And why is there always such a hesitancy for crossovers?
I've been inspired to ask this because the 2020's seem to be the culmination of sequel-mania. There's a Harry Potter remake series coming out. There was a Pokémon anime sequel that just wrapped up. Lord of the Rings made a prequel series. There's even a third Avatar series coming out soon (the sequel to Korra).
I would really like some crossovers once in a while. It's always nice to see the official way in which two universes relate to each other. Yet there is always a high hesitancy when it comes to crossovers, and none of the biggest franchises (Harry Potter, Pokémon, Star Wars, etc.) ever engage in crossovers. Maybe this is my Rick and Morty brain talking, but all these big things going on right now with franchises has fueled my love of crossovers. Imagine, for example, the Avatar after Korra learning that the world of Avatar shares a spirit world with the world of Pokémon, or that Professor Oak replaced Professor Snape after he did.
There is so much potential, why the hesitancy? If you could push an idea, what would it be? How would you shoehorn it?
I have previously had the thought that maybe Pokémon and Harry Potter are the same universe.
Pokémon are just Japanese magical creatures and Japanese wizards prefer to train magical creatures instead of doing wand magic like western wizards do.
So the new Avatar series has this in its description: "The newest avatar will have to deal with both humans and spirits hunting her down in a world where being the avatar is a mark of shame."
And I think to myself... hmm... what if those spirits overlapped with Pokémon? Unknown creatures living among humans? That's literally Pokémon. All the creatures in Avatar remind me of Pokémon.
It's not like many of us haven't thought of this for a while, but with the setting, it's asking for it. Avatar as a saga is ambitious but still susceptible to crashing. Make that mega crossover.
I think the reason for lack of crossovers is each franchise has its own universe with its own rules. If, for example, Harry Potter did a crossover with Wizards of Waverly Place, it would be hard to reconcile all the contradictions in how magic systems work differently in the two franchises. The only ways around it are a) travel between dimensions or b) to just not care about the plot holes
Gravity falls and owl house. I would also happily take amphibia in the mix as well. There was already an Easter egg of a stuffed sprig in owl house so we are half way there!
Pokemon Horizons wrapped up. It has maybe three or so more episodes to go. Then they'll be revealing whether to do a time skip or star separate characters.
First avatar was Aang, an airbender. Second avatar was Korra, a waterbender. The third and new avatar is going to be Pavi, an earthbender. She is doing the same thing as Korra, with the main difference being Vaatu has his own lineage of avatars now and is the villain (think the Good Twin Bad Twin trope in mythology) and where the avatar gives people very Spiderman-esque vibes (people wondering what her use is in the modern world).
Another big difference is that Pavi is a twin, and her twin sister is also the avatar, so this time around there are apparently two avatars living at the same time. Looking forward to this whenever it comes out, but it seems like it won’t be finished for a while.
The corporate entities controlling the franchises probably would have too many problems making such deals. Too many interests involved. In comics I remember a Marvel-dc crossover just once and it was bad. In fanfic though, it happens all the time and can work pretty well.