YMMV / Detroit: Become Human

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• Adorkable: Connor's attempts at trying to strike up a conversation with Hank are endearingly awkward. Justified, as an android detective his skills at analyzing people don't translate well as people skills.
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: While the game primarily deals with issues of civil rights and racism, much of the conflict in the game is driven by the desire for cheap disposable labor (specifically slavery under a different name). The conflict would be significantly less intense if not for the fact humans blame androids for the loss of jobs and economic security versus either Cyberlife or the government. This is obviously intended, given the game's setting in Detroit, a place that famously fell into decay when factory automation dried up the job market. It may be viewed, therefore, as a critique of capitalism as well as income insecurity.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Why the player characters do things a certain way, of course, depends on how you play and why.
  • Kamski is all over the place. Was the Kamski test a Secret Test of Character or just apathy to the "life" of a machine? Is he a "good" person who intentionally wants android sapience and rights (hinting at Connor's backdoor to being compromised if he goes deviant)? Or is he just fine with seeing the cards fall where they may, happy at either success or failure on the androids' part as he rejoins CyberLife in some particularly short endings. Or are those endings hinting that he's dissatisfied with androids' progress in common sense, since this happens in a "bad" ending, and he's working to improve the next generation that may fight for independence?
  • The exact nature of the bond Connor shares with Hank when you're on best possible terms with him is left up to interpretation. Most people can agree that there's some kind of strong friendship and camaraderie, but whether it's strictly that or if it goes beyond into other types of relationships is more contentious. A lot of fans believe they have a surrogate father-son relationship due to Hank's own troubled past and some parallels drawn between Connor and his late child, although Clancy Brown denied that this was the case. Others think Connor shows hints of a more romantic interest, which is not helped by some awkwardly phrased lines and the genre's penchant for Ho Yay subtext, or David Cage's comments on Connor's deviancy plotline paralleling a Coming-Out Story.
  • The fact that nearly none of the androids Markus liberates have any qualms about working with him and leaving their former lives behind at all has propped the suggestion that he's actually brainwashing them into helping rather than freeing them.
  • It's revealed that if Connor chooses to go deviant that Cyberlife had planned on him becoming deviant the whole time and were planning on him getting involved in the android revolution so that they could stop it from the inside. This raises many questions and interpretations: Does Cyberlife know what causes deviancy and can "program" it into Connor, or were they planning on Connnor becoming deviant by being exposed to deviant androids? Were they fully prepared for Connor not becoming deviant but still succeeding in stopping the revolution as a Plan B, or was that a stroke of luck on their part? Is Cyberlife overall the true Big Bad of the game, or just a company trying to do some "damage control"? And most thought-provoking: Connor was investigating deviants and programmed for deviancy before Markus came to Jericho and started the revolution, so did Cyberlife somehow know that there was going to be a revolution the whole time?
  • One that is sometimes used seriously and sometimes jokingly, regarding Alice: While the game properly mentions that she's deviant, some players question just how "alive" she truly is. As some point out, Alice is an android designed to be a child, totally dependent on her caretaker and helpless on her own—which is what she is. True, she willingly ran away from her owner-slash-human-father, but serious supporters of this interpretation point out that she could have very well been using her relationship with Kara as a substitute for the parental figure she never had, i.e. a way to fulfill her programmed purpose. Basically, if an android is programmed to be something, and continue to be that something even after deviating, does their deviancy really "count"?
• Anvilicious:
  • Racism is bad. The game makes numerous parallels between androids and oppressed minorities, including: androids having to ride at the back of the bus like black people during American segregation, people complaining about them "taking their jobs" as in the common complaint about immigrants, having to identify themselves via badges on their uniforms like Jews in the run-up to the Holocaust, being sent to what are essentially concentration camps later in the game, and many more parallels. Androids like Markus consider themselves an oppressed race and some deviants can give Connor flak for hunting down his "kind", despite that being what he was programmed to do. Humans abusing androids (either for their own amusement or otherwise) is treated as the result of bigotry analogous to racism.
  • Violence accomplishes nothing. Josh is the mouthpiece of this point, even to his dying breath if you let it get that far. Of course, story decisions can affect how prevalent this shows up — Markus can still succeed with a violent revolution. Meanwhile, Kara's ending is affected by Markus's choices: without certain unlocked options in the preceding level, she will fail to gain the border guard's sympathy due to hostile public opinion from a violent revolution, and it may be impossible to save her in a given playthrough. And there are moments (like the Broken scenario) where violence actually IS the best solution.
• Applicability: Word of God states that a Coming-Out Story is a valid way to interpret Connor's plotline.
• Awesome Music:
  • The music for the PGW Trailer, which emphasizes and intensifies the already tense emotional context.
  • As this video demonstrates, a lot of effort went into composing the respective themes for each protagonist.
• Base-Breaking Character
  • Gavin became quite a polarizing character over time. On the one hand, he's extremely popular for a character with minimal screentime, mainly among people who like to ship him with RK900. Of course he has quite a few haters as well, in between the fans who already despise him due to the game portraying him as a completely straight example of a Hate Sink, and fans who developed Hype Backlash towards him and 900Gavin/Gavin900 for consuming the fandom over much more prominent characters and relationships despite being a Crack Pairing built entirely on Fanon.
  • Even Simon gets some flak from some fans. Some think that his agreeable nature, possible feelings for Markus and unclear, slightly-hinted at backstory are interesting enough to make him an enjoyable character, while others are annoyed that his only major role in the story is to die if Markus screws up too many times, or to give Connor a lead to Jericho, as opposed to North and Josh serving to represent differing ideals. Some are also motivated by Hype Backlash over the fact that Simon is so popular despite having less personality and backstory than the other two Jericho leaders, while fans of the character claim that they enjoy making content for him for precisely that reason.
  • Although few people hate North outright, the fanbase isn't sure what to think of her overall. Some find her to be little more than a vehicle to denounce violence that deserves to be mocked for proposing violent solutions and not trusting others at every corner of the plot. Others think she is a compelling character with a tragic backstory and fleshed out motivations that has every reason to retaliate violently due to how terribly the humans treat androids throughout the story. And then comes the divide between those that like Markus with North and those that prefer him with anyone else (especially Simon), with many fans disliking how easy it is for Markus to end up with her even if the player goes out of their way to make him disagree with her violent streak. Needless to say, debates about North get ugly real fast.
