Undocumented Features

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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"I am Ayanami Rei shar Atrados tal Vader," she said, "Padawan-in-Shadows to His Divine Shadow Darth Anakyn shar Atrados tal Vader, Grand Duke of Caladan, Chancellor of Santov, and Dark Lord of the Ancient and Obtenebrated Order of the Sith; journeywoman of the Asagiri Katsujinkenryuu; implacable foe of Big Fire. I will not rest until the twisted evil of Big Fire is extinguished from this galaxy... and my war begins here."
— from Warriors Of The Outer Rim: Blades by Benjamin D. Hutchins with Anne Cross

In the fall of 1991, a burgeoning anime fan named Benjamin D. Hutchins (who had chosen the login name "Gryphon" for the campus computer network) was attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. He had recently fallen in love with a series called Dirty Pair, and had seen the first anime fanfics to be posted on the Net written about it by Ryan Mathews and Larry Mann. Gryphon decided to write a Dirty Pair fanfic as well, and in an effort to demonstrate the possibilities to his friends, he churned out something he initially considered a quick-and-dirty "proof of concept" story in which he brought Kei and Yuri to WPI with a plot device from a friend's story and generally let chaos ensue.

Some of his friends (including, among others, John "Truss" Trussell, Rob "ReRob" Mandeville, and MegaZone) collaborated with him on the project; they threw in a Big Bad courtesy of Bubblegum Crisis, they packed it full of WPI in-jokes, and named the story Undocumented Features.

Although Gryphon initially intended for the story to be discarded once the "real" writing began, it soon took on a life of its own. Local reception was so positive that they decided to post it on the rec.arts.anime newsgroup. Much to Hutchins's surprise, everybody who read it wanted a sequel. So the writers -- later to be known collectively as "Eyrie Productions Unlimited" -- wrote one. And another. And then some side stories, and more and more...

This is Undocumented Features. Two decades after the first story was posted, new stories are still being written in its universe. It is almost certainly the greatest Mega Crossover in all of Fan Fiction, and possibly in all fiction, period. The result is an epic, sprawling Space Opera setting that stretches across several thousand years of history and ranges across (and out of) the entire galaxy, written with a sly sense of humor and an almost religious regard for the Rule of Cool.

You wanna step in? You're in for a wild ride.

Undocumented Features is divided into five sets of stories. They are, in more or less chronological order by internal dating:

Core
The original four stories around which the rest of the series grew. The earliest works, they are also the crudest. They tell the story of how a motley group of college students became a band of immortal, spacegoing heroes. Because of their origins, they tend to be much more "jokey" in tone than the later, more serious works.
The Golden Age
The glory years of the Wedge Defense Force, when they were effectively an interstellar United Nations, uniting the galaxy in an era of (mostly) peace and prosperity. But there are enemies lurking in the shadows, enemies who are plotting the downfall of the WDF.
The Exile
In a single devastating strike, Maxmillian Largo of GENOM engineers the destruction of the Wedge Defense Force, tarring its members as traitors and villains with terrible efficacy. Gryphon is framed for the mass murder of a group of children and spends the next century or so on the run. Meanwhile, the galaxy falls apart as Largo expands GENOM's reach and all but turns it into a totalitarian government. The Exile period only ends when the War of Corporate Occupation ends and Largo is defeated. Gryphon has in recent years been quite critical of the earliest Exile writing (roughly 1993 to 1995) and its rather excessively angsty content; he now refers to those stories as his "crap period".
Future Imperfect
GENOM has fallen, Gryphon is cleared, the survivors of the WDF emerge from hiding, and the galaxy starts putting itself back together. But just as all seems to be going well, the apocalypse strikes -- Ragnarok, the Final Battle, begins. Through the unexpected intervention of mortal and demimortal agencies, though, the end of all things is averted. In its wake the "second generation" are born, and their adventures begin to move into the foreground, starting with the arrival of Utena Tenjou in Midgard, while in the darkness new enemies make their plans. Easily the largest and most diverse segment of the setting. Its crown jewel is the epic Symphony of the Sword.
The New Frontier
The next generation of stories which will become the new "present day" of the setting, this "new era" has been announced but not yet formally implemented. The extant Warriors Of The Outer Rim series will be the main arc of The New Frontier, much in the same way that Symphony Of The Sword is the central arc of the Future Imperfect era.

Note that stories continue to be written for all eras except the Core; at any time there are, in fact, a number of sub-series which are awaiting completion as the muse strikes various members of the collective.

By a conservative estimate, Undocumented Features includes elements and/or characters from (at the minimum) the following sources:

Source List

Where known, each source's contribution(s) to the setting are listed here. Very minor sources are compiled in a Shout Out listing after.

  • 1984
    • Earth Alliance government bodies during the Future Imperfect era include the Ministry of Peace (aka "Minipax"). This may be a portmanteau reference, as this was the case in the source material for the EA.
  • Ah My Goddess
    • The Morisato clan on the planet Tomodachi
    • Skuld Ravenhair, mother of Corwin Ravenhair (with Gryphon)
    • By extension, Norse mythology, brought in so that the Norns exist within their proper framework.
    • Peorth is also known as Eris, and seems to favor that guise.
  • Alien Nation
    • Moose MacEchearn's freshman year roommate at Worcester Prep was a Tenctonese boy named Davy Crockett.
    • Comments made by the WPI Dean of Student Life in Duelists of the Rose indicate that the events of the movie happened in the UF 'verse not long after first contact was made with Salusia.
  • American Chopper
    • "Avalon Chopper"
    • Paul Teutul Sr., Obtenebrated Order of the Sith
  • Animaniacs
    • Wakko, Yakko and Dot as alien orphans raised by Marty and Eiko Rose.
    • The Goodfeathers appear as bullying children at the Warners' old orphanage, and Ralph is a security guard there.
    • Rhita and Runntt are a Kilrathi and Sirian who escaped from a Cardassian prison.
    • Dr. Slappi Squirl is a Salusian ex-comedienne, and their most eminent cyberneticist.
    • Dr. Skracchensniph aided PCHammer during the Exile.
    • Gryphon and Saavik have a "Pinky and the Brain" moment in Manhunt:

 Gryphon frowned. "Hmm." He turned away for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, and then caught Saavik's eye. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Commander Saavik?"

"I believe so, Captain," Saavik replied, then added with perfect seriousness, "though I must point out that if they called them Sad Meals, children would not buy them."

