For Good

A fledgling epic, For Good is Aleine Skyfire’s Alternate Universe for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. The first and only multi-chaptered fic for the series, Breakaway, is based on the concept of how one person can make a big impact. And with an expanded summary on FF.N, how "a handful of people" can impact the galaxy.

The protagonist, Erin Frame, is an OC, but the unique conceit of the story is that she is a BLoSC fan time-traveled to the Galactic Alliance. Her characterization is carefully developed throughout the fic as a dynamic character; the characterizations of Team Lightyear and Warp Darkmatter are also handled with care and realism. Chapters 9 and 10 introduce some important new characters, along with a Zurg subplot and a new direction for the story at The Academy. The series appears to be headed eventually for some kind of galactic war, as hinted at in the prologue and Chapter 10 - thus justifying the author's use of the word "epic".

The series also includes two collections of one-shots: a sort of eXperimental canon at the XR fan club, and a ships 50 on FF.N One roleplay arc (now abandoned) at the XR forum made something of a secondary canon - most of the stuff regarding Buzz and Erin can be taken as fully canonical, considering that the author played both characters.

Now has its own Character Sheet, for your convenience.

Tropes used in For Good include:

Breakaway

  • The Ace: Ricki Sunflare, Erin's dorm-mate.
    • Erin's turning out to be one, herself.
  • Action Chick: Zomega, Fringe-woman extraordinaire.
    • Any female cadet is sure to qualify.
    • According to Indy, especially Erin and Windy.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Erin just can't seem to help it. And Warp did trick her with a disguise.
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Zurg's given name in the story – Zuriel.
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: Zurg's offer of employment to a seventeen-year-old Warp.
  • Ascended Fangirl: Erin, from fangirl to cadet.
  • Author Avatar: Played straight in the original version, Watermark; continued, albeit more subdued, in the rewrite.
    • In all fairness, the author's real-life problem, scoliosis, gave her a plot device for Erin.
  • Awesome McCoolname:
    • Janet Astrelle.
    • Zomega.
    • Most of the cadets, including Erin's dorm-mates…
      • Ricki Sunflare, Windy Terrik, and Isadore "Ice" Ellemore.
    • Subverted with Erin Frame.
      • On the other hand, Erin is the anglicized name of the goddess of Ireland. Even Warp knows that!
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Buzz and Mira dance. And enjoy it.
  • Badass Bookworm: Erin is shaping up to be this.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Buzz towards Erin.
  • Big Damn Starship: The ZVIS Triumphant.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Erin speaks Spanish.
    • So does Buzz.
  • Bonding Over Missing Parents: Erin and "Hayden" seem to start doing this, very briefly.
  • Brown Eyes: Erin. The color acts as a reminder of her Spanish-Jewish heritage and as an symbol of her normalcy amongst so many Blue Eyes (Buzz, Mira, and Warp). In the roleplay, she was established as a pro at using Puppy Dog Eyes, and, for having such a normal eye color, she can still do a piercing stare with the best of them.
  • Call Back: Erin's reaction to the Orion Nebula seems to be a call back both to her initial reaction to Outer Space earlier in the story and to the original version, Watermark.
  • The Captain: For the first time ever, Chapter 11 of Breakaway strongly implies that Erin will end up as this. The author's note all but comes right out and declares it.
  • Character Development: One of the long-established purposes of the series is to develop Buzz's characterization by giving him a sister. The original story, for all its faults, did well in this regard by showing enough scenes with Buzz and Erin that would bring them to a close sibling relationship. The rewrite still shows Buzz awkward with his new-found sibling status in the beginning, and it also shows Buzz giving Erin a brotherly hug before she enters the Academy. On the other hand, a lot of the development of the original in-between the two points in time is lost, including driving lessons, physical training, and pancakes.
    • It seems, however, that the author is also trying to be more subtle about the changes in Buzz: "For Buzz, well… one would rarely ever be able to tell how life was affecting him or not affecting him. For all his many and varied emotional displays, he seemed never to change."