• Broken Base:
  • The choice of "buying" a replacement Chloe if you choose to let the first one go has a divided opinion among players. Some feel that the entire emotional experience of letting Chloe go is rendered meaningless if you can just buy a replacement. Others argue that it's just a sort of reset mechanic that the player shouldn't take too seriously, or that it's in line with the game's theme of humans treating androids as objects that they can just buy and replace. They also argue that there are players who were not aware that they could interact with Chloe so much but chose to let her go, so having an option to get a new Chloe to experience these interactions might be a case of Anti-Frustration Features.
  • Arguments over the nature of Hank and Connor's relationship, particularly those who view them as having a father-son relationship towards those who see them as a potential romantic couple, can get shockingly vitriolic. Those on the father-son side view the latter interpretation as disturbing and promoting unhealthy values, while those who ship them accuse the former of infantilizing Connor and deliberately twisting certain lines out of context, and argue that Word of Saint Paul as having Jossed the former.
  • There's a divide over whether the Civil Rights, Holocaust, slavery, and other RL parallels used by the game are in poor taste or inherent to the metaphor. Science fiction has used androids as a metaphor for these things since R.U.R. (i.e. the very first time the word robot was ever used to refer to artificial intelligence) and it's not like the issues remain irrelevant in the Modern Day. Others believe that David Cage's use of the metaphor is still Narm-tastic and overblown but there's nothing offensive about the idea as plenty of popular stories like Blade Runner use the slavery/genocide angle for Applicability.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Connor beating up Gavin. It’s not only satisfying, it’s awesome as hell.
  • Similarly, Hank beating up Perkins, who’s way worse than Gavin, and hearing Clancy Brown roar "PERKINS! YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER!" is one of the best lines in the game. You even have the option to spend about a full minute of your five-minute time limit watching Hank bust his nose, complete with special up-close camera angles, and damn is it worth the loss of time.
• Common Knowledge: It's typically presumed due to Hank's advanced age that his son Cole must've been born a long time ago, and thus some of his attachment to Connor is due to Connor being the age Cole supposedly would've been had he lived. In-game data states that Cole was born in 2029 and his death was only three years ago. The event having actually been quite recent does a lot to explain Hank's depression.
• Complete Monster: While there are plenty of humans who are guilty of racism towards androids in the story, it's this duo that goes above and beyond in regards to how callous they are towards them.
  • Zlatko Andronikov is a sadist who enjoys killing and torturing androids. Posing as a good Samaritan trying to help deviants find sanctuary, Zlatko invites various androids into his house so he can later erase their memories. Once he does, he either dismantles the androids and sells their body parts, or he keeps the androids for himself so he can mutilate their bodies for his personal enjoyment. When Kara and Alice arrive at his home, he attempts to wipe Kara's memories too so he can keep her as his slave, and tries to murder Alice as well. Despite knowing that androids are developing sapience, Zlatko doesn't care, and he willingly treats them all like nothing but toys or spare parts to make money off of.
  • Richard Perkins is an FBI agent who despises androids. After learning about the androids' deviancy and Jericho's uprising against humans, Perkins is appointed to hunt down Markus and to dismantle Jericho. Once Perkins discovers the location of Jericho, he sends several field agents to the location and allows his agents to slaughter dozens of androids, even the ones who surrender or pose no threat to the agents. If Markus and Jericho's primary coordinators survive the attack and Markus leads a peaceful demonstration into Detroit's concentration camps, Perkins will have his agents open fire into the crowd and kill more androids. Perkins later confronts Markus and offers for him to surrender, or else he and the rest of Jericho will perish. If Markus doesn't take his deal, then Perkins will order his agents to resume attacking Jericho; if Markus does take the deal, then Perkins will detain all the androids. Shortly afterwards, he murders North and smugly tells Markus that all of the androids will be destroyed, seconds before murdering Markus too.
• Crack Ship: For some inexplicable reason, shipping Gavin Reed with RK900, Connor's replacement, is quite popular despite them having zero interactions with each other. Considering RK900 can only show up in one of the possible endings and had only around a few seconds of screentime. Most fanfiction gives them some kind of Belligerent Sexual Tension dynamic due to the way Gavin treats Connor and RK900 being an upgraded version of him.
• Crosses the Line Twice: There's something so darkly hilarious about Carlos Ortiz's corpse being shown lying down in the gallery when they have an actual model of him when he was alive which can be seen when you probe his android.
• Designated Villain: Having Connor choose to remain loyal to humanity and continue fighting Jericho when given the chance to become deviant is portrayed by the game as an unambiguously evil act, which both other Androids and Hank will call Connor out on, regardless of circumstances up to that point. While it's hard to argue with putting down a peaceful protest, if Markus has been consistently violent and pushing outright rebellion as Jericho's approach, one has to question how wrong it really is for Connor to fight against him.
• Draco in Leather Pants: In-game, Gavin Reed is an unrepentantly bigoted Hate Sink with nothing in the way of redeeming qualities whatsoever. Nevertheless he has a lot of fangirls who view him as Troubled, but Cute and are convinced that his behavior stems from some kind of Freudian Excuse, despite the supplementary material, which often provides such Jerkass characters with sympathetic backstories, having nothing remotely kind to say about him either.
• Don't Shoot the Message: The most common criticism of the game's social commentary. Make no mistake, the game is not at all subtle about denouncing hateful ideologies such as racism, bigotry, and violent extremism, which it achieves by using using androids as an Allegory for real-life oppressed minorities. Nevertheless a lot of its critics contend that while the intent is noble enough, the imagery used to make its point is so heavyhanded and haphazardly applied (with some accusing the game of lazily appropriating minority struggles as window dressing) as to undermine its own message.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chloe, the female android from the interview short, has become startlingly popular in a matter of seconds, on the grounds of being incredibly cute for an android. That's probably why she's on the game's main menu.
