Continuing NGE?

[SawItAtAge10]

So, I realize continuation fics are a dime a dozen. But, my question (no easy feat to answer, hence why I'm struggling with it) is how does on logically pick up from where ep. 24 ended in NGE ins such a way that carries the story forward AND is able to avoid the events of eps. 25 + 26/EoE, basically creating their own version of eps. 25 + 26 and carrying the story forward from there?

In other words, if one wanted to create a "and the story keeps going with more angel/Eva fights, more conspiracies, and more character struggles" without destroying the setting (making it a post 3I world) or using a time skip (it always strikes me as somewhat inorganic to jump to "2018" or something like that)?

I have few ideas of my own, but I'm not sure how effective they'd be. My thought process is as follows: rebuild Tokyo 3 expediently (provide an in-universe explanation for the swiftness), actually deal with psychological issues of the characters given their mental states by the time ep. 24 ends, have Misato continue digging for more answers, have a third Seed show up (somehow) with more angels to justify the story's continuation...Other than that, such as how to motivate the characters to even want to continue fighting, how to keep Rei III around without falling apart at the seams (and provide a logical explanation for doing so) and give some motivation for Seele to delay their EoE-style assault on Nerv. All of this, while keeping it interesting of course!

I realize this is a loaded question and it is one that involves other questions, but I just wanted to know others' thoughts on this matter...Thanks!

[Arcadia's legacy]

The closest thing i know of that fits your description would be the visual novel Evangelion: Anima. However, it had to change events prior to ep24 in order for its own plot to make any sense

[Glor]

I don't think I've ever actually seen someone do this before.

While I can't discuss this at length atm, I do like the idea of a third Seed coming into play. This would allow a reasonable progression away from the disastrous events of 25&26. Where everything is by episode 24, Gendo has everything he needs to conduct his version of Impact, provoking SEELE into moving to seize NERV by force. After the arrival/encounter with another Seed-based form of life, both parties would have to put their agendas on hold, which could spawn another bout of shadow wars, allowing the writer to also get more into the Japanese government's side of things like Evangelion: Genocide tried to do.

I would hope, though, that whatever lifeform the third Seed is would be more creative than just MORE giant monsters with A.T. field shenanigans. That'd be rather boring to read. Not to say that they shouldn't have A.T. field shenanigans in some form, but, you know...

[jcmoorehead]

If you wanted it to happen immediately after Ep 24 you'd have to think of a few things. First up you'd need to find a way to delay SEELE in doing what they're doing. Sabotage or an accident whilst completing the Eva series perhaps? Maybe Keel is somehow assassinated leaving one of them to pick up the pieces but also delay their plans.

With them delayed perhaps Gendo doesn't initiate his plan as of yet, waiting for a more opprtune moment. I imagine NERV might still be on high alert but it seems to be the attack from the JSSDF and SEELE that push him to start his own plan.

From there you have free reign really on what the others do. SEELE might not be able to initiate their plan but you can always have them still interfere to try to keep Gendo/NERV busy whilst they rebuild and prepare. Perhaps a mysterious third faction takes the opportunity to interfere, As regards the Angels, in the Catalyst I used the idea of a man-made Angel. There is a fair amount you can do really.

After episode 24 you do have to deal with Shinji being broken and mending that relationship with Misato in some fashion. Also you'd have to decide on when/how Asuka eventually wakes up and how that is dealt with. Maybe Shinji finds some strength whilst he recovers and vows to do a better job of helping her.

There are a lot of possibilities, just have fun with it really, that's what I do in my fics

[amitakartok]

I would hope, though, that whatever lifeform the third Seed is would be more creative than just MORE giant monsters with A.T. field shenanigans. That'd be rather boring to read. Not to say that they shouldn't have A.T. field shenanigans in some form, but, you know...

You know, I tried to come up with something for this in my fic (even though mine isn't a continuation fic - or rather, not in the usual sense).

What I tried to come up with was two Seeds whose spawn are diametrically opposed to each other like Angels and humans, yet aren't carbon-copies of those two. What I came up with was one Seed whose spawn carry the Fruit of Life like Angels but embrace uniformity instead of individualism, resulting in hiveminded, AT-field-using expies of Gunbuster's baddies - and one Seed whose spawn, the Lux, carry the Fruit of Knowledge like Lilim but embrace it beyond requiring physical bodies, resulting in a race of free-floating, sentient AT-fields that basically exist in a state of perpetual Instrumentality and are more than willing to unwillingly possess people due to being able to affect but not sense the physical plane of existence having given them an insatiable thirst for experiencing physical sensations.

