History FanficRecs / BubblegumCrisis

* Recommended by {{Binaroid}}, @/JeanneH, [=SuddenFrost=]

* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, {{Binaroid}}, @/EvilMidnightLurker, [=SuddenFrost=], The Fifth Horseman, Zed42

** Binaroid: Not to mention the copies of the [=OVAs=] the fan had on him/her; or how Genom got away with half of them before the smoke cleared... Genre Savviness all around, tasteful use of AlternateCharacterInterpretation, and a closer look at the FridgeLogic behind the "futuristic" 2032. Good stuff.

** It didn't quite die as much as descended to development hell. The author is posting some of the work in progress chapter 7 in alt.fan.bgcrisis usenet group every now and then, most recently in August 2011.

* ''Comments'': The single most infamous lemon story in the history of anime fanfiction, to the point that ''BGC'' Usenet groups react instinctively with the acronym "DYO!" (short for "Damn you, Overstreet!") to any mention of it -- or anything even vaguely like it. (Which isn't really fair, since no one ever gets on Larry Mann's case for his half of the writing.) Little more than a massive orgy precipitated by the flimsiest of excuses extrapolated from canon material, and everyone is hugely out of character as much for humorous purposes as for sexual. Most don't seem to realize it, but ''Bubblegum Pink'' is as much a spoof of over-the-top {{PWP}} fics as it is one itself.

** antagonist: It's not a PWP. There is plot in it, since it does describe Sylia's struggle to find out what exactly is wrong with Mackie and drawing up a plan for his recovery on short notice. And to be honest, it could've been worse (Mackie/Mason or Mackie/Largo, anyone? Not to mention Quincy/anybody).

** [=SuddenFrost=]: ''Scars'' is the second part of the ''BGC Blues'' series by She-Hulk. I don't want to recommend the series as a whole because (1) it was never finished, (2) the later stories were only available on the author's website, which went offline, (3) its Linna/Nene relationship smacks of [[ShipMates Ship Mating]], and (4) it eventually goes BeyondTheImpossible with {{Wangst}}, PlotLeveling and putting the characters through the TraumaCongaLine. From the same author, I prefer to recommend ''If I Fall...'' (see below).

** It didn't quite die as much as descended to development hell. The author is posting some of the work in progress chapter 7 in alt.fan.bgcrisis usenet group every now and then, most recently in August.

Do warn when a fanfic may head into [[BetterThanCanon non-canon]] territory. Some people just don't like it, and as we all know, {{Shipping}} is SeriousBusiness. You may also want to note whether the fic is based on the classic ''BGC'' OVA series, or the 1998 {{reboot}} TV series, ''Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040''.

** @/{{Night}} Boring. Sharply boring. Adopts the Shinji Ikari approach to the everyman, i.e. deep down we're all incredibly fucked up and cowardly. Deliberately avoids exploring interesting consequences of the 33-S swap (that bit about the philosophical ramifications is a lie, it doesn't explore, it straight up ''tells''); deliberately avoids what could have been a superb RageAgainstTheAuthor or RageAgainstTheHeavens subplot or even whole plot; unable to deploy any sort of dramatic tension. Story just comes across as five chapters of flat writing, neither interesting nor boring, merely ''there''. And just to top it off, the main character never does ask Sylia for a Japanese Language Pack, meaning most of their dialogue sounds intensely childish...nor is Japanese delineated from English except by sounding childish.

''[[http://www.geocities.com/trboturtle/3knights/3knights.html Three Knights]]'' by Bert van Vliet, Craig Reed and Amanda Stair
* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, antagonist, @/EvilMidnightLurker
* ''Synopsis:'' Some dark power is setting in motion the destruction of the universe, and the first step in that process is the destruction of a group of women who could prevent the disaster -- the Knight Sabers. To protect them, the godlike Guardian Ishmael calls together three agents from three other timelines, the fifth Sabers of their respective teams, to protect the Knight Sabers from an equally godlike enemy. But can [=SkyKnight=], [=ShadowKnight=] and [=RavenKnight=] work together without killing each other and still achieve their goal?
* ''Comments'': Possibly a first in fanfiction, an IntercontinuityCrossover of self-inserts. With the kind of talent there is contributing to this story, there's no way it ''wouldn't'' be incredibly well-written. Much of this story is character-driven to counterpoint the need to follow the main plot of the series, and how! Just because Ishmael is godlike doesn't mean he can't make mistakes, and given some of the personality conflicts between these three, assembling them into a team may be one of them. This is a borderline DeadFic, though, as only three of apparently four planned parts have been written, and it hasn't been updated since February 2007. Even so, a wonderful piece of work worth looking at.
** antagonist: Actually, it's still being worked on. As a matter of fact, part 4 is almost done, but one author's contributions are still missing. Well, and it'll have more than four parts when it's finished.
** The Fifth Horseman: An excellent fic (which isn't very surprising given the team behind it). Bert and Craig seem to be referring to a prior crossover between ''BGA'' and ''BGZ'' during their first meeting (the package thing). Was one actually written?
** Yumeko-chan: Yes, there was, a very short one. I have a copy of it that is dated as being written in 2001, though I am not sure Craig ever put it up on his site (in fact, I'm sure he didn't).

