Phase 4 Blog Part 3

Part 3

The Storyline

Early in the time I came back in the fandom and wrote Phase 4 I had the intent to make two separate storylines with intersects before I fully fused them together around the middle and end of the series. When I worked with Knuckles5, 22kingdomheartsfan, and looked at the storylines of Bridal Shotcon and menslady125 We all managed to make a storyline have multiple POVS as it wasn’t all about one single POV.

Starting from The Grand Summer Season Trek which I worked on Minun1333 and Knuckles5 it was the start of divugling storylines and Main Characters. Thanks to the storyline, We were able to make multiple events happen at the same time from that storyline until TGTTA 2. When I came back I had to think when to put LOTM: The Angels Return in my storyline and settled as the storyline between TGTTA 2, The Miracle Dark Elite End Game and Phase 4 so nothing would be messed up.

When I decided to make Phase 4 a two plot storyline, I initally worked on two storylines at a time on 4 instances hence why this all took a toll on me eventually.

To Live and/or Die in Loch Loud and Multiversal Noir = Worked on during Spring of 2022

Team Free Will Dissembled and The Prankster Point Paradox – Planned in Summer 2022, released Fall 2022

Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy and Countdown to it = Started in Winter 2022 and ended in Spring 2023

N.Tropized Book 1 and Double Life Emerged = Started last year 2024, ended in Winter 2025 (Book 1)

There was a A Plot and B Plot so I can balance the ensemble of characters overall and not make it too much a one man show or in this case 5 man show. One major problem I felt me and my pals may have had with our storylines is when we have multiple main villains, we don’t use them all to their full extent and focus on one above all of them. Phase 4 did fix that with a different fraction in both plots with not too much distraction and I feel the prequels did a better job with making Main Villain Ensembles.

Also The A Plot and B Plot could contast and compare with each other when it comes to certain plot elements.

1. The Main Villains

2. How Consistent do the main characters of each one appear and when important roles are played

3. Progress and Goals surrounding them

4. The Scope of the plotlines and Steaks

5. Returning Cast and New Cast

A Plot: The Many Misadventures of Lydia and Lincoln featuring Team Free Will and The Streaming Resistance

Team Free Will:

Lydia

Lincoln

Ford

Sid,

Anne Boonchuy

Luz Noceda

Cricket Green

Molly Mcgee

Scratch Mcgee

Truman X

Bruce Wayne

Larke Tanner

Hilda

Johanna

Jaune Arc

Dawn

Queen Eclipsa

Hobie Brown,

President Wilson and Associates

Deathstroke

Fox Mulder

Dana Scully,

The Streaming Resistance:

Peacemaker

Eleven

Wednesday

Will Robinson

Jake Peralita

Amy Santiago

Toby Domazlski

The Bad Guys:

Mr.Wolf

Mr.Snake

Diane Foxington

N.Tropy and Associates

Dr. N.Tropy

Alt N.Tropy

Omni Man

Morag Mclaughin

Victoria Neuman

The Spot

Kang

Other Villains

The Smoking Man

Vecna

Storylines in this Plot

- Team Free Will and it’s multiple main cast

One of the things that make the A Plot different is the major aspect of ensemble focus as many Team Free Will Members get their own time to shine. Though It does at some costs of it’s own as some characters can more focus. Only Lincoln and Lydia are truly consistent among the teams as the rest of the team does fall in and out of focus, though this could be justified due to them being the co-main protagonists.

Ford and Sid are among the other main characters of the team, due to this only being an issue at the latter half when The Streaming Resistance became more prevalent. On Top of that some of the more important characters of the team only starting taking larger roles in certain points or not early on.

Anne and Luz were characters who were characters who went back and forth in importance as their cast of characters and antagonists as well. Luz was more important in Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy due to Emperor Belos being one of the main villains and Anne took a larger role in En.Tropized due to King Andrias being evident and the storyline crossing into Bender’s own plot who had King Andrias as a major character. Same could be said for Molly, Scratch, Eclipsa and Cricket

Larke, Truman X and Bruce Wayne became more crucial starting in Team Free Will: Diassembled and while not reaching some of the heights of the main 4 had moments of their own to shine. Larke and Bruce got to work with Deathstroke and Ford in 2 separate missions of their own and Truman got to work with Mulder, Scully, Lincoln and Lydia on their endeavours.

