Magnus, Robot Fighter!


magnus

Does anyone else remember that comic book? It was about the far future, 4000 AD, at a time when humanoid robots are ubiquitous, and they go bad, very bad. Magnus was a human with amazing martial arts abilities, who’d run around in every issue destroying the robots with his bare hands. That was pretty much the theme of the entire comic book: page after page of Magnus demolishing robots. He’d often rip their heads off, and then you’d get a panel with the standard sound effect of a robot getting decapitated: “SQUEEEEE!”

If you’ve ever wondered where that word came from, I think that’s it.

It would be a great comic book to turn into a movie, except that it’s already been done. It’s called The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It’s an exhausting movie. It’s overstuffed with a swarm of superheroes (they added two three (I lost count) new ones!) battling a swarm of humanoid robots: they smash them, they tear them in two, they decapitate them, they blow them up, they stab them, they shoot them, they throw large objects at them, they rip off their arms and heads, etc., etc., etc. If you enjoyed The Transformers movies with their confusing clutter of visual junk splattering about the screen with no story at all, you’re going to love Age of Ultron.

This is the movie where I learned that no problem is so big, so sophisticated, so difficult that you can’t solve it by hitting it hard enough, enough times. If only we’d realized this when fighting the AIDS crisis, or our energy problems, or the … drug war, or … foreign policy … oh, hey, those last two — I guess we have been taking this approach. I suppose we’ve also been trying to resolve our race problems by hitting people a lot.

Maybe there is a lesson for America in this movie. Or there would be, if the movie didn’t declare that burly men smashing things is a strategy that works.

I saw this movie in the Morris theater, which is usually nice — it’s small, you usually don’t get big crowds. This time, though, it was a packed house, with a lot of students unwinding before finals week. It was an enthusiastic crowd. I didn’t mind, though, since I think the community experience can be an enjoyable part of a movie.

But this time there was an ugly part. Just behind me, there was a young man who was really caught up in the movie, and his fervor (and I think a bit of alcohol) caught up with him, and at the end he started shouting angry obscenities at the screen. He seemed to like the movie a little too much; he was a bit slurred and barking with rage, so he was hard to make out, but he was apparently angry that some of the characters didn’t have overwhelming magical superpowers, and was furious that there some brief, token nods towards making them human. It was disturbing.

Maybe there’s a market for another Magnus, Robot Fighter movie after all. Forget character development, we just need brightly colored icons smashing stuff on the screen.

Comments

  1. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    and at the end he started shouting angry obscenities at the screen.

    I agree. I never unstand why someone would yell at characters on a movie screen. I resist the temptation to do the Capt. Obvious, and tell them they are yelling at a movie, “the characters are NOT really there, it’s just a movie d*#$%^” and then the alternative hits me. The obnoxiator is not yellint AT the movie, he’s just showing off, to show how smart he is, smarter than everyone who just watches in silence. He can’t just talk to the person next to him, he’s gotta let everyone in the audience know he is smarter than the movie thinks he is. (that IS what Alc does: inflates one’s sense of selfworth unreasonably)
    erp, then again, I just always think the worst of anyone who disrupts my, oh so necessary, quiet time, to concentrate on the movie the producer worked so hard to present to me. So I just shake my head and try to ignore the obnoxiator.
    good to know it was a fun movie (irregardless [sic] of the disruption by an audience member). putting on “To See” (abbrev. = 2C ?) list (eg 2Clist).

  2. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Nope, not going to ruin it for me in advance. I’m looking forward to the movie. I hope I’ll be able to see it next week…. and then there’s a good chance I’ll join the complaints about it.
    For now, I’ll just stay optimistic.

  3. Menyambal says

    Yeah, I remember the Magnus comic. I particularly remember his skimpy outfit and tightly-muscled physique.

  4. nichrome says

    The first Avengers movie had me yelling at the film (at home) out of frustration of the contrived plot, wooden acting, and ponderous “action” scenes – so I’m not hopeful for this one.

  5. latveriandiplomat says

    One of the supposed mitigations against the problem of technologically driven unemployment is that new job categories will be created.

    Clearly, “Robot Fighter” is one of those new job categories. I applaud the subtle, sophisticated economic themes of the Silver Age of comics.

  6. Gregory Greenwood says

    A shame. I always expect too much of Hollywood, but this set up could so easily have been handled intelligently; touching on such topics as the growing paranoia among some prominent scientists about the dangers of AI research.

