Extend Into the Realm of the Invisible

Behold! My latest Bad Keyboard, the ShiftKeyBoard!

It's got nine buttons, and an 8-way gear shifter. You simply shift into different gears to select which sub-keyboard to use. Surprisingly easy to use, in fact.

Here's the layout I used:

Two more things:

1. the numbers under each gear position image are an implementation detail for the gearshifter I used, which I had on my guide image to help me code it.

TRON commission for @ribbonkandy

I want to get creative with the idea that when Users play in the arcade, there's another side of the game that the Programs play

I mean, in this Lightcycle scene, or in any fighter game where the program plays the NPC, that's a more human-relatable playing style

BUT I bet some programs LOVE the more program-centric games, where the goal is "you play a randomizing process and see how much you can get away with before the user curses you out for being personally biased against them"

like when a User is playing Tetris, the game the programs play is "let's pick which shapes to drop for them"

my brain's going on another Connections Spree

You know how we love to use "I/O Tower" as a sexual innuendo

But I think it's more than that

I think at least some programs (including Tron)

actually have a circuit cluster there ("There" meaning, that gorgeous bulge)

… a circuit cluster which is used in connections to the I/O tower

and/or to the outside world in general

Don't get me wrong I think it's still used for pleasure and still feels amazing to touch

But when that pleasure makes him feel like he's seeing God, it's 'cause there's actual User communication going on

Evidence:

When Tron powers up at the energy pool, he makes noises that toooootally sound like he's getting aroused

Then immediately afterwards he says he "feels Alan-1 calling him"

But he can't get more than a feeling unless he actually goes to The Tower

So he goes there to actually communicate with Alan

Dumont lets him in--

(incidentally, and very relevantly, Dumont is dressed like THIS)

and then Dumont begins reciting those words about extending into the invisible --

and as he begins, Tron grabs himself there

and holds it, all the way through the entire speech Like it's a part of the ritual or something

Like activating his own personal, um, Tower is a necessary part of interacting with the Tower itself

...

… This would give a whole new layer of meaning to the Deleted Scene when Yori used his circuits as a map for how to reach the Tower.

Makes me think he's got actual landmarks on his body

representing things on that map

and… the Tower is one of them

...

So, if we're gonna try for an in-universe explanation of this intensely sexual flavor to the methods of contact between programs and the outside world…

well, let's listen to Walter (Dumont's User)

who has a line that suggests a supernatural explanation for the world inside the ENCOM system, and for the programs spontaneously developing consciousness.

He talked about the "spirits" of programmers living on in their programming

And just suppose we take that explanation

and assume that the world of the programs formed itself from the spiritual signature of Users

In that case:

when this formation occurred, the whole concept of "reporting back to their Users" somehow got inextricably connected to the SEXUAL aspect of human spirit

Perhaps because this communication (like sex) is a form of exchange, of sharing?

Perhaps because programmers are pervs?

Perhaps both?

Encom AU

where Flynn listened to his friends and invited them into the computer with him

Encom became as ethical as it could reasonably be (idk maybe it went private then restructured from a corporation into a cooperative, who knows, that's User stuff and I'm not focusing on it right now)

The system within the Encom computers became the free system that everyone was lining up to use.

(Flynn and his friends/polycule visit it often. Including Roy, who of course brought Ram back)

Since that world was formed from the spiritual energy of a whole lot of horny nerdy programmers, it has now embraced its true nature

The torture devices returned to their natural state as pleasure devices. Games became nonlethal and also for pleasure. The experience of connecting with the Users is allowed to be as free and pleasurable as it's meant to be

MCP was replaced with a successor who mostly just oversees the proceedings within Encom with a gentle hand and a democratic approach to taking suggestions

....but has a semi-secret rebellious streak and still sometimes steals programs from what he considers "evil" corporations

(I kinda want Dumont to have this job)

happy pride, sexy robot lovers 🏳️‍⚧️

So, seeing as people enjoyed my post about the influence of Tron 1982 on Alexander McQueen, I figured I should do some more posts about costume history and Tron.

So...

Erté.

Even if you are unfamiliar with the man, you have almost certainly been exposed to his art in some way or other. The work of graphic artist and designer Romain de Tirtoff, known by the French pronunciation of his initials "R T", left an indelible mark on our perception of the 1920s Art Deco period.

I happen to think it also left a mark on the costuming of the Tron 1982 movie, be it less directly.

Let me illustrate:

(This one may just be my favorite example, actually. Many thanks -or perhaps apologies- to @greetingsprogram1982 for putting this datapusher lady on my dash and sparking this post!)

Now, there are more parallels to be drawn (see below), but I don't think the work of Erté was necessarily a direct influence on Tron.

Rather, I feel like Erté often drew characters and costumes that wouldn't feel out of place decked out in circuits on the ENCOM system, with their graphic lines, sweeping drapery and extravagant headdresses. Mostly designed for the stage, Erté's fashion embodies a sense of being intended for another dimension entirely. His work is a visual fantasy of a different world; graphic, luscious, permissive, and dripping in the technological optimism of Art Deco and the 1920s. And well... isn't that a mindset quite close to the vibe of Tron?

In other words, I can easily see cultural osmosis pulling the 1982 concept artists to similar stylistic ideas...

Now, I realize most of the examples I have shown are fairly muted in color, which was not a deliberate choice! Erté has more to offer than that. Tell me honestly that you can't see some ENCOM system Datapushers rocking these outfits:

And to round it out... the later Tron media leaned away from the 1982 style that so echoed Erté and the fashion of the Art Deco to me, but there is something left of it...

(Somehow, I always end these posts with Radia? But well, fair is fair, she is the only modern Tron character who'd fit in an Erté illustration xD)