7,862
edits
m (Remove useless categories) |
HLIAA14YOG (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
(29 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope|wppage=Parallel universe (fiction)}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''John Oliver:''' You've stated you believe there could be an infinite number of parallel universes. Does that mean there is a universe out there where I am smarter than you?
'''[[Stephen Hawking]]:''' Yes, and also a universe where you are funny.
|''[[Last Week Tonight]]''}}
A story in which the characters we know are seen in a reality that's somehow different, often disturbingly so. If they can access multiple alternative realities, that's [[The Multiverse]].
Sometimes everyone has an [[Evil Twin]]. Other times, everyone has a twin that's just a little different. Allows the goodies to be baddies for an episode, or for half of the cast to be
Given a long enough run, any series based on [[Superhero]] [[Comic Book Tropes|comic books]] will [[Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome|run into these.]]
If the writers want to depict an
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
Specific variations:
* [[Alternate History]]
* [[Another Dimension]]
* [[Bizarro Universe]]
* [[For Want of a Nail]]
** [[In Spite of a Nail]]
* [[Mirror Universe]]
* [[The Multiverse]]
* [[Elseworld]]
* [[Wonderful Life]]
* [[Alternate Tooniverse]]
Another type of
{{examples}}
== Anime
* During the Third Impact sequence of ''[[
* Every path in the multi-route ''[[Nasuverse|TYPE-MOON]]'' games is a potential outcome of the main scenario, which makes it rather difficult to establish [[Canon|the rules of the 'verse]] due to the plot differences in each route; according to [[Word of God]], [[The Multiverse|all of them are canon]].
* In the fourth ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' novel, ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'', Kyon suddenly finds himself in a world without supernatural powers, with what SOS members remain leading normal, human lives.
** It is, however, quite important to the plot that it actually
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has one of these in Episode 26 with {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Lotus Eater Machine]].}}
** In a different vein, the new ''Parallel Works'' music videos leading up to the movie seem to be using these.
** The series [https://web.archive.org/web/20121102073710/http://www.onemanga.com/Tengen_Toppa_Gurren_Lagann_-_Guren_Gakuenhen/ also has a] [[High School AU]] manga.
** One fan also seems to make an excellent example with an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130730145623/http://captainosaka.deviantart.com/art/DOUBLE-K-001-82688715 AU universe comic] about ''TTGL'' worthy of the series.
* With the exception of the second season (a sequel to the first) and the seventh season (a sequel to the sixth), each of the seven seasons of ''[[
** In the third season, we learn that in their universe, the first two seasons were just a cartoon show, like in the real world. This only occurs in the English dub, though. To be more precise, ''[[
** Notably, Ryo only solidly connects the Adventure and Tamers universes. However since recently, Tai, Davis, Takato, Takuya, and Marcus all made a cameo in the third arc of the sixth series, and were described as ''heroes that saved their own worlds", it is confirmed (despite the existence of some continuity errors) that each anime series has it's own continuity.
* In the [[Kyoto Animation]] adaptation of [[Key Visual Arts|Key's]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Clannad (
** In July 2009, [[Kyo Ani]] will be releasing the final DVD of ''Clannad:
* A major plot twist in ''[[Rave Master]]'' involved this trope: {{spoiler|''the entire series'' exists within an
* As it was written by the same mangaka as ''[[Rave Master]]'', ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' had to have one of these as well, in the form of [[Bizarro Universe|Edolas]]. It makes for an interesting plot twist, and despite its relative lack of plot significance, it doesn't feel tacked on at all. Although it does explain a good few things, like Happy and Carla's origin, and why {{spoiler|Jellal and Mystogan look identical to one another}}.
* ''Steel Ball Run'' is an
* The ''[[Kirby]]'' [[Kirby:
* [[Tsubasa Chronicles]] has many different worlds, and the four protagonists actually come from different worlds.
* The [[Hetalia
** And that's not counting the [[High School AU]] or the [[Gender Bending|Nyotalia-verse]] {{spoiler|which Estonia stumbles upon}}.
