Thanks for answering my first question! That was a very clear and useful answer.
As to the second question: I understand that having too many characters could cause stories to crumble, and that having a crossover between multiple universes would increase the number of characters that writers might be tempted to use. However, I see two problems with limiting the universe number on crossovers to avoid the too-many-characters problem:
1. People using too many characters seems to be a problem that would apply to even non-crossovers, so just limiting crossovers wouldn't stop people from using too many characters.
- For example, take Sonic Riders: Off the Ground. If it were a story, having 36 characters (not counting the 6 crossover characters and 26 super forms) would be too many.
2. This problem seems like something that could be avoided even in crossovers.
- For example, if there were a three-universe crossover with two characters per universe, that wouldn't crush the story under the sheer weight of having so many characters.
By the way, would you mind providing a link to a crossover where there are too many characters only because the story is a crossover? You don't have to, but it would be useful in helping me ascertain why having ≥3-universe crossovers would be problematic.
Thanks again for that nice answer to my first question!