Return to Pojo's Dragonball

Q: Now I realize that there are three of you who work on the site. What exactly do each of you do?

A: I'm basically the head of the whole website. I maintain the whole thing--- the layouts, the content, everything... the updates... just basically everything except for a few sections.

Q: What did you think of Season 3, was is it better, worse, or exactly what you expected from FUNi?

A: I don't really watch the U.S. version, since I don't have cable, and I'm too broke to purchase the videos too... but I have seen a couple of episodes at a relative's house. It wasn't as impressive as I thought compared to the original Japanese. For instance, Freeza's voice became somewhat... feminine; Gokou's voice sounded different from the last time I've heard of his dubbed voice (when DBZ used to be syndicated on TV); and other minor things.

Q: Do you see any hope for Season 4, or american DBZ in general?

A: To be honest, if FUNimation were really able to release Season 4 (Mirai Trunks saga) this fall, then there really is hope. I really can't say that I'm right, but at the rate that their going (despite of all the rantings coming from the "real" DBZ fans), I really think there is hope... who knows... they may even air the whole series itself! It would've been more awesome if they did the same for Dragonball (the first series before DBZ).

Q: When you first created you site what did you hope to accomplish?

A: There really is just one goal--- to have DB fans be aware that minor characters such as Videl really have (or somewhat) made a difference to the story plot. Also, I'm sure most DB fans are probably getting tired of seeing the same ol' character shrines, especially major characters, existing on the net such as Gokou shrines, Vegeta shrines, etc., that it's time to check out at something new. The female DB character shrine scene have also become a trend in the history of DB websites starting with the "Bulma!" shrine, Femme Fatale (Juuhachigou shrine), and many other female shrines. Well, basically, what I was trying to say was to promote to everyone (not just DB or anime fans in general) not just the character Videl, but also to promote the series itself. Once one meets the character, he will likely to be drawn towards the series itself... what type of character Videl is in the series and what her relationship is towards other characters and the plot in whole.

Q: It has become quite a habit for me to interview the female DB web masters. Do you get treated any differently from your fans because you are a female?

A: In some cases, yes. It seems that female webmasters and female fans were treated more with respect by the male-dominated DB fans. I really can't explain why is that so... I guess it's one of the mysteries that are meant to be left unsolved. ^_^ But in most cases, I think female fans (not necessarily webmasters) are basically treated equally by male fans.

Q: What made you create your site around Videl?

A: Well, main reason is that Videl is my favorite female character (Son Gohan is my favorite male character), and since there are hardly any DB character shrines dedicated to the female characters (or minor characters in general), I decided to open up a website and dedicate it to Videl. She's got a certain spunk that makes her different from most of the female characters. She's independent, carefree in some cases, and very keen and intelligent--- just like her classmate-boyfriend-turned-husband, Gohan. Other reasons include that many of the not-too-die-hard fans perceive that Dragonball in general (well, maybe specifically DBZ) is nothing but action, violence, martial art, dark drama, etc. I think that creating a website dedicated to a minor character would actually promote to the curious fan that DBZ isn't all action and violence, but it has other bittersweet moments--- such as comedy and a little bit of romance--- in which this particular minor character is closely related to and/or is incorporated towards these bittersweet moments. And lastly, I wanted to create a Videl site that offers some things that other Videl websites (ie. The Videl Vault) do not have, such as a collection of fanfics and fanart that is all Videl-related, and maybe in-depth written works that revolve around the true nature of Videl. We're not in competition or anything like that... I really think it's good that there are more than one Videl site that exists in the DB net world, because if one Videl site lacks something (or if that server of the website is down), they can go to another Videl site... and vice versa. Thus, I would predict that someday, even the female characters of DBZ may even be considered major characters alongside Son Gokou, Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks, Son Gohan, and all the other Z Fighters featured in the series.

Q: Videl from DBZ or Videl from GT, who did you like more and why?

A: Videl from DBZ, definitely! She may be young, but she's very independent, spunky, smart, active, intelligent--- the type of teenage girl who takes charge of everything--- she takes charge of her own life and never lets anybody (not even her own old man, the "world hero" Mr. Satan!) boss her around. She's not a quitter and would do anything to reach her goals (think her little investigation to the Great Saiyaman mystery and her competence against Supopobitchi in the Tenkaichi-Budokai). The character of Videl from GT suddenly became soft from her younger self.. maybe because she's older, wiser, and not to mention a wife and a mother to another spunky teen (Pan!)... except when she reprised her role as the Great Saiyaman 2 later on in the GT series.

Q: What is your favorite DBZ movie?

A: I really don't have any specific favorites... I basically enjoy them all... but if I were to be a bit specific, I would say Movies 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13.

Q: Which of the three DB shows is your favorite

A: Dragonball and DBZ. I haven't seen much of GT for me to like it. ^^;

Q: What is your favorite song from the DB soundtrack?

A: Again, no specifics, but "Cha-La-Head-Cha-La" really does get to me, as well as "We Gotta Power"... I guess I could say that song is my fave. ^^;

Q: What is each of your's favorite scene from the series?

A: I like both the Cell/Androids Saga and the Majin Buu Saga, particularly the Cell vs. SSJ2 Son Gohan battle. That scene really rocked!

Q: Videl vs. what ohter female, what in your opinion would be the best fight?

A: In DBZ, Videl vs. Juuhachigou ^.~. In any other anime, Videl vs.... (*tries to think of a good character for that match*). Hollywood-wise, so to speak, Videl vs. Buffy the Vampire Slayer... hehe. I dunno.. I just had to put that. ^_^

Q: What made each of you decide that Videl was your favorite character?

