Canon-point and Head-canon... (Spoilers)
Mar. 1st, 2030 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lessandmorethanhuman...Or why I do not use Prototype 2 and consider it part of my canon."
So, this is going to be a spoiler-heavy post, as I will lay out why I pulled Alex from the end of Prototype, the first game, and am not considering Prototype 2. I will disclaim that I have not played in full Prototype 2, nor am I denying it might or might not be a good game--simply laying out that I do not consider it for this RP or for my Canon and Head-canon.
I will disclaim, I LIKE Alex as an anti-hero, rather than a villain-protagonist. To me, throughout the first game, he shows growth and gains a small conscience. He hates and regrets the mistakes he has made, and things that he feels forced to do, to find out the truth. This is seen when he recognizes and outright admits that freeing Elizabeth Greene was a mistake. It is shown when he gains the big revelation that HE is the virus, not actually the human. It's shown when he goes after Colonel Taggart, to get his 'ticket' on to the Reagan. Most of all, for me, it's shown in his end-game quote which I include at the end of my history.
Regarding his revelation:
"I'm not human. The revelation, it freed me. It killed me. I'm not human...*slight laugh* Alex is just the role I play. Part of me was relieved, and part of me died. Just another disguise right? So ingrained, so real, even I believe it. I realized then I was a part of it all."
To me, even as he continues and it's clear he wants revenge, wants answers for what happened--when he says the above, he's taking ownership of his role. Mercer wasn't a good man, but finding out that it's "just another disguise" still makes him feel a loss, even as there is relief. To me, that symbolizes the virus growing and trying to figure out what role HE wants to be, not as an 'it', but as a person.
To get at the people responsible, Alex needs to get on to the USS. Reagan; especially since there are plans now to nuke New York, to stop the infection. His key to doing this, is to get Colonel Taggart, working with Captain Cross. However, to get to Taggart--he has to disable the helicopters Col. Taggart could use to escape the city. Completely disabling, and eliminating everyone, as Taggart could be on any of the 'copters. Only then can he force Taggart to try and escape by ground, where he has a chance to intercept and consume the man. Once this mission is completed, as much as Alex goes through with hit--it's very clear how he feels about the matter. "Damn you Taggart. Damn you for making me do this."
Alex is still a being pursuing his own goals, and will do what is necessary--but he is starting to show more complicated levels of anger and regret. He's shown hints of it, in his various interactions with Dana, trying to figure out what he is. Now, it's more obvious, and more clear that he is starting to gain a conscience, to gain a measure of humanity, even as he's not human.
I quoted his end game quote in my History, and to me--it exemplifies the anti-hero quality of Alex Mercer best. He recognizes that he's done terrible things, they're all a part of him, and he'll never forget. But he also seems inclined to atone, to do what he can to fix it--and to recognize that he is both something 'less' (a virus), but also now something 'more' than pure human. This leads in to part of why I am not inclined to use the canon of Prototype 2.
Disclaimer: I have not played Prototype 2 yet. I have however seen some Let's plays, I've read summaries, and I'm going to be up front about this. I think James Heller is an interesting character and choice--but I feel that the dev. team wasted some perfectly good and engaging story-hooks, in choosing to make Alex the outright villain. I also find their reasons to make him the villain rather flimsy, and part of why I feel they're flimsy is because it undoes what I saw as his character growth at the end of the first game.
Alex in Prototype 2 has restarted the infection, and is taking a greater and more active role in spreading it than before. He's decided humanity needs a new direction, one leader, one mind, etc. Part of this is because he traveled the world between the end of Prototype 1, and the beginning of Prototype 2--and found Humanity lacking. He did quite a few good things, but he found humans were selfish, and cared only for their own freedom and happiness, and not for the larger picture. This was seen, in particular, when he helped free a small town from a drug cartel; while the people celebrated, he was disdainful--as they cared only about their own freedom.
Eventually, he rented a cabin and took an identity as a writer, from a man named Flint and his daughter Autumn, to try and sort stuff out. He grew close to the pair, and protected them from (until he found out about) elements of Flint's criminal past. Unbelieving that Flint was changed, Alex killed him, and then went to Autumn--trying to get her to leave with him, and money he'd stashed. He'd fallen in love with her--but she betrayed him, shooting him in the face and saying her Father had taught her better than that. Essentially, to care about herself, first.
