#my understanding was that people from Zalem were androids

[ramblingandpie]

The most specific rant that a small handful of people will appreciate:

In the live-action Alita movie, if Dr Chiren is from Zalem, whyyyy does she have a brain? Like. We saw it! We saw the brain!

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hello! I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but have you watched the Alita Battle Angel movie? If not, the synopsys is that an old doctor finds a cyborg bust in a scrapyard of trash that is dumped everyday by the floating city above, called Zalem. In your latest musing you mentioned something about trash being dumped from Atlas. What would you think if Upper Atlas were similar and it would dump trash in a scapyard, in Lower Atlas? And the workers there making use of it however they can?

‘SupYellow.Always a pleasure to hear from you so no worries there fam. Unfortunately I have notseen Alita.But I definitely want to since I’ve heard positive things about it; both themanga and the recent film adaptation. Despite knowing jack about the series, Ido like the idea you present here. 

It wouldn’t surpriseme if something like that were possible with Atlas. It’s funny. Folks keepreferring to Atlas by Upper and Lower. Wouldn't Upper Atlas technically be just Atlas while the lower sector is the remnants of Mantle?

That’swhat I assumed it was. The lower city being Mantle below, unless I am deeplymistaken. I like the idea of Atlas dumping their trashinto Mantle with the People of Mantle living the life of scavengers;only managing to survive due to their resourceful nature by crafting workingmachinery and equipment from whatever scraps of and parts they managed tosalvage and/or pilfer from the junkyards dumped from Atlas.

It’dbe interesting if Atlas has become rather snobbish and discriminatory towardtheir Mantlese brethren over the years to the point that they don’t even donate their broken or unused materials to Mantle’scitadel, only granting them use of whatever they can scavenge from the massivepiles of junk they dump into their kingdom periodically. Like the rich andelite only granting charity to the poor by allowing them to take what they canfrom their trash bins for the week and considering that an act of generosity.

Imagine if … the Atlesians are the typeswho have grown so spoilt from their riches that they no longer see worth in their products anymore. To Atlas, it’s allabout advancement.Forwardever, backward never and when theold outdates the new, the old is disposed of so that the new can rise up andthrive. Take over even and lead them successfully towards a bright future. Itwouldn’t surprise if that is the mantra of Atlas because that is precisely whathappened with Atlas and Mantle’s history. Atlas rose up to the point that it overshadowed Mantle and rather than aid those left behind intheir predecessor kingdom, it seems that Atlas has lost all touch with itsroots.

Allthe more reason why I’m digging the concept of the People of Mantle being scavengers—thegood kind who see worth ineverything around them, since their generations have been forced to survive onso little for so long and thus become more adaptive and more appreciative ofwhat they have and cherish.  And becauseof that, they are able to make wonders with what bit they can use from the UpperWorld.

Thisalso makes me think of a really cool hunch I have concerning Penny Polendina’sfather/creator. For the sake of my musings, I’m going to refer to him as Dr. Japheth Polendina until his official canon name is revealed. If mymemory serves correctly, Gepetto isthe Italian form of the name Japheth whichis a name of Hebrew origin meaning ‘expansion’.  

I think Japheth is afitting pseudo-name for Dr. Polendina since my assumption is that he is a greatand well-renowned scientist and inventor in Atlas whose inventions hascontributed towards the kingdoms’ advancement. Makes sense, right? Beyond that,another theory I have is Dr. Polendina is unlike a lot of Atlesians . Itwouldn’t surprise me if Dr. Polendina, like many from his generation (MariaCalavera and Nicholas Schnee) was born after the Great War and contributedtowards Atlas taking over from Mantle.

Howeverunlike other Atlesians who seem to have discarded theirMantlese heritage and traditions, Dr. Polendina still holds stubbornly onto his.I like the irony of Dr. Polendina being old-fashioned despite being the inventor of so many creationsthat helped Atlas move forward. I think that could be a cool contrast to hischaracter. I like the idea of Dr. Polendina being a smart yet modest and humbleold man (maybe even a lil cuckoo for coco puffs), who doesn’t just create foradvancement but rather help humanity because he genuinely sees wonder and value in everything around him. Despite it being a traditionhis younger associates don’t understand and have tried to beat out of him foryears, y’know since they all mostly consider him a fossil and only keep himaround for his unique genius. Nonetheless Dr. Polendina sees worth in everything—includinga lifeless robotic husk he treated and loved like a daughter. That’s my theoryfor Dr. Polendina if you or anyone who were ever curious.