  • Apocalypse Now
    • Part of the plot to Fulcrum of Fate, Part IV, including Master Corto, is an Homage to this film.
  • Appleseed
    • Gryphon spent time as an ESWAT member during the Exile (in the first Exile story to be written, which may not quite be completely in canon anymore.)
    • Olympus was the capital of Earth before being destroyed by GENOM and superseded by Earthdome.
  • The A-Team
    • Two of the CIs on the Righteous Indignation are based on Hannibal and Murdock.
  • Atomic Robo
    • Robo is the creation, assistant and social secretary of Nikola Tesla. Although Tesla began constructing him in the 1920s, he was abandoned, half-built, for 400 years and wasn't completed until around the turn of the 24th-25th centuries.
  • The Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian
    • A ship named the HMS Surprise in Manhunt.
    • Avast That Bloody Hammering Day (also in Manhunt).
  • Babylon 5
    • The Babylon Foundation
    • Babylon 5 6, built in orbit around the planet Bajor. (It is commanded by Derek Bacon, and its staff includes several characters from Deep Space Nine.)
    • The Minbari, Centauri, Narn and Vorlons
    • 24th-25th Century Earth being governed by the Earth Alliance.
    • The Psi Corps.
    • B5-style hyperspace is known as "metaspace" in UF.
    • One of the peripheral characters during the first movement of Symphony of the Sword is G'Kron, nephew of G'Kar, student at Worcester Prep, and always outraged by some injustice or wrong (perceived or actual) committed by Authority.
    • G'Kron's roommate at WPI is Beld Marmo, a flamboyant and gay Centauri.
  • Battlestar Galactica
    • The Colonials are now settled on New Kobol.
    • Both versions of Galactica are represented -- Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (new) for instance, is the daughter of Kent "Starbuck" Thrace (old).
      • Strictly speaking, three versions are represented, as Word of God indicates the Cylons are a race of lizard folk who make extensive use of robots -- hearkening back to the original earliest scripts for the first series (and the novelization that was based on them).
    • Commander Cain of the Pegasus (old version, played by Lloyd Bridges).
  • Battle Tech/Mechwarrior
    • In Second Chances, Corwin is seen finishing up the plans for the FNR-5 Fafnir assault 'Mech from Mechwarrior 4.
    • Various mecha in use throughout the galaxy.
    • Word of God states that Solaris VII is an Earth / Salusian colony world with a thriving Humongous Mecha gladiatorial combat industry.
    • Gryphon's handle comes from an RPG character he created, who wore a suit of powered armor resembling a scaled-down Griffin battlemech (the design of which was in turn based on the Soltic Roundfacer from Fang of the Sun Dougram.)
  • Beowulf
    • Hikaru Shidou quotes from it at a key moment in Knights of the Tenth World, Part 2.
  • The Biggles novels by WE Johns
    • Biggles is mentioned in several stories, and finally appears "on screen" in Tales of the Lensmen: Before Victory Comes Honor.
  • The Big O
    • Corwin's limousine
    • The Rune God Orihalcon is The Big O.
    • The Arc Words "Cast In The Name Of God, Ye Not Guilty" are the motto inscribed on the weapon of every Valkyrie.
    • R. Dorothy Wayneright, drummer for the Art of Noise, and her "twin sister" RD, who is now an Ignatine nun. Both come originally from Kane's World.
    • Dorothy's cat Peril.
  • Black Lagoon
    • The city of Roanapur, Thailand, visited in The Antianeira Incident.
    • The Black Lagoon Trading Company.
    • The Church of Violence.
    • Criminal boss Garcia Loveless, who is an adult version of a nine-year-old seen in the series.
  • Blood Plus
    • Saya Otonashi appears as part of a rather esoteric squad in a trailer for an upcoming "New Frontier" storyline.
      • She also has a cameo, as a figure in a hibernaculum, in the ministory Welcome to the BPRD.
      • And is part of the team for a bank job in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • Borderlands
    • The story Starcrossed is liberally sprinkled with Borderlands references.
  • Bubblegum Crisis
    • Largo, GENOM
    • The series plot in its entirety took place on New Japan. Another version may have occured on Earth in the early 21st century.
    • Priss Asagiri discovered that she was the lost heiress to the Asagiri katsujinkenryu swordmanship style.
    • Kei and Yuri each named a daughter for characters from BGC -- Priss Morgan and Sylvie Daniels.
    • Gryphon's AI "secretary"/major domo/general factotum is Vision, based on a flesh-and-blood Reika Chang.
  • Buck Rogers In The 25th Century
    • The television version of Buck's "origin story" has been merged with the end of Captain America's World War Two career to get a different Captain Rogers into the twenty-fifth century.
  • Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons
    • At the end of Day of Infamy it was revealed that the Mysterons are behind the galaxy's most recent upheavals.
    • Earlier, the Mysterons duplicated Yuri Daniels for a sabotage attempt; this led her to gain Scarlet's retro-metabolic abilities.
    • "Lunarville VII" references the moon colony Lunarville-7.
  • City of Heroes
    • The Sky Raiders plague New Avalon.
    • Superadine and Shift are street-level drugs.
    • Crey Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GENOM, at least during the Exile period.
  • Coraline
    • Coraline Jones joins the BPRD in the ministory Welcome To the BPRD.
  • Cowboy Bebop
    • Ed and Ein were part of Kaitlyn's social circle in her freshman year of high school
    • Utena's first personal starfighter is the same model as Spike's fighter.
  • CSI
    • Las Vegas is night shift in the IPO headquarters CSI division; Miami is the day shift.
    • Gil and Sara are humanized Salusians; Greg is a Dantrovian.
    • Catherine Willows' daughter Lindsey is a student at Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute, where she is a member of the Duelists' Society and the Order of the Rose.
    • Heather "Lady Heather" Kessler is a Lensman -- and apparently a skilled zeppelin pilot. Without losing any of her original source background.
  • Cthulhu Mythos
    • Yuggoth is the largest moon of the tenth planet of the Solar System, Persephone.
    • A mention of Unaussprechliken Külten and several other references are found in the ministory Welcome to the BPRD.
  • Dai Guard
    • R. Dorothy Wayneright pilots the Dai-Guard during the Big Fire attack on New Avalon in A Night To Remember.
    • The events of Dai-Guard are said to have happened in the early 21st century.
  • Damnation Alley
    • The Landmaster hostile environment vehicle shows up in Manhunt.
  • Dark Angel
    • Max Guevara is a Lenswoman in the IPO and appears in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • DC Comics
    • Batman
      • Kane's World is home to a dynasty of Batmen, one of whom was Gryphon during the Exile.
      • The Joker, operating under numerous aliases, operated in New Gotham at the end of the 24th century, according to Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
    • The Creeper
      • Jack Ryder appears as the host of televised appearance of the Art of Noise during a stop in New Gotham on Kane's World, in Second Chances.
    • Enemy Ace
      • Hans von Hammer appears as a member of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten (and a former opponent and later friend of Biggles) in Tales of the Lensmen: Before Victory Comes Honor.
    • Flash
      • In addition to all three generations of canon Flashes being present in the setting, Sara Sidle of the IPO CSI recently suffered an accident that connected her to the Speed Force.
    • Green Lantern
      • Wakaba Shinohara's Lens and sorcerous talents interacted unexpectedly, making her equivalent to the Silver Age Green Lantern.
      • Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern, is present somewhere in the setting.
      • Catherine Willows becomes the first recipient of the as-yet undefined technology created by Skuld for project BRIGHTEST DAY; supplementary material on the forums notes that she then receives the codename "Green Lantern".
    • The Legion Of Super-Heroes
      • Several characters are members of the IPO, either as regular agents or as part of AEGIS.
      • Saturn's moon of Titan, a Zeta Cygni protectorate, has become a gathering place for telepaths trying to escape the Psi Corps.
    • Martian Manhunter
      • J'onn J'onnz's race of Green Martians, called Malacandrans, are one of four species native to the UF-verse Mars.
    • The Question
    • Sandman
      • Death appeared at one of Gryphon's Christmas parties. She and Megazone have a daughter, based on "Didi" from Death: The High Cost of Living".
    • Starman
      • Kei Morgan eventually gained ownership of Starman's Cosmic Rod.
    • Superman
      • Krypton exploded in 2005, but not before the Wedge Defense Force evacuated most of the planet's population to New Krypton.
      • Superman briefly existed at some point in the history of the UF verse, but disappeared and is presumed dead, probably murdered by General Zod as part of his vendetta against the El family.
      • Kara "Supergirl" Zor-el arrived at Zeta Cygni in cryonic suspension via a slower-than-light capsule in the early 25th century, and now resides in New Avalon.
      • Adam Savage of the Myth Busters is a Kryptonian.
    • Teen Titans
      • The animated version of the Titans operates out of New Avalon, after borrowing the Legion's origin story rescuing R.J. Brande.
      • Raven is Gryphon's protege/apprentice.
      • "Trigon" is the name taken by the demonically-empowered shade of the late Akio Ohtori, who is also Raven's father.
      • Slade Wilson is a member of the G.I. Joe taskforce, codename: "Snake-Eyes" -- alongside his brother, Wade, a.k.a. "Deadpool".
    • Wonder Woman
      • Diana "Wonder Woman" Prince is a member of the Experts of Justice in the early 25th century. Her history is roughly the same as the Post Crisis version, only shifted forward five centuries. (Instead of Steven Trevor visiting Themiscyra during World War Two, though, it was Steven Rogers.)
    • Other
      • The "Corrigan Gardens" cemetery is mentioned as the resting place for many late criminals.
  • Detians 413
    • As Ben Hutchins explains in this post on the EPU forums, Detians 413 was a homebrew RPG created by Joe Martin, a former friend of his. This is the source for the Detians (pronounced with a hard "t", Det-ee-uns) and the Omega-2 retrovirus that makes them immortal. Edison Bell was Ben's player character in the RPG campaign.
  • Dirty Pair
    • The WWWA existed during the Golden Age; the United Galactica was the interplanetary government before the United Federation of Planets superseded it.
    • Kei is married to Gryphon, Yuri is married to Megazone.
    • Their daughters Priss and Sylvie will essentially recapitulate their partnership when they reach their late teens-early twenties.
  • Discworld
    • The UF-verse equivalent of Death shows up as Redneck's "case worker" during the Freespacer stories.
    • Nobby Nobbs also shows up amongst the Freespacer contingent after the Ragnarok Incident -- typically trying to steal something, in this case a large gold shield. Which he claimed was from a gift shop.
      • In fairness, he had a receipt. Unfortunately, it was written in crayon.
  • Doctor Who
    • Gallifrey exists separate from the universe but linked to it.
    • James Burke of PBS' Connections is a Time Lord.
    • The Daleks and Cybermen exist, but are shattered into various factions, including several allied to the Federation.
    • Rose Tyler, former companion of the Doctor, is now an actress playing his fictional counterpart Professor Enigma on the BBC-TV program of the same name. The Doctor, under the name "John Smith", has appeared in one adventure and proved so popular that there is talk of giving him his own series.
  • Dracula
    • In Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper", Saya Otonashi complains about the expectations people have of vampires because of Dracula, and points out that he wasn't just a vampire, he was also, in her words, "some kind of FREAKIN' WIZARD".
  • Dune
    • Ancient history in the UF 'Verse, predating even Atlantis.
    • Darth Vader is Anakyn shar Atrados, a descendant of Paul Atrados ("Atreides") (and also the son of Nemo and brother of Nadia from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water)
    • Salusa Secundus, the world where the Sardaukar trained, was also the homeworld of the Salusians from Ninja High School.
  • Dungeons and Dragons
    • The "blink dog", a teleporting canine from the game, exists on several worlds in the UF 'verse. A ship seen in Page of Swords is named after them.
    • Utena's horse Thunderbolt is, according to Word of God, a paladin's warhorse, with all the special abilities from the game it implies.
    • At least one of the "ancient Asgardian spells" Corwin employs appears to be from D&D -- a variant of "Dimenson Door".
  • Earthdawn
    • The lizardlike T'skrang from the world of Barsaive come from this roleplaying setting.
  • El Hazard the Magnificent World
    • Ifurita, the ancient Mandalorian android/weapons system.
    • Roving reporter Nanami Jinnai.
    • Fatora and Makoto Morisato, fraternal twin children of Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato.
    • Afura Mann, daughter of Yuri Daniels and avatar character Larry Mann.
  • Equilibrium
    • The Grammaton Clerics appear as the Ignatine Order, and are considerably more benevolent than they are in the source.
  • Excel Saga
    • Excel Excel is an AI created by Corwin with a beta version of a "For dummies" kit he was given to try out.
    • Hyatt is a member of AEGIS and a Martian Manhunter-style Martian. Her canon sickliness was here a side effect of an illegal procedure she underwent to "lock" her shapeshifting abilities.
    • Marty Rose takes on the persona of Ilmartello in his position as commander of ACROSS -- the Avalon County Robot Offensive Support Squad.
    • Nabeshin is a Salusian ninja who was turned into a cyborg supersoldier by GENOM, and then joined the Experts of Justice as a Grey Lensman.
  • Ex-Driver
    • Lisa and Lorna appear in A Night To Remember, and were intended to play a bigger role in Symphony of the Sword before the focus of the Fourth Symphony changed.
  • Farscape
    • While in a Parisian cafe, Juri and Kate spot a human girl and a Nebari girl (who from the description might be late teenage/early twenties versions of Aeryn and Chianna) who are apparently on a date, during the events of The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light.
    • Gryphon quotes Crichton's line "I love hangin' with you, man" several times in Manhunt.
    • Gryphon was Crichton, at least for a little while during the Exile, according to a fake Terra Novan passport Kei finds in Aegis Florea 2.
  • Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas/Hunter S. Thompson in general
    • Raoul Duke/Hunter Thompson plays a major part in Manhunt, and apparently joined an expedition to a Halo.
  • Full Metal Panic
    • In part 5 of Manhunt, Gryphon asks Colonel Dashiell Faireborne if he has an ARM Slave handy.
    • Several characters have made cameo appearances or had name checks, most notably in Reunion.
    • Kaname Chidori Sterling and Sosuke Sagara are central characters in the DSM Panic! series of ministories.
  • Gao Gai Gar
    • Gai Morgan's destiny and mecha.
    • A service droid named "Mike" becomes "Mike Sounders Mark Thirteen" as a result of the events of Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • Getter Robo
    • Designed and built by Corwin, and gets considerable screen time in both A Night To Remember and Hunter Rose.
    • Getter radiation is responsible for a number of ... unusual accidents, among others the Incredible Hulk.
  • Ghostbusters
    • A franchise operation in the UF universe, one branch of which got itself in trouble by interfering in a date between Raven and Hellboy.
    • It's implied that Gryphon knew the original Ghostbusters (in their animated avatars) because he insists on addressing Ido of Gunnm as "Egon" (the two are drawn very similarly).
    • Numerous variations on Egon's "I'm terrified beyond all rational thought" line appear throughout the stories, not to mention "I like this plan. I'm proud to be a part of it."
    • Spengler flux, the measurement of the strength of an entity's soul, is named after Egon Spengler.
  • Ghost in The Shell
    • "The Major" accompanied Ed Tivrusky when she appeared at Utena and Anthy's wedding.
  • Giant Robo
    • Big Fire is a galactic-scale enemy in UF; its leaders, agents and Mooks are frequently seen.
    • The IPO is Gryphon's creation to take up the more police-like duties of the old WDF.
    • The Experts of Justice are an elite group within the IPO.
    • Corwin built six-inch-tall Tiny Robo for Utena when he was 13.
    • An Older and Wiser Yuri has traded in her Battle Bikini for Kenji Murasame's pink trenchcoat (now that she has the Nigh Invulnerability to go with it).
    • Utena's standard wardrobe as an adult is inspired in part by Ginrei's outfit in a piece of promotional artwork for Giant Robo: The Night the Earth Stood Still.
  • Godzilla, Gamera and other Toho Kaiju films
    • Gojira Nakamura
    • Wapiko Overstreet encountered Gamera, or a creature so close as to make no difference.
    • In Aegis Florea 2, Raymond Burr has a cameo that evokes his role in the Americanized version of Godzilla.
  • Gold Digger
    • The Diggers girls appear, although never as a group. Gina Shannon appears as one of Washuu's students in "Wilderness"; Brittany Shannon was a Kilrathi fighter pilot who was found on the Delphinus at the end of "Twilight".
  • Gundam
    • Domon Kasshu from G Gundam is a champion mecha arena-fighter.
    • The WDF fought a One-Year War with the Principality of Zeon.
    • "A Gundam mobile suit" appears in Altered Appleseed, the first Exile story to be written. It isn't clear exactly which Gundam it is, but presumably it's the original RX-78.
  • Gunnm
    • Alita Ironheart (nicknamed "Gally" by Gryphon), cyborg initially rebuilt by Gryphon and Ido, then rebuilt again by Skuld using Transformers-style technology, and who then became a Valkyrie.
    • The setting of the series is located on a colony world.
  • Half-Life
    • Gordon Freeman was a student at WPI during the events of the early Core stories, and was catapulted 400 years through time by accident when Skuld attempted to rescue him from the aftermath of the Black Mesa incident. He is currently a member of the International Police's Special Assignment 173 (the Tesladyne Action Science League).
    • Barney Calhoun is the security chief for the IPO High-Energy Phenomena Laboratory.
  • Halo
    • John Spartan, the Master Chief, is a Salusian soldier from the SPARTAN-II supersoldier program, lifted apparently straight from the Halo novels.
    • Chad Collier, Raoul Duke and Ezri Tigan apparently had an extended adventure on a Halo, according to a throwaway comment in Clarion Call.
    • The Covenant have recently (re)appeared on the galactic scene, and were involved with the overthrow of the Klingon Republic.
    • Tuncer, the Last Elite.
    • Chips Dubbo of the Repo Men.
    • Covenant forces attack the colony world New Woking in the ministory "The Honor of Mars: A War Story".
    • When tasked with bringing Cortana to an IPO mainframe to examine it for tampering, Janice Barlowe cheers over getting her very own "take Cortana to the computer and flip the switch" mission.
  • Harry Potter
    • Various Hogwarts students -- most notably Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Malfoy -- show up as padawans in the Jedi temple on Alderaan. One of their classes -- "Advanced Topics in Force Duality" -- is popularly nicknamed "Defense Against the Dark Arts". A teaser posted in the forums suggests that Hermione goes on to be the padawan of Jedi Master Hercule Poirot.
  • Hellboy
    • In addition to working for the IPO's "weird stuff" division, Hellboy is also a high school teacher in New Avalon.
  • Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot
    • Poirot and Hastings play a prominent role in one story. Indeed, the little Belgian is a Jedi Master. His padawan (according to a little teaser posted in the forums) is Hermione Granger.
  • House
    • House and Wilson are currently on the run from Earth Alliance authorities.
    • Dr. Allison Cameron is on the special trauma team at Philip Boyce Memorial Medical Center in New Avalon.
    • House is the subject (and perhaps the author) of a book that from its description appears to be a "fictionalization" of the events of the series.
  • The Illuminatus Trilogy
    • MegaZone serves as a representative of Eris in Midgard.
    • In Manhunt, Raoul Duke says "The Eschaton is imminent!", echoing the novel's repeated line "Immanentize the Eschaton".
    • The accidentally intelligent computer system FUCKUP.
    • In general, the Core stories are heavily sprinkled with Illuminatus! references.
  • In Nomine
    • Despite heaven working by Norse rules (Asgard/Valhalla), with Odin in charge, there are apparently Abrahamic angels out and about, including an Ofanite pizza delivery guy.
  • Invader Zim
    • Zim is the "greatest Invader" Irk ever produced and spearheads the Irken forces in Day of Infamy.
    • Gaz is a naturalized Irken citizen, fitted with Invader gear.
    • Dib is a member of Psi Corps.
    • There is an Irken Jedi Master at the main temple on Alderaan.
  • I Robot
    • The Nestor 5 robots appear as Federated Robotics Nestor Series 5. Buster, crack crash test dummy of the Mythbusters, is an NS-5.
  • The Iron Giant
    • The Giant and Hogarth are briefly seen on Cybertron in a trailer for an upcoming "New Frontier"-era storyline.
  • James Bond
    • The full human name Largo uses, "Maximilian Largo", is that of a Bond villain.
    • Major Boothroyd -- AKA "Q" -- is implied to be in charge of IPO equipmentation.
    • Based on artwork and TV listing blurbs available through the EPU forums, it's pretty obvious that the Show Within A Fic Dalek 207 is about a Dalek version of Bond. (Not to mention that "207" = "2 "0"s + "7" = "007".)
  • John Carter of Mars (by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
    • The Malacandrans, the shapeshifting Martians of DC Comics, share the fourth planet with Red and Green "Barsoomian" Martians. (Plus the Sarmak -- see the entry for War of the Worlds, below.)
    • Earth forces fought a brief war with the Red Martians after 21st-century terraforming restored enough of the planet's biosphere to awaken the Martians from the hibernation they'd put themselves in. (The war was complicated by the presence of a third side that both of the other two mistook as part of the other's forces.)
    • Dejah Thoris and John Carter are historical figures from this period.
    • The city of Helium has been re-settled and is a popular destination for tourists.
    • A mixed force of Martian mercenaries -- including Red Martians and Tharks -- facing an invading Covenant force are the focus of the ministory "The Honor of Mars: A War Story".
    • According to Gryphon:

 In the UF universe, everyone of any cosmic significance named Carter is related, and they all ultimately can trace their line back to John Carter of Virginia or one of his brothers.