Dawn became more recurring in the 2^nd half of the storyline and was more of a supporting character and it took Countdown for Dawn to become more of a regular. With the intent to take out Old Team Free Will mostly out, I wanted Dawn as well as Bruce to stay alive by the end of the series as one of the few members to live due to importance I gave her in Double Life Emergence (Lydia mentions her as the person who helped her find her place in Team Free Will) and killing her off like Ford would be too cruel.

Hilda, Jaune Arc and Johanna were characters that felt more associated with Lydia and Lincoln’s plot in particular so they got more time to show themselves as important figures when the storyline was to focus on just them. Streamverse is their biggest role in part to Lydia, Lincoln and newer Team Free Will characters being in that storyline without most of the other cast.

Dealing with N.Tropy and other villains

I also settled on having the majority of villains having associated with Dr. N Tropy to insure he was the storyline’s overall main villain. Having villains either work for him or with him and have him outlast them, back stab them or just leave when it’s convenient. There were few times N.Tropy didn’t have some hand in the plot with Countdown, Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy, The Unown Threat and Circus Gothica all keeping him out of the main plot for reasons.

N.Tropy betrayed The Spot, Kang, Omni Man and Morag at some points and left Toffee and Bill after his work was done.

Out of all the villains who acted under him, Only Victoria Neuman survived of them all due to her being aware of what N.Tropy does to his allies and not having any real intent to go after Team Free Will or the Streaming Resistance unlike them, due to Double Life Emergence. Neuman mainly targeting Bender and his friends is what kept her alive ironically.

While he appeared in Countdown, N.Tropy appeared at the end and was done to insure his frustration that his plans can be foiled.

The Other Main Villains were The Smoking Man and Vecna who managed to hold the main villains over him in the former two story lines respectively while being shown first in Team Free Will: Dissembled.

I regretted not making The Smoking Man as formidable as he could have been due to his role in X Men so I brought him back to the true villain of Team Free Will: Diassembled and kept him on as the main antagonist of Countdown. Due to his influence and intelligence, I settled on having him win in a way first before losing and I settled on making him a personal foe of Lincoln’s due to his actions being what broke the family apart and Team Free Will itself. Heck the team and CSM debuted in the same story line. I brought him back for Countdown to contend with Bender and Slade’s groups again and decided to have them help Team Free Will take him down as his plans were about godhood and aligning him with Bender, Anti Cosmo and Slade’s secondary antagonist group to have him taken down by Lincoln, Lydia, Dawn, Bender, Slade, Anti Cosmo and Libby, with the first three defeating him and Bender killing him with the latter’s three help. I did have him work with N.Tropy a bit, but kept him as his own independent force. Also with him being Mulder’s father I would give him and Scully a reason to help Lydia and Lincoln and adopt the former to make up for the role CSM played in Lydia’s life.

Vecna on the other hand appeared in Chang’s Guide To the Galaxy, but his avatar The Mind Flayer appeared in Team Free Will: Dissembled. I ignore that play that said it wasn’t the case like fans of Stranger Things did. I was getting into Stranger Things at the time and found he would be a great foe for Team Free Will due to the nerdy nature and geekiness of the main characters. Until N.Tropy, I had Vecna being Lydia’s most personal foe as a result of being the one who made her parents brain dead and unable to provide for her. He at the time represented the true consequence of being a hero for Lydia and she almost lost everything due to him though Lincoln, Mulder and Scully helped prevent this. Where Vecna’s role did shine is that his role he played outside of the two.

I had him play a role in Jaune Arc and The Streaming Resistance’s storylines, with him being who kills Pyrrha Nikos who was Jaune’s previous love and the Streaming Resistance’s leader. This was to connect Lydia and Lincoln into their plotline with them and Jaune Arc trying to stop Vecna from killing Hilda and with the former two knowing Mrs.Nikos before meeting Jaune and to establish Jaune Arc helping Lydia and Lincoln with N.Tropy.

The Streaming Resistance also opposed him majorly with Eleven and her friends being in the team and working to stop his plans, with Toby and AAARRGGHH helping Lincoln and Lydia privately and the two and Hilda defeating him being the reason The Streaming Resistance decide to officially bring the two into the team and seek them out when The Spot escapes.

