I could take a nap

Kindly bother me, mum says I need to friends. You read that right.There’s nothing on my blog smh. Sometimes post art or random thoughts. Very inconsistent.

[emmaharwoods]

you can click on this button once daily to help palestine and support other causes in the middle east for free. it takes literally 5 seconds and could help save lives so please take the time to click and share this link.

[grelliam]

#oh it raises money thru ad revenue and ur click confirms the value to advertisers. neat

[findingmybravado-2]

Proceeds are donated to the UNRWA, which is one of the major funding agencies providing aid to Palestine. Recently, the US and other major countries have escalated genocidal efforts by cutting funding from the UNRWA, as AlJazzera reports : Which countries have cut funding to the UNRWA and why?

This is a direct action you can take to say fuck you to the government directed genocidal efforts, bookmark the tab, add a calendar notification daily, do what you want. Or if your prefer: Donate Directly to UNRWA

[ineedtofindanewname]

Not my best work but I really like WrenlovesPJOandHOO's "One Jason To Another"

[crowgore-throwaway]

Detroit: Become Human would've been so much better as a critique of capitalism. All the groundwork is there.

All these points are interweaved, but I'll try to address them in parts

1: Automation, the unemployment crisis, and abuse of workers

Todd, Alice's "father", was a taxi driver before cars were automated. Other blue and pink-collar jobs (sanitation, desk-work, etc.) have also employed the use of androids as a cheaper alternative to maintaining a human employees. The people at fault are clearly the corporation owners, who only care about profits and cheap labor. This mirrors how companies will outsource labor to poor countries, paying employees pennies. This is also reminiscent of hostilities toward immigrants and how they "take our jobs". The way androids are abused could also serve as critique of how employers want cheap, exploitable workers who'll do what you want without complaint, not matter how poorly you treat them.

2: The childcare crisis

In-game, android owners are demonized for owning androids. Yes, there are people who mistreat their androids, but there are other who have them for a good reason. (to preface this next part, I have no clue why Todd is the way he is. Buying two androids to live a facade of a family life while also, presumably, not getting a job and abusing the and damaging the machines they bought is perplexing, but I'll overlook it) Kara is a model designed as a homemaker, she cooks, cleans, does childcare. As a symptom of capitalism, many parents struggle to take care of their kids. Daycare is expensive and hard to access, so why wouldn't you get a nanny android if you can afford one? It's a one-time purchase, round the clock care, so you don't need to worry whether or not your child is safe while you provide for your family. This existence of androids is purely based on capitalist necessity, how it isn't possible to balance aspects of your life as culture shifts more and more towards making money.

3: Systems of authority upholding corporate interests

Connor's character could be great commentary on how the police uphold corporate interests. His whole purpose is to essentially stop the workers from striking by rooting out the problem. Him being an android could also incorporate the issue of tokenization, how those from disadvantaged backgrounds/marginalized groups are told that if they work hard and keep their head down, they can be successful. Connor, in his various endings, either upholds the status quo to (presumably) preserve his own place in world, which ends in him being replaced by a more advanced RK model, representing how licking boots and sucking up to oppressors doesn't help you. (Blaire White, for example) While him deciding to deviate is a great opportunity to show a character working within the system to bolster change. Also, the detective parts are really cool, but the narrative kinda separates the audience from how emotionally taxing that kind of work is. Don't want to overload the story, but the fact that the only reason given for Hank's depression, alcoholism, and suicidality is because his son died is bullshit considering he deals with homicides on a regular basis. It's similar to cop dramas, how the crimes are shown but at the end of the day, the officers go home and have their own interpersonal drama, completely divorced from the things they see on the daily. (This bit isn't as fully-baked as the other takes since I'm not super learned on the ins and outs of how corporations affect law)

4: Conflict within the working class

As mentioned briefly in part 1, there's a lot of talk about people on welfare and immigrants taking away opportunities from other workers. This, of course, is not true. It's a manufactured conflict that distracts the working class from the true issue: the mass exploitation of the 99% to fund the 1%. People lose their jobs due to aforementioned greedy business practices and protest against androids, mistreating them instead of turning their attention to system itself because they're so ingrained in it they don't even think to question why this could even happen in the first place. They take their emotions out, suppressing the symptom rather than treating the problem.

5: Commodification

Along with employees, Cyberlife has companion androids, again, like Kara, who are advertised as a partner who'll be whatever you want whenever. There are child androids, too. And the thing with machines is that they (presumably) have no feelings and feel no pain, so you can beat them, rip them apart, and kill them with no legal repercussions. The company is selling you a family, a partner, or a victim. They strip away emotional connections, making aspects of life that make us truly human into something shallow you can buy or sell. This is similar to the real-life image of the American dream. You look happy in your big house with your wife and kids, but it's only a facade. The only thing you end up caring about is the validation you get for having stuff, and when you aren't the best man in the neighborhood, with the biggest house, the prettiest wife, and the best paying job, you resent those around you, including your own family because in your eyes, they aren't good enough. You could assume people attack and abuse androids because they are dissatisfied by where their is at and are angry at the android for not making it better, but there's none of that. I wanna know why Carlos Ortiz got high and beat his android (who doesn't get a name). In a lot of the confessions and interrogations from androids, you just get a scared description of how they were abused, nothing about the lead up. We get basically nothing about Rupert. But anyway, there's an obvious implication that people are growing less emotionally stable due to the incorporation of androids into daily life, since they see these machines with human faces as people who they can do anything to so they end up having messed up morals and seeing people as disposable.

6: Conclusion

Okay, not a full-on well-researched essay, but y'all see what I'm getting at. So much of the allegory was so poorly established. We only get a taste of certain social issues and not really a solid lens besides vaguely civil-rights related. I need more android-human relations. I'd like to see Markus as a big socialist leader, I want a subset of "scab" androids that deviate and actually like their lives, refusing to join the revolution. I HATE the march and store break-in chapters because you see all these androids joining Jericho but they don't have an identity. Many of them die unceremoniously. They go from machines performing their function to suddenly sentient beings with emotions coerced into whatever cause Markus wants, which is arguably worse because it's basically cult indoctrination.

I'm not sure what I would do about the narrative androids' sentience, since the argument that they should be given rights is weak considering it's implied that the reason for deviance is a sudden, traumatic event. I feel there should be an argument in there about how human emotions are just chemicals when you boil it down, but still, it's perplexing. I really like the way the webtoon Lovebot approaches the bot's sentience. Spoilers, but the androids in that series aren't nearly as widespread. They were invented as romantic, sexual companions. All of them are sentient from the outset, they just have a chip in their brains that keep them from exercising free will. They are inherently free-thinking beings, just trapped in their own heads by hardware. I think DBH just didn't give enough thought to the logistics of deviancy. It doesn't have to be overexplained to oblivion, but there needs to be a solid reason as to why it isn't a computer virus caused by mistreatment.

All that said, I still love this game. Loved it pretty much since it came out, I remember watching Jacksepticeye play it. I was obsessed with the characters, thought the aesthetic was super cool and was affected by the heartfelt aspects of the story. The music is also really good. David Cage just isn't a very good writer. I also straight up don't like him as a person. But still, the artists and actors did a stellar job- Bryan Dechart and Clancy Brown have great chemistry as Connor and Hank, the futuristic style paired with some of the older architecture is interesting and, again, I'm a slut for a great soundtrack.

Tbh, I'm a bit neurotic picking apart a 7-year-old game, but it got me really into sci/fi. I was like, 12, when I first got into it and hyperfixated HARD. I'm realizing that some of my biggest hyperfixations have been detective fiction (current favorite thing is Disco Elysium), so I wonder what that's about. So I guess it was nice to combine something old I really like, Detroit: Become Human, with my current interest in socialism.

[konami-code-ao3]

Tell me more about Markus more selfish side in the blue route, considering Perkins deal, Public Opinion, Riley and MOURNFUL in NoTS.

Okay, but only if I get to add "The Ousted Path is the best way to play the Pacifist Path and it's actually detrimental to Markus's character arc, growth, and overall narrative that we can't engage in the Ousted Path on a full Successful!Pacifist Run" into the discussion here because, dear fucking god, is it ever needed.

Because the fact is that Markus choosing the Pacifist Path is, almost inherently, a selfish decision. Riley may have played a very pivotal role in being the personal motivation of that selfishness at one point (that being said: obvious disclaimer is obvious, as we don't actually know anything about the use of her character within the narrative beyond what we can see in her concept art and are mostly guessing about what role she might have played beyond 'the originally planned human love interest'), but even without her, the decision to be Pacifist is still an incredibly self-centered choice for Markus to make simply because most other androids don't agree with it being a viable tactic. His default status on said tactics being...

