Fusion

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:	amalgam
Related:	crossover, AU
See Also:	multiverse
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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A fusion is a type of fanwork which merges two or more fandoms by incorporating characters from one fandom into the setting of another as if they had always been there.

The term was common in some media fandom communities to distinguish these AU crossovers since at least around the year 2000, and further popularized by Liviapenn in 2005, when she created the sga_fusion community to support the Atlantis Amalgamated challenge. Since the challenge was centered in the Stargate Atlantis fandom, many of the stories identified as 'fusions' come from that fandom, though the earlier concept of 'Amalgam' stories came from comics:

It's a little easier to talk about this type of thing in comics fandom, where there's a clear-cut difference between a crossover and an amalgam-- every so often DC and Marvel will get together and do an "Amalgam" comic, where two universes are squished together resulting in something like Sparrow, who is a squished-together version of Robin and Jubilee.) Anyway, that's what these stories should be-- not crossovers where Angel or Jim Ellison or Horatio Hornblower or Remus and Sirius suddenly discover the existence of Atlantis, but one where they've been there this whole time, as Marines, or scientists, or Athosians, or whatever. Where they've become part of a team, just as they are in their original fandoms.

Some fandoms are very often used for fusions and are defined more by their fusion potential than by fannish activity in-universe alone; His Dark Materials is a good example, with whole livejournal comms being devoted to the genre.

The idea of writing fusions, especially with popular movies, is attractive to quite a few fanwriters, though it is not always successfully implemented.

Popular Fusion Types

Fusions often borrow a setting or an element of canon, and ignore everything else from these fandoms; canon knowledge (sometimes even on part of the writer) is rarely necessary.

Borrowed Settings

• There are many stories in which characters are students at Hogwarts (often prompted by an idea about which House a particular character might attend.)
• Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars universe
• Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern universe

Borrowed Canon Elements

• Characters exist in a world where humans have dæmons from His Dark Materials
• Superhero or mutant powers, similar to the X-Men
• Character X turns out to be a Highlander-style Immortal
• Slayers & Watchers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are imported to other universes
• Characters X and Y have a fanon Sentinel-Guide soulbond from The Sentinel. (Often these take place in a darkfic AU where the existence of Sentinels and Guides is publicly known, and Guides may be unwillingly coerced into their role as soulbonded sidekick.)
• A character is under an obedience curse, as in Ella Enchanted.

Same Actor Fusion

A Same Actor Fusion is like a Same Actor Crossover, but rather than having two characters in different canons who are played by the same actor meet, they are combined into one. These stories usually include a fusion of other canon elements such as setting as well as characters.

Footage of different characters played by the same actor is sometimes used in fanvids, gifs and other fanart to create the illusion of continuity between characters.

• Doctor Who and Life On Mars

• • The Master and Sam Tyler.

• Sherlock (BBC) and The Hobbit

• • This fusion began being drawn and written when it was announced the Benedict Cumberbatch had been cast along side his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman as the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit. The portmanteau names "Smauglock" and "Johnbo" refer to the Smaug/Sherlock fusion and John/Bilbo fusion characters respectively.

• Sherlock (BBC) and Different For Girls

• • Rupert Graves characters Detective Inspector Lestrade and Paul Prentice have been fused by sadynax and others. Paul Prentice is perhaps the inspiration for the Inspector's fanon leather jacket, motorcycle and appreciation for punk music.

Fusion Fanart

• Drawing characters from other fandoms as ponies from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Examples

• Night Watch, by Brighid. Sentinel/Batman fusion with Jim Ellison as head of EllisonCorp during the day and vigilante at night.
• Scheduled for Termination, by Dolimir. A Supernatural/Sarah Connor Chronicles fusion.
• Inclination by jacquez where Blair is a straight Vulcan Guide with his own secret reasons to want to bond with Sentinel Starfleet Captain Jim Ellison.
• A Heartbeat At My Feet, by Kellifer_fic. A Supernatural/His Dark Materials fusion in which Sam and Dean have dæmons.
• There Is No Gene, by T'Mar. A Gattaca/Sentinel fusion.
• X, by trinityofone, in which the characters of Stargate: Atlantis have the mutant powers of the characters from the X-Men Movieverse, with John Sheppard taking on Rogue's superpowers, Teyla Emmagan taking on Mystique's, and so on.
• Blade Runner by newkidfan, a vid merging Merlin characters with the Blade Runner universe
• And All The Stars Burned Bright, by mintcloud. Transplants the main characters of the British detective drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries into the Star Trek universe during the Dominion War, with Thomas Lynley as Captain and Barbara Havers as his first officer.
• Behind the Sea (Alternate Universe version) (link), by airgiodslv, places bandom characters in a universe based on seaQuest DSV.
• Across Dark Waters by Zimraphel is a relatively early (2003) example which fuses Silmarillion characters with Greek myth

Sometimes major characters in their original universe become minor characters in the new fused universe:

• Stay Left, by skoosiepants, has HP characters as minor players on SGA's Atlantis.
• Poptarts in Atlantis, by torch, puts members of the boyband 'N Sync to work on SGA's Atlantis.
• The Hammond Affair, by queensheep, tells a new story in a Jurassic Park universe inhabited by bandom characters, and features Alexis Hammond as a minor character.

Fusions offer many possibilities for humor:

• The Dark Side, by astolat, is hilarious -- Rodney plays the crankiest Jedi and John Sheppard is the prettiest Sith.
• Truth, Justice, and Rodney McKay, by siriaeve, is bizarrely charming fusion where Rodney plays the Lois Lane part, and John is both Superman and Clark Kent, I mean, Sheppard.
• Merlin/Calvin and Hobbes fusion comic strips by shiyasim
• strive seek find yield by waldorph, a hilariously successful crackfic fusion between Star Trek and The Young Victoria, with Spock in an AU version of the role of Queen Victoria and Kirk in the role of Prince Albert.