#xcom headcanons

[dreadblades]

... So I'm doing another Ambush mission and I realize something.

We know the Lost are former humans. We don't know where exactly the Lost came from, though. They aren't strictly the undead, because more Lost crawl out no matter how many are killed, and we know they have something to do with the fog pods the Elders dropped in the invasion.

I've mulled over for a while that maybe the fog pods are devices to break down genetic material from their victims, but I think I've fully formulated the theory by this point that the Lost are a special "waste product" of that disintegration. The fog pods continue creating Lost because the Elders don't clean up their shit, so they just leave their half-deactivated crap on the ground.

Also explains why the Lost have been cleaned up in the five years since. To be fair, ADVENT themselves were sending Purifiers to do that clean-up; though it must've also been funny for XCOM/the humans to tell those Purifiers, "Ok do the same jobs you were doing before but without burning any people, just Lost, and we'll let you retire without throwing you in prison"

or at least that's what I assume would've been the case lol

unfortunate that some of those Purifiers joined Sacred Coil but what can ya do (bonk the fuckers unconscious)

[dreadblades]

I know I've mentioned this in other meta posts before but we all agree that Elena's first instinct was to kill this man right

And it's only because Bradford incidentally reminded her that she was acting on behalf of XCOM that she didn't kill this man (presumably, Bradford's orders involve the utmost avoidance of human death unless absolutely necessary, hence why we in-game can't kill those stupid annoying civvies that narc on us unless we "accidentally" throw a grenade their way)

not pictured: a slight head roll that implies Elena reluctantly deciding against murder

It's just. A thing I think about every so often. Just how ruthless my girl is. If nothing else, this does mean she's left behind a witness to report on her intrusion and potentially make her future missions harder for her. So there's practical reason for her ruthlessness, of course, but.

ADVENT is nothing without the willful contribution of fine men and women. I wouldn't be surprised if Elena and/or other Reapers like her have grown incredibly bitter at best, downright hostile at worst to the humans who abide by ADVENT's regime-- whether willfully or not.

[dreadblades]

I've run into a fascinating conundrum here. Not for me, but for Queen Beta.

She keeps opening escape rifts and then not being able to use them. (As I was writing this between making moves, it took her like... six Ruler Reactions to escape.) Not for anything I did except throw an acid bomb on her-- the acid puddle is there, so she can't move. Or rather, won't move, through the puddle.

Very much backs up the nature of what Vahlen actually did for them-- that is to say, giving them more agency and self-preservation than the Elders allow of their subjects. Beta is especially unique among berserkers for exactly that reason: berserkers are notorious for being full-throttle Leeroy Jenkinses, to the extent that EU/EW explains that their own brains shut off parts of themselves to suppress any instinct towards risk-assessment and defense instincts. And here's their queen, the most dangerous berserker of all, who's special because her brain doesn't do that.

It just. It tells me so much about the distinction between Vahlen and the Elders and how it can't just be swept under the rug that Vahlen, even in the most bad-faith negative interpretation of her character, can never commit the same wrongs that the Elders do. Everyone questions why the fuck she made a deadlier berserker. Everyone questions why she made deadly aliens with teleporters. No one points out that if she equipped these deadly aliens with teleporters, and the berserker in particular has the instinct to use it when she's losing a fight, how that demonstrates a care for her test subjects. That she wanted them to live. That she wanted them to be able to save themselves in a pinch. That, even if you believe she wanted to turn the Rulers against the Elders, their lives still took more priority than that goal.

Imagine the Chosen, regularly getting the shit blasted out of them for Feeling The Wrong Feelings, looking at the Rulers and seeing them attain the barest minimum love and respect that they can't even earn.

[dreadblades]

Berserkers don't lead very good lives.

No Muton starts out with bodies that big, and they don't all necessarily aspire to that, either. Yes, they are a great many warriors with some laborers for the back line, but that's not to say that's exactly what they wanted to do with their lives, or that they're happy with that. Chimera Squad confirms as much - that not only are Mutons smarter than anyone gives them credit for, but that many of them are gentle, or at least, they often try to be. Their aggressiveness is no less a product of the Elders' abuse than the Sectoids' cowardice, or the Vipers' loyalty.

Certainly, no little girl knowingly dreams of being mutated and then spending the rest of her life hopped up on 24/7 combat stimulants. The Berserker's anatomy prioritizes combat over everything else, and frankly if she doesn't die in battle, the inevitable organ damage will do her in, if not drug overdose. The pumps keep working after the body's stopped. Until death, can she even sleep like that?

