What’s in an invention?
So often, you see stories feature inventions as if they spring fully-formed from the mind of a brilliant inventor, or else are hopelessly whimsical designs that will never work. Even when there’s acknowledgement of the time and trials taken to achieve the brilliant invention, we only ever come in when the final invention is unveiled.
So, see the guy who thinks he’s blindsiding Genos and is about to get blindsided himself? There’s a story in that. One I hope is helpful to budding writers who like a bit of sci-fi.
oh you got paw all right. Chapter 83 ‘The Cruel Staircase.’
The really awesome thing is that the arm we see here actually has an inventive pedigree which we can trace over the series.
First up, we have the prototype Arms Mode arms, which could remotely home in on Genos.
From chapter 21 ‘Giant Meteor’
These were superseded by more refined arms, which nevertheless only homed in.
The **next** set of arms were the ones he fought Machine God G-4 with. They could be remotely *sent* but required a cable in order to reel them back in.
From chapter 38 ‘King’
Development of detachable arms was interrupted by Genos bringing back the G-4 parts and insisting they get used now now now. Instead of being told off for acting like a spoiled brat who wants every cool toy, Genos got what he wanted. It was all put aside for the G-4 armset.
Once that broke irreparably, Dr Kuseno got to work redesigning both a new armset and a body, both putting in entirely new ideas as well as adapting old ones -- please observe the look of a man not trying to disguise his joy at being able to do things his way.
at some point I really have to talk about this guy’s multiple conflicts of interest. Chapter 80 ‘Surrounded’
And thus we see the iteration Garou fell foul of: a set of arms able to be both remotely sent, controlled and recalled.
if he chokes one more of Bang’s students, I’m going to have to suspect Genos of a choking fetish. Chapter 83 ‘The Cruel Staircase.’
Will remote control be an ongoing feature? Where is it going next? Will it be further refined? Split into a different tool altogether? Who knows? This is a living process. It’s usually impossible to say that a definitive final invention has been arrived at, no matter what science fiction geniuses keep saying.
There are two things worth noting here. First, at no point has the remote control of arms been a main point of development -- they’re functional weapons that need to do a lot and this is just one feature out of many. Second, this is one of the very few development schema that actually LOOKS like real life development. When an inventor talks about having gone through 8000 prototypes, this is the sort of work they mean: trying lots of things out, discarding what definitely doesn’t work, getting out on the field to see how it actually functions and then adapting/adjusting/repurposing features in an iterative manner. Sometimes, yes, there is the flash of genius, the core insight, but it’s field testing and adaptation that refines it. It’s why Dr Kuseno hasn’t been too proud to come out in person to better understand the field conditions Genos is working under (okay... he also has other reasons).
From chapter 89 ‘Hotpot’
Elsewhere in OPM, we see the brilliant Child Emperor ruminating on the outcome of his rescue of Waganma. This is his first actual field test and as he notes, his ultimate tool did not help him achieve a single strategic aim. No matter how cleverly built, devices are just tools to be wielded with care and don’t replace experience or strategy. He’s learning what Genos learned all the way back with the Deep Sea King: CONFIRM YOUR KILLS. Doing that would have put paid to Phoenixman when it was a simple job and avoided all the pyrotechnics that followed.
From chapter 100 (98 in publication) ‘Light’
He’s a bright kid -- he’ll clamber up this steep learning curve in no time.
There’s a small thing that most fans miss about the first picture. It’s no accident: Genos is keeping that rear arm loose -- look at the front one, which is locked rigid. And it’s no accident that he’s worked out that Garou would go for the rear one: we’ve seen from his fights the day before with Face Ripper and Awakened Cockroach that he’s learned the value of giving opponents an irresistible opening. No glue actually required.
No matter how powerful the tool, tools are no better than their wielder, at the end of the day.