The Inclusion of The Bad Guys

I included Mr.Wolf and The Bad Guys as a way to include the team of one of my favorite movies of 2022. While they didn’t get as much focus as most of the teams I felt it was due to them being hired guns under President Wilson who had an active role in things. I decided to have them get involved in a few plots though aside from dealing with Kang, they didn’t get an active role as I struggled to give him a promient role unlike The Boys. Deathstroke’s group got more focus due to Mudler and Scully’s active involvement with Team Free Will and the role they would play in Lydia’s own life after Countdown made The Bad Guys not as promient. Though I could have used them more in Bender and Slade’s plot due to them being criminals opposing other crooks.

The Streaming Resistance and their on going quests and how Lincoln and Lydia got involved.

I introduced The Streaming Resistance late in the storyline, but like Neo Vought International I decided to bring at least one member early before it’s official introduction to expand the multiverse. It’s also to point that both groups were introduced in the same storyline like LOTM: Next Gen Island Tour like Team Free Will and The Mulitversal Resistance.

Team Free Will became more interesting to me of the two and hence why they lead the storyline. Here I decide to making The Streaming Resistance the bigger team, but Neo Vought also it’s own establishment and plotline before they did.

With Neo Vought International I had Cassie Lang, Kelly, Kate Bishop and Joker (Persona 5) appear before Chronicles of Zaragoza. I decided to have them work with Lydia, Lincoln, Luan Loud, Harrison Wells, Bender and Anti Cosmo respectfully in their storylines in Countdown. I also decided to have most of Chronicles of Zaragoza occur before this event.

The Streaming Resistance I had be first involved with Professor Membrane who would work with Bender and Anti Cosmo first due to him being Dib’s father and establishing something with Membrane about why I went the way I did with Batman. Also while Dr.Brenner wasn’t part of the team, he was connected to Eleven and aided Lincoln and Lydia and brought them closer to dealing with all 3 major villains. Yeah, of course it’s these 4. I decided to give them their own storyline as the main plot when it came to the Cartel with Bender, Slade and Anti Cosmo taking the secondary plot, then book ended it with Double Life Emergence being their first storyline chronologically which was more about the trio than them.

They had a lot of main characters with Peacemaker, Eleven, Wednesday, Will Robinson, Jake, Amy and Toby all being major characters with Dee Dee Holoaway also joining this thoguh like Professor Membrane being part of Bender’s own adventure. I did this to balance them all in a way so all of them can have some to contribute with physical training, science know who, intellgence, psychic powers, knowledge of myths and arcadian stuff and cops/detectives and each of them would have involvement with Lydia and Lincoln and hence why they would eventually across the paths of them all parring Toby.

Peacemaker is from a super hero comics series and both kids are fans of super heroes. Peacemaker is the most skeptical of the two as shown in Double Life Emergence though he warms up to this by Streamverse. He also has a life outside of “peace perserving’ which draws the two to this lifestyle.

Eleven is from Stranger Things and again Vecna being a personal foe to her as well as Lydia, Lincoln, Hilda and Jaune Arc means that it makes sense for them to cross paths with her. Eleven’s psychic powers is why I gave the Mind Gem as a preference for Lydia’s infinity stones useage. She also has a similar bond with Mike Wheeler than they do.

Wednesday is intellgent and into the macawabre like Lincoln’s sister Lucy so it makes sense for Lincoln to be involved with her. Also him and Lydia are smart like Wednesday and have quirky families in the case of Lincoln.

Jake and Amy are detectives and cops and again like Wednesday and Peacemaker settle into that punch clock hero trope and intelligent yet quirky characters. They are also a couple like Lydia and Lincoln with Lincoln and Jake being dorks with Lydia and Amy being Hispanic intellgent yet just as quirky best friend/love interests to them. They even are the reasons the two even take the jobs they are shown in the future.

Toby and Will Robinson are the two members Lydia and Lincoln are the closest to and the ones they interact with the most. Toby serves as the go-between them and The Streaming Resistance and helps them with his wing man deal with The Unowns, Team Rocket, The Smoking Man and Belos. It helps Lydia and Lincoln met Toby first before the others and that Toby is similar to them in being a dork, having teeth problems, not exactly being hero material phsycially, and having a slow burn romance with someone. Will Robinson is the one they develop a close bond with and like the two, has his own reasons to oppose N.Tropy due to what the latter did to his family and playing an actively aiding them with Team Free Will as well with his own bond with Hilda’s family including his will and won’t they with Hilda. As the most outgoing and socially adjusted it serves to make a point.

