#muse analysis

[the-wheatley-core]

(What is the height/width of cores? I’ve been thinking about how cute it would be to hold my favorite cores.)

((Well, if you go into third-person mode, the game would have you believe that Wheatley is a lot bigger than he actually is

But that’s simply not the case. You see, Portal 2 does a lot of scaling when it comes to objects that you can pick up (the draw view model differs from the in-game model), as demonstrated here:

This is Chell:

This is how Chell/The Player sees this stack of cubes.  

And these are the cubes in relation to Chell when you go into third-person mode.

So they’re much bigger than you would expect them to be. But they are simply overexaggerated in size for the sake of perspective. The same thing applies to Wheatley.

You can see how the perspective in this game tends to work. The in-game model tends to be overexaggerated in scale so that it doesn’t appear too small for the player while the draw-view model is on a “camera” layer, so it’s more like having a moving picture on your screen rather than an actual model.

You see, even WheatDOS is absolutely GARGANTUAN in comparison to Chell here.

But by the end of the game, his model is scaled down to a more believable size. 

Now, for his actual height? I analyzed Wheatley’s Video Game Awards Acceptance Speech, and in that video, he is awarded a trophy (Not that he actually knows what it’s for. That’d be breaking the fourth wall)

And the thing about that trophy is that it actually exists in real life. So let’s see how big that trophy is in comparison to… let’s say, Samuel L Jackson.

Now, how tall is Samuel L Jackson? 

So we’ll take Samuel L Jackson’s trophy and compare it to the one that was launched at Wheatley.

And what have we got?

Wheatley being at a height of 1′1″. So there we go, there’s your answer! :D 

And since every other personality sphere is the same height as Wheatley, they’d also be 1′1″ as well.))

[snxwboarder]

   Langa internally: I feel so much love and admiration for you in a multitude of different ways - it overwhelms me. You have changed my life for good and I owe all of my current happiness to you. I’ve been dealing with enough loss for a lifetime, and the thought of losing you as well makes my heart break. You’ve brought a new passion into my life that has filled an empty hole I didn’t think would ever be filled. More than that, you’ve been there for me in a way that no one else has in a really long time. Thank you.

   Langa externally: ...

   //In my opinion (and the way I write Langa) - The canon issues between Reki and Langa have completely come from Langa’s inability to tell others how he really feels. His wiki page talks about how he’s dense and doesn’t understand other people’s feelings. It’s not that he’s shy or embarrassed, he literally DOESN’T KNOW he’s supposed to use his words. I think it’s because with his dad (the person he was closest to) he didn’t need to use his words. They communicated through snowboarding and were always on the same wavelength. He doesn’t realize that not everyone has Langa mind powers like his dad did. Sure, some may adapt them eventually - but it’s going to take a lot of time and open communication for that to happen. 

    Langa’s communication issues are something I’ve been trying to push for in my threads as I try to stay true to how I perceive his character. This is probably going to cause problems between him and other characters which is exactly what I’m going for! In my opinion, lack of communication is Langa’s biggest character flaw and it’s what gives him depth. I’m excited to explore it more and watch his relationship with all of my partners grow as he learns how to be honest with people. I think there’s lots and lots of room for unique relationships with each of my partners, depending on how their muses learn to handle Langa’s internalization!

[dokidoki-notesheet]

this is a bit random but i just had a thought..

its made out that utsuro has perfect luck that can bend to his wants and needs so usually things go in utsuro’s favor. but i noticed it also seems to have side affects or at least consequences..i think?

the voids meet utsuro and is blessed by his fortune. because of that though they end up forming void. and for mikado it ends up causing him to commit a multitude of crimes and in the end getting many people including most of the voids killed.

the same goes to anyone else who met utsuro, they either disappeared or died, with the exception being the dra survivor trio.

I could be explaining this a lot better but o sum it up: utsuro’s luck works both ways, it gives great fortune but also gives bad consequences.

