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fuckitpossumorb · 2 days ago

Text

THATS WHAT IM SAYING LIKE,,,,

okay, pkay, okay, coherent words, coherent words.

Pyke and Rex scream this sibling dynamic energy to me, specifically with Rex as the older sibling between the two.

With how Rex is constantly described as "similar to Pyke but more handsome" as well as how Pyke himself describes him in ep. 12 when he's talking about their early racing days I get the impression that he was compared to Rex a LOT and that he eventually developed some sort of complex about it.

I have this feeling that Khan very visibly played favorites between the two, specifically to the one that was winning the most races, and then constantly pushed the other more and more so they could be more like their sibling.

(I also think there is something up with Khan, like why would he pick up two solar elves and seemingly raise them just randomly)

So, as Pyke grew, he obviously felt some amount of resentment towards Rex until he suddenly started winning more races than he was losing and Khan obviously started paying more attention to him, not just because he was winning races but also because of whatever weird solar abilities he's got going on, something Rex seemingly doesn't have.

Rex finally got a taste of his own medicine, got the same treatment Pyke would've felt through his younger years and maybe didn't take it the best way.

Eventually Pyke and Khan have their falling out, which seems to be connected to this solar soul and when Pyke leaves and Khan doesn't go back into the track again.

This could be the straw that breaks the camel's back for Rex, sure he stays in the pathway for some time, but he eventually leaves and just coincidentally also becomes a bounty hunter.

Given how Rett reacts to Rex when they get their bounty, I think it's safe to say Rex was probably a bit of a pest in the bounty hunting world, if I remember correctly, I think Rett even mentions he's surprised it took this long for Rex to get a bounty on his head.

When they are fighting the kinguin in ep. 13 Rex does this thing where he shoots the kinguin right after Leboosh takes the final blow and immediately goes "I saved you"

During ep. 12 Rex is in the dinner changing the stories of his travel and making himself a dashing hero that ends up saving Pyke from stupid situations, and though Pyke is irritated he doesn't seem surprised, this might've been a common occurrence when they were younger and he just kind of expected it.

He probably had a habit of robbing people's bounties or pairing up with people and then stealing the credit for whatever they did, Rex is very obviously more in it for the fame and the recognition than Pyke.

Then Rex either gets hired by the boss and then instead decides to rob him or he gets tipped about the boss having something he might want and everything starts going downhill.

At first, he just takes it as whatever and just continues with his plan in aurora until the Rhapsody crew comes to get him under orders of the boss and this is where it gets serious.

I think this is when Rex finally notices that this is much bigger than recognition or fame, when Pyke, his little brother, now with a crew, a family comes to take him in.

This is where Rex does a change for the better and tries to fit into that protective role, he should've been playing all these years much to Pyke's confusion.

Because even though Pyke does take the opportunity to rib and bother Rex as they descent onto aurora, he seems to always be in this borderline confused state, unsure of what Rex is actually doing here, what he would be gaining from this. Pyke can't wrap his head around Rex being here just because he wants to help Pyke or because he wants to protect him.

Which is why when Rex lifts up his weapon Pyke immediately goes to the worst scenario and accepts that Rex is going to kill him.

or at least thats what i think, okay, thanks, bye,,,,,,,

Hello I am violently back with Stardust Rhapsody content thoughts after a brief repose, spoilers for. Literally the entire thing if you're not done with it yet.

Specifically I would like to talk about the dynamic between Pyke and Rex and the difference in how they perceived themselves in relation to the other. Some of this is influenced by the fact that some of the backstory seemed to develop during the play itself while some seemed premeditated, and I would like to state for the record I am not on the discord and don't have access to the behind the scenes to a lot of this. I just podcast listen A Lot for the moment so feel free to chip in but these are MY thoughts on the matter atm. And i'll also say this is more about In Universe characterisation than player character/NPC motivations.

Since the very first moment Rex is mentioned, Pyke makes it clear he is Not A Fan. But more than that, he makes it clear he thinks of Rex as some.soet of cheap imitation, a liar, and a joke. He constantly refers to him as a Jackass and, by name itself, a poseur. The amount of sheer disdain present in Pyke towards Rex from the very first instant is fascinating to me.

When we get the rendition of Pyke's backstory with Rex and the Pathway, he talks about the fact that Rex in the beginning was better than him. Consistently. A natural winner and competitor, raw talent from the get-go. Pyke only got an edge after Khan saw and nurtured something in Pyke,the very same thing that lead to him later leaving to pursue the path of the Sun Soul Monk. It was this that allowed Pyke to start winning. But, as Mace says consistently which conflicts with this rendition of events is that Pyke continued to lose sometimes. Pyke said that after that he never lost, but Mace says that Rex was a continued competitor. It became a much steeper fight and Pyke won a lot, but Rex continued to be his greatest opponent and contender to take his spot. Sometimes he did take his spot!

