Fanfic Recommendations meet Abbott and Costello

[hazard]

To be fair Matrix, that describes most of the main and supporting cast of the series.

[Matrix Dragon]

To be fair Matrix, that describes most of the main and supporting cast of the series.

There's a few of the cast that go above and beyond the line of slapstick comedy and into outright monster territory. The bit where Nabiki is talking about how she, her father and their handful of allies spent that time honestly preparing for a suicide war was impressive in making that clear. Also, I would have loved to have seen the bit mentioned where the police approached Soun years later, knowing they were trying to make peace with an incredibly dangerous man that had every reason to want them dead.

[classicdrogn]

Eh, Ranma 1/2 is one of those series that kind of breaks down if you try to handle it seriously rather than as an action-comedy where reality pointedly does not ensue. I mean, nuclear weapons don't do as much damage as the top-ranking battles in that series; if real world concerns applied there would have been massive shit-storms about a couple of mountains getting leveled, with Chinese nationals involved in Japan and Japanese in China, a year or less apart, even if the street-level stuff got brushed under the carpet.

[ECSNorway]

Yeah. My suspension of disbelief takes my sense of reality out for a booze-up whenever Ranma comes up and we see a panda walking around the streets of Tokyo, bashing redheads with stop signs and dragging them off to dire fates, without anyone so much as calling animal control.

[classicdrogn]

To be fair, Genma is actually a good parent by panda standards. He didn't fall asleep on kid Ranma and crush him to death, or eat him because he was too lazy to move over to a new patch of bamboo, or just wander off and leave him to starve, etc. Of course, most of that was before actually getting the curse, but there's a reason pandas are endangered and it ain't angry okonomiyaki chefs.

[VladimirTherin]

Forgive me for recommending a Worm fic, but this one is simply hilarious and relatively well written:

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/...rm.718030/

Summary Taylor is evidently working part time for maybe the actual Devil in a magic shop selling cursed objects.
Except the world is so screwed that the Devil maybe changing his business model to help things?

[ECSNorway]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/167444...s/39281056

"Keep Calm and Heterodyne On" (Girl Genius)

In which Dr Silas Merlot annoys Der Baron a little too much too quickly, and meets his comeuppance before he is able to expel Agatha from TPU. The story consists of a series of letters and other articles delving into the reign of Agatha Clay, Tyrant of Beetleburg, Chancellor of Transylvania Polygnostic University.

[Shepherd]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13109131/1/...Is-Forever
First Is Forever (The Martian, five chapters, complete). Focuses primarily on Mindy Park's POV and has several well developed subplots.

[ECSNorway]

"Gil, I think my family might be really weird."

From "Well Met at Mechanicsburg"

A Girl Genius AU in which Barry Heterodyne survives and brings little four-year-old Agatha to Mechanicsburg, allies with Klaus Wulfenbach, and stuff goes on from there.

[deadpan29]

Two crossovers:

First, the Strawhat pirates end up in the world of the Justice League cartoon. It's interesting in the clash of worldview and ideals as the Strawhats pursue personal freedom and have understandable reasons to mistrust any group claiming to champion justice, but they are criminals none the less.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12573816/1/Justice

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

[classicdrogn]

I haven't read the PMMM/Bleach one yet, but I have to second the rec for Justice, and that's coming from someone who mainly considers One Piece to be proof that no artistic ability is required to make a best-selling manga and is too horrified at the visuals to even begin to follow the story. I can't say whether that side of the crossover is accurate for obvious reasons, but the characters are fun and strongly written, the DCAU side feels spot on, and the main conflict is about the culture clash between the two sides rather than the standard "find bad guy, punch bad guy," while simultaneously driving a redemption arc (at least by Strawhats standards) for a half dozen or so supervillains. It's pretty keen.

[Lunaludus Scribex]

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

Seconding this one. There have been a few other Bleach/PMMM crosses, but this one stands out for how well the two settings mesh, often in unexpected ways. The author has worked hard, and it shows.

Story is currently on the second time loop (of 54), with the first having ended in true PMMM fashion.

[Mamorien]

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

Seconding this one.  There have been a few other Bleach/PMMM crosses, but this one stands out for how well the two settings mesh, often in unexpected ways.  The author has worked hard, and it shows.

Story is currently on the second time loop (of 54), with the first having ended in true PMMM fashion.

Thirding, for the reasons given, and as an opportunity to boost Smoke and Mirrorless Flowers, one fan's attempt to anticipate Chapter Einundsiebzig that ended up wildly AU but IMO worthy of inclusion alongside the official version. Not only does it include a reference to Wing Bind from Burn the Witch, it has Kyoko Sakura appreciating Orihime's transcendental cuisine.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13070680/1/...ss-Flowers

[NifT]

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

Seconding this one.  There have been a few other Bleach/PMMM crosses, but this one stands out for how well the two settings mesh, often in unexpected ways.  The author has worked hard, and it shows.

