The Skullgirls Timeline Thread

[Brawlitup99]

I did a similar post on the Mobile forums, but not everyone visits those, which I mean. Fair.

Below is a comprehensive, updating doc containing everything we know about the Skullgirls timeline, including various bits and pieces of information about the world that the story takes place in. If you've ever been confused about the Skullgirls story, this is the place to learn more about it!

READ NOW

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE SKULLGIRLS STORY, INCLUDING MOBILE'S STORY MODE/ORIGIN STORIES AND THE WEBTOON. If you haven't seen or played through certain story pieces yet, consider doing so before jumping into the doc.

Q: What does this timeline include?
A: This includes background info and story modes from 2E (2nd Encore), Story Mode and Origin Stories from Mobile, the Webtoon comic, and any other canon information that we know to be true (mostly from the Canon Info thread, which you can find in this subforum thanks to Chrono_Tata!). The information is as accurate as possible to our knowledge, but may change at any point as more canon information is released.

Q: Wait a second! There's 2E story mode content on the doc? I thought those were non-canon!
A: They are, at least for the most part! Double's story mode ending confirms that each story mode is a "branch that could've been," while a "True Story Mode" has only been spoken of through rumors. However, certain cutscenes, such as some of Double and Painwheel's cutscenes, reference events that are confirmed canon. As such, they are included for completion's sake, until other media retcons these events.

Q: So what do you mean by an "updating" doc?
A: As new information comes out, the doc will be updated to match what we know about the story! This can be anything from simple clarification elements to full-on story mode additions.

Q: Any idea when we can expect major updates?
A: Most likely after big story mode/lore information dumps come out. To clarify, these are the main media lore-wise to check back in to the doc with after they've been released:
* The Season 1 story modes
* Other Mobile Origin Stories
* Maybe somethin else if we're lucky lol

Q: I'm not seeing a lot of Fukua or Robo-Fortune here. Where are they?
A: Unlike most of the characters, Fukua is confirmed to be non-canon to the story for the time being. Robo-Fortune, on the other hand, was confirmed canon in Annie's story mode; however any exact information and events pertaining to her have resided in non-canon 2E story modes.

Q: Is this how you're supposed to play the Skullgirls games?
Pfffffft no, you can't even play the origin stories out of order anyway! This is more for people who are interested in how the story has played out within the context of the games. Now if you want to play the stories like this I won't stop you, though that sounds kinda sporadic and unpolished considering most of the in-game stuff is origin story cutscenes, with only a very small chunk of 2E story modes. You do you, though.

Q: I'm noticing something else that's wrong on the doc!
A: Post a comment below, and it'll be fixed in a future update. Thanks so much!!

 

[Brawlitup99]

Annie just got released!!

However, in order to give players enough time to play through and discuss (such as in the spoiler thread for Annie), details revealed through her story mode will be updated for the Timeline doc a couple of days after release. Going forward this will be the norm for the rest of the cast. We hope you understand. Thanks all!!

 

[Brawlitup99]

The doc has now been updated to include more information on Annie! If you haven't played her story mode, consider doing so before jumping in. Thanks everyone for waiting!!

 

[Brawlitup99]

With the release of Umbrella's story, it's finally safe to say that the Timeline page has been updated! This is the biggest update by far, with numerous changes to not just Umbrella-related content, but also plenty of other content for various characters in the series!

As such, there will now be Patch Notes included in forum posts like this alongside their usual spot at the bottom of the document. Feel free to have a look at what's changed before jumping right into reading!

A bit of a note before we get into these patch notes: a day or two ago the devs stated that the Mobile main story has been noted as another “thread that could’ve been” similar to 2E’s story modes. However, as most “canon” information for the timeline has remained slim, and as there has been little to no story beats that would cause conflicts, the Mobile and Origin stories will remain for the time being. I hope this makes sense!

Without further ado....