Now before I get to a conclusion on this let us look at how Rex acts towards Pyke.

From the first interaction we see between them, Rex treats Pyke, in my own opinion, very well! He approaches at speed and the first thing he does,besides his incredibly cool kick flip manoeuvre, is to give Pyke a lit cigarette. A gift. One that Pyke couldn't obtain himself without that help, as evidenced by his attempt to light one just before this and failing miserably. Despite the fact he immediately sped off and offered what seemed like joking or hollow encouragement for them to catch him, he still offered Pyke that cig.

And more than that, he took legitimate precautions on the assumption that they would catch up. Not a passing fancy or a faint suspicion, he was ready and waiting for them when they arrived at the temple. He took Pyke, and by extension the Rhapsody crew, seriously. Which is more than can be said of Pyke, at least in the surface level. He prepared traps, and a greeting, and when they do finally catch up to him, he says he expected them at least ten minutes sooner based on when they arrived in the temple. He had what appears to be an absolute faith that they not only would reach the temple, hence the trap, but also continue to pursue him at speed.

And when they begin to talk, Rex is by my account polite. Genial. I don't think he's genuinely that friendly without any hidden motive or precaution, but he is courteous. He greets Pyke politely and addresses him directly, speaking to him familiarly. During the fight itself, more than once, Rex gives the entire crew the chance to back off and leave. Before the fight, he sat there and warded them off without any damage for a good few minutes. He didn't jump into it willy nilly with the outright intention of hurting them. Which isn't exactly to say the crew did but it is to say he didn't seem gung ho about it either.

In the episode Highway Star, Pyke is as per usual antagonistic towards Rex. Alright, fair. Fine. But Rex, while being a shite, kinda..... Isn't. He could've said some rather cutting or outright hurtful things about Pyke not racing or about him overtaking Pyke's ranking on the Pathway, but he didn't. Not a word about it all things considered. He went about his business as usual, from what we see when Laboosh and Chuckles go and sabotage him. He didn't go out of his way to fuck with Pyke and the crew while they were at the Pathway. He went out shopping for himself at a space strip mall, minding his business for all we see.

Now obviously let's circle around to the Main Thing Here, episodes 13 and 14. The big finishers. The gamechangers.

I obvs can't say for certain of Khan asked Rex to help the crew out or if Rex went of his own volition, but my feeling is a bit of both tbh. He showed up when they were in some Shit to help. Obvs I will forever giggle about Andy's "I Saturn Eats His Son Rex" but given im focussing on in universe and not meta, it's disregarded for the sake of this.

Now the main catch point here that prompted all of this thought in the first place is that when Rex points a gun at Pyke, Pyke's first instinct is to assume that Rex is going to kill him. He genuinely believes with everything in him that Rex, after all that, all the blood and sweat and tears of the fight before and everything before that (including a very nice cigarette left in payment for one freely given), would turn and shoot him with zero hesitation. And accepts that.

Rex, on the other hand, was trying to defend him. He was trying, even after every shitass comment and snide remark and the race sabotage, to save Pyke's life. He was watching and prepared to shoot somebody he knew Pyke cared about in order to save his life. He gave Rett his speeder for that same purpose, something we can reasonably assume is precious to him given that he's had it, or some version of it, about as long as Pyke has had the Sparrow. Something that very clearly would have saved his life, and whatever was salvageable of Khan's life as well since it's unclear what level of dead he was. He could've got out and chose to try and save Pyke instead

And when they make outside, Rex hands over the penultimate piece; the papers he stole from the boss. The very thing that got him into this entire mess in the first place. The reason that he and his mentor figure are going to die on a frigid rock displaced in space.

It was all about Pyke. From the very beginning, to the very end, it was about Pyke and his safety.

The entire time, Pyke saw Rex as someone he disliked. Someone aggravating, a thorn in his side, a threat.

While Rex ricked everything, and in the end gave everything, for Pyke. He loved him, in some way, in some capacity. He saw a danger to Pyke and put himself in a very dangerous position to try and lessen or eliminate that threat from The Boss and who he worked for. He was ready and willing to possibly kill someone Pyke cared about, Laboosh, to save his life.

I. Man I just-

Idk does anybody else just *gestures vaguely at all of it*