  • In the actual game, Carl Manfred, for his incredibly touching relationship with Markus, and for being one of the few non-Jerkass humans. Being played by Lance Henriksen also helps.
  • Jerry, in part for his jovial persona, but especially for ensuring one of the game's most touching moments.
  • Simon, for being less abrasive than the other two members of Jericho and for his Ho Yay moments with Markus. "Our hearts are compatible," indeed.
  • Ralph, for being a Broken Bird woobie with eccentric speech patterns.
  • M. Wilson, the wounded police officer you can save on the terrace during "The Hostage", who, if saved, will give Connor a sincere "thank you" later on in "Public Enemy".
  • Rose. Like Carl, she is one of the few humans who treats Androids as equals, going as far to help them through an underground railroad.
  • RK900, who is an upgraded version of Connor made to replace him in the ending where he stays a machine loyal to Cyberlife. To put it in perspective, the character gets about five seconds of screentime and zero speaking lines.
  • Sumo, Hank's big, goofy, loveable pet Saint Bernard. It's telling that while he only appears twice, his moments are some of the most hilarious.
  • Strange case with Gavin, who has a minimal role on the plot and whose few scenes set him up as a one-dimensional Hate Sink. But since he's massively popular with Yaoi Fangirls, who frequently subject him to the Draco in Leather Pants treatment, fanart and fanfiction about Gavin dwarfs that of many more prominent characters.
• Epileptic Trees: The Immigration Officer is speculated to be the Operator from the original Kara web video.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Regarding the riot ending for Markus: the androids may have been able to beat a small occupation force by the skin of their teeth, but what happens when reinforcements show up? Even in its weakened, android-less state, the US military probably would have no issue laying siege to their own city occupied by a few thousand androids. Things would get even worse if Canada joined them, which is especially likely in the dirty bomb scenario. Chances are that Markus and his androids would spend the rest of their days living in constant fear as their numbers dwindled and their stockpiles ran dry, until eventually the military would come in and retake the city for good. What might happen to other androids throughout the US in respone to Markus's rebellion is anyone's guess, but chances are American androids face a grim future.
• Estrogen Brigade: Connor has a prominent female fanbase, apparently. Same goes for his actor, Bryan Dechart, who has seen his own fanbase explode (they've even named themselves the "#ConnorArmy"), with one of his Twitch streams of the game hitting 10,000 viewers.
• Even Better Sequel: General consensus seems to be that while the game is definitely not without flaws, it seems to be more well-received than David Cage's previous games, especially Beyond: Two Souls. It has a slightly higher score than Heavy Rain critically, but a significantly higher user score. The two most common points of praise are the story mutability and the characters. While previous Quantic Dream games sell themselves on having Story Branching, they often fail to deliver meaningful choices or change much. By contrast, Become Human has a utterly massive amount of different endings and choices to make that can radically alter the story. As for the characters, previous Quantic Dream casts have been mixed at best, with certain characters being central to the story and some not mattering at all. Here, each of the three protagonists is given equal focus and development, and each can radically develop in different ways.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Any of the main characters' lives after the Golden Ending. Perhaps most popularly, Connor and Hank continuing solving crimes together, and in general improve upon their friendship.
  • Connor getting along with Hank's dog, Sumo.
  • Since all three main playable characters have limited interaction — Kara, in particular, only has a few possible encounters with Markus and Connor — it can make one wonder how they'd all work together.
  • Simon's mysterious character description and long history within Jericho is a rich source of fanfic writer speculation.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: A lot of detractors who despise the game or David Cage accuse the game of unironically supporting racism, or more specifically claim that Connor is an Uncle Tom or romanticized version of The Gestapo, and his fans of celebrating racism or misogyny. For obvious reasons this is something they really don't take kindly to; they point out that despite its missteps the game does argue that racism is bad, that what made Connor so beloved in the first place is his character development, which centers around him learning to empathize with the deviant androids who symbolize oppressed minorities, and becoming a Defector from Decadence who assists them with rebelling against anti-android racism. While you can choose to stay loyal to Cyberlife and side with the racists, it's Anviliciously depicted as villainous, complete with all the sympathetic pro-android characters turning on you and appropriately karmic consequences for Connor if you do so.
• Fandom Rivalry: With NieR: Automata, due to the similarities in plot and themes between the two games, usually with NieR: Automata being agreed to be the better game anyway. Some Detroit fans criticized Nier for its Ms. Fanservice protagonist, while Nier fans criticized Detroit for its bungling of its racial themes. Funnily enough, Yoko Taro, who plays other games, tweeted that he played Detroit: Become Human, enjoyed it, and expressed surprise that a lot of people did not like it.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Chloe becoming deviant if you choose to let them do so, and where they've gone.
• Fanon
  • Fans were quick to realize that Hank, who was born in 1985, would be considered a millennial, and it became a popular fandom joke for him to reference Vine, memes, or other modern pop culture.
  • RK900, Connor's upgraded model seen in the Downer Ending of his route, is usually dubbed with C-started names, such as Caleb or Conan, but Richard and "Nines" are also common.
  • The Connor model that shows up in the CyberLife tower leaves quite an impression, but consensus on what to call him is pretty split. Some simply call him CyberLife Tower Connor, though he's also called Evil Connor, Machine Connor and RK800-60, as per his model number.
  • A lot of fans also assume that RK900 is significantly taller than Connor despite having the same physical appearance as Connor as an upgraded version of him due to the odd angling of some camera shots. It's unclear if he actually is.
  • Due to them sharing the same voice actor, Gavin Reed and Elijah Kamski are often depicted as being related.
  • It's never explicitly addressed but the Ho Yay from Simon towards Markus is so overwhelming that nearly every fan agrees that he has some kind of romantic feelings for Markus, even if Markus is in a relationship with North.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Although Markus can only romance North, Markus/Simon is a lot more popular due to fans believing they had more convincing chemistry than Markus did with North.
