So, that closure thing I mentioned—what I’ve always needed to heal, in my experience, is the community of my friends. In some ways this story is a love/thank-you note to some friends who’ve gotten me through some rough times.

Almost as soon as I sat down to start writing, I realized what mecha stories from Gundam to Pacific Rim have already demonstrated—the only reason a civilization would have to create a superweapon in the shape of an enormous humanoid figure is shock and awe.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself writing a lot of stories that focused on the theme of sacrifice. In speculative media, particularly, there are a lot of stories that portray martyrdom or sacrifice as a noble or necessary cause.

The germ of this story was born in the 2021 stage of the pandemic, while watching a panel on lost Doctor Who episodes during a virtual version of our local Doctor Who convention, CONsole Room. I wanted to write about the way that seemingly frivolous things like fandom still persist.