Story is currently on the second time loop (of 54), with the first having ended in true PMMM fashion.

Thirding, for the reasons given, and as an opportunity to boost Smoke and Mirrorless Flowers, one fan's attempt to anticipate Chapter Einundsiebzig that ended up wildly AU but IMO worthy of inclusion alongside the official version. Not only does it include a reference to Wing Bind from Burn the Witch, it has Kyoko Sakura appreciating Orihime's transcendental cuisine.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13070680/1/...ss-Flowers

Having just binged this over the last few days while I was sick, I absolutely fourth this. I don't often read PMMM fanfiction (To the Stars being the only one before now that I followed), this one just grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

[Mamorien]

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

Seconding this one.  There have been a few other Bleach/PMMM crosses, but this one stands out for how well the two settings mesh, often in unexpected ways.  The author has worked hard, and it shows.

Story is currently on the second time loop (of 54), with the first having ended in true PMMM fashion.

Thirding, for the reasons given, and as an opportunity to boost Smoke and Mirrorless Flowers, one fan's attempt to anticipate Chapter Einundsiebzig that ended up wildly AU but IMO worthy of inclusion alongside the official version. Not only does it include a reference to Wing Bind from Burn the Witch, it has Kyoko Sakura appreciating Orihime's transcendental cuisine.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13070680/1/...ss-Flowers

Having just binged this over the last few days while I was sick, I absolutely fourth this. I don't often read PMMM fanfiction (To the Stars being the only one before now that I followed), this one just grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

Addenda over on AO3:
1) As N Approaches Infinity and its side-story collection Polynomial Expansion are available there under the series label Significant Figures:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/912576

2) One astrologia has written two spin-offs:
a) beside you (in time), a thorough emotional workout telling how Homura might, over several loops, come to see Hitsugaya in a different way:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17677223

b) The Worst Thing Next to Anarchy (Is The Government), set sometime after the possible end of the series, with the puellae of Mitakihara about to graduate from the Shin'oh Academy of the Spiritual Arts and take up assignments with the 13 Court Guard Squads. The first of a promised 17 chapters went up the same day as AN→∞ 76:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/176937...s/41735564

Also, Polynomial Expansion is available at the Pit of Voles, if that's your jam (the main thing I like better about it is one-click chapter jumping):
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12792869/1/...-Expansion

[ECSNorway]

Second, despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura and meets some strange people interested in this cat/rabbit thing pulling girls souls out of their bodies.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/...s-Infinity

Seconding this one.  There have been a few other Bleach/PMMM crosses, but this one stands out for how well the two settings mesh, often in unexpected ways.  The author has worked hard, and it shows.

Story is currently on the second time loop (of 54), with the first having ended in true PMMM fashion.

Thirding, for the reasons given, and as an opportunity to boost Smoke and Mirrorless Flowers, one fan's attempt to anticipate Chapter Einundsiebzig that ended up wildly AU but IMO worthy of inclusion alongside the official version. Not only does it include a reference to Wing Bind from Burn the Witch, it has Kyoko Sakura appreciating Orihime's transcendental cuisine.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13070680/1/...ss-Flowers

Having just binged this over the last few days while I was sick, I absolutely fourth this. I don't often read PMMM fanfiction (To the Stars being the only one before now that I followed), this one just grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

Fifth'ed (have some JD). This is great stuff.

[drakensis]

Finished binging As N Approaches Infinity and I add my own recommendation. Those feels, man. Those feels.

[classicdrogn]

This Is No Game is an SAO fic where the players weren't logged off even after Kayaba was revealed and defeated - instead, the respawn mechanic was restored, and detail increased overnight to real-life levels, including fatigue, pain, and bleeding when injured, and as Asuna and Kirito discover by early December, pregnancy. Meanwhile, in the real world, the surviving SAO players' bodies and NerveGear all vanished in a brilliant flash of light... And in Alfheim Online, Leafa (AKA Kirito's RL sister Suguha) overhears some of the recently far more natural acting NPCs talking about how a certain floatng castle will be in flight range for the first time in centuries.

[Norgarth]

I mentioned this over in the Update thread a couple weeks back, but Cerulean, author of Heretical Edge, has begun a new story, this one set in an original superhero universe

Summus Proelium
Chapter 1) https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...-proelium/
Chapter 2) https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...-proelium/

[classicdrogn]

Solid Shark's Monochrome Duet is an SAO fic wherein the Dark Elf NPC Kizmel, who always did act much more lifelike than the rest, shows up just after the 25th floor boss fight when Asuna joins the Knights of Blood and partners up with Kirito rather than him going off solo. Naturally this leads to quite a few differences going forward, most notably a continuing quest line based on the Elf War, and certain other minor or spin-off supporting characters rising to more prominent roles.