[the-wheatley-core]

Analysis: Wheatley was never meant to be stupid to begin with

((You know, I always found it so odd how Portal 2 tries to convince you that Wheatley is meant to be stupid. Because when you’re playing the game for the first time, he really doesn’t come across that way.  It’s only until GLaDOS says this that in your mind you begin to try and deliberately look for acts of stupidity to justify her claims. 

But Wheatley really never came across as stupid for me.  My first impression of him was that he’s a reckless expositional character who would introduce you to the game’s mechanics right after taking the courtesy to utterly destroy your bedroom. 

And that he also happens to be clumsy.

But he never truly came across as stupid to me. I remember every time I would watch the core transfer/the fall, it always seemed so out of place to me. GLaDOS would call him stupid and I remember always being like “...Really?” Because it had honestly never occurred to me. Wheatley just never came across as stupid during the first act of the game. Clumsy, reckless and impulsive? Yes. But not stupid. Every time his stupidity was brought up in the game or in the fandom, I’d just look at him in confusion and go “...Are you sure?” Because it was his idea to disable GLaDOS’s defenses in the first place, he’s the one who redirected the faith plate to launch Chell into his trap and he studied GLaDOS’s boss battle footage so that he wouldn’t repeat her same mistakes. All of these actions only serve to prove against the whole narrative of him supposedly being stupid.  For a year or so now, I’ve been analyzing Wheatley non-stop. I’ve made countless analyses breaking down his character and just further explaining in depth why the writers failed at writing a stupid character. But recently I had a bit of an epiphany.  You remember this moment here?

Originally, that was supposed to be the end of Wheatley. He was supposed to die right then and there, but the playtesters liked him too much so the developers decided to give him a bigger role in the game. 

But the thing is... prior to GLaDOS crushing him, Wheatley never came off as stupid. His character traits had established him to be clumsy, reckless, “not-so-sure-of-himself”, frantic and impulsive. Those were the character traits that had originally been established for Wheatley early on and because he was never meant to play a bigger role in the first place, there was absolutely no narrative reason to convince the player of his stupidity. Because he was never written as stupid to begin with.  Now the thing with Valve is that when they gave Wheatley a bigger role in the story, they didn’t actually change any of his character traits. In fact, they seemed to make him pretty darn clever considering just how much he helps you out in the game. Such as devising a plan behind the scenes to break you out without GLaDOS noticing, only having to give away his position because he was forced to enact the escape plan ahead of schedule due to GLaDOS increasingly hinting at her plans to kill Chell earlier than expected.

Knowing what GLaDOS’s defenses are and coming up with a plan to disable them,

Guiding you through the dark,

Coming up with the solution for the turret control puzzle if you can’t figure it out on your own,

and many more. Valve failed exponentially at trying to write a stupid character and seemed to actively do the opposite with no changes or rewrites to Wheatley’s personality.  You know what’s a good example of a stupid character?

You know what’s a bad example of one? 

Someone who studies before a boss battle to ensure his victory. The only reason Chell emerged victorious was because she somehow miraculously survived a bomb blast. 

And also because Wheatley’s procrastination on fixing the facility resulted in the ceiling to crumble and reveal the moon that Chell would use to shoot a portal at like the lunatic that she is. 

But aside from that, it was a foolproof plan. So much so that the devs actually had to scale it back just so that it could be beatable. 

Valve failed at writing a stupid character. That much is a fact. But they needed to give Wheatley a reason to exist within the story. They needed to give him a motivation to drive his actions. As @the-evilanon​ said in their analysis on the matter:

"While the statement “Wheatley is dumb” is devoid of merit and rendered dishonest by canonical material, it makes for an excellent plot-device. It gives an otherwise simple, potentially one-dimensional character depth. Because he now has this insecurity he’s been given something to feel over, something to get angry about, to be haunted by, gutted by, and later corrupted by. Without his fear of appearing stupid, and his disdain for being the Intelligence Dampening Sphere, Wheatley is just friendly.” 

Which is an entirely accurate statement to make because more often than not, Wheatley’s negative actions are influenced by his insecurities. 

With the knowledge of his origins, you can easily infer that he’s been picked on in the past going by how strongly he reacts to being reminded of his status as an intelligence inhibitor.

