Alternate universes and omake theater in Megatokyo

"Megatokyo", Fred Gallagher's manga-influenced webcomic, occasionally includes alternate universes containing some of the same characters as "Megatokyo", but bearing no relation to the world of "Megatokyo". These often contain references to video games or anime series. In addition, some alternate universe sub-stories, such as "Endgames", have an actual effect on "Megatokyo's" overall plot.

Endgames

"Endgames" is a fantasy-styled massively multiplayer online role-playing game existing only in the Megatokyo universe, which was once regularly played by Piro, Largo and Tohya Miho. With the release of Volume 2 in print, Fred Gallagher wrote a short story based in the Endgames world entitled "Endgames: Presence". For Volume 3, he returned to the more-familiar comic format and created an eight page short story called "Endgames: Disabled", which is visually consistent with the rest of "Megatokyo".

"Endgames" is unusual in that it tracks several different "emotional statistics," which are hidden from the player.cite web | title="Megatokyo" strip 428 | url=http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=428 | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2006] Miho discovered these statistics and exploited them, leading eventually to the collapse of all the East Coast servers.cite web | title="Megatokyo" strip 432 | url=http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=432 | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2006]

It is not known what company developed or published "Endgames".

Piro's in-game character

Piro plays as a female character in "Endgames". Her name is Pirogoeth, a strong, bold queen who lost her kingdom of "Kuith" during an in-game war, and afterward joined forces with Largo's character, adventuring through the game's world together.

Piro also possesses a character dubbed Piroko, whom he plays as in first-person shooters, and who is almost identical in appearance to Pirogoeth (the sole difference between them being Piroko's modern military gear). Piroko and Largo's first-person shooter characters are seen fighting nearly every time they appear together. Piroko also appears in the "Grand Theft Colo" omake, this time as a real person, as Piro himself is also present.

Piro's final known in-game character is Pirokiko. While not appearing in the canon storyline, she is featured at Fred Gallagher's personal art site, Fredart, as a possible alternate form of Pirogoeth.cite web | title="Pirokiko" sketch on Fred Gallagher's personal art webpage | url=http://www.fredart.com/fredart/artpage.php3?fn=111&ft=sk | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2006] Inspired by the ".hack" "Legend of the Twilight" manga, Pirokiko is more in line with the 'cute' styled games Gallagher prefers rather than the more serious role-playing games that Pirogoeth is based on.

Largo

Largo's character persona in "Endgames" is a male, combination Viking Raider and Roman Legionnaire Captain with height and muscles that his real world counterpart lacks. Largo's character's personality is almost identical to that of Largo, and unlike Piro, he identifies himself and his in-game alternates as one and the same rather than role-player and character. In one story, it is said that Largo's large size frightens off most bandits and robbers that would consider (incorrectly) that Pirogoeth is easy prey. Largo's character has a fondness for ale and often makes rude comments about Pirogoeth's feminity (including her bust size), which often leads to her using spells to attack him (As Largo put it to Erika, "Her skills at healing were useful, as her spells had a tendency to nearly kill me").

His rank was confirmed as legionnaire in the DPD "Largo: Legionnaire of Reaht" (comic 919).

Unknown

Miho's character in "Endgames" is a confident, male warrior wizard dubbed "Niho" by some of the fans. Miho and Piro had an in-game relationship with their avatars, which is first mentioned in strip [http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=432 432] , and further detailed in strips [http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=849 849] through [http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=856 856] . From the context of the relationship seen in the comics, Niho joined Largo and Pirogoeth's band and became good friends with them. Largo described Niho has having the makings of both a great warrior and magician as well as being able to bridge the Largo-Piro gap. Niho, however, attempted to exploit the emotions of both Largo and Piro, which ended badly. Largo's character ignored the statistics completely. Piro's character resisted the attack and was able to actually make Miho's character care for her. Largo's character attacks Niho at one point and kills him. Pirogoeth heals Largo, but heals Niho also, since she can't stand to see him die. Pirogoeth collapses from exhaustion afterwards, and Niho, now fully healed, stabs Largo. Largo sees this scenario as proof of how emotions betray people.

Grand Theft Colo - Otaku City

"Grand Theft Colo - Otaku City" is an omake "Grand Theft Auto" spoof centering around the theft of the "moé anthropomorphic" "Megatokyo" server, Makoto. "Grand Theft Colo" spans a total of nine strips, with the first two appearing between "Megatokyo" chapters 3 and 4, and the remaining seven between chapters 4 and 5.

Most of the major characters of "Megatokyo" make appearances in "Grand Theft Colo," though their personalities have been altered to be more in-line with the "Grand Theft Auto"-esque setting.

Makoto

The personification of the "Megatokyo" server of the same name, and her appearance is almost identical to her initial namesake, Makoto of "Kanon". The kidnapping of Makoto-rin is the reason behind the name "Grand Theft Colo," as Makoto-rin is stolen from ColoGuys [http://www.cologuys.com/] co-location facility. She could initially be taken as an alternate of Ping, as most of the major "Megatokyo" characters have alternates in the story, but the former is explanation enough without this added information; though some traits of Makoto Sawatari, such as her penchant for nikuman, also show up in this character, Ping's personality is much more prevalent than that of the brash trickster Makoto.

Makoto, the server the character is based on, crashed on February 8, 2008 after 5 1/2 years.

Circuity

Circuity is an omake series based partially on the anime "Haibane Renmei", and has left its readers with many different reactions, particularly because of its link to an anime. There are only three characters seen in the story, with a fourth mentioned. These characters hold parallels to four "Megatokyo" characters: Piro, Largo, Kimiko, and Erika. None of the characters have names, but their personalities and appearances are very similar.

This story is a small allegory about the broader plot of "Megatokyo", specifically the relationship between Erika and Largo. Largo trying to push back the wind represents him trying to protect her but she refuses to allow him. An enhanced and extended version of Circuity entitled "Circuity: rewound", has been released in the fourth volume of "Megatokyo".cite web | title=DC Comic's Manga imprint CMX Acquires publishing rights to Fred Gallagher's Acclaimed Megatokyo Series | url=http://www.megatokyo.com/extra/Megatokyo_release.pdf | accessdate=June 18 | accessyear=2006 | format=PDF] It includes the character represented by Erika, who had not appeared in the web version.

unMod

unMod is an omake spanning nine strips appearing between chapters 8 and 9. unMod features alternate versions of Captain Sonoda, Piroko, Largo, and Yuki in a cyberpunk setting. The characters are parallels of their "Megatokyo" counterparts although Piroko seems to be affected by an angel wing fet-mod that was installed as part of her investigation of an illegally modified girl trafficking ring with the Modification Regulation and Enforcement Division of the North West Pacific Rim Metropolitan Police.cite web | title="Megatokyo" Strip 981 | url=http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=980 | accessdate=March 28 | accessyear=2007]

unMod is notable as it is Fred's first attempt at heavy action scenes and experimental nature exploring alternate forms of storytelling within a totally different, cyberpunk, setting. cite web | title=Fred's unMod omake Megatokyo Forum post | url=http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1722961 | accessdate=March 28 | accessyear=2007]

References