Long ago, the multiverse, and the multiverses contained within it, were at risk of collapse. Delegates from various universes met, trying to see if it could be prevented. But only one world seemed safe from this threat. While they theorized that the collapse could be stopped or reversed, something had to be done first. Representatives from different worlds were sent to this safe space, the intention being that when the time was right, these brave souls would be ready to save the multiverse from destruction. Yet there was one unforeseen consequence of this dimension-hopping. These representatives had their memories altered, and they seemed to believe themselves to be perfectly ordinary human residents of a small town called Summerside, Wisconsin. They had never felt at any point that this may not be the case- until now, when dreams begin to pour in that feel more like memories of a bygone era....
Spottedleaf, the opening post
Once Upon a Multiverse is a play-by-post Massive Multiplayer Crossover roleplay hosted on the TV Tropes forums.
Set in Summerside, Wisconsin, a group of people meet at the park by chance following several odd events. All of them, despite their myriad differences, have two things in common. One is that they all received a mysterious letter telling them to go to the park at midnight. The other is that they're actually fictional characters who have to save the multiverse.
Wait, what?
You see, this group consists of some (though definitely not the only) survivors of a cataclysm that wiped out their home worlds. For whatever reason, they were chosen to be sent to the only world safe from this disaster, to one day return to save the multiverse.
Unfortunately, there was a slight problem. Namely, that all of Summerside lost their memories, and were given new ones of civilian life. How this happened is unknown, but now the memories are returning, and the multiverse needs saving.
The game can be found here
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Tropes associated with this work include:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Caitlin Snow, the third incarnation of the villainous Killer Frost, is a hero here. Possibly justified, though, as she's arguably the least evil of the Killer Frosts and has pulled a Heel–Face Turn before.
- Julius's villainy is attributed to Loptous (which at least has some basis in canon). Julius himself is a sweet Shrinking Violet.
- Otto Octavius is a much kinder person than he is in the comics. Subverted later on, though, as the Doc Ock persona awakens.
- Spinel is a Justified example, as she comes from before the events of The Movie.
- Vito Scaletta is not the sociopathic mafioso he is in the games, and is instead a confused and paranoid man initially terrified and avoidant of conflict before finally joining up with the others. He's still a foul-mouthed hothead.
- Akatsuki ends up as this for lack of reason to be in an antagonistic role, unlike in canon. Even when Madarame wakes up, he doesn't necessarily become villainous—it's more of being forced into Teeth-Clenched Teamwork.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Gordon Freeman is portrayed as a vain, narcissistic addict. Justified, since he's from Freeman's Mind.
- An Arm and a Leg: Loptous does the courtesy of crushing one of the juvenile delinquent's legs into a fine red mist while possessing Julius.
- Badass Normal: Vito Scaletta is somewhere between this and Action Survivor since he has no powers, advanced technology, or supernatural powers. Just a gun, a car, a first aid kit, and his military training. However, because of this he's often outclassed by supernatural enemies and tries to defuse any combat situations before they begin, with questionable results most of the time.
- Cerebus Retcon: Yuki-Onna was mentioned a few times in Toshio's visions as a supervillain who once escaped from jail three times in a row to kill him by sheer hate alone, Played for Laughs... and then turns out that her civilian identity, Yuki Yamashita and Toshio were Just Friends that cared a lot for each other and she got caught into a Freak Lab Accident, giving her ice powers and got possessed by a Yuki Onna seconds after that, turning her into a villain. The last thing he saw of her was her Fighting from the Inside and telling him to not to let her control her.
- Deadpan Snarker: If he's not completely losing his shit, Freeman is being sarcastic.
- Loptous, too.Loptous: (after Midnight appears and Julius freaks out) Stellar introduction. You're the very picture of charisma.
- Loptous, too.
- Enemy Within: Loptous for Julius.
- Establishing Character Moment: In just her second post, Ryuko is being threatened by a bunch of delinquents with weapons, reacting with mild annoyance at worst, followed by effortlessly throwing one of the punks out of the small clearing they're in.
