#like it kills me that the entirety of Murder Drones. N and V are in love with eachother. like mutually

[peacockrulz]

N tries to tell another joke (gone wrong)

Sequel to This

[velvet-vox]

All of the points that go in favour/against Doll coming back to life.

So, originally, I wanted to make a post of theory/analysis on Cyn and the possibility of her being redeemed at the end of the show; one of the points that I was going to make for said redemption was that Doll's death was meant as a cautionary tale, the main team of the series is abuse and how trauma affects us into becoming the worst version of ourselves, Doll was a trauma victim who was so dead set in her unhealthy coping mechanism that she ended screwing over her entire life, granted said redemption for Doll wasn't unreachable as showcased by her last living moments, but by then the damage was done; Cyn, on the other hand, could have potentially realised all of the harm she was doing even as far back as before the gala massacre, but then, it kind of reminded me why I ended up never making that post.

You see, the thing is, I don't understand Cyn.

At all.

Like, I also for the longest time couldn't understand Doll despite being hyper obsessed with her, and took over a year, countless analyses done by other people and (unfortunately) episode 7 until I could finally come to understand her to the deep, narrative level that I do now, and I still don't know if I truly got everything.

But with Cyn, not only do I not understand her like I do with other characters, but..... I also kind of feel left out.

To me, it seems like the fanbase at large is obsessed with this little gremlin; I'm autistic as well, since that's the main head canon floating around, yet I don't really relate to a word she says, to me, the hype surrounding Cyn feels similar to the hype surrounding Nori pre episode 7: we have this almost blank slate character that is characterized enough to not be an head canon dump, she is super relevant to both the plot and to one of the protagonist backstory, it's one of the main antagonistic forces, and is generally super important.... Yet I still don't get her nor do I get her surrounding hype. I've read a couple of analyses, and would gladly accept if someone sent me some more, since just a single Murder Drones character requires a lot of digging to fully comprehend in its entirety.

But finally going back to Doll, I want to make a short list of all the points in favour and against a possible resurrection of her character, starting with the pros.

Pros:

- Doll is definitely a big selling point for the russian audience of Murder drones, as I have seen various people lament her death on the fact that she was russian alone; funnily enough, this was also my main reasoning to not kill her off as I and other people started learning russian all because of her.

- Gonna reiterate the fact that Doll is, currently, peak russian representation, and it just feels rather insensitive from Liam to kill her off permanently when there's already Yeva and her dad, two russians, whose death is much more acceptable.

- Doll, unlike Alice, Beau, Rebecca or others, had so much potential as a character, being Uzi's foil and all, and to not capitalize on that would be a huge waste.

- Her death, although very impactful, was not, per se, as narratively satisfying as it could have been (see Nox from Wakfu), so it might've been a mislead, and if V comes back, there's a chance Doll might come back too since Doll x V is the parallel dynamic to Uzi x N.

- Gonna mention personal bias. It's not important nor is it a valid point but it had to be mentioned.

- Doll parents are already dead but we had a whole Yeva flashback in episode 7 that I can't explain in ways other than she'll be relevant in the future, and if she turns out to be alive, even if mind controlled, Doll's death is inevitably going to lose a lot of impact because, as it stands, it's balanced, but with the twist, it could retroactively feel like drama porn.

- She wasn't unreademable, just unreachable and deeply hurt, if she had a second chance to make up for her mistakes I believe she would take it in a heartbeat, I can only imagine the immense amount of guilt she was feeling while dying, she must've realised she only caused more damage in the long run and couldn't do anything to fix it, so if she could help Uzi out even as a digital ghost, it might just give her the sense of closure she so desperately needed.

- If Nori can come back as a core, so can Doll, they just need to cut Cyn stomach in a non lethal way.

And now, for the sadly more probable cons:

- This is Liam Vickers we are talking about.

- Even with all of her potential, hers and her family backstory feel rather.... disconnected from everything else going on right now? Like, Yeva might have been this important figure into Nori's past, but as of right now, aside from her impact, she really doesn't seem too relevant to the main plot; same thing with Doll, in fact, it was Doll's own insistence to be relevant that led to her demise, because, despite everything, the story revolves around N and Uzi manages to survive because she is important to N, and even then, she still sacrifices her own life for him.

