Alternate Universe: Difference between revisions

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Not to be confused with [[Alternate Continuity]], [[Alternate Reality Episode]], [[Alternate Universe Fic]] or a [[Constructed World]].

May be meta-caused by aforementioned [[Alternate Continuity]]; as well as by any of the three varieties of [[Discontinuity]] ([[Canon Discontinuity]], [[Fanon Discontinuity]], or [[Negative Continuity]]).

Specific variations:

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* Two of these exist in ''[[Phoenix's SSBB Case Files]]'', [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|aptly named]] Alternate Turnabout and Alternate Turnabout 2. The first has Larry Butz working as a defense attorney, with Adrian Andrews at his side, while 2 features Franziska von Karma and assistant Dick Gumshoe working for the Wright and Co. Law Office.

* This trope is likely to be used by '''any''' [[Intercontinuity Crossover]] fanfic in which the melded continuities would otherwise contradict one another.

* ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' is set on another planet in an alternate universe. Additionally, the four visit three other universes (including one set in a 1950s New York, more or less); the Fans are watching from their universe; the Dalns gods inhabit yet another universe; and Jeft comes from still another.

* [[The Son of the Emperor]] mixes the real world with the world of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]. This results in an Alternate Universe where the ponies grow to the size of horses and have been used for centuries in warfare, mytical creatures like griffons are commonplace and magic exists.

* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7314071/1/Just_One_Big_Happy_Kingdom Just One, Big, Happy Kingdom] is a [[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]] fanfic in which an eighty-year-old Merlin decides to teach his younger self a lesson by putting him in a mirror universe ("Not-Camelot") and put Not-Merlin in the normal Camelot. It's one of those mirror everybody-is-his-opposite universes.

* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1594758/1/STRANGE_PATHS NIGHTWALKER: STRANGE PATHS]'' is a ''[[Nightwalker]]'' fic which basically has Riho as a [[Older Than They Look|300 or so year old vampire]] and Shido who starts out as a human detective.

* The ''[[Pony POV Series]]'' has such a thing. It's explained that all the worlds diverged from the [[The Earth Prime Theory|Heart World]] (implied to be the actual shows' timeline) and are effected by changes there, but can break off and continue on their own in the event the change in the Heart World is so great said universe can no longer harbor the connection. The ones the series itself focuses on are it's main timeline and the [[Bad Future|Discorded Timeline]], a [[Villain World]] ruled by Discord, but we also see a ''lot'' of alternate timelines which Princess Luna refers to as "possibilities and impossibilities". Applejack gets to see quite a few of them on two seperate occasions, the one that means the most to her being the Orangejack universe, where she never left Manehatten. {{spoiler|She eventually gets to meet Orangejack and they team up to fight Nightmare Mirror, Applejack's own [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] who may or may not be another alternate version of her. It also turns out Orangejack is an Element Of Generosity and there are universes were Applejack was one of the other Elements as well, all of which are summoned to fight Nightmare Mirror.}} There's also a universe were Rainbow Dash turned into Nightmare Manacle, another where Pinkie Pie turned into Nightmare Granfalloon, and another were the mane cast are the [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Mighty Morphing Power Ponies]] fighting a Goldar version of Gilda. Oh and {{spoiler|Pinkie Pie is actually the G3.5 Pinkie Pie and is how she is thanks to being left pretty much untouched by a [[Cosmic Retcon]] that turned that universe into the G4 universe.}}

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** A mirror universe in ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' uses the same joke.

* "Ace" Rimmer (what a guy!) on ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' came from an [[Alternate Universe]], and travelled between dimensions. The Red Dwarf crew themselves had previously travelled into an Alternate Universe in the episode "Parallel Universe". Some episodes have featured similar alternate versions of characters and events, but were a result of time travel rather than passing into another Universe (notably "Timeslides" and "Inquisitor").

** The books delve into this too. While multiple universes are established in ''Better Than Life'', they really come into play in ''Last Human'' and ''Backwards''. ''Last Human'' occurs when the crew return from Backwards Earth to the wrong universe and try to track down Lister's other self. In ''Backwards'', Ace Rimmer is given a backstory behind Project: Wildfire and turns up to save the crew. Bonus points for the fact that both books, having each been written by Grant and Naylor separately, take place in alternate universes to each other.

* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' had an [[Alternate Universe]] in which Lois was lost in a jungle and Clark had not made himself into Superman.

** This does allow the protagonists to discredit the [[Big Bad]], who tries to expose Superman's secret identity. It's kinda hard to argue that Clark Kent is Superman, when both of them are standing right there.

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** There are some weird rules for the two universes. If a person (or a god) dies in one universe, he also dies in the other. Unless they happen to be ''not'' in their universe at the moment. This happened to {{spoiler|the alternate Iolaus}} who was trapped in an "in-between" world when {{spoiler|"our" Iolaus took a knife in the gut}}. Also happened to {{spoiler|Hercules}}, as his double {{spoiler|the Sovereign}} was killed while in this "in-between" world.