The Streaming Resistance unlike Team Free Will is able to do the punch clock life style of heroism just fine and offers a different approach to heroism. Not to let it get in the way of being able to live a full live as Team Free Will doe have this approach. Lydia and Lincoln being the sanest members of the team see the benefits to this and over the course of Phase 4, become disillusioned with the lifestyle that comes with it. The Streaming Resistance is able to give the two what they actually need and like Team Free Will play a big role in their development as characters, heroes etc. They also help Jaune Arc, Johanna and Hilda as well due to the three’s close proximity to them with Jaune being positioned to be the leader of the team, though he turns it down as Pyrhha wanted him to take over the team. Hilda having close relationships with a few members of the team and Johanna just liking that her daughter and husband have good influences in their lives.

I did want to introduce and bring in new characters to work for this resistance as well despite times constrains and have them be from shows that have been on streaming platforms

A)The Voltron Defender team was an idea to give additional companions to Will, his sister Penny and The Robot and maybe even explain that was how they joined The Streaming Resistance after N.Tropy killed their family

B) Arlo Beauregard was an idea to join the team as a young kid hero who lives independently of his folks and considering what Will and his sister, Lincoln and Lydia have to deal with when it comes to family they could stay with him or give them a lesson in independence and family

C) I was thinking of use Reboot Characters as well due to computer characters and video game characters with Lincoln, Toby, Nate, Max Mayfield and Lydia being gamers. I would had have Enzo appear here due to being another kid hero or his grown up counterpart Matrix as well as Andrala here. As they are the only two characters to appear in every episode ever since the latter’s introduction. If I went for the time skip counterparts, they would help Lydia and Lincoln with their own paths.

Lydia and Lincoln’s main plot

As the most recurring characters, it’s mostly not a shock they get their own subcategory.

A Lot of the storyline focuses on their relationship and how they act as partners in Team Free Wills, their friendship and how it becomes romantic in nature. I got them together around the middle to avoid the usual problem of will they, won’t they? Plotlines. All of their adventures build on this development and go on to tackle other developments in it.

On top of this it shows the influence they have on each other. Lincoln gets into the adventure lifestyle and working with Team Free Will due to Lydia’s influence and faith in him, and have too more confidence and hesitation to be upfront of things. Lydia meanwhile hanging around Lincoln develops a better idea of what she wants out of life and a more grounded view on the double life of multiverse adventuring.

The Two have a lot in common, though have somethings that they like in particular. Lincoln is into magic unlike her and Lydia does like playing baseball unlike him. They explore a lot of their interests in their own adventures for themselves and while it has a Be Careful What You Wish For mindset, they enjoy it.

I do initially have Lincoln seem more vulnerable and unsure of the two and how he opens up to Lydia about what his concerns, fears and troubles are which he does for no one else which is evident in To Live and/or Die in Loch Loud and Double Life Emerged. This helps him become a better man and person as Lydia is always reliable for him and won’t hesitate to call him out if he does something stupid. One example is The No Such Luck events, where Lydia calls out Lincoln for feeding into the lie and breaking Lori’s golf clubs, though she stills sides with him over his family in this instance. Lydia raises him up by saying he is being the ideal guy/hero she sees in him. Someone who isn’t perfect, but tries and won’t hesitate to get help, show vulnerability and will do take care of people.

While it seems one sided, I made a point in Team Free Will: Diassembled and Countdown that Lydia also finds herself confiding in him just as much and leaning on him for support. Heck Double Life Emerged even states that Lydia was afraid to lose him when she discusses bravery with him at the end, when Lincoln points out how risky she acted to stop the equivalency of a nuke going off. I did admit tingly flanderize her tomboy traits, she shows her gentle, calm, nutring side to him and willness to be romantic around Linc without fear something no one in her live gets. Lincoln makes her confident in being herself.

One thing they both have in common here is that they don’t change to please or impress each other. Both of them change for their own sakes and because they want to. Which is refreshing due to how many Loud House episodes have the be yourself moral.

Unlike the other characters, they’re aware of the chaotic aspect of the multiverse something Dib, Lizbeth, Boomer and others don’t have going for them. While they never lose that desire to adventure, both of them become more cautious when it comes to the multiverse and start to desire something else in a normal life. The Streaming Resistance and Team Free Will while both teams they work with and have the same prupose represent a more chaotic live and a more balanced live for them. Hence the Double Life they take. It’s also the reason they’re the only Team Free Will Members in Double Life Emerged since it’s the one time they run afoul into the Multiversal Cartel and establish their working relationship and friendship with Toby and The Streaming Resistance who have a more balanced lifestyle of this compared to Ford and others being all into it. En.Tropized has them end discovering the balance to use to their best mindset.