• Umbrella’s Story Mode has been unveiled! Info added includes:
  • Umbrella’s true age
  • Hungern’s purpose as well as abilities, notably being able to suppress the Skull Heart’s influence
  • Flavor text detailing Franz’s involvement in the war, both initiating it and sabotaging peace talks
• Black Dahlia has also been announced as Season Pass character #3! Related notes have been adjusted as such.
• Information from the Indiegogo DLC Character Vote Concepts has been added, including:
  • Leduc joining Lab 8
  • Brain Drain after the event that destroys Lab 7
  • Clarification on Tom’s role with ASG
  • Panzer being Lab 3’s “greatest creation”
• Links on In-Game Event Timeline will now direct you toward the appropriate section in the Chronological Timeline.
• Added information on Black Dahlia’s backstory to the best of our knowledge.
• Added info on the Theon’s connection to parasites, living weapons, and Theonite.
• Added info on Peacock’s code, ASG-88.
• Added namedrops for the rest of Peacock’s crew, including the fridge of all things. Don’t ask.
• General fixes, formatting changes, and tidying up

CLICK TO READ

 

[Brawlitup99]

Oh my Trinity, it has been a whole year since I updated this.

Now that the Webtoon has launched (and is currently in its Two Weeks™ wait period), and Black Dahlia's release is on the horizon, a bunch of new information has been added to the doc! A special thanks goes out to Chrono_Tata and MrCorbi on Discord for reviewing and fact-checking the doc this time around--having an extra set of eyes was incredibly helpful for getting it as accurate as possible!

Like with the SGM story, the Webtoon story is noted as an alternate timeline. However, as developer Cellsai has stated, this was done to allow more freedom with writing the comic without being restricted on lore, meaning more important events will still line up, while smaller details might not fit with the timeline as a whole. Considering events that happen include those from Mobile’s main story, we’ve decided to have the Webtoon take the place of it, with the note that, again, information in this part is canon until something else retcons it. In the meantime, a new section has been added that explains the differences between the Mobile and Webtoon stories. Thanks!

And of course, your patch notes--click to reveal:

• Black Dahlia’s Story Mode is on the horizon, and as such, her icon has been added to appropriate events on the timeline in order to prep for its release.
  • In addition, info Black Dahlia’s first attempt at fighting a Skullgirl going badly has been added as well
• The Skullgirls Webtoon has launched as well! The following info from that has been added as well:
  • Marie encountering Double with the Skull Heart, as well as her full wish
  • The current Webtoon story
  • Some of the Black Egrets, notably elite members, knowing about Franz being alive
  • A blurb about the differences between Mobile and the Webtoon
• Lots of info from the Japanese version of the Canon Info Thread has been added! Note that this info may be somewhat unreliable due to machine translation. The info in particular includes:
  • Medici ruling over Canopolis until the Renoirs
  • Parasites being immortal
  • Samson jumping from host to host
  • The Trinity’s parasites
  • More info detailing Parasites
  • Lab 7’s inspiration
  • Annie battling Double
  • Isaac’s ability being related to Aeon
  • General info on Synthetic Parasites
• Noteable fixes to current facts, especially around the beginning of the doc
• More info on Living Weapons and Theonite added
• Info on Franz and Nancy added
• Extra info on No Man’s Land added
• More info on the ASG Labs added, including info on Dr. Geiger.
• Tidbits on Lorenzo’s sons added
• Added an explanation to the four umbrella Living Weapons of the Renoirs
• More general format fixes

 

[Brawlitup99]

And we're back with Dahlia's story mode! That was...faster than I was expecting LOL

There's been a lot of content revealed, although there's been quite a bit of discussion on how the characters act, and what should be taken as canon info in this otherwise non-canon story. Regardless, I've updated the doc to the best of my ability with everything revealed so far. Without further ado:

