Minalopa (unproduced novel)

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Minalopa was an unproduced Cyberon novel commissioned by BBV Productions from Callum Phillpott in 2021. In addition to the Cyberons, it would have featured the returns of the DWU characters of the Man in Black and the Cyberon King.

In mid-September 2021, after plans for a series of prose Cyberon works overseen by Lupan Evezan fell through, Callum Phillpott, who had previously adapted BBV's Cyberon audio drama Cyber-Hunt into the DWU novel of the same name, was asked to develop a singular novel that would act as a direct sequel to Cyber-Hunt. The book would have featured the Cyberon invasion of a "theme park planet" satirising Disneyland, and also featured the return of the man in black; the novel would remain unproduced after Phillpott decided to cease associating with BBV.

Summary
After a prologue where the Cyberon King reflects angrily on the events of Cyber-Hunt, Chapter 1 introduces the four main protagonists: Derren, a janitor who unwillingly works on the corporate holiday planet of Minalopolis so he doesn’t get drafted into the Cyberon Wars by the Tellurian Alliance; Zeek, a refugee from Corupus who has been traumatised by the same Cyberon Wars; Hayley, a laid-back drug store cashier; and finally, returning from Cyber-Hunt, the mysterious Man in Black. Phillpott's notes describe him, in this instance, as "a mysterious being… probably a Time Lord".

Chapter 2 would introduce the titular character and secondary villain, Gruber Minalopa, an outer-space who intends to move away from the entertainment business and into city planning, hence buying and colonising the entire dwarf planet now known as Minalopolis. Several Minalopa cartoon mascots, inspired by Disney's roster of classic characters, would have been used; rather than direct analogues for Mickey, Donald, Goofy and so on, they would have been slightly altered versions of the "B-list" of 1930s characters, with Ozymandias "Ozzie" Hare (based on ) taking on the "Mickey" role, and other characters including "the Mad Doctor Ohm" (based on the Mad Doctor) and "Peta the Gorilla" (based on Beppo the Gorilla). Minalopolis would also have contained theme park rides named after Doctor Who episodes.

"But how does [Gruber] manage to keep this place exempt from Tellurian Alliance drafting? Arms dealing, and also maybe inventing new weapons for them (I just thought it was funny to have him offhandedly say “The Imagineers have made you a new nuke”)."

- Callum Phillpott

Chapter perspectives would, thereafter, alternate between Gruber Minalopa and one of the four protagonists — principally Derren or Zeek, who slowly grow close to each other while Minalopa is forced to help the Cyberons. Minalopa would have been in covert contact with the Cyberons via a mechanical intermediary called Oswald, a "Lear" — Lears being "spies constructed by the Cyberons to look like what they think a human looks like", meaning they're "slightly off". The buildup would culminate in "a sort of 'point of no return' event where the Cyberon invade a party and the true horrors of conversion begin". Derren, Zeek, Hayley and the Man in Black would manage to get away unscathed, however. Later events in the plot would have included Gruber Minalopa getting converted into the "Cyberon Leader of Minalopolis".