#kaiju!hermann

[korybing]

My contribution for the Ten Years of Experience Newmann Zine! I looked inside myself and asked my inner Guillermo del Toro for guidance and he told me to get really self-indulgent with a weird bad-end/dark AU and who am I to refuse my inner Guillermo del Toro.

[monsterblogging]

According to Travis Beacham, kaiju have a really really long lifespan, which means that when you think about it, a kaiju!Newt/kaiju!Hermann 'verse could also double as an immortal!Newt/immortal!Hermann 'verse. Just saying.

[kaijuposting]

I've been thinking about "what if Hermann turns into a 7-8 foot tall kaiju man?" again. Here's what I've got:

Hermann complains about needing to get new clothes as he tries to pull on one of his hopelessly small tweed jackets. Newt is no help at all because all he can do is Behold the Size of Him like "O///O tee hee giant monster boyfriend sure hope he holds me in those arms soon-"

Hermann has a long tail that goes swishy swishy, and Newt is positively vibrating as he's thinking "god I need him to trip me with that tail and catch me in his arms~"

Newt cannot help but stare at Hermann's swishing tail, much like a cat mesmerized by a moving cat toy.

Newt sees the tip of Hermann's blue kaiju tongue sticking out of his mouth as he does equations on his chalkboard, and promptly loses his mind.

Hermann gets in the habit of ruffling Newt's hair, since it's in relatively easy reach. This pleases Newt immensely.

Hermann does in fact enjoy holding, snuggling, and squishing Newt. He likes it when Newt is the little spoon. He also wraps his tail around Newt's ankle, which Newt really likes.

[idikew]

Here’s a dump of a bunch of fan art for my favorite Pacific Rim fics. I wanted to draw a lot more, but I ran out of steam. Each one of these are gems, and as far as I’m concerned any one or all three of them could replace Uprising. Real talk, there are so many insanely talented writers out there making art and telling stories simply because they are passionate about a world or a character, and that’s really fucking cool. So to all the fic writers out there, thank you; your stories have been a great source of comfort and entertainment throughout (and before) the last 2 years of covid limbo. 

Anyway, a few miscellaneous notes about the three works referenced above. Go check them out if you are so inclined. 

Frankenstein and the Newt – @orphan-dat:

Oddly enough given the fact that this series is literally about a pandemic, it has become my go-to comfort series during quarantine. Humor, action, and drama are all well balanced, and the characterizations of Herc and Hannibal are especially refreshing. I have a soft spot for transhumanist narratives and identity struggles, so Kaijute is very endeared to me. (Design note: Decided to take a slightly different approach to Kaijute from my past illustration and settled on something between a komodo dragon and a pangolin. I only realized after the fact that it somewhat resembled Raiju in canon.)

Anteverse Refugee – @skull-bearer:

Another wonderfully unique series, this time featuring kaiju!Hermann as a central plot point. The world building for the Anteverse is great, and the way that the author explores Hermann’s humanity through his technical lack thereof is touching. Plus Newt is a big sweetie.

Occam’s Razor – @blairtrabbit:

This was the first Pacific Rim fic that I really fell in love with. It’s also one of the best examples of an author making me care about not one, not two, but literally EVERY original character in a fan work. I would take a bullet for Sonia Whately. Beautiful fic with some A+ character development and fascinating world building. 

TL;DR: Fanfiction is a wonderfully valid form of art! ^-^

[skull-bearer]

Any continuation on the kaiju!transformation universe? Maybe more of hermann flying?

Part of my winged Hermann au.

They get their papers a few days after arriving. Their new photographs, blurry and off-colour, the stamp that confirms them as non-contagious. Hermann tucks it into a bag slung over his shoulder, Newt in a pack around his waist, catching on his backplates.

Then, they can go out.

It’s been almost a year since they left Hong Kong, and after months in the quiet English countryside, the bustle of the city is almost overwhelming. One look around and- yes, Hermann can see why the quarantine is not working.