The reason for conflict between them is that the bugs consider the Lux to be parasites who leech off of others and twist them out of uniformity.

[SawItAtAge10]

[quote="Glor"]I don't think I've ever actually seen someone do this before.

While I can't discuss this at length atm, I do like the idea of a third Seed coming into play. This would allow a reasonable progression away from the disastrous events of 25&26. Where everything is by episode 24, Gendo has everything he needs to conduct his version of Impact, provoking SEELE into moving to seize NERV by force. After the arrival/encounter with another Seed-based form of life, both parties would have to put their agendas on hold.

I would hope, though, that whatever lifeform the third Seed is would be more creative than just MORE giant monsters with A.T. field shenanigans. .[/quote]

Do you mean the beings wouldn't be "Angels" as depicted in NGE? If not, then what else could they be and what Nerv/The Evas fight?

As for other plot elements in this story. I'd start with what is basically my own versions of eps. 25 + 26. Here, the hospital scene happens intercut with glimpses into Asuka's mind. This would parallel with Shinji wondering around the currently ruined Tokyo 3. He'd encounter Toji (in a wheelchair) and Kensuke one last time before they make their departure from the city. Shinji is wrought with guilt and despair as story shifts into his psyche. Think of this as a kind of remix of ep. 4 and the self contemplation from EPs. 25-26. Then it starts pouring, forcing Shinji to go back to the empty apartment, thus adding to the depressive atmosphere.

Meanwhile... Nerv is at the basic cold war style of "First level alert," basically on standby not sure what's going to happen.

I was thinking during the attack from the other Magi, Ritsuko slips in the self destruct into Casper as her own sort of insurance. Meanwhile an outside party (the same one putting up large funds to reconstruct Tokyo 3) hacks the invasive magi systems with some sort of disarming treaty that forces everyone to withdrawal and reinstate Nerv's legal protection that's backed by the UN. I'm still sketchy about the details regarding how this could be feasibly pulled off. I kinda like the idea of the MPEs somehow being sabotaged or Kiel being assinated.. Or something... It'll just require more thinking...

In the meantime, Asuka wakes up and decides to go back to Germany going as far as transferring back without saying anything to Shinji. My idea here is to set up the next arc as a kind of "reset" with story being based on the pre-Asuka "original flavor" until she comes back some time later.

With Asuka's return, she'd be "back in action" after rigorous mental and Eva Synchronization. In essence she's been behind the scenes starting from scratch. A primary factor I had in mind is that (this is probably a horrible idea) she has a protégé, someone who would be beneath her and always make her feel superior. Basically a new pilot with new Eva who feeds into her power trip.

One more thing, this third progenitor would be centered around a Near Second Impact event that occurred in the early part the twentieth century. IRL, this is based on the Tunguska Blast of 1908, wherein this third Moon is discovered shortly before the Seed being emerges from it. However, Lilith's spear (which never actually appears in NGE) is launched via a giant catapult at this creature just as its Guf chnaber is opening to release its children (the "new angels"). After the explosion and subsequent destruction of the Seed (only apparently destroyed) and Lilith's spear, the whole threat is assumed to have been over and done with. That is until...

(Always this Seed would it's own spear Dead Sea Scrolls - not sure who has them when this story starts...)

So these are some of the primary concepts I have in mind. It still needs a lot of work and extensive research via the Wiki to keep everything in line with the Eva-verse especially as far as a logical progression/continuation goes.

[SawItAtAge10]

You know, I tried to come up with something for this in my fic (even though mine isn't a continuation fic - or rather, not in the usual sense).

See, that's something I've been trying to wrap my head around...The 2 Seeds we know seem so perfect... I mean what could reside outside of Life and Knowledge?

Two schools of thought here:

Either the other Seeds are like Adam with the Fruit of Life (Type A) or they're like Lilith with the Fruit of Knowledge (Type B) meaning there's more of one than the other...

OR

Each Seed is different with unique fruits. This is the more "fun" concept, but I haven't the slightest idea what their concept/powers would be based on...

