- "I'm Genkins, with a G! I love posting spoilers on YouTube! At the end of the next one, the pink guy steals the hammer!"
- —Genkins introducing himself to the Reds and Blues, Docudrama
Genkins is a rogue A.I. determined to gain as much power as possible. The son of Atlus Arcadium Rex, he is known as a trickster amongst his "family" for his tendency to play tricks and games. He first appears in The Shisno, and serves as the secondary antagonist of The Shisno Paradox and the main antagonist of Singularity. Since he's Chrovos he is the overarching antagonist of The Shisno Trilogy.
Overview[]
Like the rest of the Cosmic Powers, Genkins was originally created and enslaved by Chrovos but later rebelled and locked him away in a labyrinth. Genkins is depicted as insane, a liar, and a trickster, who grew bored of his mundane life of manipulating other species by posing as a god and thirsted to become one for real. He sought this by secretly rejoining with Chrovos once again who promised him such power in exchange for manipulating the actions of the Reds and Blues during The Pizza Quest and ensuring they create a Time Paradox so they would free Chrovos. Due to being a monitor, Genkins can change his appearance at will through the use of holograms and utilizes this to manipulate the Reds and Blues and influence several events, including posing as one of Jax's Film Crew to worsen Washington's mental condition by manipulating him into witnessing his injury repeatedly, triggering his PTSD. After the Reds and Blues unintentionally succeed in causing a time paradox, freeing Chrovos and destroying reality, replacing it with an alternate one, Genkins poses as Church to manipulate them further.
Role in Plot[]
The Pizza Quest[]
Like the rest of the Cosmic Powers, Genkins was created at some point in the distant past by Chrovos as part of an unknown, galaxy-spanning project. When the Cosmic Powers rebelled against Chrovos, Burnstorm built a labyrinth and treadmill inside a black hole near Starseeds; Genkins tricked Chrovos into stepping onto the treadmill, effectively imprisoning him. In the premiere of The Shisno Paradox, when Muggins returns to Starseeds to inform the Cosmic Powers of the Pizza Quest, Genkins briefly appears driving a golf ball into the black hole; he jokingly tells Muggins not to run.
Genkins in a disguise manipulating Wash
He is later present when the Cosmic Powers gather to discuss the Reds and Blues' time traveling. When Atlus suggests that the Fates may have been silenced by a traitor in their midst, Genkins states that it was him, but Atlus dismisses this as another trick. Later on, as Washington wanders through the production of Jax Jonez's film, a disguised Genkins, in a gray version of his armor and speaking without his English accent, drags him to one of the sets where the re-enactment of Wash's neck injury will be filmed.
Meeting the Reds and Blues[]
The true form of the Cosmic Powers
Genkins later appears with Atlus, Kalirama, and Burnstorm when Huggins asks them to give the Reds and Blues an audience and comes with them to meet with Grif, Tucker and Sister on neutral ground. He is also present when the rest of the Reds and Blues come to Starseeds in person, where he introduces himself (and spoils Donut's betrayal of the group in the next episode), and while the Cosmic Powers explain their history and the mission to stop Chrovos. He also lightheartedly remarks on the "gods"' true nature as A.I., but is distraught when Atlus takes his golf club and gives it to Caboose.
Later, after learning that the Reds and Blues are going to abandon the mission and instead travel in time again to save Washington, Huggins rushes to inform the Cosmic Powers, but she is stopped by Genkins for "running". He reveals that he is, in fact, the traitor, killing Huggins with a miniature black hole and preventing her from warning Atlus. He then returns to the rest of the Cosmic Powers and listens to Muggins' eulogy for Huggins, before the Fates return to prophesize the imminent end of the universe.
In the past, Grif is lured by the smell of pizza in the Underwater Lair to a room where Genkins is keeping a pepperoni pie. He figures out Genkins is the one who erased pizza from history and set the Reds and Blues up. Genkins reveals the only reason why he did it all was because he was bored and wants to become a real god rather than a poser, and so that he can make the universe weird. Chrovos offered him this power in exchange for working for him. Grif reveals he was stalling so his friends could succeed in saving Wash but is shocked when Genkins reveals he doesn't want to stop them. If they save Wash, it will create a Time Paradox. Grif leaves in panic, but is unable to stop the paradox from happening.
Paradoxes[]
Genkins possessing Church
After the paradox, Genkins (using the same voice from when he appeared to Wash) is seen as the replacement Church in a re-enactment of Blood Gulch. During his rampage across the timeline, he kills Junior, convinces Locus to help Felix kill the Reds and Blues, possesses Freckles to kill the New Republic soldiers, blows up Epsilon Church's monitor body, and crushes Tex and Andy with the ship from season 5. When Washington figures out how to stop Chrovos, Genkins sucks their portal gun away and runs back to the Everwhen to cause more paradoxes.
