It's absolutely brilliant that the Chosen One's biggest weakness in a fight is also emblematic of his biggest character flaw: holding back.
Right after using all but one of his powers to completely eviscerate the first ViraBot, he attacks Dark... and he's STILL only using CQC and his fire and eye beams, like he always does.
He ends up clinging to the front of Agent's motorcycle, both of them staring at each other with less than ten feet between them. One use of the laser eyes would have decapitated him, but Chosen refuses - instead making the iceberg to just try and scare the mercenaries off.
It takes a torture session from Victim before he starts really fighting back as hard as he can and incinerating his clones.
And, with the release of Beta... we now know that Chosen started having his second thoughts about his rampages after just a month, but it took seven years and the creation of a superweapon by Dark for him to finally put his foot down and speak up. He swallowed his negative feelings and went along with everything for seven years just to avoid having a confrontation with his only friend.
I really think the trauma of those four years being restricted and depowered did something to his head. He's the most powerful being in this setting, and yet he seems to be actively denying himself any agency. Maybe because it's so familiar to be denied agency and to not be able to use his powers to their full extent.
Sometimes it's a good thing - holding back from killing other stick figures is emblematic of why he's a good person at heart who just had an extremely destructive beginning. But that tendency to hold back, to only fight as hard as he needs to to avoid murder, stems from a bigger problem. If it wasn't for that problem, maybe he could have cut off Dark before they went completely off the deep end, rather than always acquiescing to their destructive impulses.
Gonna be honest, I didnāt expect this video to drop as much lore as 11, but HOLY SHIT.
- Good to see Victim didnāt do anything to Yellow, just looked through his memories. But the fact that Agent mimicked him and baited Alan was amazing and pure genius.
- Love that the shutters on the cage Orange is in can just be pulled apart lmao. Unless thatās Orange unconsciously using super strengthā¦
- Orange trying to use his powers, getting frustrated, but then choosing to listen to what Blue would probably suggest he do (calm down and focus) is so cool, and shows just how much he knows them/how close they are. I love it.
- AGENT FOUND WHEN THE CG WERE KILLED BUT JUST IGNORED IT BECAUSE HE WAS SO FOCUSED ON GETTING THE CURSOR NOOOO FAM
- I thought the camera was Victim at first, until it started scuttling around like a spider and following Victim. Then I entertained the thought it couldāve been Dark. BUT I DIDNāT EXPECT TO BE RIGHT.
- THEY DIDNāT TIE UP RED GREEN AND BLUE?! THEY WERE RIGHT THERE IN THE PARKING LOT! GUYS. CMON. Yāall suck at your jobs. Do you not get paid enough for that?
- The lakeside shack is soooo grungy. No oneās been there in years. Chosen definitely abandoned that place.
- [This begs the question of where Darkās been tho. And why heās suddenly getting involved. Why was he spying on Victim? Or was he spying on Chosen?]
- CLONE GREY WORKER THEORY CANON!!! CLONE GREY WORKER THEORY CANON!!!
- Blue opening a door to Hazard, who just holds up a stop sign, fucking killed me.
- I love that you can see how worried Alan was, drumming his fingers on his arm.
- Red is such a child lmao. Yellow and Orange are captured, and he still takes the time to default dance on Ballista. Never change, Red.
- I like to think Greenās time as a sugarcane came in handy during his confrontation with Primalās tendrilā¦thingiesā¦
- Also, the mercs are making a MESS of Victimās facility.
- THE SHEEP IS ALIVE :D
- āHeās In Troubleā Technically accurate, if disingenuous.
- That trap for Alan was absolutely diabolical. Hiding Victim by painting the wall behind him his exact color, using Yellow to give instructionsā¦It mimics a virusās behavior so much. Malware often infect computers by making the user do things for them, and to see Victim and Agent doing thatā¦Delicious.
- A while ago, on Twitter, I studied Victimās crazy wall, and tried to figure out what he had circled on the right click menu. I noticed it was the rename option. This felt significant, but I couldnāt figure out what heād use this for. I feel very vindicated for noticing this, and I LOVE how it payed off. Victim renaming himself, to give himself powers. Amazing. Love it so much.
- [This also feels like itās setting up a future scene where Alan will undo this change at the end of the season, but not rename him Victim, instead something kinder.]
- Victim changing the rename from āHACKERā to āH4CK3Rā is so funny. āNo no, spell it this way! Itās gotta be cooler!ā
- Also, Alan absolutely recognized Victimās name. He hesitated. He knew something was up.
- The tiny scene of Orange after Alan renames Victim is interesting. He def noticed or felt something, somehow, before the shockwave even happened.