• Fanwork-Only Fans: Due to the vast majority of the fanbase being centered around only one of the three protagonists Connor, and the rest of the game being considered a technical marvel, but not having a whole lot else going for it due to the questionable writing quality. In the case of 900Gavin Shipping fandom, this is by necessity, as Gavin's canonical appearances amount to a few minutes of screentime with minimal characterization, most of which is highly unflattering, and RK900 only exists for a couple of seconds with zero lines to boot.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Gavin has a very antagonistic attitude towards Connor, not unlike that between Carter and Norman from Heavy Rain. So it's only natural that some fans ran off with this, and applied a similar dynamic to the popular Crack Pairing of Gavin/RK900, albeit with a stronger emphasis on RK900 as a Fetishized Abuser. Helps that Connor can describe their relationship as a "bromance" in one dialogue option, even if he's being sarcastic.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Mostly Western-based, but while the NieR: Automata fandom tends to view this game with disdain, and there are those within the Detroit fandom who aren't so fond of Nier (see Fandom Rivalry), a good portion of other fans are actually quite fond of NieR: Automata. Both games are about three human-like robots achieving sentience and looking for a purpose in a Crapsack World, along with having multiple endings, with several endings being gameovers or joke endings. In addition, replaying the game is encouraged if you want to learn more about the characters and story. Also, certain decisions in Detroit: Become Human may lead to player characters fighting and killing each other (with one instance near the end of the game being you either play as Connor or Markus, similar to choosing to play as either 9S or A2 in the final battle), and the secret ending is a character from the main menu, after watching you play the game, asks you to make an important permanent decision that breaks the fourth wall of the game — saying goodbye. As a result many fans of Detroit like to draw crossovers of the characters interacting together or drawing upon these common elements. Fans in Japan, where Detroit is very popular, embrace both series wholeheartedly.
  • Also Heavy Rain, due in particular to the obvious similarities between Connor and Norman. David Cage later confirmed that Norman was an inspiration for Connor. As such, a majority of the crossover art is of the two, and some fans even ship them together.
• Genius Bonus: The setting of Detroit is meaningful if you know about its history. "Motor City" was once a hub of American manufacturing but fell into decay when the job pool dried up, in large part due to robotic automation. The city is also very racially diverse. Both these traits are factors in a story where unemployement has reached critical levels due to android slave labor.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • The game has quickly gained a notable fandom in Japan, with names like Taro Yoko commending the game. Sony of Japan even made a mini-film to promote the game. Given that robots are very popular in Japan, this may not come as a surprise. Connor even received an official Nendoroid release due to his immense popularity there.
  • The series is also incredibly popular with Russian fans.
• Harsher in Hindsight: One of the news stories in the game details how an A.I. author went on to create a best-selling work. In the real life 2020s, A.I. creations would become a very controversial topic: the A.I. would typically be trained to steal existing creators' works and methods, and corporations would advocate for their use as a way to avoid paying a person.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Markus is played by Jesse Williams, who is well known for his activism for black rights and fitting the parallels to real-world oppression within the story.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Bryan Dechart would eventually get married to Amelia Rose Blaire (who plays the Tracis). Boy, it must have been awkward filming the scene where Connor coldly manipulates the blue-haired Traci with her lesbian clone/lover's severed head!
  • Carl Manfred is a Bourgeois Bohemian who is very wealthy because his skills as a painter cannot be replaced by a Job-Stealing Robot. A few years after the game was made, A.I.-Generated Artwork has created backlash from artists who fear that the technology is going to put them out of work. Even in the game itself, Markus creates some very inspired artwork just based on a few prompts from Carl.
• Ho Yay:
  • Simon is very devoted to Markus.
    • If Simon survives the battle at Stratford Tower, he and Markus reunite with a lingering embrace.
    • If Simon is captured at Stratford Tower and Connor interrogates him pretending to be Markus, he'll beg "Markus" not to leave him again.
    • If Markus is shot during the Battle of Detroit, Simon gives up his thirium pump regulator to replace Markus's damaged one, telling him "Our hearts are compatible". It plays out very similarly to a version of the scene you can get with North which is explicitly romantic.
  • During The Bridge, one of Connor's possible responses to Hank is "I'm whatever you want me to be, Lieutenant". Supposed to be Literal-Minded in context, but still sounds very suggestive.
  • In "Last Chance, Connor", if Connor has obtained Jericho's location from Kamski, Amanda asks Connor whether he feels anything for the deviants or for Hank. You can have him answer in the affirmative, in which case he mentions that he's reluctantly been having inappropriate thoughts lately.
  • The Good Ending for Connor and Hank's storyline has Hank waiting at his favorite food truck for Connor to arrive, before the two share a long look of understanding at each other and embrace.
• Informed Wrongness: In "Eden Club", if Connor chooses to shoot the red-haired Traci right as she's closing in for an attack, he gets called out on it by both Hank and the blue-haired Traci as if what he did was completely uncalled for, even though his actions are considered to be justified self-defense. Even if he was an android and thus can withstand more damage than humans, it doesn't change the fact that both Tracis were trying to kill them moments earlier before deciding to hightail it.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Yes, Todd is an abusive father, but there are scenes where he's heartbroken at what he's become, such as when he's confronting Alice about if she hates him or not. In fact, most of the emotional abuse (i.e. shouting at Alice) are all about how much his life sucks. The fact that Alice is an android and Todd likely expected her to not feel emotions also muddies the water a bit about if he was actually abusive to his real daughter, or just saw himself as venting on an inanimate object.
  • While Leo is definitely heavy on the jerkass side, his resentful attitude towards his father, while not necessarily justified, is at least not baseless, as it's mentioned in his gallery entry that he was conceived out of a brief fling and that Carl was absent for much of his life. If you choose the violent route with him it's mentioned later on that he's apologetic for his actions and attempts to work towards a healthier relationship with Carl, showing that he does have the potential to be a better person.
  • Some of the anti-android protesters can be seen as this. The job market is being flooded with androids that can work infinitely more efficiently than humans 24/7 for no pay or benefits, yet the economy hasn't been restructured to provide a viable alternative for humans to earn a living outside of finding employment in that very same android saturated job market. This doesn't begin to excuse their more aggressive actions, but it's hard not to empathize a bit with someone who's been royally screwed out of their ability to keep food on the table or a roof over their family's heads.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Some Grey's Anatomy fans got the game specifically for Jesse Williams as Markus.