Their Romance is slow but builds up with their chronological appearances adding something to it

Double Life Emerged: Neither of them know of their actual feelings for each other but it’s clear they’re into each other according to the Streaming Resistance

Return of the Weirdmagedon Cult: This is when they discover their attraction to the other, but not the other side.

To Live and/or to Die In Loch Loud: This storyline establishes they are meant for each other despite their reservations

The Unown Threat: While I didn’t write this, this storyline would likely put the two on a closer level to each other.

Team Free Will Dissembled: They get closer and are trying to fess up, though Hilda is here and she also loves Lincoln and grows suspicious of their bond.

Countdown: They have to live in a cabin for 3 months due to the aftermath and confess their attraction to each other.

Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy: Lincoln and Lydia try to insure Hilda is let down easy about them starting to date. But also they have to deal with Vecna as well and their desire for a normal life

Greatest Universal Horror Show of Circus Gothica: Their attempt to ignore the call is because they want to focus on their life outside of the adventure is shown. With Ford, Bender and Anti Cosmo having to force this.

Streamverse: Their struggle to achieve this is still explored and the mudane events they deal forces Lydia and Lincoln to go public a bit more with their relationship as they have been keeping it secret due to teasing from most of the team. The Streaming Resistance though knows of it and help the two with it.

En.Tropized: Both Characters go through hell in Book 2 and lose family members and also realize what they really want. They also have birthdays, and become the co-leaders of Team Free Will and use their mindset to lead the team.

With the exception of Bender and maybe Anti Cosmo, they stand head and shoulder above the rest of the cast as important characters. As both Lydia and Lincoln are always protagonists when they’re main characters and only go to the major character section a few times.

As much as I can torture the cast at times, I don’t kill off either character as it would to be too much and I keep their tight friendship and relationship as the biggest light in even bleak times.

But of Course we got to the Other Side of the equation here.

B Plot: A New Multiverse for Bender, Slade and Anti Cosmo

Where as the A Plot explores the Team Free Will Cast who were introduced in LOTM: Next Gen Island Tour and TGTTA 2. We have to discuss our old players and guard that have been around since my start in the fandom.

So Phase 4 is a new multiverse for these characters and things have changed and change isn’t easy to adjust to. Due to real life events and my own direction most of the cast have retired or are AWOL in what would be one of the most intense plot lines period for who is active. Where as Team Free Will has to deal with eventually N.Tropy, Our cast of characters here deal with a constant threat from a large syndicate known as the Multiverse Cartel and its fall off over the course of the storyline before N.Tropy takes over the plot.

Unlike The A Plot, the cast is more consistent as many of the main characters stay in focus and appear more. While Lincoln and Lydia are still the main characters, the most recurring main characters come from this plotline with a 6 to 4 ratio.

The Progress and Goals are different here, as they are multiple desires being felt and it’s not about stopping the main villains as much as it trying to cripple them, find things and explaining the past of the events before they got involved in the first story line made.

N.Tropy’s steaks were always high and multiverse in reach with some personal steaks on the side, While The Multiversal Cartel while still have high steaks are more contained and personal as opposed to general as none of the villains are out for multiversal domination or destruction for the most part. I felt many villains had this as the same goal which I felt is why many villains failed to truly stand out.

There is a noticable return of characters here as well more so than the Main Plot. This in part to the two central groups being teams that I established in the start of my time here as opposed later on. I still did include other new teams as well.

The B Team:

Bender

Luan

Bean Grunkwitz

Wile E Coyote (Breakout Character)

Captain Hero

Stan Marsh

Cleo Subprime,

Slade’s Empire

Slade

Anti Cosmo

Harrison Wells

Celes Cheres

Jessie Wells

Nacho Varga

The Boys

Hughie Campbell

Billy Butcher

Starlight

The Mar Mar Gang

Marcy Wu

Libby Stein

Hailey Banks

The Multiverse Cartel

Don Eladio

Kostas Becker

Milton Midas

Professor Chang

The Prankster

Frank Underwood

Captain Putty

Other Central Villains

Zib

Sasha

Captain Grime

Homelander

Solider Boy

Death

Eobard Thawne

King Andrias

- The ongoing fights against the Multiverse Cartel

The Multiverse Cartel acts as the ongoing antagonists and the B Plot establishes how the heroes start to fight the Cartel and how it all ends. It starts with the Cartel going after Slade’s Empire and how Bender and Luan get involved against them due to this. All this over the desire to expand territory and made profit. Multiverse conquest is NOT a goal of the Cartel, unlike N.Tropy who has some desire for it, though it’s second to his desire for revenge.

