I've seen these things crop up all over the place, from Nanoha fanfics to what's left of the Ranma fandom and everywhere in between. None of them really explain what the deal is with the trend as a whole, just that it seems to be about a bunch of characters playing the Peggy Sue game and fucking around with time. It feels sort of like coming into an Addventure at the halfway mark and not knowing where to dig to find the origin post. Can someone fill me in on what the deal is with this brand of fanfic?
Time Loops
- Thread starter Comartemis
- Start date
It started with the <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=10590' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Naruto loops</a> in which a looping Naruto, then a looping Team 7, then other random Naruto characters just basically dicked around and had fun, with the first bevy of posts being Naruto and co doing the team introduction in different ways.
After that, somewhere along the line, somebody got the idea to start doing crossovers between series, and then further along the line somebody decided to actually come up with a reason for connecting all these series by using the Oh My Goddess series as a link, where all of reality is basically controlled by a massive computer that's operating on the 10th Dimension (or above, I can't really remember) that had a bug in it that is causing the main characters of different series to loop within their series, loop within other series occasionally, and so on.
After that, somewhere along the line, somebody got the idea to start doing crossovers between series, and then further along the line somebody decided to actually come up with a reason for connecting all these series by using the Oh My Goddess series as a link, where all of reality is basically controlled by a massive computer that's operating on the 10th Dimension (or above, I can't really remember) that had a bug in it that is causing the main characters of different series to loop within their series, loop within other series occasionally, and so on.
There were rules and a system of running set up as basic plot standards, otherwise the authors were free to do what they wanted.
Innortal's initial rules and setup post:
Note1: Under Innortals setup, generally, A single universe can only have one anchor, or if it has multiple anchors, they always will loop together. Anchors include Ranma, Negi, Shinji, Keitaro, Naruto, and Gina Diggers, among many others. A example of a double anchor is Nanoha and Fate.
Note2: Anchors can jump universes, to create crossovers, and create some diversity so they do not go completely insane from the boredom.
Note3: Awakened or a looper that is *not* a anchor is someone whom deja vu has affected enough that they are aware of the loops and remember from one to the next that they are going on... they can even jump universes. They may not be awake in all jumps, but in any they are, the achor from their universe is also supposed to be present somewhere, even if not visible. Nabiki Tendo in the Ranma thread is one such that is a more common one. And genrally one of the smarter and more stable ones, if you read the thread, that statement is a bit frieghtening.
Note4: Achors *cannot* under normal circumstances have kids, there are specific exceptions to this, but this is almost 100% true.
Note5: Attempts to fix it are almost universally bungled and make matters worse.
Note6: While technically mortal, their memories are all but unlimited and magically enhanced by the gods and goddesses. Kind of as repayment for their being forced into this position.
Note7: different canon continuities or universes of same series can have separate anchors. Example, Sailor Moon has a manga and a anime version, each acts completely different and are treated different by those they interact with. This is not so much a Innortal rule as a internal convention that came about due to differing authors using one or the other.
I track only the NGE, the LH, and the Ranma loop threads, some good stuff has come out of them, though most are just wacky one shots...
For example:
1. a really neat several part loop in the NGE thread by innortal had Shinji jump in earlier than normal, and used his knowledge to set things up to make it difficult fro Gendo to get ahold of him, and started rival projects to do the same as Evangelions.
2. in the Ranma thread, 2 separate and different large multipart continuing sages by nanya and ringlhach dealt with different Ranma and Nanoha crossovers.
3. Also in the Ranma thread, a good but uncontinued cross had several anchors dealing with the Battlestar Galactica Universe.
These threads, at least the ones I bother with, have not been very active in last few months... but some are quite large... the Ranma one for example has some 685 loop snippets.
Innortal's initial rules and setup post:
Note1: Under Innortals setup, generally, A single universe can only have one anchor, or if it has multiple anchors, they always will loop together. Anchors include Ranma, Negi, Shinji, Keitaro, Naruto, and Gina Diggers, among many others. A example of a double anchor is Nanoha and Fate.
Note2: Anchors can jump universes, to create crossovers, and create some diversity so they do not go completely insane from the boredom.
Note3: Awakened or a looper that is *not* a anchor is someone whom deja vu has affected enough that they are aware of the loops and remember from one to the next that they are going on... they can even jump universes. They may not be awake in all jumps, but in any they are, the achor from their universe is also supposed to be present somewhere, even if not visible. Nabiki Tendo in the Ranma thread is one such that is a more common one. And genrally one of the smarter and more stable ones, if you read the thread, that statement is a bit frieghtening.
Note4: Achors *cannot* under normal circumstances have kids, there are specific exceptions to this, but this is almost 100% true.
Note5: Attempts to fix it are almost universally bungled and make matters worse.
Note6: While technically mortal, their memories are all but unlimited and magically enhanced by the gods and goddesses. Kind of as repayment for their being forced into this position.
Note7: different canon continuities or universes of same series can have separate anchors. Example, Sailor Moon has a manga and a anime version, each acts completely different and are treated different by those they interact with. This is not so much a Innortal rule as a internal convention that came about due to differing authors using one or the other.
I track only the NGE, the LH, and the Ranma loop threads, some good stuff has come out of them, though most are just wacky one shots...
For example:
1. a really neat several part loop in the NGE thread by innortal had Shinji jump in earlier than normal, and used his knowledge to set things up to make it difficult fro Gendo to get ahold of him, and started rival projects to do the same as Evangelions.
2. in the Ranma thread, 2 separate and different large multipart continuing sages by nanya and ringlhach dealt with different Ranma and Nanoha crossovers.
3. Also in the Ranma thread, a good but uncontinued cross had several anchors dealing with the Battlestar Galactica Universe.
These threads, at least the ones I bother with, have not been very active in last few months... but some are quite large... the Ranma one for example has some 685 loop snippets.
Meh, Umineko already showed why Time Loops are a bad thing. No matter how the protagonists start, they all end up as amoral, overpowered psychopaths/trolls with nigh-identical personalities, with only one exception so far.
. . . Though I would like to see a WH40K crossover with the warp daemons getting replaced by loopers. Hey, maybe the four Chaos Gods are just really powerful anchors themselves. Tzeentch is the chessmaster-wannabe, Khorne is the violent psychopath, Nurgle is the troll ("It's a good thing to get cancer, y'know!"), and Slaanesh is the harem-seeker. And the entire thing is shown from Cain's (and by extension, the Guard's) PoV.
And yes, it's still grimdark as fuck. :lol:
. . . Though I would like to see a WH40K crossover with the warp daemons getting replaced by loopers. Hey, maybe the four Chaos Gods are just really powerful anchors themselves. Tzeentch is the chessmaster-wannabe, Khorne is the violent psychopath, Nurgle is the troll ("It's a good thing to get cancer, y'know!"), and Slaanesh is the harem-seeker. And the entire thing is shown from Cain's (and by extension, the Guard's) PoV.
And yes, it's still grimdark as fuck. :lol: