So, we all remember how much we loved 'Don't Panic', the fanfic that took a cliche storyline and made it good? Well, for those of you who are into Animaniacs, I found a fic that's pretty much Animaniacs' answer to Wicked. While hunting for badfic, no less.

At first glance, it seems like your run of the mill, Pin-the-tragic-backstory-on-the-canon-character fanfic, but it's not. It manages to take that overused plotline and prove to the fans that it can be pulled off WELL. I was kind of jaded at first when I got to the part with the abusive parents, but I was pleasantly surprised.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3703685/1/Family

What I like about this fic is that the characters are all fleshed out. And I mean ALL of them; even the aforementioned abusive parents. They're not just mindless, screaming dummies whose only purpose is to pound it into the readers' heads that the main characters' lives are horrible and we should feel sorry for them and wrap them in blankets and cuddle them. They feel like real people who would actually exist in the real world. Even one of the most despicable characters in the fic is portrayed as an actual person, and not like... like Uncle Vernon in "A Sad Story".

Another thing I like about it is the fact that the author managed to change the canon to suit her purposes, without actually changing anything, if that makes any sense at all. It's a good read, and you don't really have to know anything about Animaniacs to understand what's going on; knowledge of the canon just makes it marginally more fun.

It's waaaay darker than the canon, without a doubt. But then, so was Wicked. The difference here is that this fic is less complicated. It's very well thought out, and the only thing I might complain about it is that it's really, really long, and it's still unfinished. I haven't even gotten to the latest chapter yet.

All in all, even though it seems deceptively cliche near the beginning, it's not. It's well worth the read.

There's even a Blazing Saddles reference at one point. Blink and you'll miss it!