Ithink an anon-ninja once asked me what elements of Gepetto/Pinocchio I think will be incorporated in V7. Well I thinkthat’s one of them. I’d love to think that Japheth also shares a history with Arthur Watts.I can’t help this nagging hunch I have that Arthur Watts was probably the formerapprentice of Dr. Polendina who he loved like a son.

Inthe Pinocchio tale, Geppetto was an elderly woodcarver whoseemed to not have any former children of his own hence why he createdPinocchio and wished for him to be a real boy.

Imagine if it was the same for Dr.Polendina. Whatif… Japheth was a man who had dedicated his life so much toadvancing Atlas that he never got the chance to have the thing he wanted morethan anything—a family or at least someone to love him like one. Picture Japheth living a depressing life where he losttouch with his former family in Mantle and the closest thing to a family he hadin Atlas was a former apprentice who he cherished like the child he never had whoended up betrayinghim before disappearing entirely,believed to be dead (i.e. Dr. Arthur Watts) and lastly, Penny—the android heloved like a daughter but also ultimately lost.

Ican go on and on about my theories for Dr. Polendina but that’s the theory Imainly wish to share here. As you brought up Alita, it made me think ofsomething interesting. I have this Penny-centric theorywhere as soon as our heroes arrive in Atlas, they soon discover, much toRuby’s shock and disgust that Penny was made into a line of sentient service androidswho was being mass produced and sold to the People of Atlas.

Picture Detroit Become Human but with just Penny asthe sole android series. RWBY Chibi S2 kindof teased the concept of Penny being sold as a doll. So what ifthat will be the case for V7? What if…in current Atlas, Penny is now a popular brand of service androiddolls sold to the Atlesian public to perform many different roles insociety. Picture Penny being like the Barbie Doll of Atlas exceptthat she’s a life-sized sentient machine. Picture all kinds of Penny models beingsold each programmed with a series of different functions tailor made to fitwhatever role her user/buyer bought her to perform.

Imagine Ruby standing in acity populated with different Pennies—-Waitress Penny, Nurse Penny, Traffic Cop Penny, TourGuide Penny, etc.—who all look and sound just like Ruby’s Pennybut isn’t her. And what’s even more horrifying to Ruby is what Penny’s legacyhas dissolved into. Back in V3 I believe, Penny told Ruby that she wasoriginally made to protect Remnant. She was made to be a hero. The first of her kind tobe used to protect humanity.

Imagine howmuch of an insult it would be if this is what Ruby finds out Atlasdid to her friend after she was murdered. Not remember her as a hero butbasically a living toy to beused and abused as her consumers feel.

That’sinsane!Which is all the more reason why I want this theory to come true. I was askedlong ago by a FNDM fam about how Ruby would feel if she saw Penny locked away insidesome pod inside a laboratory. I never got around to actually answering that questionbecause Tumblr buried the original response post I was going to edit. If thatuser happens to read all of my answer posts, here is my answer to your questionnow.

Rubyreacting to a rebuilt Penny being locked safely inside a pod? Ahahaa! How about I giveyou something grimmer?

Ontop of Atlas mass producing Penny and treating her like a plaything rather than the heroshe was meant to be, you wanna know my theory for what they did with originalPenny?

Myhunch is that originalPenny is put in the trash. Meaningthat after her body was returned to Atlas, there was a meeting between themembers of the Atlas Council debating on whether or not the military projectPenny was born from should be terminated or not. Even though Ironwood is the mainauthoritarian from Atlas that we’ve met so far, I’d like to think there is another topleader calling the shots whoIronwood actually serves under.

Ifthe Atlas Council is anything like Vale’s, then there are at least threemembers on the council governing the Kingdom. From what I remember back in V4,Ironwood says he holds two seats on the council. This leaves the third and lastseat and it’s here where I think we’ll have a new authoritarian character who Ironwoodlistens to.

Basicallyit was this Atlas Council Member introduced and signed off on the idea ofturning Penny into a doll to be sold to the public.  I don’t know of any puppet masters in any knownfairy tales but perhaps this Councilman, as I’ll refer to him in mymusings, could be based off of the Coachman from Pinocchio. In the 1883 book TheAdventures of Pinocchio, the Coachman was a villain who kidnapped children tobring them to Toy Island in which the bad children turned into donkeys.

IfFNDM fam thought General Ironwood was a cross due to his deep authoritarian waysand leadership then imagine someone worse than Ironwoodbut lacking the compassion. Picture… the Councilman being the type to make ajackass out of the General Ironwood since Ironwood generally has torun everything by him and the Councilman has Ironwood wrapped around his pinkie,especially now that he hasn’t been well—psychologically. I actually kinda digthis idea.

