Trying This Again, Boys.

trying this again, boys.

if this gets ~100 notes, i'll attempt to finish ONE of my wips

if this gets like. 1k? i'll clean my room after being too depressed to

id this gets 5k notes, i'll attempt to properly care for myself.

ajbssoisjs probably won't happen ajdj

A neat detail I like about the knuckleblaster is that each time you punch with it, it shakes, like the punch is so powerful, that the knuckleblaster is struggling to hold itself together.

Commas can go kill themselves.

things in dr1's anime that i like that aren't in the game:

- getting to see makoto a lot more outside of trials because it's not first person POV (shout out to v3 for making kaede and shuichi's sprites/voice clips show up even through their POV, i wish this was in the other games...)

- makoto's "i'm psychic" conversation with kyoko happening in his room as opposed to directly after leon's execution. it reads more of kyoko going out of her way to check on him as opposed to "well you're here anyway"

- getting to see the observation area for the executions

- the way they have the characters physically move around the courtroom during trials (leon collapsing at his podium, taka gripping mondo's jacket, celeste handing the locker key to kyoko in a sneaky way, etc)

- continuing off of that: the 6th trial where the other survivors leave their podiums to stand next to makoto is SUCH A GOOD CHANGE I LOVE IT. not only a nice visual of them all standing opposite of junko but also in a narrative sense of ignoring the rules of the game...

- alter ego being the one to find the hope's peak photos as opposed to them just lying around for makoto to find exploring? honestly this just makes way more sense

- FORGET BEAM being an actual scene and not just optional dialogue

- hina fully knocking byakuya's glasses off when she slaps him

- the anime pointing out the bottle byakuya drank protein powder from could still have traces of poison in it and he just shakes it off and he'll deal with that if it happens. like. okay.

- i'm sad the anime's dub doesn't have all of the game's cast because i adore the english VA's... however in jumping between the sub and dub i noticed makoto at the end of trial 5 when he's getting convicted is a LOT more terrified and defiant at how wrong it is than he is in the game... i watched both versions, megumi and bryce each do a fantastic job

- makoto landing on a mattress and making a makeshift bed with a newspaper in the garbage pit.. resourceful protag!!! and yet when kyoko joins him he's still on the floor and she sits on a couch down there.... a gentleman through and through i guess.

- NEVER SAY NEVER FOREVER AND ALWAYS A BANGER

On some level I understand the rejection or outright denial of V2's death: it was jarring and brutal, especially for a character who, at least in laws of traditional video game rivals and the rule of thirds, seemed like it'd stick around for longer. This said, inferring from in-game lore as well as dev statements, I believe V2's death, tragic that it is, is not unwarranted; and that it is commonly pigeonholed into a characterization it does not fit into due to its assumed role within the game.

This is long, so it's going under the cut.

Considering its name, it's easy to assume V2 is a new and improved version of its predecessor; but it is more heavily implied that it's simply a version of V1 with thicker plating, and nothing more. [1] V2 was an attempt at salvaging V1's design after war became irrelevant, to capitalize on the resources wasted on a highly advanced war machine by rebranding it as an adaptable worker, for security and (theoretically) other peacetime activities (...not an innuendo). This was a failure; there's no reason to invest in something so refined when a handful of lesser machines could do the same job [2].

If V2 is contextualized within its backstory, it makes a lot more sense why it ate shit so quickly. It is, out of any in-game machine so far, one of the least suited for survival in Hell. Sentries and Streetcleaners were created for war. Swordsmachine(s) and Mindflayers are scrapheads, constantly adapting to create (and protect) their perfect, lethal body. [3] If anything, it's on the same level as a Drone, able to defend itself in a limited capacity, but not intentionally programmed or built for combat. Faced with V1, something built for perfect, swift destruction, a machine made for peace would stand even less of a chance than normal, even with an equal level of mobility and build.

V2 is also doomed, in a very literal sense, by the narrative. In a meta sense, it does not matter to the game story whatsoever [4]. V1 is the butterfly whose wing flaps set Gabriel's story in motion, but V2 has no such connection to his story, and is thus irrelevant. Even its lore entry is overshadowed by information about V1/its connection to V1. A third fight, as well, was never in the running, not necessarily due to anything in the game lore, but because its first and second encounters are all it needs: a third rematch would be repetitive and messy [5]. The reason for its extremely violent death sequence is to ensure there was no question as to its fate [6].

In regards to its personality; it is oft-headcanoned as loud, irritable, and competitive, but this characterization is more likely due to its color as well as its assumed role as a "rival" to V1; rather than based upon its in-game actions. Although its initial intentions are up to interpretation [7], comparing its actions and mechanics to other enemies fully rationalizes its anger. Although it's fairly easy to enrage in-fight, the criteria for its enrage state is much more specific than other enemies, and it's quite easy to not trigger it at all. Cerberi will enrage after one of its kind dies, Malicious Faces and Mindflayers after a certain amount of damage has been dealt (on Violent). Most notably, as the only other character with a rematch, Gabriel begins his second fight enraged after his first defeat [3], which can imply by extension that even though V2 is taking its second fight more seriously [8], it is still not outwardly angry. Its enrage state is only triggered when its patience is depleted (the player avoids it for too long), or in its second fight when it has been punched with the Knuckleblaster. These can be interpreted as indicators that V2 likes it when the fight is "fair": when it's not being avoided and picked at from a distance, or being hit with its own arm; which is frankly pretty fucking mean. A side note: Returning to its creation, it can also potentially be inferred that V2 was intentionally programmed with a rational, controlled, and even marketable personality, easily suppressed or overwritten for ease of use.

In another game, or if V1 was the protagonist, perhaps V2 would not be dead. Instead, V2 is doomed by its creators, both in-game and in reality. It mirrors V1 in action and Gabriel in mind, but unlike them, it has no place in this story beyond a truly fantastic duo of fights. Although its story has any number of potential rewritings or epilogues [9], its doom was always intended. It's easy to mourn lost potential, and its end is intensely tragic; but I believe it is a tragedy that meshes nicely with the rest of the game's story. V2 is dead, and not a second too soon.

Footnotes:

1.

Along with the lore entry for V2:

V1’s planned production was cancelled and an updated model, V2, was developed instead, using the standardized plating, since durability was far more important during times of peace when no bloodshed was necessary.

2.

twitter.com/HakitaDev/status/1538313328715513857

3. in-game lore entries, can be read on ultrakill.miraheze.org or here in one document: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2245904838

4.

5.

twitter.com/HakitaDev/status/1538336055681863680

6. "And then V2 dies as hard as anyone could possibly die to make sure people understand he's fucking dead and is not coming back" - dev commentary, 05:08:09 (youtu.be/kaImho5JioI?si=v4_m90nfLOY-DyEZ&t=18489)

7.

8.

9. Notably, Dream's End Come True / v2isdead.com.

glad that im not popular enough to have an evil shadow version of my blog that exists just to make contradictions on my posts