YMMV / All Tomorrows

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In-universe the author admits to having only so much information to work with, so a lot of proposed motivations for the various factions and species could be wildly different than what's inferred in the text.
  • It's possible that the Qu are just an example of Even Evil Has Standards, given that star people have altered ecosystems before the arrival of the Qu.
  • Though they are shown as a benevolent species, Asteromorphs can be seen in a more sinister light since they not only practice slavery, but also have committed a genocide against the Gravitals and engineering them to only make them second-class citizens (with the implication that the Qu suffered a similar fate).
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The Qu are noted to have subjugated dozens of human colonies and engineered hundreds of creatures from their inhabitants, though we only get to see a handful in the book. What other abominations could the Qu have created?
  • The scope of the story is over millions of years. Each creature which gets a page and a picture in a book? They had a civilization which lasted longer than most empires here on Earth. The empty spaces in chronology are a fanfic writer's goldmine.
• Fanon: It is accepted in many parts of the fandom that "Nemo Ramjet" refers to the character of The Author in-universe.
• Friendly Fandoms: With every Speculative Biology community, but also Gravity Falls and Spore, perhaps because a recreation of the species in the game helped the work take off.
• Gateway Series: For Speculative Biology in general. Many more people becoming interested in the topic after books surge in popularity.
• Heartwarming Moments: The Colonials' evolution into the Modular People, going from the embodiment of both Fate Worse than Death and And I Must Scream to the embodiment of both Defiant to the End and A World Half Full, creating a utopian society.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The Killer Folk bear a striking resemblance to Striker.
  • The same can be said about Ruin Hunters, by comparison, to Villagers from Minecraft.
  • The fact that the image provided for the Martians looks more or less like Timothée Chalamet in The French Dispatch (crusty mustache and all).
  • The Martians look like they were lifted straight out of Big Mouth.
• Memetic Mutation: Many of the species, only getting a page or two each, are flanderized according to their species hat:
  • The Mantelopes are depicted as emo furries with loads of suicidal Teenage angst.
  • In the case of the Killer Folk, they're almost always depicted as cowboys in fanart, since the only image of one in the book is wearing reminiscent clothing, complete with a hat. They're a literal Species of Hats.
  • The Snake People are often considered to be The Stoner and musically inclined, since the image of one is shown smoking what appears to be a hookah and has a flute of some sort next to it. This has been combined with the "snake jazz" meme from Rick and Morty.
  • The Satyriacs are, naturally enough, portrayed as sex-crazed and self-indulgent. To be fair, this is their canon characterization.
  • Given their unfortunate upbringing compared to the utopia their civilization has, the Modular People are sometimes portrayed as an Defiant to the End Iron Woobie Species that doesn't give up believing in hope despite, or even in spite of their upbringing.
  • The Temptors, with their small, subservient males, have been compared to "simps".
  • "Little Dark Age" by MGMT, specifically the Prødigy remix, has become the book's unofficial theme song thanks to this animation.
  • The Gravitals have been called "bowling balls" due to the most visible one in their illustration having a spheroid form. This is justified, however, as the other types of Gravitals can't be seen on first glance.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Qu certainly crossed this with the creation of the Colonials. The Colonials were created out of the population of a particularly resistant human planet. As punishment, when the Qu finally defeated them they transformed them into, essentially, living toilets, with undamaged brains so that they could fully comprehend their disgusting existence.
• Narm: The Spacers, who are well on their way to godhood, move around by farting. It's hard to take them entirely serious when imagining them that way.
• Popular with Furries: Ever since the Newbie Boom in 2021, All Tomorrows has obtained a large furry audience thanks to most posthumans resembling anthropomorphic animals living in the far future. It’s not uncommon for furry artists to create fursonas and other original characters of posthuman species. Of particular popularity amongst furries are the Killer Folk^note Space Cowboy Cat Folk with Smilodon-esque tusks and the Satyriacs^note Hedonistic Lovable Sex Maniac Velociraptor-shaped posthumans.
• Squick:
  • The fact that many of the post-human species have very noticeable and somewhat malformed looking genitalia can be kinda gross to look at.
  • The species that lives in space? Moves around by farting.
  • One other race communicated by defecating on each other.
• Ugly Cute: Many of the post-human creatures demonstrated have objectively horrific appearances, but many of them are also highly intelligent, empathetic and sensitive, and become fairly endearing in appearance the longer you look at them, particularly the Snake People, Satyriacs, Striders and Spacers.
  • The Saurosapient are a less unsettling version, being essentially sapient two-legged lizards.
  • The Modular People look absolutely vile at first glance. Then you find out how empathetic and cooperative they are, and how they formed a beautiful utopia where everyone is happy, healthy, and equal. It's hard to be revolted by them for very long after that.
• Woobie Species:
  • The Mantelopes who were turned into quadrupeds but with their human intellect intact, meaning they knew they were trapped in a body they couldn't use. They sang sad songs about their inability to do anything with their intelligence, and their minds deteriorated over the next thousands of years.
  • The Colonials get a massive case of Body Horror and And I Must Scream. The are turned into brick-like limbless, boneless slabs of flesh as punishment for resisting the Qu and are used by the Qu to filter out waste. And like the Mantelopes their minds are intact leaving them completely aware of their situation. However, unlike the Mantelopes, they manage to hold onto hope and begin to reconstruct society when the Qu leave, gradually becoming one of the most advanced and prosperous post-human societies, making them also Iron Woobies.
  • The Pterosapiens can fly and live with large brains, open borders, and almost no conflict. Alas, this comes with a huge strain on their hearts, which are literally too big to support them. Most Pterosapiens die before they turn thirty. This ephemeral lifespan brings with them a great tragedy, especially once they find out how long other post-humans live.

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