My "version" of Seed 3 would follow the naming convention in NGE and would be called "Cain," thus (and this the idea I sorta had in mind) it's power would be based on the natural progression towards decay and death, sort of bearing a "Fruit of Death" (not actually a thing, but it's the best I can come up with right now). As for the other 4 Seeds, what they would be is completely beyond me...

[(Not)]

I'm more interested in continuing from after episode 26.

thread/18474/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Tribulation/

[cyharding]

But, my question (no easy feat to answer, hence why I'm struggling with it) is how does on logically pick up from where ep. 24 ended in NGE ins such a way that carries the story forward AND is able to avoid the events of eps. 25 + 26/EoE, basically creating their own version of eps. 25 + 26 and carrying the story forward from there?

I don't know if this will exactly fit the criteria you mentioned, but I suggest reading a fic Gob Hobblin made a year and a half ago entitled "The Eaters of Sin" (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10813826/1/EVA-Sessions-The-Eaters-of-Sin). In it, Misato stages a coup against Gendo after ep. 24, but before the beginning of EoE. It might be good inspiration.

[jcmoorehead]

See, that's something I've been trying to wrap my head around...The 2 Seeds we know seem so perfect... I mean what could reside outside of Life and Knowledge?

Two schools of thought here:

Either the other Seeds are like Adam with the Fruit of Life (Type A) or they're like Lilith with the Fruit of Knowledge (Type B) meaning there's more of one than the other...

OR

Each Seed is different with unique fruits. This is the more "fun" concept, but I haven't the slightest idea what their concept/powers would be based on...

My "version" of Seed 3 would follow the naming convention in NGE and would be called "Cain," thus (and this the idea I sorta had in mind) it's power would be based on the natural progression towards decay and death, sort of bearing a "Fruit of Death" (not actually a thing, but it's the best I can come up with right now). As for the other 4 Seeds, what they would be is completely beyond me...

With the Fruit of life/knowledge situation I do wonder if there is any actual difference or if that is just something SEELE came up with after the fact. I am presuming that it was SEELE that named them Adam and Lilith and thus also gave them the Fruit of Life/Knowledge naming to fit with that.

[Mr. Tines]

Eva-R is perhaps the most obvious example of a fic that brushes any post-episode 24 apocalypse under the rug, and goes on with more angels and more pilots and more conversations that go

Chara X: ...
Chara Y: ...
Chara X: ...
Chara Y: ...

and that's probably the way to go about it, but just treating any of the "looming apocalypse" parts as fear-mongering by the various conspiracies.

Or you could go the way of one multi-way crossover I recall from years back which off-handedly dismissed the whole thing as words to the effect of "fortunately, the Sailor Senshi managed to contain the strange events to the vicinity of Tokyo-3" and have a damp-squib event with most of it being Shinji just wrestling with his conscience.

[SawItAtAge10]

Eva-R is perhaps the most obvious example of a fic that brushes any post-episode 24 apocalypse under the rug, and goes on with more angels and more pilots and more conversations that go

Chara X: ...
Chara Y: ...
Chara X: ...
Chara Y: ...

and that's probably the way to go about it, but just treating any of the "looming apocalypse" parts as fear-mongering by the various conspiracies.

Ahh...That thing.

Confession time: That's the primary reason I want to write a continuation fic (or at least experiment with the idea of). The thing is, Eva-R had some neat concepts (some interesting new Evas/Angels/Characters, etc.) but it was sort of worthlessly executed and did nothing to really expand upon NGE's universe. Plus, the way the author sort of just glazed over eps. 25 + 26 and altered the opening hospital scene from EoE was a such a cop out. He didn't even provide any kind of narrative link or explanation to bridge gap between the actual episode 24 and his "episode 27." Point being, I liked Eva-R on a conceptual level, but sort of detested its story with the few exceptions of some key moments scattered like grains of salt on the enormous, flavorless mammoth of a fic that it was...Plus, my issue with either ending is the way he missed the "deal with reality" point of NGE/EoE (the jury's still out on the Rebuild films until the story is complete, plus those didn't exist back then...). I mean, he even went as far as presenting two very elaborate alternate endings and still did nothing but pander to WAFF/Shipping/Wish Fulfillment fantasies.. I mean, the characters shouldn't just arbitrarily suffer, but geez Eva-R is so sugar coated! Plus, there are parts in the writing that simply defy comprehension in such a way that the ideas come across as only being half thought out. Even sadder than that are all the missed opportunities and dead end set ups. For example, Unit 04 re-emerges from the Sea of Dirac in Eva-R, but it is absolutely to no avail.

