Alternate Universe: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:dariabbchristmas.jpg|right|frame|Daria with a boyfriend, leading a normal life—if Butt-head had not existed (per ''[[It's a Miserable Life]]'')]]
'''Alternate universe''' in fanfiction is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with the canon reality. For our purposes, an alternate-universe (AU) fanfic is one in which a change is made to the sequence of events that occur in the canon ''Daria'' TV series.
''Deliberate'' AU stories are seen more often since the show went off the air. A number of fanfics done while the series was ongoing - like [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]]/[[Trent Lane|Trent]] [[shipper]]s in which they actually date, or [[Kara Wild]]'s monumental [[Driven Wild Universe]] - ended up diverging from canon, but may or may not be viewed as an AU.
A system for naming fan-created AU worlds is described at [[Daria Multiverse]].
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One can make a distinction between two types of ''Daria'' AUs. In the first, the alteration to events is made only to events internal to the series—i.e., not to the larger historical setting of the United States or the world. An AU in which Daria does not come to [[Lawndale High]] but instead attends [[Grove Hills]] ("[[Regifted]]" and "[[Grove Hell on Earth]]"), for instance, is not assumed to be a consequence of a historical event outside of Daria's family; her parents had a choice of which school to send her to, and they chose Grove Hills.
In the second, rarer type, a change to world history has taken place—the Confederacy wins the American Civil War, Nazi Germany wins World War II, etc.—and the story describes the possible consequences of such a change. "[[Gone]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] (Cuban Missile Crisis turns nuclear) and "[[The Other Side of Time]]" by [[The Sidhe]] (Confederacy wins) are two such examples. This kind of story is called '''alternate history''' or '''counterfactual history''' in mainstream science fiction. For details, see [[Science Fiction#Alternate History SF|alternate history SF]].▼
It is also possible to find both types combined in a single AU, such as in the [[Daria Von Doom Series]]. Within events of the show, Daria breaks up with Tom early, during ''[[Is It Fall Yet?]]'' This occurs after Daria discovers that Tom hadn't included her in decisions about attending Sloane family activities, like the Starry Night Ball. In addition, the common history is different from the AU is different from regular ''Daria'' continuity by occurring within the [[Marvel Universe]], making the series a [[Crossover|crossover]] as well.▼
▲In the second
▲Alternate-universe tales in ''Daria'' fandom tend to collect around three particular points in the series, though not exclusively. The first episode of the series in which Daria meets Jane, "[[Esteemsters]]," has received enormous attention and has been re-written many times. (See [[Esteemsters and Daria Fanfic|"Esteemsters" and ''Daria'' Fanfic]].) The circumstances and fallout of [[The Kiss]] have also had great attention, being a significant (and divisive) moment in canon (see [[Dye! Dye! My Darling#Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic|Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic]]). Daria/Trent [[shipper]] tales that strengthen the crush into mature love and the entire Daria-Tom-Jane triangle have also been revisited on a regular basis, though the former less often of late.
An increasingly popular type of AU is one where the Daria cast exist in a different time: "[[Rocket Girls]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] moves Daria and Jane to the late-1940s, "[[Import/Export]]" by [[Brian Taylor]] is set during Prohibition. Some fanfics move the show forward from the 1990s to the present day - or what ''was'' the present day when it was written - to examine how things might be different as a result of the change, such as "[[Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] or "[[God Save The Esteem]]" by Charles RB. Many fanfics have also placed Daria in the present, but not as an attempt at an AU but the writer's preference (as the show was meant to be "present-day" rather than a period piece).▼
▲An increasingly popular type of this second AU is one where the Daria cast exist in a different time: "[[Rocket Girls]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] moves Daria and Jane to the late-1940s, "[[Import/Export]]" by [[Brian Taylor]] is set during Prohibition. Some fanfics move the show forward from the 1990s to the present day - or what ''was'' the present day when it was written - to examine how things might be different as a result of the change, such as "[[Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] or "[[God Save The Esteem]]" by Charles RB. (Many fanfics have also placed Daria in the present, but not as an attempt at an AU but the writer's preference,
▲One notable subdivision of the AU group are stories about ''Daria'' characters as [[superheroes]]. Various canon characters are assigned roles as heroes or villains, depending on their behavior in the series. "[[Legion of Lawndale Heroes]]" is the longest running of these, though "[[Lawndale's Finest]]" (an explicit DC Comics crossover0 also has notable length.
▲It is also possible to find
▲Another subcategory are those stories in which the sex of a major character is reversed (assuming the usual 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl with each birth); the [[John Lane series]], [[Finn Morgendorffer]] series, and "[[Darius]]" are examples, but earlier tales along this line have been told, such as [[MMan]]'s "[[Brother, I Asked for It]]," in which Daria [[dream world|dreams]] Quinn had turned out as Quint. It's most common to see a male version of Jane - there've been John, Jake, James and Zane Lanes - in order to see how the Daria/Jane dynamic would be with Jane as a male (and thus a potential love interest). Notably, when Daria or Quinn's gender is switched, the siblings are usually shown to have a ''better'' relationship than in canon, under the assumption that they'd be less 'in competition'; the Finn Morgendorffer series is a notable exception, with the relationship being far ''more'' vicious and ugly.
Fanfics will sometimes have the 'regular' Daria cast ''crossing over'' with an alternate universe: "The Other Side of Time" revolves around this, as does "[[Through a Closet, Darkly]]" by [[Brian Taylor]]. See [[Dariaverse crossover]].
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