#have more of my adam malkovich brainrot

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

I had more thoughts!! (I hope you don’t mind me reblogging this from you! It was actually just easier to find it from your blog than mine...)

Something I was talking to my girlfriend about later as well while we were mulling this all over: I find it interesting how the BOTTLE SHIP specifically calls for damage or failures to cause it to jettison Sector Zero. Even ignoring my headcanon-y thought of Adam feeling like he needs to take the consequence of dying to get rid of this project he set into motion, it seems odd that Sector Zero doesn’t have a remote way of jettisoning and detaching itself (though, again, I haven’t played Other M fully myself, so... I may have missed a stray dialogue somewhere that addresses this. But that’s not as fun as my idea so phooey I’m gonna ignore it!)

From what I understand, Ian - Adam’s brother - died because there was a failure in a drive core that would have led to it causing dangerous destabilization to the rest of the spacefaring vessel they were on, and Ian had gone in to try to remedy it. What if - if Adam was one of the forces behind the BOTTLE SHIP’s construction, behind this project - MOST parts of the BOTTLE SHIP are designed in their own contained sectors such that if there is any catastrophic failure, it will automatically declare an emergency sequence, give anybody within that sector time to leave, then jettison and destroy itself? Designed completely based on what happened with Ian, to prevent such an event from ever happening again, to prevent anyone else from having to make such a heartbreaking call.

What if, Adam going into Sector Zero and allowing himself to die alongside it, was poetic justice in his own right? He made the bitter call for Ian to die in the past, for the good of everyone else, by having him die to that failing drive core. Now, he has made the bitter call to sacrifice himself for the greater good as well, by letting it take his life much in the same way that drive core did Ian’s in the past.

A system he designed specifically to avoid having to lose people to a situation such as this once again, and in an almost ironic twist of fate, he has to go in and manually trigger the jettisoning sequence.

Though, if you go with my more headcanony thought of him intentionally designing them to give people time in those sectors to leave before jettisoning... That means you could have some reeeeally fun angst of Adam having had to sit there for 5-10 minutes, waiting for the jettison, waiting for the end.

...

Also.

Not only did Adam lose Ian that day, but I do love to think about the recognition of how Samus left shortly after that, and Ian’s death majorly influenced her to do so.

Adam didn’t just lose his brother, he lost Samus, too. Regardless of whether you see Adam as more of a fatherly, romantic, or even just platonic figure in her life, it has to just be such a crushing blow to him. He’s a commanding officer, she was someone who relied on him and trusted him and he trusted her, they had a whole thing going on with the “objections, lady?” - and then he pulled that, and she left.

He had to, but she still left. As a fatherly figure, that would feel like him failing his “charges” - Lady, Ian, and all his soldiers. As a romantic figure, it would feel like a cruel, crushing blow, to feel as if you failed the person you loved like that, failed to provide them the ‘safety’ you are expected to offer as a commanding officer, with your experience and knowledge. As a platonic friend, it would still feel like a deep blow, to think you had to make a call that singlehandedly ruined someone’s faith in the cause (the GF) as well as made your friend feel unsafe or uncomfortable working below you.

I wonder if wanting to prove he could in fact be that protective force he meant to be as a commanding officer could influence the decision to start the BOTTLE SHIP project... no matter how you interpret him, I could see it working!

Bear with me Tumblr while I go on another unprompted metroid rant

@sablegear0 sorry for the tag but wanted to tag you bc. Some of your stuff inspired these thoughts 🙏

Just thinking about Other M because I LOVE the concepts, HATE the execution

(Disclaimer, I haven't played the full game myself - so take all I say with a slight grain of salt, but still)

I think it would be way more fun if Adam was legitimately part of the splinter cell he mentions later in the game. That he DID legitimately write a report condemning the thought or practice of repurposing metroids as bioweapons, and the Federation at large listened... But as Samus proceeded to save their collective asses again and again, Adam grew anxious, realizing how hinged their survival was on her. Realizing how unfair of a burden that was on her and how unsustainable that was.

Adam was always a very "ends-justify-the-means" person. He proved that with his own brother. So... Running with this thought-

He met up with other likeminded individuals, like Dr. Madeline Bergman, like higher powers in the Federation that maybe provided hush-hush funds to start the BOTTLE SHIP project. His previous report is in fact co-opted as he claimed, once the metroid breeding program starts - by himself. It's used as the project's *bible,* almost, it's warnings taken to heart and addressed systematically. But the biggest threat isn't: once they create these metroids, particularly unfreezable ones, there is no way to guarantee they will never leave Federation clutches, or that the Federation won't abuse them.

