History Main / FirstLawOfMetafictionalThermodynamics

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games are great examples of this trope in action. Games which focus solely on Sonic and his enemy Eggman (like ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' and ''VideoGame/SonicColors'') tend to have pretty short cutscenes and stories that get right into the meat of the conflict and gameplay. Meanwhile, games with multiple playable characters and antagonists allied with Eggman like ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' tend to be loaded with cutscenes and tutorials to establish each character even before Sonic and co. can properly start their adventure. This even appears in the classic games, where the solo title ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' has little to no story while ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3'' has to take away gameplay time to play cutscenes to establish Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

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* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' games all take their time establishing characters at the beginning of the game, but the more each game introduces, the longer it takes to get to the main story. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' are the most extreme example. The former has an extended five hour opening to tease the 13 villains and deuteragonist before bringing in the main character, while the latter takes time to go deeper into the characterization of those 13 villains and an important new character over the course of a dozens of missions before the main plot reveals itself.

* ''Series/NightCourt'': Endemic through most of it. The strident young feminist prosecutor was replaced with another strident young feminist prosecutor. The sarcastic elderly bailiff was replaced with another sarcastic elderly bailiff (though this was averted when the show's third bailiff was the much younger Roz to avert another ActorExistenceFailure).

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' games all take their time establishing characters at the beginning of the game, but the more each game introduces, the longer it takes to get to the main story. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsThreeHundredFiftyEightDaysOverTwo'' are the most extreme example. The former has an extended five hour opening to tease the 13 villains and deuteragonist before bringing in the main character, while the latter takes time to go deeper into the characterization of those 13 villains and an important new character over the course of a dozens of missions before the main plot reveals itself.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' games all take their time establishing characters at the beginning of the game, but the more each game introduces, the longer it takes to get to the main story. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsThreeHundredFiftyEightOverTwoDays'' are the most extreme example. The former has an extended five hour opening to tease the 13 villains and deuteragonist before bringing in the main character, while the latter takes time to go deeper into the characterization of those 13 villains and an important new character over the course of a dozens of missions before the main plot reveals itself.

* Acknowledged in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' and avoided. Many characters are introduced slowly until Act 5, which introduced an avalanche of characters at once, which rendered many of the original characters OutOfFocus. However, many characters, new and old, were KilledOffForReal during Act 5, and according to WordOfGod this was preplanned. However, Act 6 avoids this, despite also adding many new characters and still manages to bring characters previously OutOfFocus back to prominence.

{{Soap Opera}}s live on this trope; the more [[FourLinesAllWaiting subplots]] and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters characters]] involved in them, the slower any of them advance.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is a textbook case of the results of suddenly introducing LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters since the start of the Soul Society arc: the plot slowed down as tons of secondary characters were briefly introduced, and in the Fake Karakura Town arc the plots slows down ''even more'' as many of these characters are given multi-chapter fights.

* PseudoCrisis
* RememberTheNewGuy

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* MoebiusNeighborhood

* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': The more sub-divisions there are in a circle of Hell or sphere of Heaven, the longer it takes to go through. This is why half of ''Inferno'' is spent in the Eight Circle with its ten sub-divisions and why Eight Sphere of Heaven takes a similar amount of time with its line-up of those who represent the theological virtues.

If a character or setting is added, then the [[PlotThreads plot]] will slow down so that the character or setting can be properly introduced, other characters or settings will fall OutOfFocus, if not outright PutOnABus. How long it takes to bring the plot up to speed, remember neglected characters, or otherwise regain a [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]] depends on how much detail is added at a time; widely-spaced revelations can be worked in more quickly than [[InfoDump large infodumps]]. Adding characters can also lead to {{Flanderization}} of existing characters.

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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Dawn is introduced, an episode or two are spent explaining her relationship with the rest of the group. Also when [[RichBitch Cordelia]] left the show, Anya was brought back to fill the "Xander's LoveInterest /DeadpanSnarker" role.

** This was noted by O'Neill in season 6, after [[spoiler: Daniel had gone missing, and the Russians wanted someone on SG-1]]. "Who decided every team that goes through the Gate has to have four people?"
* Generally [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''PowerRangers'', where the plots don't get going usually until the cast has been expanded from 3-5 rangers+allies+villains to 6-8 rangers+more allies+more villains. Played straight in RPM, where we get more plot than we have in years, after 99% of humanity has been [[NeverSayDie destroyed]].

* Seems to be utterly averted in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' -- as more characters (from the AlternateUniverse) are added and the {{Arc}} becomes more dominant, the plot speeds up and there are events of major significance per episode; thus, a simultaneous increase in mass and energy.
* Endemic through most of ''Series/NightCourt''. The strident young feminist prosecutor was replaced with another strident young feminist prosecutor. The sarcastic elderly bailiff was replaced with another sarcastic elderly bailiff (though this was averted when the show's third bailiff was the much younger Roz to avert another ActorExistenceFailure).

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* Acknowledged in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' and avoided. Many characters are introduced slowly until Act 5, which introduced an avalanche of characters at once, which rendered many of the original characters OutOfFocus. However, many characters, new and old, were KilledOffForReal during Act 5, and according to WordOfGod this was preplanned. However, Act 6 avoids this, despite also adding many new characters and still manages to bring characters previously OutOfFocus back to prominence.

* David Weber's ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' series is a good example too: in first book (one main POV) action took two years in-story. Book six (after adding many, many [=POVs=] during previous ones) in longer, but concerns only five months. As to NIE/B[[note]]Number of Important Events per Book[[/note]], zig-zagged: in book two it's less than in book one, then book three has more, then books four and five see steady fall and in books six and seven NIE/B rises.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting;

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome (so the love story in the sequel can be the same as the original)
* PseudoCrisis
* EconomyCast

* WeirdnessCensor
* KudzuPlot
* ThrowAwayCountry

* DoomedHometown
* TwoLinesNoWaiting; ThreeLinesSomeWaiting; FourLinesAllWaiting

If a character or setting is added, then the [[PlotThreads plot]] will slow down so that the character or setting can be properly introduced, other characters or settings will fall OutOfFocus, if not outright PutOnABus. How long it takes to bring the plot up to speed, remember neglected characters, or otherwise regain a [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]] depends on how much detail is added at a time; widely-spaced revelations can be worked in more quickly than [[InfoDump large infodumps]]. Adding characters can also lead to {{Flanderization}} of existing characters.

Strictly enforcing continuity adds mass as the amount of continuity increases. {{RetCon}}s remove mass and release energy. This is why DCComics is fond of {{Cosmic Ret Con}}s.