So one thing I like about her unexplained and unremarked strange wings is that they lend themselves to strange interpretations, and in crossovers can give Flan a touch of the other setting to her. Are they prosthetic? Is she a different kind of vampire?
Bocaj once told me about a version of Flandre who had aspects of her personality sealed in each color of crystal, so as to avoid becoming more than/other than a vampire.
In the fic I've been writing for years now, I haven't really explained what her deal is except to say that the wings are definitely a natural part of her, and have some of the Makaijin refer to her as "Ironbones" in hushed tones. It's kind of silly, but I like the idea of her having such a grim epithet that nobody in Gensokyo ever thinks about or uses.
Rainy Echoes
Flandre Scarlet:
Remilia's younger sister who possesses the power of destruction. Very cheerful.
Flandre's Christmas light wings are the true source of her power. the intensity of the colors determines the kind of destruction that will be meted out. Another theory is that they are just an illusion, with the real wings hiding behind the lights. They reveal themselves when she rests. But why show a trick, and a good one at that? Fun. Girl's witty nature needs more respect.
Flandre can create perfect copies of herself. They have different personalities at times. ...Hm, I wonder if Patchouli uses her as part of her role as troublemaker...
...Wait, here's something even more ingenious! Flandre can't leave the mansion. But if she used her clones efficiently, she could catch glimpses of what's going on. The clones need not be on the physical plane, either. Shadow bats!
edited 5th Oct '15 7:50:48 PM by Diamite
I guess I figured that Flan never developed proper wings for some reason, so she wears fake ones (it's not like it affects her ability to fly...). Though I was never quite sure whether the "frame" part was natural or not.
I liked the way their (AU) relationship was portrayed in Dolphin Rider Koishi: the Scarlet sisters have a medical condition that makes them extremely sensitive to sunlight, and Remilia copes by pretending to be a vampire, but Flan is obsessed with becoming "normal" some day and refuses to play along.
Also, Gensou Shoujo Taisen gives Remilia Servant Flier (the slow-moving energy bats) as a basic projectile while Flandre holds out her hand and shoots multicoloured bullets like a machine gun. I liked that
.
edited 5th Oct '15 7:51:08 PM by Prime32
The Chew Toy of Gaming
This may sound like a stretch, but assuming that the Touhou Project exists as a game series Outside (and it's about as popular as it is here and now) and given the various changes and amalgams of youkai due to Outsiders accidentally mixing various youkai together in their interpretations of the myths, I wouldn't be surprised if the various fan interpretations of Flan have somehow given her a semi-controllable multiple personality disorder.
This personality switching could possibly work off of her existing mental state and emotions. For example, normally she's similar to her portrayal in canon: weird speech patterns, but reserved and generally able to function normally. When she gets really excited or happy, though, she starts acting her physical age, and when she gets mad, she gets mad in both mental and emotional senses. Those random fits of madness are probably the current biggest reason why she doesn't leave the mansion, though I assume that she's found many different reasons for Remilia to keep her inside over the centuries, whether out of being mischievous or being too curious at the wrong time.
edited 5th Oct '15 8:22:13 PM by DragonGeyser
Lampshade Hanging: It's a lifestyle.
Funny but not helpful
One interpretation I like to give to Flandre is that her insanity is because she can see the "eyes" of everything that can be destroyed, and the mere thought of lots of eyes "looking" at her just drives her nuts.
I wonder if she can see her own.
Funny but not helpful
Well, vampires can't see themselves in the mirror
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Well, I was just thinking that if she could look down and see her own point of greatest vulnerability, the metaphysical point that could be used to utterly obliterate her, it might change her outlook quite a bit.
Funny but not helpful
With the barest of effort, anything can be wiped from existence. Even yourself.
That's the seeds for a strong case of nihilism. Or absurdism.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Or enlightenment! It all depends on how you take it.
Baring hearts for years
I'm a fan of this, too. I had Remilia basically use her fate to 'hide' the eyes (by fating the SDM and its inhabitants to a fate other than flandre-crush). Because crazy vampires going crazy is bad news.
I do suspect this sort of percieved fragility in the universe causes some mental distress for Flandre as well. I mean, heck, you stumble while climbing some stairs, reach out for a railing, and pow, the railing's gone. Oops. More tragic if you reach out for, say someone's hand instead of a railing.
That said, her appearance in Aya's interview seems... honestly pretty grounded. She can always make time to make fun of her sister.