Markus: This [pacifism] is the only way. - Markus, in Freedom March

...is wrong according to the way the game works, as the Violent Path exists and is arguably far more effective at actually saving people once the Third Act hits. But Markus's general desire up until that point to not even consider it an option shows far more about his own character than anything else, especially when combined with the fact that Markus does not respond well to criticism and will often attempt to bully his critics into submission rather than acknowledge the faults in his own arguments. It's a very immature response, and one that I've hypothesized comes from watching Carl interact with Leo, his father's most aggressive critic, and internalizing a lot of his master's behaviours right alongside his philosophical/political viewpoints. Because Carl is absolutely the origin point for Markus's desire to be pacifist, and we have the opportunity to learn this in the very first chapter that we meet him:

Carl: Mankind is so depressing... Nothing but greed, stupidity and violence... 5,000 years of civilization just to get to where we are... - Carl, in The Painter, if the player takes too long when finding something to do

Just like when Markus begins to voice his own doubts in humanity in Crossroads...

Markus: They've been butchering each other for centuries over the colour of their skin or whatever god they wanted to worship. They're not gonna change. Violence is just in their genes. - Markus, in Crossroads - Markus, if the player chooses THOUGHTFUL

...Carl believes that violence is something inherently tied to humans and their own inevitable downfall of a civilization. When humans are scared, they get angry. And when they get angry, they lash out-- and more specifically, they stupidly lash out. Carl thinks that this is not something they should be doing, that if they were of a more logical and reasonable mindset like himself, that they wouldn't be behaving that way. But because (in his mind) humans as a species are stupid, they default to their instinctual reaction - aka, violence - when coming up against something they don’t understand.

Or, as Markus puts it:

Markus: Humans can't be reasoned with, they're violent, hateful. They're stupid! What did they expect us to do? Shut up and obey? - Markus, in Crossroads - Markus, if the player chooses ANGRY

So in other words: if they weren't so fucking dumb, humans might rely on reason and rationality, and rise above such base, caveman-like brutality to engage in philosophical discussion and negotiation - aka, engaging in pacifism.

Carl: Being alive is making choices... between love and hate, between holding out your hand or closing it as a fist... I don't have any easy answers, Markus... You have to accept the world as it is... or fight to change it... You're my son, Markus... Our blood isn't the same color... but I know a part of me is in you... When the world falls into darkness, some men have the courage to lead it out... You're one of those men... Face the abyss... but don't let is consume you. - Carl Manfred, in Night of the Soul - Markus, should the player chooses either ADVICE or DECISION

The idea that the desire to do violence comes from a place of a lack of intelligence isn't just unique to the Markus POV. We actually see this brought up a lot within Kara's story, with the most obvious example actually being Ralph and his reasoning for turning violent when he attempts to keep Kara and Alice in the squat once they express a desire to leave.

Ralph: Ralph didn't mean any harm... No... it's just that... Ralph can't control his anger... When his anger comes, Ralph doesn't know what he's doing... he... he becomes stupid... full of hatred... Ralph is sorry... He just wanted to be your friend. - Ralph, in On the Run, if the player chooses [INSIST ABOUT CORPSE]

Ralph, in particular, has a lot of very direct connections to Todd, between his insistence upon getting Alice to eat despite knowing that she's incapable due to being an android...

Ralph: Ralph found this [a dead possum] to feed the little girl... Its good for her... A present... To make up for past misunderstandings... Ralph'll cook... We will do just like humans do. Humans like burnt meat... Come! Come and sit down! - Ralph, in On the Run

Ralph: Little girl?... She's not a little girl... - Ralph, in Fugitives, if the player chooses LITTLE GIRL

Kara: She said she doesn't want to eat it. Ralph: Well maybe it's not good enough? Maybe... she's used to better things? But Ralph did this for her, so she's going to eat! - Kara & Ralph, in On the Run, if the player chooses TRUTH

Todd: What are you looking at?... What's your fuckin' problem? Not the life you dreamed of, eh? Maybe you think this is easy? Maybe you think it's my fault we live in this fuckin' shithole, my fault your fuckin' mother took off? - Todd, in Stormy Night

...as well as Ralph's desire to play out the roles of father, mother, and daughter within his dream to become a family, with him becoming frighteningly aggressive when Kara and Alice express a desire to not engage in that fantasy.

Ralph: Go? Ha ha! No, you will go once the little girl has eaten. We will eat together, just like a family... You know, the father, the mother, and the little girl... - Ralph, in On the Run, if the player chooses REFUSE

Kara: You said you wanted to be like a family, Ralph... Father, mother, the little girl, remember?... - Kara, in On the Run, if the player chooses FAMILY

It's also important to note that Ralph becomes a lot more 'reasonable' when Kara talks him down from his stupidity-based anger, and how that also parallels to right back to Todd. Because if Kara responds to Ralph's aggression with her own rage and fear (either by pulling a knife or the gun on him to protect Alice), Ralph sells them out to Connor.

Ralph: Ralph just wanted to be nice... Ralph wanted to help... Connor: Where is it? Ralph: She ran out the back door! - Ralph & Connor, in On the Run, if the player chose THREATEN

But if she's nice? If she talks him out and away from that fear-based rage? Ralph will act as an ally instead and aid Kara in her escape from the police.

Ralph: RUN! QUICK! KARA! - Ralph, in On the Run, if the player chose anything other than THREATEN

And this should absolutely remind you of how Kara's interactions with Todd in BfD, should she run into him again. Because if Kara remains aggressive when confronted by him in the bus stop? He sells her own to the soldiers.

Soldier: Excuse me, is there a problem, sir? Todd: They're androids. - NPC Soldier & Todd Williams, in Battle for Detroit - Kara Leaving Detroit, if the player didn't pick YOUR STORY

But if she does talk him down? Just like she does with Ralph? Todd will lie to the soldiers and allow Kara and Alice to go on their way.

Soldier: Is there a problem, sir? Todd: No. I make a mistake. Sorry. Good luck. - NPC Soldier & Todd Williams, in Battle for Detroit - Kara Leaving Detroit, if the player picked YOUR STORY

So what this implies is that just like Ralph, Todd's anger comes from a place of what this game defines as stupidity and implies that had he been thinking rationally back in New Home or Stormy, he would have responded rationally rather than attempting to hurt Kara and Alice. Now, whether that stupidity came from the drugs, or the meds he was on, or his own human base-instincts, we're not gonna argue on that point. But what we can say is that, according to the game David Cage wrote, Todd's anger comes from a lack of intelligence and reason, and that once confronted with reason, that he will respond in kind.

Put that way of thinking on a macro scale, and you've got the rationality behind how and why the Demonstration works the way that it does (again, according to the game David Cage wrote based upon his own political beliefs). Violence will only cause more violence, not because of the escalation of a conflict, but because violence is a result of one's refusal to rise above their own inherent failings as a human by regressing to a state of animalhood. To co-opt your own term for a second, that's why the Pacifist Path is shown as the 'Blue Route' where all of the Stats continue to get all of those Blue = Good = Up points boosts while the Violence Path gets the opposite. And that's because the Violent Path was written as a Failure State masquerading as an Alternative Success State. Yes, the options are there for us to choose, but we're not supposed to choose them if we want the story to go well. That's why Markus was written (again, by David Cage according to his own politics) to push the player towards pacifist options as part of his briefings at the beginnings of each mission...

Markus: We can get what we need without fighting. - Markus, in Time to Decide

Markus: If we want freedom, we need to have the courage to ask for it. That's the only way. - Markus, in The Stratford Tower

Markus: We hack their security systems and we strike... simultaneously at 2AM. No violence. - Markus, in Capitol Park

Markus: We came here to demonstrate peacefully and tell humans that we are living beings. - Markus, in Freedom March

Markus: We're not looking for confrontation. We've done no harm, we have no intention of doing any. - Markus, in Freedom March

...or finding out later that violence was never in the plans to begin with...

Simon: Killing humans wasn't part of the plan. - Simon, in Capitol Park, if the player saved Simon in The Stratford Tower

...while Markus is simultaneously presented as a divine savior figure who is more evolved than all those who could stand in his place, because he is the only one capable of actually rising above his peoples' base instincts, above their inherent moral failings, above the fear to anger to violence pipeline. He's the in-game rA9, after all, the divine saviour raised at the hands of Cage's favourite mouthpiece, suckled on the teat of Cage's wisdom and Cage's philosophy and Cage's politics, created to literally know better than the player, to be better than all of the other stupid, barbaric masses who resort to their caveman brutality to get their way instead of choosing to engage in an intellectualism worthy of someone who's ascended to something above the riffraff peasantry below.

