“Here come the Bunnies in Black… they won’t let you remember…”
This week we’re reposting and reminiscing on our first all-girl mission and female-centered episode, “Bunnies in Black”! Episode 5 was a chance for our Carter Girls to shine — but don’t worry, all five of the Boys are in it, too. Tell us more, Dee!
Somehow, in our quest to create a “Spies and Secret Agents” AU about the Backstreet Boys, we ended up creating some really loveable characters who stood on their own. So of course they needed their own mission to kick ass and take names! As you know, we’re all firmly on “Team Dark,” so the original idea for this episode involved a sex traffic ring, a serious problem in Las Vegas. But, as much as we’re Team Dark, 00Carter is not that kind of story. Sure, it has its dark moments, which you’ll see in our newer episodes, but at its heart, it’s really light-hearted. And what better to parody than pop culture of the early aughts like Playboy Bunnies and the Girls Next Door? We’ve taken you all into a time warp by reviving this, really.
So, once this episode became a silly romp through the Playboy Mansion, it clearly needed some 00Carter weird. And with all the gadgets and tech in the story, SciFi seemed like a natural leap. Plus, HimTak is so close to Area51 anyway, it just makes sense that they would eventually get involved with aliens. And, as an added bonus, it lets us do one of my favorite story-writing techniques, which is handwaving. Although, you wouldn’t know it from the way the aliens were written, they’re pretty fleshed out overall. And we get a fun parody of other 90s/00s staples: the X-Files and Men in Black.
In our editing, we added a little bit more of what Pearl and Red were up to in the mansion; while we know them fairly well as characters, this is the first chance to see them on a mission in real time and they’re an integral part of it. Readers already have somewhat of a feel for how Diamond operates. And then we get the treat of Emerald’s first “on screen” mission. We are so blessed that she joined the cast. That scene in the Mansion never fails to make me laugh! We hope you enjoy the ongoing antics of 00Carter and HimTak!
While the zany ideas help move the plot along, the heart of 00Carter is its characters. Let’s talk about them. Who’s the best character, Backstreet Boy or otherwise?
Julie: It’s no secret I adore Dr. Rough! I love how we took some of his real life quirks and possible insecurities and turned him into this twitchy-eyed supervillain with a Napoleon complex and a love of cute animals. Sure, he’s a walking cliche that fits a lot of the villain tropes, but imagining Howie, of all people, in that role is hilarious. He will probably always be my favorite character in this story.
Rose: Cheesy as it sounds, Nick. Like I Love that he’s this goofball but there’s also layers. He cares deeply about everyone at HimTak and despite appearances his mission. There’s even part of him that cares about Drums despite everything because he blames himself. His randomness with music is a joy and I love writing him whether it’s introspective or being silly.
Dee: Those are both great choices! We have so many great characters, it’s hard to choose! Nick, Dr. Rough, Brian, K, Jay (can’t not love the Boys), Emerald, Red, Pearl, Diamond, Drums… At this point, I’ve named just about everyone, lol. I’m always Team Lancy because I get so much joy from a scene any time he pops up, but I already mentioned that. Really, I think my favorite thing about these characters is how many of them were there at the story’s inception and remained huge parts of the narrative, but also how much we welcomed mass creativity to inspire the story. Like, I mentioned in Episode Two’s blog that Grasshopper is one of my favorite characters any time he pops up (which isn’t as often as it should be), but we didn’t even create him! He was a contest entry.
If I remember correctly (which isn’t saying much), we’d exhausted all our character possibilities by the end of Episode One and needed some more to round out the cast, so we did two contests. One to create Agents 004 and 005, who didn’t appear in Episode One, and one to create more Carter Girls, because of course we needed a plethora of them. Grasshopper and Emerald were the winners for the Agent contest and they are a delight! Opal was also an entry for the Carter Girl contest.
Julie: Wow, I forgot that! But you’re right. I was wondering why we made up a different name for him (Wilson Smithers) instead of just making him AU Chuck Norris.
Rose: Grasshopper is so underused yet so delightfully random.
Real talk on 00Carter’s Angels (also known as The Carter Girls)… What’s his relationship really like with all of them?
Rose: Pearl is forever the one he can’t have but their relationship is rather close. When I imagined her, she started with Nick and Drums, and they went through basic training together. And I always figured that was because at first her path was to be an agent till she started pointing out all the security flaws and so she ended up going a different way. But they have some similarities that gives them a balance. They confide in each other, they prank each other, it’s just a really solid bond between the two. And while he’ll always flirt with Pearl, his immaturity keeps it from happening. He knows she’ll always be there for him though and he’s one of the few who actually knows the true Pearl behind her many walls. Wow. I just said a lot lol.
Dee: Hey, you’ve been carefully crafting Pearl since the beginning. Of course you have a detailed answer for this. I’ve always enjoyed the close and teasing relationship they share. Could be family, could be more, you know?