* Episode 22 of ''[[Aria (manga)|Aria The Natural]]'' has Aria end up in an alternate universe where every''thing'' is the same but [[Rule 63|every''one'' is the opposite gender to his home universe]]. At the end, Aria is back home and thinking it was [[All Just a Dream]] - until he sees [[Or Was It a Dream?|his own reflection as a female]].
== Comic Books ==
* [[The DCU]] has had many different Earths before the ''[[Crisis
** By far the most important AU in the DC Multiverse was Earth-Two, home of the [[Justice Society of America]], who would cross over with the [[Justice League of America|Justice League]] on Earth-One once a year.
* After ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', the Multiverse was restored, with 52 separate realities, most of them containing the [[Elseworld]] stories. So we got to see Superman fight [[Red Son|Communist Superman]] at last.
Line 68 ⟶ 69:
** And {{spoiler|Yoda kamikaziing the Death Star into the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.}}
* Even [[Archie Comics]] do this sort of thing, a recent, notable example being the new ''Life With Archie'' series. The storyline where Archie marries Betty is treated as a different universe from where Archie marries Veronica. The former also happens to feature a character traveling between universes!
* Let's not forget how its done in their ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
* [[Man-Thing]]'s swamp is home to a [[Hell Gate|plot-friendly conflux]] of universes, including [[Howard the Duck (
* ''[[Zot]]'' It is left ambiguous which Earth is the real Earth, but it is hinted that Zot's world is merely our Earth with all the bad parts taken out. It becomes more evident when it is revealed that the year is always 1965.
* ''[[Sinister Dexter]]'' introduced an alternate universe, which fans dubbed the [[Fan Nickname|Doppelverse]], around the time it [[Cerebus Syndrome|got serious]]. The [[Point of Divergence]] is that in the Doppelverse, the title characters were killed while still a pair of punk kids, with the result that most of their enemies are still alive and can [[Back
== Fan Works ==
* The ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]'' is set in an alternate universe where the countries have more power and are able to bend the rules more than in canon. Romano proves this by overseeing a [[polyamory|polyamorous]] marriage between Germany, Italy, and Japan.
* Due to the
* Two of these exist in ''[[
* This trope is likely to be used by '''any''' [[Intercontinuity Crossover]] fanfic in which the melded continuities would otherwise contradict one another.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[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 ''[[
* The ''[[
* ''[[Streets of Rage Saga]]'', a 10-story saga based on the ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' game series (both the canon trilogy and several fan-made games and remakes based on said trilogy), takes place in a setting based on but highly different from the canon. Just a few brief examples, with the canon information in parentheses: Axel [[Parental Abandonment|lost his father in a fire]] that was set by the man who would later become [[The Dragon]] for the first story's [[Big Bad]] (in canon, no mention is made of Axel's family members); Blaze comes from a [[Doomed Hometown]] that was razed by [[The Syndicate]] (in canon, the only back-story on her is that she was a rookie cop who quit alongside Axel and Adam because of the force's corruption); and Mr. X is a U.S. senator with the full name of George Xetheus (in canon, his real name wasn't divulged and his role as a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] was only hinted at in canon and expounded on in Bombergames' remake).
* This trope runs rampant in the ''[[Undertale]]'' fandom, to the point where the most common [[Fandom Specific Plot]]s are "lets do an [[Alternate Universe Fic]] where the characters are some [[High Concept]]" and "let's do a [[Crossover Fic|crossover between AUs]]".
* This is often common in [[Real Person Fic]], where various of celebrities from one line of fame are placed in different line.
** For example, ''[[Astral Journey: It's Complicated]]'' has [[Brandy Norwood]], [[Mariah Carey]], [[Celine Dion]], [[Spice Girls| Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell]] as football (soccer) players.
== Film ==
* ''[[The One (
* [[Super Mario Bros. (
== Literature ==
* ''[[
* While ''[[Wicked (
* ''Anti-Ice'' by Stephen Baxter, in which the discovery of an [[Applied Phlebotinum]] with properties similar to anti-matter dramatically accelerates the [[Steampunk|Industrial Age]]. The book begins with the Crimean War ending with the destruction of Sevastopol by a [[Nuke'Em|single anti-ice shell]], and includes a [[Jules Verne]]-like trip to the Moon.