Sothe Councilman convinces Ironwood that the best way to dissolve the mess the Vytalescapade left on the military and the People of Atlas following Beacon is to turnPenny into a doll series—allowing her to fulfil the purpose she was made for.Serving humanity by serving humanity as a service doll. There are even Penniesbeing used by the military.

WhileDr. Polendina wouldn’t sign off on something like this—imagine it being oneof those uncomfortable scenarios where one’s hand is forced because they arebacked into a corner by people trying to either bullyor manipulate them. In the case of Japheth, it was both theCouncilman trying to bully him into doing his job for the military and Ironwood,though sympathetic towards the doctor and his loss, still trying to somewhatemotionally manipulate the man into doing as he and the Councilman ordered byusing Penny and the reasons she was made in the first place as his motive.

It’snot a nice game but in the end, against his wishes, Dr. Polendina had no choicebut to hand over his research and the original body of Penny and concur as themilitary—mainly the Councilman did what they pleased with her.

Andin the end, once they were done, they didn’t even have the common courtesy toreturn Penny to her father. Instead, like many things in Atlas, Penny wasdiscarded and her remains ended up in the junkyards near Mantle. I even have away RWBY canincorporate Monstro into the Atlas Arc. You know how in Pinocchio,Gepetto got swallowed by the giant whale?

Wellwhat if…at some point, the heroes visit Lower Atlas on their voyage towards Mantle. Mytheory is that at some point during the Schnee Family Affairsstoryline of the Atlas Arc, Weiss will go in search of her missing grandfatherNicholas Schnee and her searches will take her and her friends down from Atlasinto Mantle’s depth. During their voyage, the group end up in the junkyardsbelow.

Apparently,people aren’t allowed to go in the junkyards. Part of it is due to Atlas being stingy towards Mantle even with their junk and anotheris for the reason that there is a massive Grimm known to roam the junkyards.That monster is GrimmMonstro—a colossal land whale type Grimm that burrows undergroundand swims through the sea of garbage in the junk piles looking for anyunsuspecting victims to rise up and swallow.

I have this idea where Ruby andOscar are swallowed alive by Grimm Monstro and it’s in the belly of the Grimm where Ruby discovers Penny’s originaldestroyed body. Perhaps…as a better alternative, that’s how she and Oscargot swallowed in the first place. Ruby spots OG Penny while in the junkyard.Goes off on her own to retrieve her despite Oscar’s initial warnings that somethingfelt off about the junkyard however Ruby ignores hisadvice. Ruby makes it to Penny’s body in time for Grimm Monstro to rise up.Oscar jumps in to rescue Ruby. The two try their best to outrun the giant Grimmbut end up getting swallowed alive. That could be FREAKING EPIC!

Little Red Riding Hood and PrincessOzma working together to escape Monstroand save themselves plus Pinocchio is a future RWBY episodeI’d love to see for Atlas. YES PLEASE! Sign my ass up!

Andif all that comes true, we could even get Ruby and Oscar working together to revive original Penny.

Ifmy theory about Oscarawakening his inner mechanic and inventor comes to fruition, imagine Ruby begging Oscar to help her revive her formerfriend using his skills. Knowing and fully understanding how much this means toRuby, Oscar accepts and the two rosebuds get to work together. I would lovethis so much!

Ithink this could be really cool especially if after Penny gets successfully restoredthrough Oscar’s know-how, she starts calling Oscar ‘brother’. I’ll give you three veryimportant reasons why I love this idea.

Firstly,I’ve seen some fans comparing Oscar to Penny so me, being the proud Pinehead and Polendiva (Penny Polendina fan) that I amstarted to dig the idea of Penny and Oscar having a brother-sister dynamic.Like after Oscar helps rebuild her, Penny starts treating him like he was her big brother.Not father since Dr. Japheth is her father.

Secondly,I like Penny calling Oscar ‘brother’ because of the obvious, very on the nosecall back to FMA. Come on! You know how much I love those.

Andlastly, I love this idea because it appeals to another Pinehead headcanon I have where Oscar becomes an apprentice under Dr. Polendina anddevelops a father/son bond with the old inventor. I did say I wantedOscar to have a godmother type character who adopts him in Atlas. Perhapsinstead of a fashion designer, it’s an genius inventor who acts as hisgodfather.

Penny andDr. Polendina both adopting Oscar into their family = HELLA FREAKING YES.

You know my mantra. #EverybodyAdoptsOscar

I’dlove to expand more on this idea some more but I think I’ll save it for anothermusing. This response post is long enough. But for what it’s worth, I hope youlike my answer Yellow.Let me know what you think if you can pretty please. Would like to hear yourthoughts on my thoughts.

~LittleMissSquiggles(2019)