Plasticity
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Plasticity |
| Author(s): | mixelation (formerly known as Misfit_McCoward) |
| Date(s): | Published 17 September 2018 Updated: 31 October 2023 |
| Length: | 177,690 words (19 chapters) |
| Genre(s): | SI/OC, Adventure, Humor |
| Fandom(s): | Naruto |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | AO3 |
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Plasticity is a gen SI/OC Naruto fanfic by mixelation. The main story follows OC Tori Mendez after she is summoned to the Naruto world by Hidan. She ends up working for Orochimaru in Otogakure for a time, and then with Akatsuki.
Summary
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes the immortal leader of a cult tries to summon the god of death and gets you instead. ‘Not dying’ just got a lot more complicated than ‘follow chemlab safety instructions.’ A tongue-in-cheek, Akatsuki-centric SI/OC.
Development, Narrative Choices and Inspiration
Anonymous asked:was there anything that inspired you to start writing plasticity, or was it just a i wanna have fun moment? it's definitely one of my fav naruto fics of all time so either way im so happy you started it. tori is so fun.mixelation: I realized other people were writing fun SIs and I was like: fuck it, I wanna do it too.
(Also I had a bunch of things I wanted to try, including: writing something really long, figuring out a way for a squishy real-world civilian woman to fit into Narutoland since all the popular fics were reincarnation-based, and then I just really wanted an villain-based fic.)
#when i was a teenager i wrote a lot of SIs but back when they were considered Cringey Mary Sues and then i dropped out of reading/writing fic for a few years and then when i came back SIs were cool?? and i was like MY TIME HAS COME[1]
Anonymous asked: Do you have a set ending planned for Plasticity? I'm not asking for spoilers or anything, it's just something I always wonder with really long fic, did the author have a plan for those hundreds of thousands of words or is it just seeing where it goes.mixelation: I do have a vague outline for story beats, including an ending! Usually I can’t progress very far in a story unless I have a vague idea of story beats I want to hit…. or an ending I’m working towards.
The outline is pretty vague, because a good chunk of the fic is just seeing where it goes. Like I wasn’t planning to let fuuinjutsu or Tobi be as prominent as they are, so now those are factors…. but my plan is vague enough that these developments only impact how we get there and the details of how problems are created/solved.
#plasticity started as a bunch of rando scenes i wrote for my own amusing starting in 2015 and back then i was working as an ESL teacher so 'science' wasn't even an element but when i decided to try writing it seriously i had also switched to working in a lab and now we are where we are [2]
Not sure if it should go in this section or the next, but author's post on how the fic has been received vs. what reception they expected:
Anonymous asked: When you first wrote Plasticity, did you expect it to be so well-received? And are there people who often criticize it?(I love all your fics)
mixelation:Not really! Plasticity is very much in the style of older SIs (the "fell through a plothole; oh nooo now I'm living with the Akatsuki!!" type) than the post Dreaming of Sunshine "I've been reincarnated!" type. So I wasn't sure people would be interested.
At the beginning I used to get rando criticism but not so much anymore. I think some readers were frustrated when Plasticity didn't turn out to be the type of fic they wanted it to be: Tori's not going to become a badass ninja, and she makes a lot of "mistakes," and also despite a lot of dark themes, I don't think you can keep Akatsuki IC and not have their interactions turn into borderline crack. I think the part that lost me a lot of those readers was Tori's stunt at the hotel, because they felt she should have been "smarter" about it or that it should have worked. (The point of that wasn't for her to succeed; it was to establish a character dynamic that meant Tori has like 3% more respect than she would have.)
#i've found plasticity rec'd in [[ratfic]] communities a handful of times and i think if you expected it to be a ratfic you will be. disappointed#uuuuh no one is like 'this is a ratfic' but i think if you find something via r/Rational you'll have certain expectations#fic: plasticity [3]
Fan Responses and Reviews
TODO
Hidan tries to summon a shinigami. Gets a science major college student instead. OC proceeds to have a terrible time trying to stay alive, and after winding up with Orochimaru ends up delving into ninja mad science. Eventually winds up with the Akatsuki. Unwillingly. An absolutely hilarious fic and I reread this at least twice a year. Everyone is beautifully in character.meowmeowuchiha, 2023 [4]
[chiruochiba]
The SI protagonist in the Naruto fic Plasticity might qualify. From the start of the fic, she is stuck in situations where her fate is controlled by people much stronger than her. She maintains her sanity through acts of petty rebellion (trolling) that sometimes have hilarious, snowball-effect repercussions. Her entire existence becomes an escalating con-game balanced on making her enemies believe that she is more useful than irksome. [5]
[EliezerYudkowsky]
That protagonist is definitely having a series of not-so-great days, and I'm still reading. This is a beautiful case study in good writing through jeopardy - I had no idea how the protagonist was going to get out of the Chapter 1 dilemma, and the result didn't feel like an asspull either.
[Nnaelo]
That was highly entertaining, thank you for the recommendation
Plasticity - main character gradually becomes more and more numb to violence while struggling to survive, and ends up embracing her inner mad scientist.u/JoChiCat, 2022 [6]
Plasticity, by Misfit_McCoward. A Naruto fic, over 150k words so far. No romance between main character and anyone else, just an SI trying to survive in the Naruto world after Hidan accidentally summons her. It's surprisingly in-character!u/Head-Shame4860 [6]
Fandom
TODO. mixelation's tumblr tag
Fanart
- Some art of Tori from @misfitmccoward ‘s Naruto fic Plasticity!, Archived version by pepperpixel, 2023
- Tori you tell him, Archived version illustration of a scene from Ch. 15 (Tori and Sasori dosage curve conversation)
External Links
- Mixelation's tumblr tag for the fic, including discussion, reader questions, AU snippets, etc.
Notes
References
- ^ Tumblr ask. Posted 6 May 2021.
- ^ Tumblr ask, Archived version. Posted 7 May 2021.
- ^ Tumblr ask, Archived version posted 22 November 2023.
- ^ Fuck it I'm dropping my fave fics. Posted to Tumblr on 12 May 2023.
- ^ Comments on [D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread. posted to r/Rational June 23, 2020]
- ^ a b Looking for a fic where mc slowly becomes darker, Archived version. Post on r/FanFiction dated 28 October 2022. Several comments quoted