Probably not a truly new spin on it but it kept me going through the 300K+ word length, technically competent, and the ongoing question of how to keep her and any other Turing-test level AI that might have or come to exist before SAO is cleared from simply being deleted as it shuts down is enough to keep me looking forward to it as it continues, even if Yui in canon does offer the skeleton of a plan. Mildly recommended, with some real high points in the latest chapters to close the first big character arc - with Ch19 you could honestly say, "But they found a way. The End," without being horribly unsatisfying.

[ECSNorway]

https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th...gln.53204/

"On Fluttering Wings" -- Post Worm canon, Taylor Hebert joins forces with a long-lost Unison Device, and goes wandering through Dimensional Space. Very interesting so far.

[Black Aeronaut]

This Is No Game is an SAO fic where the players weren't logged off even after Kayaba was revealed and defeated - instead, the respawn mechanic was restored, and detail increased overnight to real-life levels, including fatigue, pain, and bleeding when injured, and as Asuna and Kirito discover by early December, pregnancy. Meanwhile, in the real world, the surviving SAO players' bodies and NerveGear all vanished in a brilliant flash of light... And in Alfheim Online, Leafa (AKA Kirito's RL sister Suguha) overhears some of the recently far more natural acting NPCs talking about how a certain floatng castle will be in flight range for the first time in centuries.

..... So in other words, they take SAO's end game... And turn it into Log Horizon? 

[classicdrogn]

In so many words, yes, as the author admitted in the thread.

Also seconding that Nanoha Taylor-insert, it's fun and just about wrapping up the intro to start on the main plot, again according to the author's comments. I will note that it's pre-Worm canon, however - Tay gets pulled straight out of the locker, months before the story proper even begins.

[Black Aeronaut]

https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th...gln.53204/

"On Fluttering Wings" -- Post Worm canon, Taylor Hebert joins forces with a long-lost Unison Device, and goes wandering through Dimensional Space. Very interesting so far.

In so many words, yes, as the author admitted in the thread.

Also seconding that Nanoha Taylor-insert, it's fun and just about wrapping up the intro to start on the main plot, again according to the author's comments. I will note that it's pre-Worm canon, however - Tay gets pulled straight out of the locker, months before the story proper even begins.

..... Wait. Who's got it right, here? One of you says 'pre-canon' and the other says 'post-canon'.

[classicdrogn]

It's post- most of Nanoha canon. Nanoha is 24ish, and I believe it was mentioned that it's the gap between ViviD and whatever comes after it.

edit:
quoting this post:

I think at this point I've communicated where we're at in the timeline without making somebody look at a TSAB calendar and see that it's early Year 80 but as this discussion begins to kick off I'll just double confirm that this story is set after the conclusion of Vivid but prior to the beginning of Vivid Strike (a series which may or may not be relevant).

Nanoha has just turned 24 and our intrepid heroines caught her attention in the middle of her birthday celebration mini-vacation with Fate (who doesn't appear to have an official birthday so I'm going with the cute choice of 'she picked Nanoha's birthday for the sake of the paperwork' unless someone contradicts me on this). Hayate's about three months younger, but whereas Nanoha is content to refuse promotions and hang out at the bottom of the org chart as an Almighty Instructor, Hayate is an overachiever and one of the highest ranked officers in the TSAB thanks in part to how many other people at the top got caught up in the JS Incident...

Nanoha's UA-97 isn't synched in any way with the Worm Alternate Earths and so its date and time have no bearing either on how much time it's been since Taylor left Bet, nor on her actual age, which is currently 15 (and some sizable but indeterminable fraction that she'll probably end up cheated out of by the paperwork). This is important to clarify as based on the assumption that TOS happened in the year of its release, which would make Year 65 be 2004 AD on the UA-97 calendar and therefore it's currently 2019. (Ain't that convenient?) As such, Taylor's official birthday would be adjusted accordingly in the same way that Fate and Vivio's birthdays are both representative of their biological ages rather than dates of activation. This is... a surprisingly common occurrence in TSAB space.

E2: And while I'm here, perhaps the weirdest thing I've recced yet, a RWBY/WH40K crossover. For The Ones We Cherish features perhaps the only even sorta nice-guy Space Marines in the Imperium, the Lamenters, arriving just a bit pre-S1 RWBY, so by the time the casts interact Ruby & Co. are all Academy students. There is Grim to go with all the grimm, but the only Derp so far was an old version of Ch2.5 that had Ruby being too silly and childish in an serious situation, since retconned with a much improved version. 87k words and counting.

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/...egory_id=1