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Patchwork Fic

Want to do an Earth-3 story, but feel really strongly about the characterization of Superman with an ant's head? Look no further. Patchwork Fic is the term for Fan Fic in which the author uses particular characters from different adaptations of the same franchise.

Most of the time, this is to combat particular instances of Character Derailment, or because the author really just has a particular dislike for a character, but feels that using a different version is more magnanimous than not at all. Sometimes it's due to not having seen a certain adaptation of the character (a comic book hero versus a television version of the hero). Other times, one odd version of the character ended up being more interesting than every other, especially an Ascended Extra. And perhaps the writer just doesn't realize that the character is different in this version.

Occasionally, a particularly creative writer will adapt an otherwise unseen character into the universe he's using with what he thinks is the appropriate "mood", making it a quasi-Original Character. For example, a large amount of DC Comics fan art toys with the idea of how characters not adapted into the DCAU might look and behave if they were; the better examples of Sailor Earth fall in line with this as well.

But sometimes it's because someone becomes so saturated in the fandom that the adaptations blend together. It was even commonplace to mention in the Author's Notes if you were using an unexpected version of characters, just so purists wouldn't complain that you were mangling characterizations.

If a writer is lucky, Adaptation Decay will provide some quirks to convey one version of the character to the audience quickly. Ideally, though, this results in un-official Adaptation Distillation.

A subtrope of Acceptable Breaks from Canon. See Ret Canon and Canon Immigrant for when this happens in canonical works. Sometimes overlaps with Composite Character.

Examples (sorted by original medium):