  • Judge Dredd
    • The Zardon justice system, which essentially rules the planet after the royal family was deposed.
    • Sara Sidle has a Judge's gun, awarded to her by the Zardon government for her efforts in apprehending a particular criminal.
  • Left 4 Dead
    • Various elements of the forum-published ministory Guns 4 Hire.
  • The Legend of Zelda
    • The planet Hyeruul, which appears to have been settled by colonists from Alfheim.
  • Lensman
    • Apparently fictional within the setting, but inspired Skuld to create the Lenses used by the IPO and selected others.
    • However, reportedly a few planets and technologies that appear in UF apparently originated in this series.
  • Leverage
    • Leverage Consulting and Associates appears in a preview at the end of Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • Livewires
    • Social Butterfly and Gothic Lolita appear in The Antianeira Incident.
  • The Lord of the Rings
    • Implied to be ancient celestial history.
    • Vaettir ("hobbits") are native to the Shire, which is located somewhere near Alfheim in the upper planes.
      • A (female) namesake descendant of Peregrine "Pippin" Took attends Tenjou Academy in Cephiro and is part of its student council.
    • Nall's full dragon form resembles Smaug from the Rankin-Bass version of The Hobbit.
    • LOTR also exists as fiction in-universe, and The Sterling Saga has several references to it as such.
  • Lost Universe
    • An unknown person -- possibly a future incarnation of himself -- gave John "Truss" Trussell the Swordbreaker, complete with AI Canal running it.
  • Love Hina
    • Kaolla Su provided character design inspiration for Azalynn dv'Ir Natashkan.
    • Naru Narusegawa also makes a brief cameo as an IPO intern in Rediscovery.
  • Lunar game series (Lunar Legend, Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete)
    • Mia Ausa, half-Minbari daughter of John Trussell.
    • Nall Silverclaw, Corwin's dragon life-mate.
    • Ruby, the as-yet unhatched dragon life-mate of Corwin and Anthy's as-yet unborn child.
  • Magic Knight Rayearth
    • Cephiro is fused with the setting of Revolutionary Girl Utena to create The Tenth World, a previously-unsuspected demiworld existing between the mortal world and the lowest of the heavens.
    • The Rayearth storyline is pivotal to the ultimate conclusion of the first two parts of Symphony of the Sword.
    • Hikaru is a Salusian, Umi is a Hyeruulian elf, and Fuu is the daughter of the ambassador to Zeta Cygni from Funkotron.
  • Mai-HiME/Mai-Otome
    • Natsuki Kruger appears as an RA at Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute in the forum-published serial DSM Panic, along with her pet "wolf-thing", Duran. According to author Phil Moyer, she is a fusion of the Natsukis from both series.
    • Natsuki's girlfriend Shizuru Viola is mentioned.
  • Marathon
    • Durandal appears as an AI originally installed in the Worcester Prep computer system but "liberated" by Ed Tivrusky and Ein after he manages to achieve stable rampancy. Gryphon has hinted in his annotations to The Duelists of the Rose that Durandal's presence at WPI was an accident, and that he was in fact a very dangerous piece of engineering that should never have been installed at a high school.
      • A later mini-story has shown that Durandal was active during Crossroads, and arranged to have his core intelligence installed at WPI for reasons not yet revealed. He also has the insanely powerful warship Marathon hidden somewhere.
    • Ed would later join the S'pht.
  • Marvel Comics
    • Captain America
      • Revived in the 24th century instead of the late 20th/early 21st, working as an administrator for the IPO.
      • The end of Cap's World War Two career has been merged with the "origin story" of the television version of Buck Rogers to get a different Captain Rogers into the twenty-fifth century.
      • The Red Skull has somehow survived into the 25th century as well, as the last true Nazi.
    • Fantastic Four
      • Ben Grimm and Victor von Doom, transported from Marvel Earth, have opened up a detective agency together.
    • The Incredible Hulk
      • The UF version of Bruce Banner was working with Getter Radiation, not Gamma.
      • The Red She-Hulk (an alter ego of Betty Ross) appears as the Valkyrie Bathildr "Betty" Forgeheart, an abandoned "runt" Jotun (fire giant) raised by the Asgardians.
    • Iron Man
      • Tony Stark is a friend of Gryphon's, and his company produces military hardware for the IPO. His most recent creation is a prototype robot called EVE.
    • Spider-Man
      • Jedi Master Peter B. "Tiger" Parker.
    • X-Men / X-Men Evolution
      • Due to an accidental interdimensional transport, there are two versions of many of the X-Men in the UF universe -- a young, local version (mostly students at Beiwiru High School on Tomodachi, taught by Time Lord Don Griffin) and their older, displaced counterparts.
      • Super-sentinel Nimrod is active and has accepted his evolution into a fully free-willed individual, and calls himself Nimrod-X.
      • Penance (the one from Generation X) appears in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper", but is redefined as a skraeling, a minor demon race from Muspelheim.
      • The UF version of Victor Creed is an elegant Neo-Victorian gentleman from a Welsh-flavored colony on the world of New Snowdonia.
      • Laura "X-23" Kinney appears in Weapon of Choice with a background as an "assassin-doll" created by GENOM and hired out during the Exile.
    • Other
      • Madripoor, a city on the world Gulo.
      • MODOK also appears in The Bad Bank Caper.
      • Both Black Widows, Natasha Romanov and Yelena Belova, exist as UF-verse natives; both are defectors from a Neo-Soviet world or worlds.
      • In Aegis Florea 2, Kei quotes the Watcher:

 "I observe and record," Kei replied with a pious grin, "I do not interfere."