It’s an old wound of his that he's desperately been trying to forget about until GLaDOS brought it back up. I’m often reminded of this comment I once saw on a youtube video: 

So with the knowledge that Wheatley’s past is something that he’s ashamed of and that has caused him some degree of psychological trauma judging by his strong reaction, we can determine that the cause for Wheatley’s perpetual anxiousness and his subsequent actions going forward are the result of his lifelong status as someone who is meant to be considered stupid within his environment. This is what brings him anxiety, this is what makes him insecure, this is what drives his actions

This is what gives his existence meaning in the game:

Wheatley isn’t stupid at all. Valve failed miserably at writing a stupid character. But without that insecurity of appearing stupid to others, Wheatley has no motivation to drive the story along and therefore has no reason to exist.  Wheatley was never meant to be stupid in the first place. He’s always just been this clumsy, reckless, “not-so-sure-of-himself”, frantic and impulsive expositional device who was supposed to introduce you to the game before getting crushed by GLaDOS early on. His role in the story changed along with his motivations, but his character never did and I think that is why the reveal of his origins always felt so out of place to me. Wheatley is not motivated by stupidity but he is motivated by his insecurities and this constant desire to want to go against his assigned purpose and to become something else. He wants to be something that’s worthy of appreciation. It’s why he loves roleplaying so much (There is an actual voice line of his where he says exactly this: "Dashing rogues! The both of us. Like Robin Hood or something! Role playing. Love it. Absolutely love it.") because he gets to be something unrelated to being an “intelligence dampening sphere” and sort of live in this fantasy world where he doesn’t have to suffer a demeaning purpose all his life. Heck, he likely changed his name to Wheatley just to further distance himself from the idea of being an intelligence inhibitor. If you actually pay attention to Wheatley in the game, you can easily see this to be the case. Wheatley is not a genius, but he is far from being “the dumbest moron who ever lived” and this is honestly something that I wish more people would come to understand about his character.)) 

[the-wheatley-core]

Analysis: Wheatley was never actually legitimately employed at the Relaxation Center in the first place

((I mean, this was already confirmed by the developers and an unused line from GLaDOS, so I doubt it really needs a super in-depth analysis, but since certain people in the fandom are unaware, I’ll just state it here: Wheatley was lied to. He was never actually legitimately employed at the Relaxation Center.

“I'm actually asking. Because I have no idea. He's not listed anywhere in the employee database. Whatever he does, it isn't important enough for anyone to bother writing it down. For all I know, he doesn't even work here." - GLaDOS

What we know is that Wheatley tried looking for work at Manufacturing, but the foreman decided to hire an exact duplicate of himself, likely just so that he wouldn’t have to hire Wheatley, and Wheatley was instead moved to the relaxation center. 

"Here's an interesting story. You might like this. I almost got a job down here in Manufacturing. But, uh, guess who the foreman went with? Only an exact duplicate of himself. Nepotism. Ended up giving me the WORST possible job, tending to all the smelly humans." - Wheatley

But since the developers have confirmed that he’s not actually in charge of managing the relaxation center along with GLaDOS’s line about him not being listed anywhere in the employee database, that means that he was likely fired without actually being made aware of it and given a pointless task without any actual responsibilities just so that he wouldn’t bother the other workers. You remember this line of his?

"And of course nobody tells ME anything. Noooo. Why should they tell me anything? Why should I be kept informed about the life functions of the ten thousand bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of?" - Wheatley

It’s pretty easy for it to fly over your head if you’re not paying attention, but nobody tells Wheatley about anything that’s happening because he’s not actually employed. It’s like having an office job and being fired without actually being made aware that you’ve been fired. So instead of receiving any news or updates about your job, you’re instead never invited to any board meetings or sent any emails so you just have no idea what’s going on in the company and you have to figure everything out all by yourself. That’s what’s going on with Wheatley here. Wheatley is not actually in charge. The automatic system handles everything in the relaxation center.

