universe omega
the vice quadrant introduced an alternate timeline called universe omega, created from an explosion in rabbit's blue matter core. in 1950 the timeline split into two universes, prime ("our" universe) and omega. details on the timelines can be found on spg's website, but i'll try to explain everything here.
you can read the fic that started all this on ao3. all the art i've made involving universe omega is posted to a tag on my tumblr.
what is omega blue?
omega blue is the name of my personal interpretation of universe omega, taking implications from canon and playing around with headcanons. its main premise is this: what if, after her core exploded, rabbit lost the majority of her blue matter?
blue matter is creativity incarnate. without it, rabbit would be unable to play music, crack jokes, or do anything that requires her being creative. omega rabbit is an exploration of depression, creative burnout, and ptsd through this lens.
in omega blue, steam powered giraffe formed in 2008... the spine, the jon, and upgrade. after a year, they produced their first album, but it wasn't successful. they disbanded soon after, and haven't tried to publish music since.
the premise of omega blue was inspired by the song the space giant, where the giant says "in the parallel universe i'm from, steam powered giraffe is done." it made me wonder what could have happened, and of course i turned to the 1950 incident. the name is taken from a visual choice i made when first drawing omega rabbit, that spg's accent color is blue instead of red.
timeline
the easiest way to explain omega blue is probably through yet another timeline. this compliments the official vice quadrant timeline, so anything not listed here still happens. also, by default anything mentioned here is happening in universe omega, but there might be notes on events in universe prime for context.
the appearances of the spg robots are pretty much identical to universe prime, save for blue accents instead of red. but i've drawn a visual timeline of rabbit's design throughout the years of omega blue, if you want to see what she looks like there.
1950
rabbit is stolen by the beciles and her blue matter core tampered with. the walter family saves her, but not before her core explodes and splits space-time in two.
in both universes, peter walter ii and professor guy hottie are killed by the blue matter blast. peter walter iii has a stroke and ignatius becile's arm is paralyzed. norman becile is changed into his scaly green form and develops a traumatic brain injury. norman, on the verge of consciousness, drags peter iii and rabbit back to walter manor and is taken in by the walter family. a portal appears above earth.
in prime, rabbit's core fluctuates for a few years but stays stable.
in omega, rabbit loses nearly all of her blue matter, and her ability to be creative is gone.
1962
in both universes, peter walter iv (four) is the commander of a spaceship called the cosmo. the cosmo flies up to the portal to study it, and a beam of blue matter energy shoots from the portal.
in prime, the energy beam hits four, granting him superhuman abilities and turning him into the superhero commander cosmo.
in omega, the energy beam misses the cosmo, instead hitting a russian space probe. the blue matter mixes with human DNA on the probe, creating a giant cosmic woman called the daughter of space. four studies the beam and kickstarts a technological revolution.
1966
the daughter of space (cosmica) finds four's spacecraft and in her curiosity, destroys it. cosmica saves four and takes him with her, deep into space. the walter family are told that the ship was lost, and not knowing what really happened, believe that he's dead.
1992
while searching the basement of walter manor, beebop finds zero and befriends him. a few months later, rabbit is wandering the manor when she finds him and demands he be repaired.
2008
the spine, the jon, and upgrade start busking in balboa park under the name steam powered giraffe. they start to write their first album.
in prime, spg travels to lousiana on a tour before the release of album one. rabbit meets the suspender man, mr. gormley, and gives him one of her green eyes to help with his spell. in exchange, he promises that his banjo skills will be given to the band, whatever that means. (read my fic about this encounter)
in omega, spg travels to lousiana, but rabbit doesn't go with them, and never meets mr. gormley.
2009
spg releases album one. unfortunately, it's not very successful, and the robots make the sad decision to stop publishing music.
2011
in prime, spg returns to lousiana on a tour while writing the two-cent show. rabbit meets mr. gormley once more, now full of banjo-playing ability thanks to his new pair of bright red suspenders. when she returns a few days later, she finds the suspenders on an empty log. she gives them to the jon, who can suddenly play the banjo extremely well.
in omega, spg never goes back to lousiana because they never write the two-cent show. the jon still has suspenders, but they're not magical, and he can't play the banjo.
2013
in both universes, peter walter vi (six) finds a large tear in space-time near walter manor. the blue matter compels him to touch it, causing an implosion that scars his face. the scars are blue and irradiated, meaning he can't take off his keyhole mask without hurting normal humans. (read my fic about six's journey of self-acceptance after the incident)
in prime, six hears the voices of omega four and the necrostar. afraid for the safety of earth if he keeps the rift open, he chooses to cause the implosion.
in omega, six hears the music of spg from universe prime. entranced by songs he's never heard before, he forgets himself and reaches out to the rift, which implodes.
2013
having learned from building his mask, six builds new parts to fix hatchworth's blue matter leak. the repairs are successful and hatchworth can leave the vault for the first time in sixty years.
rabbit is once again wandering the manor when she finds a box with a tiny mechanical giraffe inside. it's GG, who gets powered on and becomes the same bratty younger sister she is in universe prime.
2014
rabbit begins to malfunction at an alarming rate. although she usually refuses any kind of maintenance after 1950, the spine convinces her to let six repair her. when six looks for her original schematics to discern the problem, he realizes she was meant to be a woman, modeled after delilah morreo.
she tearfully admits that she wanted to be a girl her entire life, but peter the first got so angry when she asked that she never brought it up again. only her siblings knew. of course, six sets about building her a new feminine chassis right away.
2016
rabbit, the spine, and hatchworth from universe prime cross over to universe omega, hoping to recruit their counterparts to help stop the necrostar. instead, they find omega rabbit.
prime rabbit gives a tiny bit of her blue matter to try and kickstart omega rabbit's core into replenishing. the prime robots leave a short while after, rattled by how different omega rabbit was.
2018
rabbit, slowly healing from her trauma and starting to make music again, decides she wants a new chassis design. she models herself after prime rabbit.
the rest of the robots decide to start steam powered giraffe again, this time with all six of them. as the curtains raise at their first concert, rabbit spots a mirror image of herself and her family in the audience, cheering wildly.
