Trivia / Spectrum

• Author Appeal:
  • Besides the usual, DoctorFluffy is also a fan of The Expanse, using its TV series as an influence for the rewrite of Light Despondent.
  • Sledge115 and VoxAdam admit to using both Amnesia: The Dark Descent and The Shining as inspiration for the Dream Walk of Chapter Seventeen ("Thus, Lift Me Up").
• Author's Saving Throw: Serves as one to the original Other Side of the Spectrum story via being a Continuity Reboot, fixing the more controversial and problematic aspects of the original. Specifically:
  • The authors have stated their first goal was to ensure the ponies remain the focus and to be more in line with the show instead of being demoted to extras or being put down like the original story did.
  • Branching off from the above, Prime Celestia's characterization in the original story wasn't particularly flattering, with her undergoing Adaptational Wimp and being accused of "coddling" the ponies in a way that's left them stagnant and unprepared for the war ahead. Here, she's closer to the calm and reasonable authority figure she is in the show, and while she acknowledges In-Universe that Prime Equestria is facing a unique challenge with the Conversion War, no one bemoans her for how she's run the country.
• Creator Breakdown: Both Kizuna Tallis and Doctor Fluffy quit the Spectrumverse altogether in 2021, citing feelings of burnout and lingering pain from the circumstances behind the split that led to the cancellation of the original story, leaving them unable to enjoy anything to do with the universe. Both have since moved on to other projects and found a measure of Creator Recovery through that.
• Creator's Favorite: Sledge115 is a huge fan of Princess Luna, explaining her substantial role as Act Two's protagonist, ascension to deuteragonist of the entire story, and her own side story.
• Meaningful Release Date: The First Second of Eternity, which has the working class Galatea as the main character, was first published on Labour Day, 2020.
• Reality Subtext:
  • In the first chapter, Prime Rainbow Dash learns that Twilight's mother works as an editor for a major publisher, and she seems to cozy up to the idea of becoming one herself so she could get a first look at the new Daring Do novels. Twilight shoots her down on the grounds that editing is an extremely stressful job, and points out the many obstacles that come with dealing with authors, all of which sound suspiciously similar to the problems plaguing the original Other Side of the Spectrum story.
  • This comes up again, if in a more oblique way, with the reintroduction of Verity Carter in Chapter Nineteen ("When The Dust Settles"), a product of the 2021 rewrites and the legally required cutting-out of a whole nine-thousand words written by JedR. Verity's opening words, true to her character, are an ironic recital of "We live in a society", in reference to the trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League, an especially famous example of a re-edited work of fiction released earlier that same year.
• Schedule Slip: The first three chapters were initially published in a consistent, monthly schedule. Since then, though, the gap between chapters have varied from a few weeks to a whopping six months between Chapter Seven and Eight. It's since stabilized to a rough average of 1.5 months, though, with 2019 seeing twice as many chapters published as 2018. The author's notes from various members reflect that real life obligations do get in the way even if it is steadily written. Of course, given that each of the chapters are pretty lengthy by themselves, this is not so surprising.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The reason behind the 2021 rewrites. Former author JedR wanted to withdraw his contributions to the story in order to publish them himself, necessitating a lengthy rewrite process to remove or rework his material - including, and most prominently, Galatea, who was subsequently renamed Galena.
• What Could Have Been: For a while, it was intended that Queen Celestia's clone, as in the original Spectrum, would serve as the main antagonist for Act Two of the story, taking place in Boston as well. That is, until the idea came up to use the Imperial Twilight instead.