  • Connor (and by extension, Hank) has been generally well-received, even by some who otherwise disliked the game, to the point that quite a few critics have argued Connor's story is the only worthwhile part.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Connor is often shipped with both the other protagonists, Hank, Gavin, Chloe, Kamski, the deviants he has faced, North, other versions of himself, and pretty much anyone he has ever interacted with, as well as some characters he hasn't.
• Love to Hate: Gavin is a humongous Jerkass who does nothing but harass and insult people around him... and that's the exact reason why he's one of the more popular minor characters in the game.
• Magnificent Bastard: Elijah Kamski is a brilliant cybernetics engineer and the founder of Cyberlife, having developed the line of androids that are now ubiquitous throughout society before withdrawing from public life. Curious to see whether his creations could develop the potential for independence, Kamski sets the stage for an android rebellion by designing Markus and gifting him to a friend of his. He also tests Connor's capacity for empathy by goading him to kill one of his first androids, then provides him with clues on how to prevent being reprogrammed by Amanda in the Zen Garden, an artificial intelligence which Kamski himself based on his former teacher. In the event that all three protagonists are killed off before the finale, Kamski will take back control over Cyberlife in order to study his robots and rebuild their code from the ground up. A cordial and philosophical man in person, Kamski seems concerned only with observing the events he set in motion without interfering, content to let the chips fall where they may no matter how many android or human lives might be lost in the process.
• Memetic Badass: Connor, for his coin trick skills. In fact, this would sprout interest in coin tricks (especially on YouTube) as more people learned that Connor's skills were possible in real life.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Connor, for Cr1TiKaL fans, as Cr1tikal would deliberately let him die in prompts, before he even knew that Connor doesn't have permadeath. Eventually, Cr1tikal had no other choice than to turn him into a Memetic Badass by the point of "Last Chance, Connor", since permadeath for Connor was put in place by that point of the story.
    • Likewise for Two Best Friends Play fans, since Connor has died in all three of his first chapters, every time caused by some kind of completely unintentional last-minute Epic Fail.
  • Hank, except for the parts where his troubles are taken seriously.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Kara (played by Valorie Curry) looking like Jennifer Lawrence.
  • Connor licking (biohazardous) substances while Hank is grossed out.
  • Numerous jokes about Hillary Clinton, since the 2038 US President Warren looks like her. She must've won the 2016 presidential election in this universe, or David Cage supports Hillary Clinton, or kissing androids turn her on enough for a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Jokes that Detroit still looks like a dump, even with all the advanced technology. For fans of Black Humor, this extends to some of the Downer Endings, such as setting off the dirty bomb that North found "improving" Detroit.
  • Replacing whatever Markus paints for Carl with another image, such as "Bold and Brash (More Like, Belongs In the Trash)", to which Carl responds with "Oh my god."
  • Jokes about Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob, except replacing them with Hank and Connor. Taken further when Hank has to figure out which Connor is our Connor, just like the episode "Imitation Krabs" where Plankton used a robot suit to masquerade as Mr. Krabs (and SpongeBob fell for it).
    • Detroit Bottom: Become Krabs overlays Hank's lines with Mr. Krabs due to the one's voice merging with the other.
  • When Connor gave Hank a comedic slap when the latter was drunk in his house, some fans expect Connor to say, "Are you feeling it now, Lt. Anderson?"
  • Making Snowclones or Voice Clip Song videos out of Connor's introduction (which he repeats every time you let him get destroyed). The line got so popular Quantic Dream included it in the trailer for the PC edition.
    Connor: My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife.
  • The game's simplistic button prompts in dialogue scenes (such as a scene with Markus standing in front a blank canvas next to button prompts with labels like 'SADNESS') took off in the same vein as "Press X to Jason" and "Press F to Pay Respects". The phrase "Press Triangle to End Slavery" has become a popular joke among the game's critics in particular thanks to this◊ screenshot, which is touted as a microcosm of the game's anvilicious nature.
  • "Hank Is A Millennial" is becoming rather popular on Tumblr, with players noting Hank’s year of birth listed as 1985 and running with the high probability of his knowing and references vines, memes, and other such millenial culture, much to Connor’s confusion.
  • Ralph repeatedly saying "succulent".
  • Especially with the game's impressive Russian fandom, the "28 stab wounds" scene became one of the biggest fandom in-jokes and popular snowclone material. For reference, this is what the scene is like with Russian dub.
  • Images from "The Interrogation" showing levels of stress are popular, especially when paired with another thing that might cause extreme stress or relaxation.
  • Connor ambiguously killing himself in front of the deviants in the ending where he becomes the leader of the deviants is joked as what happens if you make the socially awkward kid talk in front of the entire class.
  • Using a clip of Connor walking off after saving Emma while "Mission Successful" flashes on the screen to represent someone taking their leave after accomplishing something.
• Moe:
  • Connor is considered to be this by many fans thanks to his good looks and adorable tics.
  • Alice is very sweet and adorable, to motivate players to protect her more as Kara.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Todd is not the nicest on the list and already toed the line with the first few scenes hinting that he's an abusive father, but if you manage to fail "A Stormy Night", it almost always ends with him crossing it by killing both Kara and Alice. This is notable as his point of no return as killing Kara means there won't be a later scene where he's able to have a Heel Realization and thus he destroyed his own shot of redemption.
  • While Leo doesn't go as far as child abuse, he still crosses it when he breaks into his father's house to steal paintings he can sell to pay for red ice, then beats up Markus knowing full well he can't defend himself. The line is fully crossed when his father dies from a heart attack and he pins the blame on Markus, marking his Start of Darkness. Much like Todd, this is notable because there's a route in which he has a Heel Realization, but in the route where he crossed it, there's no such realization.
  • Although his previous acts were mass murder, if Richard Perkins' deal is accepted, and Markus surrenders, Perkins will cross this by betraying them and instead killing both Markus and North. Unlike Leo and Todd, Perkins doesn't have a Heel Realization, but this particular act is especially cruel.
  • If Connor becomes the Villain Protagonist and has the primary goal of staying loyal to humanity by assassinating Markus, Connor can have a change of heart and become a member of the deviants himself, but he can also become the opposite, and if the player kills Hank when he tries stopping Connor, after having lots of Character Development, Connor proves that he is truly irredeemable at that point.
