#odd john

[kingoftieland]

Did Marvel CREATE the idea of MUTANTS and HOMO SUPERIOR? 🧬

[gofishblues]

Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest

(Work for a comic adaptation done a few years ago)

[crossoverworldtree]

Tomorrow Person/True Mutant/Homo novis/Homo superior (11 or 16-Point Quality)

Call them what you like, they fancy themselves to be the “Next Step in Human Evolution.”  They aren’t, as many time travelers have attested, but they are a fascinating mutation-set.  Tomorrow People have an Awakening in their teenage years, suddenly gaining many psionic powers.  There are groups of people (and other things) out there that seek to guide them, and not all of them have their best intentions in mind.  For instance, one race of demons like to guide them directly into their stomachs. 

Various members of the supernatural community do not like them very much due to the actions of one “Odd” John Wainwright and his “Mutant Colony” of the 1930s, and his later attempt to win over the public with his “Academy of Tomorrow” in the 1960s (which blew up in his face in the “Phoenix” and “Onslaught” incidents years later) has left the Tomorrow People (and the talents, scions, and other oddities they collected under the label of them being “Mutants”) at odds with most other supernatural nations.  Those who manage the Wainwright legacy try their best to turn it away from his manipulations and games, but... they are his students. 

Tomorrow People have a +1 to Intelligence and +2 to Willpower.  They may raise their Willpower to 8.  They gain Wild Card (Psychic Powers) +3 and gain Supernatural Contacts (Other Tomorrow People) 1 because they make a habit of seeking each other out.

They also get a variety of psychic powers.  Primarily, it grants them Telepathy 1 and Telekinesis 2.  *In the program, they were shown with the ability to Teleport.  This can be treated as Blink 5.  However, they also had access to advanced technology, so that ability could be the result of that. If it is innately a part of them, then the quality costs 16-points.  If not, then it costs 11-Points. 

When using Blink, they use Wild Card (Psychic Powers) and Intelligence to determine its success.

They can manifest all sorts of psychic powers, but they have their share of flaws. They have Adversary 5 (Governments, Aliens, and Monsters) due to many years of Government trying to crush/exploit them, and other creatures trying to use or even eat them. They also gain several mental drawbacks. They have mild Delusions of Grandeur. They also have Honorable (minimal) in regards to being protective over other Tomorrow People. Sometimes to terrible results. *This paragraph constitutes an Update. 

[books0977]

Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest. Olaf Stapledon. Methuen & Co., Ltd., London, 1935. First edition. Original dust jacket.

The jacket illustration captures Stapledon's notion of the titular John: half-child and half-philosopher, ruthless but not malicious, "a creature which appeared as urchin but also as sage, as imp but also as infant deity," a fallen angel with a face that is "half monkey, half gargoyle, yet wholly urchin, with its huge cat's eyes, its flat little nose, its teasing lips."

[monkeyshines-lucky]

Finished odd john and saw a lot of parallels to the fifth child that i will get into at another point.

[monkeyshines-lucky]

Um… does anyone recognize john openly practiced eugenics?

[monkeyshines-lucky]

I do see why ppl like Odd John but I cant be the only one who finds the blatant acceptance of bigotry concerning.

[monkeyshines-lucky]

I am currently reading this book: Odd John by Olaf Stapleton and there are some things i would like to say on it.

It is an interesting depiction of someone who feels on the outside of society, they’re desperation to understand others and find someone who understands them. All written about from the perspective a person who feels deeply intellectually (and by way of identity) threatened and disturbed by this odd child.

Also an interesting depiction of how being different and being aware of it can lead to magical thinking of being “the one who elevates humanity” or being “superior” to others because you aren’t taught or guided properly

Also the depiction of weird kids that get left to their own devices because parents don’t know what to do with them

John defiantly has youngest child syndrom

Poor Steven, you precious closeted gay icon.

I am uncomfortable with the conflation of being weird or precocious and being a murderer as it creates a lot stigma for people deemed odd but it was also the 30s and i don’t actually expect much different for that time

The line of thinking for “they are smart and weird and thus must be superior” I think has always and will always be a very slippery and dangerous line of thinking

The adults in this story are really irresponsible

I really like that he repeatedly states that he’s just a kid, and really disturbed by the adults around him that don’t take the fact that he’s just a kid into account and make no effort to stop him or guide him to something else (I’m looking at you Narrator)

Has some similar ideas and elements as The Fifth Child by Dorris Lessing

Love the call out about how self proclaimed communists treat communist ideology and the behaviors they associate with it or commit to in the name of supposed communism.