Meanwhile, I’ve always thought Nick and Diamond could have a very nice open relationship if they were both just a tiny bit more mature, lol. In a lot of ways, they’re fairly similar in their interpersonal relationships: craving an intimate (sexually, emotionally, whatever) connection, but not wanting to drag anyone into their life full-time for other reasons. I’m about to delve into vague vagueness territory here, but you’ve gotta figure everyone at HimTak ended up there for a reason. The secret agent lifestyle is not for everyone!
Julie: Yes, I could see Nick and Diamond having an open relationship, but Nick would really have to work on his jealousy issues. I think he would have a bigger problem with that than Diamond, who doesn’t seem to mind him flirting with other women.
Dee: You’re right, in any relationship, Nick & Diamond, Nick & Pearl, Nick & Red, Nick & Canadian Intelligence Agents, Nick & random cops, Nick & other girls we haven’t mentioned yet, Nick & Lancy… Nick needs to work on his jealousy issues!
Rose: Yeah I think Nick and Diamond could really be something if they could handle a real relationship but they can’t. It makes for an interesting dynamic. Nick’s definitely got jealousy issues he needs to work on. Hell in Catch Her he freaks out at Jay just joking about the idea of Pearl and K lol.
Julie: We’ve always portrayed Nick as a ladies man but haven’t really shown him having intimate relationships with many other women. I’ve always assumed he has slept with Red Jewel, since she was the first “Carter Girl” we conceived, but I can’t remember us ever really showing that in the story. They’re more “friends with benefits” who occasionally flirt with each other than soulmates.
Dee: Wasn’t that in the Christmas episode? Surely that’s canon to 00Carter! But you’re totally right, there hasn’t been much Nick & Red interaction since Episode One. Something we need to rectify as we go!
Julie: Oh yeah, you’re right! I do consider the Christmas episode canon, but already forgot about that scene LOL.
Dee: lmfao! A decade will do that to you.
Rose: I do think we need to rectify that with Red. Pearl we sort of are in the ending scene I have in mind for our episode in progress. And yeah we need to throw in the occasional romp for Nick in future missions lol. Also I’d like to try to start tossing in scenes of the girls around each other if possible. Show their bond too, you know?
Julie: That was the goal with this all-girl episode, but we haven’t had a mission with all of them since. That’s definitely something to consider for future episodes.
Rose: And it definitely achieved its goal so I think we just need a sprinkling of scenes lol. I want all the things!
Dee: So, is Emerald a Carter Girl or not?
Julie: We tend to lump her into “The Carter Girls” because she’s a girl in 00Carter, but she would definitely not consider herself a Carter Girl because she can’t stand Nick. She is more of a Jay girl who would probably also jump into bed with Brian if she ever got the chance. I guess that makes her an A-Rok girl!
Rose: Emerald is definitely a Jay girl. With a dash of Brian.
Dee: Jay and Brian (Opal would probably say otherwise) need girls too, so it’s nice to have that balance. Plus, I think it’s an unwritten story rule that not everyone can love your main character, even if they are Nick Carter, lol. Next big question, does this mean that Lancy is a “Carter Girl”?
Rose: Depends on who you ask lol. Lancy would say yes, Nick would say NO.
Julie: My thoughts exactly!
So in what seemed like a semi-realistic “Spies and Secret Agents” AU, why aliens? What do they add to the story? What are the pros and cons of opening the can of worms that is the existence of extraterrestrial life?
Julie: Why aliens? Because they sounded more fun and interesting than the sex trafficking ring our original Carter Girls episode idea was based on. I don’t remember who came up with the alien plot, but I do remember us getting stuck while trying to start this episode the first time around and revising the entire storyline. Going from sex slaves to Playbunny Bunnies was a logical progression, and the introduction of the aliens allowed us to do more parodies, which we enjoy. The Men in Black thing was fun and a nice homage to our source for the names Agent K and Agent Jay.
The downside to including aliens is that it’s a huge topic that’s hard to wrap our heads around, let alone wrap up in one episode. We plan to continue the alien arc in future episodes, but didn’t want the entire story to turn into a sci-fi about extraterrestrials.
Dee: No kidding. “Aliens” as a plot is a huge can of worms! From the planning to the various storylines they could encompass to the random devices our characters could get their hands on… That’s probably what Pearl cares about more than anything else, lol! I’m glad we made the decision to ease the alien plots in and out of the story, that way we have time to focus on other things, like Disney, pirates, diseases, the Olympics, and book thieves! lol!
Rose: Cause Aliens are great! It definitely sets up a lot that might someday pay off but in drips and drabs. Pearl still hasn’t forgiven the FBI for stealing all the tech lmao. But I think the diversity in plot is what makes 00Carter fun so I’m glad we didn’t overdose on aliens.
