Apple Lisa

Apple Lisa-tan
Character Information
Common Names	Lisa-tan
Other Names	Apple Lisa
Human Name(s)	Lisa Appletree (western), Lisa Ringo (Japanese)
Faction	Binteeji Renmei, formerly from the Apple Family
Lineage	Pre-Macintosh
Appearance
Height	160 cm (5'3")
Hair Color	blonde
Eye Color	silver
Design
First Appearance	Aug 2006
Technical Information
System Personified	Lisa OS and hardware (Lisa 1, 2, Mac XL)
Developer(s)	Apple
Debut	19 Jan 1983
Latest release	1 Jan 1985 (hardware)

Technical details

The Lisa is the true predecessor of the Mac OS, incredibly powerful for its time and much more advanced than the Macintosh, having features that weren't introduced to the Mac until years later: Having a hard drive, 1 MB of RAM, cooperative multitasking, virtual and protected memories (the latter of which wasn't included until OSX), but was sluggish and too expensive at a price of $10,000.

Character details

Lisa-tan is depicted as a former diva turned clinically depressive. She has silver eyes, blonde hair in pigtails, dons a long white gown, long white gloves, a diamond tiara, and still wears them despite not having a decent suitor in several years. She was was charming at first but unintentionally spoiled by her proud company and oldest sister, Apple II-tan. Unfamiliar with menial tasks and computer games, Lisa-tan would rather mingle with the affluent than the petty home user. Lisa-tan's depression began to set in when Macintosh System 1-tan arrived and Lisa-tan's wealth and followers gradually siphoned off to her.

She is now melancholy, rarely talks, and never smiles but expresses herself though poetry. She is still able to perform the menial tasks she despised years ago, and learned to assist Apple II-tan with tasks such as picking apples. She now lives in the Binteeji Renmei, and has became best friends with GEM-tan. The two have helped each other improve through their friendship with Lisa-tan starting to break out of her shell of apathy.

She is also especially fond of Windows 1.0-tan for being such a kind, unconditionally loving and motherly person. Like the mother figure she did not have for very long.

Family and relationships

“If possible, could I have some more?” This article could be expanded on and use more details, and needs them as much as XP-tan needs more RAM!

Apple I

Lisa-tan didn't get to know Apple I-tan for very long. Despite being spoiled by her company and older sister, all she wanted above all else was to spend more time with her. Lisa saw Apple I in her last moments, and seeing her die, sparking Lisa's downward spiral. She is the only one who knows the location of Apple I-tan's mausoleum, but that's no consolation to her, and for a long time she didn't share that knowledge because she had something that her more successful relatives didn't.

Apple II

Apple II-tan is Lisa's oldest sister, and closest to her. After Apple I's death, she took up the mother role, not out of pity, not just out of obligation, but to fulfill Apple I's dying wish. Lisa usually accompanies Apple II-tan throughout daily life in the Binteeji Renmei, quietly assisting her in her tasks.

Apple III

Early in life, Apple III-tan and Lisa-tan became antagonistic of each other since they were both to be business computer-tans, and could only see each other as rivals first, sisters last. Lisa-tan saw Apple III-tan's departure in 1984 as a sign that she, Lisa-tan was the business computer-tan of the Apple Family.

She now feels remorse for thinking like that, but partly because of their past rivalry, Apple III-tan is reluctant to visit her at the Binteeji Renmei.

The Mac-tans

Lisa-tan was for a long time antagonistic towards the Mac-tans, starting with when System 1-tan was born, in late 1979. Though Apple I-tan's death shortly before was coincidence, Lisa blamed her for it, and would treat System 1-tan as a servant to sabotage her hopes of a successful public debut. Throughout the mid and late 80's, she was distant and condescending towards them, in denial of the lineage System 1-tan created.

At the same time though, she was desperate to get back the followers she lost and did everything she could to be like the Macs, referencing the Lisa's rebranding and hardware changes as the Macintosh XL starting in 1985, but was very unsuccessful. Her failure at this may have been another thing that pushed her over the edge.

She pretty much never interacted with them in the semi-catatonic state she's suffered for nearly 20 years.

Visi On

Lisa-tan and Visi On-tan first met in 1982, and they became good friends right away, both sharing common ideals; a love for fashion, and both wanting to make their mark in the emerging GUI field. Their friendship was too good to last, as Visi On-tan all but disappeared off the face of the earth in 1984. Unfortunately, if they were to meet again, they might run into conflict; Windows 1.0-tan is one of Lisa's closest friends, but 1.0-tan also led to Visi On-tan's demise. It's uncertain if they can put that major difference aside. Visi On has never visited, because she's afraid to risk that conflict happening, and would rather have her continue to remember the good times they had together.

PilotOS-tan and Alto-tan

Lisa-tan was the first commercial OS-tan to incorporate the technological and magical abilities that PilotOS-tan and Alto-tan pioneered, and they were introduced to Lisa-tan early in her life. The two Xerox workstation sisters did not take kindly to Lisa-tan using what they pioneered without giving them acknowledgement, in particular, PilotOS would suffer as her followers got diverted over to Lisa-tan, referencing the Xerox employees that left to work on the overhauled Lisa project.

History and background

By the time Lisa-tan was born in early 1979 (when development on the Lisa project started), Apple I-tan's health was already in sharp decline, so she struggled to look after her. What energy Apple I-tan had had to be mainly devoted to teaching Apple II-tan to help her in turn teach the younger sisters.

She was confused, and felt very lonely and isolated, as she didn't get to spend much time with Apple I-tan, but longed to. Apple II-tan was often too busy at work to help her, and Apple III-tan was antagonistic towards her. House staff catered to her, and ended up spoiling her, but that didn't fill the void she felt. In late 1979, Lisa-tan found Apple I-tan in her last moments, lying in a nearby field to die in secrecy. Lisa-tan got to say the final words, but was burdened to tell her sisters the bad news.

Apple I-tan's death was the first thing that soured her outlook on life. Making matters worse to her was that shortly after her death, Mac System 1-tan was born. Lisa-tan scorned her as a convenient scapegoat, and also out of a deep-seated fear of being replaced and dying alone if System 1-tan were to be successful. She took her frustrations out on her by forcing System 1-tan to be the family servant.

Lisa-tan was upset that System 1-tan successfully got her public debut and created her own lineage; Lisa-tan felt her influence decline further, and felt more helpless. With the Macs somewhat independent, Apple III having ran away from home, Apple II too busy for long stretches of time, Lisa-tan's helplessness, grief and fear of abandonment worsened. Then something happened in 1989 that caused Lisa-tan's repressed feelings of sadness return to consume and traumatize her completely, and she has never spoken or functioned normally ever since.

In 1993, she left with Apple II and GS/OS to Apple II's orchards that would later become the founding site of the Binteeji Renmei. It has only been in recent years that she has been gradually recovering.

Theories and notes

• The traumatic event of parallels how in 1989, thousands of unsold Lisa units were trashed and dumped in a landfill, even after being re-marketed for less; both of these are symbolic of betrayal to her, after being promised many wonderful things about how she'd become the most influential OS-tan. This betrayal, combined with the repressed sadness and grief from over the years just overpowered her.

See also:

• List of OS-tans
• A History of Apple's Lisa, 1979-1986
• The First Expandable Macs and Portable Macs - Lisa Trashed