* In [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s ''[[Celydonn]]'' trilogy, the Inner Celydonn plays this role to Celydonn proper, so that, for example, the version of Tir Gwyngelli known in traveller's tales really exists as the home of [[The Fair Folk]].
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[The Number of the Beast]]'' and ''[[The Cat Who Walked Through Walls]]'' are based on this, exploring various fictional universes created not only by Heinlein but also others, especially [[Land of Oz
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Created by Hex the magic AI as an emergency dumping-ground for a thaumic overload, an orange-sized spherical universe is kept on Rincewind's desk at [[Discworld]]'s Unseen University. Most of the UU faculty think this narrativium-deprived alternate reality is a silly waste of time; even so, the Archchancellor occasionally (meaning, whenever a new ''[[The Science of Discworld]]'' book is published) tasks his wizards to offset interlopers' tampering with the pocket universe's history. Silly or not, it ''is'' University property. {{spoiler|"Roundworld" is, of course, our own universe.}}
**
{{quote|
* In ''[[Dragonlance]]'', Raistlin succeeds in becoming a god and killing every other god as well as all life in Krynn. Then Caramon time travels back to prevent him from succeeding.
** The ''
* The ''Myriad Universes'' ''[[
* ''The Man in the High Castle'' by [[Philip K. Dick]] contains an alternate 1960s California controlled by the Japanese after a defeat of the allies during WWII. There is mention of another alternate reality, apparently revealed to an author who writes a book about such an alternate in which the US does not lose WWII. This is slowly revealed not to be "our" alternate, but one dreamed up by the writer, and of no special significance. The book was written using the I-Ching as a guide to the character's actions.
* In ''[[The Edge (
* Robert J. Sawyer's trilogy, "Hominids", "Humans", "Hybrids", is all about an alternate universe where Neanderthals didn't go extinct, but homo sapiens did.
* [[
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'' may well have brought this trope to television for the first time.
* ''[[Andromeda]]'' did several episodes exploring Alternate Universes in various ways: as a [[Near-Death Experience]], and as a result of one character's ability to view potential futures. The most noteworthy was "The Unconquerable Man", which was an entire [[Clip Show]] playing out events from the show's history with a different lead character.
* Birthdayverse in ''[[
** Illyria mentions being able to live seven different lives at once in different universes back in her days, including a universe made entirely of shrimp. She tired of that one quickly.
* The Wishverse in ''[[
** These eventually became a running gag on the show, with Anya often mentioning universes she could potentially send people to: the universe of infinite Wednesdays, the universe without shrimp, the universe of ''nothing but'' shrimp...
** At, first, "Superstar" appears to take place in an alternate reality where Jonathan is the eponymous [[Marty Stu]], but it later turns out that '''he cast a spell that altered reality itself!'''
** There's also the universe as it was Before Dawn and Post-Dawn.
* ''[[
** A mirror universe in ''[[
* "Ace" Rimmer (what a guy!) on ''[[
** 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.
* ''[[
** 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.
* Nate experienced an
* The series ''[[Sliders]]'' used this as its central premise.
* "Mirror, Mirror" in ''[[Star Trek:
** And the mirror universe provided the means for arguably the best episode of ''Enterprise''. Hooray for [[Not-So-Harmless Villain|mirror Hoshi]]!!
* ''[[Star Trek
** The [[Mirror Universe]] was touched upon in the ''Next Generation'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''Dark Mirror''.
* "Parallels" in ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]], [[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' use a mostly standard [[Mirror Universe]]: Good characters become Evil, shaven characters become bearded etc. But regular Iolaus is a good, shaven, competent warrior and regular Joxer is good, shaven and incompetent; in the Mirror-verse, they are both good and shaven, but Iolaus is incompetent and Joxer is competent.