    • But let's not forget Mira, who admits to Erin that she has issues in her own love life.
    • Or Warp, for that matter. Even if he's not dropping everything for The Girl, he's still bothered by a pair of big Brown Eyes.
  • Characterization Marches On: Between Breakaway and the roleplay arc (both developed well over a year's time), one could well be confused about Erin's age and maturity.
  • Convenient Slow Dance: See Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other. Lampshaded by Erin, who calls it by name.
  • Cool Spaceship: The simulated Pendragon V-class Battle Cruiser, complete with a detachable bridge.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy:
    • Warp and Zomega qualify.
    • As do Erin's dorm-mates, especially Ricki.
      • Averted with Ice: "My family is very strictly Tangean Isolationist — that means they avoid Off-Worlder stuff like the plague."
    • As a bookworm, Erin also qualifies.
      • Especially since she's a time-traveled BLoSC fan, who will not interfere with pre-established events for fear of disrupting the time/space-continuum beyond repair.
      • This means that she will allow herself to become a wirewolf, however briefly. You've got to admire her dedication.
      • She is the only character thus far to purposefully lampshade any tropes.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Played straight with Warp. Who reveals himself to be an orphan.
  • Darker and Edgier: Than the show in general, though Breakaway doesn't exactly skimp on the comedic moments, either.
    • The one-shots tend to be angsty.
    • Erin herself appears to be slowly and slightly progressing this way.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Erin doesn't start out as deadpan, but she's reached it by the time she gets to the Academy.
    • And let's not forget Windy. Ai-yi-yi.
  • Earthshattering Kaboom: The explosion that killed the team who brought Erin to the future – also destroyed ALL her roads home.
  • The Empire: Played straighter than the show. Zurg is the head of state of the vastly-diminished Zeretanaen Empire.
  • Epic Song: Erin’s performance of "The Voice" and "May It Be" could well qualify.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Ricki's second-scene-ever has her performing a Sherlock Scan on Erin, after being established as a prodigy. However, the best Establishing Character Moment in the entire fic is the very next scene, which introduces us to Windy and Ice. We quickly discover that Windy is impatient and sarcastic and that Ice is a Genre Blind, Naive Newcomer.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Warp has his cousin and her son.
    • Zurg had Zomega.
  • Everything Is Online: The Internet History Database.
    • Erin learns about her new surroundings quickly, thanks to the Internet.
  • Evil Pays Better: Warp's retort to Erin, as per canon.
  • Expy: Erin, Ricki, and Windy enjoy playing at Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr.McCoy, respectively. Time will tell how serious those roles become.
  • Eye Scream: When Zomega was first introduced, she was introduced with her cybernetic red eye. The Backstory for that has never been revealed, but considering her past, it can't pretty.
  • Fandom Nod: Mira names some Zurg fangirls.
    • The chapter in which she does so is a tribute to an old one-shot.
    • There were many examples in the original.
  • Five-Man Band: Dorm-team 76.
  • Flanderization: Averted. For Good takes the characters more seriously than the show does!
  • Foreshadowing: The prologue. Hard.
  • Friendly Enemy: Zurg at the dinner party.
    • And Warp.
  • Forgotten Family: As one reviewer pointed out, Erin's family fades into oblivion. The author admitted to the reviewer that, in the long course of writing the fic (the rewrite has been going since early 2010), she actually forgot about the Frame family!
  • Full-Name Basis: Eda-Ji-Kep does this, although it's said to be a characteristic of his race. And he splits full names into three parts, the way that his race makes names. Erin Frame becomes Er-In-Frame.
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: Ricki.
    • Zomega is a lavender-colored version.
  • Heel Face Turn: Warp in a one-shot. And that roleplay arc.
  • Held Gaze: Erin and Warp during her performance.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Buzz and XR like Mira. A lot.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink:

Mira: Can't take it sober.
Warp: Nope.