To Become Human is not just to incorporate androids into human culture. To Become Human is also, according to the game Cage wrote, an ascension to a higher moral calling. To move from on from the old, failing culture of violence and hatred and onto something better. And to do so, we must embrace the Pacifist Path because the Violent Path is the path of the stupid, the ignorant, and the unevolved beast.

Kamski: Stupid, narrow-minded humanity... They'll never understand... They're over, finished... Too old... Their brains no longer evolve, their memory and intelligence are limited. - Elijah Kamski, in the deleted Kamski Ending

Carl: Mankind is so depressing... Nothing but greed, stupidity and violence... 5,000 years of civilization just to get to where we are... - Carl, in The Painter, if the player takes too long to find something to do

To truly Become Human, we must rise above the mentality of animals.

[On that note, anyone wanna bet that despite Cage's current atheism, that he was abso-fucking-lutely raised Catholic?]

Because it's not just humans that push for violence due to their ignorance. While we don't spend a lot of time with the NPCs of Jericho, there is still one truth that can be divined out of what little we do get from them: that they are crude, bloodthirsty, and out for revenge rather than what DBH frames as justice.

Android: We've gotta do something!... We can't just stand by and let them slaughter us! Android: They'll kill us all if we don't do something... Android: Well, I'm willing to fight. We can't just let them slaughter us! Android: We gotta kill the bastards! Android: We've got to avenge our dead! - Ambient dialogue, Crossroads - Kara & Crossroads - Connor

Android: They willed our people, Markus! Android: We want justice, Markus! Android: They have to pay! - Android Crowd, Capitol Park

Android: Our blood is as good as theirs! They're murderers! If we let their crime go unpunished, it's the same as saying we're nothing and they have the right to kill us! - Android, in a deleted version of Capitol Park, X0802M_EYEFOREYE_COPS_PC_X08MANDSHOP02_ASSASSINS

Even Simon, who's an ideological flip-flop for most of the second act...

Simon: It's not easy to choose a path, is it Markus... Dialogue presupposed having confidence in the other, force presupposes having confidence in yourself... Time alone will tell if you made the right choice. - Simon, in a deleted version of Capital Park, X0802M_FREEANDROIDS_WAKEUP_PC_X08MSTREETSIMON_ENDSIMON

...seems to firmly side with the Violent Path in the aftermath of Freedom March, with him gleefully skipping off to gather military supplies when ordered to do so by the Deviant Leader at the time...

Markus: Get all the guns that you can find. We're going to free Detroit. Simon: I'm on it. - Markus & Simon, in Crossroads - Markus, if the player chooses CONFRONTATION

North: Gather up all the guns you can find, we leave at dawn. Simon: I'm on it. - North & Simon, in Crossroads - Markus, if Markus died in Freedom March

...or even taking over for North (the clear Violent Path representative) in the ideological confrontation against Josh should she be too busy being Leader.

Josh: He's [Markus] the one that got us into this mess! Simon: He gave his life for our cause. Josh: He put us all in danger by provoking humans! How much longer before they find Jericho now? Simon: At least he fought for us! - Josh & Simon, in Crossroads - Markus, if Markus died in Freedom March

And while Josh is the closest thing that Markus's three companions have to a believer in pacifism, he isn't an active participant in those beliefs as he never actually suggests any course of action throughout his entire run within the narrative and instead only backs decisions already made by Markus. At most, Josh is a hype-man, and at worst he's there to complain loudly about how you shouldn't engage in violence without ever giving a concrete reason as to why you're shouldn't beyond reminding you of the fact that it makes you just as evil and as bad as the humans themselves.

Josh: If you think murdering humans is going to make us free, then you're as bad as they are! - Josh, in Capitol Park, if Simon was saved in The Stratford Tower

Therefore if humans are inherently violent because they've stopped evolving and become stupid like Kamski and Carl suggest, then we must engage in pacifism to not only rise above them but also to give them a better example to strive to reach... just like Kamski and Carl suggest.

Kamski: You... You [androids] are the future... You are the new gods... and I... am your creator. You failed because you underestimated the humans. And you paid too much attention to your own emotions. - Kamski, in a deleted version of the Kamski Ending

Carl: You used to be so calm and thoughtful... Now all I see is anger... Markus: You're right... You're right, I am angry... But don't worry, I won't let my emotions take over... I just want freedom for my people and I guess I need to decide what price I'm willing to pay for it... - Carl Manfred & Markus, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if the player chooses ANGER and then REASON

You can have emotions, but you can't let your emotions rule you. It's very Yoda-esque in that sense. What's the line again from Phantom Menace? "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" or something like that? Because to be ruled by emotion is to be unevolved, to be unintellectual, to be as unreasonable and irrational as Todd and Ralph are when confronted by things that upset them. Which is why it's up to Kara to talk them down, to show them the errors of their ways and use logic and reason and brains as a weapon instead of fists and fury to get her aggressors to respond in kind.

Or, as Carl puts it:

Carl: ...between holding out your hand or closing it as a fist. - Carl Manfred, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if the player picks ADVICE or DECISION

You must be beyond your fear, beyond your anger, beyond your hatred because if you are blinded by those things, you will be unable to think clearly and logically and thus descend into beast-hood. You If you are ruled by emotion, you will never Become Human. And if you want an in-game example of what that looks like, according to David Cage and the politics/ideology that he wrote into this game, you have to look no further than North.

"Fueled by a profound hatred towards humans for personal reasons related to her past, she dreams only of her people's freedom, whatever the price." - North - Jericho, Extras Gallery

North's entire character is fueled by hatred, as she is presented as caught in the moment where she was forced to kill her rapist and unable to move on. Like Markus, she is so utterly stuck in her beliefs that violence is the only way to get the humans to do what she wants...

North: It was a mistake to reach out to them. They'll never negotiate with their slaves. We should have shown them that we're prepared to fight. - North, in Capitol Park, if the player sent a peaceful message in The Stratford Tower

North: He did the right thing. This [violence] is the only language humans understand. - North, in Capitol Park, if the player sent a violent message in The Stratford Tower

...that she will rudely and brashly push back against any opposition that asks her to change her mind.

Josh: Killing never freed anyone! It just leads to more hatred! North: You're too fond of humans, Josh. Maybe their lives matter to you more than ours? - Josh & North, in Capitol Park, if Simon was saved in The Stratford Tower

Josh: I don't want a revolution that spills blood! North: Then live as a slave! Because if you're not willing to fight for your freedom, maybe you don't deserve it! - Josh & North, in Capitol Park, if Simon was left behind in The Stratford Tower

Again, this behaviour should absolutely remind the player of Markus, who reacts both in a similar manner when questioned (with them, more often than not, sharing a victim of their antagonism - aka, Josh). Both Markus and North are incredibly stubborn in their platforms, utterly unwilling to back down on their beliefs about which side of the Violence versus Pacifism argument that they represent-- to the point where Markus will actually begin fight the player should they make him choose violent actions in his second act chapters in a way that simply doesn't exist if you make pacifist-coded choices.

Markus: They're coming... Everyone fall back to Jericho. North: We sent a message without violence, just like you wanted... You're reaching out to them when all they feel for us is contempt... I hope you know what you're doing... Markus: You can't fight violence with violence... - Markus & North, in Capitol Park, if the player sent a pacifist message

North: Now humans will have no choice but to listen to us... Markus: They'll be afraid... and fear feeds hatred... North: I'll take hatred over indifference. - North & Markus, in Capitol Park, if the player sent a violent message

Reminder: you're not supposed to choose the Violent Path choices, according to how David Cage wrote this game. They are there to offer variety in the gameplay, but they actually wreck the narrative that he was clearly trying to write, so they're only there to provide the illusion of choice within Markus's story. This is why Markus fights you when you do this shit, why his whole fucking POV fights you if you decide to close your hand into a fist rather than extend it open-palmed within a video game dynamic that forces you to choose between one or the other. And that's because David Cage has put in a whole bunch of work at this point to try and teach You The Player as Carl taught Markus that the desire to commit violence always comes from a place of bestial, unevolved irrationality, that despite the justification of North's violence during her deviation via the game basically showing what happened through the Tracis in Eden Club (because if your heart does not go out to a woman in pain, you are implicated in her suffering), we're not actually supposed to listen to her. At best, we're supposed to dismiss her feelings and go, "Um, North? That's sad and all, but you're being hysterical." And that's because, just like with Ralph, just like with Todd, just like with Leo, we don't have to even consider North's ideology as a possible option because in order to Become Human, we don't have to listen the opinions of unevolved, overly-emotional idiots.