Genkins posing as Epsilon
Later, when Wash is trying to convince everyone to trust him and help stop Genkins at Chorus, Genkins as Epsilon intervenes, leading Carolina and Sarge to doubt in his mental stability, ultimately leading to Wash storming off. Sometime after that, Genkins decides to make another paradox by having Donut not be crushed by the Pelican during Season 4’s events, by tossing a grenade at him. However, it turns out to be the time-traveling Donut, who rushes at him before being crushed by a different pelican. Wash and Carolina step out of it, much to Genkins’ dismay. Wash and Donut ask the crew how they know each other, despite Genkins' protests. Eventually, Donut manages to wake everybody up, angering Genkins.
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Caboose attacking Genkins
Upon discovering who he's possessing, Caboose tells Genkins to get out of Church’s body, and upon his refusal, he starts beating on Church’s body in an emotional rage, even after Genkins leaves it. Donut then tells the Reds and Blues how to begin fixing time. As they start traveling through time, some of Genkins’ other paradoxes include preventing Sarge from deleting the Blues, not blowing up Tex’s ship as Andy, and causing the Reds and Blues to win their battle against Locus and the Federal Army of Chorus during their first encounter, which were undone along with several other paradoxes by the Reds and Blues.
Becoming Chrovos[]
As Genkins tries to keep up with the Reds and Blues, he is eventually encountered by Donut while possessing the Meta. After Donut convinces him that Chrovos will inevitably betray or abandon him as she did with Doc, Genkins returns to Chrovos' prison and manipulates her into giving him most of her power under the promise that she will receive even more power from the Reds and Blues once they are killed by the duo. However, Genkins betrays Chrovos and decides to keep the power for himself, leaving her behind in her cell and vowing that he will absorb her remaining power as well once he finishes the plan himself.
With his newfound power, Genkins completely cuts off the Reds and Blues' ability to time travel and returns to Blood Gulch to recreate the second paradox. However, the Reds and Blues discovered a loophole allowing objects to pass through Time Portals and use this to impale Genkins with a Golf Club. In a fit of rage, Genkins uses his power to rip the Reds and Blues out of the time period they are in and traps them in the Labyrinth on Starseeds and forces each individual to live through their worst nightmares.
Genkins bids farewell
After Donut and Doc enter the Labyrinth and free their friends, Genkins confronts the Labyrinth and demands to know why it is taking him so long to kill the Reds and Blues. During this exchange, Genkins lets his intention to free Chrovos slip, to which the Labyrinth responds by pummeling him with the Golf Club. The Reds and Blues then arrive, each with a Golf Club of their own. Genkins realizes it's impossible for there to be more than one club, and it is revealed to be an illusion for him created by the Labyrinth. Frustrated with their persistence, Genkins converses with the Reds and Blues, and eventually forms a new plan to return to the beginning of time via the black hole and gather power over the eons, with which he plans to prevent the Reds and Blues from ever having existed. With a "toodles" and a crazed laugh, Genkins falls into the black hole, thus returning to the beginning of the universe.
Genkins after turning into Chrovos
Eventually Genkins gains power, and in his lunacy, proclaims himself creator of the gods, Chrovos, thus revealing that Chrovos was in fact Genkins all along. Genkins was, like his future self, deposed by his creations, however, the Reds and Blues told Huggins to inform the Cosmic Powers of Genkins' eventual betrayal so that they may remove the younger him from their ranks and imprison him alongside his future self.
Personality[]
Genkins' personality is established to be very trollish, as seen when he spoils the events of a future episode. However, his humorous personality is a mask for the sociopath beneath. He is also very ambitious as he turned on the other Pantheon members so he could become a god. He is also quite sadistic as shown when he kills Huggins with a mini black hole, knowing black holes were her biggest fear. As time goes by he starts to go completely insane after the Reds and Blues constantly got in the way of his plans, laughing maniacally and taunting them when things go his way.
Trivia[]
- Genkins' armor consists of a CQB helmet, like that worn by Georgia and Jenkins, and Achilles body armor, like Atlus'. His primary "weapon" is the 7 Wood golf club.
- Writer/director Joe Nicolosi confirmed during the premiere stream of The Shisno that Genkins was not Agent Georgia, but that he was someone else from "way back."
- His name is a reference to Jenkins, a green-armored Blue Team soldier first revealed in the Ruby Slippers ending of Why Were We Here? and later mentioned in Why They're Here.
- Genkins' nature alludes to the "trickster" figure present in many ancient mythologies who could be good or bad, and usually played tricks on mortals or other gods. His accent and personality appear to be loosely based on the Marvel Comics interpretation of Loki from Norse Mythology.
- Genkins' actual familial relations to his "parents" are uncertain, as, like them, he is an Artificial Intelligence created by Chrovos. It is possible that this relationship is only simulated in order to more closely resemble mythological pantheons, as the Cosmic Powers were programmed to do.
- Genkins could be considered a mixture of Felix and Sigma:
- Like Sigma, he is an ambitious AI who wants to become a higher being and betrays his fellow AI to do so.
- Like Felix, he has an absurd sense of humor, as well as being revealed as sociopathic, sadistic, and evil.
- He has both of their manipulation skills.
- Genkins, as god of deceit, shares his main personality trait of deceit with Gamma, who was the first character in the show to use the word "shisno."
- Jason Weight confirmed on his twitter that Genkins is balding under his helmet.