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Sandbox / Spiritual Successor Wick Check

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Spiritual Successor is currently a mainspace trope. However, it's based on subjective interpretation and comparison. This is a Wick Check to see if the examples treat the trope as a subjective concept or not.

Wicks needed: 90/90

Quick results:

  • Subjective: 19/90 or ~21%
  • Objective: 2/90 or ~2%
  • Same creators/continuity/etc: 29/90 or ~32%
  • ZCE: 39/90 or ~43%

    open/close all folders 

    Reads subjective (comparisons between works that may not be intended, fan interpretation, etc.) 
  • Anime.Transformers Headmasters: "The Battle Beasts in the series ended up getting a Spiritual Successor called Beast Saga in 2012/2013" I looked into it, and it seems to just be fan comparison.'
  • ComicStrip.Jucika: "In the '80s, Ludas Matyi's readers were drawn to adult satirist István Krenner's unnamed caricatures and comics in a way not seen since Jucika had ended. In keeping with the demands of the time, his art was much more unabashedly explicit and low-brow, painting a grotesque, yet on-point image of social and political phenomena. His hyper-sexualized females, compared to whom Jucika seemed like child's play, were especially popular." Fan comparison and similar fanbases.
  • Creator.Adam Driver: "He looks quite a bit like Dustin Hoffman when he was younger (in fact, Driver's film Marriage Story can be considered a Spiritual Successor to Hoffman's movie Kramer vs. Kramer due to their similar premises and both being entered into the Academy Awards, including Best Actor nominations with Driver nominated and Hoffman winning)." Creator and work comparison.
  • Creator.Adult Swim: "The Turner networks have a history of doing weird things late at night. TBS' 17 Update Early in the Morningnote  and Tushnote ; and TNT's MonsterVision and 100% Weird. Adult Swim proudly carries on the weird, homegrown feel of those shows and the chaotic, low-budget, free-for-all production that WTBS had during its' formative years." Sounds like audience comparison.
  • Film.Fire Down Below: "To On Deadly Ground. Both movies are environmental themed, and both of them star Steven Seagal." Comparing movies with similar premises and the same actor.
  • Film.The Happytime Murders: Multiple examples, all just comparing the film to other ones.
    • It's been gaining comparisons to Meet the Feebles, another film that gives us a darker look at puppets usually used in children's shows. The difference being that this film was made by the actual creators of The Muppets.
    • People have also compared the movie to Sausage Party, another R-rated film that could be easily mistaken for a kids' movie.
    • It's very similar to Avenue Q, another dark, raunchy comedy that happens to involve muppets.
    • The basic premise of a crime story involving characters from a stylized medium as real people and second-class citizens is similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
    • An earlier movie called The Fuzz featured a puppet cop tracking down the dealers of a G-Rated Drug (Jelly Beans rather than sugar), partnering with a human cop and dealing with anti-puppet prejudice. It was also of a darker, more adult tone.
  • Film.Street Fighter The Legend Of Chun Li: "Dan Olson of Folding Ideas argues that the film is one of these to — of all things — Michael Bay's Transformers (2007), describing The Legend of Chun-Li as "the budget-friendly version" which shares toned-down technical similarities (color palette, Aspect Ratio, and superfluous troopcop B-plot that only intersects with the A-plot at the very end) in an attempt at distancing itself from the reputation of other video game adaptations and being more respectable and profitable." Fan interpretation.
  • Horrible.Live Action Films N To Z: "The Nostalgia Critic has nothing nice to say about the movie, and equates it to a Spiritual Successor to Universal's Dark Universe." Referring to Woody Woodpecker, and is audience comparison.
  • Literature.Joker Game: "To Night Raid 1931 which is a historical spy fiction set in the Showa Era prior to World War II minus the Psychic Powers. Which is actually a recursive successor, as the first two D Agency novels (Joker Game and Double Joker) were published before Night Raid 1931 began airing." Comparison to another work in a different medium, and then admits it's not even true because it was published first.
  • Music.CN Blue: " When they debuted in Korea, they were immediately noted for sharing similar success and appeal as labelmates FT Island who had debuted about 2.5 years beforehand. Both promote alongside each other and have moulded their own distinct sounds and success since then." Fan comparison.
  • Music.Lets Dance: "Bowie himself considered this album one to Young Americans, as both are uncharacteristically mainstream-accessible albums consisting of eight songs that combine black music (soul and funk for Young Americans, post-disco for Let's Dance) with Bowie's trademark dark & artsy musical and lyrical undercurrents." While Bowie is the creator of both, this is more about his personal opinion, so I think it fits better here.
  • Music.A Moon Shaped Pool: "Following the mixed response to their previous effort, the experimental, groove-based New Sound Album The King of Limbs, the slightly more conventional style of A Moon Shaped Pool was greeted with open arms upon its release and dubbed a return to form by fans and critics, with some even considering it to be the true follow-up to In Rainbows (which also boasted similarly lush production and reliant heavily on strings)." Outright states it's based on fan opinion and comparison.
  • Pinball.Star Trek Stern: "Though the game itself is an obvious successor to Ritchie's earlier Star Trek: The Next Generation, many players aso see the layout and rules as a Spiritual Successor to his 2007 Spider-Man game."
  • Podcast.Writing Excuses: " Extra Credits addresses game design in much the same way Writing Excuses handles literature." Sounds like audience comparison.
  • Recap.Phineas And Ferb Just Our Luck: "This episode likely served as the inspiration for Milo Murphy's Law, which concerns a kid with bad luck and all the ways he works around it." Speculative comparison.
  • Series.Agent X: "One for the Splinter Cell franchise. Both have black ops units working under direct orders to protect America and its nationals against foreign and domestic enemies by any means possible, even if it includes violating human rights to do so." Similar premises.
  • WebAnimation.Benthelooney: "The Mysterious Mr. Enter is this to Ben Rants's original run, as the styling of his reviews & analysis resemble that of Benthelooney, despite coming out a year after Ben Rants was uncancelled." Audience comparison.
  • WebAnimation.Doctor Lalve: " Lalve is widely considered to be this to the late Kitty0706. A running joke in the comments is he's either him in hiding, his heir, or his reincarnation."
  • WesternAnimation.Waynehead: To Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids showing a similar group of young African-American misfits living in a 1990's world. whereas Fat Albert's gang had dealt with the 1970's/1980's. Comparing shows with similar premises.

