Not meaning to be rude or anything, but I was wondering what makes you see compatibility in Sam and Heartman? I've always seen Sam as too standoffish to reciprocate anything and Heartman being more needy than he could handle.
So hereâs the rub, I sincerely hope you werenât trying to be rude, cause, I dunno, I do still feel like your wording was a bit⊠rude. But that is okay. Its my choice to be a little offended, but Iâm not gonna hold that against you.
Letâs break things down, starting with canon.Â
Canonically, Sam shows little interest in anyone, and onlykind of opens up friendship-wise with Fragile, being playful with her over the cryptobiotes, and allowing her to touch him, willingly, because of story-drive necessity.
Canonically, there IS no romantic relationship for Sam, after the loss of his family. Fragile came a hair closer to being a possible canon ship, and I know there are people who can put up a decent argument for Deadman as a possible canon ship, but. Kojima left everything open ended on purpose. He left it open for each personâs interpretation, just like the story, the ambiguity of it gave everyone a different perspective on what happened. Some people saw Amelie as a manipulative, unfeeling monster (me), and some people thought she genuinely didnât want to end the world. Its opinion, its perspective. Moving on.
Canonically, no, thereâs nothing to truly show thereâs any kind of interest between Sam and Heartman. But that is the point of fandom, to take what we know of canon and extrapolate from it the possibilities of deeper relationships. Itâs true that in canon game story Heartman and Samâs interactions are few, so those no room to see more development of their friendship dynamics.
So, my perspective on the compatibility of these two starts with these things:
They both have suffered the loss of their families.
Neither of them were interested in the âreunite Americaâ bandwagon.Â
Heartman was a father once, he could offer Sam advice on caring for Lou
Sam gave Heartman his first step in moving past his grief and obsession
You used the term âstandoffishâ to describe Sam, and I can agree for the most part, Sam is standoffish, but to everyone he doesnât know. He was like that with Fragile, Deadman, Mama, Lockne. But. He did thaw a little to each of them because for one reason or another, heâd come to care for them. Heartman is the same.
However, Heartman is the only person in-game Sam willingly talked about the loss of his family to. Deadman looked up his records to find that information, and when he brought it up, Sam was terse and didnât want to talk about it.
With Heartman, it was Heartman himself speaking about the loss of his family. Sam relates to his loss, the sentiment that heâs âalready deadâ by saying âI know that feeling. Lost my family in an accident.â Only then, does Heartman mention heâd read about Samâs history. Itâs that interaction and dynamic that gives me the idea that thereâs potential for at the least a deeper friendship than some of the others.Â
Stepping to the next thing, the fact that they share the lack of enthusiasm for âReunited Americaâ also gives them a connection. Heartmanâs only desire to work with Bridges and the UCA is that he has access to the chiral network, and research materials. They keep him set up in a remote lab with equipment he needs for his medical issues, and lets him carry on toward his eventual death as long as heâs providing them with his findings in the meantime. I think that gives Sam reason to relax a bit, around Heartman. And, it was Samâs coming that I think was Heartmanâs first step to moving on from his endless search for his family. I wrote all that out in this post a week or so ago, go give it a read if you like.Â
And as for Heartman being needyâŠ. I mean? He is starved of human contact, god only knows how long heâs been at his remote lab without contact from another living soul. Heâs a bit awkward because of that, and I suspect heâs always been a little strange. Most scientists are in games or other media, pretty sure its a trope, even.
But! Heartman is a grown ass man, he probably knows heâs a bit needy, but also had self-control. Itâs clear that even though he does want to talk to Sam about more than the research, Mamaâs corpse, and whatnot, he doesnât invade Samâs boundaries. Two different times, he tries to shake hands with Sam, and once, he vaguely offers him a hug. My feeling from it was⊠Heâs a scientist, and heâs fascinated by Sam for a number of scientific reasons. Testing his boundaries was just one of the things he could do to analyze him unobtrusively.Â
Once he had a feel for Samâs personal space, he never tries to invade it, just offering thumbs up or down as a gesture of social interaction without the need for physical contact. If Heartman was needy, to an unhealthy degree, he wouldnât respect Samâs boundaries.
And lastly, post-game, Heartman was a father once. And as far as we know, Samâs never actually handled babies or children. He clearly didnât trust returning to the heart of the UCA after violating a directive by the âpresidentâ of the UCA.Â
Heartman worked remotely, away from the rest of the Bridges/UCA people. He had knowledge, he had room to spare, and we also know he would spoof the system to hide conversations from the UCAâs 24/7 surveillance. Why not call on him to help?
As for romantic/sexual shipping, well. We donât actually know what attracts Sam or Heartman to anyone, do we?Â
Hell, that crush you had in high school, do you remember why? Was there a reason? You see that one person, and suddenly thereâs a flutter in your stomach, but why? Did their smile make your heart skip a beat, did the way they wore their clothes make you a little hot under the collar? I love nicely shaped shoulders, and men with wide hips. Why? I have no clue, but itâs what I like. It just is. It was a spark, something inside me said âthis is attractiveâ. Hell, I had a crush on the biggest bitch in my school. I hated her personality, she was a bitch to everyone but her friends(which i was not), and she was a snobby rich kid. Pretty sure she didnât even know I existed, but every goddamned time I saw her, my stomach fluttered, and I couldnât function when she was in my presence, and Iâd blush if I was within 5 feet of her, even though she never even glanced my way. Why? I will never know.
Sooooo. Why not provide that spark, myself? No, it isnât canon, but so what? Neither is Sam/Fragile, or Sam/Deadman. Or Sam/Higgs, which is the popular ship in the fandom so far. Other than the heroxvillain trope, how the hell would we ever see Sam/Higgs together? Hate ships and enemies to lovers ships are out there, though, and they make delicious art. ;]
Ya wanna know an even less likely ship? Higgs/Heartman. Why? Because I can. Deal with it.Â
ANYWAY. Iâm frank, sassy, and sometimes an ass. But, I hope that this gives some insight into why I think Sam and Heartman could work out as a ship.Â
And I keep typing, but thatâs just how I go.
The ship isnât perfect, either. I have shown, and plan to continue to show, moments where there is friction between Sam and Heartman. Sam still has trouble with touch, sometimes. Sam will push Heartman away, and at some points Heartman may feel hurt by that, even though he knows its not his fault.
And Sam does have trouble showing emotion or talking. Heartman will experience frustration with that. Sam broods, and if Heartman canât deal with it, Sam will run off until heâs done brooding.
Also if this was sparked by the silly post about Samantha Spade, I was having fun, i tagged it with my tag for things that are silly, said tag being â ;;shenanigans â. Itâs the first tag I put on the post. Please donât take anything I post with that tag seriously, I like to have fun, and my goofy little hopeless romantic heart was a flutter at the silly idea.
P.S. If you wanna continue to question my view in compatibility between characters, you can keep throwing those question to me. As long as Iâm not getting hate, I wonât be giving hate. If you donât like my answers, I can only politely suggest you find someone else to bother.
If you wanna know me better, I am actually a really nice person, fiercely loyal, and fun to plot and chat with. Come talk to me, I wonât bite, I promise. ;]Â
Oh, and Iâve always loved rare pairs. They need love. <3
jacobvanloon
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