Factory Settings

Fanfiction
Title:	Factory Settings
Author(s):	Anonymous
Date(s):	August 2023
Length:	106,998 words
Genre:	Canon Divergence
Fandom:	Good Omens (TV)
External Links:	AO3
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Factory Settings by Anonymous is a post-season 2 Good Omens story, focused on the Aziraphale/Crowley pairing. It begins with the premise of what if Crowley had agreed to return to Heaven and again become angel, and in doing so lost all his memories of ever being a demon or Crowley. It uses the popular Crowley was the Archangel Raphael theory. The entity of this novel length story was written within a month, beginning about three weeks after the season 2 finale, and became very popular within the fandom.

Author's Summary

Crowley gets reinstated as an angel.

Reactions and Reviews

So. This one. *This one*. You know it, I’m certainly not the first to rec it. It appears in all the Recs lists and for very good reason.

Factory Settings.

This fic is 106k words, 60 chapters complete, post season 2 fix it with a layered plot and fabulous characterisation and *it was posted two and a half weeks after the season dropped*.

Let me repeat: it appears this was written in a fortnight. And it is one of the best fics I’ve ever read in any fandom ever.

That’s no idle statement, kids. I’m old. I give that recommendation as someone who has been reading fanfic since before you were born. I’ve been reading the stuff since before the internet was a thing, back when we’d print out the equivalent of AO3, staple the pages together and call them ‘zines.

So two weeks to write a fic this long, this layered and this fucking good? As a writer myself, that kills me. I refuse to believe there wasn’t some kind of time travel involved. Which, coincidently, is a key part of this plot…

Read it, my fellow Good Omens tragics. You simply must read it.

If you only read one post season 2 GO fic, MAKE IT THIS ONE.

Holy smoke what an incredible epic thing!

(it's complete and also shorter than it looks if only because it's so action-packed. Just wow)

(no I have no idea who wrote it but I'd like to buy them flowers)

OK. I don't normally share people's fanfics just because the AO3 search system exists for a reason! But "Factory Settings" by Anonymous is incredible. INCREDIBLE. If I didn't know better (and I do), I would have guessed Neil wrote it himself. I'm so serious. It's an actual masterpiece. I will say it's ever-so-slightly slow-going at the start. I almost put it down (I stumbled upon it myself; no one recc'd it to me). But I'm so glad I kept with it. It's. Yeah, it's incredible. Do yourself a favor and read it. But only when you have, like, a full 24 hours free to yourself, because once you get going, you won't be able to tear yourself away.

ok I stumbled across a fanfic called “Factory Settings” after reading the above post, quite by chance, from @thebestfriendstoloverstrope

Now - I’m not going to discuss it here because spoilers, but just want to say:

TLDR - drop what you’re doing and GO READ IT NOW.

1. it’s the best fanfic i’ve ever read.

2. It’s better than many published, bought in shops fiction novels i’ve read.

3. it’s an anonymous fic - I can only assume it’s written by a published author, someone close to the actual GO production, or both.

3. there is NO smut OR fluff - it doesn’t conform to fanfic standards, so if you want easy reading along these lines, this isn’t for you

4. If you want a book which could very easily be GO3, written with huge attention to detail, flawless pacing and NO plot holes, some jaw dropping twists, dialogue and character development which feels authentically cannon, set over Heaven, Hell, Tadfield, SoHo, Alpha Centauri, literally so action packed you won’t actually stop reading it until it’s finished - this is AN ABSOLUTE GEM

thanks @thebestfriendstoloverstrope for posting about it, I NEVER would have found it otherwise, and it was bloody brilliant, two day marathon read.

I gave up most of my sleep last night to read that one. It was fantastic. I'm still thinking about it. I'm actually struggling to separate canon from the author's version (the way they wrote the Fall was so good)

Has anyone here read Factory Settings by anonymous on AO3? It follows A+C closely but ties up S2 AND S1. It’s an amazing season 3 until we get an official one. I HIGHLY recommend.

This story begins with the premise that Crowley goes to Heaven with Aziraphale, and when he is reinstated as an angel he is reset to a time before his fall with no memory of every being Crowley. This fic is compulsively readable, it's fun but also a little heartbreaking in spots. I fell in love with Raphael, who is Crowley's identity pre-fall, he was bewildered, but also intelligent, and open in ways Crowley isn't able to be. I didn't want to lose him, but you can see how desperately Aziraphale needs Crowley by his side. How the author describes time and magic was really well done and interesting. They also incorporated some of the series' side characters in fun ways. I binge read this whole story in two days, it was so hard to put down, it didn't feel like 100,000+ words at all.

Just read "Factory Settings" and it was such an incredible Good Omens fanfic! I really wish it wasn't authored by an anonymous account so that I could read more of this author's works. 😭 But regardless, I'm just glad I had the opportunity to read it and would recommend it to any other GO fans out there!