When it all was said and done, Vanellope von Schweetz wasn't the only racer to benefit from Sugar Rush's reset. Set after the events of Wreck-It Ralph, Becky Blue Eyes' Life in 16 Flavors
asks "What If? there was far more to Sugar Rush than any of its inhabitants realized?" Take the Palette Swaps seen in passing, accepted by the 'original' racers as a quick-and-dirty way to fill out the roster? What if they were once fully realized and unique characters, meant to be more than a mirror image of somebody else?
And that's barely scratching the surface. Soon, Vanellope and the others learn more about the long-buried past of their game, and how much was lost in translation... and resolve to reclaim that. But could they be biting off more than they can chew?
This fic is completed, and it can also be found here It has a completed sequel called Gratitude, and another one called Action Replay in the works. Three additional stories were also in the planning stages; Through the Mirror Darkly and Flavor Spectrum, which would take place after Action Replay, and Spearmint Swirls, which would have been a prequel to Life in 16 Flavors and takes place before the movie. Through the Mirror Darkly had four chapters published, only to be eventually abandoned, having last been updated in October 2014. With the author having lost interest in Wreck-It Ralph, it’s very likely none of these stories will ever see the light of day.
This Wreck-It Ralph Fan Fic contains examples of:
- The Ace:
Word of God states that the Mirror-Vanellope is the ideal, perfect racer every player strives to be. - Alternate Universe Fic: The underlying concept of the original Japanese version having tons of content that was Dummied Out during the localization process would appear to be Jossed by the Japanese translation of the movie itself.
- Or not, since the Japanese version may still take place in America.
- And I Must Scream: Due to being an unlockable character still waiting to be freed when Turbo hacked in, Choko got to feel those horrifying effects firsthand before experiencing The Nothing After Death.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: A glitch gives Marzipanne her old Nougestia colors temporarily; after it reverts, the programming is left behind as a costume switch. Later, all the racers get alternate costumes based on various flavors.
- Body Horror: Everyone other than Vanellope suffers this when Sugar Rush crashes.
- Character Tiers: In-Universe: As Adorabeezle's palette swap Nougestia, Marzipanne was low tier, as she'd had all her strengths removed and stats lowered. This was so bad that in all her years of racing, she'd never made it past the first third of any track.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Marzipanne Sweetifruit.
- Cradle of Loneliness: Vanellope eventually finds Ralph cradling her sugar cookie medal in his hands after finally regaining her memories.
- Crapsaccharine World: As she learns more about what things were like for some of the other racers, Vanellope realizes the old Sugar Rush wasn't just this for her.
- Continuation: Picks up where the movie left off.
- Dashed Plot Line: In the final chapter, a series of small Time Skips are used until the Story Mode is beaten for the first time, three months later.
- Debug Mode: After beating Virus-Van, Vanellope gains access to this.
- Drunk on Milk: At the start of Chapter 9 of "Action Replay", Vanellope is drunk on soda.
- Dummied Out: A lot was taken out during the translation process.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: It takes a lot of hard work, desperate hacking, and three months without any memory of what happened, but Vanellope ultimately achieves this.
- Edible Theme Naming: The palette swaps and Candlehead originally stood out for not following this as closely, but this is fixed when they reclaim their original identities and appearances.
- Enemy Without: While locking eyes with her, Vanellope realizes that Virus-Van carries all the resentment she's bottled up towards Taffyta and the others over the years.
- Eyes Never Lie: When The Swizz is frantically searching for his best friend Sticky, a former palette swap, he has no luck... until he looks into Lemonetta Creameringue's eyes. Despite her body completely changing, he instantly recognizes her eyes.
- Foreshadowing: Pollipop doesn't like the sound of the word, "reset". Vanellope resets the game after beating Virus-Van.
- Final Boss: The original, 1-Player version used an NPC King Candy for its final boss.
- Foe Romance Subtext: Referenced by Pollipop while watching Minty and Sour Apple squabble.
- Game-Breaking Bug: As they explore the Dummied Out content, Vanellope worries about the chances of discovering one of these, destroying everything they've worked so hard for.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Choko sometimes speaks in Japanese, a holdover from her original programming.
- Hey, You!:Ralph: *to Choko* Hey you! Kid with the hair!
- Hidden Eyes: Vanellope gets these just before pulling the switch that will reset Sugar Rush, wiping out the virus and potentially taking everyone's memories with it.
- Internalized Categorism: Even the palette swaps tended to think of themselves as 'just' palette swaps; Bubblebetty has a particularly hard time shaking this even after regaining herself.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: The true NPC King Candy turns out to be one despite being the Story Mode's Big Bad.
- Meaningful Rename: The Palette Swap characters all reclaim their original names along with their appearances. Candlehead and Minty Zaki also go through this, becoming 'Minty Candlezaki' and 'Sour Appleblossom', respectively.
- Memory Gambit: It's revealed in the sequels that Vanellope managed to put a lock on the Sugar Rush racers' memories before she reset the game with her Game Genie. Once the game's story mode was beaten, the lock was broken and everyone regained their memories.
- Mirror Match: Vanellope versus Virus-Van.
- Mood Whiplash: Hits hard in Chapter 5 when Vanellope discovers Sugar Rush crashed while she was visiting Ralph and Felix.
- Mythology Gag: Pollipop asking Minty and Sour if they steal the other's flavor when nobody was looking.
- O.C. Stand-in: In addition to the four palette swaps becoming their own, unique characters, Minty Zaki's redesigned Japanese counterpart appears here as Choko Pockystix, another character in her own right.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The real King Candy, like Ralph, is the Big Bad of Sugar Rush's Story Mode, but isn't at all evil outside his role.
- The Real Remington Steele: After the reboot, the real King Candy shows up.
- The Rival: Minty Candlezaki and Sour Appleblossom after the reset happens.
- Secret Character: Choko was downgraded to this during the translation process, while King Candy was reduced to a mere cameo.
- Serial Escalation: The story began as a one-shot reintroducing the 'new' characters, then was expanded into their discovering other hidden and forgotten content lost in translation. By Chapter 5, this has progressed to Sugar Rush being taken over by a Viral Vanellope and twisted into a sugary horrorshow beyond recognition. Now an entire universe around Life in 16 Flavors is being written, following various characters in the arcade.
- Shrinking Violet: Bubblebetty Gummipop is very unsure around the 'real' racers, due to years and years of being neglected and ignored as being 'just' Jubileena's doppleganger.
- Sugar Apocalypse: Virus-Van makes Sugar Rush completely crash.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Virus-Van's last move is to consume the code of almost everyone and everything in Sugar Rush, giving Vanellope no choice but to force a reset to factory settings.
- Synchronization: As palette swaps, the altered racers were bound to their 'templates' and couldn't stray too far away.
- Take a Third Option: In Chapter 7, Vanellope tries to find a way around resetting Sugar Rush and wiping out everyone's memories. Unfortunately, it's unavoidable...until Vanellope pulls a Memory Gambit.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: While having an anxiety attack, the former Citrusella Flugpucker wonders aloud what kind of stupid name 'Bubblebetty Gummipop' is anyway.
- Wistful Amnesia: Exhibited by Vanellope and the other Sugar Rush racers following the reset.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Virus-Van, who is essentially a living representation of the side of Vanellope that is still deeply wounded from the years of abuse and neglect she suffered through. She wants to hurt it back.