This, by the way, is why the Pacifist Path and Pacifist Push frames North as the true antagonist of the Markus POV, why Markus fights against the player's decisions to be violent at every turn, why the Violent Path is a Failure State masquerading as a Success State, why Josh's mandatory death in the Revolution always denies us the only gold level trophy in the game that comes as a result of player choice, why North's Revolution will always lose no matter what you do, why Markus is literally fucking demonized with devil horns behind his head when he dares to talk back to Carl "Cage's favourite mouthpiece" Manfred in NotS... Because the opinions of stupid people are something that we, rA9 the divine player, should have been smart enough to not consider in the first place.

Because if we do, then we've fallen for the temptation of our base, animalistic instincts and failed to Become Human through the vessel to divinity David "Call me the 'Sun King'" Cage lovingly and painstakingly wrote for us plebians to learn from.

And as much as that thought wants me to take a match to every Quantic Dream building on Planet Earth and laugh like an absolute goon while watching it burn to the ground, I do also have to say that had that all been the point of writing DBH the way that it was presented, the most interesting way to go about that narrative would be to-- and everyone get your sighs in now, because I'm about to pull out an old favourite line of mine, but-- to have the Ousted Path occur during the Pacifist Path, and specifically in a Successful!Pacifist Run because of how it allows for North to become a sort of 'final test' for the player in regards to their adherence to Markus's by-default Pacifist ideology. I've stated it before, but I actually have no problems with North playing the role of an antagonist/challenging force within Markus narrative, only that I have a problem with how the game currently goes about presenting it. And that's because I think that we were completely and utterly robbed of having a moment where the utterly stubborn and unrelenting characters of Markus and North, the two characters who represent the polar extremes of the Violence versus Pacifist question, finally come together and find common ground by having both admit that they have more to gain by listening to each other.

You and I have spoken about it before, but the fact that we can see the Stats in this game absolutely influences the player's opinion on what's happening in each scene. And when it comes to the Ousted Path, it cannot be understated how badly it fucks up the player's opinion on what the fuck is going on when North throws Markus out and assumes Leadership in Crossroads (as well as how incredibly this scene would work if you could get it during a Full Successful!Pacifist run). Because the Stat tells us that Markus's Ousting comes as a result of him fucking up too much to be trusted with Leadership anymore, and that North is only taking over as a last ditch effort to salvage what is left of the mess he's made. And, in the game's defense, that is what North does tell the player is what's happening when the Ousted Path is initially unlocked:

North: Look what you've brought us to... You talk about freedom but you kept failing us. You can no longer lead the revolution. You're not the one we've been waiting for. I'm gonna take over and save what can still be saved. - North, in Crossroads - Markus, if Markus's reputation with Jericho is unpopular

And, given that Josh and Simon automatically agree with her...

Josh: I'm with North. Simon: I'm with North. - Josh & Simon, in Crossroads - Markus, if Markus's reputation with Jericho is unpopular

...it can be assumed based upon this dialogue alone that Markus's ousting comes as a result of a unanimous vote of non-confidence in his ability to do his job, with North's installation being less of a coup and more of an emergency election to replace an incompetent Leader with a (hopefully) more successful one in Jericho's darkest hour. And had the game just left it at that, had it refused to allow Markus to return and just let the player deal with the consequences of their failures, then maybe that would be... Well, a thing that happend. A boring thing, but a thing nonetheless. But the fact is that Markus can return, and when he does... Well, that's when the plot gets interesting.

Because if you return, then North implies something entirely different about her reasoning behind her decision to get rid of you.

North: I wanted to do the right thing for Jericho... I was angry... Angry at humans, angry with us... I was angry with you... - North, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if Markus was rejected by Jericho

North straight-up tells us that Markus's ousting was personal.

And specifically, North says that the reason for her actions came as a result of that same anger that has fueled her character for as long as we've known her, that her anger at humans turned to hatred, and that that hatred blinded her to the true altruistic reasonings behind why Markus was doing what he did. Because, over and over again, we've been shown that North does not believe that humans will listen to them and that Markus's attempts to get them to do just that via Pacifism will only lead to her people's destruction and death.

North: This [the Freedom March] is suicide. We'll all be killed! - North, in Freedom March

To put it a lot more simply, she views what happened in Freedom March as a suicidal gambit that's doomed to fail, and that believes Markus's decision to basically have his people be killed for nothing is the biggest mistake that he's made as a Leader so far.

North: Markus! What are you doing? They're gonna kill us all! - North, in Freedom March, if the player chooses STAND GROUND

Throughout the entirety of the March section of Freedom, North is utterly terrified of being murdered for nothing, to the point where she's basically reduced to screaming at Markus to change his mind because of how futile she perceives his actions to be, with her changing her initial beliefs of "Let's get the fuck out of here" to "We need to fight our way out" once it's become clear that the cops show up and make it clear to basically everyone but Markus and his hype-man that they're not here to listen.

North: This is suicide. We'll all be killed! Please, Markus... It's not too late to change your mind. Josh: You don't understand... We're finally gonna show them who we really are. This place will go down in history! North: We'll be killed on the spot! Josh: That's a risk I'm prepared t take if it means freedom for our people... North: Markus, please, don't do this. Markus: They'll understand... We'll make them understand. This is the only way. - North, Josh & Markus, in Freedom March

North: Markus, they're gonna kill us... We have to attack! There's more of us, we can take them! Josh: If we attack, we'll start a war. We have to show them we're not violent. We should just stand our ground, even if it means dying here. - North & Josh, in Freedom March

North does this because she's scared, with the narrative implying that because she's scared, she's unable to see the potential greatness that could possibly come as a result of a successful march. And again, as we've already discussed, fear is a direct pipeline to anger within DBH, and that anger comes as a direct result of stupidity and a refusal to look at a situation and act rationally. Her fear has overwhelmed her and her anger clouding her judgement, ensuring that she's simply become too emotional to think clearly about what needs to be done in this horrific situation that Markus has led his people into. So because of that, we can dismiss her options because North is effectively acting like a caged animal by not thinking with her hyper-logical android brain.

Or, as Carl and Kamski put it...

Carl: So much hatred... Be careful, Markus, that when fighting monsters, you don't become a monster yourself. - Carl, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if the player chooses ANGER

Kamski: You failed because you underestimated the humans. And you paid too much attention to your own emotions. - Kamski, in a deleted version of the Kamski Ending

Therefore, if Markus gets out of Freedom March alive after nearly sacrificing himself for the cause, and that North's reasons for ousting him were motivated by those same angry, overly emotional hysterics that caused her to start spouting stupid shit back at Grand Circus, then we can assume that the reason that she apologies to him not just once but twice upon reuniting with him post-Ousting is that she's finally come to see Markus's own logic and her own irrationality for what they truly are.

North: But I was wrong. I'm sorry I misjudged you. - North, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if Markus was rejected by Jericho

If the Ousting was personal, then her apology to Markus exists on a personal level too. Because, yes, North never believed that his by-default pacifism would work, but it also convinced her that Markus's belief in his own ideology came from a place of inherent selfishness. That he was in it for himself, that he didn't actually care for the people of Jericho in the same way that she does. North, mistakenly, believed herself to be the selfless one by wanting to do the right thing by Jericho when in reality, what happened at Grand Circus scared the fucking shit out of her and convinced her, however momentarily, that Markus wasn't actually the chosen saviour that she and her people had been waiting for (perhaps, even for a moment, believing herself to be the Chosen One when in reality, the game defines her as a false profit). But she was wrong, and she misjudged him because his return and performance of the Bomb Run has convinced her that actually, yes, he has cared for her people all along and is willing to use violence to protect them, that he is willing to consider her side of the argument...

Markus: Well, nothing turned out the way I imagined either. Maybe you were right, maybe I'm not the leader our cause needs. - Markus, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if the player chooses HUMBLE

...and that maybe she needs to consider his side too in what could have been a beautiful humility arc for the both of them.

North: I'm with you, Markus. Wherever you go, I go. - North, in Night of the Soul - Markus

Because this whole thing would culminate in an apology from both sides of the argument, one that moves directly into the final choice that takes place within NotS between the Revolution and Demonstration. Because it's so, so important that the NotS choice remains a choice after this happens, after Markus and North finally come to an agreement about how Jericho needs to move forward under his leadership in combination with hers-- or even, following one of their deaths, that the other comes to the conclusion that for all that they might have not seen eye-to-eye on how to go about saving their people, that there had never been a doubt in Markus or North's mind about how devoted the other was to the cause.