      • Daredevil operates out of New Avalon's "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood.
      • The Kingpin showed up as a crime boss during the Exile era.
  • M*A*S*H
    • A distant namesake descendant of B.J. Hunnicutt, also a doctor, is on the special trauma team at Philip Boyce Memorial Medical Center in New Avalon.
    • "Hawkeye" is used several times as a nickname for a surgeon.
    • In DSM Panic! Lindsey Willows refers to Sousuke Sagara as "Colonel Flagg" when he vanishes on her in the course of leaving a room, and cites the "he's the wind" line.
  • The Mask
    • MegaZone apparently wore the Mask several times; Loki possessed him through it at the beginning of "Twilight".
    • The Mask itself appears, on display at the BPRD, early in Welcome to the BPRD.
  • Mass Effect
    • The M29 Grizzly AFV appears in Manhunt.
    • The Strenuus system.
    • The Quarians are encountered by the WDF during the Golden Age and later by Gryphon during the Exile.
    • A Babylon Project Galactic Database entry released in February 2010 outlines the military career of Virginia Shepard in the WDF, the Einherjar, the Valkyries, and the IPO, in that order, using screenshots from Mass Effect 2.
    • Tali (actually the namesake grandmother of the game's Tali) and Mordin appear in Star-Crossed. Tali from the game eventually appears in a series of epistolary stories that were posted to the EPU forums in Spring 2010.
    • There is a scene in Fulcrum of Fate set on Palaven, the Turian homeworld.
    • The Geth have appeared in Cybertron Reloaded, invading a city on the Transformers homeworld of Cybertron and working on rebuilding Unicron.
    • Virginia Shepard and Garrus both appear briefly in Weapon of Choice.
  • The Matrix
    • Brother Thomas "Neo" Anderson of the Ignatine order.
    • Morpheus Windu, unorthodox Jedi and brother of Mace Windu.
    • Wachowski-MX74 IV, a world beyond the outer rim, duplicates the "real" world shown in The Matrix, complete with squidbots.
    • In Weapon of Choice, Laura Kinney undergoes a danger room sequence that is clearly the "office building lobby" fight from the end of the film.
  • Max Headroom
    • Edison Carter, Theora and Network 23 are key players in the Galactic media scene.
      • Carter runs the Network 23 news division; Author Avatar John Trussell works as a roving reporter for N23.
    • Bigtime TV is a much smaller but still galaxy-wide outfit, and employs Nanami Jinnai as its entire news division.
    • Devlin Carter is the nephew of Edison Carter, despite his British accent and upper-class twit act.
  • Mazinger Z
    • Lesser Mazinger, a six-inch-tall robot Corwin built for his sister Kaitlyn when he was 13.
  • Moldiver
    • Mirai and Hiroshi Morisato, the two oldest children of Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato.
    • Hiroshi was well on his way to becoming Moldiver when he instead became Ultraman.
  • Myth Busters
    • M5 Industries operates out of New Avalon and produces, as in the real world, the Mythbusters program.
    • Run by Adam Savage (a Kryptonian) and Jamie Hyneman (a Jedi master).
    • Kari is from Bgtzl, homeworld of Phantom Girl in Legion of Super-Heroes, and like all the people of her planet can phase through solid objects.
    • When Scottie left, she was replaced by Bastila Shan.
    • Buster is an NS-5 robot from the movie I, Robot.
    • In Second Chances, the Mythbusters appear on TV attempting to recreate "the famous 'Captain James Kirk makes a cannon on a primitive planet' legend," as seen in the original Trek episode "Arena".
  • Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
    • Nadia and Jean become accidental stowaways on the SDF-17 when it makes an emergency landing on their homeworld.
    • An adult Nadia is a Wrench Wench, and a long-standing member of the Wedge Defense Force; she and Jean were recruited in their teens.
    • The Atlanteans are a long-dead Precursor race in UF -- Nadia and her brother Anakyn (Darth Vader) are the only survivors.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion
    • Misato Katsuragi is an officer in ACROSS, the Avalon County Robot Offensive Support Squad.
    • New Avalon is underlaid with civil defense tunnels, which have launch shafts up to various intersections.
    • Shinji and Asuka are powerful psis pursued by Big Fire.
    • Rei Ayanami was a failed Big Fire experiment in genetic engineering, raised by Marty and Eiko Rose.
    • Unit Two makes a cameo appearance at the end of Knights of the Tenth World, Part 2 and the beginning of Knights of the Tenth World, Part 3 as a monstrous golem intended to delay or thwart the Rune Knights.
  • Ninja High School
    • Source of Salusia and its queen Asrial, along with the technology that lets these skunklike aliens blend in with humans if they so wish.
    • Also source of Zardon, home of the Judges in UF. Zardon princess Leanna became a Judge.
    • Quagmire and Jeremy Feeple are mentioned in the stories that tell of the founding of the Freespacers.
    • Jeremy is a consort of Asrial and a high-level diplomat. He has also suffered a Cerebus Retcon, making his average appearance into an unnatural ability to be ignored.
  • Noir
    • Kirika Yuumira makes an appearance in a trailer for an upcoming "New Frontier" storyline.
  • Norse Pantheon
    • Are the only true divinities in the setting, although a number of gods in various belief systems are actually just aliases for Norse deities.
    • Ragnarok.
    • Surtur, who (having failed to set off the end of everything with Ragnarok) appears to be the ultimate Big Bad behind everything right now.
  • Oni
    • Geoff Depew has been implanted with a Daodan symbiote during his time with Big Fire.
    • Konoko makes an appearance during "Icebreaker/Thankless"
  • Outlanders (Manga)
    • The Santovasku Empire (another race of Precursors) used Sith sorcery to rule much of the galaxy until Princess Kahm Santova's rebellion against her father caused it all to collapse. Larry Mann's avatar, displaced in time, has been hinted to be involved.
    • Princess Kahm Santova was Darth Vader's original apprentice several thousand years before the current era; like Vader, her first name has become misconstrued as a title and has been used thus by generations of female Sith.
      • Rianna Santova, Kahm's daughter, became a freelance space trader and "Grey" Sith during the Exile.
    • Aki and her Super Powered Evil Side Jilehr appear as the split-personality AI secretary of Larry Mann's avatar.
  • Phantasy Star Online
    • Source of the planet Ragol (home of Janice Barlow), photon weapons, frames, and Hunters.
      • Janice Barlow has been known to carry a Varista and a Justy 23ST.
  • Pitch Black
    • Richard B. Riddick appears as a sapient dog, possibly bionically-augmented, who frequently accompanies Xander Cage.
  • Portal
    • Skuld has an AI assistant named Wheatley in the late Future Imperfect/early New Frontier era. And she refers to her laboratory facilities at the IPO as "The Enrichment Center".
    • GLADoS exists somewhere in the setting, but according to Word of God is unconnected with any other Portal material.
    • Cave Johnson was one of Skuld's first "Chosen", selected when she was rather young and inexperienced. While she now considers his selection a mistake, she still looks back on him with that certain fondness normally reserved for ex-boyfriends who were fun to be with but weren't good for you in the long run.
  • Powerpuff Girls
    • The Utonium sisters were an early Big Fire project that was discovered and liberated; they grew up in New Avalon.
    • Mojo Jojo is a mad genius native to Heston's Planet.
  • Read or Die
    • Yomiko Readman is an IPO agent.
    • Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde is described in one story as having mastered Miss Deep's technique of slowing herself down from a fall by partially interacting with solid objects she's moving through.
  • Record of Lodoss War
    • Provided the name of character Deedlit Satori Mandeville.
    • Beld Marmo, the flamboyantly gay Centauri roommate of perpetually-dour Narn G'Kron during Kaitlyn and Utena's freshman year at Worcester Prep, is named for Emperor Beld of Marmo.
  • Red vs. Blue
    • The Repo Men, the 131st Special Mission Force, Tactical Division, of the International Police Organization.
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena
    • The setting of this series is fused with Cephiro from Magic Knight Rayearth to create The Tenth World, a previously-unsuspected demiworld existing between the mortal world and the lowest of the heavens.
    • Utena is a major player in the galaxy thanks to the events of Symphony Of The Sword.
    • Akio Ohtori is a high-level big bad even after he's killed.
  • Robo Cop
    • Delta City, the capital of New Detroit.
    • The existence of the television program It's Not My Problem! (source of the deathless catchphrase "I'll buy that for a dollar!").
    • Gryphon brings along a Super Prototype ED-209 in "Rite of Passage".
  • Ronin Warriors
    • Among the forces among Akio Ohtori's "students" at the Ohtori Institute in the demiworld of Oriphos are the villain group from this series.
  • Rush
    • Very much like the song of the same name, the black hole Cygnus X-1 is a gateway to Asgard.
  • Sailor Moon
    • Usagi Tsukino appears as the childhood friend of Nene Romanova in an Exile-period PC Hammer story.
    • Makoto "Kilovolt" Kino, superpowered former Big Fire operative, in the Future Imperfect era.
  • Sakura Taisen
    • Events of the series, OVAs and games all take place on the Japanese colony world Ishiyama.
    • During the Exile, Gryphon (under the alias "Peter Moreau") initially filled the role occupied by Ichiro Ohgami in the first few installments, until he was forced to fake his death and flee the planet. Ohgami then replaced him.
    • Kohran is a Salusian and Kanna is a Hoffmanite (a petite, delicate Hoffmanite, at that).
  • Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
    • Galactor makes a number of appearances as a galaxy-wide enemy a step or two below Big Fire in its threat level.
  • Serial Experiments Lain
    • Lain Iwakura makes an appearance in a trailer for an upcoming "New Frontier" storyline.
      • And is part of the team for a bank job in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • The Shadow
    • One of Gryphon's identities over the centuries. Most The Shadow elements were introduced in Days of Miracle and Wonder, which was written in 1994 shortly after The Movie of The Shadow was released.
    • Kaitlyn has learned the "power to cloud men's minds" from her father.
  • Shadow of the Vampire/Nosferatu
    • Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Schreck, Graf von Orlock appears in the ministory Welcome to the BPRD as an apparently senior agent of the BPRD.
  • Shadowrun
    • Aztechnology is a major corporation based in New Avalon.
    • DocWagon operates in New Avalon, as well, and has the exclusive contract for IPO staff and emergencies.
    • Shiori Takatsuki, after becoming a netrunner during college, owns a Fairlight Excalibur cyberdeck.
  • Short Circuit
    • "Johnny Five" robots have been mentioned, and their manufacturer also produced the WALL-E series of trash compactor droids.
  • Skies of Arcadia
    • Vyse, Aika, Fina, and the Delphinus make an appearance during "Twilight".
  • The Slayers
    • Corwin has used "ancient" spells such as the "Ragna Blade".
    • Wakaba's destruction of the Black Omega complex on Tau Ceti IV using her ring is explicitly described as resembling the Dragon Slave enough that those familiar with the "Old Sorceries" would recognize it as such.
    • The local equivalent of Lina Inverse is Lina Diggers, and has made a few appearances.
  • Sol Bianca
    • The five main characters are pirates who steal and then use the Sol Bianca in an attempt to keep GENOM from taking over the Bodacious Vee star system (home of Funkotron and Funkorama).
  • Stargate
    • The IPO maintains a more-or-less secret stargate network.
    • Symphony of the Sword character Devlin Carter, according to Word of God, has a cousin named Samantha whom he hasn't seen in years.
    • Adam Kawalsky and Nico Feretti are GENOM stormtroopers.
  • Star Trek
    • This is a "whew, where to begin?" entry. There's a lot of Trek in UF.
    • Original, TNG, Voyager and Enterprise all contribute considerable material and characters.
    • Gryphon was accidentally stranded in the Star Trek universe for several decades during the Exile years.
    • The Final Reflection, a Trek novel by John M Ford, provides one of the two Klingon languages, klingonaase, the notion of the "Black Fleet" in the Klingon afterlife, and the show-within-a-fic Battlecruiser Vengeance.
    • The current government of known space is the United Federation of Planets, but it is increasingly becoming a puppet of the Earth Alliance's policies.
    • Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute is located on Jerrado, a moon of Bajor, not far from Babylon 6.
    • In Second Chances, the Mythbusters appear on TV attempting to recreate "the famous 'Captain James Kirk makes a cannon on a primitive planet' legend," as seen in the original Trek episode "Arena". (See Life Imitates Art below.)
    • Freespacer Harcourt Mudd "Mac" McKenzie from Worcester Prep is a distant relative of Harcourt Fenton Mudd of TOS infamy.
    • B'Ellana Torres first appears as a 13-year-old runaway who is adopted figuratively by the Duelists at Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute and literally by her mentor, Chief Miles O'Brien.
    • Farius Prime, from an episode of Deep Space Nine, is mentioned in The Antianeira Incident.
    • Likewise source of a reference to Rigel VII as a planet of criminals.
    • Philip Boyce Memorial Medical Center is named after the Enterprise's chief medical officer seen in "The Cage".
    • The Q used to do their usual thing (in particular hounding Doc Mui), but after breaking their oath to stand by Odin at Ragnarok, Odin sealed them away. The only exception is avatar character macquivr (AKA "q").
  • Star Wars
    • As with Star Trek, this is a "whew, where to begin?" entry.
    • Many of the worlds from the Star Wars galaxy are present in UF -- Corellia, Tatooine, Alderaan, Dantooine.
    • Genom's military arm uses Galactic Empire equipment, up to and including the Death Star GENOM Armored Tyranny & Terror. (Which acronym referenced the uncanny resemblance to the Death Star that the logo AT&T used during the 1990s bore.)
    • A great deal of Episodes I-IV is ancient history; Darth Vader put himself into cryonic suspension and was recently revived. Similarly, Obi-wan Kenobi was somewhat accidentally resurrected from the Force.
    • Until recently, the Jedi have been scattered and isolated, with no central organization, as a result of Vader's purge millenia before. This has recently changed with the IPO's backing and the founding of a new main temple on Alderaan.
    • Padme Amidala, Naboo, and its troubles, however, are current events; the Federation that blockaded it, though, was The United Federation of Planets.
      • The Gungans, however, are not native to Naboo, but instead are the indigenous population of Funkotron.
    • Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic suffered a brief fall to the dark side and is retraining under Master Jamie Hyneman of the Mythbusters.
      • HK-47 from KOTOR accompanies Rei Ayanami.
      • A minor character from KOTOR, a Twi'lek Jedi named Zaerdra, appears as a member of the Jedi council in The Revolution Will Be Televised.
    • Gryphon's personal ship, the Daggerdisc, is based on the same model freighter as the Millennium Falcon.
    • Boba Fett is a teenager at Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute and current president of the Duelists chapter there.
      • A recent story tells of how he fell into the Sarlacc during the rescue of a friend and how he got back out.
    • The Solo twins, Jane and Jason, are the current owners of the Millennium Falcon and are, like their father before them, somewhat ethically-flexible smugglers.
    • Anakin Skywalker is Kyouichi Saionji's apprentice. And a different person from Darth Vader, who is Anakyn shar Atrados (given "Skywalker" as a pilot callsign millenia ago). The two have not yet met.
    • The use of "The Final Jump" as a euphemism for death comes from Brian Daley's Han Solo novels, as does greel wood, which in UF grows on Salusia.
    • The Telgorn DX-9 Military Transport from an old TIE Fighter game appears in Manhunt.
    • The ship The Queen of Ranroon plays a role in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
    • Glitterstim is a street-level drug.
    • Bacta tanks are part of the medical technology base.
  • Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross
    • Dana Sterling, the Robotech version of Jeanne Francaix. (Max and Miria's first daughter was named Komilia Jenius in Macross and Dana Sterling in Robotech. UF splits the difference by calling her Komilia Dana Sterling and using Libby Jenius as an alias.)
    • She calls her unit the "Southern Cross Crusaders" during the Exile.
  • Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and its sequels and spinoffs.
    • Reflex engines and guns.
    • Fold drives.
    • The Inertia-Vector flight control system.
    • Valkyrie and Legios space-fighters.
    • CVR armor.
    • Cyclones.
    • "SDF" is a standard ship designation for especially large warcraft.
    • The first Wedge Defense Force ship, the SDF Wayward Son, was a Macross-class craft.
    • Max and Miria Sterling, and their many daughters (from both Macross and Robotech.)
    • Lynn Minmei, who unlike her canon (and especially her Robotech) counterparts is a rock musician -- frontwoman for "Minmei and the Marauders".
    • Isamu Dyson and Guld Bowman from Macross Plus are both WDF pilots in the Rogue Squadron Series. Guld is also a Veritech flight instructor with a reputation for deliberately washing out candidates that he doesn't approve of including Kozue Kaoru, because he resents her natural talent for flying.
  • Team Fortress 2
    • The Sniper appears as "Mr. Lowrie" in Prescott's Bluff, a ministory posted to the EPU forums in June 2009.
  • Tech Romancer
    • Armored Knight G-Kaiser, which makes an appearance in A Night To Remember, comes from this Capcom 3D fighting game (which itself is a thinly-disguised megacrossover of several giant robot series).
  • Tenchi Muyo
    • Jyurai is located inside a nebula in the Enigma Sector, and as a result is somewhat isolationist and difficult to get to; subsequently its military power is often underestimated. (It's spelled Jyurai due to the early fansubs which inspired the creative team.)
    • Washuu (likewise spelled "Wasyuu" because of its usage in early fansubs) is married to Kris "Redneck" Overstreet.
    • Ayeka is married to Rob Shannon and is the mother of the Princess Achika.
    • An adult Sasami is the current Empress of Jyurai.
  • Toejam and Earl In Panic On Funkotron
    • Names of the planets Funkotron and Funkorama, in the Bodacious Vee system.
    • The Big Kahuna Earl Bungee and his Main Man Toejam Kuwel are the leaders of the planet Funkotron.
  • Top Gear
    • The Stig appears as a mysterious "white knight" coming to the aid of those in need in the Christmas 2008 ministory The Sandero Affair. He also appears or is mentioned in several other stories.
    • Top Gear itself has been shown to exist as a Show Within a Show within UF.
  • Transformers
    • Cybertron is a part of the galactic civilization.
    • Autobots are everywhere humans are, practically.
    • The Beast Warriors entered the UF-verse from a parallel dimension.
  • Tron
    • The original story features one of the tanks from "Space Paranoids", materialized from CLULess. The design gets reused later in the story Great Justice.
    • Don Griffin demonstrates Kevin Flynn's "digitizer" to his high school students at the start of one story, and implies the events of the movie are historical fact.
  • Uchuu Senkan Yamato / Star Blazers
    • Wave motion guns and engines.
    • The Gamilon Empire and its leader Desslok Dessler.
      • Dessler is the father of Princess Amanda and Prince Garon Dessler.
    • The Salusian Navy uses the EDF's capital ship designs.
  • Ultraman
    • One of the first times Hiroshi Morisato tests his Mol unit, he is involved in an accident with an alien intelligence; as a result the two fuse and he gains the ability to become the latest Ultraman.
    • The events of Ultraman happened on Earth in the Pre-Contact era, with the Ultramen defending Tokyo before they realized they were the cause of the giant monsters attacking. So they left, never to return until Hiroshi/Ultraman Dash makes contact with them again.
  • WALL-E
    • EVE is a prototype robot from Stark Industries, who returns from her first, test mission with not only her designated target but also a legendary lost Minbari ghost ship (The Queen of Ranroon) and WALL-E.
  • The War of the Worlds
    • The events of this novel are (mostly) historical fact -- the invasion it describes was an expeditionary force of 50 Sarmak Martians, dispatched in 1904, who limited their efforts to the British Isles as a test of equipment and tactics. When the invading force died from Earth diseases, the Sarmak entered hibernation and didn't emerge until the Earth-Mars war of the early 21st Century. The Sarmak are the oldest of the four native races of Mars.
      • The name "Sarmak" is a reference to a George Alec Effinger short story, "Mars: The Home Front" (published in the anthology War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches), which used that name for Wells' Martians while they attacked the Barsoomian Martians.
    • Skuld's "High-Speed Tactical Insertion System" bears a striking resemblance to the method and appearance of the Martian cylinders.
      • And is nicknamed "the Martian Cannonball."
    • The Salusian cruiser HMS Thunder Child sacrifices itself to protect fleeing refugees from a Covenant invasion force of the colony world New Woking in the ministory "The Honor of Mars: A War Story", echoing the similar sacrifice of an identically-named ship in the novel.
    • The Martian Foreign Legion forces in the same story include Sarmak Martians, and utilize both the tripod war machines from the original novel and the sleeker flying craft of the 1953 film adaptation.
  • Wildstorm comics
    • Caitlin Fairchild of Gen13 plays a small but critical role in the ministory The Balance; her acquisiton of superpowers occurs well off-screen between the opening and closing of that story. (She appears to be the version predating Wildstorm's merger with DC, hence an entry under Wildstorm.)
  • Wing Commander
    • The Kilrathi and and their deity Sivar War-God (who is another face of Norse god Tyr Grimjaws).
    • The Salusians use the Terran fighter designs from Wing Commander in the UF-verse.
    • Ultimate source of the Church of Man, although the version that appears in UF is greatly mutated from its origins.
    • Roman Lynch was a powerful mob boss some years before the Future Imperfect era; his grandson Justinian Lynch, operating from a base within the Freespacer fleet, is trying to rebuild his criminal empire.
  • The Worldwar books by Harry Turtledove
    • Pilot Officer Kerliss of The Race appears in the Twilight miniseries, the fifth and sixth episodes of it, where he regards the head of Inferno and says, "Superior sir, you appear to have lost the rest of your body. Are you all right?" Inferno reacts accordingly (being a mostly insane ant-based robot).
  • Xx X
    • Xander Cage is an agent of the IPO.