** 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
* 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 ''[[
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has had many different alternate universes. Oftentimes, the "alternate" Sam Carter is not in the military and is engaged/married to the "alternate" Jack O'Neill. Alternately Daniel Jackson was never part of the Stargate Program. More often or not, when this is used, Earth is under imminent Goa'uld attack.
** ''Atlantis'' also does this, though the details vary, and the universes aren't ''usually'' quite the [[Crapsack World]] versions that ''SG-1'' is fond of.
Line 142 ⟶ 144:
*** And another is shown in the penultimate episode ''Vegas''. There, Sheppard is a homicide detective with massive gambling debts. He couldn't be included in the team because the stunt he pulled off in Afghanistan got him dishonorably discharged instead of getting [[Reassigned to Antarctica]] in time for the pilot. Rodney is more likeable (though one scene suggests that he's simply better at keeping a lid on his ego) and the Wraith already made an attempt at culling Earth just to be repelled by the control chair in Area 51. Oh, and Todd got so delirious from starvation he's speaking in rhymes.
*** The Rodney from ''Vegas'' also mentioned that he once traveled to yet another universe and met an alternate Sheppard who was similar to the main Sheppard.
* ''[[
* A slightly different take on this was done in "Author Author" in ''[[Star Trek
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
** "Inferno" an alternate totalitarian Britain (branching off with the 'defence of the republic act, 1943'), which is in a still greater rush to get free power from tapping the magma of the Earth. It is destroyed, with the Doctor able to just avert the similar events happening a few hours later in his 'home' alternate. Not bad at all.
** "Rise of the Cybermen"/"Age of Steel" has the TARDIS fall through a crack in time and land in a universe where the Cybermen were being created on Earth. Mickey explicitly references how common the trope is in [[Comic Book Tropes|comics]]. This universe crossed over again in "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" and its effects continued to be felt in ''[[
** In "Turn Left", Donna Noble has an entire alternate universe built around her, where she never met the Doctor, and he consequently dies after the events of "The Runaway Bride." Suffice it to say, [[It Got Worse]]. Much, much worse. In fact, the universe without the Doctor is pretty much a terrible place to be.
* Sci-fi series ''[[Lexx]]'' made this its staple. The first season of the show involved the characters jumping through an inter-universe rift twice, and in the second season once at the beginning, before the entire Light Zone was wiped out in the second [[Season Finale]], forcing the Lexx (and a large amount of particle matter from the zone) to get forced back out into the other universe.
* Homaged in ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', "Last of the Wild Horses", where Dr. Forester and TV's Frank get to quip at the movie, and evil Mike and Bots watch on from Deep 13.
* An
** Another
** Most recently in the episode "It's a Terrible Life" where Dean is a Marketing Director for a firm and Sam is a techie in the same building with no memory of their hunter life beforehand apart from a few dreams. It's revealed that this was all [[Secret Test of Character|a test from an angel]] to discover whether Dean would still revert back to his hunter ways being told it's in his blood and he will always find a way to be a hunter. This is also a play on the [[Wonderful Life]] trope.
** Yet ''another'' AU episode took place in the sixth season, where the brothers are sent to a universe <ref>
** And then there's "My Heart Will Go On", in which the Titanic never sank, somehow causing the Winchesters to own a Mustang, Bobby to be married, and Celine Dion to be a lounge singer in Quebec.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' uses Alternate Universes for its main premise. The main cast travels through various alternate universes which are modified versions of the previous Kamen Rider shows.
Line 160 ⟶ 162:
* The Alternate Universe on ''[[Fringe]]'' is a world where pockets of time and space become unstable due to {{spoiler|Walter's kidnapping of Peter by crossing to the other side}}.
