0:00:00.017,0:00:07.428
Red: Hello everybody, and welcome to another very special Detail Diatribe. I don’t know why I said very special,

0:00:07.428,0:00:11.060
this is pretty much on brand for the other Detail Diatribes we’ve done so far.

0:00:11.060,0:00:14.776
It’s not a special holiday event or whatever. But I’m excited about this.

0:00:14.776,0:00:19.740
Blue: Medium-special at best, but still very exciting! [br]R: Moderately special, you know,

0:00:19.740,0:00:26.388
in the grand calculus of the multiverse. [br]B: Somewhere, Red and Blue are sitting down

0:00:26.388,0:00:34.486
to record a Detail Diatribe that is the most special Detail Diatribe ever. But we’re not in that multiverse.

0:00:34.486,0:00:39.316
R: No, we’re in this timeline instead. In case you didn’t pick up what we’re putting down,

0:00:39.316,0:00:47.115
the subject of today’s Detail Diatribe is something that I have been mulling over for a while now, and I like to call it

0:00:47.115,0:00:54.229
“the multiverse problem”. And to explain what exactly the multiverse problem is, I’ve prepared a handy-dandy,

0:00:54.229,0:00:58.843
super efficient 40 slide slideshow-[br]B: Yes, Yes!

0:00:59.791,0:01:06.496
R: -to discuss what exactly is going on. So, to start we must define the parameters

0:01:06.496,0:01:11.458
that we’re going to be operating on. What is a multiverse? Now obviously, in this specific context

0:01:11.458,0:01:16.041
we are discussing fictional multiverses, not Real Multiverse Theory, none of that stuff.

0:01:16.041,0:01:21.057
Not particularly interesting to me. But in fiction the concept of a multiverse is essentially a setting

0:01:21.057,0:01:26.672
that contains multiple universes or timelines, and the setting that the protagonists - the main characters -

0:01:26.672,0:01:31.752
are from is typically just one universe out of many. A story will often introduce the concept

0:01:31.752,0:01:36.736
of a multiverse in the context of a plotline that threatens the integrity of this home universe,

0:01:36.736,0:01:42.282
like a bad future timeline or a threat that’s moving across dimensions or an evil alternate version

0:01:42.282,0:01:46.829
of themselves intruding, stuff like that. It’s a very, very broad concept that covers a lot of ground.

0:01:46.829,0:01:52.161
A lot of that ground is just fine, some of that ground is very, very bad. So let’s talk about it!

0:01:52.161,0:02:00.009
B: This is exciting, because I have passing familiarity with some multiverse stories in kids’ media,

0:02:00.009,0:02:02.724
like evil Danny Phantom and stuff like that.[br]R: Oh yeah, yeah. That’s on my list.

0:02:02.724,0:02:09.332
B: Aside from a couple, you know, instances of Marvel coming into the phase four-game

0:02:09.332,0:02:16.728
with multiversal nonsense, I am largely an outsider on this topic and I have some thoughts, but only some,

0:02:16.728,0:02:20.715
and I don't know how strong they are. So we'll see how that develops as we go through this slideshow.

0:02:20.715,0:02:25.056
R: Yeah, I'm excited for your input because there are a few examples in here that I know you've got thoughts on.

0:02:25.056,0:02:30.809
But to start off, a little bit more categorization. There are, broadly speaking, two different kinds of multiverses.

0:02:30.809,0:02:36.025
There are many worlds-multiverses and there are branching timeline-multiverses. Many worlds-multiverses,

0:02:36.025,0:02:41.274
that's how you cover things like magical other world-stories, Narnia, Oz, you know, stuff like that.

0:02:41.274,0:02:47.055
The characters travel from their world to another world. You know, it's essentially just a multiversal flavor on, like,

0:02:47.055,0:02:51.468
the old sword and planet fantasy where people would be- or like Star Trek, where you've got a bunch

0:02:51.468,0:02:55.868
of different inhabited planets and they're all very different but the people from them can come and hang out.

0:02:55.868,0:03:01.880
B: Yeah. I believe Shakespeare's word for that was isekai. [br]R: Yes, the Bard himself, as we all know.

0:03:03.280,0:03:09.916
So that type of multiverse, that doesn't tend to be where the problems lie. The branching timeline-multiverse

0:03:09.916,0:03:15.865
is a different format for these stories, where instead there is this sort of concept that these are alternate versions

0:03:15.865,0:03:21.961
of our universe, so there might be alternate versions of familiar characters. It's like, if you go from Earth to Oz,

0:03:21.961,0:03:27.162
you're not gonna find an Oz-version of yourself. But, like, my example on this slide is Into the Spider-Verse,

0:03:27.162,0:03:31.361
where all of those universes are extremely different, but they are on some level all different versions

0:03:31.361,0:03:36.476
of the same universe. There are often going to be stories that have this sort of vague ambiguity between like,

0:03:36.476,0:03:41.839
is this a branching timeline, alternate, “somebody made a different choice and now you live in Toon Town”,

0:03:41.839,0:03:46.576
or are these worlds with different fundamental physical laws, but also there are different versions

0:03:46.576,0:03:49.032
of the same guy across all these universes for some reason?

0:03:49.032,0:03:55.129
B: Just imagining, like, Edison didn't get the patent for the motion picture and then therefore 150 years later

0:03:55.129,0:03:58.612
we live in Toon Town. [br]R: Yeah, yeah. Obviously that's the only logical explanation

0:03:58.612,0:04:00.529
for how Spider-Pig happened. [br]B: Yeah.

0:04:00.529,0:04:04.013
R: So these universes will either strongly or superficially resemble each other. You know,

0:04:04.013,0:04:08.946
this is where you start getting things like the time plot where it's like, “Ohh, I'm you from an alternate universe

0:04:08.946,0:04:12.628
or from an alternate future or whatever”. Those ones tend to be a little bit more fast and loose.

0:04:12.628,0:04:18.659
And the branching timeline-multiverse is where the problems begin. Now, multiverses disrupt the story

0:04:18.659,0:04:24.208
that they're introduced into to varying degrees, because of course, the basic premise of a multiverse of

0:04:24.208,0:04:28.089
“Hey, there's multiple universes, yours is just one of them” is usually accompanied by the concept

0:04:28.089,0:04:33.221
“And your universe is under threat”, and that is the disruption. So essentially the introduction

0:04:33.221,0:04:38.702
of the multiverse can either disrupt the story a little bit, or it can disrupt the story a whole bunch.