• Black Dahlia makes her debut! While her story mode wasn’t as lore heavy as previous ones (at least in a clear sense), there’s still plenty of information that’s recently been acquired:
  • Better details on her origins, her defect from the Labs, and her time with the Medici
  • The origin of Dahlia’s “bunnies”
  • Her relation to Eliza, and their “ballroom brawls”
  • Info about Black Dahlia in relation to both Annie and Beowulf added, as well as the general timeframe of Annie’s TV show starting
  • Dr. Geiger and Brain Drain’s relations, or lack thereof
  • Vitale being jealous of Lorenzo’s age and not knowing he has possession of the Life Gem
  • Fukua was featured in Black Dahlia’s story mode as well, are you KIDDING ME. Terminology around her changed, but is in the same boat as Robo-Fortune.
• In addition, more of the story from the Webtoon has been added.
  • Bullet changed relating to how many people know of Franz’s status--initially thought that only the higher-up Black Egrets knew, the Webtoon shows that Umbrella also knows.
• An interview with Alex Ahad has been released--this was from a while back and was only recently released, meaning most of the info may be outdated due to him moving on from Skullgirls. However, more info on Marie as the Skullgirl before her venture into New Meridian has been elaborated on, and as such has been moved up and edited.

 

[Chrono_Tata]

• Vitale being jealous of Lorenzo’s age and not knowing he has possession of the Life Gem

I think it's not so much that Vitale didn't know Lorenzo had the Life Gem, more like Lorenzo never trusted him with the information. Nevertheless, Vitale has already figured it out for himself, although I don't think it's clear when he did exactly.

This is confusing when compared to the Webtoon, where Lorenzo specifically ordered Vitale to go retrieve the "item". While Lorenzo never mentioned the name of the Life Gem, presumably he must think Vitale knows which item he is talking about. So in the Webtoon timeline, we can assume that Lorenzo told Vitale about the Life Gem at some point.

In the 2E timelines (which I think is closer to how the actual lore is intended to be), Vitale appears to be targeting the Life Gem directly in order to take it for himself:

• In Cerebella's story, he trusts her enough to share the knowledge of its existence with her and tell her specifically to retrieve it. After Cerebella got it, Vitale is never shown to return it to Lorenzo.
• In Eliza's story, it was Lorenzo who blackmailed Eliza into working for them to kill the Skullgirl and the Life Gem wasn't even mentioned to her, and Vitale simply sent Cerebella (who already was separately given the mission to track down Ms. Fortune and retrieve the Life Gem) to escort her. Eliza found Ms. Fortune by chance due to the interesting scent of her blood, and Eliza was only tipped off about the Life Gem when Cerebella decided to shout about it at the top of her lungs, so she decided to betray the Medici and keep Ms. Fortune to herself.
• On the other hand, in Umbrella's story, when Eliza and Cerebella ran into Umbrella, Eliza told Cerebella that they had a Life Gem to procure, which implies that in that timeline, Vitale actually told Eliza about the Life Gem and sent her and Cerebella specifically to retrieve it.

In Dahlia's story, it was apparently Eliza who caught Ms. Fortune and brought her back to Vitale. This would directly contradict Eliza's story, since in that timeline she immediately betrays the Medici after finding out about the Life Gem. So it seems Dahlia's story is more in line with Umbrella's story (makes sense since they were probably written by more-or-less the same team). So in both Umbrella and Dahlia's timelines, presumably Vitale offered Eliza a good enough deal where Eliza agreed to retrieve the Life Gem for him and not betray the Medici to keep it for herself.

 

[Brawlitup99]

I think it's not so much that Vitale didn't know Lorenzo had the Life Gem, more like Lorenzo never trusted him with the information. Nevertheless, Vitale has already figured it out for himself, although I don't think it's clear when he did exactly.

This is confusing when compared to the Webtoon, where Lorenzo specifically ordered Vitale to go retrieve the "item". While Lorenzo never mentioned the name of the Life Gem, presumably he must think Vitale knows which item he is talking about. So in the Webtoon timeline, we can assume that Lorenzo told Vitale about the Life Gem at some point.