These things convinced Alex that humanity was selfish, caring only about individual's own freedoms with a pretense of decency towards each other, and ultimately humanity should be destroyed. Frankly, I can SEE why he'd say that--considering that yeah, we humans are very very flawed. But it feels flimsy to me, considering he's forgetting some basic rules in Biology.
All life is selfish, as the self-preservation instinct goes very very deep, and all life also wants to reproduce. In the larger scheme, Humanity is driven to reproduce, but also to preserve itself. These are basic facts that he seems to ignore. Or rather, the writers chose to focus only on the negative aspects, while not looking also at the things that--even with self-preservation--can be done for the larger scale as well. It is not always individual good trumping greater good...
(Alex himself breaks this, when in the end confrontation with Heller, he consumes his own evolved lieutenants to gain more of a fighting chance against Heller. If self-preservation is so easy to ignore in favor of the greater good, why be that selfish? Why care more about his OWN survival, than about what might be best for the viral-humanity he's trying to usher in?)
I feel that they could've used two plot-hooks from the first game in more clever ways, to restart the infections and make sure Alex does not have 'fluffy bunnies' in his future, while also not making him a villain.
For one, there is the mention of Pariah--Elizabeth Greene's son, and the perfect incarnation of the virus. Yes, he is supposedly kept in a military installation--but how often can that backfire? It's implied that he and Alex should never meet--which would give Alex a reason for finding someone ELSE to face Pariah, someone who can be like Alex himself--but not take that risk.
Then we also have Dana Mercer, his sister. She is in a coma, after being kidnapped and held hostage by Elizabeth Greene. Greene even states "She's with us now..." So, how does she wake up, because she's one of Heller's aids/contacts in Prototype 2? Why couldn't she have woken up, and perhaps restarted the infection/been altered to be the source of the new troubles? (Not that I dislike Dana, I love her frankly but she likely has PTSD after her experiences and that can do nasty things to people...) That would give Alex conflicted emotions at least, as here's someone he cares for (arguably more than the real Alex ever did), and now he has to try and stop her.
Both of these, to me, would've been interesting hooks that make sense, but also don't undo what I liked about the Prototype ending and the main character. I recognize, it's not my game; the developers can do what they want. But I did want to also lay out my reasons for why I don't consider Prototype 2 as part of my Canon.
Please, as always, be intelligent and polite with criticisms or questions at least. That's all I ask.
So, this is going to be a spoiler-heavy post, as I will lay out why I pulled Alex from the end of Prototype, the first game, and am not considering Prototype 2. I will disclaim that I have not played in full Prototype 2, nor am I denying it might or might not be a good game--simply laying out that I do not consider it for this RP or for my Canon and Head-canon.
I will disclaim, I LIKE Alex as an anti-hero, rather than a villain-protagonist. To me, throughout the first game, he shows growth and gains a small conscience. He hates and regrets the mistakes he has made, and things that he feels forced to do, to find out the truth. This is seen when he recognizes and outright admits that freeing Elizabeth Greene was a mistake. It is shown when he gains the big revelation that HE is the virus, not actually the human. It's shown when he goes after Colonel Taggart, to get his 'ticket' on to the Reagan. Most of all, for me, it's shown in his end-game quote which I include at the end of my history.
Regarding his revelation:
"I'm not human. The revelation, it freed me. It killed me. I'm not human...*slight laugh* Alex is just the role I play. Part of me was relieved, and part of me died. Just another disguise right? So ingrained, so real, even I believe it. I realized then I was a part of it all."
To me, even as he continues and it's clear he wants revenge, wants answers for what happened--when he says the above, he's taking ownership of his role. Mercer wasn't a good man, but finding out that it's "just another disguise" still makes him feel a loss, even as there is relief. To me, that symbolizes the virus growing and trying to figure out what role HE wants to be, not as an 'it', but as a person.
To get at the people responsible, Alex needs to get on to the USS. Reagan; especially since there are plans now to nuke New York, to stop the infection. His key to doing this, is to get Colonel Taggart, working with Captain Cross. However, to get to Taggart--he has to disable the helicopters Col. Taggart could use to escape the city. Completely disabling, and eliminating everyone, as Taggart could be on any of the 'copters. Only then can he force Taggart to try and escape by ground, where he has a chance to intercept and consume the man. Once this mission is completed, as much as Alex goes through with hit--it's very clear how he feels about the matter. "Damn you Taggart. Damn you for making me do this."
