V2

[haastera-001]

Murder Drones Summarized & Explained

It's not quite a Murder Drones for beginners, but it should hopefully be helpful towards making sense of the MD lore thus far.

Currently also hope to release a Google Doc version that's more of a true Guide to Murder Drones.

Apologies for how long this took and the amateur nature of the video. I drastically underestimated the amount of effort and time that would go into this. General life, exams, and a few hospital trips courtesy of my low-quality immune system and poorly designed eustachian tubes certainly didn't help my schedule.

As you can probably imagine, isolating myself from all things Murder Drones and the community to get this done was torturous. At least I'll have episode 7 or a teaser for it as my post-isolation reward.

[haastera-001]

Beginner's Primer

How much info do you think should be in a beginner's guide to Murder drones, and what should be covered?

I'm not sure where the line between introductory guide and encyclopedic lore vault is drawn.

Not that they are necessarily mutually exclusive. A beginner's guide and a continually updated, all-encompassing Murder drone lore hub would both be valuable.

The wiki is decent but lacks a lot of the finer details.

[kittydragondraws]

We should create a "murder drones for beginners" guide

[haastera-001]

Seeing how Murder Drones is a fast-paced series with an admittedly confusing plot and small background details that are easy to miss, I agree that some sort of Murder Drone primer would be massively beneficial to any newcomers.

I already kind of have something akin to that, but I feel 50+ pages of Murder Drone's notes, details, and theories with accompanying episode timestamps might be a little daunting for a beginner's guide.

[haastera-001]

TADC Theory

My compulsive need to theorize about every series I like made me write this.

If we are to assume that the final shot of the episode is truthful, it means that TADC isn't a Sword Art Online-type situation. The real Pomni would be slumped over on the desk still wearing the headset if it were.

If Pomni was magically sucked into the screen her VR headset would be on the floor or dangling off the desk. Instead, it's sitting neatly to the side on top of the desk.

The last possibility is that the Pomni in the circus isn't the human Pomni. She's an AI copy of her mind. A memoryless digital construct of her personality created from the real Pomni's brainwaves (or some other sci-fi explanation) read by the headset.

Think of what a circus is. You don't play a circus. You watch a circus. TADC could be a prototype game or game show where the players and audience watch digital copies of themselves. Pomni being a digital construct of a real person would explain quite a few things.

-It'd explain why she has no memory, not even remembering her name.

-It'd explain why there is no body connected to the VR headset and how the headset itself is placed on the table to the side rather than being on the floor.

-It'd explain how some characters have apparently been there for years as time could flow much faster for digital constructs.

-It'd explain why they don't need to eat or sleep.

-It'd explain why they can't leave.

Caine, for all his Caineness, does not appear to be actively malicious. The characters can feel pain. There are far more effective ways to make them suffer if suffering is his goal. So if Caine isn't evil and is clearly aware of the outside world based on the mock exit he creates, why doesn't he explain everything to them?

It might be because there genuinely is no exit. To reveal that to the characters would necessitate explaining to them why there is no exit, and the revelation that there is truly no hope because they never physically existed in the first place is the type of knowledge that risks making them all abstract.

-Just some thoughts after watching the pilot.

[mars-file-name]

Something I find interesting about Tessa's portrayal in Murder Drones is how throughout the flashbacks, her entire body is obscured, leaving only her silhouette and- the shape of her eyes. She always looks expressive, and what she feels is conveyed by the look on her face, despite there being so little.

However once we finally see her as more than a silhouette, when she finally gains texture, and color, the one thing still obscured, is her face.

Not to say she doesn't express stuff in different ways, there's still body language, and voice intonation. However I find it interesting how the one thing we were able to see previously, is now the one thing obscured.

I dunno if this means anything, I haven't connected the dots there yet, but I find it intriguing to think about!

[haastera-001]

I knew I wasn't insane when I kept insisting that the planets in the sky would be relevant. Looks like Nori thought so too.

The Murder drone corpse spire reaching toward the sky is a possible hint regarding their ultimate purpose.

[projectanomaly-deactivated20231]

That adds to the show’s religious symbolism.

There’s a story known as the Tower of Babel, where a bunch of rejects tried building a tower to Heaven and were punished by having their spoken languages mixed up, preventing them from communicating and being able to finish the tower.

One, this could hint as to the solver’s goal. Maybe that Saturn in the sky has some kind of forbidden knowledge or central database that the solver wants access to. Mayyyybe it’s the place where the md clones are made? I’m just throwing ideas at the wall I guess.

As for the language thing. One, programming languages are a thing. Two, maybe doll speaks Russian for an important reason.

[haastera-001]

I'm pleasantly surprised at my enjoyment of TADC pilot despite the premise not sounding particularly interesting to me at first. As far as people being trapped in dangerous games go, TADC is shaping up to be one of the better executions of that concept.

It's not hard to appreciate a dark/mature comedy series that doesn't rely on "the characters make sex jokes and say fuck a lot, please laugh".