Markus: North meant everything to me... She'd have given me her life! Josh: There wasn't a thing you could do. Now we have to make sure she didn't die for nothing. - Markus & Josh, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if North was killed in Crossroads

Connor: I know how important Markus was to Jericho... and to your people. North: He gave his life for us... He gave us the hope we'd lost and the courage to fight... We'll never forget him. - Connor & North, in Night of the Soul - Connor, if the player picks MARKUS

It's important, because it means that no matter which choice that Markus inevitably makes once he gets up on that podium, that North absolutely believes at this point that it's a selfless one. She might not like what he eventually decides, but she's not going to question him further on why he wants to do it. It's taken a while to get to the point where she is no longer blinded by her (as defined by the game) illogical, hysterical, bestial-based fear of what might happen if she trusts in the teachings of Carl Manfred, and has finally decided to hop onto that path that David Cage wrote for us to follow and believe in Markus, the primary vessel of rA9 and the divine player, by quite literally quoting the Pacifist Path lines back at him.

North: You're the hope of our people. I trust you. We all trust you. No matter what happens now, we're making history. - North, in Battle for Detroit - Markus's Demonstration

Josh: This place will go down in history! - Josh, in Freedom March

Rose: Whatever happens now, he's already made the history books... - Rose Chapman, in Battle for Detroit - Kara Leaving Detroit, if the player chose the Demonstration in Night of the Soul - Markus

Markus: Today will live forever in our memories, because this is the day that androids made history! - Markus, in Battle for Detroit, if the player succeeds

North, after Josh abandoned the position, has finally stepped up to embrace the role of the hype-man.

[Interestingly enough, a similar arc takes place with both Josh and Simon following the events of Freedom March if you go Ousted Path into a Successful Demonstration, just not to the same visceral and in-your-face degree as what happens with North. Because just like with North at the very beginning, Simon spends Freedom wanting to gtfo asap because he does not believe that getting martyred is gonna do anything and then proceeds to be one of the most violent motherfuckers in the entire chapter when he chooses to sacrifice himself in Markus's place by taking out as many cops as he can to buy his leader time to escape before getting his skull cracked open with a baton. Josh, on the other hand, becomes so terrified of what happens in Freedom that he throws aside his role as Markus's hype-man to revert back to who he was in TtD, wanting Jericho to go back to dying in the dark and admonishing Markus's actions for taking them out of where they were 'safest.' That's why they both agree to get rid of Markus right alongside North, and that both of their reasons are fear-driven and personal. Markus's actions in Freedom scared the shit out of a lot of people and likely convinced them that he didn't actually care about their well-being, with his return following his Ousting being what proves them wrong. And that's why, just like with North, you've got the pair of them pledging their allegiance to him in NotS... because just like her, all of their apologies for doubting him were supposed to be personal and not professional like the Stats currently imply.]

And that's what makes it interesting that the true final test regarding Markus's adherence to Pacifism isn't actually North, but the Perkins Deal. And that it occurs after all this character development takes place.

Perkins: You could be free, Markus. To live among the humans... You could have what you've always dream of. The lives of your people... Freedom, for you... All you have to do is say the word... - Richard Perkins, in Battle for Detroit - Markus's Demonstration, if the player chooses NOT AFRAID and North doesn't have LOVER Status/is dead

Perkins: That android... You seem to really care about her... You don't want her to die, do you? You know, you could both be free. You could forget about all this, you could... start a new life some place else, just the two of you... Her life is in your hands, Markus. Just say the word and she'll be spared. - Richard Perkins, in Battle for Detroit - Markus's Demonstration, if the player chooses NOT AFRAID and North has LOVER Status

Because what this is saying is that, despite all of that character growth that I just spent who-knows-how-long talking about, despite North and the surviving Jericrew members finally seeing Markus as the one they've been waiting for and coming to realize that he's doing what he's doing for the greater good of their people, despite them trusting him and choosing to believe in him despite all prior doubts...

Simon: Our people are counting on you, Markus. You're the only one who can lead us. Wherever you need to go... We'll follow you. - Simon, in Night of the Soul - Markus

Josh: If it weren't for you, I'd be dead... Thanks to you, I might see our people free one day... You and I haven't always agreed, but I know that we're fighting for the same thing. Whatever you decide, I'm with you, Markus. - Josh, in Night of the Soul - Markus

North: In a few hours, it'll all be over... We'll have changed the world or the world will have destroyed us... You have to make a choice, Markus... But whatever you choose, we will follow you... I'm with you, Markus. Wherever you go, I go. - North, in Night of the Soul - Markus

...they abso-fucking-lutely had a reason to not trust him in the first place.

Because Markus is still tempted to take the Deal.

And let's be very open about this: the Deal is selfish. There's no clause in there for anyone else and even when there is, the Lover version of the Deal is so latently not something that North might want that it makes the whole thing practically laughable when Perkins says it. But it still says something about Markus due to the fact that he is tempted by what's offered, and what it tells the player is that, just like with North and the Jericrew's reasonings behind Ousting him in the first place... this shit is personal for Markus too. In fact, it's always been personal and unlike with our Companions, we have yet to truly resolve that aspect of Markus's own internal conflicts until we get to this scene.

And that's where the MOURNFUL dialogue that you brought up needs to come into play, because it gives us a clear-cut reasoning behind what that issue might actually be.

Markus: I miss you, Carl... You can't know how much I miss you... I'd give anything for us to be able to roll back the clock... I had a home, a loving father... We were happy... I was happy... and I didn't even know it. - Markus, in Night of the Soul - Markus, if Carl is dead and the player chooses MOURNFUL

Markus, more than anything in the world, wants to go back to the life he had with Carl. It was where he was at his happiest, and anyone who's actually paying attention to the game will know that Markus spends his time on Jericho in a state of perpetual stress and mental exhaustion. He's massively disappointed by the life he finds the deviants living when he first arrives in TtD, with his first major interaction with North being to spite-bond over their shitty circumstances and his organization of the Spare Parts mission basically being one giant middle finger to Josh's blissful complacency regarding Jericho's current state.

Josh: I understand how you feel... but we have more freedom here than you ever did. Markus: Waiting in the dark for something to happen? That's not how I see freedom. - Josh & Markus, in Time to Decide, if the player chooses DIRECT

Markus: Yes... We took a risk... And yes, we failed... But at least we tried... Of course, it would've been easier for us to sit around and wait for something to happen... 'Cause on Jericho, you're free, right? - Markus, in Spare Parts, if the player fails the mission

Hell, Markus literally leaves the ship on multiple occasions to just relax and refocus himself before missions, with the world he sees outside being what effectively drives him back into the Leadership role with the drive to use Jericho to change that problem he just witnessed. He's not happy on Jericho, but he's not happy outside of it either and decides to push this disorganized band of refugees into a revolutionary force to transform the world into what he wants it to be using the tactics that he deems fit for his preferred end goal, which very much feels like a "For The Greater Good' thing (or, considering Cage's tendency to use holocaust symbology in the worst way possible, 'Arbeit Macht Frei' might be more apt here despite the grossness of that implication). Because if the violent-by-default Jericrowd are the brainless, bloodthirsty mob that needs to answer blood with blood to feel like it's accomplishing something that it's not, then he's the Noble Savage that's come to teach them a better way in the same way that he was taught: by listening to Carl, and therefore, David Cage.

But that's why it's so fucking interesting that this is the moment where the Perkins Deal is offered to him, that he's literally got Jericho to do what he wanted despite the doubts, despite his own Companions abandoning him and crawling back on hands-and-knees to repent for their sins (quite literally in North's case, as she's positioned on the pews of that church like she's in confession), despite all the losses and the blood and the unspoken truth that they are all about to be mercilessly gunned down in what Perkins tells us will be a useless, futile sacrifice... now we are asking Markus the Man instead of Markus the God whether he actually wants to follow through on his own self-inflicted martyrdom.

Now, he can get all that he's wanted out of this god forsaken revolution without having to deal with the riffraff peasantry that's he's been dragging away from those fucking devil horns this entire damn time.

Just like with Connor's deviation and how Hank's lack is what ultimately seals the deal, here's no skirts to hide behind this time. Josh isn't there to remind you of what you've already agreed to do. North isn't there to remind you of what you're trying to prevent. It's just Markus, and Perkins, and a fucking gun.

Shoot or Don't Shoot the innocents you caged behind that barricade, Markus. You decide.

Because if Markus can kill the entire revolution he decided to set up on a fucking whim, on his delusional, blissful, idiotic hope that someone as slimy as Richard Perkins is gonna keep his word when he literally just told us that we've got no place asking for a guarantee, then I really think that we need to examine just how badly Markus actually wants to return to that happiness he used to have with Carl. Because I don't think he's kidding when he says that he'd 'give anything' to have it back, not when the aftermath of accepting the Deal exists and we literally see Markus not fucking getting how utterly screwed he is until the moment Richard "The Jackal" Perkins puts a bullet through his skull. He would give anything, do anything, sacrifice anything to get what he wants, and what he wants is... Well, what he wants is Carl.

Except, not really. He wants what he had with Carl, but not how he had it back then.

[That was some weird wording... Let me explain.]