* ''[[Smallville]]'' had an interesting subversion: Clark [[Cuckoo Nest|wakes up in a mental asylum]]; apparently, he started having delusions of superdom in high school, and his "saving" of Lex in the first episode actually cost Lex his legs. Oh, and Chloe is a freaking nutcase. Of course, it was all a delusion caused by an escaped Phantom that attacked him in his barn and invaded his mind. John Jones (the Martian Manhunter) helped him escape by entering the illusion (as another inmate), and capturing the creature in a Kryptonian crystal.

** Season 10 had an [[Alternate Universe]] as a major plot line, Clark discovers a kryptonian artifact called a "mirror box" and when activated it takes him to world where the Kents never adopted him, instead he was raised by Lionel and goes by the name "Clark Luthor". Clark Luthor himself is brought to Clark Kent's world and causes no end of trouble before the original Clark manages to switch them back. Then it turns out the alternate Lionel managed to come through to the main world with Clark, taking the place of the original Lionel (who was dead) with a story that he'd faked his death. Then Clark Luthor uses ''his'' mirror box to come back and send our Clark to his world, where he helps the alternate Jonathan reconnect with Martha, and convinces Clark Luthor to try and use his powers for good, rather than live in Lionel's shadow.

* In ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode #137 "The Bizarro Jerry", Elaine is in a similar social circle where the Kramer equivalent is neat, George's is responsible, etc.

* In ''[[NCIS]]'', a generally reality based show, features a series of clips from [[Alternate Universe]] based on a series of What-If moments. What if Kate hadn't died? {{spoiler|Tony and Kate get married and have a kid. Yay! Ziva goes from crazy assassin to even crazier assassin. Aww.}} What if Gibbs also hadn't killed Pedro Hernandez? {{spoiler|His demons consume him, he quits NCIS sooner, he becomes a (likely) alchoholic, shuts himself in his basement for months, ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|is rude to Abby]]'', [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and Abby/McGee and Tony/Kate become canon.]]}} What if Shannon and Kelly hadn't died? (Warning: ''major'' [[Tear Jerker]] behind those spoilers. {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|Gibbs dies fighting overseas. No matter what, he lost his family. Whaa . . . ]]}}

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*** Did we mention '''ZEPPELINS'''? I feel like we should do a quick mention of '''ZEPPELINS''', based on the frequency with which '''ZEPPELINS''' appear in the [[Alternate Universe]].

* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' had an episode where Alex goes through a mirror and enters a parallel universe where nearly everything is about her and in her favor.

* The ''[[Community]]'' episode "Remedial Chaos Theory" features the group rolling a die to choose who will go to the door to get the pizza. [[Genre Savvy|Abed]] warns that this will create 6 (actually 7) alternate universes. Everyone else of course dismisses this, but we the audience get to watch each one unfold. The differences ranges from different characters hooking up, mental break downs occurring, everyone having an awesome night, and ''everything going to shit''.

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* ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' had alternate universes replacing time travel as the main hook.

* The ''Mega Man'' series has two universes: the main one (''[[Mega Man (video game)|Classic]]'', ''[[Mega Man X|X]]'', ''[[Mega Man Zero|Zero]]'', ''[[Mega Man ZX|ZX]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Legends|Legends]]''), and the alternate one (''[[Mega Man Battle Network|Battle Network]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Star Force|Star Force]]''). The difference between these two timelines is that the latter has internet technology prosper instead of robotics (as was the case in the former).

** In a strange way, the alternate universe also rewrites most of the robot masters who were Megaman's enemies into potential allies, the most notable being Gutsman and Searchman, both whom are enemies in the mainline series, but consistent allies in the alternate timeline.

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' has ''Another Day''. This takes place in a world where Neku and his friends {{spoiler|never died}}, Shuto is [[The Hero]] with Neku as [[The Lancer]], Tin Pin Slammer is [[Serious Business]], Eri's parents decided to call her Shiki for some reason, and [[Murder Arson and Jaywalking|Neku is less emo]].

** And, mind-bogglingly, despite what the game says, it actually has some bearing on the main plot. {{spoiler|Joshua}} flees to that universe after {{spoiler|shielding Neku from Minamimoto's Lv. ''i'' Flare}}. Whereupon he challenges Another Day!Neku to a [[Boss Rush]] to kill time.

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** ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' also featured a universe where Lois died, prompting Superman to team up with Luthor and take over Metropolis.

* The various incarnations of the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise have done this quite a bit, with alternate timelines galore.

** Perhaps most notably is "[[Transformers Shattered Glass|Shattered Glass]]", the 2008 BotCon event featuring heroic Decepticons and evil Autobots. With [[Beard of Evil|goatees]]. And [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatches]].

** Perhaps most notably is "[[Transformers: Shattered Glass|Shattered Glass]]", the 2008 BotCon event featuring heroic Decepticons and evil Autobots. With [[Beard of Evil|goatees]]. And [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatches]].

*** The goatees are a [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "Mirror Mirror," in which the Spock counterpart wore a goatee. The eyepatches are from the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Inferno," in which the fascist counterpart to one of the recurring characters wore an eyepatch.

* In an episode of ''[[Rugrats]]'', Tommy and Chuckie think they're in a "Mirrorland."