I was asked by @demon-simper to give my thoughts on Ruined Nation in regard to my latest fanart so here they are. Apologies for the long winded rant I ended up putting about everything I was thinking off relating this eveng and Blade,, Please feel free to point out if I missed or misinterpreted anything ( ^^)b
Spoiler warning for the Rusted Nation event! This event has 3 separate part that more or less work as standalones, this will only spoil Blade's story. +TW for discussing things related to trafficking and SA of any kind, nothing too direct or gross, but just in case.
So why did I say Blade was close to being trafficked? First off context, Blade is made as a weapon but he's evidently a bigger project, being the only automaton who harmonized with essence well, his core being the way it is makes him an ever improving machine but more importantly it has the soil needed for a true identity to "grow", before meeting Huey Blade might not have felt human, but we know it doesn't mean the things he experienced didn't affect him and Blade had already exhibited seed of emotions (he basically just couldn't process them yet, that's how I understood his nun card)
This first point is important to establish that he wouldn't just be another advanced sex doll like some of his pairs, the same way he isn't just a weapon. He can't understand it just yet but something is there, something human and his creators know it and bank on it making a higher-spec weapon.
As for the specifics of the trafficking part, we know that Blade's creators (Automaton Expert and the team/lab with him, it's never made too clear who they are) are in need of funding, they're dependent on higher officials' support, they *needs* to pursue research to further understand how Blade works and form him for his core mission (killing Huey) to keep researching. We're also shown in the same chapter that there are automatons (whose matricule starts with 4) made with the sole purpose of "satisfying" their owner, and not only does Blade & his creator walk on such a noble enjoying his "toy", that same noble also strongly tries to get a "taste" of Blade, whether Blade truly understands sex or not, going so far as to say that he doesn't see why he would help fund something that brings him no fun, shortly after we're shown that Blade's creator somehow convinces the noble that Blade wouldn't be satisfactory given he wasn't made with sex in mind * and pivots the topic to the potential revolutionnary power studying Blade might bring to Saia and how that'd be worth funding.
(* this might have been a lie given Blade has all the parts, or at least I assume so, maybe he didn't at the time, but in any case they gave him a functional apandage at some point.)
I might be wrong but it's my understanding, given the cruel and dark content of the other short stories from this event, that we're meant to think that Blade was very close to being a multifunctional e-droid, weapon one day, doll another, or worse fully repurposed as a matricule 4 model after failing his first attempt at killing Huey. I also definitely see a world where he'd be used as a honeypot/femme fatale assassin given he mentionned understanding sex as a good time to strike for assassination.
Given as soon as he starts being called "Blade" we can attest for sure that he's not just a machine, and that there are many turn where funds and failures could've forced the lab responsible for Blade's creation to "make the most of him" (especially given his advanced intelligence, he'd probably stand out amongst automatons) and even study it while they're at it, I don't think it's too far fetched to see that as Blade getting really close to being trafficked. In any case he was already "used" as a weapon and had to witness violent scenes, but he also got close this other sort of violence as well. I think ultimately what "saved" Blade is that they needed him to get rid of Huey first and foremost and didn't want to risk compromising this secret mission by teaching him "unnecessary" things (and that + lack of essence is essentially what held back Blade's humanity progress, much of our humanity isn't about purely useful things). In the longer run I feel like using him this way would have been a tangible option for his creators.
This part is moreso me expanding on how especially cruel it'd be, so don't take it as facts: I think it'd be especially confusing for Blade, who even now is somewhat naive/well-spirited and is naturally enclined to be quirky, having nobles both fawn over him and treat him kindly, and then cruelly or rudely when his reactions or performance aren't what's expected of him or when they feel like it. I definitely see nobles liking some of his quirks and then hating other, pixie manic dream girl style. At that point he'd barely be in his "learning" stage, yet he'd have to be forced in an "acting" one. Similarly he knows that he's meant to be an edge-cutting model, different from other automatons to an extent, but he does see them as his kins, seeing how emotionless and unmoving, how would he approach his own feelings and reactions? Should *he* be feeling nothing of skinship and affection? Is his humanity only meant for others, to successfully fullfil what's expected of him? One of Blade's biggest fear is being gotten rid off, something he understands is linked to the value he brings to others, obviously trafficking is horrifying regardless of the individual but someone like this in this sort of environment is especially depressing. In such a case, which would be worse, Blade never truly awakening all his humanity, never fully processing everything and being eventually replaced for his assassination mission, kept as a doll until he breaks or needs to be erased or finally meeting Huey, unlocking his full potential for humanity and having to face god knows how many years of confusion, and being left behind by Huey after it all.
That being said none of that happened, and I want to believe Eiden would find and love every clan members no matter what changed, so as much as I like thinking of the worst scenarios possible, I'll believe they can only end softly and bittersweetly at worst.
Welp that's all, thank you for indulging in listening to one of the many blind angles and complex feelings Blade gets me thinking off, nukani is seriously amazing when it comes to the ideas it throws at us sometimes, the entire cast has a lot of depth and unique lore to them, even if they fit into specific achetypes most of the time.
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