In the 2E timelines (which I think is closer to how the actual lore is intended to be), Vitale appears to be targeting the Life Gem directly in order to take it for himself:

• In Cerebella's story, he trusts her enough to share the knowledge of its existence with her and tell her specifically to retrieve it. After Cerebella got it, Vitale is never shown to return it to Lorenzo.
• In Eliza's story, it was Lorenzo who blackmailed Eliza into working for them to kill the Skullgirl and the Life Gem wasn't even mentioned to her, and Vitale simply sent Cerebella (who already was separately given the mission to track down Ms. Fortune and retrieve the Life Gem) to escort her. Eliza found Ms. Fortune by chance due to the interesting scent of her blood, and Eliza was only tipped off about the Life Gem when Cerebella decided to shout about it at the top of her lungs, so she decided to betray the Medici and keep Ms. Fortune to herself.
• On the other hand, in Umbrella's story, when Eliza and Cerebella ran into Umbrella, Eliza told Cerebella that they had a Life Gem to procure, which implies that in that timeline, Vitale actually told Eliza about the Life Gem and sent her and Cerebella specifically to retrieve it.

In Dahlia's story, it was apparently Eliza who caught Ms. Fortune and brought her back to Vitale. This would directly contradict Eliza's story, since in that timeline she immediately betrays the Medici after finding out about the Life Gem. So it seems Dahlia's story is more in line with Umbrella's story (makes sense since they were probably written by more-or-less the same team). So in both Umbrella and Dahlia's timelines, presumably Vitale offered Eliza a good enough deal where Eliza agreed to retrieve the Life Gem for him and not betray the Medici to keep it for herself.

Looking closer at the dialog in Dahlia's story mode combined with the sources you mentioned, I def agree; it would make sense that he would figure it out himself. The part that I'm getting hung up on is...what exactly Lorenzo relaid to Vitale pre-2E. How much does he know about the Life Gem, and then when is it told to him--is it 2E story mode exclusive? Does he know before these events? The webtoon doesn't help much as you said since Vitale already knows exactly what it is.

For the doc's sake, however, I'll work on changing the bullet point to establish this with the limited info we have:

* Lorenzo appears to have told little to nothing about the Life Gem and its capabilities, at the least until the events of SG2E. Eventually it becomes easy to figure out simply due to the rest of the brothers aging normally--Vitale, in particular, laments at being in his shadow, deemed unfit to rule, while Lorenzo does not seem to age.

 

[Chrono_Tata]

Looking closer at the dialog in Dahlia's story mode combined with the sources you mentioned, I def agree; it would make sense that he would figure it out himself. The part that I'm getting hung up on is...what exactly Lorenzo relaid to Vitale pre-2E. How much does he know about the Life Gem, and then when is it told to him--is it 2E story mode exclusive? Does he know before these events? The webtoon doesn't help much as you said since Vitale already knows exactly what it is.

For the doc's sake, however, I'll work on changing the bullet point to establish this with the limited info we have:

* Lorenzo appears to have told little to nothing about the Life Gem and its capabilities, at the least until the events of SG2E. Eventually it becomes easy to figure out simply due to the rest of the brothers aging normally--Vitale, in particular, laments at being in his shadow, deemed unfit to rule, while Lorenzo does not seem to age.

The way I read it is definitely that the Webtoon takes place in a much more different timeline and it seems the writing team plays a bit fast and loose with the lore that had been previously established in the games. I think the characterisation of Lorenzo in the Webtoon is that he is more careless with the knowledge of the Life Gem, as evident with the fact he just had it hanging out in full display in front of the Skullgirl, Vitale and his other minions, as well as the Egrets during Marie's attack. Taking that characterisation into account, it seems likely that he either let slip to Vitale or intentionally told him about the Life Gem at some point. Either way, I agree with your wording that even if Lorenzo told him about it, he was probably very scant with the details.