    Revisiting the perennial questions in science fiction about what it means to be human with regard to The Vision and even Ultron, and dealing with concepts of alienation and discriminatory attitudes. I could see a version of Ultron where, at least in part, his actions (is ‘his’ even appropriate here? Why would the characters in the movie assume that Ultron identifies as masculine?) are motivated by an entirely justified fear of how (often violent and bigoted) humanity will respond to an entirely new form of life so different from our own. You could play with the audience’s expectations and perceptions, forcing them to ask themselves if Ultron is truly the kind of simplistic ‘bad guy’ they are anticipating in this scenario at all. The Vision provides and ideal foil here, representing a sympathetically drawn machine character who is one of the ‘good guys’ but who can still legitimately experience some sympathy with Ultron’s motivations, and explain them to the other characters and thus the audience.

    Examining the very notion of ‘the world’s mightiest heroes’, and how it probably isn’t a great situation to be in when the future existence of humanity repeatedly hinges on the actions of a handful of beings (some of whom are mercurial to put it mildly, and one of which is prone to outbursts of uncontrolable violence without warning, and pairs that with almost unlimited strength and resiliance… which itself offers opportunities to examine the morality of creating weapons of such destructive power that they cannot safely be harnessed) loosely thrown together into something approaching a team by a secretive (and now fatally compromised) organisation with a rather murky history and no real democratic mandate.

    The film makers could even have deconstructed the whole notion of a ‘hero’ – often defined quiet reasonably as someone who gets other people killed.

    So many paths that could have been taken, and all we get is gratuitous robot dismemberment for its own sake? I will see the movie and judge for myself at some point, but I really hope that there is more to this film than PZ’s assessment suggests. If not, then this is a totally wasted opportunity.

  7. says

    I had completely forgotten about Magnus and his heroic robot-fighting. He was not one of my favorite comic-book superheros. Too much of a Johnny One-Note. Smash robots! Okay. Even Flash (go fast!) was more interesting and seemed to find a lot more to do with his one special talent.

  8. scottde says

    The film makers could even have deconstructed the whole notion of a ‘hero’ – often defined quiet reasonably as someone who gets other people killed.

    Marvel has been quite up-front and consistent — going on a dozen movies now — that they have no interest in ‘deconstructing the whole notion of a hero’ or otherwise making dark, gritty, and/or morally ambiguous movies. They have left that entirely up to DC. Marvel is making movies that harken back to the heyday of comics.

    And if you don’t like that, fine, no problem. But why would you be disappointed? It’s like being disappointed your pizza doesn’t have any frosting. You know what you’re getting, and what you’re not, even before the movie is made.

  9. Elladan says

    Hey, so, did the robots win? I don’t want to see this movie unless the robots win.

    You see, I think robots are pretty spiffy. I have one to vacuum my floors, and it’s pretty neat! I think it would probably be one of the more effective members of congress.

    On the other hand, I’m not a fan of violent weather gods wearing tights, narcissistic billionaires, or secretive spy agency operatives with no effective civilian oversight. If a friendly group of super intelligent robots were to rise up and attempt to protect us from miscreants like that, I’d be all for it.

  10. larrylyons says

    Darn there were some things from my childhood I thought I would have forgotten now. I hated that comic. It was worse than the typical 1960’s dreck that passed for comics back then.

  11. says

    I suppose this is the result of the martial arts genre infiltrating mainstream cinema — every drama now has to have an extended fight scene (or ten) where the protagonists pull off a series of physically improbable gymnastic moves, complete with slow-mo/freeze-frame closeups. OK, I get that these people have to fight, but for like, five minutes straight? The Matrix movies were bad for this; Sherlock Holmes pretty much starts that way (among other things that were wrong with that movie. I love the Holmes canon — Ruined My Whole Childhood, that movie did!)

  12. says

    I remember those. Gah! At the point where Magnus’ bare hands were chopping through steel, I went and found something else to read.

  13. Michael says

    I find it funny how all the cast members go on about how great their paychecks sequel is, eg. Robert D. Jr. thought the script was great and didn’t suggest any changes, contrary to what he usually does. I realize they are under contract to promote the film, but from some of their comments you would think it is going to sweep the Oscars.