- After taking control of Julius, Loptous calmly walks up to the punks they're fighting and starts counting.
- In his first scene, Gohan sees Loptous taking pleasure in hurting people and goes berserk, transforming into a Super Saiyan out of sheer reflex, destroying a magical attack with a Kamehameha Wave and laying into Loptous.
- Fake Memories: The basis of the plot is that everyone's memories have been altered to make them think they're ordinary Summerside citizens.
- Genre Savvy: When fighting Doc Ock, Kaito/Toshio lists up some of the most common supervillain origins: Broken-hearted person who got powers and started hating the hero after they stopped them in a revenge rampage, shy scientist caught into a Freak Lab Accident and maddening with a possible Split Personality being created, and just a crook doing it for the thrill. He ends up right with the shy scientist one for both Otto and Caitlin, who was in a fighting stance nearby and gets hurt by his words.
- Loptous points out that the magic gem that supposedly grants miracles likely comes with terrible consequences after the miracle's granted. Later, he also says that the mysterious cloud over Summerside will likely spawn monsters for the group to fight.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Toshio literally cannot swear, and instead uses old-timed or superhero expressions like "Great Scott" or "Twisting Tornadoes". Justified since he comes from a Saturday-Morning Cartoon.
- Goth: Vito Scaletta is this in Summerside.
- Heroic BSoD: Thanks to the nature of the plot, there isn't going to be a shortage of these any time soon. For one, Julius snaps during the park fight—collapsing on the ground and sobbing when the carnage ends up reminding him of his past.
- Subverted when Mob narrowly avoids one after being told about Ritsu's fate by Midnight.
- Pretty much everyone has one when they learn that everyone they love is dead.
- Knight of Cerebus: Somewhat. While he was already a presence before this (manifesting as a Deadpan Snarker voice in Julius's head), Loptous fully taking control is when the park fight becomes much, much darker.
- Locked into Strangeness / Power Dyes Your Hair: As her memories of being Killer Frost start to come back, Caitlin's hair turns from brown to white.
- Downplayed with Julius, who was already a redhead before regaining his memories—it's just that it changes from auburn to crimson.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Ryuko's very big mansion has been shown off, but the only person she seems to live with is a butler.
- Missing Mom: Despite the many differences between his life in Jugdral and his life in Summerside, Julius's mother is still dead.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Julius regains control of himself, he ends up sobbing on the ground, apologizing over and over again. Not helped by the fact that this causes him to regain his memories.
- Vito has a minor example of this when he regains his memories of being a violent gangster. Consequently, he decides to atone for it and try to redeem himself for his past wrongs.
- After her memories of being a supervillain resurface, Caitlin insists to Midnight that she's not a hero, and that she can't remember ever doing anything good in her former life.
- After causing a tornado in the Ito Household while trying to do something against Senketsu, Toshio ends up in regret after seeing the disaster he caused and vows to never use the Tornado Move until he knows more about it.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: After receiving his feather, Julius's hair goes from shoulder-length to just above his waist.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The amount of characters genuinely qualified to save the multiverse can be counted on one hand. The fact that some of them are villains in their home universes absolutely doesn't help matters.
- Running Gag: Toshio's right arm keeps being mentioned since it turned invisible. Possibly stopping after the second park fight as he turned it back, but he still regards it as a token of the past.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being attacked by living clothes, Julius decides "screw it" and heads back home.
- Vito Scaletta tries to take this approach early on, and is absent for a good chunk of the storyline, before finally getting the courage to address the issues head-on.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Vito Scaletta is a veteran and is paranoid and avoidant due to trauma experienced in combat. He still served in the same unit his canon counterpart did (82nd Airborne) except in Afghanistan instead of taking part in the Allied liberation of Sicily like his canon equivalent did.
- Shrinking Violet: Julius is immensely shy, and stutters almost every time he talks.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Two of them happen at the second park fight—Otto is Doc Ock, and Loptous directly possesses Julius.
- Inverted with Madarame/Akira to Akatsuki in the same fight, who was the original personality coming back.