Because it's so, so important to remember that the last thing that Markus thinks before he deviates is that he needs to make his own choice, that he can't just blindly follow the order that Carl wanted him to follow simply because Carl told him to do it. Ironically, he's following Carl's own instructions from earlier that day...

Carl: One day, I won't be here to take care of you anymore. You'll have to protect yourself, and make your own choices... Decide who you are, and wanna become... [...] Don't let anyone tell you who you should be. - Carl Manfred, in The Painter

...to ensure his own deviation against his own master, who is Carl. Because the problem he had with the situation in Broken wasn't that Leo was hurting him. The problem he had was that Carl told him to do something, that Carl exposed the reality of their situation by turning him from son to object on a whim, and Markus wanted the ability to make the choice of what to do for himself.

So what that tells us, in combination with the MOURNFUL dialogue, is that what Markus actually wants out of all his efforts in the game is to take Jericho and use it to create a world so that he could have the life he once did with Carl, but in a circumstance where he has total agency and control over his own decisions.

Enter Riley.

Because you and I have already spoken about how the Perkins Deal makes far more sense with Riley at the center of Markus's story, and I think that we can also continue to agree that (assuming that Riley became away of who and what Markus was at some point in the game) the life that he'd have had with her in the original 08M chapter would allow him to get one tantalizing taste of that world. Regardless of what happened between them romantically, you cannot deny that Markus was gonna briefly gain access to that life amongst the humans where he actually possesses agency that Perkins dangles in front of him like a carrot on a stick in BfD. And if Markus genuinely is someone who would give anything to be able to possesses it and then the game provided the player with an entire chapter dedicated to showing just how badly he wanted it, then it would make that choice a hell of a lot more tempting now, wouldn't it?

In fact, that would make the player's entire decision to be Pacifist in the first place way more selfish, don't you think? Because if Riley was genuinely going to be a part of a 'Dating Sim' like Mikael Leger spoke about in his concept art of her, then logically speaking, wouldn't the player's goal within that Sim be to... I dunno? Win the Sim? Aka, to date Riley? And to do that, you'd likely have to do things that would make Riley like you-- and I'm not an expert on dating games in general, but I have played DBH before and there still is a Dating Sim going on right now with North. And while I have a literal itemized list on how badly QD fucked that aspect of the story up and how they could have fixed it if they actually gave a damn about storytelling within a Choose-Your-Own-Story video game, the gist of it seems to be that the way that you gain access to North's Lover Arc is by doing things that she likes. Right now, it's mostly based in being successful in your missions and, if you choose to engage in such things, choosing Violent Path actions. So presumably Riley's Dating Sim would have worked similarly. And given that she was supposed to be a human and humans work exactly one fucking way in the Markus POV, I think that it's not exactly out of left field to guess that what Riley liked was Pacifism.

So if the point of the Riley Dating Sim was to date her, and Riley represents the life that Markus would give up literally anything to possess... what does that say about how Markus is, by-default, a Pacifist? Because what I think that the Perkins Deal is ultimately asking the player is, "What part of this game more important to your version of Markus?" Is the Pacifist Rebellion he leads the most important thing for Markus and Riley liking you back is just a perk? Or are you more engaged in the Dating Sim and are using Jericho and it's people to accomplish your actual goal of getting in her pants?

Because there's only one Riley. She's not getting shared by everyone else on Jericho, let alone every other android that would achieve the civil rights that Markus says that he wants to have granted to his people. If his motivation truly revolves around Riley and everything that he ends up doing throughout the second act comes from the true foundation of "This is how I get Riley agree to fuck me," then that is Markus being selfish. Because people fucking die because Markus is a Pacifist. Jericho gets it's population reduced to ten because Markus is a Pacifist. Simon dies, Josh dies, North dies, Kara and her family die in literally the most horrific and disgusting way in the entire game because Markus decided to be a Pacifist.

So if he’s doing this to get laid?  Or even just to live out his dream where he gets Life-with-Carl v2.0 and getting to maintain his post-deviancy autonomy?  Then his Pacifist-by-Default ideology becomes so abhorrently selfish that I’d genuinely question whether or not he was actually fit to be act as the Leader of Jericho. Which in turn makes us have to question if North (though, I guess, Marla here) and the Jericrew have a point beyond their own bestial, hysterical emotions for wanting to throw him out for setting up the circumstances that got thousands of people killed/injured in what might have been the worst 'Will U go 2 prom with me? Circle One: YN' note in the history of the world.

Because if there was going to be anyone on Jericho that was in any kind of way aware of Riley, I'd stake my entire next paycheck on it being Marla. The one remnant of Riley that we possess in the game files is from a choice group that got reused in the rooftop conversation with North after all, so I think that it's fair to guess that the original person that Markus was going to be talking to about Riley was Marla, which suggests that she may have known about her (even if just in the abstract of 'Markus has a crush on a human girl.') And that alone puts an entirely different spin on a lot of the things that North says throughout the game presuming that Marla was gonna say them too, between how she often reminds Markus of his duty towards Jericho as their Leader...

North: Think carefully about what you're gonna say, Markus. Your words will shape the future of our people. - North, in The Stratford Tower

...to how she is constantly trying to get Markus to move away from his by-default Pacifist choices by telling him that the humans are not going to listen to them...

North: The humans are terrified... They're afraid of a civil war... Many of our people were burned in response to what happened... The humans hate us... They'll never give us our freedom. - North, in Freedom March

...to this lines from Capitol which comes across as a full-on fucking threat if you consider the fact that Markus was originally supposed to have a human girlfriend.

North: You're too fond of humans, Josh. Maybe their lives matter to you more than ours? - North, in Capitol Park, if Simon was saved in The Stratford Tower

While the narrative does go out of its way right now to present North as someone who's fear and hatred of humanity has clouded her decision-making capabilities (and especially when she's placed in the role of Leader), I've really got to wonder if there was originally a point to her and the Jericrew's concerns about Markus's adherence to Pacifism beyond "I don't agree with your viewpoint." Because if the problem that he saw when existing outside of Jericho was that he wasn't able to be with Riley in a romantic sense, and we show that Markus is someone who would do anything to achieve that goal, up to the point where he would create a revolutionary cult that worships him as a god to allow for him to be her legal boyfriend and the father of her child... Then maybe North/Marla and the Jericrew had a point. Maybe, it's not them that was being too caught up in her emotions, but him.

Maybe, just maybe... There was a reason for Jericho to be pissed. Maybe, they weren’t actually being stupid.

North: We always said our cause was more important than our lives. Our people died here before they believed in you. Our place was by their side. - North, in Battle for Detroit - Markus's Demonstration, if the player accepts the Perkins Deal

But we can't have that, can we? Because god forbid we give the unevolved animals a leg to stand on against the Sun God Who Knows Better.

God forbid that we allow Markus to be seen as a mortal man with flaws and not a mouthpiece for David Cage's shitty politics and his utter misunderstanding of martyrdom.

[konami-code-ao3]

So this is an interesting part of Markus’s character development that’s not talked about a lot but… You ever notice how he really does not handle being called out well at all?

Like, our first example comes in Spare Parts, where this is what he says after returning from a mission where he fails:

But specifically, that’s how he starts his speech off in the immediate aftermath of Josh questioning why they even went on the mission in the first place.

Remember: if the three Jericrew members, Josh is the one that is presented as the most content with the situation Jericho is in prior to Markus turning it into a revolutionary force. He’s the one giving the canned head cheerleader lines about how they’re all theoretically more free waiting dying in the dark than they ever were enslaved under their masters, and believes that they were safest when they were being quiet and not antagonizing the humans into committing violence against them because they were asking for their freedom too loudly. So that speech from Markus? That’s a direct jab at Josh and his ideology, with him full-on quoting some of the stuff that Josh had been saying earlier on and throwing it back in his face because, okay, yeah, Markus fucked up. But in his mind at least he tried something instead of sitting around like a coward like Josh wants them all to do, and he asserts his new power and influence over Jericho by making sure that they all understand that by basically shit talking the guy in front of his face.

Then, of course, you’ve got how he handles being called out for screwing up with the server room door with North.

He’s automatically deflective, all but reacting like she’s the problem for knocking the guy out when it’s clear that he’s the one that screwed up. He doesn’t take responsibility, doesn’t apologize for screwing up, and doesn’t react like he plans on doing any of that in the near future. Markus just whines about her supposed ‘screw up,’ and then moves on like it’s no big deal.

Then, of course, we’ve got the utter goldmine that is Capitol Park for proof of this aspect of his character.

Let’s take, for example, his reaction to screwing up with the drone.

Once again, Markus goes on the defense rather than acknowledge his mistakes. Either he blames North for not properly warning him of the incredibly obvious danger, or he demands that she prove she can do better than him after failing to deal with the drone. In both scenarios, he’s once again refusing to take responsibility for a very clear screw up and instead looks for someone else to pin the blame on in increasingly ridiculous ways.