- Love that Victimās powers are blue themed. Also hate that I had a post in my drafts FOR MONTHS about the parallel of Green Life Energy & Blue Code in AvA11 and Orangeās Green Powers & Victimās Blue Theme. I WAS RIGHT BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS A NONSENSE REACH SO I NEVER POSTED IT. GOD DAMMIT!!!
- āiām coming home. did you miss me?ā Chilling. Love it. Itās so taunting, so snarky, so malicious. Love it. Also sounds exactly like an angry child lol
- Chosen finally gets out of The Box and his chair :D And then instantly gets renamed and his powers taken away. Oof. Chosen is NOT having a good day. At least heās freeā¦? And not dead?
- Victim forcibly downgrading Alanās computer to Windows XP LMAO This bitch is so petty and stuck in his past.
- THAT 3D DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT WAS SO FUCKING COOL HOLY SHIT WHAT
- Human side of the screen revealed! WE WERE RIGHT, ALAN IS JUST A FACE WITH GLOWING GLASSES TO THEM. THATāS SO FUNNY. And itās probably not intentional or anything special, thatās probably just the light of the screen reflecting off his glasses lol. Heās also only clouded in shadows cuz Victim downgrading the PC ruined the lights. Itās so funny that his visage was made so dramatic, when to the CG he prolly looks normal lmao
- I love how a lot of Victimās attacks are towards the direction of the screen, towards Alanās real self. Heās fighting the cursor, but his aggression also extends to Alan himself beyond it. But the screen is as close as heāll ever get to actually hitting Alan himself. Breaking the cursor is all he can do to hurt him.
- ayyy Victim finally won that fight. Only took him 19 years. (17, in the timeline.)
- Alanā¦Alan youāve lived with stick figures for nearly ten years by this point in the timeline. And had experience with stick figures in general for seventeen. Alan youāve experienced them ruining your files so many times. Youāve experienced them screwing up the computer itself so many times. Please donāt tell me that you trusted LITERALLY ALL OF YOUR STUFF to be safe on your computer. DO YOU NOT HAVE A BACKUP?!?! ALAN PLEASE ITS BEEN 17 YEARS PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOUāVE LEARNED TO HAVE A BACKUP HARDDRIVE THAT YOU FREQUENTLY UPDATE. PLEASE. ALAN WHY ARE YOU PANICKING ABOUT YOUR FILES, THEYāRE BACKED UP RIGHT?!
- Theyāre not backed up, are they. Alan, Cmon manā¦
- Inside of the PC while itās off reveal! Itās cool that some of the things Victim destroyed lingered there. They like, froze where they were when it shut off. Neat!
- Dark CLAPPING because heās impressed with Victimās āperformanceā, I cannot with this bitch. He is such a douchebag, I hate him. No I donāt, I love him, but heās such an asshole.
- THATS NOT THE SAME VIRABOT AS BEFORE. ITS DIFFERENT. IT DOESNāT HAVE FACE SPIKES AND ITS BODY IS SHAPED DIFFERENT. THATS A NEW VIRABOT. HE REMADE THEM. DARK REMADE THEM. THEYāRE PROBABLY WORSE NOW. WEāRE FUCKED.
- Orange didnāt kill all of the Virabots. And, honestly? That makes sense. Why would Dark have summoned ALL of the ones he had into that fight? And even if he DID, Orange only killed the ones Dark threw at him, and the oneās he almost sent into the internet. Orange didnāt seek them out, he was responding to them. Dark, upon seeing Orange rip them apart, could have sent some away to keep them from being destroyed. Dark is arrogant, but heās not dumb. He himself tried to flee that fight when he realized Orange was too powerful. Heās not above tactically retreating. He likely ordered the Virabots to do the same.
- Whatās interesting is that the Virabots seemed to have found him and put him back together. Which is an idea I saw before in a few things, but most people thought Chosen probably went and found him, to confirm his was dead. Gonna be honest, I like the Virabots doing it instead. Thatās just cool. Their subservience/loyalty to him extends beyond Darkās potential death. Made to serve, completely and totally. Love it.
- Darkās mission statement is active and unmodified. All theories about it being destroyed or altered are now debunked. Dark had it for the entire time he and Chosen were together.
- Darkās viral powers are now a lot moreā¦goopy. I wonder if this was always how they functioned, and we just never got to see it because of the way he used them in Showdown didnāt allow for it, OR if itās a side effect of being reconstructed by the Virabots. Being killed could have altered them, destabilizing or glitching them. Iām unsure of which it probably is. Dark showcasing his goop could just be him showing how they worked to Victim as much as it is showing us, it doesnāt really answer this question. Itās possible his hand nub being black now implies that theyāve been changed in some way after his death.