I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.
The Shrouded Knight
So she's like Shiki from Tsukihime, huh?
So, here's a question to ponder. Is Flandre locked away because she's mentally unstable, or is she mentally unstable because she's locked away?
The Living Guildpact rules that coffee is an acceptable substitution for rest as specified in subsection … whatever.
(Not) A Game Master
@Flandre My guess? She was locked away because she was mentally unstable and kept inside because she was mentally unstable.
In other words, the whole thing sort of perpetuates itself.
Formerly G.G.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Perhaps it is latter however Flandre hasn't really learned how to control her abilities as she was locked away.
This. Cannot. Continue
Yeah, not to undermine your idea too much, but winged Makai folk seem to be in the minority, so I'd figure it be the tengu who'd be more likely to treat Flan's wings as a big deal.
Although how the Makaijin know about the Scarlet Devil Mansion's dirty little secret sounds like an interesting story in itself.
And when she bats it up. Maybe it's harder to do that sort of magic when you're a furry little rodent?
Only when she's having a "meh effort" day. Flandre running around outside the basement probably can cause enough trouble to kill a rainy evening.
And eeesh, that Four of a Kind attack! I keep expecting the poor bunny to get gibbed!
I'm not sure why we'd need to break the fourth wall to do that, just the mechanics of cloning yourself and then pulling them all back into you could probably be pretty disorienting. Like the longer the clones act independently of the "main" Flandre, the more their different experiences are able to affect them, and the more confusion that results when they try to reform into a single mind. Hence why the magic is "Taboo."
...Pffft, "main" Flandre. As if they all wouldn't claim to be the original.
On the bright side, this makes Flandre ideally suited for exploring Gapspace. I originally typed "exploring Yukari's gaps," but... yeah.
And maybe even Aya. "Hum, are you perhaps saying that I can't converse well with others?" I just hear it delivered in an impeccably-articulated noblewoman's voice.
edited 6th Oct '15 7:09:34 PM by Tacitus
Current earworm: "Time of Death"
It's less for the wings themselves than for the sort of creature she is. The iron wings are just the strangeness of her body pressing to the surface. Makaijin know of such beings, and seem to fear them, but the tengu might not.
As for the wings, I remember reading a hypothesis that they're Patchouli's handiwork. Could see that, given the multicolored crystals look like something she'd come up with, but the question then becomes why and for what purpose the wings were crafted. A few possibilities:
- They're a limiter on Flan's powers. Without the wings she would be able to kaboom anything she wanted on a whim — with them on she's locked out of doing that, or at least greatly inhibited from seeing an "eye" and/or crushing it. She's still powerful enough to raise hell even without that ability (as the protagonists see firsthand), but at least this way she can eventually be subdued, with less of a chance of SDM residents/employees getting gibbed in the process.
- They're a sort of security collar keeping her from escaping the mansion. If Flan ever decided to bust out of the basement and take a tour of Gensokyo, the moment she got to the edge of mansion grounds the wings would activate various measures to keep her from proceeding forward (think things like the shell of running water Patchy conjures around Flan in Fantasy Kaleidoscope). Thus any trouble she causes at least stays contained to the mansion.
- Flan wanted wings and asked for something pretty. The librarian obliged, since hey, she lives in a basement and deserves to have something nice.
edited 7th Oct '15 9:08:46 AM by trepmaws
I joined a turkey club once. It was fun and delicious.
.
This. Cannot. Continue
Strangely triumphant music for a scene with that many explosions.
Sometimes I question the whole "crazy" description of Flandre. She is after all an eternal child who won the superpower lottery, and I'm sure we've all encountered a normal kid who had moments where they screamed and broke things like a lunatic. Flandre's just stuck at that stage, and can break a lot more than her toys.
What kind of upbringing has Flan had? The assumption seems to be that her slightly older sister has been her primary caregiver for ages, and given what a childish brat Remi can be, it's little surprise Flan is the way she is. Did she have an adult parental figure at one point, and losing them led her to become the unstable girl she is now?
Oh, that makes sense. Hmm, maybe they can see how Flan's strange wings extend to the rest of her body, like to them she's this bizarre being of steel bones and glowing crystal organs wrapped in undying flesh. You know, the sort of thing that would give demon folk the heebie-jeebies.
Yeah, like that. Like she can sit down at the dinner table with the rest of the family and use her utensils and napkins and everything, but it's only a matter of time before she gets bored and crawls under the tablecloth or starts grabbing things off her sister's plate with her dirty fingers.