- The narrative has always been pretty disrespectful to her? Like, I'm not talking about her sad backstory, sad development, and even sadder death, (this master guide over here realistically had no end in sight as you could just go on and on forever) I mean in general there was a clear lack of commitment to her side of things from the writing team, I think I've read somewhere else that in the original animation Uzi even walked on Doll's body as she was running to N; many theorised that they only came up with her story only after the pilot dropped, and I can't help but think that it has to be true because she had this air of mystery that in my opinion went anywhere and in the pilot she's a background character. I don't know, from a supposedly sympathetic villain the writing was rather unsympathetic towards her whole situation and she felt more like your average b##ch in the episodes following the prom.

- She still fulfilled her limited narrative role, so changing it back could alter future developments and remove impact from the tragedy of this cautionary tale, since, in all honesty, Doll's side story would require the show to switch off the plot too much and unfortunately that's never been a priority for the writing team. Also bringing back up Nox from Wakfu (still gonna make that comparison post) whose Doll shares some themes with, even though his personal story was extremely tragic, it was extremely disconnected from all of the main characters as he was more of a warmup baddie for Yugo to get in the groove, and he never returned physically aside from passive mentions and an illusion.

- I don't think they went out of the way to showcase Cyn eating Doll's core just for it to be a fake out.

- Even with all of my personal biases, aside from her starring episode she never had a real purpose in the grand scheme of things so her death was probably just a way to cut off loose ends.

- She isn't a protagonist despite what she deluded herself into, so plot armour applies even less to her than it does with the main trio (spoiler: it doesn't).

Ultimately, in my heart and mind, despite what I really want, I know Doll's not coming back.

She was disrespected, screwed over by both the writing and her own twisted mind, and since this is a somewhat heavy horror show despite the comedy, I really don't think we are going to see her reunited with her parents as a ghost nor will she be in robot hell or heaven, I really think she is just dead.

That's so sad. What a shame.

Farewell, comrade.

Want more?

[l0v3sickl0s3r]

tldr? yeah that’s all well and good but n and uzi aren’t weak. also nice hook, like md-confessions said

i guess i agree with you on ur main point, idk i kinda skimmed over the whole thing bc ADHD (sometimes) equals low attention span but the fact that you called n a spineless lapdog and uzi weak willed made me actually jolt out of pure anger. you mean to tell me that somebody who has endured abuse from not only his family but also his friends, confronted said abusers (with the help of uzi ofc but it still counts), kills people, has damn good fighting skills, carried the entire show plotline because of his kindness towards people, faced a demon child that possessed his friends, and actually pretty smart is weak? liam vickers has said before that n isn’t dumb, he basically just has debilitating cognitive dissonance, don’t quote me on that. also i’m sure n had reasons to side with uzi for most of the show, like in the pilot when she pointed out that the company could kill the disassembly drones after they’ve murdered all the worker drones, he took her side because she had an actual good point. also for uzi? god she is not weak willed either. also went through bullying, neglect from her father, had a mostly absent mother, made an actual railgun that could’ve killed the entirety of her enemy colony, went through possession, is obviously mentally ill, has killed many including her classmates, faced a demon child, and was lost in space. so you’re gonna tell me that you’d stay strong while going through ALL of that? everybody needs someone to lean on, wether you’d like to admit it or not. uzi cannot do this by herself, and don’t tell me v or j could’ve helped her because they’d probably make it worse, you’ve seen them and how they treat uzi. dealing with shit and/or needing help form someone doesn’t make you weak.

oh and by the way, i don’t think you can’t really “snap out of” possession. that’s why it’s called possession.

The way weak willed Uzi, who can't at least one time snap out of possession herself without others (especially until a certain male shows up to rescue this woe is me """"strong"""" female MC), who definitely will get happy ending. (how not to expect cliche ending when a monster girls fetishist choise nuzi as endgame)

While Doll, who everyone keep saying "didn't accept any help" when in reality no one really offered her one (and honestly, would you side with unstable bratty edgelord, a rude bitch who didn't feel any regret for killing your parents and their spineless lapdog, who will care more about his "precious" Uzi during any conflict?), yet she gets offscreen humiliating death, because how dare she not join or MCs?