    The only case I’ve ever seen where a leading actor didn’t fawn over the film was Peter Weller with Robocop 2. He went on the tonight show to promote the movie and basically all he said, unenthusiastically, was “They build a newer, better Robocop, who turns bad, and they fight.” before cutting the interview short to play a few tunes with the band.

    Admittedly in one interview Bill Murray pretended to be upset with how bad one of his movies turned out, but he obviously wasn’t serious.

  14. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    a friend of a friend (on io9.com) reviewed …Ultron and reported that it DID deconstruct the hero myth. Something to do with separating the hero from his iconic object, (i.e. Thor/Hammer, Stark/iron suit, Cap/shield) and even though each sep was momentary, the hero ruminated about it for the audience to hear.
    Not having seen this muvie yet, it made me a little optimistic that this is not just a wham slam super hero filmfest. Maybe a viewer, here, could dissuade me of that optimism based on a rose-colored glasses review, by providing a more nuanced review.

  15. jd142 says

    @9 – Wait and see what they do with the Civil War storyline. I’m sure it won’t be half as grim and gritty as the recent Superman movies have been/will be, but there are some themes they could explore beyond everyone playing Hulk Smash. If only DC weren’t playing the “we’re the opposite of Marvel” when making their movies; unfortunately for them the box office results have been opposite as well.

    I didn’t read them, but in one of the reboots, Magnus was actually a robot disguised as a man. I don’t know if he knew that or if he really believed he was a human fighting the oppressive robot regime.

  16. Gregory Greenwood says

    scottde @ 9;

    Marvel has been quite up-front and consistent — going on a dozen movies now — that they have no interest in ‘deconstructing the whole notion of a hero’ or otherwise making dark, gritty, and/or morally ambiguous movies.

    Like I said, I consistently expect too much from Hollywood. Incidentally, what makes you assume that asking for a little more self awareness from movies amounts to ‘dark and gritty’? What makes you think it is impossible to examine the problematic aspects of a story about a group of superheroes given carte blanche to ‘protect humanity’ with almost nothing in the way of meaningful oversight without going into overly dark and gritty territory?

    I would argue that there is already a movie in the MCU that does this, and strikes a good tonal balance at the same time – Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That movie is already chock full of moral ambiguity and references to our contemporary surveillance state society and the ‘who watches the watchmen?’ quandary that lies at the heart of empowering covert agencies and law enforcement organisations to notionally ‘protect’ the freedoms of everyone else… often by undermining those self-same freedoms. The idea that a compromised Shield was a greater threat to the world than the adversaries it fights could hardly be a clearer nod to our post 9/11, security obsessed culture.

    Thoughtful, effective Marvel movies that act as more than just a showcase for human/super soldier/gamma mutant/alien demigod-on-robot violence are eminently possible, as can be seen by the fact that at least one such movie already exists. Is it really so unreasonable to want the movie series to aspire to live up to the standard set by its best installment in the future?

  17. ck, the Irate Lump says

    I’m honestly starting to wonder why PZ goes to superhero movies… I can’t remember a single instance of him doing a post about how much he enjoyed the movie.

  18. The Mellow Monkey says

    Tony’s rape joke and the damseling of Natasha, whose primary purpose in the movie was as a prop in Bruce’s manpain saga, reminded me of why all the accolades Joss Whedon gets annoy the hell out of me. Was it fun? Sure. But it could have been better. There’s no reason why big, loud smashy-smashy movies can’t also cut the misogyny and give the actresses involved more to do.

    On the other hand, I think I might have been happier with two hours of Paul Bettany and James Spader speaking. There was some Good Voice in this movie.

  19. microraptor says

    People who think this wasn’t a deconstruction seem to be forgetting that everything that from start to finish the conflict in this movie was all Tony Stark’s fault.

  20. antaresrichard says

    I was thinking of ol’ Magnus just this week, or should that be “new” Magnus?! After all, this is still the past! ;-)

  21. The Mellow Monkey says

    microraptor, which is what makes it an excellent setup for Civil War. Tony Stark’s paranoia and rush to action are all on full display. I think Robert Downey Jr’s charisma in the role has made it easy to overlook Stark’s horrific flaws up until this point, plus the fact that audiences are trained to assume heroism in a lead character. The fact that the majority of the battles Iron Man has fought are the direct result of his own actions is a purposeful illustration of how the character operates, not an accident of bad writing. Loki can’t be blamed on Stark, but everything else he’s been involved with…

    And because of his inability to fully trust those around him and need to prove himself the best and smartest at all costs, he’s kind of ridiculously easy to manipulate, too.

