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Fic Direction
- The fic is a lot more lighthearted compared to initial drafts. A lot of darker and grim elements were removed in favor of focusing more on the idea of hope and bonds, and sticking with Symphogear’s message of reaching out.
- Despite the many Kamen Rider references in the fic, the amount in the final product is toned down.
- An early draft had the twins act more as supporting characters that stayed out of the action; a connection to the normal life for all the girls. The author realized that telling a story from their POV would be boring, which led to the twins all getting weapons and transformations.
- An early idea was that the Twins could use Proto-Gears of the FIS’ Relics for extra armor and weapons. Much like the Armor Times from Kamen Rider Zi-O.
- The Relic Battle Modes were initially going to have speakers that play songs for the twins that generate Phonic Gain, but was scrapped in favor of having them sing as well.
- The Twins were going to be able to use the Relics during instances the Wielders were unavailable, but this was scrapped in favor of allowing them to fight alongside one another.
- There would have been a completely new power system for the Twins, but was changed in favor of letting them utilize the Relics.
Story Elements
- One of the penultimate drafts before the final product was that Rui would be the only twin and the other two would be introduced later. This was changed as the author wanted the main theme of X2 to be about familial bonds.
- Shuri was initially planned to have been introduced in G as part of FIS, with a lot of Chris’ moments in S1 being that she believed her younger twin to be dead. Her resentment towards Hibiki and Tsubasa would be less about songs, and more about how they still had sisters.
- Maia was going to show up in GX, during Tsubasa’s arc regarding her family. Unlike their close bond in canon, they were going to have a rather strained relationship.
- Hibiki's arm loss in G was going to be permanent.
- The beach part cut out a part where Maia was gonna do the fireworks challenge (small fireworks being shot at people who try to dodge).
- Maia's conversation in Chapter 39 was gonna be with Shuri. The author decided to change it to Maria, while Tsubasa talked with Shuri, to add to the diverse character interactions.
- Argus' Eye was originally going to be a nerfed version from XDU canon. But after playing AI: The Somnium Files, the author decided to base it off of Aiba.
Characters
- Rui and Maia were originally meant to also be the younger twins to Hibiki and Tsubasa. That was eventually flipped around due to the author realizing that their personalities work better as the older twin, and that having younger siblings as reckless as them would be absurdly stressful for Hibiki and Tsubasa.
- Rui was generally going to be written as a general closet otaku, but was changed to focus on Kamen Rider after an overhaul. You can see some remnants of this with a few non-Tokusatsu references in the first season.
- Early drafts for Rui had her as more of a “jailbird” type character, frequently getting arrested to the point she’s like a friendly regular with the law enforcement. This is what Rui’s arrest joke in S1 was referencing.
- An early idea for Maia was that she would’ve identified as either genderfluid or trans, but the author wasn’t too confident that they would’ve been able to write that well. It didn't serve any purpose in the narrative, so it was left it out, though the author still writes her with it in mind.
- Rui and Maia were initially going to be underage smokers, but this didn't end up in the final writing because the author forgot to add it.
- Some early drafts had Rui as a much more stoic character, while Maia was even more carefree than what they are currently (Shuri is the same). This was changed changed this once the author decided to have Rui and Maia based more on the Parallel versions of their sisters from XDU.
- There were twins planned for Maria and Serena based on their Parallel selves, but that was scrapped as not only would that increase the cast even further, the different situation of their Parallel selves (where Serena is physically older than her main world self and Maria was cursed to stay young) would not translate well. That and this would mean their mother would've had to have given birth to two sets of twins.
- Kirika and Shirabe also would've had twins, but were cut for similar reasons. Shirabe's twin was going to be in AXZ and tie in with Shirabe’s arc at the shrine, along with being the “normal” twin, referencing the direction that X2 was going to go in early drafts. Jeanne was added in substitution for the new twins.
- Kanade and Serena were planned to survive for initial drafts, but did not for the final version, as they’re already alive in many of the author's other Symphogear fics and AUs.
