The Flaws Of Robin's/Journalist's Plot In Manhunt 1:
As much as I like Robin (she's probably the only character in Mh1 that I like in general) the story surrounding her is extremely flawed, some to the point of making her look extremely unintelligent (which hurts because she literally exposed Starkweather all on her own). So I want to tackle everything I can, the game itself and anything outside of it which is canon, I'll also do extremely small comparisons between the game and it's sequel, Manhunt 2.
First off I need to make something clear that I know may get me executed from Mh1 fans, but the "story" itself in the first game barely exists as the whole snuff-ring in general feels like it has as much to it as a story in porn, it's only there to justify the situation but not much is done it with (I will get into more details later on). And because this post is dedicated to Robin I'll do my best to focus solely on her (I will also be getting into her full name situation later on):
She is introduced in the first cutscene of the game where she explained to the camera what she's up to, only to not be seen in any way until she goes to rescue Cash (in the car she reveals that she was there watching him be executed). Now the first issue is her coming to get Cash in the first place, while I understand wanting to have as much evidence with you, coming for a criminal who has been on the run (since the 1992 if I'm correct) whom you (likely) know nothing about expect that people want him dead is not a good idea because of the following factors:
Cash escaped a death sentence (in a city based off of cities which don't have death penalties btw) thanks to Starkweather staging Cash's execution so him coming to confirm Starkweather's crime would reveal to everyone that he's alive, therefore sending him back to the prison (or the life of him being on the run again if he manages to escape).
She doesn't know Cash outside of what she could've read, along with knowing how cruel people can be thanks to basically ALL the evidence she was collecting, so she should know better than to trust someone dangerous who could potentially kill her (or worse).
And THEN she reveals that she left the extremely important evidence in her apartment instead of taking them with her in the car (therefore her and Cash have to go to her apartment honestly she's lucky that the police haven't been ordered to destroy it while they were in her place) (also damn girl made no copies of the evidence?). The level where you have to guide her back to her place is seemingly the only time she needs any type of help or protection, as before and afterwards she was seemingly able to do everything on her own, without even killing anyone mind you. Not only did she (presumably) leave a secret camera back where the Cherubs capture Cash for the millionth time (as their leader goes "What the fuck is this?!" Before destroying the camera) but she somehow manages to record live footage in front of Starkweather's manor without getting shot or there being any police around to go in and investigate (they only come to investigate AFTER Cash basically kills everyone and leaves....) (even if they're under the command of a corrupt chief they would STILL be required to come to "end the nonsense/false protest" or whatever).
The ending has Robin not reveal Cash's identity live, presumably either out of small respect because he killed Starkweather or out of fear of him coming back to her for revenge (as he has shown to her that he is someone driven by revenge when they part ways)(the fear could've passed/disappeared during her time in the asylum), but even this is flawed as she herself stated that the investigators found all of the footage recorded for the snuff film(s), which means that they have footage of Cash running around the city areas killing everyone. Along with the potential of them checking the place Cash was executed at (and just the cameras in the areas in general), as well as there being a recording where Starkweather himself confirms that the execution was staged, this all should be more than enough evidence to confirm that Cash has lived, but apparently....
Sadly there's not much promotional stuff featuring her, but let's go over what we have:
We have the valiant video enterprises site, in the EASY MONEY post made by Mr. Nasty himself. For those who don't know, Mr. Nasty is the head of the snuff ring, but he is never mentioned ANYWHERE in the game itself, I only found out that he existed thanks to the Manhunt Iceberg video (I would highly recommend watching it) which briefly mentioned him (now imagine Manhunt 2 where Pickman never appeared, not a good thing huh). In the post Mr. Nasty states the following:
I'll gladly pay any of you scumbags a years salary to off this nosy reporter bitch from carcer city news. bring me her ****ing head!!
So here's the thing: this post proves that Mr. Nasty considered her a threat to his work, which brings into the question as to why he never hired anyone to just "take care of her" or even doxxed her if he was gonna make this post, he had connections he could've used after all (getting Starkweather to get the chief to get her home address, hell Starkweather could've even gotten Cherubs or Ramirez to take care of it (Ramirez already proved to be pretty loyal) or ANY gang he wanted) so why just make a dumb post that makes him sound like he has the mentality of a 12yo incel edgelord with a poor grammar choice (or the mentality of Manhunt fans on Reddit, Twitter, and such sites, lol).
And now for the other....