Shout Outs

Strictly speaking, the following are not all shout outs; some are actually minor sources that just end up acting like shoutouts.

  • 801 TTS Airbats -- The cast joins Redneck's Freespacer army in "The Quagmire Project".
  • Adam-12 -- When Ed Tivrusky spoofs the Boston police radio system in Wounded Rose.
  • Alien -- Reference is made a couple times to "xenomorphs" from a world called Acheron.
  • Better Off Dead -- This classic 80s teen movie gets a two-in-one reference when Buttercup Utonium sings its title song at her high school prom. (Elizabeth Daily, Buttercup's voice actress, performed the song in the movie.)
    • Arguably the most famous line in the movie -- "Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that." -- is (mis-)quoted at least twice in various stories (in reference to both Utena Tenjou and Paige Guthrie).
  • Blade Runner -- In Cybertron Reloaded chapter six, the classic Tannhauser Gate lines get played with a little for Priss Morgan.
  • Blazing Saddles -- In the 2008 Christmas ministory A Walk In The Woods, Nall quotes Bart's line "'Scuse me while I whip this out" just before shifting to his full draconic form.
  • Charles Dickens -- Sir Victor Creed is reading History of the Middling Ages during the events of the Exile-era ministory Direct Action.
  • Chess -- A photo found by Kei early in Aegis Florea 2 reveals that the Hanagumi put on a production of this musical in 2354; it's hard to tell from the description, but it appears that Gryphon was cast as Freddy and Sumire as Florence.
  • Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny -- Commissioner Amberson in Secrets is Prince Julian of Amber. The Chronicles exist in-world as fiction; Corwin is named for Prince Corwin, and takes his personal style from the Prince's. Corwin also buys a copy of the Chronicles for Utena as a gift.
  • The Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hogdell -- the city of Tai-tastigon is mentioned.
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- When Kaitlyn meets the Stig during her appearance on Top Gear in the bonus story Road Film (With Fighting), the two of them hold a brief musical "conversation" which is clearly the opening of the "dialogue" between the base at Devil's Tower and the Mothership.
  • Crest of the Stars -- Lafiel Abriel and Jinto Lin Kirk are Gryphon's helmsperson and nav officer on the IPS Challenger.
  • The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon -- referenced in the title of chapter one of Star-Crossed, "The Crying of Lot 490".
  • Doonesbury -- Raoul Duke in Manhunt seems to draw on Uncle Duke as well as Hunter S. Thompson.
  • Dragnet -- Devlin Carter's AEGIS badge number is (deliberately) one off from Joe Friday's LAPD badge number.
  • Dragonlance -- Some of the spells/words of power Tsuwabuki uses come from these books.
  • Duran Duran -- Kaitlyn's ragged stuffed tiger "Seven" is a reference to the Duran Duran album "Seven and the Ragged Tiger".
  • Electric Light Orchestra -- The phrase "I have a message from another time..." which appears in the title block of all of the later stories, is a line from ELO's song "Twilight", which was famously used by the animators who would later form Gainax in the DAICON IV opening, itself a Mega Crossover.
  • The Flying Nun -- Sister Bertrille, slightly altered, appears in a teaser "trailer" for an upcoming story set in "The New Frontier" era.
  • Fallout -- The presence of Rad-X antiradiation medication in shipboard medical supplies.
  • Fatal Fury -- Eiko Rose winds up fighting (and winning against) Joe Higashi in a martial arts tournament.
  • Ferris Buellers Day Off -- Gets quoted in Second Chances are Illogical.
  • Firefly -- Word of God indicates that the brown coats worn by the crew of the Surprise in Manhunt is possibly the only Firefly reference that will ever be found in UF.
  • F³ (Frantic, Frustrated and Female) -- Troubled main character Hiroe Ogawa was Kaitlyn's last roommate at boarding school before Utena; after finding a cure for her condition, she became a Companion to Time Lord James Burke.
  • Girl Genius -- Comments made by characters which are obscure enough to cloud whether they are citing a work that exists in-world, or referencing historical figures.
  • The Great Escape -- When Janice is held by the Psi Corps in Hunter Rose, a Corps guard gives her a ball and glove to amuse herself with in solitary.
  • Gulo's Tale -- source of planet "Gulo"?
  • Heat Guy J -- a robot based on J appears in Second Chances.
  • Hellsing -- Geoff Depew's custom pistols are based on Alucard's Casull and Jackal.
  • Highlander -- It seems that almost no one in UF can resist making Highlander references.
  • Humanx Commonwealth ("Flinx and Pip") novels by Alan Dean Foster: the world Moth is mentioned as a candidate for the title "hive of scum and villainy" in The Antianeira Incident.
  • The Hunt for Red October -- a ship in Manhunt is named for a Navy frigate from this film.
  • I Love Lucy -- Hammer and Eiko do a "Loosey, I'm home!" bit.
  • Iria Zeiram the Animation -- Corwin owns a cloak explicitly described as being the kind Iria's type of bounty hunter wears.
  • Irresponsible Captain Tylor -- Justy Ueki Tylor is a Freespacer, and appeared "on screen" in Day of Infamy.
  • Jeff Waynes Musical Version of the War of The Worlds: the ministory "The Honor of Mars: A War Story" echoes the lyrics of the first part of this musical adaptation of the Wells novel with the lines

 "...The chances of anything hostile coming to New Woking were confidently estimated at a million to one.

But still they came..."

  • Juno Reactor -- In a flashback in A Rose for the New Year, MegaZone quotes the spoken dialogue from the beginning of this group's track "Guardian Angel".
  • The Karate Kid -- One of Laura Kinney's trainers was named Miyagi, and his vocal patterns, as remembered by Laura, match the movie's Miyagi-sensei.
  • Ladyhawke -- Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston is mentioned as an ancestor of the UF version of Sorata Muon from M0use in the story "Icebreaker/Thankless".
  • Larry the Cable Guy -- Inspiration for Q-Boss Earl in The Antianeira Incident.
  • The Legend of Black Heaven -- Oji "Gabriel" Tanaka is a member of Mylene's band in The Sterling Saga.
  • The Lion King -- Gryphon quotes the movie to T'Pol in a flashback in Second Chances Are Illogical.
  • Lord Peter Wimsey -- Devlin's "Upperclass Twit" accent is explicitly compared to Wimsey.
  • The Man Who Laughs -- The 1928 silent film adaptation of this Victor Hugo book is referenced twice in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper" through the known aliases of The Joker: first as Conrad Veidt (the star of the film) and second as Francis Gwynplaine (the character he portrayed). It should probably be noted that this film was a primary inspiration for the Joker, and a 2005 comic about the origin of the Joker was released under the same name.
  • Mars Attacks! -- The fungoid aliens who used Mars as a staging ground for an abortive early 21st-century invasion of Earth are the Gnards and/or Paeecs.
  • Mighty Orbots -- Nick is seen watching this cartoon on TV while in hiding during the events of Outward Trajectory.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus -- Kei references the "Me Doctor" sketch when Iris and Gryphon meet again in Aegis Florea 2.
  • M0use -- Sorata Muon and his lovely assistants help defeat a cell of Nazi terrorists in "Icebreaker/Thankless"
  • Nero Wolfe -- Utena remembers Anthy quoting him in Page of Swords.
  • Oceans Eleven -- A tongue-in-cheek reference to a movie called Godzilla's 11 in DSM Panic!
  • Out Of The Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis -- the UF version of The DCU's Green Martians call their world "Malacandra" and themselves "Malacandrans".
  • Our Man Flint -- Word of God indicates some connection exists in recent works (as of April 2009).
  • The "Pepsiman" commercials -- Pepsiman androids exist, basically as humanoid drink dispensers.
  • Pink Floyd -- Adam Johnson picked "pfloyd" as his WPI username because he was a fan. Zoner uses The Wall as a metaphor for the way he distances himself from his friends when he gets depressed. Gryphon quotes The Wall in Manhunt 3.
  • Planet of the Apes -- Brief mention of "Heston's Planet", the home planet of Mojo Jojo.
  • Pokémon -- Wapiko has brought home six Jigglypuffs, even though Pokemon aren't supposed to exist in New Avalon.
  • Pulp Fiction -- In a flashback in Weapon of Choice, Laura Kinney appropriates part of Jules' "hamburger speech" ("Do they speak Standard on 'What'?") while confusing some guards into letting her pass.
  • Real Genius -- In A Rose for the New Year, Zoner quotes the line about dreaming you're on an pyramid in sun-god robes.
  • Red Dwarf -- "BTLs" as a street-level "drug" are mentioned in Upward Mobility.
  • Scud the Disposable Assassin -- In an early-2012 microstory, Rei Ayanami gives HK-47 an assignment to be executed with "Contempt Level 10".
  • Sex and The City -- Valeris' personality after her... exposure... to Raoul Duke and his medical bag may reference Samantha (both were played by Kim Cattrall).
  • The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut -- the use of the word "chronosynclastic" as Time Lord jargon.
  • Sneakers -- Gryphon uses the voiceprint password "My name is Werner Brandes" in order to access the BRIGHTEST DAY project center.
  • Spaceballs -- Folding back to the Planitia shipyards in part 2 of core has the universe going plaid.
  • Spy Hunter -- The Sunrise Motorworks Griffon 6155 Interceptor makes an appearance in The Santero Affair
  • Steam Detectives -- Provided character design inspiration for Corwin Ravenhair.
  • Charlie Stross's Laundry stories -- A Hand of Glory wired to a palmtop computer in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • The Tick -- The Tick and Arthur make a Lawyer Friendly Cameo during the motorcycle chase in Undocumented Features 1.
  • Thieves World -- a world called "Sanctuary", known for its criminal element.
  • Tintin -- A Wedge Defense Force ship called the Unicorn, captained by "A. Haddock", appears in the forum extra "Preliminary Report: Operation TRIDENT".
  • Tom Lehrer -- While jokingly calculating on his fingers how "too much" older he is than Utena in Christmas Rose, MegaZone briefly quotes the song "New Math".
  • A Touch of Frost -- According to Word of God, Corwin's threat to the demonically-empowered shade of Akio Ohtori in Sympathy For the Devil was inspired by a moment in that series when the normally-happy-go-lucky Detective Inspector Jack Frost suddenly shifted entirely into Bad Cop mode with a suspect who was about to get away with a crime.
  • True Blood -- A "synthetic blood analogue" drunk by Saya Otonashi during the events of Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper" may be a reference.
  • Wanted -- The Stig performs a maneuver lifted from the film version of Wanted in The Santero Affair.
  • War of the Worlds (The TV series) -- The Sarmak Martians use the Catch Phrase "To life immortal" from this series.
  • Watchmen -- Although the name of "The Veidt Savings and Loan" bank on Kane's World is a direct reference to The Man Who Laughs as noted above, it's not out of the realm of possibility for it to be a portmanteau reference to Adrian Veidt as well.
  • Winnie the Pooh -- a small stand of trees on the campus of Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institue is called "The Single-Acre Wood".
  • Wise Blood -- In Manhunt chapter three, Gryphon resists the urge to quote "Where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it" from this 1979 film.
  • The Wizard of Oz -- Ace's real name from Doctor Who, Dorothy Gale, is used to annoy her.
  • The X Files -- In the 24th century, the WWWA had an "X-Class" classification for paranormal events and investigations thereof.
  • Zeiram (live action film). Teppei works as a technician for the TPG in Nekomikoka.
  • Zork -- A White Legion survival kit includes 100 zorkmids. In addition, a character is referred to as tearing into another "like a grue in the dark".


Feel free to correct or add anything that previous contributors have overlooked, because there's always going to be something that previous contributors have overlooked. This list is all but guaranteed to not be complete and exhaustive. No one, not even the creators, is sure how many sources have contributed to the setting over the years. (For a quick idea of how densely a single UF story can be packed with references and sources, check out this thread on the EPU Forums. This is, it should be noted, for one of the shorter pieces. Also check out the quote at the top of this page, which packs seven references into a single In the Name of The Moon speech.)

It has been confirmed that (barring unforeseen circumstances) UF will never include elements from:

A position on this list is by no means permanent, though -- The Lord of the Rings once held a place here until the release of the Peter Jackson films.

We also have a character sheet, with even more tropes.

This Fanfic series contains examples of:

  • Action Girl: Many, many, especially in Symphony of the Sword. Can you count that high? Also the Valkyries and various Einherjar.
  • Actor Allusion
  • Against My Religion: Numerous folks assert that their religion requires them to carry weapons.

 "First United Freespacer Church", Mac said quietly. "We have a moral aversion to getting killed."

 "That's me; both hands on the keyboard, one foot in the Swing Age. If I could afford it, I'd drive a car with tail fins."