** In the AU, there are many details that differ from the characters' home universe, such as Martin Luther King Jr. being on the American $20 bill and the World Trade Centers still standing and {{spoiler|the not-even-barely functional mad scientist fresh out of the asylum is the goddamn Secretary of Defense?}}
*** 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
* ''[[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 ''[[
== Multiple Media ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'' has the Olmak, also called the Mask of Dimensional Gates. [[Exactly What It Says
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[TORG]]'' features several different dimensions/realities, each corresponding to a different genre (such as Aysle, a traditional world of [[Medieval European Fantasy]]; the Cyberpapacy, a [[Cyberpunk]] world run by a [[Corrupt Church]]; the [[Space Opera]]-influenced dimension of the Space Gods; Orrorsh, a Lovecraftian [[Cosmic Horror Story]] in a ''Heart of Darkness'' style British colonial jungle setting; the Nile Empire, a world of Pulp Action Adventure; the Living Land, with sentient dinosaurs; and others), all cooperating to invade Earth.
** Part of what made ''TORG'' such an interesting game is that it was based on distinctly different rules for how reality worked, depending on the context of the home dimension. The Nile Empire, for example, had no room for moral ambiguities: every character was either Good or Evil, though they could change from one to the other under the right circumstances. Characters could engage in literal 'reality duels' with opponents from different dimensions, and the [[Big Bad|High Lords]] could do the same with entire areas of real estate.
* The ''[[GURPS]] [[Infinite Worlds]]'' setting involves the [[Player Characters|PCs]] as agents travelling through alternate universes. Officially ''all'' GURPS settings are universes within the ''Infinite Worlds''. This includes assorted [[Alternate History|Alternate Histories]] (''GURPS [[Magitek|Technomancer]]'', ''GURPS [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|Reign of Steel]]''), several universes where [[All Myths Are True]] (''GURPS [[King Arthur|Camelot]]'', ''GURPS [[Atlantis]]''), multiple worlds with superheros (''GURPS Supers'', ''GURPS International Super Teams''), and even universes inexplicably modeled on the popular fiction of the baseline universe (''GURPS [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]]'', ''GURPS [[Discworld]]'')!
** The enemy timeline in ''Infinite Worlds'' is Centrum, a scientific state that wants what is best for all, and for this to continue (discovering [[The House of Plantagenet|where this one branched off]] is a surprise)... others in the ''Alternate Worlds'' books have included Gernsback (named for the Golden Age SF editor), where Nikola Tesla's inventions shaped the development of science; Excalli, where the dominant empire is an Aztec-derived one; Roma Aeterna, where the Empire of Rome simply carried on, with the adoption of science; an alternate where China continued to trade overseas; and several versions of the usual "Nazis triumphant" parallel. Oh, and the United States of Lizardia, where dinosaurs evolved into sentient beings but somehow ended up recapitulating human history along the way.
* The two ''[[Dungeons
** Greyhawk exists in a Multiverse (along with [[Dragonlance]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]]), but it's not made up of alternate universes. Rather, it's the term used for the system of heavens and hells, elemental planes, the Astral Plane, and so on; the different campaign settings are planets in the same universe.
*** The entry for 1357 DR in ''The Grand History of the Realms'' notes that in that year, on an alternate Material Plane world known as Earth, Ed of the Greenwood gathered together various books and maps given to him by Elminster of Shadowdale, and made the first publication of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
** Mystara somehow exists in a different multiversal set-up from the other campaign settings. In addition to Earth, it also crossed over with another universe with futuristic technology; a starship from that universe crashed on Mystara and its radioactive engine became a major source of arcane power.
** The point here is that, unlike most other official ''[[Dungeons
** Gothic Earth, a spinoff of the [[Ravenloft]] product line, is an
** Urban Arcana's worlds on the other side of Shadow could be this, but the nature of Shadow makes travel between universes... tricky. As in, 'you can't go back'. One of the adventures includes a character from the other side that have figured out how you ''can'' travel between the Earth of UA and his world. This character, and his organization, also appeared in ''Planescape''...
* Wizards of the Coast long ago published a set of generic supplements for handling deities in roleplaying games, called ''The Primal Order''. One of the books in this series, ''Chessboards'', covered in exquisite detail how to design and manage an entire multiverse complete with cosmology.
* This trope is a common excuse for game masters to use, when importing player characters from one tabletop role-playing campaign to another.
== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games are set in an Alternate universes for each of the series portrayed in it(the alternate, of course, being that they're all happening at the same time in the same place). Each game or series is, additionally, an alternate universe from each other. Then there is the Original Generation universe, which contains all the original characters and mecha from the other games and then some, which also has its own [[Mirror Universe]], the Shadow-Mirror universe, which is itself the Original Generation version of the Shadow-Mirror universe from ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance]]''. Confused yet? We haven't even gotten to the [[Endless Frontier]]!
** In ''[[
* Nearly every character from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' is an alternate version of his/her Disney or Final Fantasy counterpart (otherwise the game would run into some ''serious'' continuity problems). This is implicitly stated in the ''[[Tron]]'' world.
* The two ''Sonic Rush'' games feature a parallel universe. The first game takes place in Sonic's universe, which is slowly merging with Blaze's. The second game takes place in Blaze's universe... which is apparently a giant ocean.
* ''Kirby and the Amazing Mirror'' takes place in another literal mirror universe (akin to the ''Charmed'' and ''Red Dwarf'' ones above), parallel to Dreamland and containing mirror versions of Meta Knight and Kirby.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* The ''Mega Man'' series has two universes: the main one (''[[Mega Man (
** 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.
* ''[[
** 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.
** It also seems to cross over into ''[[The Multiverse]]'' with certain people as they can go to other dimensions, and even meet themselves if they aren't careful.
* The ''[[Resistance]]'' games take place in a setting where after [[World War I]] Germany's economy wasn't totally devastated, therefore [[Adolf Hitler]] never rises to power and there was no [[World War II]]. Instead, creatures known as Chimera take over the entirety of Europe and by the sequel have wiped out the US.
* Based on what has thus far been fan-translated of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* The DLC for ''[[Dragon Age]]'' entitled ''The Darkspawn Chronicles'' pitches the idea of a world where [[The Hero]] died near the beginning of the game, thus leaving [[The Woobie|Alistair]] to save the day. {{spoiler|It does not end well.}}
* In the second installment of the "Timeline" mod trilogy for ''[[Half-Life (
* The original ''Crazy Taxi'' has "Another Day" mode. Where in the normal mode most customers want to travel in a certain direction which leads to the cabbie going in a counter-clockwise direction around the circuit, in "Another Day", the customers usually want to travel to a destination in the opposite direction, causing the cabbie to go in a clockwise direction around the circuit.
* The main plot behind [[
* The areas Yaschas Massif and Academia in [[
* The [[Excuse Plot|plot]] of the [[
* The ''Dawn of Victory'' mod for ''[[Sins of a Solar Empire]]'' has its premise based on an [[Alternate History]] where the course of [[World War Two]] is changed by the arrival of a powerful alien race known as the Scinfaxi (inspired by [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Worldwar
== Web Animation ==
* The 150th [[Homestar Runner
* The world of
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[Supernormal Step]]'' takes place on an AU Earth with magic and fantasy creatures. It is one of [[Multiverse|many dimensions]], and two of the main characters are actually from our normal, boring one.
* [[Minions At Work]]: Invoked [http://www.minionsatwork.com/2009/01/bonus-minions-147-alternator-problem.html here].
* ''[[Bob and George]]'' has an infinite number of them, and Bob visits quite a few. The title characters themselves are from a different universe than the one where most of the action takes place.
* ''[[
* In ''[[What Birds Know]]'', a mysterious tower acts as a gateway between the normal world and a bizarre version where people lay eggs, among other oddities.
* ''[[
* ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'', According to the commentary, the chapter "[http://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c59/p1.html Another Path]" was originally intended to be set in an alternate universe where {{spoiler|Paulo had sex with Lucy during her [[Heroic BSOD|Mental Breakdown]] in "Another Shoulder"}}. The final version has it as a daydream of Paulo's.
* [http://www.goblinscomic.com/02112011-4/The Maze of Many] in [[Goblins]] allows characters from multiple realities to exist in the same place simultaneously.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130719183412/http://www.drunkduck.com/Jix/ Jix] had a story that took place in an alternate reality where Remula had taken over the Earth and it was discovered later that the original Lauren had actually be transported to that universe when she caught up to her counterpart.