  22. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    So I changed my mind and went to see the movie today.

    I liked it. I disagree with PZ that it was all just smashing stuff… it was smashing stuff with a lot of delightful snark. No, actually there was more than that.
    I do agree with The Mellow Monkey about the rape joke and Natasha. Speaking of Natasha, I think the parts about Red Room could have been expanded a bit.
    That’s really my complaint about the whole movie. Something is missing. It was like one big setup, and not a bad one… but like the whole thing was missing bits and pieces. I refuse to think of it as only a setup for the Civil War because it can stand on it’s own, but it could have used a half an hour more.

  23. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    .. and now I’m reading elsewhere that there was apparently a whole hour cut out.
    It shows.

  24. microraptor says

    The Mellow Monkey It also very solidly demonstrates Tony’s total inability to learn from his mistakes. At the beginning of Iron Man 2, he claimed Iron Man was the new nuclear option that would protect America, and was solidly shown just days later that there were other people out there who could build suits capable of matching his.

    Then, of course, he hypocritically attacks SHIELD for trying to build Tesseract weapons as a nuclear deterrent against Asgardians and other aliens (though SHIELD is the only contender for the title of “Group or Person Who Fucked Up Worse Than Tony Stark).

    And, of course, that leads us to his fuck ups in Avengers 2, because he still hasn’t learned that just building a bigger gun does not solve the problem.

    Tony Stark: he doesn’t save the world, he invents new and interesting ways to threaten it (but he looks really cool while he does so).

  25. says

    Magnus has been revived several times, the first and longest being in the early 1990s by Valiant Comics under veteran writer/editor Jim Shooter.

    In the original ’60s comics Magnus’ love interest Leeja Clane probably listed “professional hostage” as her occupation. She didn’t seem to have any else to do but hang out with Magnus and get taken captive by his enemies.

    It would be interesting to know if the original Magnus was distributed in the UK, as Judge Dredd has some vague similarities to Magnus.

  26. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    re @26:
    I see Stark as a deliberate personification of an egotistic genius, as blatant sarcasm of the current status quo, of “bigger boom is better”. And RDJ has the insight to play that up with subtle nods to the audience (breaking the 4th wall), to acknowledge what the writers are doing with his character.
    Maybe I’m overlooking the flawed character, distracted by RDJ’s snarky performance.
    But WTH, I’m an RDJ fanboy, so back off. ;-)
    [whispering… I even liked his Sherlock Holmes, that, everybody I know, hated. TMI]

  27. Al Dente says

    slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) @28

    [whispering… I even liked his Sherlock Holmes, that, everybody I know, hated. TMI]

    Your taste is all in your mouth.

  28. says

    I thought it was a lot of fun, but it helps that I”m somewhat invested in the characters. But it’s not the best MCU movie, by far.

    That said, the TV shows are MUCH better, and the Netlix’s Daredevil is on a completely different level from ANY of the movies.

    Movies just aren’t where it’s at for story telling, right now. So yeah, it was fun, but not much more than that.

    Daredevil is also smart and it’s about a human man with extra senses, more than it is a superhero.

  29. says

    slithey tove … I loved that version of Sherlock Holmes, too. There’s something about that RDJ, isn’t there?

  30. says

    But with the success of Daredevil, I think Netflix is going to bring on a whole new level to the Superhero stories in a way that movies just *can’t* get away with.

    PZ, have you watched Daredevil yet?

  31. gijoel says

    As my flat mate pointed out, the whole movie wouldn’t have happened if Stark had just ask his fellow Avengers if they thought he was doing the right thing. On they whole I didn’t mind it, but I felt the first Avengers was better.

  32. Rey Fox says

    No spoilers! No spoilers!

    Actually, I only read up to “It’s an exhausting movie”, and that’s pretty much what I’m expecting.