The same thing goes when North calls him out for sexually assaulting her:

Now, granted, we could probably make a case for there being an attempt to apologize towards the later half of this sequence but North is just too tired of his shit to hear him out. But even then, that only happens because Markus’s initial reaction to North’s incredibly justified reaction is to once again shift the blame. It’s not that he was being inappropriate when he pushed her into a corner and forceably kissed her, but rather that North is making a big deal out of nothing by reacting the way that she did because ~he had to do something, don’t you know?~ It’s only once she makes it very clear that she’s upset by what he did and doesn’t have any interest in catering to his crap that Markus finally caves and maybe goes for an apology. But by then it’s too late, and North doesn’t want to hear it because the damage is done.

Now, hey, good on you for finally fucking acknowledging your mistakes, Markus. But what I’m far more interested in what he ends up doing when North, once again, makes it very clear that she does not accept his apology and continues to call him out on his failures regardless. Again, he gets defensive and starts to blame North for setting her expectations of him too high, because she’s not satisfied with his half measures and pitiful excuses for his failures. He can’t placate her with a glass-half-full view on the situation (“Yeah, we fucked up hut at least the other four teams succeeded.”) and gets upset when she doesn’t bend in the face of his half-hearted apologies.

Now, I’m gonna skip over Freedom March for just a moment and focus on Markus’s conversation with Josh in Crossroads first, because it is filled with this.

Josh starts to criticize Markus and immediately gets shot down. At best, Markus does admit to some fault but then immediately justifies his actions by asserting that what he did was for the betterment of his people. At worst, and in the grand majority of cases, Markus is right back to trying to put Josh down by dismissing any and all of his problems and issues as cowardice. And this reminds me a lot of how Markus responds to North in Freedom March if she starts to questions his decision to stand his ground, with her devolving into basically begging for him to choose any other option and Markus (and Josh) all but shouting at her to shut the fuck up and get with the program.

(I’ve hit the image limit on mobile so I’m gonna be back in just a moment to finish this off)

[konami-code-ao3]

In both scenarios, Markus is being confronted by an ally who’s got a contradictory opinion of what he should be doing to him and his response isn’t to acknowledge them and their worries, but to basically put them in their place. No, Josh, you’re the problem for pointing out that I got a shit ton of people murdered for undertaking my peaceful protest without any guarantee of protection. No, North, you’re the problem for looking at the government funded execution squad literally gunning our people down and being too scared of dying to play chicken right beside me. He doesn’t consider their ideas as valid next to his own, he doesn’t acknowledge that he might be wrong in a way that shows him wholly taking responsibility for his fuck ups, and he sure as hell doesn’t ever apologize for putting North or Josh in a situation where they were so massively uncomfortable that screaming at Markus to change his mind before they all die is the only option that they’ve got left.

And that’s when we finish our little journey off with Markus’s final confrontation of North after he returns from being ousted.

Now, interestingly, one of the options gives us the chance to behave maturely and acknowledge that North had a reason for wanting to remove him as Leader following the plethora of fuck ups that lead them to this point. However, I think that it’s important to acknowledge that the option for this dialogue trigger is called HUMBLE. Markus is basically attempti to be the bigger man in that moment, and isn’t so much acknowledging what he did wrong but instead stating that, well, things just didn’t work out as planned. And while, yeah, he does state that North might be right and he’s not the leader that they need, but both if them have made it clear that he intends to usurp the position back from North regardless and is potentially just trying to make her feel a little better to maintain her as an ally.

On the other hand, you’ve got the two remaining options and, oh boy, are they fun to unpack. Because the options that’s labeled FORGIVING isn’t so much of an apology from him or even any kind of acknowledgement of his own wrongdoings, but rather Markus basically saying that they need to move on and focus on the end goal regardless of what happened. Once again, Markus is being deflective and refusing to acknowledge his faults as faults, and wants to go lore of the forgive and FORGET route than actually talk about what just happened.

And then, of course, there’s the option for Markus to blame North for his ousting, which might I remind you came as a direct result of a democratic and unanimous vote of non-confidence on behalf of Jericho’s main leadership. And while on its own, this option seems rude and out of place, when placed next to all of the other ways that Markus has been shown to respond to criticism, I do think that it’s important to remember that this is actually an established pattern and a long term trend of behaviour that he’s been shown to exhibit time and time again.

And that’s where I’ve got to wonder why he behaves like this, and where Markus may have learned this is was an acceptable way to respond to criticism that was leveled his way. And like everything else about Markus, I’ve got to wonder if it’s something that he picked up from Carl.

Because Carl? He responses to a lot of the criticism set his way by being just as aggressive and just as dismissive as Markus is often shown to be. The most obvious examples are shown when he interacts with Leo throughout the game, when his son calls him out on refusing to be a parent and Carl responds by basically shouting for him to go away rather than deal with the problem.

And while, yes, Leo is a grown ass adult and is responsible for his own actions, it is still important that for a the first few years of their relationship, Leo was a sixteen year old kid and that Carl likely reacted in a similar fashion when going up against that same angry and upset child that he’d been raising via a paycheck after abandoning him and his mother.

And at the same time, it’s also important to remember that if Leo did call Carl out on anything during that early years, it would have come as a result of Carl basically wanting to use Leo as his therapist and then getting pissed when his already-drug addicted son wanted to be nothing of the sort.

So again, I do think that it’s important to view any further conversations that we see occurring between Carl and Leo through that lens and understand that when when Carl gets confronted by something that goes against what he believes to be correct, he reacts just like Markus does with Josh and North and tries to shout them back into their rightful place - dutifully under his control.

[multibodied]

You know what

If Kara thought Alice is human, that highway chase scene says something interesting about her. As in, she'd rather risk Alice's life than have her taken away from her.

[multibodied]

Oh and isn't it infuriating how Hank and Connor talk about other deviants, but not about Kara and Alice, the protagonist characters. As if they're the least significant encounter on their menu. You mean to say Hank was profoundly affected by Eden Club lovers and completely indifferent towards a runaway nanny android endangering herself and a Child model and potentially DYING in a road accident. Only worrying about Connor getting himself killed. I'm not buying it.

[rk800-313248317-52]

Oooo honestly a great take considering Hank’s trauma of losing Cole

[that-one-attention-whore]

THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYINGGGG

Game did Hank DIRTY in that scene and I have a lot of opinions about it.

Rant under cut cause I mean A Lot

Like okay, storytelling-wise, I get not wanting to make Hank react too strongly and leave the whole he lost a son trauma to be discovered later, but oh my god, you can do both!

Make Hank have a very fucking human reaction to a child being in danger, please! I beg!

What do you MEAN Hank, who lost his son (in a fucking car crash, by the way), would see this deviant taking a child across a highway where they could very well get hit and his only reaction is “don’t worry abt it Connor, they’ll never make it to the other side”

HUH!?

WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING CAVALIER ABOUT THAT??? MF, THAT IS A CHILD!

And don’t tell me he knew she was an android too, and thus didn’t care— no fucking way this man who doesn’t even know what thirium is at the start of the game could accurately recognise a YK500. Like, I can buy Connor being able to tell, but Hank? No way. He never even saw her properly! They were out of the house by the time of Hank coming in, and they were at the edge of the highway when Hank got to the fence.

I doubt Hank would recognise a YK500 just by her face, regardless. But at a fucking glance?? Come on now.

And even then, thats still a fucking kid, android or not. Most people would have a strong reaction to child being in that kind of situation.

I suppose there’s an argument to made of Hank doesn’t care at all because yk depression and nihilism, all that. But that doesn’t work either because of the aforementioned Eden club scenes.

And Hank worrying about Connor. Like yeah, sure, my HankCon-shipping ass does love that scene, but it does get on my nerves in terms of Hank’s character.

He still hates androids at least a little at this point. As far as I’m aware, the highest you can get his relationship with Connor at this point is “warm”, they ain’t friends yet. And that’s just a pure deviant route— also as far as I’m aware, you can piss Hank off at every chance and he’d still say this (I haven’t actually done a proper machine route yet (my heart can’t take it) but looking at the transcript for On The Run doesn’t seem to suggest otherwise).

Why is this game trying to tell me that Hank would care more about the android he still, at the very least, kinda hates and doesn’t want around than the fucking CHILD in a VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION!?

I love this game, I swear, but holy shit.

And like, okay, if anyone reading all this has also read my fic, you’d know I’ve rewritten this scene. I did that with this whole rant in mind. And reverse Connor does react strongly to this situation. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think my version of the scene is like the best rewrite ever. And I’m not the only one to have written the highway scene like that.

