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TimeAfterTime (or Time after Time) is a collection of fan-made comics mostly taking place in the same universe as Time and published in the same format as Time, i.e. as a series of frames which appear periodically, with a mouseover text.

So far there are eleven TimeAfterTime stories:

  • prickly by Latent22, 21 frames (viewer)
  • POTM by Latent22, 8 frames + 1 bonus frame by HES (viewer)
  • lucky by Latent22, though others helped creating the frames, 50 frames (viewer)
  • beany by Waveney, 88 frames (viewer)
  • bean2 by Waveney, 147 frames (viewer)
  • t1i by SilentTimer, 1414 frames + 3 bonus frames (viewer)
  • Zanclean Zodiac by azule, with some help by SilentTimer, 35 frames (web site, viewer)
  • bftf by balthasar_s, 936 frames (viewer) - this series does not play in the Time universe, but is highly related to Time and uses the same format
  • t-1 by taixzo, 2 x 828 frames (viewer)
  • bsta by balthasar_s, in progress (viewer) - not much is known about this series yet, and in fact, it may not even belong on this list. There appears to be some overlap in the bftf and bsta universes, but that may simply be a function of being authored by balthasar_s.
  • phys by Sustainabilizer with the support of SilentTimer, in progress (viewer)
  • "It's been ten years since the adventure began" by Earthling on Mars, 13 frames (viewer)

Prickly series[]

The Prickly series consisted of 21 frames appearing every newpix, on 1 August Outside time.

They showed Pricklymolp crawling around as the sea was rising near it. Pricklymolp survives by crawling onto a floating log, which already has Squirpy on it. The series ends with the ground being submerged by the rising sea, and the log floating away with the animals on it. It was created by Latent22.

POTM series[]

The POTM series consisted of 8 frames showing parodies of some early frames of the OTC. It appeared on 8 August Outside time and appears to be unrelated to the other two series. It was created by Latent22; one “bonus” frame was contributed by HES.

Lucky series[]

The Lucky series consisted of 50 frames appearing every luckypix, from 14 August to 23 August. It shows Lucky and the Snake trapped on an island surrounded by the rising sea. The animals escape onto a floating hut. The log with Pricklymolp and Squirpy is nearby. The final frame suggests that the series is going to be continued in the future. It was created mainly by Latent22, though others helped create the frames.

Beany series[]

The Beany Series Chapter 1 consisted of 88 frames appearing every 4 newpix, starting on 26 August it finished on the 10th September - it follows Amtoo after Cuegan departs the castle. The story continues in Chapter 2. Created by Waveney.

Beany Chapter 2[]

Beany chapter 2 started on 21st of October and finished on the 14th of November, appearing every 4 newpix, it continues Amtoo's adventures. Further chapters should appear. Created by Waveney.

t1i[]

The t1i series, also called the MysteryONGs (while the author was still unknown) or the SilentONGs (after the author SilentTimer), tells the fate of The Forty after the flood. Instead of involving OTT culture, the author attaches great importance to stay true to GLR's storytelling, creating a compelling sequel to Time.

It has 1414 frames – almost half as much as Time. Since the frames appeared every 4 newpix, t1i ran for almost twice as long as Time itself.

When the first frames appeard, the author was still unknown. Meanwhile xe has delurked as SilentTimer. (There had been much speculation; the most common author hypotheses were Latent22, mscha, or GLR.)

The meaning of the title t1i has been discovered by ggh on NP2099 (Mirror)and was discussed on NP2100.

For details about the plot (Spoiler alert!) see:

Zanclean Zodiac[]

The seventh series, Zanclean Zodiac, was created by azule, where it ran in parallel to the sixth series. It tells the story of a visitor of the world of Time before the flood, guided by locals, exploring the night sky. It was created by azule, though SilentTimer made some improvements to the foliage of the baobab tree (which can be seen on the web site using the interactive viewer).

BFTF[]

The BFTF series tells the story of people on the moon watching xkcd Time. It was created by balthasar_s.

The meaning of the title BFTF was eventually explained as "Balthasar Follows Time with Friends"[1].

t-1[]

A new series, its name indicated as t-1 by the frame name prefix, started appearing on 13 September 2015 and concluded on 25 March 2016 (outside/heretical time, respectively). The author was unknown during that time but was eventually discovered by ggh to be taixzo.

Each image file contains not only a primary image drawn in the style of the One True Comic, but also a second hidden image which can be accessed by manipulating the PNG colormap in a way encoded by the file name. The hidden images are computer-generated in a completely different style from the OTC and the primary t-1 images.

The plot of t-1 forms a double prequel to the OTC. The primary images show the breakdown of the dam separating the Atlantic Ocean from the dried-out Mediterranean Basin, while the hidden images show the construction of that dam many millenia previously.