[haastera-001]

I knew I wasn't insane when I kept insisting that the planets in the sky would be relevant. Looks like Nori thought so too.

The Murder drone corpse spire reaching toward the sky is a possible hint regarding their ultimate purpose.

[haastera-001]

It's all coming together in my little reptile brain. Nori has a drawing of a wormhole. That's what the episode 6 anomaly is. A (temporarily) stable wormhole.

Now the question is, a wormhole to where?

I'd wager this is how Doll's teleportation works as well. She uses the solver to create a small wormhole lasting just long enough for her to teleport to her destination (likely limited to locations she has physically been to before).

[projectanomaly-deactivated20231]

Maybe this particular wormhole was a portal to Uzi’s home. I doubt she’d have anything on her mind but the will to escape.

[haastera-001]

UZI better pray those two sentinels didn't survive the trip if it was.

[haastera-001]

It's all coming together in my little reptile brain. Nori has a drawing of a wormhole. That's what the episode 6 anomaly is. A (temporarily) stable wormhole.

Now the question is, a wormhole to where?

I'd wager this is how Doll's teleportation works as well. She uses the solver to create a small wormhole lasting just long enough for her to teleport to her destination (likely limited to locations she has physically been to before).

[haastera-001]

Interestingly the location ep6 takes place was apparently considered part of Outpost 003.

The naming scheme suggests that 003 is the outpost, and any sub-divisions of the outpost are designated by 03-01, 03-02, 03-25, etc.

On the red half of the sign, it looks like the names of several other outposts have been scratched unevenly into the metal going all the way up to outpost 009.

Outpost 9 is the one Khan received his award for in 3064.

[haastera-001]

The biggest revelation for me comes from the scene where N finds the Zombie drones tape. Before I could never fully make out if it was a human or drone hand recoiling in the darkness. However, now I'm 100% sure it's a human hand. Not just any Human hand, it's the same left hand that appears after UZI sees the hologram/hallucination of Tessa.

Implications abound, as it means that it's not a hallucination. That hand really was physically there.

That's why I'm starting to think there was a third party present at Cabin Fever labs during Ep4. It's clear that Doll had to have been there too, as she was aware that UZI had the golden bug, having seen her pick it up. She can't be a solver hallucination as UZI is never aware of her presence and the shot isn't from UZI's POV.

Yet if that -

And possibly this (though I'm less sure about this one given the eye color) was the real Doll, what's with the human hand?

There's only a single entity that specific hand has been associated with thus far. The Eldtrich J absolute solver. Black holes in this series are heavily associated with teleportation. It's possible N and UZI didn't kill the corrupted solver core at the end of Ep2. The black holes it and Eldtrich J's body imploded into were a last-resort escape mechanism. Perhaps it teleported to Cabin Fever labs to repair itself.

Doll doesn't have yellow eyes like UZI and Nori have when they are fully under CYN's control, so I don't think that's the case here.

Both Doll and the solver core simultaneously stalking UZI at Cabin Fever labs does sound a little far-fetched. Despite that, I'm not sure how else to explain the physical presence of that left hand and simultaneously how the real Doll would know that UZI had the golden insect in episode 5.

[haastera-001]

This one is a little more uncertain (it could just be a trick of the light).

In the first scene where UZI pans over the room with her flashlight, there appears to be a pair of eyes peaking out at her. The eyes are no longer visible when UZI looks back a few moments later after hearing a noise emanating from their direction.

[haastera-001]

Dark Scene Details

Just got a new monitor that's drastically superior to my old ones at displaying dark scenes.

I figured I might as well use Murder drones to test it out & calibrate it.

A detail I hadn't realized until now is that the fireplace in the building UZI briefly explores is smoldering. While it's possible for electrical systems to be automated and remain active for years in isolation, the smoldering remnants of a fire are proof that someone or something physical was there recently. I'd be inclined to say Doll although after this re-watch I'm suspicious that there was a third party there as well.

[haastera-001]

"A step-to Guide of overcoming the emotional revolt evoked by mutilating innocent sentient robots capable of emotion and independent thought"

Putting my eyes through the torture of deciphering background text like that is probably why I need glasses.

A JCJ bestseller, I'm sure.

[haastera-001]

Forgot to mention it earlier; this ep6 scene finally confirms that the hand lights on a drone change colour in the event of direct possession. The new colour corresponds to the drone possessing them.

Remote possession does not cause a change in colour.

All that's to say I'm now completely confident in the theory that Nori is gradually possessing Thad. I don't see any plausible alternative explanation whatsoever. It's obviously not UZI's doing. Nori is the only other drone that fits the criteria.

[projectanomaly-deactivated20231]

HEY WAIT A GODDAMNED SECOND

THE CRUCIFIXION POSE

IN EP3

AS IN A UNIVERSAL SYMBOL FOR SACRIFICE

WAS THIS FUCKING FORESHADOWING THE EP6 ENDING? WHERE V

YKNOW

SACRIFICED HERSELF

[haastera-001]

Could also be foreshadowing her eventual resurrection.