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Oct. 7th, 2015 08:25 amHad a PM exchange with Redler Red7 yesterday, regarding his Lucky Star fic Coinciding Moments. Long story short, I had assumed that it was to take place after the events of the anime, but he pointed out mid-exchange that it actually diverges from episode 15. I suggested that he be more clear about that from now on, but he replied that there are about eight different AUs, semi-AUs, or interquels he could think of that he could tell were such without them being actually marked as such, and that if anyone wants to assume something by default as a regular continuation, they're free to ignore certain clues until they ask.
I can see his point, about not wanting to condescend anyone, although that didn't make me feel any less slighted. Some fics (such as To Blossom In Winter and The Loss of Innocence) obviously do take place post-anime, but other fics I assumed to be continuations until it became obvious otherwise include Fists of Rage (AU), No Birds, No Bees (diverges from episode 6), and the AFF.net Sonic ficseries A Rose & a Thorn (between Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog; assumed until it ended to take place after the latter game).
Having occurred to me during the convo, I would chalk such default assumptions as mine up to my first experiences with fanfiction. The very first fanfic I ever read was a Sailor Moon ficseries beginning with American Dream, which takes place after the anime, back in 2002. From there, I sought fanfics of Mon Colle Knights, but never found that many, and while there was one that was written while the anime was still going on, others (including Being With You and Christmas Kiss) were set a stated number of years after the anime. (My own later fic Rockna & a Hard Place was set mid-anime, but it was based on a recursive interquel to a certain Earthbound fic.)
Come 2004, most fics I read were of Earthbound. Most of those take place after the events of that game, and let's remember that Mother 3 didn't exist at the time either. One of the few that wasn't a continuation, E Revolution, was explicitly stated (at the time, anyway) as an AU (and was also the first one of that kind I ever read) and The End was obvious enough from its summary as a direct prequel to the game. The same was true with the few fics I read based on other games, including The Relic of the Elements (Threads of Fate), Valmar Returns, and The True God of Light (both of Grandia II). Even with ever-ongoing franchises such as Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, most fics I came across later on seemed set after the latest games of their times, with Ancient Ways, Ancient Evils being a great example, and I've even read something Chelle re-blogged on Tumblr about how many people write fanfiction of Avatar: The Last Airbender, even with one non-cartoon continuation of canon after another to joss what they've all written.
Then again, the difference in question here is mainly between structure. There is a difference between a one-shot video game with a solid sequence of events and a slice-of-life anime series that covers barely twelve hours of random events over the course of a year and a half. If I were to ask Jake about any "trends" of fanfics for Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (a cartoon with little continuity to begin with), I'd be willing to bet that what he's experienced to date would vary as wildly as what I've seen of Lucky Star.
I can see his point, about not wanting to condescend anyone, although that didn't make me feel any less slighted. Some fics (such as To Blossom In Winter and The Loss of Innocence) obviously do take place post-anime, but other fics I assumed to be continuations until it became obvious otherwise include Fists of Rage (AU), No Birds, No Bees (diverges from episode 6), and the AFF.net Sonic ficseries A Rose & a Thorn (between Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog; assumed until it ended to take place after the latter game).
Having occurred to me during the convo, I would chalk such default assumptions as mine up to my first experiences with fanfiction. The very first fanfic I ever read was a Sailor Moon ficseries beginning with American Dream, which takes place after the anime, back in 2002. From there, I sought fanfics of Mon Colle Knights, but never found that many, and while there was one that was written while the anime was still going on, others (including Being With You and Christmas Kiss) were set a stated number of years after the anime. (My own later fic Rockna & a Hard Place was set mid-anime, but it was based on a recursive interquel to a certain Earthbound fic.)
Come 2004, most fics I read were of Earthbound. Most of those take place after the events of that game, and let's remember that Mother 3 didn't exist at the time either. One of the few that wasn't a continuation, E Revolution, was explicitly stated (at the time, anyway) as an AU (and was also the first one of that kind I ever read) and The End was obvious enough from its summary as a direct prequel to the game. The same was true with the few fics I read based on other games, including The Relic of the Elements (Threads of Fate), Valmar Returns, and The True God of Light (both of Grandia II). Even with ever-ongoing franchises such as Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, most fics I came across later on seemed set after the latest games of their times, with Ancient Ways, Ancient Evils being a great example, and I've even read something Chelle re-blogged on Tumblr about how many people write fanfiction of Avatar: The Last Airbender, even with one non-cartoon continuation of canon after another to joss what they've all written.
Then again, the difference in question here is mainly between structure. There is a difference between a one-shot video game with a solid sequence of events and a slice-of-life anime series that covers barely twelve hours of random events over the course of a year and a half. If I were to ask Jake about any "trends" of fanfics for Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (a cartoon with little continuity to begin with), I'd be willing to bet that what he's experienced to date would vary as wildly as what I've seen of Lucky Star.