Alex is still a being pursuing his own goals, and will do what is necessary--but he is starting to show more complicated levels of anger and regret. He's shown hints of it, in his various interactions with Dana, trying to figure out what he is. Now, it's more obvious, and more clear that he is starting to gain a conscience, to gain a measure of humanity, even as he's not human.
I quoted his end game quote in my History, and to me--it exemplifies the anti-hero quality of Alex Mercer best. He recognizes that he's done terrible things, they're all a part of him, and he'll never forget. But he also seems inclined to atone, to do what he can to fix it--and to recognize that he is both something 'less' (a virus), but also now something 'more' than pure human. This leads in to part of why I am not inclined to use the canon of Prototype 2.
Disclaimer: I have not played Prototype 2 yet. I have however seen some Let's plays, I've read summaries, and I'm going to be up front about this. I think James Heller is an interesting character and choice--but I feel that the dev. team wasted some perfectly good and engaging story-hooks, in choosing to make Alex the outright villain. I also find their reasons to make him the villain rather flimsy, and part of why I feel they're flimsy is because it undoes what I saw as his character growth at the end of the first game.
Alex in Prototype 2 has restarted the infection, and is taking a greater and more active role in spreading it than before. He's decided humanity needs a new direction, one leader, one mind, etc. Part of this is because he traveled the world between the end of Prototype 1, and the beginning of Prototype 2--and found Humanity lacking. He did quite a few good things, but he found humans were selfish, and cared only for their own freedom and happiness, and not for the larger picture. This was seen, in particular, when he helped free a small town from a drug cartel; while the people celebrated, he was disdainful--as they cared only about their own freedom.
Eventually, he rented a cabin and took an identity as a writer, from a man named Flint and his daughter Autumn, to try and sort stuff out. He grew close to the pair, and protected them from (until he found out about) elements of Flint's criminal past. Unbelieving that Flint was changed, Alex killed him, and then went to Autumn--trying to get her to leave with him, and money he'd stashed. He'd fallen in love with her--but she betrayed him, shooting him in the face and saying her Father had taught her better than that. Essentially, to care about herself, first.
These things convinced Alex that humanity was selfish, caring only about individual's own freedoms with a pretense of decency towards each other, and ultimately humanity should be destroyed. Frankly, I can SEE why he'd say that--considering that yeah, we humans are very very flawed. But it feels flimsy to me, considering he's forgetting some basic rules in Biology.
All life is selfish, as the self-preservation instinct goes very very deep, and all life also wants to reproduce. In the larger scheme, Humanity is driven to reproduce, but also to preserve itself. These are basic facts that he seems to ignore. Or rather, the writers chose to focus only on the negative aspects, while not looking also at the things that--even with self-preservation--can be done for the larger scale as well. It is not always individual good trumping greater good...
(Alex himself breaks this, when in the end confrontation with Heller, he consumes his own evolved lieutenants to gain more of a fighting chance against Heller. If self-preservation is so easy to ignore in favor of the greater good, why be that selfish? Why care more about his OWN survival, than about what might be best for the viral-humanity he's trying to usher in?)
I feel that they could've used two plot-hooks from the first game in more clever ways, to restart the infections and make sure Alex does not have 'fluffy bunnies' in his future, while also not making him a villain.
For one, there is the mention of Pariah--Elizabeth Greene's son, and the perfect incarnation of the virus. Yes, he is supposedly kept in a military installation--but how often can that backfire? It's implied that he and Alex should never meet--which would give Alex a reason for finding someone ELSE to face Pariah, someone who can be like Alex himself--but not take that risk.
Then we also have Dana Mercer, his sister. She is in a coma, after being kidnapped and held hostage by Elizabeth Greene. Greene even states "She's with us now..." So, how does she wake up, because she's one of Heller's aids/contacts in Prototype 2? Why couldn't she have woken up, and perhaps restarted the infection/been altered to be the source of the new troubles? (Not that I dislike Dana, I love her frankly but she likely has PTSD after her experiences and that can do nasty things to people...) That would give Alex conflicted emotions at least, as here's someone he cares for (arguably more than the real Alex ever did), and now he has to try and stop her.
Both of these, to me, would've been interesting hooks that make sense, but also don't undo what I liked about the Prototype ending and the main character. I recognize, it's not my game; the developers can do what they want. But I did want to also lay out my reasons for why I don't consider Prototype 2 as part of my Canon.
Please, as always, be intelligent and polite with criticisms or questions at least. That's all I ask.