For details about the plot (Spoiler alert!) and further information on the series see the t-1 wiki page.

bsta[]

The scope of this project is not currently understood, but the content appears to have begun appearing on an associated chat interface located at http://1190.bicyclesonthemoon.info/bsta/coin

The contents of that chat (which then led to the launch of the viewer) are included here:


Before: 0
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: Now that I'm here, I have no idea what to do....
OTT: What is the "actual Coincidence client"?
OTT: Is OTT the main Coincidence?
B: OTT is your username :)
bicyclesonthemoon (B) left the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: Should I write down the public key? Will I need it again?
OTT: Think I'll go to sleep now. Have a great day!
OTT: It's kinda neat being somewhere where you are B.
bicyclesonthemoon (B) joined the public chat on server 80236.
bicyclesonthemoon (B) left the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: oops, I just missed you.
OTT: do you see what I write when you're not here?
OTT: Just wanted to check with you before I announced the server id on the thread. I should, yes?
OTT: Also, going to bed soon, so I probably won't see your reply 'til the morning.
bicyclesonthemoon (B) joined the public chat on server 80236.
bicyclesonthemoon (B) left the public chat on server 80236.
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

Before: 1
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: Interesting - I just had to type in the server id again.
FTH: Did you get disconnected from the internet?
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

Before: 2
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: what's happening now?
AP: or some Coincidence hacker has set this up.
bicyclesonthemoon (B) joined the public chat on server 80236.
fredTheHacker (FTH) joined the public chat on server 80236.
FTH: and I thought I was the coincidence hacker ... :)
B: B: You were before changing the username.
B: Oh, wait, you changed it again?
FTH: I had to.
FTH: Also it was your suggestion IIRC.
FTH: also I would still be a better hacker :)
FTH: literally and figuratively
B: and that's why this pun is so funny
FTH: It's not.
FTH: It was funny in 2008 maybe.
FTH: But we're in the future now.
FTH: And things have changed
B: they changed so much
AP: I have no idea what all this is about
B: just some references to untranslatable puns which are apparently not funny anymore
AP: ok
bicyclesonthemoon (B) left the public chat on server 80236.
AP: anyway, I did not.
FTH: so who was the
fredTheHacker (FTH) left the public chat on server 80236.
AP: no idea
AP: oops, too late
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

Before: 3
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: ctif?
FTH: ctif what?
OTT: Hi FTH! TLF said they had selected CTIF as a connection method, and I was curious what CTIF was. Can you tell me?
FTH: It's some kind of communication protocol which is supposed to work with coincidence
FTH: but it doesn't
FTH: at least for me
FTH: it requires some special hardware, I heard
FTH: some radio stuff or something
FTH: I don't need it anyway
FTH: but
FTH: doesn't it appear in your connection settings?
FTH: anyway, ask AP.
FTH: He should know more.
OTT: Is AP here too?
FTH: not now
FTH: he's most the likely most likely one to be found online.
FTH: but not so often on the public chat
OTT: Oh, I see. (Doesn't really see)
OTT: Hey, do you have any buttons there?
FTH: A full keyboard of buttons.
FTH: or do you mean other buttons
FTH: like in a shirt?
OTT: Like a shirt.
OTT: Sorry if I seem distracted, we keep getting calls from the haunted bakery here.
FTH: What times have you reached!
FTH: Where the bakery has to call you and not you the bakery.
fredTheHacker (FTH) left the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: I'm not sure my time is out of the ordinary,
OTT: but when the bakery is, is anyone's guess.
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