Hardly anyone seems to care, and it’s a mark of how much Hong Kong suffered from Kaiju Blue contamination that there are so many people still walking around. Even those who didn’t show signs must be wondering if it’s only a matter of time.

“Wow.” Newt looks around. Even the Ding-Ding trams are still running. “Um. Wanna see if that German place in Stanley is still open?”

Hermann feels his mouth water. They’d been living off canned food and pasta for weeks and that restaurant makes pig knuckles big enough for four. Newt starts loping towards the bus terminal, but Hermann pauses for a moment, looks up.

There’s a cool wind blowing off the harbour, and the tall buildings turn the breeze into a gale. He flares his wings and hops, once, twice, testing the air. It feels good. “Stay still.”

Newt turns back, “What-” they yelps as Hermann’s taloned feet close around his narrow body. He’s lean and light, although his bad leg aches at the strain, and one downbeat of his wings gets them both aloft.

“What- hey- whoa!” Newt at least has the sense not to fight as Hermann glides easily over the street, banks down the main road and gains height. He catches a good thermal off a building’s heat vent, and they circle up and up, above the tall, narrow buildings, over the thickly wooded slopes carpeting the island.

Newt yells something lost in the slipstream, but Hermann doesn’t care, lost in the exhilaration and raw power of the flight. The route by bus takes two hours around the edges of the island. In moments, they are over the Peak, and clearing the way down to Stanley.

It takes less than fifteen minutes to circle down over the harbour. Hermann comes in low and drops Newt in the middle of the plaza before landing himself, his legs buckle unsteadily and he slumps down on all fours, breathing fast.

A few people are looking at them, but it seems more form the novelty of seeing someone fly that any real interest. There are half a dozen transformed people walking around, and Hermann spots a handful of Buenakai shouting on a street corner, inviting people to come and be infected.

“Wow.” Newt shakes his head, still looking dazed. “That was- yeah. I think we made it into loads of people’s holiday pictures. They were all looking at us on the Peak.”

Hermann stretches his wings, his muscles are aching, but feel good. A solid meal, and he feels he could fly them back. “Ludwig’s is open.” He nods at the pier.

Newt brightens. “Just as well I don’t get airsick.” He bumps into Hermann as they lope over to the restaurant. “Just- a warning next time, okay?”

Hermann smiles. “And miss that look on your face? Never.”

[tendervulture]

Kaiju!Newt and Kaiju!Herman content is cool and good, but where the heck is my Kaiju!Mako content? Raleigh? Stacker? Chuck? Herc? Tendo? The Kaidanovskys? The Wei Tang triplets? Sorry, but unless you’re turning everyone into giant sea monsters, you’re missing out.

[gobblewonking]

I drew these like 5 years ago but I never posted them anywhere because 5 years ago I was embarrassed that I was really into “Pacific Rim but the nerds turned into monsters.” I’m not embarrassed about that now (anything can be improved with “and also they turned into monsters” as far as I’m concerned) so here’s my designs. Newt is pretty much @alienfirst​‘s kaiju!newt design because you can’t improve on perfection and Hermann is some unholy combination of Karloff and Slattern with some wings thrown in for the Space Champion.

Oh also I got some fanfic to go along with it, also written like 5 years ago and never finished!!

“Human-Kaiju Mutation Observations day, erm, seven? Doctor Geiszler has convinced me to use his backup recorder to continue document the process, as it has become clear that my hands and fingers are quickly on their way to becoming unsuited to typing and I can’t, quote “write everything on a chalkboard” even though I’ve never used my chalkboards to create any sort of permanent record for my experiments.”

“Those digital recorders can only hold about 200 hours worth of voice memos, Hermann, at this rate you’re going to run out before you even start describing the changes to your stupid face let alone the rest of what’s going on.”