* Recommended by Dartz-IRL, @/LooneyToons, antagonist, Yumeko-chan, @/EvilMidnightLurker, The Fifth Horseman, Zed42, @/AxelWhite @/Night

* @/{{Night}}: While this is indeed well-written and imminently readable, it has some issues with that characterization mentioned above. It took liberties with the backstory which are rather unusual, but certainly not impossible based on what we know. The problem is these in turn result in taking liberties with characters, particularly Linna and Sylia, which ''are'' extremely unlikely if not impossible, and the effort wasn't put in to make it really stick.

** @/{{Night}}: Dead since 2006 at the least, but by far the best SI story on this page. It possesses some of the same flaws to be found in The Bubblegum Zone, but in lesser quantity and more easily ignored. The greatest annoyance is where it stopped; the second set of chapters died right at the moment before a grand finale, and it would have been a spectacular and ''glorious'' thing to watch the various plot threads come together against Mason.

* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, Dartz-IRL, antagonist, JeanneH, @/Night

** @/{{Night}}: Dead since 2006 at the least, but by far the best SI story on this page. It possesses some of the same flaws to be found in The Bubblegum Zone, but in lesser quantity and more easily ignored. The greatest annoyance is where it stopped; the sequence set of chapters died right at the moment before a grand finale, and it would have been a spectacular and ''glorious'' thing to watch the various plot threads come together against Mason.

* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, @/EvilMidnightLurker, @/Zed42

** @/{{Night}} Boring. Sharply boring. Adopts the Shinji Ikari approach to the everyman, i.e. deep down we're all incredibly fucked up and cowardly. Deliberately avoids exploring interesting consequences of the 33-S swap (that bit about the philosophical ramifications is a lie, it doesn't explore, it straight up ''tells''); deliberately avoids what could have been a superb RageAgainstTheAuthor or RageAgainstTheHeavens subplot or even whole plot; unable to deploy any sort of dramatic tension. Story just comes across as five chapters of flat writing, neither interesting nor boring, merely ''there''. And just to top it off, the main character never does ask Sylia for Japanese Langauge Pack, meaning most of their dialogue sounds intensely childish...nor is Japanese delineated from English except by sounding childish.

* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, Dartz-IRL, antagonist, @/EvilMidnightLurker, The Fifth Horseman

** @/{{Night}}: Children, please pay attention: this stuff is hilarious, and it's actually pretty good as lemons go, and nobody went fetishistic with it either so it appeals to nearly anyone. Don't give me that shocked expression. You're not that innocent, you're using the Internet. Read it and laugh, or read it and enjoy other ways. It's worth your while.

** @/{{Night}}: While The Bubblegum Zone is eminently readable, it definitely comes across as someone's first work, someone who isn't terribly familiar with their subject matter. Not, mind you, their BGC subject matter, but the other important subject matter of any writer in a story with this much human interaction; human interaction. Things like torture and combat and how people react to them are not handled in a mature or grounded-in-reality fashion. Gifted undoubtedly, but still very amateur and no match for the post 2008-generation of fanfiction writing stars. Keep that in mind as you read.

* Recommended by Dartz-IRL, @/LooneyToons, antagonist, Yumeko-chan, @/EvilMidnightLurker, The Fifth Horseman, Zed42, @/AxelWhite

* Recommended by @/LooneyToons, Dartz-IRL, antagonist, JeanneH

** @/{{Night}} Boring. Sharply boring. Adopts the Shinji Ikari approach to the everyman, i.e. deep down we're all incredibly fucked up and cowardly. Deliberately avoids exploring interesting consequences of the 33-S swap (that bit about the philosophical ramifications is a lie, it doesn't explore, it straight up ''tells''); deliberately avoids what could have been a superb RageAgainstTheAuthor or RageAgainstTheHeavens subplot or even whole plot; unable to deploy any sort of dramatic tension. Story just comes across as five chapters of flat writing, neither interesting nor boring, merely ''there''. And just to top it off, the main character never does as Sylia for Japanese Langauge Pack, meaning most of their dialogue sounds intensely childish...nor is Japanese delineated from English except by sounding childish.