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Bubblegum Crisis: The Iron Age, a current work-in-progress from Eyrie Productions Unlimited, mix-and-matches versions of the Knight Sabers (and other characters) from both the original Bubblegum Crisis and its late-1990s reboot, Bubblegum Crisis: Megatokyo 2040.
  • Sailor Moon fanfic commonly mixed concepts from the original anime, manga and whatever localized adaptations the writer saw. One popular character in otherwise Original Flavour fic was the DiC English dub version of Zoisite (who, in this version, was named Zoycite). Luckily, any use was easy to convey, given this version was female, had a differently spelled name and was more bombastic and emotional.
    • Indeed, this was officially done in Sailor Moon: Another Story, which pieced together anime and manga continuity. The game deliberately addresses this, as the plot is about "rewriting fate" and Schrödinger's Cat characters would often comment that they "guess it was their destiny to die after all."
  • The El Hazard manga made after the anime is mostly the "Magnificent World" OAV plot, and features the version of Ifurita from that version; but it also has some of the TV series' ("The Wanderers") characterization — particularly the younger version of Princess Rune Venus.
  • Happens often enough with Fullmetal Alchemist fan fiction, wherein the author will work with the plot and characterization of the first anime adaptation, but incorporate manga-only characters, geography, and supernatural elements. Often done in crossovers, or in fics that deal with the characters post-series.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfiction often follows the anime events but incorporates backstory elements from the manga, particularly in the case of Kaji and Asuka. Mana Kirishima from the video game Girlfriend of Steel also has a tendency to pop up.
    • Similarly, after Rebuild of Evangelion, Mari Illustrious Makinami has occasionally appeared in non-Rebuild fanfics.
  • Doing It Right This Time: This story is based on the original series but Mari Makinami from the Rebuild films is a recurring character.
  • Last Child of Krypton: Although this fanfic uses the original series continuity, it introduces Mari Makinami from the Reduild films and uses Rebuild Zeruel instead of the original version. Likewise, the Superman elements are taken from many different sources (comics, cartoons, films...)
  • Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: Similarly, the Superman aspects of the fic are taken from many different sources, including the comics, the DCAU, and the various live action films.
  • Unfamiliar, a The Familiar of Zero/[PROTOTYPE] crossover fic, has the former's aspects based mainly on the light novels, but includes anime-exclusive elements such as Count Mott.
  • Dirty Pair fanfic tends to blur the lines between the various Alternate Continuities of the series, like the '80s anime version or Adam Warren's Amerimanga.
  • Ranma ˝ fanfic is are very often a mishmash of the manga and anime continuities, the most noticeable result of which is the inclusion of Sasuke, a ninja servant of Kuno, who was invented for the anime.
  • Then there are Tenchi Muyo! fics that mix and match its various continuitiesnote . More often than not, the "default" setting for a Tenchi fanfic could be best described as "OAV +", taking the original continuity and adding in whichever characters from the other continuities they like. A constant favorite is Kiyone, Mihoshi's partner from the Mihoshi Special and Tenchi Universe.
    • The Daughter of Darkness (Manatsu no Eve) movie is an example of an official work effectively doing this. Technically, it takes place in the continuity of the Tenchi novels written by Naoko Hasegawanote  where Kiyone immigrated from originally, and which heavily influenced Tenchi Universe. For viewers who never heard of Hasegawa's novels, all that's apparent is that it uses the OAV version of Tenchi's house, but also has Kiyone already living there, and has no connection to any other version of the canon; in other words, more or less the "OVA +" setting described above.
    • Superman/Tenchi: The Inhuman Condition, a crossover fic with Superman, specifically warned readers that it was a Patchwork Fic. Since characters from both franchises have multiple versions around , the author declared that he'd cherry-pick other elements to add onto his primary choices of canon. He also justified this with this sort of cross-over fic already being so not canon anyway, so being nervous about continuity was a waste of time.
    Comics 
  • The Justice League Unlimited version of the Question (a relatively obscure character made popular by the show) often crops up in unexpected places. He was actually influenced by (and was nearly a Captain Ersatz for) Rorschach of Watchmen who in turn was the same for early version of the Question. The main difference being he does not have an insanely strict moral code.
  • Many fanfics based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe incorporate Marvel characters that weren't included in the films, such as Spider-Man who was Exiled from Film Continuity due to Sony owning the rights to him (the Fantastic Four and the movieverse or comicverse X-Men can get similar treatment)note , or plot/character elements from the comic books that the films left out or didn't touch on such as Natasha's history with the Red Room.
  • Most X-Men fic seems to fall into this territory, whether it's filling one adaptation's blanks in with comicverse facts, or the spreading around of Character Tics, or the presence of characters who technically shouldn't exist in this version. Most adaptations can't include the Loads and Loads of Characters the comics feature, and someone will always get mad that their favorite gets left out.
    • X-Men fanfics occasionally give comicverse Gambit his first animated counterpart's habit of talking in third person.
  • Teen Titans fanfics mostly based on the show, will borrow from the comics and Justice League cartoon. Probably the most explicit form of this is the Fandom-Specific Plot of Batman coming to Jump/Robin going back to Gotham, Starfire and often Beast Boy sharing backstories more closely tied with their comic selves, or the main characters being referred to by their real names.
  • Smallville fan fics are sometimes known for mixing in elements from the films and the DCAU, occasionally to get rid of some unsavory trait, Green Arrow being a killer, for example.
  • Fan writers and artists for either the Nolanverse Batman or the Adam West series will often try to incorporate their favourite Bat-Rogues in the style of that series - Harley Quinn in particular is popular (and now has a canon "Batman '66" appearance.)
  • Justice Society of Japan's backstory incorporates elements from both the pre and post-Flashpoint versions of the DCU, typically keeping much the DCU's continuity (such as the Justice Society of America, which doesn't exist in the current continuity) but also accounting for the current versions of some characters.
    • Also, astute readers might notice that Hope is a Fullmetal Alchemist-style Homunculus who has severely-weakened versions of the powers of seven other homunculi, including the manga version of Pride and the 2003 anime version of Sloth.
  • Empath: The Luckiest Smurf is a Smurfs fanfic series that combines elements, characters, and even stories from the cartoon show, the comic books, Sony Pictures' film series, and the PVC toy character line into one universe. The one key component retained from the cartoon show is that Greedy is still the village chef, so an Expy of his comic book version, Nabby, was created to take his place.
    Film 
    Literature 
  • Wicked: Can you say "Booksical"? I knew you could. Granted, the mixes aren't that common besides the occasional vocabulary from the book, along with a few of the concepts in the book (such as Nessarose being religious) not taken in the musical version are included. And two and a half characters. (Crope, Tibbett, and reverting Avaric from servant boy to the collected bastard he was.)
