Intro
What you often see in fanfiction, is a multi-universe fic. A lot of universes thrown together in one big story. You could think of a school with all your favorite characters, your favorite characters of each movie, book and series going to Hogwarts... Disney High has been very popular on Fanfiction.net and AO3. Your favorite disney characters in a modern school, surviving every day things. I've always enjoyed these kind of things.
So today I will cover the multi-universe movies / series / games that I know, and I will tell you why it worked or why not. In some cases, characters really didn't have to be added and were only there for popularity, but I will go into that too.
Remember that this is my own opinion. I could have an opinion you don't agree with and that's fine. I'd love to know what you think yourself. That's what this blog is for. Not just to throw out my opinion, but to learn from you guys as well.
What is Multi-universe
As I said in the intro, it is mainly popular among fanfic writers. Mainly, it means that you choose two or more of your favorite franchises and put them together, or take a franchise and put that in the universe of another franchise (for example Disney characters at Hogwarts).
Another example could be a character traveling through different universes. The characters stay in their universe, but the character visits them. A popular example would be Kingdom Hearts for this. In this game you are an original character traveling with Donald Duck and Goofy through different Disney worlds. And there are also Final Fantasy characters added in this game to add to the Multi-universe aesthetic.
How about all kinds of fairy tale characters stuck in our world? Once Upon A Time created seven seasons AND a spin-off with that. So it's not JUST fanfiction where you can be able to do this. Let's dive into the few series I know of and get into more detail.
Once Upon A Time
Once Upon A Time is series that went on for seven seasons. The concept? Fairy tale characters have been banished to our world and live among us in a small town, hidden in Maine. Of course we have the hero who can save them all too who happens to be the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming... Yeah, pretty much a standard concept. But I 100% LOVE Once Upon A Time, watched it 3 times fully and would do it all over again too.
Why this worked
It's not just fairy tale characters that live in our world and have no originality. It's not simply Disney Characters who are dumped into our world. They all have their own story. Of course there is Snow White and Prince Charming. But what if Prince Charming was never actually a prince? What if they first met because Snow White robbed his carriage? Doesn't sound like the Snow White you'd know from Disney, does it?
Not only that, but the characters from different fairy tales know each other and are connected. Snow White's Best friend is Red Riding Hood, Prince Charming has a twin he never knew of... They are not just characters that live in their own secluded world and only just meeting when they are banished to our world.
Writer's Note: To me, it is more interesting when there is more than just the characters in a different world. Sure, it works to just throw them into a new world and they meet there, having to figure out a way back home or something, but it would be more interesting if the characters and world are already connected. Could honestly be as simple as: "Character A and B were best childhood friends until B disappeared. Now Character A finds themselves in a new world and runs into character B again." It would be fun to have at least SOME connection with the other world or other universe characters.
Could the story exist without the Multi-universe?
Honestly? I really don't think it could... I'm not only saying this because it's my favorite series, but the whole concept is about the fairytales in our world with flashbacks to their previous lives. You find out the lives they used to have throughout the story and that is honestly the charm of it. I found myself debating who that character was or what happened to them in the fairy tale world every time.
Were there characters that they just added because the movie was popular? Yes... Yes they did. Even though it was one of my favorite story lines, they didn't really need to add Anna and Elsa to the mix and I am well aware that was just to ride on the popularity of the movie. But still, without all the characters there, it would not have been the same story.
Descendants
Descendants is a very popular Disney Channel movie series that already goes on for 5 movies, mini series, short films and books. I've honestly only ever watched the movies though and the mini-series maybe once. I might need to get into the books as well.
It's about the kids of all our favorite Disney Characters. The first movie begins with the following concept: Beast and Belle united all the kingdoms, then banished all the villains to an island called the Isle of the lost. But Beasts' son wants to give the kids of these villains a second chance and invite a few of them to come to their school.
The whole series is very cheesy, but I really love the movies either way. They are my guilty pleasure and I can't wait for the next movie of this.
Why this works
Honestly, I can't speak for everyone, but I don't think I am the only one who imagined stories about the disney character's kids. Or the kids of my faorite book or movie . I love that they did this, and it works really well too. It's fun to see which character they add to the pile, and sometimes it is also hilarious. Their names are easy to guess their parents for, because they often sound like the name of their parent, or they at least begin with the same letter.
Could the story exist without the Multi-Universe?
If you take away the disney characters, change the names but keep the same concept of villains being allowed back into the world of the heroes... Yeah I think that still works either way. So did it NEED a multi-universe to work? Not necessarily. But I do think it is more popular because if this.
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom hearts is a very popular game series that has been stretched over multiple platforms, but is now available on all platforms with newer graphics. The story of Kingdom Hearts is so complicated that it will need a blog or more of it's own, so I will not go into too much detail about this. I will if you guys want me too though!
Basically in this game, you travel through different disney worlds and help the characters there as you try to find your friends and your way back home.
Why this works
I think these games are mainly popular because of the disney worlds you go to. Who doesn't want to spend a game becoming friends with all types of Disney characters? I certainly do. Because it's just a game it work. In a book or moie I do think it would be a little bit harder to make it work.
Could the story exist without the Multi-Universe
Honestly, though the disney worlds are very fun, I don't think that they are needed. Only in the first moie it plays somewhat of a role, but not much. If you cut out all of the Disney Worlds, then it would still have the full story and you would understand it just as much as with the disney worlds in it. It has some story or message that adds to the actual story, but it's not really that much. Only in the very first game there is at least SOME story in the disney worlds connected to the main story.
Isn't Multi-Universe just fanfiction?
Well... It depends on the way you look at it. I do consider descendants kind of like fanfiction, but a very good and fun one at that. I think it's hard to decide weather it is fanfiction or not when you have those multi-universe things. Even the books of the twisted tales that I love so much. Technically they are a darker 'What if' fanfiction that has been published.
I think it's just a matter of opinion on this one. I don't see OUAT as fanfiction, but some people might. Ether way, does it matter anyway? If you create a multi-universe book and people say it's kind of like fanfiction, is that a bad thing? A lot of fanfictions are popular. Some books even started as a fanfiction before it became it's own story. I literally have done that myself!'
It doesn't matter weather you publish your Multi-universe as fanfiction or an original. Just have fun with it.
Conclusion
So that is the end of this blog post on how to create a Multi-universe story, with examples of Disney. I hope you all enjoyed it and got some good information from it. As always, leave your thoughts in the comments, and I will see you next time!
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