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20130719023505/http://www.drunkduck.com/Dragon_City/ Dragon City], Erin's friend Natasha reveals herself to an alternate universe counterpart despite Erin having blue scales and Natasha having brown.
** Actually, as Natasha (the brown Erin) points out, due to genetics, Erin was more likely to be brown than blue and that the blue Erin is a genetic fluke.
** Yes, Erin IS that vain to have made friends with her other world counterpart.
Line 237 ⟶ 235:
** A dimension that has been overrun by mutants, with the only survivors holed up in the Orwellian 4U City, which keeps its inhabitants drugged into submission.
** [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Posleen War Series|Hell's Faire]]'' features several Sluggy Freelance strips as if they were created within the novel's setting. This was possibly a favor in return for the shout outs to Sluggy Freelance in the third and fourth books of the series.
* ''Dumbing of Age'' is an alternate universe to ''[[
* In ''[[Bobwhite]]'', [http://www.bobwhitecomics.com/?webcomic_post=20090407 Cleo freaks out] over the many-worlds hypothesis and its implications on fast food. In this universe, she never orders burritos because they're gross... which means that in some other universe she ''always'' orders burritos. ''But why?''
* In [[Goblins]], a dungeon called the ''Maze of Many'' serves as a point where the dimensions in the multiverse are drawn together. Adventurers who attempt to conquer the dungeon are required to compete against multiple versions of themselves, each from a different reality, being allowed infinite retries until each has completed the dungeon once and each reality is 'satisfied'.
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Tasakeru]]'' takes place in an alternate universe where humans have never existed.
* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has had several small-scale AU RPs. These range from simple 'What-If' scenarios (What If the students had been rescued on Day 3, What If ''SOTF'' really ''was'' a TV show, etc) to radically different concepts such as [[Humongous Mecha|Mech]] ''SOTF'' and ''SOTF'' with zombies.
** Fairly recently, a spin-off site effectively dedicated to
*** The Mini site also now hosts ''SOTF: Evolution'', which is like normal SOTF, only with 20 characters instead of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] the main site has, and with [[Super Serum]] induced mutations instead of designated weapons.
* ''[[Fate Nuovo Guerra]]'' takes one of ''[[Fate/stay
* A popular fad on [[YTMND]] is to take pre-existing memes and create
== Western Animation ==
* "Life, the Negaverse, and Everything" in ''[[Darkwing Duck]]''
* ''[[Futurama]]'':
** In "The Farnsworth Parabox", Farnsworth creates a box leading to an alternate universe where coin tosses have different outcomes. There are also lots of other boxes, leading to other alternate universes, each linking to each other.
Line 260 ⟶ 256:
** In "The Late Phillip J. Fry", after Farnsworth, Bender, and Fry go to the edge of the universe, a new, identical universe starts, and then that universe ends, so they end up in a third identical universe.
* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' seems like it may take place in one, but then again, it may just be [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]].
* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' had several
** Notably, the Justice Lords Universe depicted Arkham Asylum, and Gotham City for that matter, as very bright, Metropolis-esque places, in one of the few instances of the city being shown during the day.
** ''[[Superman:
* 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]].
*** The goatees are a [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Star Trek:
* In an episode of ''[[Rugrats]]'', Tommy and Chuckie think they're in a "Mirrorland."
* An episode of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' featured a timeline where Cobra had succeeded in taking over the world.
* In ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', the whole family (except the female lead's brother) has a twin in an alternate universe, who all try to take out the heroes as [[Psycho Rangers]].
* ''[[Star Trek:
** "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" has the crew discover a world where much of their equipment doesn't work, but [[Functional Magic]] is commonplace. Oddly, [[The Spock|Spock]] adapts quickly.
*** Presumably he [[Sufficiently Analyzed Magic|Sufficiently Analyzed]] it first.
Line 275 ⟶ 271:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Settings]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction]]
[[Category:Otherworld Tropes]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Another Dimension]]
[[Category:Alternate History Tropes]]
[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:Alternate Universe]]
|