Crossover Wiki:Link

A link, also known as a crossover, is a connection or interaction between two series. This includes appearances of elements such as characters, locations, and/or items in another series, and references to another series. A link can also be between a series and a mascot.

Links are only considered if the series is being purposely referenced, as described in Crossover Wiki:Notability. Links should also only come from within the work, not connections related to things outside of the work. For example, two works being bundled together is not a link, because this is a connection that happens outside of the two works. Links should be considered within the fictional context of the work.

Both series in a link should be copyrighted at the time of the link. Therefore, public domain works cannot have links with other series. Note that links that occurred when a public domain work was still under copyright are still valid.

Unofficial works, such as fanmade or unlicensed works, are not valid links. Similarly, user-created content are not valid links either, as they are also unofficial.

Link type
Links can be type 1, 2, 3, 1.5, or 2.5. Each are described below.

Type 1
Type 1 links are when elements from a series appear in another series as real in-universe. An example is a character from Series A meeting characters from Series B. Only official appearances are considered to be type 1.

Additionally, canonicity is not considered when deciding if a link is type 1. What is considered canon can be ambiguous, as some series have inconsistent or contradictory continuity.

Type 2
Type 2 links are when elements from a series appear in another series, but not as real in-universe. An example is a painting of a character from Series A making an appearance in Series B. Since there is no indication that the character is real in the universe of Series B, the link is considered type 2.

Type 3
Type 3 links are when elements inspired from a series appear in another series. An example is a parody of a character from Series A making an appearance in Series B. Since it is not the actual character, only being based on it, the link is considered type 3.

Type 3 links may also be when elements appear in the work, but not in-universe. An example is music from Series A being played in Series B, but the music is only heard by the audience and not in-universe.

Type 1.5
Type 1.5 links are when elements that are not real in a series' universe appear in another series as real in-universe. An example is a character from a fictional story in Series A making an appearance in Series B as a real character.

Type 2.5
Type 2.5 links are when elements inspired from a series appear in another series, but not as real in-universe. An example is a parody of a character from Series A appearing on a poster in Series B.

Direction
The direction of a link indicates which series the link takes place in. Within articles, the direction is represented by arrows, as shown in the following example.

In this example, the direction of the link indicates that the link takes place in Series B.

A link may also be non-directional. These are either indirect links or links that take place in works that are part of both series.

Unreleased link
An unreleased link is a link that had been planned to happen, but ended up never happening. Within articles, unreleased links are indicated by the series and link type being struck-out like this.

Only unreleased links that were actually planned and approved are considered notable for Crossover Wiki.

Spin-off link
A spin-off series uses similar elements of another series, but has a different focus. Spin-offs have a link type depending on the elements used from the parent series.

Indirect link
An indirect link is when there is a link between series that takes place outside of those series. An example is a character from Series A and a character from Series B interacting in a Series C work. Since they are interacting in a Series C work, and not a Series A work or a Series B work, there would be an indirect link between Series A and Series B. Note that this would only be significant enough to cover if the link between Series C and the other series has a weaker link type than the indirect link between Series A and Series B.

Indirect links may also occur when a link takes place in something that cannot be considered a series, such as a commercial with no original fictional elements. Indirect links may also happen when a link is confirmed by the creators or owners, outside of any work.

Format of a link article
Link articles for direct links use a title in the format of "Series A X Series B". The order should be alphabetical, while the reverse order should be a redirect. If the title for either of the series articles includes a disambiguator, the link article's title should also include it as well.

Indirect links between more than two series would not use a title in the format of "Series A X Series B". Instead, they use a title that summarizes the link, such as the title of the work that the link takes place in or the elements involved in the link.

To italicize the titles of the series in the link article's title, use.

Regular link articles generally start with the statement "Links between the Series A series and the Series B series.". This is followed by sections that go into detail about each link.

Detailing a link
Each link in a link article is organized into sections with each heading being the title of the work that the link takes place in. Link articles that use a title that already indicates the work usually do not need this section heading.

Each section starts off with the  template to give the basic information about the link. After that, the link is described in full detail. Explain what is coming from the linked series, and what works are being referenced. Licensing may also be explained if it isn't straightforward. Links with many details may be divided into subsections for better organization. If a later work uses the same content of an earlier link with no significant changes, the section for the earlier link can explain this instead of making a new section for the same content.

Images are usually included to provide visuals for the link. Videos from YouTube may also be included through using Widget:YouTube, but they should only be used if they provide something that images cannot. Videos that only consist of audio also should not be used. Videos of full episodes or movies are not allowed, as they violate copyright.

If the article has at least two extremely long sections, they can be split off into subpages. These subpages would be titled "Title of parent article/title of section". The section on the link article would then link to the subpage using  and just have a brief description of the link.

Summary link
A summary link is a link article that covers links between more than two series. This is generally done to avoid repeating information in multiple articles and put it in one article instead. This includes multiple series being referenced simultaneously or a work being part of more than two series. Summary links can be their own article or within a section of a regular link article.

Summary links that are their own article may use a title that summarizes the link, such as the title of the work that the link takes place in or the elements involved in the link. A title in the format of "A X B" may also be used in the case of a work that is part of multiple series being linked to another work. For example, a character from Series C appears in the work Series AB, which is part of Series A and Series B. The link article can use the title "Series AB X Series C".

Summary links may be included within a section of a regular link article if the part of the link involving the series outside of the regular link article is relatively minor to the rest of the link of the section, and the outside series does not have any other link with the series that the work takes place in. For example, items from Series A appear in Series B, and one of the items is from the work Series AC, which is part of Series A and Series C. If there is no other link between Series C and Series B, the item from Series AC can be detailed in the link article Series A X Series B.

The regular link articles that a summary link takes the place of should redirect to the summary link. If two series involved in a summary link have other regular links, their link article would have a section for that summary link that links to the summary link using  and have a brief description of the link. If two series are involved in multiple summary links and have no regular links, there should be a disambiguation page using a title in the format of "Series A X Series B" that links to each summary link.

Categories
Link articles with regular links that take place within the series of the link article are categorized into Category:Direct links. Link articles that are mainly about summary links are categorized into Category:Summary links, replacing Category:Direct links. Link articles that are mainly about direct links but also detail summary links are categorized into both Category:Direct links and Category:Summary links. Link articles with indirect links are categorized into Category:Indirect links. Note that Category:Indirect links may take the place of Category:Direct links if the link article only has indirect links and no direct links.

Link articles are categorized into the link type category of the strongest link type in the article. For example, a link article that details a type 1 link and a type 2 link would be categorized into Type 1 links.

Link articles with unreleased links and/or spin-off links are categorized into the unreleased links category and/or the spin-off links category of the strongest link type of those particular links, which may be different from the strongest link type of all the links in the article.

Link articles are categorized into series links categories and mascot links categories for each series and mascot involved in the links. For example, Series A X Series B would be categorized into Series A links and Series B links. For link articles using a title in the format of "A X B", the category for the left item should use a sort key that uses the reverse order of the title, to make that category more organized. For example, Series A X Series B should have.