A fledgling epic, For Good is Aleine Skyfire’sAlternate Universe for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. The first and only multi-chaptered fic for the series, Breakaway, is based on the concept of how one person can make a big impact. And with an expanded summary on FF.N, how "a handful of people" can impact the galaxy.The protagonist, Erin Frame, is an OC, but the unique conceit of the story is that she is a BLoSC fan time-traveled to the Galactic Alliance. Her characterization is carefully developed throughout the fic as a dynamic character; the characterizations of Team Lightyear and Warp Darkmatter are also handled with care and realism. Chapters 9 and 10 introduce some important new characters, along with a Zurg subplot and a new direction for the story at The Academy. The series appears to be headed eventually for some kind of galactic war, as hinted at in the prologue and Chapter 10 - thus justifying the author's use of the word "epic".The series also includes two collections of one-shots: a sort of eXperimentalcanon at the XR fan club, and a ships 50 on FF.N One roleplay arc (now abandoned) at the XR forum made something of a secondary canon - most of the stuff regarding Buzz and Erin can be taken as fully canonical, considering that the author played both characters.Now has its own Character Sheet, for your convenience.
Brown Eyes: Erin. The color acts as a reminder of her Spanish-Jewish heritage and as an symbol of her normalcy amongst so many Blue Eyes (Buzz, Mira, and Warp). In the roleplay, she was established as a pro at using Puppy-Dog Eyes, and, for having such a normal eye color, she can still do a piercing stare with the best of them.
Call Back: Erin's reaction to the Orion Nebula seems to be a call back both to her initial reaction to Outer Space earlier in the story and to the original version, Watermark.
Character Development: One of the long-established purposes of the series is to develop Buzz's characterization by giving him a sister. The original story, for all its faults, did well in this regard by showing enough scenes with Buzz and Erin that would bring them to a close sibling relationship. The rewrite still shows Buzz awkward with his new-found sibling status in the beginning, and it also shows Buzz giving Erin a brotherly hug before she enters the Academy. On the other hand, a lot of the development of the original in-between the two points in time is lost, including driving lessons, physical training, and pancakes.
It seems, however, that the author is also trying to be more subtle about the changes in Buzz: "For Buzz, well… one would rarely ever be able to tell how life was affecting him or not affecting him. For all his many and varied emotional displays, he seemed never to change."
But let's not forget Mira, who admits to Erin that she has issues in her own love life.
Or Warp, for that matter. Even if he's not dropping everything for The Girl, he's still bothered by a pair of bigbrown eyes.
Characterization Marches On: Between Breakaway and the roleplay arc (both developed well over a year's time), one could well be confused about Erin's age and maturity.
Averted with Ice: "My family is very strictly Tangean Isolationist — that means they avoid Off-Worlder stuff like the plague."
As a bookworm, Erin also qualifies.
Especially since she's a time-traveled BLoSC fan, who will not interfere with pre-established events for fear of disrupting the time/space-continuum beyond repair.
This means that she will allow herself to become a wirewolf, however briefly. You've got to admire her dedication.
She is the only character thus far to purposefully lampshade any tropes.
Eye Scream: When Zomega was first introduced, she was introduced with her cybernetic red eye. The Backstory for that has never been revealed, but considering her past, it can't pretty.
Forgotten Family: As one reviewer pointed out, Erin's family fades into oblivion. The author admitted to the reviewer that, in the long course of writing the fic (the rewrite has been going since early 2010), she actually forgot about the Frame family!
Full Name Basis: Eda-Ji-Kep does this, although it's said to be a characteristic of his race. And he splits full names into three parts, the way that his race makes names. Erin Frame becomes Er-In-Frame.
Informed Messianic Judaism: The definitely Christian Erin is known to be part Spanish-Jewish - her middle name is Elisheba - but that part of her heritage receives painfully little elaboration.
Loads and Loads of Characters: Ever since Chapter 9, we've been introduced to OC after OC, starting with Zomega and continuing on with Ricki, Windy, & Ice, then Indy, Cody, Clutch, & Eda-Ji-Kep... and likely more to come. Justified in that this is a Next Gen Fic; see below.
Love Redeems: Okay, this is not a spoiler... Warp. Because of Erin.
Meaningful Name: The series and fic titles. For Good. Breakaway.
