitely stands out is Cinderella (or Cindy for short). Cinderella stands out from all the princesses because she interacts with Maybeck the most and is basically the leader of the princesses. She along with her friend Fairy Godmother (or FG for short) help find a way to cure Maybeck from Maleficent’s poison. Yet what I love about this story is that it actually gives the princesses a modern take and for them to be more than nice characters. They dress in black combat uniforms when they try to rescue Charlene in Epcot. They are aware of the modern day world and understand the way things are. And above all else, they still remain true to their film counterpart. Maydorkiness respects the Disney Princesses for what makes them so beloved and adds in modern elements to make them play a role in the stories plot. However with that said, there are 2 princesses I felt that could have served the story greatly.

Protodayka’s Review of Maydorkiness (The Whole Story)

The following review you are about to read is to help with the author having an idea of how the story stands and give my opinion to audiences that are curious to read the story. Now take in mind, this review is just my opinion and shouldn’t be taken too serious. I’m just a single individual fan who reads the story and points out the good and bad of what the story has to offer. We good. Great. Without further ado, this is my review of the Kingdom Keepers fan fiction Maydorkiness by author abzrocks1234.

It’s been 4 years since the last posted review for Maydorkiness, now with this review finally breaking the long silence, the story of Terrance Maybeck once again has life in it. At first I didn’t want to review Maydorkiness, because no one has posted a review in 4 years and so Kingdom Keepers fans have moved on; but I then read Maydorkiness twice and I you know what, this is a story that is worth typing a review for because it does some good things that Kingdom Keepers fans should take notes on. Now before I continue there is are 2 things you have to know about me. One: I’m a fan of the Kingdom Keepers CONCEPTS, but not at now the books are as they stand. My ‘fandom’ with the Kingdom Keepers is a really anomaly. On one hand, I HATE the books because it wastes so much potential and it’s a real bore to have to read book after book, hoping the series would get better yet it doesn’t. Yet on the other hand, I LOVE the potential of what this book series can do. I love the potential that the 7 Kingdom Keepers have as characters. I love the idea of seeing modern teenagers using technology to battle magical villains from ancient folklore. And of course I love the classical Disney, having grown up with all their animated films. So that’s the first thing you need to know about me, I love and hate the Kingdom Keepers. The second thing you need to know, is that I’m more of a Maleficent fan, not a Kingdom Keepers fan. (And I’m talking about the classic villain Maleficent, not that joke film made in 2014. I swear, if anyone here tells ME that film is ‘great’; well you’ll be seeing me say A LOT of ‘words I shouldn’t say’ quotes. Heck, Maybeck himself agrees he doesn’t curse that much.) I got into the Kingdom Keepers books because it had my favorite Disney Villain in it, and to see teenagers go up against Maleficent using their brains, technology, and teamwork is the selling point into me reading ALL of the Kingdom Keepers books, including The Syndrome, and The Return. Okay, now that you know those 2 points about me, let’s get to Maydorkiness. So how does Maydorkiness hold up after 4 years of solitude? Let’s take a look.

I: THE STORY

To get started let’s look at the story. Unlike other stories I’ve reviewed, Maydorkiness is a short story that is only 20,000 words long. So it’s going to be something of trying to make a big review for a short story, but this story’s got content in it. So what is the story? (SPOILER ALERT FOR THE ENTIRE REVIEW)

It’s an average day for the Kingdom Keepers and all the Keepers are coming together to celebrate Maybeck’s aunt’s birthday. But during the reunion, Maybeck passes out and finds himself trapped in the Magic Kingdom. With the help of the Disney Princesses, Maybeck must battle the Overtakers and find a way to get back to his normal self before Maleficent’s plan to kill the Keepers is put into motion.

Now of course this sounds like a familiar story line from the Kingdom Keepers series. That of being, someone gets captured, the Keepers got to go find their captured friend, fight the bad guys, and in the end happily ever after. Yet the one thing that Maydorkiness has that the Kingdom Keepers series and Kingdom Keepers fan fictions don’t have is that the story is entirely focused on 1 character and it’s not the leader of the Keepers. Most Kingdom Keeper stories have their main protagonist to be Finn, because he is the leader of the group and has the most of a nemesis connection with the main antagonist; but this story is the only Kingdom Keepers fan fiction that I know of where the main protagonist is NOT Finn, it’s Maybeck. So does the story make Maybeck an interesting character to follow; yes it does and I’ll get to him later. The story does a fantastic job in making this a short journey for Maybeck and I have to commend author abzrocks123, (I’ll just say Abby) for finally making this character the likable guy Kingdom Keepers fans have wanted to see. Yet, it’s not just focusing on Maybeck that’s great for the story, what makes this story stand out is that it’s for the most part magical. I know it’s obvious to say that as it’s a Disney story, but this story right here captures the type of feeling I wanted to have when reading the Kingdom Keepers books. For me, I’ve always loved the science fiction aspects of the book series (with the DHI technology and analyzing the history of fairy tales), but I never tough I would find a Kingdom Keepers story that would capture that Disney magic feeling. This is done by allowing all the Disney characters to actually come to life and stay true to their characters, having a sense of danger for our protagonists, and allow our characters to pull through for their bravery. There are a few barrowed elements from Disney movies (which I’ll get to later in the originality section of the review) and the story does at times feel a little cliché, but overall it’s a great short journey for Maybeck in the Magic Kingdom. In fact the story is very simple when you think about it. Maybeck is trapped because of the poison Maleficent gave him, he has to stay in the parks till the Disney characters make an antidote, and 1 or 2 things happen in between. It’s sounds like a basic one shot plot, but the trick that Maydorkiness has to make it an amazing story is that it keeps the reader hooked onto what will happen next. With the many suprising things I’ve found in this story, I really didn’t know what would come up next, and that is what made me want to keep on reading. The original ideas put into Maydorkiness makes the story’s basic plot into something more. So much more that I would actually say this story should be considered part of the official Kingdom Keepers lore. So overall, making Maybeck the main protagonists, capturing the magical feeling of Disney, and allow the story to be interesting till the end, is what makes Maydorkiness a good short story for Kingdom Keepers fans. There is a lot more to talk about what this story does right and wrong, but all of it will be explained as this review goes on. With briefly looking at what the story has to offer, how are the characters?

In the first paragraph you put by instead of buy!

Seeriosley stop puting the stuff at the beginning and end

Good, now get you butt over to a computer and write the sequel! ;P

Yay Philby sorry I'm just in love with him so much awesome story every chapter and end chapter

Awwwe! I love this story! I'm sad to see it end...but I'm excited for the sequel!

I love this story! Maybeck and Charlene are my favs!
I'm so sad it's over! :(

OMG! *sobs*
THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL! AND SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEHOT! AND...and...Philbalicious?
OKAY, NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO TELL ME ABOUT A NEW MULTI-CHAP!
Enough with the caps...this was a fantastic multi-chap that I reallllly enjoyed reading. I can't wait for more!
BOOM! *Mandy-Nerds*