Alternate Universes · 9:55am Aug 26th, 2014
Okay... So this tag has quite the debate over it. The reason for this blog is because...
Well, you may or may not have come across She Said No. Now first off, I am in no way going to attack the author or anything. In fact, I haven't even read the story. I'm not on either side of the comments here. But Christ... what the hell happened? Comment wars aren't exactly a rare thing anyway, but still. Some of it is based at the use of the AU tag.
This is where I interject. But then I ask, "What exactly defines an Alternate Universe?"
Like with Adventure, I'm going to take the FIMFiction definition:
Alternate Universe: Stories wherein the ponies are in an Alternate Universe as defined as not based in the Canon universe of the series: Alternative worlds, parallel universes and such. (Not Crossovers, unless it's a crossover with an already-alternate universe)
An Alternate Universe story has deviated from the basic setting of MLP: FIM in some way or another: much more heavily steam-punk; Nightmare Moon/Discord/Sombra/Chrysalis won scenarios and so forth.
From this, it sounds simple. Take an episode, shift a event so that it does/does not happen. For example, take Putting Your Hoof Down. Fluttershy doesn't see what a monster she's become, and she continues to lash out everywhere. That's an AU, right?
Yes. Yes, it is. But is that all a AU tag can do? Well, you've got canonical universes; Equestria Girls, Power Ponies, Mirrorverse. Those are classed as AU. But is this the limit?
This is where it gets iffy. An Alternative Universe is a shift of already established canon, or fanon. The terms Parallel and Multiverse are much more open. However, they're still what they are. For instance, if the multiverse theory is correct and all, there are worlds out there where... say... Twilight's a stuck-up slut, Rainbow Dash is smarter than Einstein, Rarity's a hermaphrodite etc etc.
But that's silly, isn't it? Maybe so, but it's still technically correct. For every world that Fluttershy is shy, there's one where she's Butterscotch. That's the way it works. So what's my issue here?
In-character.
Let me explain briefly: Twilight is an established character. We know her traits, her perks, her behaviour and her mannerisms. We know how she acts as a character, and we can put that into words. But then, you could put her in an AU where she never grew up the way she did. She grew up as a bully, and thus, is a out-there bitch. That's still Alternative; you're taking an early event from her childhood and going down a different path. It still counts as an AU.
However, if you chose to go this route for whatever reason you have for making Twilight a bitch, you're going to be faced with downvotes, and even more, readers stating that the Twilight you've put is OUT OF CHARACTER.
How? It's an Alternative Universe, where in this specific one, Twilight's had a different childhood, and she's grown up completely different. Because of the events at the beginning, her personality has changed. But oh no, you've taken away the adorkable nerd from her. Blashphemy! She's now deemed out of character, because we can't have a shift like that.
And yet, it's plausible. If you did this AU, Bitch Twilight is justifiable. In that universe, Twilight being a bitch is considered canon to that one specifically. She's in-character in that universe. But, because she isn't in-character in the main universe, the story would get bombed with claims stating she's out of character.
I don't even know where to start with this. She is in-character, for that specific AU. Things have happened differently, and Twilight has been affected as a result. She's got a different personality which fits the Universe it's set in.
But the fic I linked does something different. It's an AU, yes, but the shift from the main universe is tiny. In fact, it's just a 'What if?' scenario; only one thing has changed from the main universe. In this case, Twilight says no to Celestia. Which—fair enough—is a neat idea. However, because the different from the main Universe is so miniscule, it comes of as out of character. Why would Twilight ever say no in the main Universe? That's damn tricky. But that's not the only fault. I've seen many comments that say that it's pretty much the author ranting at Celestia, using Twilight as the messager. In that instance, it's the writing that fails her character. But even if the writing was beefed up, it's damn tough to take the normal Twilight and get her to say no. So yes, the fic kind of fails on its execution.
But the problem is, the author is defending his/her choices by saying it's been a built-up AU of events. What? From what I've gathered, there are no build-up of AU events that take place; Twilight simply says no. Yeah, it's fine if in this Universe, Twilight is more skeptical and all, but that hasn't been established. It goes straight into it. We don't see that doubtful Twilight, and it comes off OOC as a result. Establishing that sort of thing in a one-shot would be tough anyway though.
But for all we know, this AU is sort of like Bitch Twilight, but she questions everything instead, or she turns down things many times. It's possible. But because there's no build-up, many comments consist of stating that Twilight is OOC. But in that Universe, perhaps she is considered in-character. In the main Universe, she isn't. See what I'm getting at? You can write an AU that depicts different characters entirely, ranging back to their childhoods and a different upbringing, but it's still considered out of character, even though they are in-character for that specific Universe. It's not the main Universe, and in a case of years and years, the ponies will change. I hate to hammer down this point, but it's pretty dang important.
But again, the author kind of failed to show this. That's why it's been bombshelled.