- Alan said that we were at least going to see Mitsi again, when asked if she was going to be revived. With what Dark seems to be suggesting they do, use his viral goop to bring her backā¦I canāt help but feel like thatās going to end HORRIBLY. That is a recipe for disaster. That is not the way Vic should revive her. But heās desperate, and he wants that. So heās probably going to. Vic no :( ā¦.
- Dark also just played him like a fiddle. Victim just got manipulated so bad. Dark is offering the thing he knows Victim cares about more than anything, due to him spying on Victim, in order to persuade Victim into joining him. Because Dark wants Victimās power. Dark wants Vic to join him so he can continue destroying the internet. He wants a new partner. Dark wants a replacement Chosen One. Which Victim now has the capacity to be. And given how Victim still seems to have not known about Darkās existence until now, itās possible that Victim is completely clueless about Darkās nature and what heās done. Which has the potential for one hell of an explosive backfire if Victim learns that Dark mightāve been the one to kill Mitsi. Even if he doesnāt, I canāt see Victim being very on board with destroying stuff and killing sticks. He hasnāt fallen to that level of evil yet, which very much puts him in the same position Chosen had been. Unless Dark doesnāt want to destroy the internet, instead targeting Alan or Orange (for revenge), but even still, Dark would probably want to turn back to the internet after theyāre done with them. So itāll be a difficult situation Victim is in regardless. This partnership is a recipe for disasterā¦itās gonna blow up.
So, in conclusion, where weāre left off at is:
Chosen is powerless and stuck at the lake, Orange is still stuck in jail, Yellow is in The Box, Red Green and Blue have successfully duped the remaining Mercs and are loose in Rocket Corp, Agent was left behind at the shack, Alan was forced to unplug his computer, Victim now has code powers, Dark is alive with a new breed of Virabot and his powers are goopy, and Victim and Dark have possibly teamed up.
Itās not looking good, chat.
A friendly reminder that Season 3 is planned to run to Episode 15. We have three more episodes to go to wrap everything up. We havenāt even made it to the climax of the season yet.
Oof.
Some final thoughts:
- Victimās ability to manipulate the cursor into renaming a stick posses a serious danger for Orange. He could wipe Orangeās powers as easily as he did Chosenās. Unless Orange is somehow immune. It might be a good thing the computer/cursor is out of play right nowā¦
- This ability could also pose a threat to Dark, if they turn against each other.
- This ability could also come back, if Victim realizes how much of a threat to the entire Internet Dark is and isnāt able to defeat him himself. Victim might potentially need to rename Chosen and give him back his powers, depending on how big and bad of threat Dark could become. And with Victims new powers added into the mixā¦the potential for Dark to do something or for Vic to royally fuck up is significant. This are gonna get worse, somehow, and we can only hope Victim comes back from the point of no return before itās too late.
- This new name change info throws a lot of what we thought of how sticks work into turmoil again. Because we thought that AvA11 established that a stickās name was intrinsically tied to their identity, their very being. We thought thatās how Alan kept remarking Victim. But now it seems that a stick can be renamed and then takes on aspects of that name. And the names also seem a lot moreā¦ambiguous, than we thought it was. The change from HACKER to H4CK3R seems to imply that spelling doesnāt matter, but intent also doesnāt seem to matter. Alan was clueless about what he was doing, he couldnāt have been subconsciously trying to instill certain powers. Chosen also didnāt seem to realize anything had happened, since he tried to fly, though granted he was paused and thus unaware for it in the first place. Itās a strange bit of new lore that Iāll have to think about some more.
- We now have no idea how Victim was being recreated. It he wasnāt being pulled back by his name, what was pulling him back? Do name changes for already existing sticks function differently from first being given a name at creation or recreation?
- The fact that Agent and Chosen were left in the same area is interesting. Also interesting is that Agent is probably clueless about Vic teaming up with Dark. Depending on what happens, Agent might be forced to turn against Victim, which would be painful for everyone involved. Agent wouldnāt WANT to betray Victim. But I feel like heād be pushed to if Victim became a danger to the Outernet.
- Victim might keep his powers after the end of the season. His Animation VERSUS card in the one livestream was vague and hinted at there being more to him. This was likely to keep his H4CK3R power reveal a secret. Animations VERSUS will likely contain these powers in his move sets, because now that we know about them, they know weāll want to play with them just like we want to play with Chosen and Darkās powers. It would be strange for the game to have them for Victimās gameplay, if he looses them at the end of the season.
- The fact that Agent saw the CG get revived has got to be significant. I will be so upset if thatās just glossed over to do a sneaky little pirouette over the fact that Orange can revive sticks if they donāt plan on reviving anyone.
Iām too tired to think anymore right now. My brain is fried. Iāll need to rewatch it a few more times later.
Also, the animation was fucking gorgeous. It was amazing. Absolutely stunning.
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