"Good morning. You have been in suspension for -FIFTY- days. In compliance with state and federal regulations, all testing candidates in the Aperture Science Extended Relaxation Center must be revived periodically for a mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise." - Announcer 

So if anyone should be blamed for the test subjects dying, it’s not Wheatley. As he says, the reserve power ran out and stopped waking up the test subjects

"The reserve power ran out, so of course the whole relaxation center stops waking up the bloody test subjects." - Wheatley

Which is, of course out of his control. He’s not legitimately employed, so he’s given a very limited amount of access to the relaxation center’s functions, only really being able to move the containers around.  You see Wheatley knocking on the door at the start of the game.

If he had a full range of access to the relaxation center’s controls, he could have just opened every single door without issue, but since he’s not actually in charge, he’s incapable of opening up the doors on his own, making it impossible for him to actually tend to the test subjects. Of course, he could also just be being polite by choosing not to barge in, but considering the urgency of the situation, it’s likely that he just doesn’t have any way to access the doors without somehow also risking the test subject’s vitals as well. Wheatley doesn’t have any actual responsibility for the lives of the test subjects. The other robot workers only stationed him there to keep him away from everybody else.

I’m reminded of Invader Zim, actually, where The Tallest sent Zim on a pointless mission to a hypothetical planet they weren’t sure even existed just to get rid of him:

Purple: “Hey, remember Invader Zim?” Red: “Who?” Purple: “Zim. Tiny? Screamed a lot?” Red: “The guy that sends us the donuts?” Purple: “No, that's Invader Jim. He's great.” Red: “Oh, wait, Zim! We hate him!” Purple: “Yeah, that's him! Remember the time we lied and told him we were sending him on a secret mission to Earth, but really we were just getting rid of him because he's awful?” Red: “Yeah. We're hilarious.”

So that is... quite literally what happened to Wheatley here. He was given a pointless job with no actual responsibilities. It’s likely that none of the test subjects were even being tested in the first place during that ‘long chunk of time where absolutely nothing happened’ so they weren’t even doing anything aside from just sleeping in their chambers. And Wheatley’s “job” of keeping the containers alive was already being handled by the automatic system, so he was given absolutely no tasks or responsibilities whatsoever. He was trying to do his job without being given any actual direction. But you know what I find admirable? Despite his inherent disinterest in the job, Wheatley still tried preparing himself for it by studying a bit of Spanish beforehand and getting himself familiarized with the various human ailments a test subject could fall victim to.

"Good morning. You have been in suspension for -nine nine nine nine nine... nine ni (continues repeating behind the following:)- This courtesy call is to inform you that all test subjects should vacate the Enrichment Center immediately. Any test subject not emerging from suspension at this time will be assumed to have exercised his or her right to remain in extended relaxation, for the duration of the destruction of this facility. If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, or if you require a Spanish-language version of this message, feel free to take a complimentary piece of stationery from the desk drawer in front of you, and write us a letter. Good luck." - The Announcer  "[to self] Hm. Could be Spanish, could be Spanish. [loud again] Hola, amigo! Abre la puerta! Donde esta--no. Um... Fine! No, absolutely fine. It's not like I don't have, you know, ten thousand other test subjects begging me to help them escape. You know, it's not like this place is about to EXPLODE. Alright, look, okay, I'll be honest. You're the LAST test subject left. And if you DON'T help me, we're both going to die. Alright? I didn't want to say it, you dragged it out of me. Alright? Dead. Dos Muerte." - Wheatley

"How are you? How you feeling? Wait. Don't answer that. Too much deep relaxation, what it does is it relaxes the gums. And the vibrations from talking -- on a rare occasion -- can make all of your teeth fall out of your head." - Wheatley "Most test subjects do experience some cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now you've been under for... quite a lot longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage. But don't be alarmed, alright? Because ah... well, actually, if you DO feel alarmed, hold onto that. Because the feeling of alarm is the proper reaction to being told you've got massive brain damage. So if you are alarmed, then it suggests the damage is not as serious as we thought. Although it probably is really serious." - Wheatley "That conversion gel has been sitting in that pipe going stagnant for years. You'll probably get botulism portalling through it like that. And you'll probably get ringworm. And Athlete's Foot. And... Cholera. Or something... Horrible.” - Wheatley 

So even when Wheatley doesn’t like a job, he still tries his best to do what he can to please his superiors. Although that’s made difficult with the limited access to resources and a lack of any real direction given. So with all of this in mind, I don’t think we should really blame Wheatley for what happened regarding the test subjects in relaxation as it was never actually his responsibility to look after them in the first place))

[the-wheatley-core]

Headcanon/Analysis: Wheatley is in constant pain

((Throughout Chapter 5, Wheatley’s eye aperture (iris) is always partially constricted. 