Hermann sighed, but didn’t further acknowledge Newt’s interruption. “The changes of the last week can be read in my typed reports, but to recap, I was quarantined in the lab after displaying a marked change in skin texture. Doctor Geiszler’s mutation was discovered with the discoloration of his mucus membranes, but as my coloration appears to be leaning towards the warmer end of the spectrum as opposed to Newton’s blues and greys, the start of my...changes...went unnoticed.

“Fortunately, it has been decided by both Marshall Hansen and the medical team, that even though New--Doctor Geiszler and I are undergoing an unknown and potentially dangerous mutation caused by an as-yet-unknown mutagen of probable kaiju-origin, quarantine procedures have been changed for our unique circumstances. We aren’t allowed to leave the K-Sci labs, but I don’t believe either of us particularly want to.”

“Where else would we go, dude? You got someplace you’d rather be than right here?”

“As Doctor Gieszler is the most-qualified scientist in the Shatterdome to assess and study our situation--”

“--most-qualified scientist in the WORLD.”

“--and I now share a great amount of his knowledge on the subject of xenobiology thanks to our haphazard Drift, we have been allowed to be the leads on our own study, rather than being studied by a less qualified member of the medical team, who, unscientific aside, wouldn’t know a sensory frond from their own arsehole.”

Hermann coughed and tried to regain his composure. Ever since his drift with Newton, pieces of the other man’s personality had been bleeding through, and that little outburst was definitely Newton’s unprofessional influence, not Hermann’s. Definitely not Hermann’s.

“Ahem. Moving on. Physical changes so far include: shift in texture and pigmentation in the epidermis. Skin is mostly a pale greenish-yellow, shifting to a deep red at the forearms and lower legs. I’ve heard Doctor Geiszler compare his own coloration to that of Leatherback or Otachi for reference, so I suppose I could compare my own to that of, say, Karloff, or Meathead. I do not appear to be growing scales like Doctor Geiszler, but the skin is very thick and tough, and it is becoming harder and harder to collect samples via needles and scalpels.

“Changes to my musculature and skeletal structures seem to have begun, my arms appear to be lengthening throughout both the humerus and the forearm. Hardened growths have begun to emerge from various points, including hips, shoulders, elbows, and face, head and scalp. My hair is not long for this world, I am afraid.”

“Mention your leg, mention your leg!”

“I, erm, seem to have regrown much of the lost muscle from my right leg, and no longer require the use of a cane. In fact, after preliminary testing it appears that,” Hermann paused, his professional facade beginning to falter, “it appears that all signs of multiple sclerosis have been eradicated. I...unscientific aside: I am not sure how I feel about that. M...more testing is needed.”

Hermann clicked off the recorder and sat down heavy on the beat-up couch on his side of the lab. He hadn’t expected that to take so much out of him, but there was something about speaking the changes out loud as opposed to writing them down that made them much more real. He had to gather his thoughts before he threatened to break down. Newton noticed his shift in mood and limped over to him.

“Hey dude, you okay?” Newton’s transformation was farther along than his own, and the changes to his musculature and skeletal systems were beginning to make it very difficult for him to move around. His feet were changing, and it was obvious now that he was growing a fairly large tail. This had confused the man’s balance and center of gravity, causing him to keep overbalancing and using his arms for locomotion.

“No, Newton, I am not okay. Everything hurts and we are turning into monsters. I can only assume that this little adventure will end in the loss of our sense of self to the kaiju hivemind.”

“You don’t know that! There’s no evidence to support that! That’s not on the record!” Newt yelled the last bit towards the turned-off audio recorder. “Besides, the old hivemind is behind the breach, we’re the only ones that would be part of any new hivemind anyways.”

“As if sharing a brain and sense of self with you is any less frightening.”

“Aw, screw you too, buddy.”

“I just wish--nnnggg!” whatever Hermann was about to say was cut off suddenly as he threw himself forward on the couch, doubling over. Every muscle in his body clenched as an immense pressure bloomed in the back of his head. He found it hard to breathe, hard to move. He tried to suck in a lungful of air but it only came to him in short, shallow wheezes.

