The Otherworld Anthology
Not to be confused with The Otherworld Series, this is a fanfic anthology written by Gareth Barsby, mostly dealing with Darker and Edgier versions of cartoons. This Otherworld is a realm of the mind, where everything anyone imagined or thought of is real, and is ruled by an evil faceless version of the Mad Hatter. It is also an afterlife for the insane but the living can go there, to their specific 'house' to create their own world to escape from reality, usually driving them insane in the progress.
Noteable stories in the collection include:
- Foster's House - A creepier version of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, transforming the characters of the show into evil monsters, which Mac has to fight to reclaim Bloo. There was also a sequel, An Imaginary War. revolving around the friends fighting the Hatter.
- Brandy - Based on Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, this involves Brandy, now a depressed teenage human, entering Whiskers' world and dealing with the madness that follows.
- The Adventures of Claudia - A selection of short stories, about Claudia from The Caribou Kitchen, as well as characters from shows like Avenger Penguins, The Dreamstone and Dora the Explorer.
- The Little Shark - A modern day retelling of The Little Mermaid, only with a shark named Derek, who hates being a shark due to being unloved and his dark side (who ends up being named Dark Side). He then ends up becoming human thanks to a Mad Scientist sea witch called Gwen.
- American McGee's Alyss series - A crossover between American McGee's Alice and The Looking Glass Wars novels, with the Jabberwock from the former franchise as the main character, the worlds meeting through, of all things, a Parody of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- Gruff - A short tale about the Three Billy Goats Gruff meeting a tribe of goats who worship Shub-Niggurath facing the Queen of Trolls and her malevolent magic.
You can read these stories and find out more about the world here.
This also led to Courage in Otherworld, a project being co-authored by Chris Gammon and CrazyCtCDFan, including their characters as well as putting Courage the Cowardly Dog through the world. Find out more at this website. [dead link]
Tropes used in The Otherworld Anthology include:
- Affably Evil - The Hatter
- Alternate Universe Fic - Foster's House and Brandy are both alternate takes on their source material, and American McGee's Alyss follows a different continuity to the official Looking Glass Wars.
- All Trolls Are Different - In Gruff, the trolls are reptilian, one-eyed creatures, whose weakness against sunlight can be reversed.
- And Then John Was a Zombie - Brandy
- Anti-Villain - Troll Queen, Whiskers and the Jabberwock
- Ascended Extra - Lorenzo the jaguar, a one-time character on Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, is a major character in Brandy.
- Attention Deficit Creator Disorder - Gareth ha done little Otherworld activity recently, due to other projects like Daryl and Susie and The Werewolf Asylum.
- Ax Crazy - Wilt is this after becoming evil
- The Bad Guy Wins - When the Hatter gains a new follower..
- Battle in the Center of the Mind
- The Blank - The Hatter and Bloo are almost this
- Bloodier and Gorier
- Cats Are Mean - Hatter's Cheshire Cat army
- Yet Another Christmas Carol - Happens to Brandy in a short story, and the ghosts from it end up becoming villains in Courage.
- Complete Monster - Dark Side, and Dark Sonic in Courage.
- Composite Character - Frankie and Duchess in Foster's House
- The Corrupter - The Hatter, the Shadow and Dark Side
- Corrupt the Cutie - Dark Side tries to do this with Derek and it seems to have happened to Claudia. Courage in Otherworld revolves around this happening to Courage.
- Crap Saccharine World - Whiskers' world may look like a jungle paradise, but...
- Dark Fic
- Dark World
- Deadpan Snarker - Claudia. In Courage in Otherworld, Dark Sonic and Alistair take this role as well.
- Deliberately Monochrome - The main hub of Otherworld
- Don't Go in The Woods - The Hatter lurks in a dark forest.
- Draco in Leather Pants - The Jabberwock from American McGee's Alice is made into a hero. Swiper/Jeffrey may count too.
- Dream Land
- Easily-Conquered World
- Eldritch Abomination - The Boyg in Gruff, Zordrak in Claudia
- Everythings Better With Bunnies - Whiskers and the March Hare
- Everything's Better with Penguins - Who's the bartender of Claudia's favorite pub? Would you believe Marlon the penguin?
- Everything's Even Worse with Sharks - Subverted with Derek, played straight with Dark Side.
- Evil Feels Good
- Eye Scream - Most of the Foster's House versions of the Foster's cast have something bad happen to their eyes - Coco even has a nail through one of them.
- Fish People - Gwen in the Little Shark
- Fluffy the Terrible - Whiskers
- Follow the Leader - The twisted nature of the stories, Foster's House in particular, were inspired by things like American McGee's Alice and the Twisted Land of Oz figures. Both have been referenced in the stories as a result.
- Fractured Fairy Tale
- Funny Animal
- God Save Us From the Queen - Troll Queen in Gruff, and the Red Queens in American Mc Gee's Alyss
- Gollum Made Me Do It - Derek and Dark Side
- Grimmification
- Hannibal Lecture - Dark Side does one to Derek, Zordrak does one to Claudia. Dark Sonic gets a few in Courage in Otherworld.
- Happy Place - People's personal houses
- Haunted House - Foster's House, and Dark Side's domain in Courage.
- Insane Equals Violent
- Ironic Nursery Tune - 'Who Killed Cock Robin' being used in An Imaginary War.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My! - Claudia's world is this.
- Literal Split Personality - Derek and Dark Side, Courage and Alistair
- Lizard Folk - The trolls in Gruff
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover
- Mind Screw
- Murder Is the Best Solution
- Names to Run Away From Really Fast - Dark Side, Dark Sonic, The Shadow
- Obligatory Swearing
- Perky Female Minion - The Duchess, who works for the Hatter, not to be confused with the one in Foster's House.
- Pinocchio Syndrome - Derek and the Jabberwock
- Psychopathic Manchild - Whiskers
- Real Trailer, Fake Movie - Gareth has created some trailers for some of the stories.
- Reference Overdosed - Oh yes.
- Refuge in Vulgarity - Brandy, and The Adventures of Claudia.
- Rogues Gallery - Dark Side, the Hatter, Dark Sonic, the Queen of Trolls, the Shadow etc.
- Shared Universe
- Sugar Apocalypse - When the American Mc Gee Mad Hatter attacks the Disney Wonderland.
- Super-Powered Evil Side - Dark Side
- Surreal Horror
- Toon Town - Every cartoon character is alive in Otherworld.
- Viewers Are Geniuses - Some very obscure franchises are included in the series.
- Villain Based Franchise -Before Courage, the Hatter was the closest thing the anthology had to a recurring main character.
- Villain with Good Publicity - While the Hatter has his detractors, he still has gained quite the army.
- Wicked Cultured - The Hatter is so this.
- The Wonderland
- The Woobie - Wilt