  • Author Avatar: Numerous.
  • Author Vocabulary Calendar: "Sardonic." One could make a good UF drinking game from this one word.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Quite a few, some of them aversions as they're the names of real people, and one spectacular inversion in that the real-world counterpart of MegaZone changed his name to match his avatar's.
  • Badass Boast
  • Badass Bookworm: Kaitlyn Hutchins: bespectacled, stuttering musician and deadly samurai, all in one cute, tiger-striped package.
  • Badass Cape: Baron Lord Wolfgang Amadeus Fahrvergnugen is never seen without one.
  • Badass Family: The Hutchins clan; to a lesser degree, Megazone's brood.
  • Badass Longcoat: MegaZone, frequently; also Geoff Depew.
  • Bank Robbery: In Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • Bifauxnen: Kaitlyn mistakes Utena for a boy (admittedly at a distance, and Utena is wearing her hair short at the time) the first time she ever sees her in Wounded Rose. Slightly played with in that as soon as they meet face-to-face, Kate has no problem discerning that Utena is very much a girl.
  • Big Bad: Surtur, possibly and ultimately; various smaller local Big Bads including Largo in the Core era and Akio "Trigon" Ohtori in recent Future Imperfect stories.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Lots of them. And more showing up all the time.
  • Bi the Way: Kaitlyn, Utena, Anthy, Juri, Azalynn, and possibly dozens of others, mostly in Future Imperfect stories.
  • Blade Spam: The Hyakken no Arashi, which means "storm of a hundred blades" but is actually not an example of Storm of Blades. Asagiri katsujinkenryuu novices who execute the manuever successfully are promoted to journeyman.
  • Blonde Terrorist Sex Kitten: Clarissa Broadbank, once she gets out of high school.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: A Jedi agent in a recent story; Shan Bastila for a while; others.
  • Brick Joke: Occasionally in some of Symphony stories someone seems to recognize Utena from her Caught On the Jumbotron moment all the way back in Wounded Rose.
  • Brother Sister Incest: Strongly implied between Amanda and Garon Dessler; taken to a tragic extreme with Touga and Nanami Kiryuu.
  • Cameo: Raymond Burr as himself in Aegis Florea, Part Two: Commander Moreau Reprise; assorted Shout Outs)
  • Caped Mecha (The heavily modified Zaku Corwin Ravenhair pilots in a G Gundam exhibition fight.
  • The Caper: In Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • Catch Phrase: PCHammer's "Let's get dangerous", stolen from Darkwing Duck; the series as a whole has one in "I have a message from another time...", which is almost always the first line of the title block.
  • Caught On the Jumbotron: A camera zooms in on Utena (whose bright pink hair probably drew attention to her) during the seventh-inning stretch of the seventh game of the 2404 World Series.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Inverted and subverted.
  • Characterization Tags: Liberally used by the fan community surrounding EPU to differentiate the UF versions of characters from their original source versions; and to distinguish between self insert characters and their real-world counterparts in conversations referencing both.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Vaughn Gross.
  • Continuity Nod: Both to its own continuity and to those of its sources.
  • Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Utena and the other Cephiran refugees in Symphony of the Sword get elaborately detailed and genuine identity records set up for them by Gryphon and MegaZone -- in other words, by the government of Zeta Cygni -- along with documentation "proving" that they are in fact refugees from a Rim colony wiped out by pirates.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive
  • Cult: The Church of Kalidor, arguably the Church of Man.
  • Cute Machines: Lots. Tiny Robo and Lesser Mazinger, to start with.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Often. They even have HK-47 doing it.

 HK-47: Query: You're a good miniature organic, aren't you? Yes you are. Yes you are.

  • Cyberspace: Immersive interfaces are in common use, but so are traditional interfaces like modern GUIs and CLIs.
  • Da Chief: Gryphon in the IPO, Future Imperfect era.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Utena beating Vigdis.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Edison Bell.
  • Die Hard On an X: The GA story REDNECK: Die Hardly is Die Hard on Salusia. Redneck even gets to say "Yippie-ki-yay, mother fucker!"
  • Ditto Aliens: Subverted -- which is easy to do in text if the author cares to -- with many examples of subspecies and subvarieties of many different alien species -- even those who were Ditto Aliens in their original sources.
  • Divided States of America: As of the early 25th century, there is a Republic of Texas separate from the United States. It is one of the last holdouts when Earthgov forces a One World Order.
  • Doomed Hometown: Seriously, how many times has Worcester been destroyed?
  • Door Stopper: The series, as of November 2008, contains some 20 megabytes of ASCII text. If we assume an average word length of 5.1 characters, that's over four million words. Various fans have printed and bound subsets of the stories over the years, and the results have almost always been monstrously huge books.
    • Some stories, like Hunted Rose, clock in at over 40,000 words, which is enough to qualify for consideration in the novel category for the Nebula award.
  • Doppelganger Crossover: Inevitable, given the number of sources. The most amusing, though, is a moment when Pavel Chekov takes Alfred Bester into custody.
  • The Dragon: As of the events of Code-Name Ultra, it appears that Clarissa Broadbank has moved into this role for Shockwave Alberto, abandoning her earlier codename of "Agent A" to become "Falcon Gold".
  • Due to The Dead: "Stolen Time" is Ben's tribute to his friend Derek Bacon after he died in Real Life in 1996. UF!Derek's ubiquitous series of guidebooks is an extension of this.
  • Dueling Hackers
  • Dyson Sphere: The Zeta Cygni Dyson Sphere has the Avalon pseudocontinent and the cities of Perth and New Avalon, the home of many of the forces of good. While cool and all, the Zeta Cygni sphere has created a lot of problems that they've had to write around (generally by Hand Wave), such as how it was built, how to get an apparent night inside the sphere, and what they do with all of the energy collected. It's from a Core story, so it's pretty impossible to Retcon now, but had Gryphon known he'd still be writing in the universe 20 years later, New Avalon would probably be on a Halo.
  • Electric Light Orchestra: "I have a message from another time..."
  • Emo Teen: Zoner was one 15 years before it was fashionable.
  • Empathic Weapon: Autobots plus their partners, though which is which depends on your point of view; also, arguably, Ifurita.
  • The Empire: Numerous, both straight and subverted.
  • The End of the World As We Know It: Ragnarok; averted in that it's, well, averted.
  • The Epic: As a whole, it's an epic story about the Wedge Defenders and their friends and families. Symphony of the Sword qualifies as an epic on its own.
  • Epistolary Novel: Correspondence, the sequel to Star-Crossed, as a way of fitting Tali'Shukra into the existing canon.
  • Eternal Hero: Most of the Wedge Defenders (the non-traitorous ones, anyway) became immortal Detians, but they also share the element of returning (from the Exile) to take their rightful place as heroes of the galaxy in the Future Imperfect era. Utena is also a form of Eternal Hero, holding the ever-recurring title of Rose Prince. Various other characters may also qualify from their original sources, such as The Doctor, Optimus Prime, and the Valkyrie.
  • Eternal September: Aversion: the Core stories preceded it, making them a snapshot of Internet culture among early-90s college students, who were the last generation to start using the Internet before it became mainstream. Notably, the first repository of anime fanfic on the net was hosted on WPI's FTP site and administered by MegaZone.
  • Everythings Better With Princesses: Especially princesses like Lady of War Amanda. Inverted by Utena, who becomes the Warrior Prince.
  • The Evil Prince: Akio Ohtori... but it's not being King that he wants.
  • Evil Plan: Akio Ohtori specializes in these, especially after his death. Largo was the biggest contributor of these in the Golden Age.
  • Evil Knockoff: The Butcher was a very convincing and effective doppelganger of Gryphon, and kicked off the Exile plot.
  • Fake Band: But real within the context of the series, of course: Card No. 1, The Clay Pigeons, The Art of Noise, the Cyberband of Mondas, Minmay and the Marauders, The Thrashing Gnoberts, numerous unnamed groups
    • A special mention should go to Cthia. Described as "one of the hottest bands in galactic music", it is composed entirely of Vulcans, playing enormously pretentious rock on traditional Vulcan instruments in perfect blank-face no-emotion style. Cthia, however, is a fake Fake Band. They are actually a more relaxed rock band who call themselves The Illogics, Vulcans mostly from a subculture that rejected the Surakite way. They created the overcontrolled, emotionless Cthia as a joke, to parody and criticize the Surakites... only to find themselves trapped in the roles when Cthia became a hit. Especially ironic is the fact that "cthia" is a Vulcan word meaning, at its root, "truth".
  • Famed in Story: Hell, most of the Wedge Rats are in the history books by now.
  • Famous Famous Fictional: With an odd twist in that often the fictional citation will be from one of the other sources for UF, and likely to be recognized by the reader anyway.
  • Fantastic Fighting Style: The Asagiri katsujinkenryuu, among others. The Duelists' Society is built on this trope, testing melée fighting styles from around the galaxy against each other.
  • Fantastic Racism: Several varieties to choose from.
  • Fan Verse
  • Faster Than Light Travel: No less than four different methods are employed by the various civilizations and organizations in the galaxy.
    • Each of which is given distict advantages and disadvantages. Space-fold Drives are useless for exploration, horrendously expensive energy-wise but are great for getting fleets around in a hurry. Warp Drives are medium fast but very flexible in where you can go. Hyperdrive is fast, but travelling down uncharted routes is dangerous. Metaspace Drive is cheap (for the shipowner -- ships don't necessarily need an installed drive) and fast, but also has risks involved in getting too far off course, as well as the initial cost of setting up the metaspace gates.
    • For non-ship-based FTL, there's the IPO's secret Stargate network. However, it can only get you to places in the network, and there were no precursors leaving these things lying around, they're new technology. Sorcerous teleportation works well enough, but is limited by the power of the caster. And finally, the TARDIS can travel to any point in space and time.
  • The Federation
  • Fictional Holiday: Trope, thy name is Dantrov.
  • Fictionary: Fragments of Dantrovian, Hyeruulian, Mandalorian, Kryptonian and other languages, including both tlhIngan Hol and klingonaase.
    • Of special note is the language of Funkotron, alleged to be a dialect of English, although this is a matter of some controversy as this excerpt from "The Kindness of Strangers" shows:

 Fuu Hououji: Hay-LEE DIT-SHIZZY yo! Granny-anny nevva go unda wit'a SUCKA-FOO SHOOBY-DOO dilly-o! Homeys oughta haul yo SACKY-DUMP slackit-back'a NAR SHADDAA! Prezzy SLUG-TELLY BIZZY-*BAM*!

(Literally, "Haley, you worthless sack of shit! My grandmother wouldn't have fallen for a sucker play like that! They ought to trade your useless ass back to Nar Shaddaa. The King shot his TV!" The last sentence is functionally equivalent to "Jesus wept.")
  • Film Fic: Doc Mui builds a DeLorean, and he and Marty Rose ape Back to The Future.
  • First Church of Mecha: Corwin Ravenhair, Norse God of Mecha.
  • Flying Car: The "Daytona from Hell".
  • The Fun in Funeral: In Days of Miracle and Wonder, Gryphon urges the participants at Nene Romanova's funeral to lighten up, because it's what she would have wanted. A Crowning Moment of Awesome in an otherwise mediocre story.
  • Functional Magic
  • Genre Busting: What started as a sort of Elsewhere Fic where heroines from Dirty Pair and a villain from Bubblegum Crisis meet up with self-inserts from WPI has expanded to a High Fantasy Space Opera epic spanning multiple genres.
  • Genre Savvy
  • Genius Ditz: Mirai Morisato. Although she initially gives every impression of being nothing more than a fashion-obsessed airhead, as of the events of Code-Name Ultra it's clear that Mirai is a genius at public relations and managing media -- to the point where her airhead persona may actually be little more than Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Genki Girl: Most notably Ayami Nakajima, Admiral of the Confederate Freespacers, and more energetic at 8 in the morning than it should be legal to be.
  • Gentle Giant: Moose.
  • Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Kaitlyn and "Seven", her ragged stuffed tiger; oddly implemented with Amanda's rag doll of her own brother.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: In addition to Calling Your Attacks and Named Weapons the terms seiza, Kiai, "sou ka", and osensei make appearances.
  • Happily Adopted
  • Hauled Before the Jedi Council: Bastila Shan, the Repo Men, Chad Collier, Utena Tenjou, and many more find themselves faced with a hearing before the cameras in The Revolution Will Be Televised.
  • Heel Face Turn: Several, particularly in the Future Imperfect era.
  • Hermetic Magic
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Gryphon and Kei, Redneck and Washuu, Hammer and Eiko... and that's just in the Golden Age. Many of them are Redheaded Heroes in their own right, though -- especially Kei.
  • Homage: One of the first Ascended Fanboy avatars, who goes by the name "PCHammer", has absconded with Darkwing Duck's entire schtick.
  • Humans By Any Other Name: The various human cultures scattered throughout the galaxy, apparently evolving independently of each other.
  • Humongous Mecha
  • I'm Going to Disney World: Shouted by the Butcher of Musashi in part 6 of Manhunt.
  • Idiot Ball: The entire Exile plot. The WDF's biggest enemy is known for being able to make robots that appear human. So when video surfaces showing their commander supposedly cheerfully gunning down little kids, a lot of them (including his girlfriend) immediately believe it's him, instead of a Buma.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The Symphony of the Sword is divided into major segments called, predictably, "symphonies", which are numbered. Each symphony is further divided into smaller segments whose names always include a term for a part of a symphony or some other small work of classical music: movements, pavanes, preludes, interludes, intermezzos, fanfares, entr'actes, and so on.
  • Idol Singer: Numerous.
  • I Do Not Own: Averted entirely; EPU does not use disclaimers at all.
  • If Its You Its Okay: Utena and Anthy; inverted with Kaitlyn and Miki.
  • I Have Many Names: Gryphon's many aliases during the Exile era plus his string of titles -- including but not limited to The Midgard-Knight, Fleet Captain Hutchins, Admiral Hutchins of the IPSF, Chief Hutchins of the IPO, Kaichou, the Big Kahuna, and He-Who-Could-Not-Run-Things-Without-Ruri -- is the biggest example, but there are others, not the least of which is Corwin's own list of titles.
  • Immortality Begins At Twenty: The undying and unaging aspects of Detian immortality don't normally kick in until physical maturity.
  • Immortality Immorality: Subverted, in that immortality is the reward for great and selfless service to the galaxy.
  • Instant AI Just Add Water: Eve and WALL-E.
  • Instant Expert: By the Future Imperfect era, "skillsofts" -- skills rendered into software form which can then be downloaded into the brain -- are available.
    • In Weapon of Choice, Skuld suggests that Laura Kinney take an install or two to alleviate the boredom of a medical procedure, and offers her a choice of the three skillsofts she has on hand: knitting, Centauri drunken boxing, and "how to draw comics the Bacon Comics way".
  • Instant Runes
  • Intellectual Animal: Many of the creatures and species created by the Wedge Defense Force's Life Services Division, including Gojira Nakajima and arguably neotigers like Kaitlyn's "pet," Sergei.
  • The Internet Is for Porn: When Dorothy declares that her dorm room bed will be insufficient to the task of supporting both her and one other person, Corwin asks her where she got that idea. She replies, "Use Net". (Corwin then mutters, "Stop reading the alt.sex groups.")
  • In the Name of The Moon
  • Intimate Healing: Azalynn to Saionji in Azalynn's Winter Holiday.
  • Invisibility
  • Is That What Theyre Calling It Now: This exchange from Symphony of the Sword No.1, 3rd Movement: A Rose for the New Year:

 Sylvie Daniels: Do you ever dream about me? Guy does sometimes. Don't'cha, Guy?

