7 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
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Her prison isn't generation colors, her prison is basil. Has been since birth.
I wasn't sure until the bit where basil tried to plant the idea of her buying a freaking planet. Whenever he can he pushes for more and more or puts her in situations where her alternatives to pushing for more are untenable.
We read it as basil doing these things for her sake because he cannot think of his own actions in any other way but every time there's leeway for him to interpret his instructions HE escalates. He's perfectly capable of having shaped things from the memory editing until now such that A gets a moderate following and freedom to just do her own thing but he didn't.
Comment by EuphoricNeckbeard at 29/01/2025 at 03:07 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I mean, the control A's family had over her through Basil was pretty debilitating (thinking of them remotely locking her muscles in particular). It's not hard to draw a line from that to A ~~clawing for~~ ~~seeking~~ grasping for agency whenever she can. But since the attack in the science center, Basil has repeatedly tried to steer her away from escalation, dishonesty, and scrutiny. This is Basil to A, before she joins Generation Colors:
[Be careful. This would be a lot. An incredible, crushing amount of attention. I don’t think you should. The amount of ongoing scrutiny, above and beyond what we expected…]
Right before A first tells him to fake the footage:
[I think the public will be forgiving. You didn’t choose to become a monster.]
When A asks him to take over the singing:
He scanned records, trying to find a good rationale, a good response. He was blindsided. The only rational answer was:
[You don’t want me to. You’d hate me if I did.]
When A asks him to take over the acting:
[You’ll resent me in the long run. It’s natural, to know you can do better and not be there yet. Push through.]
Her actions start out understandable, but as she gets more and more direct warnings, it becomes harder to blame things on Basil. For me, at least.