Other contrasts to N.Tropy is that he seeks after the heroes actively and behind the scenes while The Cartel takes a more direct action and the heroes know who’s in charge. It just takes a while for them to dispose of the leader. Where as N.Tropy desires revenge on Lydia and also Lincoln later on for a petty action, The Cartel is more concerned with committing crimes and being able to keep making profit, they have no desire for multiversal conquest. Though some of the most vile members do take things personally.

While not as dangerous as Hunson Abadeer or Discord, it made seem odd that M.O.D.A.B is out of the loop from Bender compared to them. But where as the former two it was inevitable, this one is more personal and knows how to target weak spots, The Cartel would totally use Bender’s teammates as leverage against him. Double Life Emerged even showcases this.

I wanted to make a villain group that would take an entire phase to take down as opposed one story as well as an antagonist that could directly challenge The B Team and Rival Slade’s Empire as an organization. Put legit psycho crooks against ones with more virtuous characters involved. I kept most of the other teams out of the conflict aside from Team Free Will in DLE, The Streaming Resistance in their first and final chronological appearance and Deathstroke’s associates who have strive against them as well.

Similar to N.Tropy, the main villains work for Don Eladio, and some do betray him. Though unlike N.Tropy, Eladio does get himself backstabbed by someone wanting to be the big boss unlike for standard reasons with N.Tropy. Heck Eladio is only the 3^rd most dangerous villain in the Cartel being surpassed by Frank Underwood and Milton Midas

Where as N.Tropy established himself as a threat, The Cartel was one already and lose their status over time after Double Life Emerged as Milton Midas was the most ruthless and formidable of all the Cartel Villains and the most ambitious of them all betraying even his own Cartel Bosses and partners. This worked too well that other cartel villains lacked this and Eladio became more careful who to bring after Midas was dealt with. The Prequels are to establish the real threat they presented and how they mainly Midas were responsible for the actions taken by the heroes in later story lines.

Vought International on the side and other independent villains

Like The A Plot I did use secondary main villains but I also went for independent antagonists too and the aside from The Cartel, Vought Interantional had a main role in The B Plot too.

Unlike the Cartel, they are more business operated and serve in a lawful kind of term.

Double Life Emerged, Countdown, Chronicles of Zaragoza and En.Tropized serve as the story line for them with The Bad Guys and The Boys having some focus to it. I got into the Boys show and decided to have them be involved in Bender, Anti Cosmo and Slade’s plot in Phase 4 and have them aid the trio in opposing Vought. It’s worth noticing that it’s the HEROES who cause Vought to go after them over Villains targeting heroes first and foremost. Homelander, Stormfront, Solider Boy and Victoria Neuman serve as the central villains of this group due To Vought’s focuses on Supes and Neuman being the step daughter to the head Stan Edgar before Homelander took over.

How this is all triggered is by the heroes having to get Solider Boy for Midas and The Cartel and working with him in exchange for dealing with Midas which means letting him kill Payback and going off with his nuke powers. Lincoln and Lydia get involved in this case too, working with Black Noir to do this and unknowingly to them being spared from any Vought does due to Noir’s gratefulness and cutting a deal with Stan Edgar and Victoria Neuman, the latter goes up against N.Tropy due to this as well as fondness. The events are invesitgated and put Bender and Slade on the threat list for them, later they investigate Vought as Bender and Libby suspect things and it gets Homelander to go after them who is working with the CSM. Slade, Anti Cosmo, Harry, Bender and Marcy later on fight Stormfront in the future who is working with Dark Arrow against Neo Vought due to Bender and his friends putting Professor Membrane in charge. Lastly, the heroes oppose Victoria due to her knowing what they did with Solider Boy and Bender with the others having a secret of Neuman which has a M.A.D situation occur between them mainly Bender and Anti Cosmo against Victoria Neuman.