Guy Morgan: Yeah. Usually you're torturing me.

Sylvie Daniels: Oh, -really-. Is -that- what they're calling it these days?

    • Azalynn also uses it absolutely straight with Saionji in Azalynn's Winter Holiday.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Corwin, Utena, and Anthy all have this trope in spades. It's why Corwin bows out of the potential Love Triangle between them, and why Anthy brings him back in.
  • I Want You to Meet An Old Friend of Mine
  • Joisey: The WDF battleship New Jersey in Second Chances Are Illogical, which comes complete with a "Welcome To The Garden State Parkway" sign affixed in the turbolift.
  • The Joy of X: Derek Bacon's series of "So You/You're..." help books.
  • Jumped At the Call
  • Knocking On Heathens Door: The Campus Crusade for Kalidor in the WPI segments of The Symphony of the Sword".
  • Kwyjibo: Lying Bastard Scrabble.
  • Life Imitates Art: In Second Chances (releaed in late 2003), the Mythbusters are seen on TV attempting to recreate "the famous 'Captain James Kirk makes a cannon on a primitive planet' legend," as seen in the original Trek episode "Arena". During the 2009-2010 season, the real Mythbusters actually did this for a Viewer's Choice episode. (One wonders if the Viewer in question was a UF reader...)
  • Little Stowaway: Nadia and Jean of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, accidentally, on the SDF-17.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: The character sheet has over a hundred recurring characters, and it's nowhere near complete.
  • Loads and Loads of Races: Which is only to be expected given the abundance of SF and Fantasy sources contributing to the setting, a few of which are listed on Loads and Loads of Races themselves.
  • Love Dodecahedron: Several of the core characters are involved in what amount to stable extended polyamorous relationships.
  • Love Triangle: Several, of different varieties. At least two stable Type 8 relationships form during the course of Symphony of the Sword, but other triangles including some with unrequited love are also present. Gryphon himself, despite having occasional friend-lovers all over the galaxy, seems to be in a stable (and fully informed) Type 7 with Kei and Skuld.
  • Lovely Angels: Kei and Yuri, of course!
  • Mayfly December Romance: Averted with Keiichi and Belldandy Morisato; as of the Future Imperfect era, they've passed their 200th anniversary (and still going strong!).
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: The Transformers, who also have Heart Drives.
  • Made of Indestructium: The setting has at least three indestructible metals, mostly from Marvel comics: Adamantium (which is technological in origin and seems to have been designed to be magic-resistant), adamantite (a similar compound which plays well with magic but which is poisonous if used internally), and uru (similar to adamantite but much heavier). Presumably vibranium is also available, given the presence of Captain America in the setting.
  • Magic From Technology
  • Mega Crossover: The Ur Example.
  • Meta Fic: The conclusion of the Core stories.
  • Mexican Standoff: A three-way standoff is described as a "Carggian standoff." Another character replies, "Well, we moved from Mexico when you showed up."
  • Mistaken for Murderer: Gryphon, during the Exile.
  • Morality Chip: Larry Mann was ordered by Largo to create Iczer-2 without one, because Iczer-1 had shown too much moral compass to be of any use to him. (She gets better in spite of this.)
  • More Dakka: ReRob's Thundergod.
  • Motifs: The bench on the SDF-17 is where many of the major changes to Marty Rose's life occur.
  • Multinational Team: In the Future Imperfect and New Frontiers eras, the IPO.
    • Also the Teikokukagekidan Hanagumi, even more so than in their source material; the UF version has members from several different planets, including a Hoffmanite and a Salusian.
  • Mushroom Samba: Storm's mellow time on Funkotron in Lost and Found.
  • My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Inevitable given all the conflicts, but also this exchange in Symphony of the Sword:

 Kaitlyn Hutchins: S-s-say it. S-SAY IT!

Juri Arisagawa: ... Kaitlyn's kung fu is best.

  • My Nayme Is: Hyeruulian names look alien, but usually can be pronounced like English or Japanese names -- for instance, M'yl'ya "Emmy" Kyn'o'bi, the distant descendant of Master O'bi-Wann Kyn'o'bi, and Uum'y R'yuu-z'ky, Rune Knight of the Sea. Of course, the Hyeruulians insist that non-native speakers are missing certain subtle elements of the pronunciation that only they can hear.
  • Mythology Gag: Often very subtle, and sometimes a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
    • Example: In the forums-only story Correspondence III: 2400-2410 it's mentioned that a space station named Terok Nor was considered and then dismissed as a possible location for the Babylon project. "Terok Nor" is the original Cardassian name of the space station that is better known as Deep Space Nine; the mention is a joking reference to the accusations that the concepts behind Star Trek Deep Space Nine were stolen from an early presentation about Babylon 5 made by J Michael Straczynski to Paramount executives in an attempt to get backing for the latter show.
    • The first time we see Utena Tenjou in The Symphony of the Sword, her hair is cut short (we learn why several stories later). Although UF!Utena is very much from the TV series, she starts off looking like Movie!Utena -- at least until she lets her hair grow back out.
  • Named Weapons: Most of the Cool Swords, especially in Symphony of the Sword, are named. Liza Shustal even instructs Juniper on the importance of named weapons.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast
    • Myron Dween. At first you think, oh, that's kind of an Embarrassing First Name, Mostly Harmless. But then you realize: this guy is Funkotroni, and is a total square. Something is definitely wrong here, and indeed he was working for GENOM.
    • Darth Venger (as is traditional for a Sith Lord)
    • Akio Ohtori, but only if you get the connection from the anime that Akio means "morning star", which is connected to both the planet Venus (love) and Lucifer (evil).
  • Next Gen Fic: The Symphony of the Sword and Warriors of the Outer Rim story cycles are about the Author Avatars' children and their friends.
  • Never Bring a Knife To A Gun Fight: "Overstreet's First Law of Tactics", stated, restated and expanded throughout the stories. First, from The Quagmire Project:

 Take a stick to a fistfight.

Take a knife to a stickfight.

Take a gun to a knifefight.

Stay out of a gunfight.

    • In Symphony of the Sword:

  Percy "Techie" Mui: (to his son) To paraphrase Admiral Overstreet, bring a knife to a fistfight, a gun to a knife fight, grenades to a gunfight -- oh, hell, if you know where it's going to be beforehand, mine the area. If all else fails, there's your friend, the air strike.

    • Then, "Gryphon's Expansion of Overstreet's Law of Tactics":

 Take a stick to a fistfight.

Take a knife to a stickfight.

Take a gun to a knifefight.

Take a 'Mech to a gunfight.

Bring a lance to a 'Mech fight.

      • Followed by "Matrix Dragon's Expansion of Gryphon's Expansion":

 If all else fails, bomb the planet.

      • And finally, "Julzz' Commentary":

 And if all else fails, bring your friendly neighbourhood God.

  • NGO Superpower: Many, including GENOM, the Wedge Defense Force, and the International Police Organization.
  • Nice Hat: An unidentified extra in Lost and Found -- implied to be a thug who is trounced between scenes -- says this about Magneto's helmet, which is indeed a classic example of the trope.
  • No Bisexuals: Averted in the Future Imperfect era -- there are several in the primary cast of Symphony of the Sword.
  • No OSHA Compliance: Lampshaded in Road Trip to Naboo Part 4.
  • Noodle Incident: Frequent references are made to incidents which occur in stories that are either being planned or in the process of being written but have never been published. Especially notable are two planned Symphony of the Sword stories that were announced back in 2002 but never finished due to Gryphon developing writer's block and deciding it was easier to just move on to the next Arc.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: Hammer retreats to Utopia Planitia after Sonset, and finds an abandoned base with dead bodies lying around and all the lights turned off. Of course, everyone had just left due to GENOM's Evil Plan coming to fruition, but it sure was creepy anyway.
  • Not a Date: Corwin and Utena go on many of these before they wise up.
  • Not Me This Time: Mojo Jojo is quite upset, annoyed and put out when everyone assumes he must be part of the Big Fire attack on prom night -- especially since it preempts, upstages, and ruins the plan he did have to attack the girls at their graduation! CURSES!
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Prince Garon of Gamilon, Devlin Carter to a lesser degree.
  • Old Shame: According to Word of God, some of the Core, as well as Gryphon's "Crap Period" during the early part of the Exile.
  • Omake: Mini-stories, entries from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, excerpts from the Babylon Project Database, and TV listings for New Avalon, among other goodies, available only on the EPU Discussion Forums.
  • One Steve Limit: Being a fusion of so many stories, violating this was inevitable. We have two machine intelligences, EVE and Eve. Eiko Rose and Eiko Kageshoujo were both originally named Girl A in Japanese. But the strangest has to be two Anakins, Anakin Skywalker and Anakyn shar Atrados, who were split from the same source character at different ages and given radically different backgrounds.
  • One World Order: Ruthlessly enacted by Earthgov during the period covered by the later installments of Symphony Of The Sword
  • Organic Technology: Jyuraian spaceships.
  • Our Elves Are Different: Most of them are actually Celestial beings native to the lower heavens (Alfheim and Svartalfheim), akin to but less powerful than angels. Hyeruulian elves are believed to be the descendants of "colonists" who moved to Midgard.
  • Out Damned Spot: Marty Rose, in Dies Irae.
  • Patchwork Fic: EPU gleefully mixes and matches elements from sources that have multiple continuities with a wild abandon that carries the reader along with its audacity. A good case in point would be the native and extradimensional versions of many of the X-Men who now coexist in the UF universe.
  • Phlebotinum Rebel: Scott Bernard.
  • Physical God: Lots of 'em, including the whole Norse Pantheon, Eris and Vaughn; Corwin Ravenhair; subverted by Hiroshi Morisato, who although he is half-divine has chosen to embrace his mortal side.
  • Pillar of Light: A permanent pillar emanates from Odin's palace in Asgard.
  • Planet of Hats
  • Planetville: Some are imported whole from source material; others, native to the setting, are justified by the explanation that many colonies were settled almost entirely by specific racial/cultural groups -- for instance Tomodachi, Ishiyama and the other Japanese worlds.
  • Pleasure Planet: Disney's World
  • Plot Relevant Age Up: Vigdis.
  • Polyamory
  • Post Modernism: As a Mega Crossover in a Science Fantasy setting, this is to be expected, but it goes far beyond that. Incorporating the entire storyline of Revolutionary Girl Utena certainly helps, providing plenty of Deconstruction, metatropes, and shadow girls. But even from the very first story, what is theoretically a Self Insert Fic has real people vastly outnumbering the three fictional anime characters; by the end of the Core, it's also a Meta Fic In Space. See the entry on Genre Busting above.
  • The Power of Rock: Especially prevalent with the Freespacer military operations and in Symphony of the Sword.
  • Precursors: Several sets, most notably the Atlanteans and the Mandaloreans, who existed several thousand years before the "current era". The creators of Halo, however, are even more ancient, having been tentatively dated to at least a quarter million years in the past.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Well, besides the Klingons, several different varieties.
  • Punch Clock Villain: The Big Fire accountants forced into being field agents by their Q-Boss, Earl, in The Antianeira Incident.
  • Rape As Drama: Well-handled: Both Kaitlyn and Utena have rapes in their backstories -- Kaitlyn's more violent than Utena's Mind Screw seduction by Akio -- and it takes them both years and much support by friends and family to get over the lingering psychological aftereffects, even as both go on to be Big Damn Heroes.
    • Noriko, too. Which contributes to her eventually going Yandere and doing it to Hammer, of all people.
  • Raygun Gothic: Usually a deliberate design aesthetic chosen by architects and artists within the setting; for instance, both New Avalon and Asgard have a lot more Art Deco elements than one might expect.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: At one remove, maybe -- Sumire's self-exile from the Hanagumi in the backstory of Aegis Florea 2 seems to reflect Michie Tomizawa's retirement from Sakura Taisen, complete with swansong and farewells.
    • Numerous small moments throughout Symphony of the Sword -- such as the Art of Noise looking for "Batherson's College" in Toronto, the Crunch-and-Munch guy at the hockey game, and Utena and Saionji belatedly remembering the principle of specific heat -- are based on events that actually occurred to members of the writing team.
  • Real Person Fic: Other than the Author Avatars themselves, sorta kinda:
    • A number of 20th-21st Century figures appear in the 25th Century courtesy of the WDF's "Project Hero", which gave selected outstanding persons the Omega-2 immortality treatment. Most notable among them is Jackie Chan, who is an Expert of Justice in the Symphony of the Sword era.
    • A short story set in the early Golden Age told of how the WDF enacted a special plan to give former NASA astronauts a chance to walk on the moon.
    • A number of real people appear in Valhalla or in forces dispatched from Valhalla -- for instance, Virgil "Gus" Grissom shows up at the end of Clarion Call.
    • As noted in the sources folder above, a number of television personalities have counterparts in UF's 25th Century who have appeared "on screen", including but not limited to the Myth Busters and the Teutuls of American Chopper. However, none of them have actually been the focus of a story of their own, so they only count as Real Person Fic on a technicality.
    • Nikola Tesla is regarded as one of the greatest inventors in Galactic history, to the point that he tutored Skuld.
  • Redemption Equals Death: So, so averted. Most Atoners end up working with the good guys.
  • Remember When You Blew Up a Sun: Oh so many.
  • Rewrite: Several stories have ended up being rendered obsolete by later story developments, and have been or are going to be rewritten to fit back into continuity -- such as the pre-Future Imperfect story Cybertron Dreams, now known as Cybertron Reloaded, and the epic "Day of Infamy".
  • Rewriting Reality: Everything starts with the program CLULess, which materializes both the Lovely Angels and Largo -- along with a load of Powered Armor and Mecha Mooks. Eventually we discover that it even remade the entire UF-verse into the Patchwork Fic we know and love.
  • Rich Bitch: Again, Liza Broadbank before her Heel Face Turn; again, her sister Clarissa has this too.
  • Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Subverted by Prince Garon of Gamilon, who is using Obfuscating Stupidity to keep from being named as heir to the Gamilon Empire in favor of his younger sister Amanda, who not only wants the position, but whom he feels is much better suited to the job.
  • Robot Girl
  • Robot War
  • Roboteching: Used as a verb from the first story on.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: Deliberate invocation in Last Transport, to demonstrate Kid Flash's rather spastic -- and unintentionally funny -- typing style.
  • Rule of Cool: Everything. It's the editorial main objective.
  • Running Gag: "Taco night"; Derek Bacon's series of "So You/You're..." guidebooks, which seem to have a volume to cover every unlikely extremity a character might find himself in.
    • Subverted by the seemingly endless list of Dantrovian religious holidays celebrated by Azalynn. Although she appears to be making them up on the spot as needed or convenient, most of them, regardless of how strange or silly they are, are apparently real.
      • Mostly, they were made up by the Dantrovians due to the more conservative views of other races on the subject of sex in order to allow them more freedom there.
    • Also, according to Word of God:

