Both Syllables was an Massive Multiplayer Crossover saga by Alohilani/630Kila (girl of the ever changing name, now her dA is hideousblob). It weaves the canons of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Invader Zim and Lilo & Stitch into one universe. It consists of, so far, six fanfics: two simultaneous "paths" leading up to 99 Luftballons, and one sequel to it. It is notable for its clever integration of elements, easing into the crossover, and having OCs that, despite being central to the plot, manage to stay likable and not seem out of place.
It also has a modest expanded universe created by fans, aka the author's good buddies like the one who made this page. Now that the original author has left, one has been approached to take the reins.
Note: The original author has now taken down every single one of her stories. Hence, the links to her fanfiction below are all dead.
Main series
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Path
- City Traffic Puzzle
- To pay off gambling debts, XR takes a shady second job in Tradeworld, which throws himself into a load of trouble when he tries to quit. So, he finds himself a bodyguard- Kilana Jookiba. - I Palindrome I- In the aftermath of City Traffic Puzzle, XR is saddled with rehabilitating Kila. Meanwhile, Zurg's dark history is revealed, and there is a death in the family.
- City Traffic Puzzle
- Invader Zim Path, currently being rewritten into a single fic due to the author's improving writing skills causing her to hate the original fics.
- Nowhere Man- When Zim, in a fit of rage, bites Dib, Dib's body chemistry poisons Zim, and Zim's begins to mutate him. While coping with this, Zim sneaks into Alliance space and kidnaps XR's "sister", a second attempt named MALIK. When Dib kidnaps GIR to force Zim to help him, it backfires when Zim is incapable of any help whatsoever.
- Rules- While Dib and his family move to Hawaii to oversee an auxilliary branch of Professor Membrane's labs, Zim, in an attempt to impress the Tallest, takes MALIK and leaves Earth for the Galactic Alliance. After a run-in with NOS-4-A2, the 2 seperate, in the beginning of the end...
- Nowhere Man
- Major Crossover
- 99 Luftballons- In four words? It hits the fan. Zim infiltrates Star Command as a rookie ranger, assigned to the newly-promoted XR. Meanwhile, Tak and Zurg manage to hack XR and use him to spy on Star Command. When Zim's planning disrupts a peace conference between the Galactic Alliance and the Federation, everything falls apart. Irk is destroyed, and Zim is captured, by Zurg, assumed dead.
- Take on Me- Kila takes XR to meet the 'ohana back on Earth. But when a sick Irken invader shows up from being assumed dead, things begin to once again turn for the worse.
- 99 Luftballons
Contributions by fans
- The Irken Who Has Everything by Anonymous-Materials- Still in progress. Zim is living on Kaua'i and for the time things seem to have settled down, until an evil plant attaches to his head, mentally throwing him into an alternate universe where his life is perfect. Until it isn't.
- Policy of Truth and "New Sensation" by Maran Zelde—First story complete, sequel in progress. Fills in a plot hole in the original series, specifically, where Dib was between "Rules" and "Take On Me" when he is rudely and abruptly shoved out of the plot. Originally fit wonderfully with the main series' "canon" while also being accessible to new readers. With "Both Syllables" ended, it has now divorced itself from strictly following its continuity.
- 21 Sacraments by Nick, though more connected to the forum 'canon', is a fast-paced thriller that takes inspiration from the Silent Hill series, most noticeably the use of Multiple Endings.
There's also a roleplay forum that by now has nothing to do with the series.
This series provides examples of:
open/close all folders
Main Series
- A Day In The Lime Light: Might as well call the BLoSC path 'XR of Star Command'.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: MALIK, programmed a space ranger, ends up the tool of an Irken Invader.
- Alternate Universe: There are far too many alterations (some of them rather questionable) to even contemplate calling this canon . . .
- Anyone Can Die: Commander Nebula, Tallest Purple, NOS-4-A2, Tak.
- Author Appeal:
- There exist many references to songs by The Beatles and Nena, as well as Wicked.
- The plot of the entire SERIES (more or less) originated from a song the author liked. Said song has no connection to anything in any of the three canons, either.
