I call them AUs or canon-divergence AUs, and they're my favorite type too :) But I think the fandom definition is a bit unclear - some people only mark the alternate realities stuff as AU, leaving the what-ifs without a proper label. I'm glad someone wrote a post about this, because lately I've been asking the same thing myself - I used to write only what-ifs AUs but recently began to explore the "real" AUs which are actually ARs, and it felt weird to mark them both the same when ARs include a brand new world while the what-ifs only branch off at a specific moment. Then again, a divergence can cause such a big changes that you pretty much have to rebuild everything anyway (like, what if Azula wasn't a bender? Imagine how much that would change everything... what would the dynamics be in the Fire Nation royal family? Would Osai still become a king, or would Iroh take that position? Would Azula still grow up to be abusive to everyone around her, or would she develop a more thoughtful and somewhat kinder personality? What would have happened with Ursa? Would Zuko ever get burned? What about Mai and Ty Lee? And we haven't even left the Fire Nation yet...).
To save myself a headache, as long as it's not canon (and not, let's say, a missing moment or possible future), I mark it as AU.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-09-18 06:20 am (UTC)To save myself a headache, as long as it's not canon (and not, let's say, a missing moment or possible future), I mark it as AU.