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Literature Text
Nobody saw the New You machines get installed. They just appeared all over, in places like public parks and shopping malls. They looked like fancy photo booths, but what they really did was physically transform the user for a set period of time.
Although the science behind it was complicated, for the user it was simple: insert your money, place a picture or photograph on the scanner, set the duration (the default was one week), and press the button. Within seconds the user would be transformed to look just like whoever the picture was of. How the machines were capable of replicating even details outside the picture was a mystery.
Practically overnight, these machines became wildly popular. People would show up to parties looking like famous celebrities. Boys would turn themselves into girls (and vice-versa, although this was slightly less common), just to see what it was like to be the opposite sex. Couples would switch bodies to bond.
But turning humans into other humans wasn't the only thing the NYMs could do, as someone later discovered. The machines' scanners would also accept pictures of animals. If you put a picture of a cat on the scanner, you could walk out of the machine as a cat with a human mind.
This discovery brought about the second wind of the New You Machines' popularity, as people lined up to turn themselves into animals. Some spent time as pets for their loved ones, while others became "guests" at the city zoo. People would NYM themselves into birds or other flying animals so they could satisfy their dreams of flight. Several pet hotels got reviews from humans who had become cats or dogs for alternative lodgings.
And once again, just as the popularity began to die down, someone thought, "Why stop there?"
Stephen Vake was a huge fan of dragons. He loved the way they flew around, breathed fire, and menaced the general population. So when he heard of the NYMs and what they could do, he knew he had to try something out.
After saving up enough for one use of a New You Machine, Stephen dropped by the local shopping mall. It was an off day, so there was no line for the NYM. Stepping into the booth, he lifted the lid of the scanner and placed there a picture of a five-stories-tall fire-breathing dragon, a still image from one of his favorite movies.
The scanner seemed to accept the picture, so Stephen paid the machine, set the duration, and pressed the button.
...
Shortly thereafter, the NYMs were declared "too dangerous for public use" and recalled.
Although the science behind it was complicated, for the user it was simple: insert your money, place a picture or photograph on the scanner, set the duration (the default was one week), and press the button. Within seconds the user would be transformed to look just like whoever the picture was of. How the machines were capable of replicating even details outside the picture was a mystery.
Practically overnight, these machines became wildly popular. People would show up to parties looking like famous celebrities. Boys would turn themselves into girls (and vice-versa, although this was slightly less common), just to see what it was like to be the opposite sex. Couples would switch bodies to bond.
But turning humans into other humans wasn't the only thing the NYMs could do, as someone later discovered. The machines' scanners would also accept pictures of animals. If you put a picture of a cat on the scanner, you could walk out of the machine as a cat with a human mind.
This discovery brought about the second wind of the New You Machines' popularity, as people lined up to turn themselves into animals. Some spent time as pets for their loved ones, while others became "guests" at the city zoo. People would NYM themselves into birds or other flying animals so they could satisfy their dreams of flight. Several pet hotels got reviews from humans who had become cats or dogs for alternative lodgings.
And once again, just as the popularity began to die down, someone thought, "Why stop there?"
Stephen Vake was a huge fan of dragons. He loved the way they flew around, breathed fire, and menaced the general population. So when he heard of the NYMs and what they could do, he knew he had to try something out.
After saving up enough for one use of a New You Machine, Stephen dropped by the local shopping mall. It was an off day, so there was no line for the NYM. Stepping into the booth, he lifted the lid of the scanner and placed there a picture of a five-stories-tall fire-breathing dragon, a still image from one of his favorite movies.
The scanner seemed to accept the picture, so Stephen paid the machine, set the duration, and pressed the button.
...
Shortly thereafter, the NYMs were declared "too dangerous for public use" and recalled.
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An idea I got last night and had to write out before I started hating it.
I'm not unfond of transformation stories, but I think stories in which transformation is easily accessible to the public (and thereby the focus is shifted from the transformation itself to what's done with it) sort of take the appeal out of it. Call this story a little deconstruction of the whole business.
I'm not unfond of transformation stories, but I think stories in which transformation is easily accessible to the public (and thereby the focus is shifted from the transformation itself to what's done with it) sort of take the appeal out of it. Call this story a little deconstruction of the whole business.
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Things like this only happens when people making the machines fail to realize the full implications of their existence. I'm saying this not only within an in-universe context, but also out.
If there seem to be plotholes that arose from such implications, such plotholes can usually be explained one way or another. For example, the "Trust Machine" setting heavily implies society adapting to the titular machines instead of collapsing, treating the machines as part of everyday life and taking their existence into account accordingly. (They'd have to do that, anyway; any attempts at removing such machines from the general public was literally met with failure, one way or another. Even the governments had to give up removing them.)
And yes, the setting does indeed explore the implications of such machines existing, and I'm not just talking about within its usual light-hearted contexts either. I can recall at least one story showcasing criminals taking advantage of such machines in order to help them with their jewelry theft.
If there seem to be plotholes that arose from such implications, such plotholes can usually be explained one way or another. For example, the "Trust Machine" setting heavily implies society adapting to the titular machines instead of collapsing, treating the machines as part of everyday life and taking their existence into account accordingly. (They'd have to do that, anyway; any attempts at removing such machines from the general public was literally met with failure, one way or another. Even the governments had to give up removing them.)
And yes, the setting does indeed explore the implications of such machines existing, and I'm not just talking about within its usual light-hearted contexts either. I can recall at least one story showcasing criminals taking advantage of such machines in order to help them with their jewelry theft.