There is also personal history already known thanks to the show compared to Bender, Anti Cosmo, Slade and the others developing personal steaks with The Cartel.

Other independent villains each serve some kind of challenge to the others

Zib serves as a direct consequence to the actions the heroes too in the next section as well as the possible thought of including Slade’s Empire so prominently and having Bender and his fellow heroes team up with them frequently.

Sasha and Grime serve as rivals who are intelligent in a way to other villains, though aren’t completely bad and do reform eventually. Sasha and Grime know the idea of working with the heroes when needed and the former does care about Anne and Marcy which stops her from going further. She also uses Bender’s past connections to get an upper hand on him albeit has no intent to harm or kill them.

King Andiras serves as an evil all along villain who uses the heroes to get rid of his competition and to get the Calamity Box. Andrias is aware of the rep Slade’s Empire and The B Team unlike other villains and decides to not oppose them but have them aid him in his plans before revealing his true colors. Andrias does however Like Sasha and Grime does reform at the end and pays for his actions, even ending the series on limited time though he accepts it.

Death as as a personal adversary to Bender who he doesn’t beat, while acting as the villain who pushes Bender’s own plot and character in previous storylines who while sadistic like Sasha and Grime is more of a grey area villain who had fair points of what Bender did in his past.

Eobard Thawne returns as a reminder to and is the direct cause of the risky actions Bender takes before dealing with Death. He also orchestarted the event that drove him and the others, when Thawne does come back to hijack the plot, he sets to insure he defeats Bender as well as Slade and Anti Cosmo by destroying the multiverse not caring if he will die too as long as Thawne defeats them once and for all.

Trying to find Lizbeth due to events

One of the main elements is the search to find what happened to Lizbeth as a result of what occured in Return of the Weirdmagedon Cult due to Toffee and Bill Cipher causing Weirdmagedon. Bender becomes motivated to find her and with Luan, Wile E, Bean, Hero, Anti Cosmo and Deathstroke ends up going against Harry and Slade’s own warnings and end breaching the mutliverse dimensions to find her and this indirectily causes damage and allows Zib and The Prankster to cause trouble for the heroes.

It serves as an consequence for Bender and his team and he makes a deal with Marcy to work with Andrias to charge the Calamity Box and find her. The heroes encounter The Planet Express Crew who give Bender and the group an idea on what did happen and they spend plenty of storylines working towards this goal

Countdown sees Bender, Anti Cosmo, Harrison, Luan, Cleo, Libby, Wile E and Captain Hero encounter some people who eventually have an connection to Lizbeth as they deal with the CSM and Homelander

Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy has the team take their next step to find Lizbeth

Chronicles of Zaragoza while most following Lizbeth, does have Bender, Marcy Wu, Slade, Anti Cosmo and Harrison accidentally get involved in their events.

Greatest Universal Horror Show of Circus Gothica has Bender and Anti Cosmo work with Lincoln, Lydia, Molly, Scratch, Hailey,and Libby to go invesitgate and deal with Freakshow. The Two end up encountering in Halverston and Area, Milo’s Cousin Wendell (Commander Whooping Crane) and Lizbeth’s older sister. The latter is aware of what the two are doing and offers to help the two with it all.

En.Tropized sees this be finished and the group does manage to find her or more the point Lizbeth finds Bender, Slade, Anti Cosmo, Luan and Marcy Wu.

Before Phase 4, Lizbeth was other than Bender the major character with a major presence to her name. One of the ideas was to write her out of focus like Skipper and Heloise and have her be missing to establish a plot point and to give Bender a motivation outside of the Cartel to deal with. She went down to be the third most prominent character at the end behind Bender at first, as well as Anti Cosmo and Slade who tied for 2^nd thanks to their prominence in Phase 4.

While having it be a plot point, I also decided to expand upon what she before En.Tropized as I already spoiled she was alive and not dead. Expand upon her story in the future by who she works with and how she grows up and changes in the future without the rest of the people she knows. This was done to avoid too much explanation being needed in one story line. I decided she needed to stay in the future due to how long she was living there and eventually bring the main cast there. Orginally I was to kill her and other characters off, but I choose to go against this.

- The Prequel Storyline

Despite Lydia and Lincoln’s role as the main characters/protagonists, The Prequels are more about this plotline then theirs. Though the two do get involved in the 2^nd of the two storylines as a way to escalate the story before Toffee and Bill Cipher’s Return.