When normally he has a relaxed gaze.

As Karen Prell, Wheatley’s animator puts it: “Slow, smooth head moves, a steady gaze and a relaxed eye aperture indicate that Wheatley is calm. Short, sharp head turns, rapid blinks and glancing around indicate nervousness or deceit. Add a tightly constricted eye aperture and a little shiver to show fear.” However, Wheatley is not fearful or anxious during various parts of Chapter 5. Like at the turret control center, Wheatley is calm and has nothing to be nervous about. 

And he’s so calm during the Bring Your Daughter to Work Day exhibit that he feels relaxed enough to start having a go at the children’s science projects. 

So he’s clearly not feeling anxious, so what gives? It’s that he’s damaged and in constant pain and agony throughout.

After GLaDOS crushed him, 

And tossed him into some water and jagged rocks, 

He’s been sparking constantly ever since.

But has never said a single word about it. And it’s not that his eye aperture is just stuck like that after having been crushed. He’s capable of expanding his eye aperture during these moments.

But more often than not it’s always just partially constricted.

And that’s because he’s in pain, but he’s trying to ignore it. He never mentions his sparking issue and he never brings up any kind of pain he might be feeling. Whether it be emotional or physical. He’s always just keeping it to himself through metaphorical gritted teeth and pretending that everything is okay, which is a reoccurring theme regarding Wheatley. He’s always trying to pretend that things are okay even when they’re not. > "Stay calm! 'Prepare' - that's all they're saying. 'Prepare.' It's all fine. Alright? Don't move. I'm gonna get us out of here." > "Okay! No, don't worry! Don't worry! I've got it I've got it I've got it! THIS should slow it down!" > "Okay don't panic! Alright? Stop panicking! I can still stop this. Ahh. Oh there's a password. It's fine. I'll just hack it. Not a problem... umm..." > "So... you're gonna test. And I'm gonna watch. And everything is gonna be JUST... FINE." > "It's alright! Everything's good. I just invented some more tests!" > "Was. Was self-destructing. Already fixed. Programmed in one last tremor, for old time's sake. Two. One or two more tremors in there. Just for fun. I let him keep his job. I'm not a monster. Ignore what he's saying, though. Keep testing." --- Wheatley is like this from the very beginning to the end. Always trying to ignore his problems because he’s afraid that thinking about it will stress him out and cause him to panic. And he’s already got pretty bad anxiety to begin with.  It’s just honestly quite impressive how nobody picked up on the warning signs sooner.  And this would also explain why the solution euphoria effected him so easily. It was probably like a painkiller to him. 

His eye never constricts when you’re solving his tests. It’s always expanded.

I genuinely think that the solution euphoria was numbing his pain. Both physical as well as the emotional. This would explain why Wheatley held onto it so strongly. He didn’t want to go back to feeling as bad as he did before. He didn’t want to quit this drug that was finally helping him cope with his pain and struggles. Wheatley is bad at communicating his issues, so he turns to substance abuse and this is why I always say that Wheatley’s character arc is a cautionary tale. And it WAS substance abuse. The developers themselves have said that the solution euphoria is an analogy to cocaine.

So Wheatley is a very relatable character, but he also shows what happens when you fail to take care of yourself and your mental health properly and when you don’t have a proper support structure around you.))

[the-wheatley-core]

Headcanon: Wheatley and Space Core have a brotherly relationship

((Case in point:

Because one moment they’re like:

And the next;

I rest my case.))

[the-wheatley-core]

Analysis/Headcanon: Blind faith

Ever notice how Wheatley just has this constant blind faith in the scientists regardless of how badly they treat him? He always listens to them, even when they’re not using his fear of death against him. 