Before: 4
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
fredTheHacker (FTH) joined the public chat on server 80236.
fredTheHacker (FTH) left the public chat on server 80236.
fredTheHacker (FTH) joined the public chat on server 80236.
FTH: Why would you be interested in the ctif?
FTH: or buttons?
OTT: I keep losing buttons. They just vanish. I don't understand it.
OTT: On the other hand, two Poo-chis mysteriously appeared.
OTT: So that's worth a few buttons.
OTT: Ctif was just small talk. I don't understand what it is, but I heard you have it.
OTT: Seemed like as good an icebreaker as anything else.
FTH: I wouldn't say coincidence is a good place to look for buttons.
FTH: and ctif? maybe it will be more useful for breaking ice than for its original purpose
FTH: because for me, it makes no sense
FTH: anyway, if you want to ask AP about it you can do it now
FTH: He just appeared online.
FTH: Not on the public chat but you can always send a private message
OTT: I'm not sure how to send him a private message. Can you tell me?
FTH: You must be new to coincidence.
FTH: Which version of Coincidence do you have?
FTH: The one with GUI or the one with the commandline?
OTT: I'm very new. There's a gui.
OTT: It may not be the real thing though - it says it's a demo interface.
FTH: I never heard about a demo interface?
FTH: Where did you get it from.
OTT: Suddenly I'm worried that it might be contraband....
OTT: Is there a place I can find the actual Coincidence clint with full functionality?
OTT: client, not clint
OTT: my e-key doesn't work very well.
FTH: I got mine on a CD which was included to a newspaper which balthasar got from some uncle
FTH: I don't think in even can be contraband. where does that idea come from?
FTH: I'm interested. because I never heard of a demo. And because coincidence is not findable on the internet these days
OTT: I guess I'm just worried that I'm somewhere that I ought not be.
OTT: And if I say that I'm here through the internet, is that naughty?
FTH: ?. Anyway, what does your interface look like. Maybe we could figure something out.
FTH: through the internet? most of us are. Communication software usually requires some kind of internet.
OTT: It's a box to type in, with buttons to Send, Refresh, and Disconnect
OTT: and at the bottom it specifically says:
OTT: (This interface is only a demo, a proof of concept. It is very limited. No autorefresh, no private chat, etc. For full functionality use the actual Coincidence client.)
FTH: interesting.
OTT: I'm using it at http://1190.bicyclesonthemoon.info/bsta/coin
FTH: is there maybe a configuration file in the directory in which it's installed?
FTH: oh, wait a website?
FTH: I can't aaccess it
FTH: says there is no such website
fredTheHacker (FTH) sent the file 2010-12-13-094234_1024x768_scrot.png.
OTT: Huh - that's strange
OTT: I'm not sure how to receive that image
OTT: Did you just take a screen shot?
FTH: normally coincidence automatically stores files in a directory
FTH: but on a website - no idea
FTH: yes
OTT: oh
OTT: looking for the .config file, I just found a log of an earlier session
OTT: so, no luck there.
OTT: Hey FTH, forgetting the website for a moment...
OTT: can you tell me what you know about LEML
FTH: bicyclesonthemoon.info? balthasar are you behind this?
FTH: LEML? no idea
B: I? not that I know
bicyclesonthemoon (B) joined the public chat on server 80236.
B: ???
B: I am.
B: ???
B: oops, sorry
bicyclesonthemoon (B) left the public chat on server 80236.
B: ???
bicyclesonthemoonFromTwothousandFifteen (BFTF) joined the public chat on server 80236.
B: ???
OTT: It's going to be okay
BFTF: I set up a simple web interface for coincidence.
BFTF: Sorry for the confusion
OTT: Y'all are taking this pretty well.
OTT: Or maybe you're not.
OTT: Are you okay?
FTH: you mean, there is a web site, you enter it and start using coincidence?
BFTF: yes
FTH: Have you thought what happens when it's discovered by trolls?
FTH: or neokids?
BFTF: not really
BFTF: I think I'll temporarily change the time offset, and then I'll figure something out
FTH: You really from 2015?
BFTF: no, just pretending.
BFTF: I'm from 2016, actually
BFTF: :)
BFTF: wait, for it, I'm changing the settings
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

Before: 5
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) joined the public chat on server 80236.
BFTF: ok, done.
bicyclesonthemoonFromTwothousandFifteen (BFTF) left the public chat on server 80236.
OTT: Hi! Anyone out there?
OTT: I am out there!
OTT: Who was it?
OTT: It was taixzo!
artificialPerpendicularity (AP) joined the public chat on server 80236.
AP: Found you finally.
AP: He changed the settings. It was not easy to recreate them.
AP: An interesting setpoint he chose.
AP: but an empty one.
AP: I'm afraid you won't be able to talk to anybody here.
AP: But I see you already started talking to yourself.
AP: I think I have an idea what's going on here.
AP: I cannot, however, keep using these settings otherwise I will miss something.
AP: (I just wanted to find out)
AP: So I will not say much.
AP: Actually, I only have two words for you:
AP: hidden interface
artificialPerpendicularity (AP) left the public chat on server 80236.
onlineTestTerminal (OTT) left the public chat on server 80236.

phys[]

The phys series, so called by its frame name prefix, or "My Hobby: Physics" according to the title page, is being created as a collaboration between Sustainabilizer, who writes the story, and SilentTimer, whose contribution is not yet clear but can presumably be inferred to be at least part of the graphic content. The main protagonist is a physicist from the 21st century, an obvious "author avatar" of Sustainabilizer himself, who somehow appears in the setting of the One True Comic at the Beanies' castle and holds a speech in front of the Beanies and the Cueganites. In this speech he sets out the knowledge of his time regarding the physics of micro- and macrocosm and how the state of this knowledge has developed throughout the history of Physics. There are also some hints which suggest that the scope of the story will go beyond that and line out an original contribution of Sustainabilizer to the field, but as of phys frame 496 the physicist's speeach to the Beanies has not yet advanced to that point.

The fact that the main protagonist obviously has time-travelled many millennia into the future is, oddly, acknowledged in passing by the protagonists but neither elaborated on nor treated as in any way remarkable.

Links to Sustainabilizer's publications on his original contribution to physics, which so far have yet to be taken up by the science's mainstream, can be found in the additional notes on the comic's viewer.

"It's been ten years since the adventure began"[]

For the tenth timiversary, Earthling on Mars posted a short self-contained TimeAfterTime comic which shows La Petite, also ten years older, returning to the site where, at the end of the OTC, the rafts with the Forty had landed at what was to become their new home. The now grown up La Petite holds a short monologue, reflecting on the years that have since passed, which might be her just talking to herself, or her addressing the reader and breaking the fourth wall.

Resources[]

TimeAfterTime Artwork[]

  • TATColored - artistic interpretations of TimeAfterTime frames
  • TAT Manips - image manipulations of TimeAfterTime content

See also[]

References[]

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