Return of the Weirdmagedon Cult, Multiversal Noir and The Prankster Point Paradox opened up some holes about the events that occured before the storylines and my last storyline before that point. Both Prequels were done to fill them in and explain the actions commited to make more sense of motivations and actions being done. Better Call Saul and other well written prequels were the inspiration for this idea and a way to once contrast the main plot of the storyline. Often in Harsher in or Harming in Hindsight reasoning explains this idea.

- Bender’s main plot

Bender is the lead in part to that the central plots lines all focus on him above the rest of the characters when it comes to dealing with his own mortality, trying to find a old friend, deal with the Cartel or Vought, investigate events that have transpired that come to his attention or whatever

His plot points parallel Lincoln and Lydia’s in that he either goes the other way to what they do when they deal with stuff, takes a more cyncial approach compared to their idealism and changes up go who he works with unlike them who always work together

His Partners in Chronlogical Order

Angelsmith Origins: Luan (Primary), Slade (Secondary)

Double Life Emerged: Slade (Primary), Luan (Secondary)

Return of the Weirdmagedon Cult: Luan (Primary), Marcy Wu (Secondary)

Multiversal Noir: Anti Cosmo (Primary), Luan (Secondary)

The Prankster Point Paradox: Marcy Wu (Primary), Luan (Secondary)

Countdown To Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy: Anti Cosmo (Primary), Wile E Coyote (Secondary)

Chang’s Guide To The Galaxy: Marcy Wu (Primary), Luan (Secondary)

Chronicles of Zaragoza: Slade (Primary), Marcy Wu (Secondary)

Greatest Universal Horror Show in Circus Gothica: Anti Cosmo (Primary), Libby Stein (Secondary)

House of Disenchanted Cards: Wile E Coyote (Primary), Mop Girl (Secondary)

En.Tropized

• Anti Cosmo (Primary),
• Marcy Wu ( Secondary in Book 1),
• Luan and Wile Coyote (Secondary in Book 2),
• Libby and Slade (Book 3),
• Luan, Marcy Wu and Slade (Book 4)

As one notices, Anti Cosmo is the character most often one of Bender's main partners, and in the finale he takes up the role as the overall partner, to parallel him and Anti Cosmo to Lincoln and Lydia's own side of being the main duo of their own plotline.

• Bender and Anti Cosmo are anti heroes, to the straight laced Lydia and Lincoln
• Both of them first appeared in the Beginning, while LOTM: Next Gen Island Tour and TGTTA 2 where when Lydia and Lincoln first appeared
• Bender works as the head of the B Team and Anti Cosmo is Slade's right hand man in his empire, while Lincoln and Lydia are part of Team Free Will and eventually act as the leaders
• The two of them have an odd friendship, as opposed to Lincoln and Lydia being best friends and each other's love interests. They are also married in the present to their wives, compared to the latter two who will get married
• Bender is a Robot, Anti Cosmo is magical creature while Lydia and Lincoln are human. They are also adults, compared to Lincoln and Lydia who are just kids of 11-12 years of age.
• Lincoln and Lydia dealt with The Cartel in their first appearance chronologically in Phase 4, while Bender and Anti Cosmo went after N.Tropy in the final storyline they appeared in the storyline
• Both parties have to deal with the double life quite a bit with Lincoln and Lydia hiding their double life from Team Free Will and Bender having to hide his from M.O.D.A.B to the mutual acts of Milton Midas in Double Life Emerged. In Bender's case it's out of knowing of what will happen and having proof of what will happen if his friends find themselves in the game. Lydia and Lincoln do this unlike Bender and Anti Cosmo due to the events shaking them not on a personal level but more out of horror of what they have dealt with.
• Lydia and Lincoln mostly have equal focus, where Bender is the clear central character with Anti Cosmo being the 2nd most promient Character.
• Their Opposition of Victoria Neuman is in the opposite direction, Lydia and Lincoln don't actively oppose her apart from learning she's a supe and there is no bad blood between them and her, Where as Victoria, Anti Cosmo and Bender clash over their secrets they know of the other (Vicky knows Bender, Anti Cosmo, Slade and the others had Solider Boy released from captivity and aided in taking out Payback, Bender and Anti Cosmo know she's a supe)

Next Time I go into Phase 4’s most intense, serious, dark, etc moments that made it arguably the darkest of any story line I have done.