And that's what Adam realizes as the project progresses. He realizes that, if he and this splinter cell was capable of forming and operating on such a scale, what's to say more malevolent forces within the Federation couldn't do the same? Forces that wished to behave the same as or *worse* than the Pirates? He has just authorized the creation of weapons he can never guarantee will stay out of their hands. Already having dug this hole for himself, Adam realizes he can't retract his decision, because when he starts to show hesitancy to proceed with the project, he is warned by others in the splinter cell that his name is all over this project. Should he turn it in, they could easily smear it all but entirely on him - many of them would get off nearly freely, meanwhile his life would be destroyed, and the unfreezable metroids and zebesian pirate clones would likely stay in Federation possession.

So, Adam comes to the gutting decision that he will have to destroy the BOTTLE SHIP project on his own, from the inside out, at the cost of his own life, if he must - seeing as his life would be destroyed anyway, once the secret comes to light. When a distress call from the BOTTLE SHIP echoes across the galaxy, Adam jumps at the opportunity to lead the 07th Platoon, and the Federation at large - unaware of the splinter or the BOTTLE SHIP's existence - unwittingly sends the splinter's founder as the team's leader to investigate. James Pierce is part of the splinter as well, unknown to Adam; he vows to ensure Adam doesn't destroy what they've built, no matter the cost.

On the BOTTLE SHIP, Adam is genuinely disturbed when Samus arrives, and his harshness with her - and his order to restrict her abilities in order to join them - are all subtle attempts to simply annoy her into leaving, since he knows he can't just ask her to, as she'll only stubbornly stay, then. Samus, of course, is unbothered and considered this fairly normal for her former, Machiavellian CO.

When James realizes Adam isn't trying to lead the Federation soldiers astray, he begins to pick them off one by one. Adam realizes there's an assassin in their midst, but there's little he can do about it other than try not to be the next one killed, and protect Samus, to ensure he can stop this project.

By the end of it, with MB having rendered the Pirate clones uncontrollable, an inadvertent Ridley clone threatening the universe once more, the looming prospect of unfreezable metroids being released on an unsuspecting galaxy... Adam temporarily stuns Samus with a blast from his weapon at a weak point on her suit. Samus is suspicious, as she is in the game already, but even more so this time. Maybe she even at first thinks Adam, in a terrible moment of panic, is the Deleter - but he puts that thought out of her head.

The conversation goes similarly to in the games, but maybe with it being more obvious Adam isn't telling her the entire truth. He's leaving out details because he can't stand the thought of revealing to her how he let her down - again.

But Samus realizes as he talks. She picks up on the hints. He knows about the splinter cell because he was part of it. He knows about Sector Zero's self destruct process because he was part of the designing process. And he needs her to stop Ridley and divert the BOTTLE SHIP, destroy it if necessary, because after he takes care of the metroids, he won't be around to make sure the rest of the project is destroyed for good, and he is relying on her for that. Samus starts to get angry at him again as her suit starts to regain power, unloading betrayal in bitter words, angry that he would think he can just get away from it all by dying a noble death, but Adam quietly tells her they don't have time, and he can't stop Ridley. He's not doing this to get away from his consequences.

He tells her he's no Galactic savior - and he means it. He's not. He started a terrible thing, and now she has to clean it up, just as she always does. Implied in his words is how he's sorry for trying to match her, for doubting her, and making her life worse in the process of doing so. Implied in his words is how he felt like he wanted to protect her, that she shouldn't have had to be the galactic savior, but he sees now how that was infantilizing of him. She's an adult, she's her own person, she's grown wonderfully - implied is the gentle request for her to go be herself, and for him to be himself. The commander the gives her orders, and the galactic savior that takes his orders as advice rather than gospel.

Despite being furious at him, Samus is still thoroughly upset by watching him enter Sector Zero and yells at him not to, but he goes in anyway. The same "Any objections, lady?" cutscene plays, with her giving a bitter, angry thumbs down and banging on the door one final time.

Maybe instead of blindly honoring him in the resulting dialogue, Samus admits that she still doesn't totally understand why he did everything he did, and that she is deeply hurt that he would do all of that rather than talking to her about what could be done to improve the Federation's forces so they don't rely on her so heavily, but that she could see in the end, he regretted it. That he respected her. And I think that would motivate her to ensure his death means something beyond him atoning for his mistake, by ensuring the projects aboard the BOTTLE SHIP don't survive (or so she believes).

Samus always believed she did her best to put good back into a world wrought with evil forces, but the implied admission behind Adam's declaration of her as the galactic savior would fuel her with determination - and maybe even start seeding a particular kind of hate in her for the Federation, to be large and twisted enough to do this to people.

Maybe she even starts wondering just how different the Federation is from the Space Pirate empire and if she's going to watch them walk a similar path in real time.