Pages for Alternate Universes

For communicating with your fellow chronologists with off-topic stuff.

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michaelyuri
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Pages for Alternate Universes

Post by michaelyuri »

Does anyone have any thoughts about when an alternate universe should get its own separate page on the MCP vs. when its characters should just be included among the primary MCP listings? Although there would always be close judgment calls, I wondered whether it would be possible to come up with some rough rules of thumb concerning when a universe is significant enough to deserve its own page.

I've been thinking about this, and it seems to me that two criteria more or less capture what I think of as a significant alternate universe:

1. The universe has appeared in at least 5 different titles
2. At least one title is based in and takes places almost entirely within that universe

The first criterion rules out universes appearing only in a few one-shots, limited series, or cross-overs. The number of titles is fairly arbitrary, but the basic idea is that once an alternate universe has made an appearance in several different books, the odds are a lot better that it will be visited again later.

The second criterion rules out universes that appear only in cross-overs from titles based elsewhere. If the only time a particular universe is depicted is when 616 marvel universe books cross into it, then its characters probably belong in the main listings.

I don't know whether the directors have used any particular criteria to decide which universes to list separately -- there are few enough important alternate universes that specific rules are probably not necessary. I'm just curious what people think makes a universe significant (and distinct) enough to deserve a separate listing.

Any thoughts?
-Mike
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Re: Pages for Alternate Universes

Post by Col_Fury »

Personally, it depends on the scope of the reality. For examples, Iron Man 2020 has no real supporting cast to speak of, his world hasn't been defined, it's just kind of him even though he's appeared in a mini set in that world and number of other comics. Mutant X on the other hand, while only having the one book and some annuals, has a large number of characters appearing in that world and it's been fairly well defined.(the quality of the book is another thing, though :o ) Somewhere in the middle would be a cut off, but I'm not sure where I see that being.

Thinking in terms of the Project I would lean more toward number of characters in a given reality, if only to free up space in the main listings.

So yeah, kind of the same thing now that I think about it.
-Daron Jensen
michaelyuri
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Re: Pages for Alternate Universes

Post by michaelyuri »

Col_Fury wrote:Thinking in terms of the Project I would lean more toward number of characters in a given reality, if only to free up space in the main listings.
Good point. I think this is especially important for realities that would clutter up the MCP with alternate versions of (or characters with the same name as) 616 characters.
-Mike
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