Do warn when a fanfic may head into [[EveryoneIsGay homosexual]] or [[BetterThanCanon non-canon]] territory. Some people just don't like it, and as we all know, {{Shipping}} is SeriousBusiness. You may also want to note whether the fic is based on the classic ''BGC'' OVA series, or the 1998 {{reboot}} TV series, ''Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040''.

* Recommended by Bluemage, Yumeko-chan, @/EvilMidnightLurker, @/AxelWhite
* ''Synopsis'': A professional metahuman crimefighter (read: "superhero") was thrown from his world while fighting evil, and now seeks to return home. His first attempt lands him in MegaTokyo, a few years after the end of the series. While trying to find a way to move on, he clashes with the Knight Sabers, fights rogue buma, befriends a perky young news reporter, and stumbles upon one of the darkest secrets of GENOM. Part of the greater ''[[Fanfic/DrunkardsWalk Drunkard's Walk]]'' metaseries.

''[[ftp://ftp.gweep.ca/pub/anime/anime-fan-works/BGC/Lemon/bgc.lemon.if-i-fall.gz If I Fall...]]'' (gzip file) by She-Hulk

''[[http://www.eclipse.net/~rms/dw2.shtml Drunkard's Walk II: Robot's Rules of Order]]'' by Robert M. Schroeck

* ''Comments:'' Twister is ''the'' defining self-insert character of late-90s anime fanfiction, and is so gleefully over-the-top that either you loathe him with a hatred that burns like the pits of hell, or you hang on for the ride laughing all the way. The ''BGC'' installment of ''Twisted Path'' hits almost all the usual cliches of an SI in that world except for joining the Knight Sabers right away -- it is probably the TropeCodifier, if not the TropeMaker, for ''BGC'' self-inserts. Despite Twister's barely-average writing skill, it is surprisingly entertaining and throws more than a few [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] at the reader. It is also important as a fanfic, in that it had a direct influence on several later insert and insert-styled fics (as seen [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xovers.jpg here]]): ''Drunkard's Walk II'' and ''A Wolf In Crisis'' both include explicit {{shout out}}s to it, the ''BGC'' segment of ''Legion's Quest'' takes place in the ''BGC'' timeline that Twister visited, and the fourth installment of ''TP'' explicitly crosses over with ''Bubblegum Zone'' .

* Some of the best original ''BGC'' {{continuation fic}} on the Net. All of it is in [[FanVerse the same continuity]], making her work essentially one single epic saga. Especially recommended is ''Bubblegum Crisis: The Next Generation'', in which Priss's teenaged daughter Yumeko ends up joining a re-activated Knight Sabers in the face of a new wave of depredations by GENOM and its boomers. Especially noteworthy for her spot-on characterization of the Sabers in their late thirties, nearly twenty years after the events of the {{OVA}}s. Fair warning: Amanda's vision of the ''BGC'' world is [[OriginalFlavour true to the original]], meaning that people get hurt and die, and not everyone gets a happy ending, especially the main characters. Yumeko-chan in particular racks up an injury tally which rivals that of Bert van Vliet (see ''Bubblegum Zone'', below). Darkish but not truly black, as there is hope still shining.

''{{FanFic/TheBubblegumZone}}'' by Bert van Vliet ([[AlternateUniverseFic AU]]). ([[http://www.bgcrisis.com Link]])

* ''Comments'': ''In Progress'', and has been since 1995. Be prepared to do a lot of reading, later chapters can get over a megabyte in size. At first it came come across as a little [[{{MartyStu}} Gary Stu]] but as the story gathers pace, especially towards the later half, it really picks itself up by its bootstraps. The story really has its best moments once it gets past the original OVA and starts adding its own material.

''[[http://www.bgcrisis.com BubbleGum Zone]]'' by Bert van Vliet ([[AlternateUniverseFic AU]]).
* Recommended by Dartz-IRL, @/LooneyToons, antagonist, Yumeko-chan, @/EvilMidnightLurker, The Fifth Horseman, Zed42

** The Fifth Horseman: Lots of pop-culture references in this one. Love the sense of humour.

* Recommended by Bluemage, Yumeko-chan, @/EvilMidnightLurker

* ''Synopsis'': A professional metahuman crimefighter (read: "superhero") was thrown from his world while fighting evil, and now seeks to return home. His first attempt lands him in MegaTokyo, a few years after the end of the series. While trying to find a way to move on, he clashes with the Knight Sabers, fights rogue buma, befriends a perky young news reporter, and stumbles upon one of the darkest secrets of GENOM.