- Chekhov's Gun: At one point, Zim mentions the self destruct system that could destroy the entire Irken Empire. Sure enough...
- Clear My Name: To an extent. By the time of Take On Me, Zim has been blamed for blowing up the Irken Empire, when it was really Zurg that did it. What makes this worse is that no one, not even Zim, knows this.
- Darker and Edgier: To a degree, mostly to make all the series fit the grey morality of Lilo & Stitch.
- There's still very little content that couldn't make it into a Disney movie, though.
- Dark Action Girl: Tak. Without a doubt. Edgy, described as "cat-like" and very smooth and savvy. Also seemingly without morals.
- Dead Fic: All the above links written by the actual author lead to 404s. The fan stuff is still there, though.
- Deus Angst Machina: Kila's backstory, anyone? Or the circumstances that get her trapped on Earth in the town that hates her guts?
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Happens to the entire Irken Empire by the end of 99 Luftballons.
- Fantastic Racist: Gantu is cemented as one of these in Delta Dawn- He hunts the experiments not for Hamsterveil's plans, but because he considers them "monsters" that should be locked up so they can't hurt people.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Hämsterviel tells Stitch that Kila and Zim had the potential to be the most powerful psychics in the world because of his experimentation done on them when they were not yet fully developed. The problem was Kila ended up altering her body, and Zim was experimented on by ZURG, and as a result, if the two ever met and their powers awakened...yikes.
- And... of course, then there's Kila's plant technology...
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Zim and Dib conflict becomes this.
- And so does nearly everything else, unless Zurg is involved.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every story in the series is named after a song.
- And after 'Rules', they're all 80's songs.
- Kick the Dog: Zurg's callous treatment of Commander Nebula's death right in front of XR, his murder of his own subordinates to blame on Zim and his cold-hearted planned murder of Tallest Miyuki are good examples of a bad man becoming even worse. Probably BEST exemplified in Tak's pitiless shooting of GIR...and then she literally kicks him over and over while he's deactivated on the ground.
- Mad Scientist: Jumba, Kila, Prof. Membrane, Zurg and Hamsterviel embody this trope well, though Membrane and Jumba's work is less "mad" and actually more beneficial to humanity.
- Meaningful Name: Zerinim and Kilana both have meanings in the alien lexicon. Also, Dib's last name is 'Putchel'. Think about it. Say it out loud. Slur it a little. Get it?
- Mindlink Mates: Subverted in that the two characters with a mindlink actually really hate having one and do everything they can to get around it.
- Mind Rape: Zurg does this to Zim by experimenting on his brain. This makes Zim's potential as a telepath go off-the-charts and into dangerous levels.
- Old Shame: The author discontinued and deleted the series because she grew sick of it, and now gets mad if you so much as mention it.
- Right Man in the Wrong Place: Zim literally tries this line on Kila, insisting he's not a bad person, but a good guy who was thrust into terrible situations. Talk about straining a definition.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: One existed on Irk for the whole Irken Empire.
- Shout-Out: Several, particularly to Homestar Runner and Stephen King.
- Translation Convention: Assumed to be in use in the original works; various definitions of "standard" vocabulary are in the fics.
-
Word of God: Used to inform the readers that Tak is Killed Off for Real.
Fan Contributions
- A Day in the Limelight: Dib and the Lilo & Stitch cast in "Policy of Truth" receive more attention than they do in the series proper. This is a good thing.
- Schizo Continuity: "Policy of Truth" and "New Sensation" uses Divorced Continuity now that the main series has been taken down, featuring Zim and Tak in ways that contradict "Both Syllables" canon.
- Whole-Plot Reference: For the Irken Who Has Everything is one of these to Alan Moore's For the Man Who Has Everything.
Forum
- Adaptation Expansion: A lot of new characters are added, including many from canons not included in the original series.
- Lethal Joke Character: Audrey II was brought in as a joke. He'll still eat people from time to time.
- No Fourth Wall: Sort of. The characters and their RPers interact regularly.
- Rage Against the Author: The natural flipside of No Fourth Wall, especially
Desdemona.
- Word of God: The forum started off as 'after the series ended'. Now it's just not any sort of canon whatsoever at all.