On the other hand, especially based on Dahlia's recent story, Lorenzo is a lot more guarded of his secret in the games. In this case, I think it makes more sense that he has not shared it with Vitale at all. Vitale simply worked it out by himself, or at least gathered the intelligence from another source.

Given the nature of the Webtoon and its looser relationship with established lore, I think I'd take it more as an apocryphal story, particularly in the parts that don't line up with the games, and take the game characterisation as the more "canon" one. However, as it is with anything SG, things could change at any point.

 

[Brawlitup99]

The way I read it is definitely that the Webtoon takes place in a much more different timeline and it seems the writing team plays a bit fast and loose with the lore that had been previously established in the games. I think the characterisation of Lorenzo in the Webtoon is that he is more careless with the knowledge of the Life Gem, as evident with the fact he just had it hanging out in full display in front of the Skullgirl, Vitale and his other minions, as well as the Egrets during Marie's attack. Taking that characterisation into account, it seems likely that he either let slip to Vitale or intentionally told him about the Life Gem at some point. Either way, I agree with your wording that even if Lorenzo told him about it, he was probably very scant with the details.

On the other hand, especially based on Dahlia's recent story, Lorenzo is a lot more guarded of his secret in the games. In this case, I think it makes more sense that he has not shared it with Vitale at all. Vitale simply worked it out by himself, or at least gathered the intelligence from another source.

Given the nature of the Webtoon and its looser relationship with established lore, I think I'd take it more as an apocryphal story, particularly in the parts that don't line up with the games, and take the game characterisation as the more "canon" one. However, as it is with anything SG, things could change at any point.

I've reworded the bullet point talking about Vitale and the Life Gem to reflect Lorenzo keeping the artifiact a secret. Absolutely agree on the Webtoon bit; as it's stated before it's a non-canon story, so events and personalities not lining up makes sense.

(Side note, but I still stand by including the Webtoon in the timeline considering its other counterpart, the Mobile storymode, is also non-canon and offers less information on events covered. Of course, that doesn't mean it wins over Origin Stories, notably considering the recent episode release last Friday, but still serves as a good reminder on why these canon conflicts haven't been addressed).

 

[Chrono_Tata]

(Side note, but I still stand by including the Webtoon in the timeline considering its other counterpart, the Mobile storymode, is also non-canon and offers less information on events covered. Of course, that doesn't mean it wins over Origin Stories, notably considering the recent episode release last Friday, but still serves as a good reminder on why these canon conflicts haven't been addressed).

Yeah I think that's fair as long as it's made clear that it's an alternate timeline, which it is.

Absolutely agree on the Webtoon bit; as it's stated before it's a non-canon story, so events and personalities not lining up makes sense.

In this case it's a bit different for me because it's not like in 2E where things that happened before the current events of the game line up, and all the timelines diverge at pretty recent points in time. But in this case, if Vitale was told about the Life Gem by Lorenzo a long time before the story happened, that means the timeline would have diverged from the "main" timeline much, much earlier than other alternate timelines - probably years or decades. It doesn't make it invalid, although it makes it a lot less reliable as a lore source.

 

[Chrono_Tata]

Sorry for the double post, but yeah, new development based on the latest chapter of the Webtoon. So, based on Vitale's lines, it seems like we're back to Vitale seemingly not having been told about the Life Gem before. Of course, he could be playing dumb with his father. In any case, it definitely confirms that Lorenzo hadn't told Vitale about the Life Gem before, which lines up with what we know from the games.

But that sort of make Lorenzo's call to Vitale a little bit strange. If Lorenzo hadn't told Vitale about the Gem before, why did he say it like Vitale would know what he was talking about? Maybe Lorenzo knows that Vitale already knows about the Life Gem, even if he had never told his son about it? That could partly explain Lorenzo's frustration with Vitale - maybe he thought it was annoying that Vitale was playing dumb despite having figured out his secret about the Life Gem a long time ago.