OS-tans and Tropes

[NejinOniwa]

OH FUCK ME WITH LUNA'S HORN I JUST HAD THE BIGGEST PLOTGASM EVER

[Bella]

Wait, what?

...

Examples of tropes appearing in Bella's works, N - W:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodlePeople
Her earlier art styles incorporated thin bodies and long, looooong limbs.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoCommunitiesWereHarmed
Often averted - Bell Labs, MIT, IBM Headquarters, the author seems to enjoy including settings that you could hypothetically visit in real life.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoPeriodsPeriod : Averted. In Thanks for the Memories it's stated that OS-tans have all the reproductive functionality of humans. ALL OF IT.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OlderThanTheyLook
This can be said to effect ALL OS-tans (and hardware-tans, to an extent) since they age far slower than humans (and occasionally not at all)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrWasItADream
Linux's assumes her mental time travel was a dream until she finds something left behind by Leopard.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PerpetualMolt
Averted. Multics is shown as loosing only a few feathers at a time (except for when Unix attacked her and badly injured her wing) and having specific times at which her wings molt in Linux's Comic. This is not pleasant for her.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PimpedOutDress
Multics and CP/CMS

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PinkBishoujoGhetto
Most OS-tans are female, though softwares and hardwares have a more equal gender distribution
-Played straight in most of her stories. In fact, the only that features a male character in a major role is Leopard's Story ...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlatonicLifePartners
RSTS compares VMS' and RED-kun's relationship to that of an "old married couple"

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PocketDimension
Closed spaces, extra-dimensional places that OS-tans and software-tans inhabit within the real-world. Somewhat analogous to cyberspace in that hardwares and humans need the help of code-using beings (read: OS or software-tans) to access it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PsychoLesbian
Much like Kuroko Shirai, Slackware is a "heroic" or "good" example of this trope. She's depicted as having a borderline-creepy obsession with Unix-sama, though the author insists her love is chaste and that she's far too reverent of Unix to want, ehem, physical relations with her.
-Slackware also has a fetish for pureblooded Unices, one that certainly isn't pure-of-heart. She still shows them a lot of admiration and affection, however.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PyroManiac
SAGE makes mention of Apple ///'s past struggle with pyromania.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrulySingleParent
Most computer-tans propagate asexually
-Averted with NT, who's the "daughter" of both VMS (primarily) and OS/2 (to a lesser extent).

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReallySevenHundredYearsOld
Unix is already 25 years old chronologically in the present-day (1994) in Linux's Comic, yet she looks the same as she did in 1972 ... like a teenager. In Leopard's Story she's closer to 38 ... yet she still looks she same as she did in 1972
-In Linux's Comic, circa-1960s ITS looks remarkably like 1990s ITS...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RapeAsComedy
Multics and DTSS on SAGE in a certain comic...
-Multics-on-SAGE (or SAGE-on-Multics) sexual violence is invariably played this way.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedOniBlueOni
BSD-tan is the blue oni to Solaris' red oni.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticTwoGirlFriendship
Multics and CP/CMS seem to be particularly close, in a nonsexual way.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SchizoTech
Found all across the OS-tanverse, where (MUCH) older tech usually coincides with (relatively not so) older times periods, or places with less technological advancement. More often, the decision to use older technology or styles of dress is a purely aesthetic choice, having nothing to do with the state of advancement in the outside world.  It's impossible to list all the examples ...
-In DEC Comic (set in the 1970s), the DEC officers all wear old-timey uniforms, wield swords, and vintage cars are present.
-Linux-tan Comic is set in the 1990s, but the modes of transport used and cities depicted seem much older. Not to mention Linux's choice in weaponry – a spear.
-In Leopard's Story they're still using steam-trains in 1970s New York. Likewise, in Unix-tan Fanfic, it's stated that narrow-gauge rail is still used today (2008) although only in places too rural to have upgraded to standard-gauge.
-Harvard Mark I wears Byzantine-style fashion in the 1940s. She comments that this is simply an aesthetic choice on the parts of her creators.
-Multics and CP/CMS dress and fashion their homes in Rococo style.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SerialKillerKiller
VMS-tan relishes killing "security threats", but is absolutely harmless toward anyone who's not a criminal.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShoutOut
-In Linux's Comic, Solaris mentions how a "blind madwoman" attacked Unix. This references an incident in Stewartsage's SAGE-tan series. Of course, the entire concept of a universe that's exactly like our own, only with anthropomorphic computers might be a shout-out to his series....
-The concepts of closed space and code were originally included as a shout-out to NejinOniwa's Mertvaya Ruka series
-Thanks for the Memories features multiple shout-outs to Lost
-Selectric-kun has mentioned seeing "other worlds", referencing the use of Selectric typewriters as interdimensional communication devices in Fringe.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShyBlueHairedGirl
Leopard in Leopard's Story. This is stated as being her natural hair color, even though she often changes it to protect her identity...
-OpenVMS in Far From Home and DEC Comic, though in her case it's less "shy" and more "aloof and disinterested".

