I Am Omega

Happy new year, everyone.

For my first entry of 2025, I’ll finally reveal my name.

Not my legal name I use at work or on my lease. But one I was using as a username online when I was in high school, “Omega.”

Sure, the theories of Ω-logic and ω-consistent may have something to do with the title of this site, _OMEGALOGIC. But the main source of inspiration for using that Greek letter was a character I created when I was a teenager.

Back then, I was coming up with all sorts of stories and figures before having an OC (original character) was cool. Mostly in the realm of sci-fi. Actually, I’m still doing that today.

I had that idea of one character. His name is Omega. (He has a family name too, but I won’t divulge it to protect his privacy. ;) He is the leader of the Eternals, a human-like species living in a place far away in another galaxy. Aboard his spaceship, he’s able to travel almost anywhere in the universe instantly by piercing holes into the fabric of space-time. He has blue hair and wears fake leather pants. You know, sci-fi style.

Online, I embodied his name, despite not looking like him. Then again, who didn’t do that. Every chat room I was in had dozens of users borrowing their names from anime characters, celebrities, and famous wrestlers. I wasn’t so different after all.

Somewhere on IRC, I remember befriending someone of my age who wanted to become an illustrator. Over time, we exchanged lots of messages and even became pen pals for a short time—which remained a thing back then, albeit fading out of popularity. We’d talk about our creations all the time and she had quite the talent. I remember she was posting comics on her website, sometimes with some animations done using Flash.

One time, she surprised me with a letter in the mail, with mockups of Omega:

Just as I imagined, Omega looked heroic but also someone grounded to be an explorer, captaining a starship… in terms of an anime that would be for teenagers.

It was cool back then to have penpals. The Internet was still all on dial-up, so it wasn’t uncommon to forge relationships with people online with whom you’d exchange physical mail. I had quite a few penpals back then. One caught the attention of my mom in particular as that person used the moniker “Son of Jenova,” the title beared by the silver-hair Sephiroth, the antagonist of Final Fantasy VII. They wrote that in their sender’s address, and as a mom had no idea what was “Jenova,” she jumped to the conclusion that I was recruited by a religious organisation. Explaining to her what was going on was a fun time. Ah, parents…

Sadly, like many people I’ve met back then, I’ve lost touch with that artist. Her site is long gone and I can’t retrieve it from any archive. I hope she became a full-time illustrator and realised her dream.

As for me, I never published any story about Omega. Not sure if I should–writing about him earlier alone was enough to make me cringe. Maybe someday I will. But before that day comes, the character needs development.

That aside, while I don’t share his physique, I do dye my hair blue often. Perhaps imagining the character was foretelling…