So I'm not sure from which site the audio originated from, but it is an "interview" between Robin and a worker. In it we do get more insight into her, what happened to her, bit of her backstory and how she's doing mentally. I'll just go over some of the things we learn about her before we tackle some of the flaws (as the interview is the least flawed "story" to exist):
She worked at the news station for 3 years, and 3 years in a local one. So if she started working when she was 18 her canonical age could be at least around 24, this makes her potential the only character in Manhunt 1 whose age we know (unless I'm forgetting someone) (and it ironically potentially makes her the youngest character).
She reveals that her parents are dead, and seems very dismissive of them as she changes the topic, while saying "fuck them" which indicates that she wasn't fond of them.
During the interview the worker attempts to call her by her name before she cuts him off (the subtitles in the video call her Robin, but the audio itself is cut off, similar to what happens in the game).
She's being kept in the asylum mostly due to her "belief" that Cash is alive while she was caught outside at night with a knife.
So first the name thing, I could forgive the game itself cutting off at the moment when she was about to state her full name but this shows that they intentionally kept cutting off her name (let's not forget that in the interview the dude should've stated her full name, similar to what Dr. Laura Whyte does for Daniel Lamb and Leo Kasper sessions). For whatever reason they kept cutting off her name at "Ro-/Rob-" I genuinely don't know.
Now for the main thing: Cash himself. So the likely reason she's kept at an asylum is because she claimed at the interview that Cash is alive multiple times, while the dude states that she has published her story on Starkweather, whom was found dead in his manor along with everyone else. So this all means that the way they basically put it, they believe that she managed to kill them all herself and then published the story right before going after Starkweather himself (as there is live footage of her right outside his manor before the footage is cut off, not to mention the whole thing with her having insomnia and being spotted outside with a knife crying), so they believe that she's either delusional and made up that Cash is alive in her own head as a "coping mechanism" because she actually killed all those people (which she didn't ofc), or was lying about Cash being alive to "get away with mass murders" as Cash is a wanted criminal who was "executed" the day before her exposing Starkweather got out. Her quotes already show extreme paranoia so it's likely that they believe the first option (her imagining that Cash is alive as she was "the only one who saw him" since everyone else who saw him is dead, which would also confirm that the entirety of Cash's family WAS killed and that not even one of them escaped).
So the issue here? As I've stated the investigation found all of the evidence of the snuff ring which would include footage of at LEAST the current snuff film Starkweather was filming, which features Cash himself.
I'm aware of the theory that it was Mr. Nasty who put Robin in the asylum, as it would be too suspicious for her to die right after publishing such a big story. But even then that feels more like a speculation rather than a proper theory due to the lack of evidence and Robin's paranoid behaviour getting her locked up.
All of this mixed with the game whose story doesn't want to do anything with it's premise just makes it all the more confusing as to how can people say that the first game has a better "story/plot" than the second, because at least the second game offers way more, it's not done well but it still gave more than something that's passable or just "ok" at best. If it was about premises then that's literally just subjective rather than actual criticism, as some will prefer the premise of the snuff films rings over something based off of MK-Ultra (and a protagonist who's an actual proper character, + more).
Outside of Cash's revenge which.... you know what, I'm not gonna go into that, Robin is the only one with a story going on but in the game itself it is heavily flawed the more one thinks about it. And it's a shame because they could've done a better job at it (hell Robin and Starkweather never even really talk in any form or way), and because she's the only sane person in the game (I guess there's Cash's family too but nothing is known about them other than the fact that they didn't show up at Cash's execution).
I just wanna talk about the original idea where Robin was originally supposed to use a revolver in the level where Cash guides her to her apartment: I assume that it was cut for gameplay reasons rather than story reasons, as the game is about violence after all, and there would be the potential of Robin's AI either being awful/stressful for the players (and I've seen how people act when a female NPC has an imperfect AI, looking at you Sheva haters as if the AI partner doesn't behave that way with literally any other character) or it being too op to where the player wouldn't have to do anything to beat the level.
Honestly I'm glad that they had removed it as it would make her fine with killing ("I never hurt anyone."), along with her goals being for her own personal gain (with a confident voice, "this is gonna make my career.") her not being above murder would just make her look extremely selfish, as she wouldn't be much better than the one she's trying to expose (tho she would still be slightly better because she would be more of a sociopath, kinda like Cash, while Starkweather literally jerks off to gore....).
(sorry it's been a good while since I've drawn her)