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SinsOfOurFathers
Unix is convinced that her family is cursed because of her misdeeds – specifically, her defeating Multics in her youth.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SociallyAwkwardHero
Leopard-tan has shades of this. She'll hurl herself into a strange and dangerous location in time... and have no idea how to deal with the people there.
-Linux-tan too ... it's even been suggested that she's something of an inadvertent jerkass
-VMS-tan, perhaps due to her antisocial nature

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StableTimeLoop
2008!Leopard finds a time machine. She begins time traveling. She eventually evolves into Snow Leopard and settles down in 2108 (or stops time traveling and lives for 100 years - it's never made clear). Snow decides at some point she's going to try to change the past with her previous self's help, and goes back to 2008 – where she loses her time machine and Leopard finds it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StatuesqueStunner
DOS- and OS/360

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StraightGay
IBM 7090-kun

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TallDarkAndBishoujo
Multics is depicted as such, as are CP/CMS, OS/360 and DOS/360 to a lesser extent.
-Unix would fit this trope to a T (right down to the moe girlfriend) if you replaced "tall" with "short".

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UndercoverAsLovers
Leopard's actually undercover as Selectric's secretary, but he seems rather fond of doing things that make her seem like more than just his assistant. CP/CMS is convinced they have something going on.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhereTheHellIsSpringfield
When the author's not being super-specific about geographical locations, she just dodges the question altogether.
-All we know is that the Binteji Renmei is somewhere very rural, and within a day's train-trip of Unix/Linux Headquarters.
-All we know about Unix/Linux HQ is that it's somewhere in the United States, and near a city.
-Where the hell was that city in Far From Home? It shows characteristics of either Boston or New York (it's a large city near the ocean, implied to be in the Northeast of the United States) without obviously being one or the other.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
What Plan 9 and Snow Leopard might come off as. Of course, in both cases it's due to stress, which puts them more in the territory of http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DiseaseBleach

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WingedHumanoid
Multics, Unix and Yggdrasil Linux

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WingsDoNothing
Partially averted; Multics' and Unix's wings are articulated like a bird's and able to be controlled like any other limb.

[Nichi]

I'm eventually going to have to do something like this for my story series. I know of a few off the top of my head, but I intend on figuring out a few more before I post the list

[Bella]

Cool cool. It's always fun to trope stories. ^^

I might add more that i missed as I think of them (and as my story progresses).

[Bella]

WMG: All the early Timesharing Systems possessed magical powers.

We already know that Multics-sama was heavily magical, Berkeley Timesharing System (BTSS)-tan was precognitive and could predict what people would say before they spoke, Tenex inherited a mild form of precognition from BTSS, DTSS is mute but seems to be able to project her thoughts onto others allowing them to speak for her, ITS is a crack shot so there's a chance her marksmanship skills are tied back to some superhuman ability, which leaves CTSS, whose potential powers I'm not sure of. (But she mentored Multics and may've been her mother, so they're bound to be fantastic, whatever they are.)