The scientists are roboticists. They’re trained professionals and If anyone should know about Wheatley’s functions it’s them. So when they lie to him that doing certain things will kill him, he’s gonna believe it. It’s like how you have faith in your doctor when they give you your medical diagnostic. They’re trained professionals so they should know what they’re doing. You wouldn’t know if your doctor was lying to you and this is the same case with Wheatley being unaware of the scientists lying to him. Especially about something that he perceives to be life or death. But Wheatley’s blind faith in the scientists goes much deeper than that.

When you’re riding in the tube, Wheatley says this:

"Woooo! Haha! I KNEW this would be fun. They told me it wasn't fun at all, so they say “It’s not fun at all.” and I- I BELIEVED 'em! I don’t know why I ever thought so myself. Ah! But I'm loving this! Whale of a time!"

Wheatley believes the scientists when they tell him that riding the tubes isn’t fun. Something that should be purely subjective. They don’t tell him that riding the tubes is gonna kill him. They say that it won’t be fun and Wheatley believes them. He has so much faith in the scientists that he just believes anything they tell him.

And I don’t think this has to do with sheer gullibility. Wheatley’s faith in the scientists seems to be indicative of him wanting their approval. He clearly has respect for them If he’s willing to believe their every word and he sees them as figures of authority. 

The scientists created Wheatley and they hold authority over all the other robots in Aperture. They dictate the rules and decides everyone else’s fate... including their worth. 

It’s clear that Wheatley felt somewhat of an attachment to the scientists since he truly believed that they had his best interest in mind whenever they warned him about what would and wouldn’t kill him. However, they still treated him in a way that caused him to develop insecurities about himself, leading to him having a low self esteem.

After you finish Test Chamber 18, Wheatley meets up with you to keep you updated on his plans to help you escape.

He bumps into a girder and gets fired by Jerry before threatening to sue him for a hate crime. Now, in a longer unused version of this quote, he says this: 

"Hey, partner. I knew you'd be comin' through this shaft, so I talked my way onto this nanobot work crew over here that's rebuildin' it. They're REALLY small, so they got tiny little brains. But there's a billion of 'em, so it's only a matter of time until ONE of them notices I'm the size of a planet. Hold on... I'm on BREAK, Jerry. Anyway, look, we're real close to bustin' out. So just hang in there for five more chambers. Ow! What? You can't fire me! Well, JERRY -- maybe your prejudiced worksite could have accommodated a nanobot of my size! You'll be hearing from my lawyer! Thanks for the HATE CRIME, Jerry! We're not actually going to sue them, I just don't want them to report this. I don't even HAVE a lawyer. In fact, if I EVER retain counsel, I will DIE. Oh, I gotta go. I'll see you soon."

Now Wheatley thinks that he will die if he ever retains any legal counsel, and with the ongoing pattern of Wheatley thinking that certain things will kill him because of what the scientists told him, it can be inferred that the scientists also told him that he would die if he tried to retain any legal counsel. Now, why would the scientists tell him that? Well, these are Aperture employees who don’t want to get involved with the law as we all know.

If Wheatley tried to sue them, then they would obviously use his fear of death against him to get him to not press charges. Another interesting thing of note is that Wheatley specifically chooses to accuse Jerry of engaging in a hate crime. Now if at some point in his past he learned that he COULD sue someone for a hate crime, then he would obviously use that same tactic on Jerry. Because that’s the thing about Wheatley. He learns, and when he learns, he utilizes that newfound knowledge for things in the future. Like how he was checking up on Chell from behind the panels all throughout Chapters 2-4, picking up vital information that he would use against GLaDOS once he broke Chell out of the testing track, such as learning the extent of their rivalry, GLaDOS’s defensive use of turrets and neurotoxin and just how much of a manipulative liar GLaDOS tends to be.

Or how he studied GLaDOS’s Portal 1 boss battle footage before preparing for his own.