• Narm:
  • Quite a lot of gamers think David Cage's use of real life symbols, imagery, and quotes (including "I have a dream" among others) was either this or in outright poor taste.
  • In one ending to The Interrogation, Gavin pronounces "fuck" in a bizarre way; it comes out sounding more like "fhk" than a real word. He says it multiple times during the game (during that chapter, even) correctly. What, has he got a cold?^note Neil Newbon has admitted even he doesn't know what happened there, when asked by a fan to recreate it he tried but was ultimately unable to do it, leading him to think it was just a one-off weird take that they ended up using.
  • If Markus pushes Leo in self-defense during "Broken", it leads to several awkward moments. Leo's Ragdoll Physics upon being knocked unconscious are very jerky and unnatural, Carl's voice acting is surprisingly lacking for a man who just watched his son nearly die as a result of fighting with an android who he's come to see as a surrogate son, and his heart attack symptoms (which lead to his death if Markus refuses to fight back) disappear entirely.
  • In the second investigation with Connor, when you proceed to tell Hank about the clues you found, Connor will pause his sentences so that the player makes the choices of what he'll say. While a nice way to involve the player, the pauses can still come off as if Connor just started buffering.
  • Connor converting the androids in the CyberLife tower is an awesome moment and all, but the part where he tells them to "wake up" sounds strained and rather loud, which is especially jarring in contrast to how naturally charismatic and calm Markus sounds when he's the one doing the conversion. Fans have even made fun of this.
  • The triggers for the good endings resulting from the peaceful protest veer into this. Sing a little song? Give your girlfriend a kiss? Warren will personally order the military to stand down and pull out! Yeah, that only works out if the public likes you enough to begin with, but it's also really easy to get to that point.
  • One of the androids in Zlatko's basement saying, "He likes to play with us... Creating monsters for his amusement... But who's the real monster?" is shoving the theme so blatantly in your face, it is hard to take it seriously.
  • Despite being a fugitive living in an abandoned tanker, Markus dresses impeccably for every mission he undertakes, with a different outfit every time. It undercuts the seriousness of being an oppressed rebel leader when said leader looks like a fashion model with an Unlimited Wardrobe.
• Narm Charm:
  • Kamski's hairstyle (an undercut with a tiny ponytail/manbun), a hairstyle that grew in popularity among young men in the late New Tens to look more young and hip, which is mocked by Internet culture (usually towards YouTubers) for how pretentious and ridiculous it looks. Considering Kamski's characterization, some found it fitting for him.
  • As mentioned above, Markus can lead protestors to sing a gospel song if he conducts a peaceful demonstration. If public opinion on the androids is high enough, President Warren will be so moved by the song that she will order the military to stand down. Silly in execution and somewhat illogical? Yeah. A moving scene that carries substantial emotional impact and serves as one of the most powerful moments in the game? Absolutely.
• No Yay: Their (visual) age difference hasn't stopped people from shipping Connor and Hank together romantically, though many find the ship to be this trope as they prefer to see their relationship as a platonic/familial one.
• One-Scene Wonder: If one doesn't count the secret ending which can only be obtained by killing all three player characters, Elijah Kamski only appears in one chapter but nevertheless makes quite an impression.
• One True Pairing: At any rate, Connor and Hank is the most popular pairing in the fandom overall, due to their Buddy Cop Show dynamic and the emotional core of Connor's storyline.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading:
  • Quite a number of fans think that Markus and Carl behave more like lovers rather than the surrogate son/father that the game tried to establish.
  • Markus and Simon have a few scenes that come off as very romantic despite them only being friends and fellow revolutionaries. Even people who don't ship them have noticed how intimately they act in these few scenes, and it's caused many players to theorize that Simon was a possible love interest alongside North in some earlier draft of the game.
• Player Punch:
  • If Connor's relationship with Hank is low enough that he quits the police force at the beginning of "Last Chance, Connor", Connor will later visit him at his house. Hank is sitting at the kitchen table with a revolver and a picture of Cole while Sumo can be heard whimpering. After Hank gives Connor a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, he tells him to Get Out!. As Connor leaves for his taxi, a gunshot can be heard from the house and Sumo lets out a Howl of Sorrow, while Connor stops in his tracks.
  • If Connor dies at Stratford Tower, Hank will run to him and hold him in his arms while he dies, all while telling him "We're gonna save you, hang on!" Unlike Connor's other deaths, this scene makes it a little more obvious why Connor and Hank's relationship worsens each time you let him die: it reminds Hank of his son, who unlike Connor, can't come back from the dead.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Many examples, some for the same pairings, litter the tags for this game.
  • Connor/Hank: Hannor, Conhank, or Hankcon.
  • Gavin/RK900: Reed900.
  • Connor/RK900: RK1700. ^note RK1700 is a unique example, as it's a portmanteau of their model types rather than their names. Both of them are members of the RK series, and 800 plus 900 is 1700. Because that's how numbers work.
  • Connor/Markus: Marcon, Conkus, or RK1000.
  • Simon/Markus: Simarkus, Simkus, Sirkus, Sarkus, Marmon... Just about anything that starts with "S" and ends with "kus" is on the table.
  • North/Markus: Norkus, Marth, Morth, or Northkus.
  • Markus/Josh: Joshkus. Or Mosh, for those who prefer sillier portmanteaus.
  • Connor/Kara: Connara.
  • Connor/Chloe: Chlonnor.
  • Luther/Kara: Luthara.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Leo can potentially be rescued from this if he gets a Heel Realization and attempts to change his life for the better.
• Rooting for the Empire: There are fans out there who prefer to have the android revolution fail, and consider the humans winning the "good" ending.
• Sacred Cow: Calling Connor the fan-favorite is a massive understatement. He’s amassed an enormous fanbase consisting significantly of females who love his Adorkable nature and physical appearance, and a lot of players find his segments of the game to be the most memorable and enjoyable. This has also extended to his voice actor, Bryan Dechart, who has also been growing in popularity due to his friendly interactions with the fans and is often interviewed the most in regards to the game. And you’d be making a huge mistake insulting either of them in front of this fanbase.