[NejinOniwa]

Isn't it more a case of "sorcery" in its earliest stages, before it was systematized into various languages of code?

[Bella]

Isn't it more a case of "sorcery" in its earliest stages, before it was systematized into various languages of code?

Sorcery = magic. 'w'

I had something I wanted to post here but then I figured it was too spoilerish. ;_;

[NejinOniwa]

And magic = sorcery, no? ^^

[Bella]

IF magic = sorcery, and friendship = magic, THEN sorcery = friendship.

WMG: SAM Linux is PDP 1 in disguise.

SAM Linux: Obscure, tiny German Linux distro-tan. A small girl whose lack of stature is made up for with a bold personality.
PDP-1: Obsolete, tiny American hardware-tan. A small girl whose lack of stature is made up for with a bold personality.
The theory: Surely PDP-1 needs a disguise to go "undercover" among modern OS-tans... what better guise to pick than that of a Linux-tan? There are so many of them, an imposter could easily pass themselves off as one without raising any eyebrows, even from Linux-tans themselves! To further obscure her true identity from American OS-tans, PDP-1 poses as a German distro.

The evidence:
-They look alike
-They act alike
-They have the same freakin' hairdo
-Both have been known to wield hammers
-You've never seen SAM and PDP-1 in a room together

Some images for your consideration:
SAM:


PDP-1:


I mean, for godssake, they're practically wearing the same expression! And PCLOS-tan and VMS-tan are pretty much giving them the EXACT SAME LOOK!

"But Bella", you shout with skepticism, "PDP-1 has blue eyes and wears glasses. SAM doesn't wear glasses and her eyes are green. How do you explain that?"

But you see, this is the piece of evidence that cinches it! PDP-1 would never wear her glasses while going undercover. Being vision-impaired, however, she would need to use something to correct her eyesight - obviously, she would use contact lenses. And what better way to obscure her identity than use lenses with a different eye color than her own?

[NejinOniwa]

SO MUCH WMG'ING. =w=

[Nichi]

Wait...VMS-tan without her mask? I almost didn't recognize her

[NejinOniwa]

Mask is combat gear, if I remember things right...bothersome to wear all the time. I mean - how's she supposed to eat with it on?
WHICH BRINGS ME TO
Just how necessary is it for -tans to actually consume nutrients, considering they live off their code pool? Does it provide extra benefits? Can they get fat?

Derp. We have some material off XP-tan to draw this off, but afaik she's just a glutton who loves food...hardly one to set standards.

[Bella]

Mask is combat gear, if I remember things right...bothersome to wear all the time. I mean - how's she supposed to eat with it on?
WHICH BRINGS ME TO
Just how necessary is it for -tans to actually consume nutrients, considering they live off their code pool? Does it provide extra benefits? Can they get fat?

The mask is to keep her identity secret, because she bears such an uncanny resemblance to NT-tan it would be super-obvious they were related.

You make the bold assumption that everyone follows your theory about OS-tans living off a "code pool", Nej. I'm not sure what your story universe is like, but in mine OS-tans (and hardwares) are biologically identical to humans (only with "code" instead of DNA to store their biological information) - meaning they need to eat and drink to survive.

[Nichi]

I'm with Bella on the theory of OS-tans being human-like. In my stories, the only real difference is that they come from a different universe

But, go with whatever you feel works for your stories

[NejinOniwa]

My immediate assumption would be that the OS-tans need to supply themselves with "human" nutrients as long as they are in Open Space - the very nature of Closed Space, however, means they don't have to eat normal food inside (quite understandable too seeing as there are -tans who live most of their lives within CS, and it's not exactly easy to grow any normal food in CS afaik). Instead, they draw energy off their code pool and the code flows of the host of the Closed Space (sort of a server-type entity that holds, contains and keeps the CS alive). In Open Space, there is no such host entity, so they have to supply themselves with human energy, while their Code Pool effectively powers their minds - giving them sentience.

TL;DR - Code Pool energy powers the OS-tan mind, in Open Space they need human nutrients, in Closed Space they draw nutrition and energy off the fabric of the CS itself.