But it just goes to show, it can be done.

[vincent-van-gtg]

[fitnessdesire]

Can’t risk it

[laderdesders1]

The duck of creativity. I waited so long for it.

[luckyferrero-deactivated2020081]

i’m desperate huhu

[fandomchick80]

Please give me some inspiration oh great duck of creativity

[andreabandrea]

Kids today don't like spider-man because he's funny or heroic it's because he's the only relatable super hero because his life fucking sucks. He gets his ass beaten and goes home to an eviction notice and a daily bugle headline that says "spider-man cringe compilation"

[sunflowerbutch]

🥚

crack egg directly into hot pan, scramble while cooking

crack egg directly into cold pan, stir/scramble, then cook

crack egg into bowl, whisk or stir, THEN pour into pan and cook

other

results

Voting ended onMar 31, 2024

[coughloop]

[leopardmask-ao3]

Or you use a plastic/silicon spatula?? Or a silicon whisk?? go to literally any dollar store they have shitty plastic/silicon kitchen utensils you can scramble eggs with without scratching up your pans

[great-and-small]

Now that’s what I call

[great-and-small]

@rpepperpotshipssciencebros please forgive me for this one

[son-of-drogo]

I hate this site so much.

[justabigoldnerd]

I SAW "PROJECT HAIL MARY" WITH THE DIRECTORS' COMMENTARY AND HERE'S WHAT I WROTE DOWN

The voice of the Hail Mary was recorded live on set with Ryan so they could react to each other in real time!!

Ryan was so nervous and intimidated by the kids in Grace's class (who were played by children of the cast and crew 🥹)

The dots of astrophage Grace shows his class??? That was done by filming burning steeling wool, inverting it, then PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE

Ryan didn't know what was going to be in Yáo and Ilyukhina's bags, and they were real photos of the actors. He was told to "remember who these people are" and a lot of the emotions we see from him in that scene were real 🥹

The walk outside the classroom was one of the first scene Sandra and Ryan shot together. Sandra whispered "You wanna race to the bike?" And they DID and they KEPT THE SHOT which is why they're doing that hysterical little speedwalk I- ajdgsjshsj

They purposely emphasized reflections to reflect the themes of the movie. They loved glass, they loved light, they loved reflections.

They called the hardware store "off brand homedepot" LMAO

When talking about the shopping trip they said they wanted to show that "Playfulness and creativity are intertwined" 🥹

Grace's goggles that he uses to find the astrophage in the box in a box are literally made from an iPhone duct taped into makeshift goggles. And the infrared footage of him finding the four dots was actually shot ON an iphone!!!

There's a bright orange sticker that reads "CIVILIAN" on the back of Grace's flight helmet and the directors don't know if thats something they actually do but they found it hilarious

When Grace is shoved in front of the room full of world leaders to explain the astrophage, they said, "One of the many times we demonstate Ryland Grace's social anxiety by having people stare at him" ajdgsjdgsjjs

There was a team called "The Poetry Unit" who's job was just getting beautiful shots. And goddamn did they do a beautiful job. Also I've been talking nonstop about the inherent poetry of space travel since Artemis II launched and this just solidified it for me.

Talking about Daniel Pemberton's masterful soundtrack, they said, "He would not be alone in the soundtrack. In fact, two different planets would be rooting him on." 😭

THAT SCENE ON THE BEACH IN THE DONT GO CRAZY ROOM WHERE SOMEONE IS WALKING TOWARDS HIM??? THATS HIS FUTURE SELF ON ERID. (They also said "we dont know how they let us keep this in the movie" which is very funny but im very glad its there)

The scene where he catches the canister took ELEVEN takes for him to actually successfully catch it and everyone on set cheered

They call song that plays (or maybe they're were referring to the scene? A little unclear) when Rocky's ship starts spinning "The Gravity Tango" because "as Rocky spins his ship, its an invitation to dance."

They had 3 ramen ship models on set and every single one broke at some point 😆

Some of Ryan's reactions to Rocky copying his dances are his live reactions of being "absolutely delighted" by the puppet team

Rocky is 200 years old!!

The "Close Encounters" joke was pitched by STEPHEN SPIELBERG HIMSELF

Rocky's carved patch has the petrova line, as well as the base line six number for 23, the number of crew on his ship

The overlapping blue circles on Rocky's arm is his wedding band!!

When Rocky puts his forearms together, he's displaying his family crest!

Rocky has a lot of nonverbal communication cues, and one of them is that every time he says "Question" to form a question, he stomps twice!

They had a deaf consultant for Rocky's nonverbal communications!

Quote from one of the directors: "Its a movie about looking, witnessing one another."

In the scene where Rocky is bossing Grace around telling him how to build his enclosure and Armando and Mary get involved, one of the directors says, "Mary, Rocky, Armando- he's [Grace] creating his space family!"

When Stratt sings "Remember everything will be alright" it is confirmed she is singing it directly to Grace. They talk alot about how much she cares and loves but cannot care and cannot love, and how much she believes in him. How much she sees in him. I just. Man. Wow. They also say that this scene is a bit of an exchange. Grace is daring her, "Come, be human with us." And Stratt is accepting that dare, as much as she can.

I have seen this film three times (counting today) and until the directors' commentary pointed it out, I didn't notice the little HEEL CLICK Grace does when he comes in from collecting the astrophage coming from and going to Adrian AHHHH

"I love how on the spectrum Rocky is" CANON AUTISTIC ROCKY also the director who said this is a parent of a child on the spectrum which makes this all the more authentic and heartwarming 🥹

A lot of the scene where its revealed to Grace that he is the back up is improvised by everyone at the table

After Rocky saves Grace. The little model of himself that Rocky made that he holds up. The little item he holds up beside it? Thats a model of the device that opens the orb that caught the Taumeoba. Its Rocky telling Grace to finish the job. I'm in tears.

"As Rocky wakes up, the lights turn on, the movie warms up. Its like day breaking." 😭😭😭

They built the flexible panel on Rocky's ball MAINLY so Grace could give him the Earth ball akdhjshd

THE RAINBOW WHEN GRACE IS GETTING SEDATED IS REAL IT HAPPENED WHEN THEY WERE FILMING THAT SCENE IT APPEARED IN THE SKY JUST WHEN THEY WERE FILMING AND THEY HURRIED TO CATCH IT IT WAS JUST TOO PERFECT

"Even though he's going away from his home, Earth, he's going towards his real home, which is Rocky." HIS REAL HOME IS ROCKY Y'ALL MY HEART

When Grace and Rocky reunite on Rocky's hull, the translation of what Rocky chirps at him through the transparent xenonite is "You came back for me, question?" 😭😭😭

The tattoo Stratt has at the end means Life In Prison Without Parole

The beach in the Earth Dome on Erid is so rocky because the Eridians got the scale of sand wrong 😭 They're TRYING OKAY

About all the imperfections of Grace's habitat: "Really, all that matters is that he's with his best friend." 🥹🥹🥹

The song choice for the end credits, the "Hallelujah", is because Grace has ascended 😭😭😭😭

THEY REPLACED THE MGM LIONS ROAR WITH ROCKY'S CHIRPS FOR "AMAZE AMAZE" AWWWWWW

[hollow-head]

A missing scene. Thanks for all the fanart and fic throughout the years, you guys

[transmascmarypoppins]

why is this post completely broken in every way imaginable

[cecilsrandomeverything]

Broken notes… deactivated account… removed image….

Finally, we have them all.

[spacefinch]

In addition: OP’s name is just… gone. No “[insert username]-deactivated[insert a bunch of numbers]” as is the standard for deactivated blogs.

Just the world “deactivated.” Look upon their post, ye mighty, and despair.

[chatblancofficial]

It’ll be almost impossible to find this post unless it wanders across your dash.

[huewrite]

It wandered across mine. I shall help it travel forward.

[highimpactemotions]

As will I.

[ineedtofindanewname]

Rewatching RTTE after 7 years and honestly, my respect for Snotlout only grew after his tearful 'I'm just thinking of what might have been'

My guy does not discriminate, straight up fell in love with Thor Bonecrusher for the personality.

Haha I'm so glad I can see humor like this its sort of grounding

[ineedtofindanewname]

Once again crying because who said Hiccup is not his father's child

[vampirlor]

lord bring my family back together

[but-a-humble-goon]

I swear to god I don't actually hate all the batboys but their fans sure do work overtime to try and make me.

If your awesome female superhero has tragically become associated with Dick Grayson, Tim Drake or Jason Todd you may be entitled to compensation for emotional damages.

[berkianscallop]

Jack follows the Snow Queen

Self indulgent warm up sketches between one assignment and another hihih :D

Inspired by "Of the Northmost Winds and Skies" ✨