    Reads Objectively 
  • Literature.Siobhan Dunmoore: "The books draw a lot of thematic inspiration from Star Trek: The Original Series, particularly after Nicholas Meyer took over in the movie period. The Shrehari in particular are very like the Klingons in both looks and behavior." Sounds like the work is objectively inspired by the other w/out being directly related to it.
  • Series.The Sandbaggers: "Greg Rucka's love of the series led to his homage/reworking, Queen and Country." The series was outright and objectively reworked into a new series by a different creator. I don't know if that's this trope, but it's not speculative.

    Shares characters/continuity with the original, or the same creators 
  • Advertising.Segata Sanshiro: "2017 UFO Kamen Yakisoban ads have their mascot mentored by a man played by Hiroshi Fujioka, who wears power armor and is known only as The Legend. These ads often knock The Legend out of his armor, showing that he wears a white Judo uniform beneath, implying that The Legend actually is Segata Sanshiro."
  • Anime.The Sky Crawlers: "In nearly every respect, save for the title and lack of jet aircraft and guided missiles, Innocent Aces is an Ace Combat game, made by the same developers and published by the same company and using basically the same tropes. Furthermore, many aspects of the game would cross back to the parent series."
  • ComicBook.Avengers Academy: "Created by Christos Gage the series acts as a Spiritual Successor to the similarly themed, though quite different Avengers: The Initiative, also co-written by Gage. One of the students 'Reptil' coming from that series, Hank Pym and Tigra were also central figures in that book." Similar themed works, with the same characters and creator in the same continuity.
  • ComicBook.Abadazad: "Imaginalis, a young adult novel written by series writer J.M. DeMatteis as a form of catharsis over the series' cancellation."
  • Film.AB Cs Of Death 2: To the duo's first film, Inside. Comparing this work to an earlier work involving the same creative team.
  • Film.Brewster Mc Cloud: "This and writer Doran William Cannon's previous film, Skidoo, are two of the strangest comedies ever made by well-known directors for major studios.note "
  • Film.The Red Balloon: "To Lamorisse's own White Mane. Both feature young boys who feel isolated from the world around them, and form a deep friendship with a non-human character. Both protagonists are persecuted by those around them as a result, and both end up being borne away to a place where they can't be followed (the sky or the sea.)" Same creator.
  • Film.Trick R Treat: "Krampus, which is also written and directed by Dougherty."
  • LetsPlay.PBG Hardcore: "MineZ, which is a DayZ Game Mod in the Minecraft engine in and of itself, and is essentially another try at the concept of DayZ, but with the added benefit of Minecraft's more comfortable layout and mechanics, as well as the reduced effectiveness of ranged weapons for Griefers to use, who are already fewer and farther between than in DayZ. All of this puts the group in more familiar territory and gives them more of a chance to succeed. Both seasons of MineZ even begin with the team split up into two groups in separate locations, a concept originally planned for DayZ (as seen in the Train Wreck Blooper)."
  • LetsPlay.The Deadbeats: "In a way, Deadbeats Minecraft is a reincarnation of the Nate Against SMP series, featuring a good number of the same people that joined Nate on commentary."
  • LetsPlay.Thunder THR: "As mentioned above, the channel was originally designed to be a new home for his LPs with Thunder and his friend David, where they went by the alias of "The Hyper Gingers" (Hyper Gingers being what "HG" originally stood for). However, due to David's largely busy schedule at the time, Thunder decided to go ahead with the channel on his own. Despite the difference in quality and content, its largely considered to be a spiritual successor of the original duo."
  • Literature.Earth The Book: "The Spiritual Successor to America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" Both works are made by the same creators.
  • Manga.Nozo X Kimi: "To Honna’s previous work, Nozoki Ana. Like its predecessor, it centers around the male protagonist’s blackmail-induced voyeurism/exhibitionism relationship with his female classmate/neighbor, only this time, they’re high school students living across from each other rather than college students living next door." Comparing works by the same creator.