Dr. Vahlen documents that heavy doses of the strongest night-night juice XCOM had in stock was what it took to finally calm a Berserker enough to counteract the stimulants and get into her head. That in mind, after her initial genetic modification, how were those stimulant pumps installed? Was she conscious? Was she given any pain medication for the no-doubt excruciating procedure of having her circulatory system hijacked for enforced drug abuse? Blood still trickles down her skin, or was never washed off when it spilled. Does it still hurt?

Did she even have the chance to consent to any part of this, or was it the Elders' will against hers? How old was she when it happened? We know that the Elders aren't above sending teenagers to fight their battles.

How many of those young Mutons tried to resist what was about to happen to them? How many went along with it, believing the lies their masters told them? How were these girls even chosen, and how many of them knew the truth of their fates?

Were things any better when the Elders sent them out with armour like every other Muton had? Were the changes to their bodies less extreme back then? Or were they still developing?

How long do they have to live once the changes start?

I can't look at a Berserker without wanting to protect her.

[dreadblades]

Thinking about berserker mouths (and really. their entire facial situation)

I love the way their mouths function on a mechanical level. The mandibles that make up the most visible section of the mouth, and the very flexible lower jaw underneath it. It's a fascinating combination of like. A shark's mouth (the multiple rows of teeth) and a snake's (a snake's lower jaw is just, like, a strip of thin bone, with no connection in the middle; they're also connected to the upper half of the skull by a ligament, a snake's jaw is never hinged to begin with). The way the lower half of the mouth hides behind the upper half and basically blends in with the neck is just. I love watching the berserkers' trigger animation in slow motion it's so interesting to watch

Also this sort of maw implies that a muton's natural diet is something slippery enough that their entire mouths are designed to grab onto, with the mandibles and the teeth being the way they are. They probably don't really chew their food.

Honestly I wonder what kind of bite force a berserker can even have, with such flexible lower jaws. I feel like it'd be weaker than one would expect, looking at them. Like they can clamp on, but it's less about causing damage by sheer pressure alone than about keeping prey still.

I wonder if they can shed teeth like sharks do, where one might pop out and the tooth behind it just slides up into place

Their intro animation that has them sniffing the air... I do love how it looks. Curious wife... inquisitive wife...

But mostly I imagine it speaks to a strong sense of smell. In fanfic I call that central ridge a "nasal vent", and I have to wonder what that looks like internally. Do you think the masks mutons wear in the mainline games are meant to correspond with that shape? Like, the way humans wear face coverings with skull iconography, sort of energy?

In general I wonder how closely mutons originally lived to the water on their home planet, because their anatomy does seem to lean very vaguely fishman-like. I wonder how much of that would still echo in their current genomes if that's the case.

[dreadblades]

XCOM aliens getting to play in the snow for the first time in their lives,

Snowball fights between mutons

Sectoids making snow angels

Thin men doing that thing where your asshole friend/sibling dumps a handful of snow down the back of your collar

Listen. Patrol/abductions are gonna get boring when the humans aren't around. Let these poor extraterrestrial child soldiers/not-child soldiers have fun for once

[dreadblades]

So the thing with the Hunter's canon backstory and the fact that he has been completely severed from his own life memories as a human has fascinating tragic potential when it comes to his affection towards his Chosen siblings

Because he cares about them. He's the only one who can admit that he didn't want them to die. That, in spite of the Elders' bullshit and the sibling rivalry that made it impossible for the three to be in a room together without their Cain Instincts activating, he saw them genuinely as family.

The Warlock and the Assassin pointedly do not feel the same way, at least not based on their in-game dialogue (though I know an argument can be made that they might be suppressing affection, or care deep down; and in fact I do think that has its own potential, but for the sake of this ramble let's take at face value that they just fucking hate their siblings with no internal conflict about this). The Hunter says he "never thought they'd go down like this"-- meanwhile the Assassin and the Warlock are each like "lmao the Elders would've killed their ass(es) anyway RIP bozo"

Which creates the situation where the Hunter is still capable of love and feeling love, but no longer has any experience having love reciprocated.

What a horrible emotional situation to be in.

Bonus points for his abusive collective "parents", and the ex-girlfriend that only sees him now as a monster to kill.

[dreadblades]

How to easily seduce Rook/probably a lot of Archons:

Neck kissing. Don't be fooled, the armor is just as much part of the shell as the "skin", so it's about as capable of sensation.

That entire torso is begging to be felt up— the pecs, the six-pack, the v-line (even if it doesn't lead anywhere), come on.

For Rook specifically he looks very hot with his lipstick smudged, and this is something that best be taken advantage of

Also, the back isn't super accessible, but if someone can get their hands under the wings without getting pinched or caught in anything that can be very effective

No you can't just take the wings off. Same reason as the rest of the armor (it's still basically part of the body)

There's a lot of seams in the shell. They are sensitive. Enjoy.