"Also, I took the liberty of watching the tapes of you killing her, and I'm not going to make the same mistakes. Four part plan is this: One: No portal surfaces. Two: Start the neurotoxin immediately. Three: Bomb-proof shields for me. Leading directly into number Four: Bombs. For throwing at you. You know what, this plan is so good, I'm going to give you a sporting chance and turn off the neurotoxin. I'm joking. Of course. Goodbye."

So Wheatley tends to utilize his past knowledge of things in the future.  I feel like at some point in the past he learned that he could sue someone for a hate crime. But why would he try to sue someone for that? Well, Wheatley often feels like he’s being treated unfairly on the basis of his role as an “intelligence dampening sphere.” Simply thinking about it brings him a great deal of emotional pain and he likely named himself Wheatley just because he didn’t want to be known as that.  If at some point he felt like he was being mistreated for something he had no control over, learning that he could sue for a hate crime must have been like a dream come true to him. Although of course, it wouldn’t work out since the scientists told him that he would die if he ever tried to retain any legal counsel, which... probably wasn’t a lie so much as it was a threat.  Wheatley must have been very frustrated to have wanted to risk it all in order to sue the very people he looks up to. 

I honestly find it fascinating though, to see how different characters deal with the abuse from the scientists.

GLaDOS takes the path of most resistance and tries to kill them with every chance she gets, acting assertively and in control, like Caroline (and Cave) who took crap from no one:

Cave Johnson: "All right, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade.”

GLaDOS: “Yeah!”

Cave Johnson: “Make life take the lemons back!”

GLaDOS: “Yeah!”

Cave Johnson: “Get mad!”

GLaDOS: “Yeah!!”

Cave Johnson: “I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?!”

GLaDOS: "Yeah, take the lemons!”

Cave Johnson: "Demand to see life's manager!”

GLaDOS: “Yeah!”

Cave Johnson: “Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the man who's going to burn your house down! With the lemons!”

GLaDOS: "Oh, I like this guy."

Cave Johnson: “I'm going to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!!!"

GLaDOS: "BURN HIS HOUSE DOWN!!! Burning people! He says what we're all thinking!"

GLaDOS: "I know things look bleak, but that crazy man down there was right. Let's not take these lemons! We are going to march right back upstairs and MAKE him put me back in my body! [...] let's get mad! If we're going to explode, let's at least explode with some dignity!"

She knows she’s in charge and that she’s not going to allow anyone to take advantage of her.

Wheatley, on the other hand, tends to often take the path of least resistance and tries to earn the scientist’s approval. Always listening to them with this blind faith and only deciding to lash out with a lawsuit against them when he’s at his limit of being treated unfairly.

Wheatley more commonly tends to be a pushover. He’s timid and incapable of standing up to anyone who’s bigger than him or who holds more power over him. He even allows himself to get talked down to by a potato.

Wheatley: "Alright. So that last test was... seriously disappointing. Apparently being civil isn't motivating you. So let's try things Her way... fatty. Adopted fatty. Fatty fatty no-parents."

GLaDOS: "And...?"

Wheatley: “What?”

GLaDOS: "What, exactly, is wrong with being adopted?"

Wheatley: "What -what's wrong with being adopted? Uh-um. Well...um... lack of parents, number one, so... uh... and also... nothing, but- well, some of my best friends actually are orphans... But..."

He immediately backs down after GLaDOS hypocritically calls him out on behavior that he learned from her. He could have called her out on her hypocrisy, but no. Wheatley is not assertive. He’s insecure, emotionally fragile and displays obvious signs of having anxiety. He can barely stand up for himself and gets easily taken advantage of by others.

And he realizes this. He realizes how easily others take advantage of him which leaves him feeling frustrated. Especially when he feels like he’s not even being appreciated. All of this built-up frustration over being treated unfairly explains these lines of his:

Wheatley: "I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!"

GLaDOS: "You didn't do anything... She did all the work."

Wheatley: "Oh really. That's what the two of you think, is it? Well, maybe it's time I did something then. And don't think I'm not onto you too, lady. You know what you are? Selfish. I've done nothing but sacrifice to get us here! What have you sacrificed? NOTHING. Zero. All you've done is BOSS ME AROUND. Well, NOW who's the boss? Who's the boss? It's me!"