“Woah, woah, hold on buddy,” Newton was on the couch beside him in a heartbeat, scaly blue hands gnarled with sharp claws wrapped tight around Hermann’s shoulders and chest pressed up against his back. “Shh shh shh, you’re okay you’re okay, this will pass soon, you can get through this. Shh shh shh.”

Hermann wanted to say something sarcastic at Newton, but the other man’s touch and presence was helping. He knew what was happening, it’s not the first time his body had seized during this ordeal. It preceded a bout of, well, “mutating” was the best they had to describe it at the moment. It had happened twice now, he knew it wouldn’t last and it (hopefully) would not kill him. He moaned in pain as it felt like something started sliding out of the back of his head that he desperately hoped wasn’t his brain.

Newton was quiet and continued to hug Hermann with as much pressure as he could muster until the last of the seizing had subsided. Finally Hermann’s muscles relaxed, and he gasped and panted as he was finally able to breathe. Hermann felt something drift onto his pant leg, and cracked open an eye to see what looked like a clump of hair.

“Okay, don’t panic, but um...remember that note you took about your hair?”

Hermann jerked up at that, making more hair flutter down, but Newton kept him still.

“No, no, stay put, I said don’t panic, take a deep breath.” Hermann closed his eyes breathed deeply through his nose. He slowly lifted his hand and tenderly touched the back of his head. The protrusions had grown by what felt like several inches, all over his scalp, and it seemed like hair follicles were just not on the menu for whatever it was that was doing this to him.

“Do I even want to look at a mirror?” He sighed heavily as he brushed some discarded hair off his shoulders and then his pants. He noticed that his hands had changed, too. His pinky fingers were significantly longer than they had been just a few minutes prior. He’d have to reassess himself and report the new changes.

“Ugh I WISH I could figure this thing out!” Newt finally released his grip on Hermann, satisfied that the worst of it was over for now. “If it was just me the changes would make more sense, I’m obviously taking after Otachi, and since I had direct contact with her cloned child I can form some kind of connection there. But you--!”

Hermann had gotten up off the couch and moved over to pick up the hand mirror he kept on his desk these days. He steeled himself before looking into it, not sure what to expect. The first thing he noticed of course, were the protrusions on his scalp, growing upwards in thick, but similarly-shaped deep blue chunks. The resulting texture and contrasting color could almost suggest hair. Almost. His other facial features had changed too, as his already-sharp cheekbones were even more pronounced now, as were the other angles of his face. Dark red, almost geometric-looking lines had appeared under his cheekbones, traveling down his chin. His face was still recognizable, like Newton’s, but undeniably alien. He wasn’t sure if it was Newton’s thoughts in his head or his own that made his features remind him so much of Karloff, the first kaiju taken down by a jaeger. His jaeger. Brawler Yukon was the first successful jaeger, and he had written its code. But obviously that was all just a--

“--coincidence, right?” Newton finished his thought. “It has to be a coincidence. Doing math at a kaiju isn’t going to magically turn you into a mini-kaiju. Right?? Otherwise there’d be more of us??” Newt was pacing back and forth now, growing increasingly agitated as he limped around unsteadily, trying to talk his way through this.

“Why us? Why is it just us? Augh, what is causing this!” It was Hermann’s turn to comfort, as awkward as he was at it, by placing his hands onto Newton’s shoulders.

“We’ll figure it out, Newton.”

[kaijuposting]

Imagine if Hermann were to mutate into a kaiju hybrid of, oh, about seven feet tall or so, and Newt did Not. One might suppose that Newt would at first be very sad and even a bit envious of Hermann’s extraordinary fortune; but then Hermann would put his long monster arms around him and lean down to Snoof his Hair, and Newt would change his mind and be Very Pleased with this arrangement.