It's kind of an undeclared running joke in the UF universe that everyone you meet named Carter is related. Devlin's late, unlamented father was the notorious gangster Jack Carter of Get Carter fame (Edison and Samantha are presumably Jack's estranged brother and sister). Somewhere a ways back and off on another branch in their family tree, you can find the mystic and dream explorer Randolph Carter of Boston (1874-1932?).



Martian warlord John Carter's provenance as part of that same clan is harder to establish, since he himself doesn't know when he was born, but family legend claims him as the one who (ca. 1650) established what would become the American branch of the family, and thus as a fairly distant ancestor of Randolph's.
—Gryphon, 3 December 2011
  • Sadistic Teacher: Professor Aaron Harris at WPI.
  • Santa Claus: By the beginning of Azalynn's Winter Holiday, Saionji (after having been trounced by Kaitlyn) has somehow acquired a new sword to replace the one she destroyed. As he was disoriented and not a little crazy at the time, he's not quite sure where it came from. He remembers a man in red with white hair and a beard giving it to him and telling him to do better with it than he did with its predecessor, but isn't sure if that were a hallucination or not, and notes that he wasn't a good enough boy that year to get a present from Father Christmas.
  • Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Covenant, most of the Kilrathi.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Kaitlyn when she confronts Garcia in Hunter Rose.
  • Science Fantasy: UF qualifies in every conceivable way by mixing Sci Fi and Fantasy almost seamlessly.
  • Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: averted, surprisingly. Most everyone in the story happily lives in one spiral arm of the galaxy, with a coreward and rimward frontier. And then, there's this from Gryphon on the forums:

 "Assuming she's in another [galaxy] and not somewhere in the colossal void in between the galaxies, that leaves us with only (at best modern scientific estimate) about 124,999,999,999 more to check, each containing somewhere around 500 billion solar systems. Even with a TARDIS - even if it somehow only took one second to check each entire galaxy and move on to the next one - that search would take just under 4,000 years."

  • Sdrawkcab Name: The realm of Oriphos, which occupies the cosmological mirror-opposite position to Cephiro.
  • Self Insert Fic: And how! Practically the Ur Example. However, this has been averted in the Future Imperfect era, where the focus has begun to shift to a "second generation" of protagonists, some of whom are the children of the self-inserts.
  • Sex Face Turn: Saionji's "rehabilitation" via having sex with Azalynn.
  • Shadow Archetype
  • Shining City: New Avalon
  • Shout Out: See the Shout Out section in the Sources folder, above.
  • Show Within a Show: Many, including Battlecruiser Vengeance, The Adventures of Red Lad, the Crimson Lizard series of movies, Avalon Chopper, Dalek 207, and the New Century Zatoichi films. "TV listings" for New Avalon are occasionally posted to the EPU forums listing even more programs, along with fun capsule descriptions.
    • Special mention should be made of Professor Enigma, a BBC-TV series that has been running almost continuously for 500 years. Based on the adventures of the "real" Doctor -- who has actually made a guest appearance on the show -- its current Professor is played by actress and former Companion Rose Tyler; its production staff travels around the galaxy in a real, if decrepit, TARDIS to film on location.)
  • Single Biome Planet: Lampshaded by "Ice Planet Halloran V" -- yes, that's what it's officially called.
  • Slash Fic: In-universe example: in chapter 3 of Manhunt, Vanessa Leeds reports (as part of her intelligence gathering efforts on the galaxy-wide Net) discovering the existence of Foe Yay slash fans shipping Largo and Gryphon, much to the latter's disgust.
  • Snowball Lie: Cthia -- see Fake Band, above.
  • Something About a Rose: Since the arrival of Utena Tenjou in Midgard and the founding of the Duelists' Society, Rose Duels have become the most common form of martial arts exhibition among the Ragnarok Wave, their families, friend and acquaintances. And Captain Picard in a Rose Duel is definitely Rule of Cool.
  • Song Fic: Pretty much any story with a performance by the Art of Noise in it turns into this for a while.
  • Space Opera
  • Space Western: Star-Crossed is this to a tee. Settlers are trying to make a living in a hostile land when two strangers come into town, trying to escape their violent past. On a Halo.
  • Speech Impediment: Kaitlyn Hutchins, with various subversions -- her stutter vanishes when speaking with Marty Rose or either of her lovers, and it disappears entirely in her early 20s for reasons that are not yet fully explained. As is not uncommon in the real world, it also vanishes when she sings.
    • Epileptic Trees: Could Kaitlyn's stutter have been caused by being exposed to NeuroKill in utero during Days of Miracle and Wonder?
  • Spin Off: (Gryphon and Zoner Get) Hopelessly Lost, now being recreated as Bubblegum Crisis: The Iron Age.
  • Star Crossed Lovers: Gryphon and Tali from Star-Crossed, natch.
  • Steampunk: The entire tech base of the planet Ishiyama -- including their spacecraft; also, Corwin shows a fondness for steampunk designs, as evidenced by the construction of Tiny Robo. And for the ultimate example: after Ragnarok, the stability of the universe is maintained by a steam-powered Babbage-style difference engine of truly gargantuan proportions.
  • Subspace Ansible
  • Subspace or Hyperspace: Both and more. (See FTL Travel above)
  • Succession Crisis: Instability in Cephiro drives a lot of the action in Symphony of the Sword.
  • Superhero
  • Super Registration Act
  • Take That:

 "... what was the name of the guy on Old Earth, the twentieth-century industrialist? Richest guy in the world, went totally nuts?"

"Bill Gates?" said Kei.

 The point was, she really -had- seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion (if by "the shoulder of Orion" you meant Betelgeuse), really -had- watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. She'd grown accustomed to seeing epic things happen with slightly alarming regularity as a kid; had even, in some ways, started to think she might be getting a little bit jaded.

  • Terraform
  • That Man Is Dead: Liza Broadbank, after watching her life come crashing down around her and rebuilding it from scratch, renames herself Liza Shustal.
  • Theme Naming: The world, cities and nations of Ishiyama -- the planet where the local version of Sakura Taisen took place -- are named for members of the Sakura Taisen production team. Other planets often have names appropriate to their "specialties", such as Terpsichore III, the site of a music conference; Heston's Planet, homeworld of Mojo Jojo; and Kane's World, home to Batman.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: Occasionally pieces of music from various soundtracks show up in the story as "native" compositions -- for instance, "Scarlet no Gakuen" from Revolutionary Girl Utena became a piece Kaitlyn wrote for her school orchestra, inspired by Utena.
  • This Is a Drill
  • This Is Not a Drill
  • This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Numerous instances both directly invoked and simply demonstrated. Most recently seen in Weapon of Choice when Laura Kinney declares that facing Kimura is something she must do herself, without help from Gryphon's forces.
  • Those Wacky Nazis
  • Time to Unlock More True Potential
  • Time Travel
  • There Is Only One Bed: Played for laughs (well, mostly) in Wounded Rose, where six people try to jam into one motel bed on the road back from Toronto. Kaitlyn, Utena, Amanda, and Azalynn end up on the single queen-sized mattress.
  • To the Pain: Kaitlyn to Garcia in Hunter Rose, only it's done telepathically and out of sight of the readers; we just see Garcia surrender after he views Kaitlyn's threat.
  • Transformation Sequence: The Rune Knights; also, in Knights of the Tenth World, Part 3: Endgame, Utena undergoes at least three involuntary transformation sequences in less than 15 minutes.
  • Trapped in Another World: They get so many of these that they have a guidebook -- "So You've Just Arrived From A Parallel Universe" -- for newcomers, and cops on the beat in New Avalon have a standard procedure for dealing with them.
  • True Art Is Incomprehensible: Satirized with Ragulin of the Ecole Musico-Technologique and his pretentiously avant-garde "l'Experience Sonique" in The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light; further mocked by Ragulin himself much later, after he has an epiphany and becomes an itinerant bluesman.
  • Turing Test: Administered by the Turing Institute on the planet Turing III. Artificial Intelligences that pass this test are certified as sentient beings in the United Federation of Planets. However, applications have to be submitted by their owners, which given the strong Androids Are People Too nature of the setting, many of the characters view it as a form of slavery.
  • Unto Us a Son And Daughter Are Born: Lampshaded by Kozue (herself the twin of Miki). She notes that her peer group has Guy and Priss Morgan, Chip and Reiyna Mui, and Achika and Tenchi Shannon.
  • Virtual Soundtrack: In virtually every EPU piece longer than a short-short since the late 90s.
  • Voice of the Resistance: Network 23, Big Time TV, and even the BBC! Trope Namer Susan Ivanova doesn't broadcast; she likely has her hands full dealing with Derek Bacon, her CO on B6.
  • Warrior Heaven: Valhalla, natch
  • Warrior Prince: Actually "hard-coded" into the nature of Cephiro, where he acts as a roving "correction mechanism". Examples include Dios and ultimately Utena Tenjou.
  • Wave Motion Gun: Several varieties, from several sources, including the Trope Namer from Uchuu Senkan Yamato.
  • What Measure Is a Non Human: Instead of a hidden moral value, it can actually be measured in terms of Spengler flux. ACIs run a wide range from barely sentient to emitting three times the Spengler radiation of average humans.
  • Wham Episode: Hunted Rose
  • Wham Line

 "Blind we are," Yoda said softly, as if only to himself. Then, in a slightly louder voice, he added, "Blind we have been. Since the time of Nemo shar Atrados... blind we have been."

  • Who Wants to Live Forever: Subverted -- his loved ones decide to get the immortality treatment as well. Then the people who care about them, until every single Wedge Rat is immortal. As are their descendants.
    • Played somewhat straight in Aegis Florea 2 when Sumire is revealed to have, as a result of a combination of this Trope, Victory Is Boring and her own unrequited love for Gryphon, spent the previous forty years in the throes of a Heroic BSOD until Kei reboots her with a What the Hell Hero/The Reason You Suck Speech that is so scathing and insulting that she cannot help but to rouse from her self-imposed emotional stupor and get angry.
  • Wolverine Claws: A common cybermod, actually called "wolvers" in-world. After he arrives in the UF-verse, Wolverine is annoyed when he finds that he cannot sue for the misappropriation of his name.
  • The Worcester Fireball: See Doomed Hometown above.
  • World Tree: Yggdrassil, the original ash tree.
  • Worthy Opponent: Hans von Hammer of Big Fire, at least to Biggles and Kozue Kaoru. (And vice-versa.)
  • Write Who You Know: To the point that all but three of the many characters in the first story are real people.
  • You Already Changed the Past: Time Travel in UF mostly works in this way, from Tobernel's literal Self Fulfilling Prophecy to Doc Mui having to go back and save himself in the past. But then there are more Timey Wimey Ball moments where characters go back in time to Set Right What Once Went Wrong before fading away into non-existence (though that was apparently orchestrated by resident deus ex machinist Edison Bell).
  • You Kill It You Bought It: Akio kills Zagato and takes his place as High Priest of Cephiro. Anthy later kills him, and winds up becoming High Priest herself.
  • You Mean Xmas: Various alien holidays held at about the same time on the Galactic standard calendar, including of course the inevitable Dantrovian excuse for an ... intimate experience with like-minded individuals.
  • Zeerust: Much of the civilized galaxy feels like the late 20th-early 21st century with Space Opera accoutrements. For example, 25th-century Toronto is essentially identical to Toronto now. New Avalon, a planned city built from scratch at the beginning of the 25th century, is deliberately designed to feel like a New England city circa 2000 AD. Lampshaded in one of the stories where a character says "Whenever we set out to build new things nowadays, we realize all our best stuff was made in the twentieth century, but it got knocked down, and we want it back, so we build it again." Within the setting, some 25th-century sociologists believe this is the result of having large numbers of immortals born in the 20th in the population, imposing their tastes and familiarities on the culture as a whole.)

Undocumented Features is large enough to have created its own internal tropes:

Shustal!

  1. ↑ except for that one reference to Ryouga's getting-lost skills.
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