If I were to redo it (by making my own and simply borrowing a thing or two here and there), I'd start with episodes "25 + 26" and begin with that hospital scene (keeping it as is). Shinji would then, instead of going off to eventually initiate the apocalypse, have to live for a while with the guilt of knowing what he did and wonder if Asuka is at least semi-conscious of his deed. My primary mental block is figuring out an interesting way to keep that world of Tokyo 3 as seen in NGE (at least for a while) to progress the story without coming across as cheap or ham-fisted. Others have posted some interesting ideas, but I'm still mulling it over in my head. Also, as far as arcs go, I could see Misato trying to prevent Shinji from ever having to pilot again given his experiences with Kaworu (once the action starts up again that is). But destiny being what it is, he'd eventually have to "get in the fucking robot" and all that jazz, having to deal with the angst that comes with it. My whole thing is to drive the narrative on the idea of sort of mundanely continuing the war to see how much worse off and despairing the characters can get (to a certain extent within the limits that still allow the narrative to continue) and expand the mystery of the Eva-verse based on our modern understanding of various concepts via the CI files. I was kind of thinking of approaching that in a sort of "meta" way wherein the CI files are something Misato might be slowly decrypting/unraveling/revealing throughout the story (this idea need more thought for it to really work though).

[Rommel]

Confession time: That's the primary reason I want to write a continuation fic (or at least experiment with the idea of).

Funny story. That was also one of the reasons why I wrote Genocide. Endlessly spamming "..." is not a valid narrative device.

[Glor]

Funny story. That was also one of the reasons why I wrote Genocide. Endlessly spamming "..." is not a valid narrative device.

Sometimes I forget you're still alive.

Please whisper sweet nothings to me and tell me you'll write not-lemons one day.

[amitakartok]

Once you start walking the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

[Rommel]

Sometimes I forget you're still alive.

Please whisper sweet nothings to me and tell me you'll write not-lemons one day.

It's doubtful, given the current state of the fandom. Writing a quarter million words for no reviews isn't fun. Besides there aren't that many ideas that haven't been done to death and Battleship Evamato--er, I mean, 3.0 isn't exactly my favorite so that restricts what can be done.

[Glor]

It's doubtful, given the current state of the fandom. Writing a quarter million words for no reviews isn't fun. Besides there aren't that many ideas that haven't been done to death and Battleship Evamato--er, I mean, 3.0 isn't exactly my favorite so that restricts what can be done.

That's fair.

Sad, but fair. The only thing that seems to save good fics from being forgotten forever is the TV Tropes recommendations page, but I wouldn't know how much that contributes to further reviews on completed works.

[jcmoorehead]

That's fair.

Sad, but fair. The only thing that seems to save good fics from being forgotten forever is the TV Tropes recommendations page, but I wouldn't know how much that contributes to further reviews on completed works.

I've got a few on there and being honest I don't really notice much of an increase in reviews on my work. It does however give me a deep sense of pride that people think highly enough of some of my works to put them on there

[gorgeousshutin]

Re: fic reviews

Are things in the EVA fandom that bad already? Yes, the fandom is old, but I always thought it's easy to get reviews for EVA fics - which explains why The End of Hedgehog's Dilemma still earns faves/follows unto this day despite its unchecked grammar and irregular update. Utena fics . . . now those can actually get zero reviews regardless of quality. Every EVA fic thread I've seen on Sufficient Velocity have enthusiastic reviewers on board giving lengthy feedbacks, so . . . maybe those who're disheartened by FFnet and AO3 can try posting there too? I would've tried a rewrite of World End's Messiah via SV, if I'm not already certain that the Utena elements will deter people on that forum just as it did on FFnet (SV have no Utena fic threads, none).

[amitakartok]

Every EVA fic thread I've seen on Sufficient Velocity have enthusiastic reviewers on board giving lengthy feedbacks

...you must've missed mine. I even complained about it a few days ago.