The Artificial Intelligence Principle

A series of three fanfics set in an alternate version of the Tiger and Bunny universe where Barnaby's parents didn't die when he was four. Unfortunately, he ends up dying at age 13, a fact by which his parents cannot abide so they build him a robot body to live in.

The trilogy can be found here.

A multichapter fic that serves as both an inerquel and a sequal can be found here.


 * Abusive Parents: Rotwang to, for a given value of "parent." Might have been a better "parent" to Cis.
 * Accidental Kiss: Subverted  meant to give each other a kiss, just not on the mouth.
 * Adult Fear: The whole series was set in motion by Emily and Barnaby Sr. not wanting to bury their (only) son.
 * Alternate Universe: Barnaby's parents are alive and well, having apparently never discovered Maverick's criminal connections.
 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Dr. Rotwang just wanted to create a better robot than the Brookses. He didn't count on it becoming sentient.
 * Artificial Intelligence: Of course and it applies to
 * Attending Your Own Funeral: Lampshaded and averted; Barnaby doesn't go with his parents to the funeral of his original human body specifically because it would be awkward and creepy.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: Maverick and Rotwang
 * Big Brother Mentor: Barnaby seems to think of his relationship with  as this, as he's teaching the younger entity about the world.
 * Body Snatcher:
 * Brain Uploading
 * Convenient Color Change: 's digital ghost alters based on emotions. Once Barnaby figures this out, he's a lot easier to teach.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The quickest way to tell when either one of the androids are well and truly pissed, or not under their own control.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Maverick
 * Crash Into Hello: How Kotetsu enters into Barnaby's life.
 * Deceptively-Human Robots: Barnaby and
 * Digitized Hacker: Barnaby, though he uses his powers for good.
 * Enemy Mine: "Enemy" might be overstating things, but  does not like Kotetsu and only works with with him to keep Barnaby safe.
 * Fanon Nod:
 * Flawed Prototype: What Maverick views as after he builds . Rotwang also views the older-model Barnaby as infinitely inferior to Cis.
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: Kotetsu did this until Barnaby told him to knock it off.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Incurable Cough of Death: Opens the first fic.
 * Mad Scientist: The Doctors Brooks aren't evil, but everyone seems to acknowledge they're just a little bit 'off'. Nathan even refers to them as "our benevolent mad scientists" once, and Barnaby thinks his parents would take the moniker as a compliment. Rotwang is a more straight example.
 * Mama Bear: Emily Brooks. Not only was the Brain Uploading her idea, but if both she and Barnaby Sr. are angry about something she will always be the angrier of the two.
 * More Expendable Than You: One of the conflicts in the second part of the arc is how much it freaks Kotetsu out that Barnaby seems to take this view. Barnaby reasons that it's fine because he can be rebuilt, but agrees to be more careful. Then we find out in part three that if certain bits were destroyed, he wouldn't be able to be reconstructed...
 * Mundane Luxury: Barnaby was damn near giddy the first time he got to people watch since having his soul transferred into his robot body.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: When Kotetsu tried to soothe Barnaby (who was destroying various pieces of technology in his panic to get back to his body) by calling him Bunny, Barnaby's response was make the words "not a bunny" appear on a screen.
 * No Social Skills: Barnaby tries, but after years of isolation, too much attention tends to make him a nervous wreck., but eventually warms up to the Brookses, and Kotetsu to a much lesser degree.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Subverted. If Kotetsu or  are talking about Barnaby they will refer to him by that name. As far as  concerned Barnaby's name is Angel.
 * People Puppets: Barnaby pulls this trick twice on a mechanical level;  and once on the Wild Tiger armor, both times to save Kotetsu.
 * Prompt Fic: Would you believe that each of the fics in the trilogy started as a prompt?
 * Purely Aesthetic Glasses: robot Barnaby wears them.
 * Revenge Before Reason:
 * Ridiculously-Human Robots: Justified by Barnaby, who used to be human.  was an accident.
 * Secret Identity: Whenever Barnaby goes out in public he uses the name Rory Brooks.
 * Shout-Out: Several, as the author admits borrowing from known robot tropes.
 * Barnaby's net-diving is similar to that used in Ghost in the Shell.
 * is a shout out to The Vision.
 * is pulled from Metropolis.
 * Smart People Build Robots: The good Doctors Brooks and Brooks are roboticists.
 * Soul Jar: What Barnaby's robot body amounts to.
 * Unperson: Barnaby is one, essentially
 * Vague Age: Barnaby stopped keeping track of his age when he was 16. No one else's ages have been stated.
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * We Are as Mayflies: Barnaby and
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: A driving point in the series. Part of the reason Barnaby stayed hidden for so long was because even as a fully sentient android, he was still legally "just a robot" and could be ordered detained or even dismantled. There's also a sliding scale among the characters as to how much Barnaby and  still qualify.
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * We Are as Mayflies: Barnaby and
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: A driving point in the series. Part of the reason Barnaby stayed hidden for so long was because even as a fully sentient android, he was still legally "just a robot" and could be ordered detained or even dismantled. There's also a sliding scale among the characters as to how much Barnaby and  still qualify.