It's all leaves very bitter taste in my mouth

good bait on the start of the confession. you should've said man instead of male though, it'd make it more believable.

[haastera]

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it has to be Nori.

Everything that can be determined from that one scene-

-The character in question must have a secret Lizzy is keeping because she can use it as blackmail against them, and possibly because by keeping this secret she's being a good friend.

-or she's taking Thad with her because she is a good friend to him whilst keeping the secret of her unknown friend.

-J arriving in her ship, and potentially the action of her destroying the original ship are related to what Lizzy is doing.

-Meaning Lizzy's goal must be related to either the Murder Drones, or their ships.

-The two of them were clearly going to N, V, and Uzi's ship.

-Lizzy is texting someone throughout the entirety of the scene, and her first reaction upon seeing N, V, and UZI's ship destroyed is to take a picture.

-She may have already had knowledge about what Khan was talking about, as whereas Thad looked surprised and confused Lizzy signaled to not ask questions. (Could be purely comedic)

Some additional information

-The last time Lizzy was present in Ep4, she was texting on her phone during the return trip back to Outpost 003, which is the first time Lizzy is seen using a phone in the series.

-She was portrayed as being deep in conversation with Thad during the entirety of the time Thad is on screen.

-Thad has his purple lights.

-The only secret we are introduced to during Ep7 is the secret of Nori's survival, and how she demands that N keep it a secret from UZI.

-Nori is also at Cabin Fever Labs & Camp 98.7 by extension via unknown means despite admitting herself that she died. She evidently cannot teleport as Doll could as otherwise she wouldn't need N's aid to get the cross to the surface.

-This indicates that Nori either somehow manifested back in Cabin Fever labs after death, or traveled to CFL with the specific goal of finding the cure for UZI.

-The Absolute Solver was bewildered that Nori was alive, confidently asserting that she was dead.

-We know a possessed drone retains no memory from when they are possessed.

Running through all the possibilities.

UZI: Makes no sense & not a secret (from Thad)

N: Makes no sense & not a secret

Doll: Makes no sense & not a secret

Khan: Makes no sense & not a secret

J: Makes no sense & not a secret

V: Makes some sense, but also not a secret from Thad. He knows who V is and already knows she is friends with Lizzy

Nori: Makes some sense, would be a secret, would explain why Lizzy is heading towards a space-craft capable of getting off-world.

Until Ep8 proves me wrong, I'm sticking with the idea that Nori was possessing Thad during Ep4 after having escaped from the Solver's gestalt intelligence to him during Ep2.

This idea by far makes the most sense to me. Explaining everything weird with Thad, who Lizzy's secret friend is, why she is taking Thad to a spacecraft, why she is keeping a secret that could be used as blackmail, how Nori got to Cabin Fever Labs, why Khan still seems to believe Nori is dead, and why the Absolute Solver was blindsided by her survival.

The Solver knew for a fact she was dead because she became part of it, perhaps after a Murder Drone with CYN as its admin ate her core. CYN knows better than anyone else that unless the core is confirmed as destroyed, a solver host shouldn't be presumed dead.

Personally, I think it would also be fitting for the Absolute Solver to assimilate the cores it consumes, resulting in said drone becoming one with the hivemind as opposed to outright dying. That way every drone the Solver kills and assimilates isn't truly dead.

The Disassembly Drones ironically disassemble drones improperly by preserving their core. One might argue that this is intentional as, if true, every drone in that spire isn't wholly dead. They are in a comatose state waiting for the Solver to consume and assimilate them. None of them are being discarded, despite what it might look like to a human. In the end when the Solver consumes the planet they all become one with the singularity.

This might be alluded to in Ep2 when EJ tells UZI it would be easier to assimilate her than explain things.

None of the Worker Drones are truly killed when consumed by the A.S. Their existence doesn't end. They become one with the singularity.

For most drones this is practically death from the perspective of a story, but Nori (and Yeva), are special on account of their patched Solver ability. It's far from inconceivable that they would have the necessary strength to remain conscious and eventually find a way to escape into another host.

For Nori that opportunity came in the form of Thad.

I've honestly been thinking way too hard about this.