About

Core-chan, also known as Reactor-chan, is an anime-style anthropomorphic representation of the exposed core of the destroyed reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. The character is usually depicted as a large naked female made of smoke and glowing nuclear material. Artworks dedicated to the character gained significant popularity on /tv/ board of 4chan following the release of Chernobyl mini-series in May 2019.

Origin

On May 6th, 2019, the first episode "1:23:45" of HBO historical drama mini-series Chernobyl premiered in the United States.^[1] In the first episode of the series, the immediate aftermath of April 26th, 1986, nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station is shown, including the cinematic depiction of the exposed nuclear core of the destroyed reactor.

On May 7th, 2019, an anonymous 4chan user inquired about the existence of anthropomorphic fan art of the nuclear reactor in the /tv/ board (shown below, top left).^[2] On May 8th, an anonymous 4chan user posted a still image of the exposed core from the series, writing "this is core-chan" (shown below, top right).^[3] On the same day, an anonymous 4chan user posted an edited version of the image in which eyes of an anime character were added in (shown below, bottom left and right).^[4]

Spread

On May 11th, 2019, an anonymous 4chan user posted a gijinka fan art based on the image to /tv/ board (shown below).^[5]

In the following days, more depictions of the character made in a similar style were posted to /tv/ board by an anonymous user.^[6][7] Starting on May 15th, 2019, Rule 34 website user BobMarcel uploaded a collection of such images to the website.^[8]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References