I was trying to do a basic map of the timelines of the multiverse and before going further (though I'm not sure where that would be) I wondered if I'm understanding the basic timelines of Shattered Timelines the same way as others.
(Oh look...i got a picture to actually show up)
How have you interpreted the timelines thus far represented? The pic obviously shows my first take, but I wonder what others have thought.
We don't know if the "Final Wasteland timeline" branches before or after "present days". It is possible that the monsters only begin to rise in the future (maybe in a future expansion?).
I like it. It's obviously kind of arbitrary which timelines you want to show as branching. Could be just as correct (and maybe easier to diagram?) to keep the Main Storyline Continuity as the central straight line and have everything else branch from that.
I wasn't aware that Chrono-Ranger was successful in averting the monsters overpowering the Earth. We don't know one way or the other right? Isn't it just as possible that the monsters take over the earth some time after Iron Legacy's rule?
yeah diagrams!
The Assistant was from an alternate timeline rather than the future. So another branch would need to be added.
Okay....here's a version assuming Final Wasteland is the main continuity and showing another timeline for The Assistant.
Better representation? Can you represent shattered time?
Looks good.
I tried to get some solid dates for major events based on some hero bios.
If you look at Finest Legacy's age and birthdate, the current year is 2020. However, Visionary's bio says the current year is closer to 2007 (based on the age of the Dreamer, the age of Visionary, and what time Visionary traveled from).
There's a lot of wonkiness with comics, time, and ages. I was hoping to dig around and find a hard date not related to age but, alas, I haven't found one.
And you probably won't; as you said, Comics. 
Seriously, how long have Spiderman, Batman, and all the others been around? Iron Man's origin story has been shifted from one later war to another over the years. It's just the way comics work - and >G has really captured that.
Personally, I don't think the Final Wasteland can be the main timeline. It could be Iron Legacy's or just one averted by Chrono Ranger (or even The Assistant's 
) but having the apocalyptic future be the main future is a bit too cynical for comic books, I'd think.
Unless you read X-Men.
Yeah, pretty much all X-Men "final futures" blow. In 1/4 Apocalypse rules with an iron first. In 1/4 the Sentinels have all but erradicated mutants. In 1/4 Apocalypse uses the Sentinels to rule with an iron first, and in the last 1/4 Apocalypse was somehow defeated, but not before he killed practically the whole planet. X-Men never really see utopian futures.
Perhaps the interpretation is that the second one is how it is…but should Chrono-Ranger actually succeed the first post version comes to be. Maybe that timeline should be represented as a split off later leading to the wasteland…the actual continuity is based on his success while a branch shows he failed? This is probably based on the definition of time travel for this mythology. For instance if time travel is like it is in the Harry Potter books…the things they've done already happened…they were part of the current history they faced…vs Back to the Future where going back and changing somehting makes a new reality. New realities seem to be what the multiverse timelines seem to represent.
So who knows?
Christopher, Paul, Adam…teaser hint? cold, warm, getting warmer, getting colder?
Crisis of infinite Multiverses.
I was just trying to make a diagram of the timelines, myself, and I found this old thread! SO I AM DREDGING IT UP.
I'd like to update the diagrams to show the major "Events," since we're accumulating them fast - the Deadline Event, the Progeny Event, and so on - especially since we know some new things that we didn't when logan_mann drafted the original charts. For instance:
My hope was that some Google Drive app would let me make an editable version that anyone could go into, but I think that's the wrong platform. Particularly because I couldn't make arrows do what I wanted them to do. And also because I'm not sure we can get the right size for the overall document. Anyone know if there's a browser-based version of Inkscape or something?
Here's what I had so far, starting from things I knew off the top of my head:
...then I ran out of space at the bottom. And then I realized I should search the forums to see if anyone had already done this. And then I saw that they had, but a while ago. And then I wrote this post. And now I'm hoping you all jump in!
You could even add events from Sentinel Tactics at this point. We know some event before Sentinel Tactics caused the govt to clamp down on the Freedom Five.
Be careful with Acronyms, Powerhound. When I see ST, I think of Shattered Timelines first.
Noted and changed.
I love all of this.
However, there is this big misconception out there that the "shattered timelines" is a signular event (evidenced by your blip on the map). I am in the camp that 100% dissagrees with that notion. I think It is a recurring thing that happens throughout the comics as the ties and cracks inbetween the multiverses weaken gradually. Look no further than Freedom Five Annual #4 when Tachyon notices the presence of the Treacherous Ape at Mittermeir's carnival. Iron Legacy's big crossover event is Freedom Five Annual #25. Or how about Omnitron-X showing up during the Singularity story arc which ends with Omnitron-I being destroyed. Saying Shattered Timelines was an event is like saying "the Infernal Relics" event. It's more overarching than that.
I think by Shattered Timelines people (me included) mean the Time Cataclysm and Iron Legacy events, which seem to be the height of timeline intersection. We know Chrono, Capitan and OX all travel through time and the timeline stories are all over time, but those occurrences seem to build to a climax that involves the cataclysm and IL.
But I don't think the "Time Cataclysm" is a singular event either. There is really nothing that suggests that it is. There isn't a point in the comics that we can point to and say "oh, well this story happens before the Time Cataclysm, and this here is after the Time Cataclysm". At least not that I can tell. It seems to me like it's just been an ongoing event underlying and sewing through the entire comic run, with all those threads tieing back up together at the very end.
Maybe if there was like an issue called "Time Cataclysm #3" or something, then I could see that being the case. But It's not like Iron Legacy, where he is the big bad of the Annual #25 crossover and other smaller comics and a one-shot that came out around the same time. Or even other similar contained story arcs like "Moonfall", "Sunrise", or "Singularity", which are all clearly defined comic events.
That's how I see it anyway. I'm totally willing to be swayed by a good argument to the contrary.