Next Gen Fic: Roughly midway through the story, Breakaway turned into this, shifting the focus from Erin and Team Lightyear to Erin and her fellow cadets. What makes it Next Gen is that the 3008 & 3009 classes are considered in-universe to be the next generation of Star Command, completely separate even from Rangers like Mira, Booster, and XR, who themselves are still rookies.
Plus Ricki, an alien, tells Erin why the galaxy at large uses the B.C./A.D. measurement of time. It is to honor "the birth of the Creator in fleshly form."
Ricki is described as having prominent violet eyes, the color and size contrasting sharply in one scene with Erin's very normal, very human brown eyes.
Zomega's one natural eye is described as indigo, a flexible name that could describe a dark blue or a blue-purple. It is actually her one visible human trait.
Shipper on Deck: Erin is a definite Beer shipper. Warp seems to be one, as well.
Shout Out: Hooo boy. This trope could seriously use a page just for Breakaway – we won't even mention the one-shots and the roleplay arc! The author seems to have an unhealthy love of making tributes to her favorite stories – the list just expands with each new chapter.
C. S. Lewis topics are a recurring shout out, such as the Walden Media Narnia films and Perelandra Avenue and Park.
Windy once echoes Wedge's reaction to the Death Star: "Look at the size of that thing."
Zomega is also said to have a dash of Talon Karrde and Mara Jade thrown in - this becomes more obvious when you consider that one of Zomega's occupations is information brokering.
Speaking of Mara Jade, Warp is apparently familiar with the character.
Erin and Ricki end up discussing what TOS characters they and their dorm-mates resemble.
Chapter 11 is ridiculously Trek-heavy, right down to Erin, Windy, and Ricki making quips and references – even during a simulation! – including calling the First Officer “Number One”.
The similarities are lampshaded by Erin's thoughts: Why bother fighting it? If their lives paralleled a science fiction classic from a thousand years ago, so be it.
Indiana Jones is Indy St. James's hero and the source of his name. Indy's real given name is Jim. That's right: Jim St. James.
Eda-Ji-Kep puts Erin in mind of T'ealc from Stargate SG-1.
Took a Level in Badass: Erin leveled up between chapters 9 and 10 (with months in-between the two chapters) - she really shines as The Captain in an almost Unwinnable Training Simulation in Chapter 11. Chapter 12 has a flashback showing her in the process of leveling up, courtesy of herbrother.
Unexplained Recovery: Erin. Not only did she heal from her life-threatening injuries, she got her scoliosis cured and gained nine crater-freakin' inches in height.
Wasn't That Fun?: XR's attitude regarding the dinner party, even while it's in full swing!
What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?: Ricki questions the wisdom of building a military force within a police force in secret. To Buzz Lightyear, no less.
Word Of God: Used so heavily that the author’s notes and review replies can comprise 20% of chapter word counts!
World War III: The "Milky Way War" mentioned several times in early chapters of Breakaway and the roleplay arc. (See this trope in the Roleplay section below.)
The Other Darrin: Done twice, first with Zurg (switched with consent from Saron to EEZ), then with King Nova (switched from EEZ to Skyfire, but in completely different threads and parts of the story).
OTP: The fans who roleplayed Buzz and Mira are notable Beer shippers.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: A fairly mild version by Zurg, directed at Buzz. It gets creepy when you consider that Zurg sounds more like some sort of dark mentor rather than Buzz's archenemy.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: With the players providing Buzz & Erin and Warp on one side, the players providing Zurg and Hellboy & Liz on the other, and the player providing Mira and Woody in-between (usually further on the idealistic side, though). It made for interesting dynamics.
For that matter, Hellboy was pretty much this trope, himself.
Time Travel: Used so much that it gets deconstructed!
Trapped in Another World: Played straight with Erin and Hellboy (Buzz even compares and contrasts them once), then subverted with Cora and Liz.
Troperiffic: With so much talent and creativity collaborating on the story? You bet!
Wedding Smashers: Zurg's plot for revenge against his ex-henchman, enacted by Hellboy, who initiates a Curb-Stomp Battle. At least he waits until Warp and Erin say their vows.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?: This happened fairly often as a result of several different roleplayers with different ideas about the BLoSC universe and life in general, sometimes to unintentional comedic effect.
Alternate Universe for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. The first and only multi-chaptered fic for the series, Breakaway
0 reviews