Script: What if Channel Trailer (Patreon)

Hello again and welcome to the What fi Playlist. 

Here I outline stories, world building and characters arcs for different types of what if's. 

But, before you click next, let's break down the 3 types of what if's I use as each one is very important to understand:

Alternate Reality:
The easiest form of what if, this is where all the familiar characters are present but the known storyline and world have been radically altered and they themselves to fit it. This influences tone, world building, characters history, themes and overarching plot. 

Or to put it another way, there's the canon universe and then there's the cow-folk universe, or the coffee shop AU, or the "Everyone's a pirate AU" for reference some of these are really good. 

These can be fun but I'll rarely touch on them outside perhaps of ideas like, "What if X was a horror series" which could be fun. 

Divergence:
This is based on the idea of what if one or several characters made different decisions or met different fates through pure chance. 

A key blow is not landed and a hero dies, a would be villain is saved from going down their path because someone intervened at the right time, or a known figure is stricken with a disease that alters the trajectory of their life, and so on. 

In these timelines, everything else about the world not directly touched by these changes will stay largely unchanged until encountering the ripple effects of said changes, sometimes swiftly, sometimes years later. 

Alternate Universe:
This world seems familiar, certain plot points happen almost as you remember them but something is subtly off. 

Maybe the characters seem a bit more pragmatic, or the tone darker, or perhaps there's world building elements introduced that don't align with the canon material. AU's occupy a position between alternate realities and divergence and could almost be called, "What if the author did this?" 

For instance, what if Goku was not an alien but actually a mythical monkey child? Well, at a minimum everything after the Piccolo Junior Saga would need to be altered or even entirely tossed out. 

Conclusion:
I define these here, because each of these narrative frameworks leads to radically different stories even if the premise is exactly the same. 

If an allied character is a villain in an alternate universe timeline then the world building will be adjusted to suit their character more neatly compared to a divergence timeline where all those elements would remain the same and their motives would need to be more well defined. 

Both of which contrast to alternate realities where the radical changes in the world can make everyone and everything topsy turvy. 

 hope this has been useful for you and happy watching!