A: Since I have a crush on Gohan (of course, I'm a fan! =p), I really do admire Videl for winning the poor guy's heart. I know this may also sound a little corny, but Videl's character is similar in most cases to my personality--- always the one who takes charge, loves to take challenges and risk it all, and is intelligent and manipulative too (poor Gohan!). That's how I snatched the heart of a certain guy who is now my boyfriend... *lol* j/k!

Q: To your knowledge has your page been subject to any page piracty?

A: Actually we did have a case of page piracy just when VEM was just fresh and brand-new. Personally we're not very much concerned with people stealing our images, just as long as they give credit to us or link us to their websites. The funny thing was that we found the page pirate right when we were visiting The Videl Vault website (to see if Miss Zandra made some updates) and we decided to view her guestbook (we're searchers too--- looking for other Videl websites, completed or not, so we can link them to our site and have a little directory of all the Videl sites existing in the net ^_^). While reading through the entries we found the page pirate right there, promoting her Videl site in Spanish. It turned out that she practically used all of our images and never even gave credit or linked us.

We tried to reason out with the pirate (even with the help of Jon (b/f ^^;) and Pan, the owner of Pan's Shrine site, who are proficient/fluent in Spanish ^^;) and get her to at least credit us for the images, but she refused. Later on for some reason, she apologized to us and the next thing we knew, she shut down her site.

Ever since then, we don't have any more reports of page piracy.

Q: What do each of you think of page piracy?

A: I'm sure that most of us webmasters started off as "page pirates" by using other people's images in their first websites. I admit that I was one when I first opened up my first DB site ever--- a fanfic site. Then, my first attempt of opening my Videl site called "Videl's Personal Photo Scrapbook," grabbing Videl images from rare sites (this was more than 2 years ago, mind you! Back then, no one really cared about page pirates--- everybody was free and equal to do what they want...). None of my "pirated" sites were familiarized, since I never promoted it to everybody. I guess it was just a little head start on how to create a website.

But right after having a deep thought about it, originality DOES count, and if one decides to rip it off and claim it as your own, the original owner would also feel stripped of his originality and pride of the work that he has done to please himself and his visitors. So in other words, page piracy isn't just about stealing stuff and claim that it's theirs, but it's also a degrading factor to the original webmaster who worked so hard trying to get these things ready and promote them in their websites. It doesn't rip off the original stuff that the webmaster created by himself, but it also rips off the pride and the reputation of the webmaster himself. When that page pirate stole our images (especially the ones where they need to have special permission from us to use those particular images), I felt that the pirate just ruined my sense of pride and content of what I have done.

Q: What section do each of you find the most joy in working on?

A: To be honest, I love working with all the sections--- except for the planned multimedia section that we're gonna have, since I don't have the stuff for me to make audio/video clips and music videos.. hehe. That's Bulmies' department. =p

Q: Have you ever created any other DB sites and if so what were they called and what were they about?

A: A: Frankly, this Videl site isn't my first DB site. My first site was a Gohan & Videl/Trunks & Pan fanfic site called "Till the Right Time Comes." Alongside that, I'm working with three other more websites--- a Gohan and Videl Journal website along with my special friend Jon ^.~, and two other fanfic/dedication sites dedicated to the "Future Generation of Z Soldiers"--- you guessed it--- Trunks, Son Goten, Marron, Pan, Bra, and Ubuu (they're not mine, actually, they're my friend Chibi-chan's sites--- I'm just basically working with the layouts ^_^).

1) Till the Right Time Comes (and other stories) - Personal Dragonball fanfic collection (well, not really... I only wrote one epic plus a few short stories/flicks... ^^;) written by--- me! ^_^

2) Justice Soldiers! - Gohan & Videl journal shrine. While Chi-Chi and Bulmies are working with me with VEM, my b/f Jon and I work on this particular site. I used to have the Videl journals hosted in VEM, but Jon decided to make a Gohan journal site and thought of collaborating both Gohan & Videl together (I guess it's a couple thing between us... sometimes we often imagine ourselves as Gohan & Videl... we're crazy like that ^^;;). It also has website reviews. Not open yet, but we're nearing completion.

3) Dragonball NGZ - A collection of fanfics anime-series-style written by four very talented female writers/webmasters known as the DBNGZ Team starring the younger generation of Z Fighters (Trunks, Goten, Pan, Ubuu, Marron, and Bra). Actually I'm #5 member of the Team, but I only do the website layouts and stuff. ^^; It was being put on hold right now.

4) The Next Gen-Z Zone - This website was originally owned by Chibi-chan, but she handed it down to the DBNGZ Team ... with me as the head maintainer. This is a character shrine dedicated to the younger generation of Z Fighters, like I mentioned above--- it has fanfics, fanart, background history of every character, series historical moments, etc.)Newest version of this site coming soon and is nearing completion.

I guess that's it! I still ahve other websites that are non-DB related, but they're all outdated, so I'm not gonna mention anything about it ^^;;

Q: Not a serious question, but one that MUST be asked. Which of you is most likely to become power hungry and try to take over the whole site?

A: *LOL* I never really thought of that, to be frank. Chi-Chi and I basically collaborated together with the help of multimedia princess Bulmies to create one big Videl site for everyone to enjoy. Although I do most of the stuff in VEM, I don't really consider myself "power-hungry." In fact, I like working with other people when it comes to websites rather than working by myself-- unless if it's a personal website that deals with me, of course... hehe

andy- Well, it has been a new and enjoyable experience to interview each of you and I hope you have much luck in the future with you site.

P.E. Videl - dou itashimashite yo, ssj4goku-san (translated: "you're welcome, ssj4goku", just in case you don't know what that meant. ^_^ And thank you for giving us this interview. I think it's a great honor.