Although my taste in inflatio
Although my taste in inflation has 'refined' itself over the years - so to speak - I still find that I tend to associated lungpower and inflation fairly closely. Something about the idea of a character taking an enormous breath and actually swelling and distending with air - sometimes to the point of becoming completely spherical - then blasting it back out again with incredible force, has always had a strange yet strong appeal to me. Sadly, this gimmick or theme (whatever you want to call it) seems to be fairly rare in inflation fiction and artwork. I could probably count the number of stories I've seen it featured in on one hand and still have fingers left over.
Many parts of human body operate like balloons
Taking a broader look on nature - the way all cells are born include inflation. The way cells die are either via deflation or via bursting due to rupture or overfilling
It is so even for floral life - vegetation's structural strength comes from internal pressure, and trees are much stiffer than grass because the pressure inside them is much higher. Animals are much more delicate, they would pop if pumped as tight as the bushes they eat
We use all this quite real inflation in nature to construct our fantasies
Breathing in particular, in mammals at least, is performed by vast collections of tiny balloons hidden in chest, so when they fill, entire upper half of the body expands
It's not even anatomy - it is geometry
Chest expansion is especially accentuated and spectacularly visible when a mammal stands vertically and its fur is short or absent
We humans are privileged to see chest motions more than any other species
Maybe that's why breathing in comes to mind first when imagining inflation?
As for me I love it when people breathe in, especially ladies. An act of generous inhale, whether casual or in a sneeze, laughter, passion, agitation or surprise - always looks great
In a fantasy it is the way of filling by one's own effort, either willing or provoked. Inflatoray hits, and inflatee inhales. Swell dancer waves a hand - and everybody take a deep breath, those who are not inflated will breathe out and those who are partially inflated will inflate further. Laughing or gaping in surprise after drinking Sven's HeliCola or Dan's Liquid Helium will fill one quite fast
And of course - inflated exhale!
Take CriticalVolume - when he was writing Inflation Olympics breathing into another wasn't yet a thing so everyone walked with her own helium tank
Then came Battle of the Bulge by CaffieneX/Kurg and Inflate Club by Alec Deluxe legalizing exhalation as the preferred way for the characters to compete and achieve victory on the pages of this community
Of latest stories in this vein may I point on my good friend KirbyKid and his breath holding mechanics
Tradition and nature itself guarantee that breathing in will fascinate our descendants while there are humans on Earth