But still, my point remains. Characters can outright be different because of an event that happened. One story I like to promote a lot, and I'm doing it again, is The Rock Farmer's Daughters. In this (if you haven't read it), the thing that changes dates all the way back to Pinkie's childhood. She wasn't outside when the Sonic Rainboom happened, and thus, didn't realise the smiles. No first party, no three balloons. She's Pinkamena; grumpy, straight-maned mare that works on the farm with three rocks as a cutie mark. In basic terms, her personality has been changed because of one event. She's grown up differently, so she has a different character of sorts. It's not entirely different—you can still see Pinkie in there—but she's not throwing parties or bouncing all over the place.
And yet, it's the perfect capture of her in-character. She may not be a super duper party pony every day, but she acts just as you'd expect her to. It's Pinkamena, with those traces of Pinkie, and it works. In this Universe, she's in-character. If you planted her in the main Universe, she wouldn't be in terms of Pinkie Pie. Mostly, anyway.
That's how you can pull off an AU. An event happens, things change. If you go the longer route, characters can change too; take it from years of differences, the event affects them directly etc. If you put in a AU where a death occured, ponies are going to be affect by it. Perhaps Applejack becomes depressed. In the main Universe, that wouldn't seem in her nature. But because of this mysterious death, she suffers from depression. She's changed because of a ripple in the timelime.
But there are also those AU where you're thrown a heapload of stuff and have to accept it. For example—self-plugging—The Elements of Laughter. In this 'verse, it takes place in the pilot episode. Twilight is the same Twilight, though she has a few little differences. But all of the other five are not their normal selves. They all have Pinkie Pie's manestyle and cutie mark, as well as her bubbly personality meshed in with their own. To put it bluntly, they're hybrids of themselves and Pinkie combined. Applejack is Applejack as well as Pinkie.
So here's my question: Are they considered out of character?
In the main Universe, yes. In this Universe, no. And that's what you have to accept when you read it. It you walk into it with the mind-set expecting the regular characters, you might end up disappointed. In short, the fic isn't for everyone, but the AU really needs to be hammered in here.
But there's a difference between this and The Rock Farmer's Daughters. Mine is a one-shot, not really having much expansion; the Universe is just there, and Twilight is living in that one, though that one is her normal. The Rock Farmer's Daughters takes a major event in the series (the timing of the Sonic Rainboom) and changes Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich around it. They've had different childhoods mostly. But this is a ongoing series. It's had a lot of build-up. We've got the establishment of the characters. In mine, you're handed the Universe on a plate, and you just have to eat it.
And yet, in both cases, in their respective Universes, both fics are considered in-character. So if it's not a huge build-up of the alteration of events, then what exactly defines if a character is truly in-character?
See, this is why AU is tougher than it looks. If you're going to re-imagine an entire setting and Universe, you've got to think about the repercussions of what you've done. It takes more than just putting the characters in this AU; you've got to nail them, according to what happened. If it's a major event, then big changes are going to happen. If it's a 'What if?' scanerio from the show, not so much, though it's still important. Or if you're going to do a silly one-shot like mine, you've got to analyse what's going on, and how they act.
I haven't event brought up the canon AUs. But still, the same applies to them. If one of the Power Ponies died in that Universe, how would that affect the rest of them?
In the end, you can't really define a single thing. AU is so diverse and broad that many things can happen. It can be minor, or it could mean a post-war setting. It's ultimately down to the writer and what they do with the Universe. There's not really any big one sentence of advice you could give someone if they wanted to write an AU. You'd need details of what they'd be planning; it's too big to talk about.
You know, I'm not really sure as to why I made this blog. Guess I'm still on a tag-high after the Adventure one. Guess I just wanted to get my views across. Actually, after thinking about it, I might do one of these for every tag. Sort of spread out my views and that on each one, you know? Maybe then you'd know how to drag me in to read your story. I don't know; possibly.
So the tag for next time... Anthro. Blargh!
Nice and informative blog. A lot of people ignore or use the AU tag when they really shouldn't.
I was once told all of my shipping stories should have the AU tag since there is no romance on the show.
The only problem with that is, I never rewrote the show or changed it's fiction. I simply built upon what was there. In that way, it's still the same universe, but what's happened in it is different.
2402642
Yeah, AU is actually rather tricky. Well actually, all tags can be difficult to decipher. Slice of Life can be implemented in about 90% of stories most of the time, Adventure takes it a step further, and of course, when is it an AU?
You bring up an interesting point. Since there's no canonical romance for most of the ships, are they are AU? Given that pretty much most of the stories don't revolve around at the same time of the show, you can assume not. If you've been reading A New Kind Of Party, you'll have likely seen that it takes place during Season 2, as in the Romance follows the pair through the episodes themselves. It's different of course, but at that point, is it really an AU? It's happening in the canon events of the show, and a lesbian Romance occurs in the middle of it. Technically, yes, it's an AU. But in those cases, we don't really need to see that. The characters are written the same as they would be; it's just what's happening differently. At that point, you can probably just ditch the idea of an AU; it's not exactly required; we're more interested in the Romance.
Still, it's a point, and taking it in whatever way is really a personal choice.