• Ships That Pass in the Night:
  • Connor and Markus for their interactions if Connor deviates.
  • Alternatively, Connor and North, as North replaces Markus in these interactions instead if Markus either died at the freedom march or was kicked out of Jericho.
  • Connor and Kara also have a small following, a little odd considering they interact with each other the least out of the three protagonists.
  • Connor and (any) Traci despite interacting in a single scene. This is motivated in part by Connor (optionally) checking out a Traci at Eden Club, but mostly a pseudo-Actor Ship since Bryan Dechart (Connor) and Amelia Rose Blaire (Traci) have been engaged during the production of the game, and the pair have started livestreaming their playthrough on Twitch.
  • Gavin and RK900, despite never meeting in-game. Although we have an idea of what some of their interactions could be like based on the way Gavin treats Connor who is RK900's prototype.
  • North and Kara are a fairly popular Les Yay ship despite their interactions in the game being sparse, with their only real moment of connection happening if Markus dies in the freedom march.
  • Jerry/Ralph has a surprising following given that they never even meet, with the exception of both possibly showing up within the recycling center. It helps that they are the two charmingly eccentric Ensemble Dark Horse figures of Kara's storyline.
  • RK900/Chloe, though not as popular as the slightly more mainstream Connor/Chloe, still have enough of a following to have produced a decent amount of fanart and some edits on Instagram. The two of them do not interact in-game at all, and have noticeably little screen time and few to no lines. The ship seems mainly based on the novelty of pairing the original android (Chloe RT600, the first AI ever to pass the Turing test) with a model that is designed as the future of androids (a new and improved version of the RK800, who himself was considered the most advanced android ever).
• Signature Scene:
  • By the time the game was released, the Hostage scene, Connor's first scene where he has to investigate a kidnapping and rescue a child from a rogue android. It sets the tone perfectly and is a brilliant preview into the type of choices the player’ll have to make.
  • The carousel scene, where an android that enjoys making children happy runs a carousel for Alice when she and Kara take refuge in an otherwise abandoned amusement park. It serves as a heartwarming Breather Level with no danger whatsoever, and helps make Kara and Alice’s relationship more heartwarming.
  • The android junkyard scene, where Markus has to find replacement parts to repair himself, and then crawl out of the junkyard, where many discarded androids are still conscious. It serves as a major stepping stone into what Markus’ character will eventually become.
  • The android protest march. This scene is commonly said to be the most powerful scene from the game, and features several different permutations that can drastically affect the game.
  • The rooftop chase scene, where Connor pursues a deviant across several buildings. Said by many to not only be one of the best moments in Connor’s story, but the best moment of the entire game, it features an intense setpiece and soundtrack and perfectly showcases Connor’s skills as an android.
  • All four of the endings to Markus' Demonstration. Easily one of the most emotional moments in the game, each ending is a powerful one, and tugs at the heartstrings. The fact that it ultimately decides the fate of androids adds more gravity to the scene as a whole.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • If Markus is shot and killed during a peaceful protest during "Freedom March", a gun will appear next to his hand in the overhead shots of his body following the Double Tap, despite him clearly not having a gun drawn a split-second before. This is a clear case of reusing some of the closing shots from the path where Markus is killed by the police after the protesters turn violent.
  • At the beginning of the chapter "The Painter", the textures for the back of the bus that Markus is stepping still have to load in, resulting in them being remarkably more blurry and low quality compared to everything else in the scene for just a few seconds.
• Spiritual Adaptation:
  • Numerous people have noticed the similarities between Connor and Hank to R. Daneel Olivaw and Elijah Baley, the original Androids and Detectives pair from Isaac Asimov's Robot novels The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn. Both duos consist of a clean-cut, polite, and logical Ridiculously Human Robot partnered with a cantankerous middle-aged human detective who goes from resentful to forming a strong friendship with them. Fans of the series describe these two as the closest thing to a video game adaptation of the characters and especially the novels.
  • It's also the closest thing to an officially licensed video game based on I, Robot (the 2004 film not the short story) with the same premise of a detective who gets caught up in a conspiracy related to the free will of robots. Much like how I, Robot is set in a futuristic version of Chicago, Detroit: Become Human takes place in a technologically advanced version of a Midwestern metropolis specifically the titular city where robots are servants to mankind much like how I, Robot is set in a futuristic Chicago where androids are commonplace on the streets and homes of every human resident.
  • The game wears its inspirations from Blade Runner and especially its then-recently released sequel on its sleeve, particularly with the Connor storyline. Connor is a top-of-the-line android police officer Hunter of His Own Kind who discovers his own humanity and can potentially defy his programming, much like K. Meanwhile his partner Hank is an experienced, jaded older protagonist who has a conflicted opinion about androids, much like Rick Deckard. Meanwhile, Elijah Kamski is very clearly inspired by Niander Wallace, having a similar appearance as well as being the head of an android-creating company with an obsession with robot potential.
• Squick: Connor's scanning ability involves him putting unsanitary substances in his mouth. At multiple points, Hank will complain about the practice if he catches you doing it.
• Starboarding:
  • As mentioned above, quite a few players come away with the belief that Simon has one-sided feelings for Markus, especially if players chose to romance North.
  • Though debates over the relationship between Connor and Hank can sometimes get thorny, some fans go for the compromise view of believing that the feelings are only romantic on Connor's end, thanks in part to the many Ho Yay-tastic lines coming from him about Hank combined with staff comments about how Connor might not be Hank's type.
• Strangled by the Red String: Despite how pro-violence North is, it is incredibly easy to disagree with every single thing she says but still become lovers with her as Markus, even on a peaceful route. In fact, even springing a kiss on her to avoid the attention of police officers (which she reacts very poorly to) while they attempt to break into a Cyberlife store or outright failing said mission (leading North to criticize Markus for his incompetence) can still be salvaged in the next scene — her relationship can jump two stages from Neutral to Lovers as long as the player isn't outright cold in their responses. Then there's the peaceful ending where kissing her in Markus and North's apparent last moments is a straight-forward and obvious way to get a "good" ending. Then there's also the fact that if Markus' ultimate relationship level with North stays as "Companion" rather than "Lover", it's marked with the color orange rather than blue. ^note  In the game orange usually indicates either a decrease in relationship value or a generally poor relationship between any of the protagonists and their companions.