In which Wheatley is clearly projecting all of the frustrations from being taken advantage of that he built up over the years onto Chell.

He wishes that he could say these things to the scientists but they’re all gone so he’s taking out his misplaced frustration out on Chell who he assumes agrees with GLaDOS over the assertion that he did nothing to help out and that Chell actually did all of the work. Despite the fact that 1. Wheatley came up with the plan to disable GLaDOS’s defenses in the first place and 2. GLaDOS didn’t actually see any of what was going on behind the scenes. 

This frustration continues to persist until the end of the game when Wheatley says these things:

Wheatley: "We've had some times, haven't we? Like that time I jumped off my management rail, not sure if I'd die or not when I did, and all you had to do was catch me? Annnd you didn't. Did you? Oh, you remember that? I remember that. I remember that all the time."

Wheatley: "And we could have talked our way out of it. Except you forgot to tell me that you'd murdered her. And that she needed you to live, so the only available vent for her rage would be good old crushable Wheatley. Yeah. Little details that I remember. Easy little tidbits you could have used to save me from getting crushed if you'd cared, which you didn't, obviously. And still do not."

Wheatley: "Enough! I told you not to put these cores on me. But you don't listen, do you? Quiet. All the time. Quietly not listening to a word I say. Judging me. Silently. The worst kind."

Wheatley: "And another thing! You never caught me. I told you I could die falling off that rail. And you didn't catch me. You didn't even try. Oh, it's all becoming clear to me now. Find some dupe to break you out of cryosleep. Give him some sob story about escaping to the surface. Squeeze him for information on where to find a portal gun."

Wheatley: "Then, when he's no more use to you, he has a little accident. Doesn't he? 'Falls' off his management rail. Doesn't he?"

Wheatley: "You're in this together, aren't you? You've been playing me the whole time! Both of you! First, you make me think you're brain damaged! Then you convince me you're sworn enemies with your best friend over here!"

Wheatley: "I'll bet there isn't even a problem with the facility, is there? I'll bet there's no such thing as a 'reactor core'. I'll bet that's not even fire coming out of the walls, is it? It's just cleverly placed lights and papier mache, I'll bet that's all it is."

Wheatley: "All those pieces of the ceiling that keep falling out? Probably actual pieces of the ceiling, I'll bet. That looked real. But it doesn't signify anything, is my point."

Wheatley: "But the real point is - oh, oh! You know what I've just remembered? Football! Kicking a ball around for fun. Cruel, obviously. Humans love it. Metaphor. Should have seen it coming."

After essentially experiencing sensory overload from the corrupted cores leaving him to feel emotionally overwhelmed and at his limit, Wheatley starts doubting reality itself. Because the scientists have lied to him about so many things, so who’s to say everything else isn’t a lie as well? A lot of Wheatley’s issues stem from his childhood as he projects his frustrations over the scientists onto Chell. I think throughout the course of the game, Wheatley learned how to trust less in others, because people will only ever lie to you and take you for granted. And by the end of it, when he’s in space, he’s just lost and unsure of absolutely everything. He recognizes his wrongdoings and apologizes for it, but his experience will likely make him wary of putting his trust in anyone ever again. 

So you can see how Wheatley has long harboured this frustration of being taken advantage of and lied to for his entire life. And since he is far too timid to stand up to himself or speak out, he’s been bottling up these frustrations for YEARS. Which is seriously not good for his mental health. So If you take Wheatley’s history of being treated poorly and his methods of coping with his issues into account, a lot of his behavior in Portal 2 suddenly starts to make a lot of sense. Because anyone who has gone through what he’s gone through would inevitably be likely to act the same way he did.  Wheatley is a prime example of a mental health issue left unchecked and It honestly disappoints me how the developers seemingly added all of this depth to him by accident while cheaply describing him as some sort of goofy idiot in interviews. There’s clearly so much more to Wheatley than what they let on If you pay attention, and I would honestly love to have Valve hire me on to expand Wheatley’s lore a bit. Because all of this explains far too much of his behavior to simply be left to fan interpretation alone.