  • Manga.Todays Menu For Emiya Family: "Has a Spiritual Successor in Fate/Grand Order, Eirei Shokubunroku, featuring the FGO Servants cooking meals from across time and space." It's already a Fate spin-off, putting it and the "successor" in continuity.
  • Music.Jacks Mannequin: "To Andrew's other band, Something Corporate."
  • Music.Kylie Minogue: "Kiss Me Once has garnered Spiritual Successor comparisons to Body Language and X." All three albums made by Kylie.
  • Podcast.Power Pros: "To Nintendo Power. Ironically, the official Nintendo Power Podcast is as much a successor to Power Pros as it is to the magazine—Chris Slate was instrumental to the creation of both." Not a lot of context, but has the "Same creator" part.
  • Recap.Film Reroll Goonies: "To Stand By Me, almost to the point of being a Stealth Sequel, complete with Pitr Strait playing Corey Feldman's Kid Hero character and Scott Aiello as his Butt-Monkey friend. They even bring back Milo the junkyard owner as a ferry guard."
  • Series.Noels House Party: " A Spiritual Successor to the now largely forgotten Noel's Saturday Roadshow, its framework was based on the fiction of Noel owning a large stately home, the Great House, in the fictional but quintessential English village of Crinkly Bottom." Sounds like they're made by the same people.
  • VideoGame.Aquapazza: "The game is this to The Queen of Heart series of Fighting Games, as both feature characters from diverse visual novels by Aquaplus (Formerly known as Leaf); additionally, Multi, Chizuru and Assist Characters Serika, Yuki, Rina, Mizuki and Yunote  could be chosen as playable characters." Same characters.
  • VideoGame.Kirby And The Rainbow Curse: "Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Touch! Kirby Super Rainbow in Japanese, and Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush in British English) is the only Kirby game for the Wii U, and a Spiritual Successor to Kirby: Canvas Curse with similar gameplay using a claymation-esque graphical style with the addition of various transformations." What makes it a "Spiritual Successor" and not just a normal sequel/related game, considering it's made by the same creators in the same canon?
  • VideoGame.Limbo 2010: "Playdead later released a Spiritual Successor called Inside in June of 2016. It's much the same as Limbo — a young boy explores a dangerous and hostile world, but the setting this time is an incomprehensibly large facility of some kind, and it uses a more realistic art style rather than the silhouette style of Limbo."
  • VideoGame.Maka Maka: " The creator of the game, Office Koukan, made another RPG after this known as Idea No Hi, or Day of the Idea. It's got an oddball sense of humor similar to Maka Maka's, but a more serious story, fairly interesting gameplay mechanics, and actual bug-testing to its name."
  • VideoGame.Poke Park Wii: "To Hey You, Pikachu! and Pokémon Channel."
  • VideoGame.Satellite Reign: "It is a Spiritual Successor to the original Syndicate games, with the producers being Bullfrog veterans who had worked on the originals and were unhappy with the 2012 FPS."
  • VisualNovel.Photo Kano: "Photo Kano (フォトカノ Foto Kano, lit. "Photo Girlfriend") is a Japanese Dating Sim video game developed by Dingo and Enterbrain, the latter being the same studio behind Kimikiss and Amagami, making this its Spiritual Successor. "
  • Webcomic.The Sword Interval: " To Parallel Dementia. The setting is very different, but it features some of the old characters like Fall, David, Reggie, Alex Ivanova, a man that appears to be Midas, the organization Atlas, The Visage of Death, and possibly The Thing in Chains." If it features the same characters, it's a straight up sequel, or at least closely-related enough to not be a Spiritual Successor.
  • WebVideo.Board James: "Of the AVGN. Board James is not near as ill-tempered and foul-mouthed as The Nerd, but some of his solo episodes are very reminiscent of the more informative episodes of the AVGN, like the Swordquest episode. Also, it follows the Mid-Review Sketch Show formula that the AVGN became famous for." Both are made by James Rolfe. Also, it's implied that Board James is the Nerd, putting them in the same continuity.
  • WebVideo.Rhett And Link: ""Good Morning Chia Lincoln" became "Good Mythical Morning" a year later." That's just a rebranding if it's the same series.

    ZCE/misc 

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