Alternatively, they're a focus for her powers. Or perhaps I should saw a focus for her secondary magical abilities, as an incentive to use them rather than the "destroy anything" ability she was born with.
This. Cannot. Continue
Flan picdump will have to come in multiple parts due to sheer size. She's got 27,000 tagged appearances on Danbooru, after all.
The other Scarlet
Simple smile
Unconcerned
Cheerful
Pale but happy
Flushed and light hair
The face of Squee
The face of Hnnnggg
The face of Nope
Manually smiling
Composed
Remi's not the only one who can "fufufu"
Doesn't seem threatening
You mad?
Sassy
Very Ophelia
This is the face you make when you realize that today was just like yesterday, tomorrow will be just like today, and you can't imagine the situation being any different
Ehhhh?!
An invitation you shouldn't refuse
Uh oh
And just look how happy she is
More subdued, no less deadly
A mite peckish
The tag says "smirk," I see "triumph shifting into horrified realization"
Four, but not of a kind
At rest
Innocence or feigned innocence
Kind of an awkward perch
Lights from the darkness
Looks like a well-balanced adult
Personalized chair
And yet she stays in there
Interesting eyes
More interesting eyes
No eyes
Maybe it adds to the flavor?
The wolf is hiding under the woodcutter's porch
Fun in the sun
Going on a day trip
She just wants to be part of that world
Aww, lil' princess
Chess symbolism
Something about the eyes reminds me of the evil girl from Drakengard
So long as she's happy
You'd think someone so seasoned in aerial combat would have better three-dimensional awareness
She does strike me as the kind of girl who'd have conversations with her reflection
Not really a wall jump
Wings of gnarled wood
Don't really seem to be anchored to any muscles
Atrophied from disuse?
Forming proper pinions
Add a tail for stability
Part of a courtship display?
Or not
Wings of wubs
Wait a minute...
That's just overkill
Oh dammit, that video
Portrayed
Dress her up, portray her as expertly as you can, but you're still painting a girl with fangs
You need to update your dress code, young lady
Good grief
Nice bedroom, but I'm distracted by Remi's wings
Looks like she can damp them for stealth mode
At least she's getting some fresh air
Who does she mourn?
The bars aren't strictly necessary
Older and ragged
Does she cry because she can't leave, or because she can?
Formerly G.G.
I wonder if Flandre is as crazy as the fandom makes her out to be? I don't see her crazy but I do see her as being somewhat awkward around other people.
"Eratoeir is a Gangsta."
This. Cannot. Continue
Small surprise she's awkward, Flandre is developmentally stunted. We hope that Remilia comes down to visit regularly, but even that is interaction between two children. Sakuya probably comes down to clean and serve meals, but she's a cold, servile type. The most human interaction Flandre got for a very long time was when she got her meals, and she was ignorant of that fact.
Humans are social animals, but social skills have to be learned, and Flandre has had precious few chances of that. Just that fact combined with a child's mentality would make her awkward and unpredictable to interact with. And then you throw on possible mental illness resulting from her powers and/or lifestyle over the past five centuries.
The good news is that Flandre is finally in a place where the natives are 1) slightly less likely to run in gibbering terror at the sight of a vampire and 2) not quite as squishy. I mean yes, Flandre is still scary
◊ and she can still one-shot anyone by squeezing her little fist, but she now has the slim chance of being able to socialize compared to no chance of that. Who knows, maybe having figures like Marisa around will help Flandre become a more balanced individual... or maybe Marisa isn't the best role model.
When you mention Flandre and outside in the same sentence, I can't help thinking of this 4koma.
Hmm, maybe next compendium if we do popularity tiers again, we'll have to rethink where Flan fits in.
I guess the problem may be that she is so popular, and from the oldest game that's regularly talked about, so Flan's characterizations have become pretty standardized. We've got the horror movie route, the little girl locked in the basement by her neglectful big sister because Flan keeps breaking her "toys." There's the cute route where she's cheerful and innocent and sometimes accidentally blows things up. And... that's about all I can think of from the fan works I've seen.
Seems like her portrayal in Aya's interview is overlooked, which I think is a shame. Maybe it's just me, but I read it almost like Flan's using some Obfuscating Stupidity. An interpretation that focuses more on her wits would be refreshing.
Current earworm: "Time of Death"