    • Also from the Oz-verse, Tin Man fanfic writers will borrow as much as they can from the Baum-Thompson Famous Forty, Wicked, and related sources for backstory, as the miniseries was a little short on that...aside from revealing the "Outer Zone" really was modern-day Oz all along by having Dorothy Gale herself show up in Part 3. It helps that the writers wove in a lot of ShoutOuts to Baum and Maguire.
    • Wicked itself is an example of this trope. For copyright reasons, it's officially supposed to be based on the original Oz books, but both the book and musical draw heavily from the MGM The Wizard of Oz film.
    • And now we're going to have Oz: The Great and Powerful added to the mess that is Oz-based fanfic. Oscar Diggs's characterization is very much Depending on the Writer; anywhere from well-meaning con man to total bastard.
  • Harry Potter fanfics often mix the book and movie canons, albeit probably unknowingly part of the time. This is particularly common with character quirks which only appeared in the films, such as Hermione referring to Ron as "Ronald" when she's displeased with him. Also, fanfiction generally assumes Hogwarts students wear the uniforms used in the movies. Justified in that, based on the descriptions, the book uniforms would be rather impractical.
    • Not to mention the fact that the Hogwarts uniform mysteriously stops including the pointy hats, possibly around the time JKR saw the first movie and realized how silly they looked.
    • It was common in the early days of the fandom for writers to fill in gaps in Potterverse lore with elements from other contemporary fantasy universes, with varying levels of success.
    • And fanfic often includes the House ties from the movies, despite the books making no mention of them. Because otherwise it's somewhat baffling how the narrator, which only knows what Harry does, knows that someone is a 'Ravenclaw' but doesn't know their name. This is somewhat justified because House ties obviously couldn't be including on the 'What to bring to Hogwarts' first-year list, which is where the uniform is described. Presumably first-years would be given a tie after being Sorted.
      • Alternatively, a common fanfic element is for ties, robe trim, etc., to change from generic or non-existent to the appropriate House colors literally by magic once the first-year has been Sorted. The magic may be performed by the teachers, house-elves or even the school itself, according to authorial taste.
  • On that note, many Lord of the Rings fanfics do the same, using characterizations of characters from the books in a movie setting, or characters from the movies in a book setting.
  • Les Misérables fanfics based mostly on the musical often use the book to pad backstories and spice things up for readers who are familiar with both. For that matter, the new movie took some elements from the book that weren't in the musical - for example, Eponine's cause of death.
  • Fanfiction for The Phantom of the Opera often involves this, which is not surprising considering the many media interpretations. By far, the most common versions involve drawing various pieces from the original novel by Gaston Leroux, the backstory rich Susan Kay novel, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. This leads to wildly different takes on the story and characters, depending on the percentages used, and it is considered polite to state in the author's notes which versions are being blended.
    Live-Action TV 
  • iFightCrimeWithVictorious has references and later an appearance by Megan Parker, one of two characters played by Miranda Cosgrove. It also features Shelby Marx and Tori Vega, both played by Victoria Justice.
    • Likewise, their Undocumented Features has done this on several occasions, most recently with animated and classic versions of the X-Men (and some of their foes) (justifying them as originating in two different universes), and three versions of Battlestar Galactica (the two series are treated as different generations; the third source is the original 1970s novelization which had details eliminated from the final shooting script).
    Videogames 
  • Pokémon fanfiction, particularly those centered around an original trainer, will often use elements from both the games, such as the character facing the Elite Four (not a tournament), and the anime, such as professors routinely handing out the starter Pokémon to new trainers, or the concept of Pokémon only being able to say their names.
    • The same can also happen with fics that place undeveloped characters from the games into the anime's continuity. In these cases, it's fairly common for the writer to give the character in question traits from their Pokémon Special counterparts, along with what little characterization the game gives them.
      • Things can get a little confusing in this manner when it comes to talking about Professor Oak's granddaughter note . One manga gives her name as May, the games give her name as Daisy — both of which are taken by other characters in the anime note .
  • Renegade is largely based on crossing the first Mass Effect with the Command & Conquer: Tiberium titles, but includes elements from ME2 such as Nod substituting for Cerberus.
  • The same can be said for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. And given the insane amount of shipping that goes on in this fandom, characters and settings from the games, comics, and TV shows are freely mixed.
    • Notably Inescapable Past takes elements from most of the games up to Shadow the Hedgehog, both comic series, and three of the TV shows and fuses them into a single continuity.
    • Always Having Juice takes elements from absolutely every single piece of official Sonic media ever, then creates a delicious cake out of it. All while redesigning the characters and throwing in a couple of references to other video games as well.
    • Prison Island Break. Sonic the Hedgehog is a wide franchise with a lot of adaptations. And this fanfic endeavors to use characters from as many as possible.
    • Mind-bending dark fic Sonic Sketchy utilizes characters and elements from all of the major continuities at the time of its publication (sometime before the release of Sonic Advance 2); all of them, including Sonic himself, are reinterpreted in various ways (for example, Sara of the OVA is Rouge's daughter).
  • The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn takes place in The Legend of Spyro universe, but Ember, a Classic Spyro the Dragon Series character, is a main character and Red, the Big Bad of A Hero's Tail, is one of the main villains of the sequel. Though this is hardly common in fanfiction for this series, but Ember is often portrayed as either a Ron the Death Eater, or force Cynder to become a Derailing Love Interest and Ron the Death Eater. The author's specific intention was to keep her true to her original character while making her more likable and complex.
  • Mega Man Reawakened has characters and concepts from many different Mega Man series appear to form a unique universe.
  • Type Moon productions (which resemble fanfic) such as Tsukihime and Fate/stay night have various selectable arcs that act as Alternate Continuity versions of each other. Different characters survive and thrive in the end.
    Western Animation 
  • This trope is so common with Transformers fanfic (in part due to the multiversal nature of the franchise), that it's acquired its own in-fandom term: personal canon.
  • Winx Club fanfictions often note whether the characterization is based on the 4kids or RAI version of the cartoon
  • Due to the many varied portrayals of the Ninja Turtles, any given Fan Fic will have characters from multiple incarnations, e.g. Agent Bishop from 2k3 and the Neutrinos from the original show appearing together.
  • Hope Springs Eternal is the myth of Hades and Persephone spliced into the Disney version of Hercules. In it, Hades escapes the river of the dead that Hercules threw him into and deals with fixing the Underworld while falling in love with her. It even counteracts some of the movies' use of Everybody Hates Hades; he realizes that scheming against Zeus has never got him anywhere and he starts focusing on running the Underworld right.

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