Editing Bakuda (section)

==Trivia==
*Her codename Bakuda, pronounced "bah-ku-duh"<ref>[http://audioworm.rein-online.org/pronunciations/ Worm Audiobook pronunciation guide] (confirmed by [[Wildbow]])</ref>, is a feminized bastardization of the japanese 爆弾, or 'bakudan', which means 'bomb'.<ref name="WoG1"/>
*Bakuda is half Caucasian and half Asian, as evidenced by her blue eyes. Her mixed race origin is something she shares in common with [[Lung]].<ref name="22.y e2"/><ref name="WoG1"/>
*Bakuda was a relatively recent creation by Wildbow during the writing process, intended to showcase the breadth of what tinkers could accomplish.<ref name="7.7 c1">Re: Character creation process for Bakuda<br><br>I mentioned, in a previous comment spree, that some characters are top-down (Have a name/concept in mind, create backstory from there) and others are bottom-up (Build a backstory, the name/concept follows). Bakuda was the former. Creating her was sort of a spur of the moment thing as I wrote 1.06. She's one of relatively few characters that I hadn't/haven't tried writing a short story for, prior to knuckling down and writing the Worm you've read here.<br><br>I dislike giving characters boring powers. As a consequence, even for characters who seem fairly generic on paper (laser beams, super speed, whatever) I've given them nuances or underlying mechanisms that set them apart. Sometimes Taylor/the reader isn't explictly aware of them (Glory Girl's super strength, for example, isn't just her being disproportionately strong), sometimes you are (Aegis' strength being based in adrenaline & ability to push past normal physical limits, Velocity's speed).<br><br>So that's one facet of what I had in mind when approaching the tinker/mad scientist thing & Bakuda, specifically – it's a powerset that's not uncommon, but I wanted there to be something to set them apart. So every tinker has a specialty, a knack or a trick. In truth, any power category/subclass (super speed, super strength, laser beams, teleportaiton) has this, but people pay more attention to it when tinkers are concerned.<br><br>Beyond that, one thing I tend to do when I want to come up with ideas for something/someone quickly, is take a common stereotype or element and play with it. Turn it on its head, tweak it, generally defy expectations. When I played pen & paper roleplaying games, I did this a lot to make characters that stood out from the crowd. It's usually my starting point.<br><br>So when I was writing 1.06, and Armsmaster was explaining what's up with the ABB, my thought process was something like, "Okay, I need to round out the ABB some more. Probably not a frontline individual, given that Grue didn't mention him/her. Maybe a girl, to balance out the genders. Lung and Oni Lee aren't so atypical, so how can I reverse common stereotypes for Eastern Asians, Japanese or Asian-Americans and round out their group with someone more interesting? Common ideas tied to them include studious, hardworking, inoffensive, striving not to stand out, bad drivers, intelligent, ninjas, yakuza..."<br><br>I briefly considered having her be a vehicle tinker. A super skilled driver and/or pilot. Didn't really go anywhere or tie into the rest of the group, and as I was already beginning to conceptualize how Lung might have recruited this person, it didn't jibe. It also didn't seem to have a lot of versatility or flexibility to the idea. Not that interesting.<br><br>It was the 'striving not to stand out/inoffensive' thing that was the seed for the bomb specialist bit. There's few ways you can stand out -more-, it's dramatic and potentially powerful enough for Lung to go out of his way to recruit her, and it sells the notion of how tinkers can be very specialized. The rest sort of wrote itself and flowed from there.<br><br>Of course, this thought process wasn't so long winded. After pondering the getaway driver thing, I went with the 'bomb specialist tinker' fairly quickly. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/buzz-7-7/#comment-888 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Buzz 7.7]]</ref>