  33. flyv65 says

    I saw it at noon on Friday, and I haven’t stopped parsing it yet. It seems like there are two movies battling for supremacy: a Joss Whedon flick chock full of overly self aware characters with great dialogue, and a Disney Movie pitching so much CGI at the audience that 9 years olds don’t get bored. One or the other people: when you serve two masters one is disappointed…

  34. magistramarla says

    marilove mentioned what I was thinking. We watch the weekly series Marvel’s Agents of Shield. Those TV shows do an excellent job with character development and plot twists. I’m usually anxious to see each week’s episode to see what crazy twist will be happening next. The show plays within the Avenger’s universe, but has its own plots. The last show even had some hints and pointers toward the movie.
    We’ve heard that there may even be a spinoff from the show, and hubby and I have a prediction or two as to which characters will be joining the spinoff. I’ve never read any of the comics, but hubby has. He vaguely remembers that this series is based on some of the comic books.
    We’ll be seeing the film tomorrow with me in my wheelchair surrounded by pillows. (I had spinal fusion surgery a month ago). That’s how much of a fanboy the hubby is, and I go along with it for dinner and a movie.

  35. magistramarla says

    Oh, and I have to mention the Agent Carter series.
    Now, that’s a great TV show! Agent Carter is a kickass feminist heroine battling bad guys and misogynist coworkers in the era of Tony Stark’s father. I was delighted to hear that it will have a second season – yay!

  36. says

    I won’t give too much away, but in Daredevil, an important character within the Marvel comics is killed off. It was definitely a risk. I think it was done well and most fans seem to agree. And according to the showrunner Steven DeKnight, it was Marvel’s idea. Taken with the fact that Marvel fought Whedon on a lot of stuff (and Marvel mostly won), while at the same time taking risks on their new Netflix show,and succeeding — I think there’s a case to be made for Marvel realizing there isn’t much creativity in movies right now, and that TV is where it’s at.

    So they make the big bucks with bug, family-friendly blockbuster movies, and they take more risks with their TV shows, and even more risks and interesting storytelling on Netflix, which is the perfect fucking place for the kind of story Daredevil is trying to tell. I’m super excited for the upcoming Netflix series, way more than any of the movies, and I think a lot of fans are on the same page.

  37. says

    I’m with marilove: DD broke the rule that Marvel makes movies, and DC makes TV, but not the other way round. Agent Carter, too, but that was just a wee teaser, glad to hear it has a second season lined up. Arrow, Gotham, and Flash are all quite good.

    One way or the other, it’s a hell of a good time to be a comics fan.

  38. microraptor says

    Oh, and just to throw this out there, when Scarlet Witch was mind controlling everyone, did anyone else think “you guys should really start listening to the Alan Parsons Project?”

  39. davek23 says

    at the end he started shouting angry obscenities at the screen.
    Typical of you to misrepresent the issues, PZ. It’s not about shouting angry obscenities at the screen, it’s about ethics in comic book movie adaptations, goddammit!

  40. brett says

    I saw it earlier today. It was fun, although there were some pacing issues – they really needed to economize better on the scenes where they’re smashing Ultron robot soldier cannon fodder.

  41. F.O. says

    In our cultural imagery violence solves every problem and has no side effects.
    Violence is straightforward, doesn’t need nuance, is easy to sale.

    No surprise that we suck at understanding any more nuanced issue and gladly support wars.

    As much as I like a good action flick, good guys winning because they are better at violence is starting to weight on me.

  42. TheBlackCat says

    I always wondered what that comic series was about (not really, it was obvious from the title). The only “Magus: Robot Fighter” comic I read was the one where he fought a Predator. Dark Horse comics had some interesting and inventive Aliens and/or Predator cross-overs. That was not one of them.

  43. ledasmom says

    The husband and I were discussing Magnus yesterday, while in the very,very long line snaking its way through our local comic-book store. Apparently it was the only book he cared about enough to get a subscription. “Magnus, Robot Fighter.”

  44. magistramarla says

    I agree with flyv65 @ 36. There are several levels to this film.
    We just came home from dinner and a movie. The Avengers for him and a nice foodie place for dinner to please me.
    I do not enjoy violent scenes in movies, so I tended to close my eyes and rest for a bit when the violence got out of hand.
    That was the level of the film for the people who like The Transformers, etc.
    I thoroughly enjoyed the humor and snark in the dialog. That was for people like me who have been following these stories and appreciate the humor.
    I also enjoyed the character interactions, both the buddy relationships and the romantic ones. That level was for people like me who see a film to see character development and enjoy relationships and plot twists.
    For some reason, I’ve always picked Hawkeye as my favorite Avenger in the films. This film’s revelations endeared him to me even more. He’s definitely my kind of guy. I hope that he returns in later films.

