Bibliography and Inspirations

My Appendix N

Cultural Touchstones I'd like to use for our Deviant Game, referring only to media from 1995 and before. Most notably, that means this is a Pre-Matrix world. Waow.

Film

  • Robocop, for the corporate satire
  • Class of Nuke 'em High and The Toxic Avenger from Troma Films for hyper-violent gory horror comedy resulting from corporate negligence and chemical spills
  • Hype!, a documentary on '90s Seattle culture and the Grunge scene (Available for free on YouTube)

Television

  • Twin Peaks, for its look at the Pacific Northwest, its eerie atmosphere, and the nuanced relationships between characters
  • X-Files season 1 and 2, for its work with shadowy government conspiracies, mutants, coverups, and its PNW atmosphere, having been filmed in Vancouver
  • Kolchak, the Night Stalker*
  • & The Night Strangler, Both as the granddaddy of the above series, as well as a local bit of horror. The Night Stranger (1973) features Karl Kolchak, newspaper reporter, up against an unknown creature stalking through Seattle, and haunting its unique underground

Books

  • The works of Stephen King, especially Pet Sematary and It, for the eeriness of Ludlow and Derry; as well, the stories of Carrie, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, and The Shining all provide easy examples OF Deviants
  • The worlds of Marvel & DC Comics include so many characters that would serve as suitable Deviant characters, even if some need a slight nudge in a darker direction. Consider:
  • The X-Men, an entire group of Genotypal Mutants, Cephalists, and Coactives; rendered "different" from birth, socially ostracized, with strange and dangerous powers; some of which morph and even worsen with age. Particularly good examples are Jean Grey's more destructive aspects, Wolverine and the other members of the Weappn X Program (see Deadpool) many of whom also qualify as Invasives due to the cybernetics or metallic implants put in them, and Beast and Iceman, whose powers have both strengthened due to various events and also have left them visibly warped (Beastman originally being "just" burly and then becoming super smart and gaining blue fur and animal-like features, and Iceman's skin becoming coated with a sheen of ice)
  • The Fantastic Four; four astronauts exposed to strange cosmic rays and warped to different degrees. While each of the members of the Fantastic Four could be considered Deviants (Pathological Mutants and Coactives), Ben Grimm's story in particular is the one that resonates with Deviant's themes the most, seeing as he's lost his entire physical identity in the process, seeing himself as a mutant monster made of rock.
  • The Hulk, as an Epimorphic or Pathological Coactive/Mutant (depending on the interpretation), is perhaps the best example from Marvel's roster. See also the series mentioned above.

Music

  • Grunge; any and all, but particularly Nirvana, Alice & Chains, Pearl Jam, Soungarden, and Mother Love Bone. This is Washington's signature genre, and the 90s were when it flourished.