Gorillaz AU

From Lolitics Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

[Contains Gorillaz spoilers up to and including Plastic Beach]

Don't trust people who use quotes. I don't know who said that. ~ Murdoc Niccals

This predominantly cracky, single-author AU sees the NuLab OT4 of Blair, Brown, Mandelson and Campbell as the four main fictional members of the virtual band Gorillaz. Its primary function is to expose the musical ignorance and snail-like writing pace of the author. In common with the real-life Gorillaz project, it has almost as many contributors as fans. The verse roughly follows the plot of the Gorillaz canon, retelling its events by changing small details in an attempt to draw connections between the band members and their counterparts.

The verse was spawned following the OT4 fic Windmill, which was named for and inspired by the song Feel Good Inc. It was shortly followed by a prompt and very sketchy fill for Gorillaz!NuLab, retelling the events of the Stylo and On Melancholy Hill videos. There are also of plenty of drawings of the OT4 as band members, heavily based on Jamie Hewlett's original Gorillaz illustrations. A longer history of the band may be on its way.

NuLab isn't the only character set involved, but it's the main focus. See Characters for more details.

Setting[edit | edit source]

While not without an agenda of its own, the world of Gorillaz rarely acknowledges a political scene. The same is true of the AU, in which Westminster is entirely forgotten and a person's political beliefs are treated as an extension of their musical tastes (hence 2-D!Tony's identifying as a Third Way keyboardist and the 1940s phenomenon of socialist bebop). Party rivalries have not been explored but the analogy used in Girlband AU - that of New Labour as a group of personally incompatible but musically similar individuals working together to promote their band - is very much in effect. The actual name of their band isn’t clear as yet; 'New Labour' may not be entirely appropriate since the Labour Party itself isn't involved. A compromise between both universes is on the cards here.

Crack is the keyword in this AU. The science fiction and fantasy elements of Gorillaz remain: ghosts, zombies, demons, an enormous human head wired to the guitarist's hi-fi system - nobody bats an eyelid. Naturally the details and characters have been altered but the basic plot and Phase structure are unchanged.

Having formed their band, the OT4 work initially from a large country house in Buckinghamshire. The building, which goes by various names, is a haunted, dilapidated version of Checkers that takes the role of band headquarters originally occupied by Kong. Later, in the same ways as and for near-identical reasons to the original Gorillaz, they move to Plastic Beach, which is also essentially unaltered.

Unlike Gorillaz, the OT4 don't break the fourth wall and have no interaction with Hewlett- and Albarn-style 'creators.'

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

As the AU follows the Gorillaz canon so closely, there's no point reproducing it all here, but a quick summary: the plot is stretched around three 'Phases,' each separated from the next by a few years of hiatus in which the individual bandmates go their separate ways. Phase 1 covers the formation of the band and the production of their debut album; the second covers the production of Demon Days before finishing dramatically with the El Mañana disaster; the third (still incomplete) phase covers the production, tour and aftermath of Plastic Beach as well as the recording of The Fall. For a far more in-depth, spoilery look at the history of the band, see their Wikipedia and TV Tropes pages. Recent developments are best summed up by the gorgeously animated Journey to Plastic Beach video, the full version of which is available on YouTube and provides context for the Stylo and Melancholy Hill videos parodied in the first fic. All of this plot is all that happens in the AU, but it's posted to the meme selectively and in no particular order because people are sick fucks.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Main Characters[edit | edit source]

Again, it's not worth giving full descriptions of characters, but this is how the main players match up:

Real Name Gorillaz Character Instruments
Tony Blair 2-D Lead vocals, keyboards
Gordon Brown Russel Hobbs Percussion
Peter Mandelson Noodle Lead guitar, additional vocals
Alastair Campbell Murdoc Niccals Bass guitar
"Cyborg Peter" Cyborg Noodle Lead guitar (Phase 3)
Anji Hunter Paula Cracker Lead guitar (Phase 1)
Charlie Whelan Del Rapped vocals (Phase 1)
Clockwise from top left: Murdoc!Alastair, Russel!Gordon, 2-D!Tony and Noodle!Peter.

Characters generally retain their real first names and take on Gorillaz surnames. For example Gordon Brown, who takes on the role of Russel Hobbs, becomes Gordon Hobbs. All musical positions within the band are unchanged. Canon partners are thus far nonexistent.

Character biographies are a twisted blend of real life and Gorillaz backstories. Personalities go (hopefully) unchanged from standard non-AU meme characterisations, but certain angles are played up for maximum agreement between RL people and their cartoon counterparts. Specifically, Tony can't convincingly play 2-D if he is callous and calculating, so his naivety and aversion to conflict are emphasised. Meanwhile Gordon's brilliance, strong moral core and frequent lapses of reason determine his position as Russel. Peter shares Noodle's love of dancing, tendency to tread the line between sinister and adorable and failure to be given due credit by colleagues, if not (as far as we know) her enthusiasm for Pokémon. Finally, Alastair's aggressive, distrustful control-freak side comes to the fore to make a suitably unpleasant Murdoc. Re reconciling Alastair's teetotalism with Murdoc's persisting alcoholism, watch this space.

Physical appearances are a constantly fluctuating combination of RL looks and the equally inconsistent appearances of the cartoon characters, and nothing is set in stone. Anji's personal hygiene does not fall victim to her role as the distinctly grimier Paula. In this case, Peter - who is sometimes woobiefied elsewhere to the point of seeming to lose his height - can reasonably be expected to have shed a few inches, at least when he first emerges from a FedEx package. Gordon hasn't yet had any spoken lines, so he could be from Scotland or the USA or more probably a weird conflation of the two.

Other Characters[edit | edit source]

Collaborators and minor characters include NextGen as the children's choir in Dirty Harry and Neil Kinnock as Noodle!Peter's mysterious creator. In a retro casting move, PETER BONE is the Bogeyman (or Boneman), with the AU identity of the Evangelist yet to be decided. The ghosts at Kong are played by Old Labour figures, while Russel!Gordon's resident ghosts besideDel!Charlie are other notable Brownites.