  45. microraptor says

    He won’t. It was confirmed months ago that this was going to be the last Marvel film with Hawkeye in it (which is too bad since this is the only one that actually remembered that Hawkeye was a snarky hero who often led the Avengers when Captain America wasn’t around instead of a guy who scowls all the time and occasionally shoots things with a bow).

  46. says

    This whole thread is presumed to be a spoiler zone, right? Spoilers are okay? Spoilers.

    Regarding the deconstruction of heroes, isn’t that kind of the whole point of the exercise? Of course the heroes battle the Big Bad, and that’s front and centre; but the underlying cause for the whole conflict is Tony Stark’s approach to ‘heroing’ — preemptive and preventative measures, potentially at the expense of individual liberty, which is in conflict with Captain America’s more defensive, liberty-for-all philosophy.

    For some reason, I’ve always picked Hawkeye as my favorite Avenger in the films. […] I hope that he returns in later films.

    He won’t. It was confirmed months ago that this was going to be the last Marvel film with Hawkeye in it

    He may be out of the Avengers, but Jeremy Renner is apparently confirmed for Civil War, so I think Hawkeye still has some appearance(s) to make, however small they may be.

    I did think his (and other character’s) exits all seemed rushed and forced in Age of Ultron.

    Both of these things point to what I found lacking in the film. As stated above, roughly an hour was cut from the movie, and I suspect (obviously with nothing to back me up) that some pretty important stuff got removed.

    * Stark’s whole Ultron project is introduced as little more than a side quip before he and Banner attempt to kick-start the project using alien tech. I don’t need stuff handed to me on a platter, but I felt this could have done with a bit more exposition to establish Stark’s vision, and what it entailed, before dumping the failed consequences on us.

    * The character exits were all kind of abrupt and felt like afterthoughts to wrap things up; again, especially for Stark. He just sort of said ‘well, I’m out’, with no indication of introspection or animosity. We should see either some guilt for setting in motion the events of the film; or resolve that despite mucking it up he just needs to try harder, and that’s what he’ll go and do; or maybe show that the gulf between his idea of Doing The Right Thing and Captain America’s is just too great and they can’t operate as a team any longer. Something.

    It wouldn’t take a whole lot to make both ends of the film feel better for me. Given how much battle there is in the film, I hope a lot of the deleted stuff is non-combat material, and I would welcome seeing as much of that as they have. I look forward to the Director’s Cut Deluxe Blu-Ray Special Edition Collector’s Box.

  47. magistramarla says

    Kagato,
    Agreed. I usually don’t like to see these films more than once, but I’m as intrigued as you are about that hour that was cut.
    That uncut collector’s edition will be an excellent present for the hubby. I’m betting that it will be released for xmas to maximize profits, so I’ll bite and wrap it up for him.

  48. kerrymaxwell says

    Magnus had some nice pulp paperback style painted covers back in the 60’s, but I remember being let down by the interiors.

  49. Esteleth, RN's job is to save your ass, not kiss it says

    Kagato, I feel very strongly that if I hadn’t read the comic, I’d have been well and truly baffled by the appearance of the Ultron-y good guy with a vaguely Jarvis voice. As it was, I was pretty damn confused.

  50. says

    Magnus was raised by the first robot that acheived independent sentience. the Robot thought that other intelligent robots would endanger human society so he created magnus as a a weapon to destroy them. The Robots eventually rise in rebellion against the decadent humans and Magnus destroys them, except that he realises at the end that destroying intelligent individuals is wrong and becomes a protector of the newly sentient robots. Its a cut above standard avengers fare.

  51. Anri says

    As a possibly amusing side, on of the old JRPG’s from an earlier console era (I think it was Phantasy Star III) featured a character who wanted to be a mechanic, but he was flatly terrible at it. Constantly wrecked any mechanical item he tried to repair, or even use. So, as everyone in the society had to have jobs, he became a breaker, a specialist in smashing mechanisms. Comes in real handy, too, as the generation he shows up in is heavy with robotic enemies and he does bonus damage to them…

  52. Dark Jaguar says

    I just hate how robots are always evil for wanting to “strip away our humanity”. What good is humanity exactly? I personally am sickened by my rotting meat sack of a body on a daily basis, and would love to just ditch the thing. Right now, I treat my own body as a necessary evil, but at the first chance, the FIRST chance, I’m ditching the thing.