  • Informed Messianic Judaism: The definitely Christian Erin is known to be part Spanish-Jewish - her middle name is Elisheba - but that part of her heritage receives painfully little elaboration.
  • Interspecies Romance: Warp and Erin. And Buzz and Mira.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Warp is shaping up to be this as the story's Draco in Leather Pants, with each new chapter and Ships 50 installment.
  • Jumped At the Call: Buzz initially tries to discourage Erin from becoming a Ranger, but, having literally nowhere else to turn, she overrides his objections.
  • Large Ham: Zurg at the dinner party. And how!
    • Also XR.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Ever since Chapter 9, we've been introduced to OC after OC, starting with Zomega and continuing on with Ricki, Windy, & Ice, then Indy, Cody, Clutch, & Eda-Ji-Kep... and likely more to come. Justified in that this is a Next Gen Fic; see below.
  • Love Redeems: Okay, this is not a spoiler... Warp. Because of Erin.
  • Meaningful Name: The series and fic titles. For Good. Breakaway.
  • Next Gen Fic: Roughly midway through the story, Breakaway turned into this, shifting the focus from Erin and Team Lightyear to Erin and her fellow cadets. What makes it Next Gen is that the 3008 & 3009 classes are considered in-universe to be the next generation of Star Command, completely separate even from Rangers like Mira, Booster, and XR, who themselves are still rookies.
  • No Such Thing as Space Jesus: Averted. Erin speaks with Jesus in a more-real-than-reality dream.
    • Plus Ricki, an alien, tells Erin why the galaxy at large uses the B.C./A.D. measurement of time. It is to honor "the birth of the Creator in fleshly form."
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Warp, lampshaded by Zomega.
  • Oddly Small Organization: Star Command, lampshaded by Erin.
  • Older Than They Look: The 60s-something Zomega looks about half as old. She's part alien and looks it.
  • OTP: The author is a diehard Beer shipper. The Convenient Slow Dance is the first chronological, in-universe hint of this.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: The protagonist, actually, until...
    • Erin finally becomes awesome in her own right in Breakaway 's Chapter 11 - see The Captain.
    • Played straight thus far with Ice Ellemore, Cody Ricardo, Clutch Donnell, and Eda-Ji-Kep.
  • Parental Abandonment: Buzz, Mira, Erin, Warp, and Zurg can all claim this, with varying circumstances.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Erin strives for this.
  • Police Are Useless: Invoked by Buzz and Warp at the dinner party.
  • Purple Eyes:
    • Ricki is described as having prominent violet eyes, the color and size contrasting sharply in one scene with Erin's very normal, very human brown eyes.
    • Zomega's one natural eye is described as indigo, a flexible name that could describe a dark blue or a blue-purple. It is actually her one visible human trait.
  • Race Against the Clock: Team Lightyear racing to the SCRDW complex.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Buzz. And Commander Nebula.
  • The Red Planet: Planet Z.
  • Retcon: The rewrite.
  • Running Gag: Ice's cultural ignorance.
    • Plus the friendly antagonism between Ricki and Windy, mostly one-sided.
  • Say My Name: Erin plays this for laughs, mimicking Zurg when she "curses" Rocket Crocket. Then realizes maybe that wasn’t such a bright idea.
    • This comes after Rocket shouts Erin's name, to throw off her volleyball serve.
  • Secret Relationship: Buzz doesn't know Erin is keeping in touch with Warp Darkmatter before the dinner party. To be fair, Erin doesn't know, herself.
    • Nor does Zurg.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Warp at the dinner party. Yes, indeed.
  • Sherlock Scan: Ricki does this to Erin. Lampshaded by Erin calling it such.
  • Shining City: Erin's first view of Capital City.
  • Shipper on Deck: Erin is a definite Beer shipper. Warp seems to be one, as well.
  • Shout-Out: This series now has its own Shout Out page.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Averted. Hard. With an entire foursome of female cadets.
  • Space Clouds: The Orion Nebula.
  • Super Speed: In keeping with the show, great distances can be covered relatively quickly.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: Warp. All the way.
  • Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Warp's Hayden Shaw disguise looks a lot like Harrison Ford.
  • Tomboyish Name: Ricki, of course!
  • Took a Level in Badass: Erin leveled up between chapters 9 and 10 (with months in-between the two chapters) - she really shines as The Captain in an almost Unwinnable Training Simulation in Chapter 11. Chapter 12 has a flashback showing her in the process of leveling up, courtesy of her brother.
  • Trapped in Another World: Erin. In an odd bit of story development, she went from Wangst to Angst? What Angst?. See Forgotten Family above.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Erin. Not only did she heal from her life-threatening injuries, she got her scoliosis cured and gained nine crater-freakin' inches in height.
  • Wasn't That Fun?: XR's attitude regarding the dinner party, even while it's in full swing!
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Ricki questions the wisdom of building a military force within a police force in secret. To Buzz Lightyear, no less.
  • Word of God: Used so heavily that the author’s notes and review replies can comprise 20% of chapter word counts!
  • World War III: The "Milky Way War" mentioned several times in early chapters of Breakaway and the roleplay arc. (See this trope in the Roleplay section below.)
  • Zeerust: Subverted.

The One-shots

The Roleplay Arc

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