Multiverses have their place. Elseworlds stories and alternative incarnations of long running series, like Ninja Turtles or Sonic create a natural ecosystem of stories that build off of and influence each other. They're either new interpretations that stand on their own merits, for better or worse, or little "What if" tales that aren't meant to be more than a fun curiosity.
The problems come when writers get too cute and meta with the concept, using "Infinite Possibilities" to asspull whatever they currently want to exist into the main canon. It's just another flavor of deus ex machina at that point.
The whole idea of a multiverse undermines the idea of a "main canon" to begin with. A work never really has to end conclusively or even follow a single main story when there's a multiverse.
It would be different if they weren't connected (which would be very strange considering that's kind of the point of a multiverse to begin with), but they almost always end up connecting at some point anyways.
New interpretations, spinoffs, or reboots don't have to be multiverse bullshit. I would not classify TMNT 2003, the IDW comics, and the 80s TMNT show as multiverse shit, save for the TMNT 2003 movie where it was explicitly the case.
Now, to your credit, I did enjoy the TMNT 2003 movie with all the multiverse bullshit coming together at the end, but that's only because it was a one-time cool little event that basically only amounted to fanservice for a climactic ending. If that was part of the main story in any way otherwise I'd say "fuck that" because that sounds awful.
To me it screams of creative bankruptcy generally.
I liked the Critical Drinker's take on multiverses in his video where he compared Multiverse of Madness with Everything Everywhere All At Once. It can be used in telling a good story, or it can be a device that ruins the story because it takes away risk and finality (and good luck getting the human brain to comprehend the stakes of destroying a multiverse).
It also reminds me of time travel. I started watching End Game wondering "How will the universe get fixed? Maybe the Celestials will get involved? Maybe a magical mcguffin or a trip to where the infinity gems originated from?" When the movie made it clear that the answer could be time travel, my reaction was "Damn it. I guess I don't need to see the rest of the movie to know what happens next."
The concept is a lot of fun I think, but like many things it gets beaten to death and then beaten into paste and then shit all over by corporations and dogshit writers.
It was a mistake because we can't have nice things but I do think the idea is good at its core.
Multiverses were a mistake.
Funnily enough, most of these are not even from alternative universes. Add multiverses to the equation and it goes even more full retard.
Multiverses have their place. Elseworlds stories and alternative incarnations of long running series, like Ninja Turtles or Sonic create a natural ecosystem of stories that build off of and influence each other. They're either new interpretations that stand on their own merits, for better or worse, or little "What if" tales that aren't meant to be more than a fun curiosity.
The problems come when writers get too cute and meta with the concept, using "Infinite Possibilities" to asspull whatever they currently want to exist into the main canon. It's just another flavor of deus ex machina at that point.
The whole idea of a multiverse undermines the idea of a "main canon" to begin with. A work never really has to end conclusively or even follow a single main story when there's a multiverse.
It would be different if they weren't connected (which would be very strange considering that's kind of the point of a multiverse to begin with), but they almost always end up connecting at some point anyways.
New interpretations, spinoffs, or reboots don't have to be multiverse bullshit. I would not classify TMNT 2003, the IDW comics, and the 80s TMNT show as multiverse shit, save for the TMNT 2003 movie where it was explicitly the case.
Now, to your credit, I did enjoy the TMNT 2003 movie with all the multiverse bullshit coming together at the end, but that's only because it was a one-time cool little event that basically only amounted to fanservice for a climactic ending. If that was part of the main story in any way otherwise I'd say "fuck that" because that sounds awful.
To me it screams of creative bankruptcy generally.
Glad we can agree, then.
I liked the Critical Drinker's take on multiverses in his video where he compared Multiverse of Madness with Everything Everywhere All At Once. It can be used in telling a good story, or it can be a device that ruins the story because it takes away risk and finality (and good luck getting the human brain to comprehend the stakes of destroying a multiverse).
It also reminds me of time travel. I started watching End Game wondering "How will the universe get fixed? Maybe the Celestials will get involved? Maybe a magical mcguffin or a trip to where the infinity gems originated from?" When the movie made it clear that the answer could be time travel, my reaction was "Damn it. I guess I don't need to see the rest of the movie to know what happens next."
The concept is a lot of fun I think, but like many things it gets beaten to death and then beaten into paste and then shit all over by corporations and dogshit writers.
It was a mistake because we can't have nice things but I do think the idea is good at its core.