Barbie and the Rites of Urborg. What universes beyond could have been

Listen, this isnt an essay, this isnt a set idea, i just wanna put this idea out here.

This was an idea i had shooting the shit with friends and at lgs, but heres how the discussion was framed.

During the peak of barbenheimer, the question was posed to this group.

“They are going to do a barbie set, full set, into every format. How does this end up your favorite set of all time?”

And what we ended up was this.(skip past this for broader disscussion.)

Non-caccon story, taking place on dominaria. Absurd and comedic but played entirely straight. And we even brainstormed the rough outline of a story.

A sentient construct elf(barbie, elf was chosen due to the eternal youth and innocence) was a wizard, studying advanced duplication magick on a orcish test subject (ken, orc chosen for contrast, and due to general underepresentation. Goblin was a stated alternative).

In short something went wrong, and barbie split herself into many different bodies who each have lived a different life, and the original has disappeared. This is good for a few years, until a cult in urborg under the command of a strange figure (also barbie) who is trying to use these many powerful women, as an easy way to shortcut to infinite power(by sacrificing them, and transmuting them into dolls).

S

A band of barbies, and the original ken, must strive to stop this, resulting wasc in a quest that ends up with barbie erasing herself from time, to prevent all this chaos from ever happening, and making sure this is in no way cannon.

AND THIS GOT ME THINKING

Couldn’t we have been exploring not modern marvel, but a marvel in the world of magic? Iron man as a steampunk artificer. The captain as an explicit paladin, who fights for the good ideals that were corrupted by tyrants. Through the omenpaths, but with an actual story behind it.

DOESN’T MARVEL HAVE AN EXPLICIT MULTIVERSE? THIS PROBABLY EXISTS ALLREADY(Tell me about it if you are a comics knower, i am genuinely interested)

And hell, why couldn’t we do this with other worlds. Ninja-turtles could have been set in ancient kamigawa, pre the war between spirits and men, or kamigawa midway through its industrial revolution, and it would have been stupid, but it would have been awesome.

While for some sets this would have been unnecessary (lord of the rings needs no help fitting into mtg) there is potential in using familiar archetypes to tell a story, such as vampire batman.

The same way, that the warhammer, fallout, and doctor who precons where used as a blank check to explore mtg mechanically, universes beyond could have been a way to use the lense of already understood characters as a blank check to explore magic narratively.

In a better world, we would have had barbie, and the Rites of Urborg.