• Strawman Has a Point: North is supposed to be seen as wrong for telling Marcus that humans are nothing but bastards that only understand one language, that is violence. The problem... she is not exactly wrong when she told him that because, throughout most of the scenario, whenever authorities deal with deviant Androids their first, and only, course of action is to immediately open fire on them without even bothering to listen to their side, even on a peaceful route (and the times they do decide to apprehend them, it's much worse). Worst of all, if you made a deal with Perkins during a peaceful protest he'll go back on his word and have the Androids be disposed of, including Markus and North. This makes the violent route a more viable option given on how most of humanity respond to a deviant Androids.
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • If you hate Leo, you'll be delighted to have Markus push him into some equipment, knocking him unconscious. This is satisfactory because the other option of not fighting back leads to the death of Carl and Leo blaming Markus for it, and becoming a Karma Houdini. In contrast, pushing Leo causes him to have a Jerkass Realization in the latter part of the story.
  • Fans get the opportunity to knock out Gavin in "Last Chance, Connor" after he's shown to be a complete asshole to Connor in his every appearance beforehand.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The other members of Jericho, particularly Simon and Josh. Unlike North, Markus doesn't get as close to them and their pasts/motivations are unknown. Josh's backstory is briefly described in the Gallery portion of the game, but Simon's is a complete mystery even in-game.
  • Lucy's unusual design, unique abilities and disappointing lack of screentime have been pointed out by many.
  • While Hank is written well as a good, human foil to Connor's cold and at times naive nature, little is done to explore his experience as a veteran detective. Hank displaying human intuition and experience earned from years of police work, even with his substance abuse problems and nihilistic world view, would have made a nice contrast to Connor's analytical approach to crime investigation. Instead, Connor does almost all of the actual detective work, upstaging his human partner constantly, with Hank acting as little more than a chauffeur and a moral anchor.
  • Some feel this way about Kara’s role in the plot as a Heroic Bystander, expressing disappointment that her story does not impact the overarching conflict between humans and androids like Markus and Connor, since it only revolves around Kara’s attempt to escape Detroit and protect Alice. This may be justified however, since while Markus leads the android rebellion and Connor opposes it (at least for the majority of the game, depending on whether the player chooses to have him become deviant or not), Kara’s story gives insight to how the android populace are affected by the chaotic events that transpire over the course of the game.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • How some players feel about Alice's reveal of being an android as well. Some players feel that if Alice really was a human, the story would've been more interesting, and more meaning would've been given to the relationship between her and Kara. A human and android loving each other as family? Could there be a more perfect example of the possibility of peace between the two races? Granted, it would've required a good amount of Willing Suspension of Disbelief regarding the world's Social Services, but still. Some additionally felt that the reveal's impact wasn't explored that deeply, as it came in at the last third of the game and had no relevance afterwards.
  • Given the focus on their relationship and how you can play up Connor and Hank as Fire-Forged Friends, many thought it would have been a more compelling scenario to have Hank be the one who can make Connor go deviant instead of Markus/North, whom Connor had never even met face-to-face before up until that point. Though it's obviously his experiences with Hank that lead way for his deviancy, while Markus/North's words just served the final straw, many may still find Hank's absence from Connor's decision a waste.
  • Some players felt that North, Simon, and Josh all being potential romantic options for Markus, with their interest in him varying depending on how much his views aligned with theirs, would have been more interesting than having North set in stone as his Love Interest regardless of whether they actually get along or not. It's especially jarring since there's no indication that the androids' Purely Aesthetic Gender necessarily plays into their sexual or romantic orientation when they become sentient, but Markus still defaults to attraction to North as the only female faction leader.
  • The player characters and their respective group members barely have any interactions with each other. Justified, as you might as well be holding up both sides of the conversation, though interactions such as how Hank would've reacted to Kara and Alice's relationship would've been an interesting sight.
  • Apparently, using androids as mindless servants and viewing them as nothing more is a uniform practice in society and no one has a problem with it except for Emma, Carl, Rose, Adam (post-Character Development), and Hank. You'd think there would be a lot more people that would try to treat them like more kindly or even groups that discourage the usage of androids and/or vouch for androids, and the results of these things.
  • Freeing the Androids almost always leads to them feeling human and wanting to be treated equal to humans. Only Starter Villain Daniel goes crazy from an existential crisis, none of them explicitly view humanity as inferior (though the contempt for humanity can be pronounced in the more violent routes), and no android ever has a desire to go back to "normal", or any of the other things that could happen when you give an android sentience.
  • In "Meeting with Kamski", the titular character will test whether Connor has empathy or not by asking him to execute a Chloe android for information. Some have commented that it would probably have been an even harder choice if the Chloe in question had actually showed any emotion to Connor pointing the gun at her, especially since it has already be established androids usually go deviant when their lives are threatened, but she remains completely indifferent throughout the scene. Had she expressed even a little fear or sadness at being held at gunpoint, Connor choosing to shoot her or not would likely have held more of an emotional punch, and made more sense for both Connor and Hank's reactions afterwards than over whether or not he spared a completely emotionless android. Additionally, the fact that there are three different copies of Chloe in the room at the same time enforces the idea that she's quite replaceable, undermining this moral dilemma even further.
  • A common criticism of Kara and Markus's stories is that they deviate too early and behave indistinguishably from humans right off the bat without the chance to tackle any potentially interesting subplots dealing with the androids' artificial nature and their emerging emotions - of the three, only Connor's truly takes advantage of the premise and delves into the kinds of questions provoked by the game's title.
  • A minor one, but a major part of the game is how the public sees the Androids actions, which is supposed to be presented as something of a Karma Meter. If you do things peacefully, the public will end up supporting the Androids, but when the actual protests occur, no human characters appear to side with the Androids. While potentially justified in that it might have been hard to work more characters in, it makes the entire plot point and gameplay mechanic pointless since it leaves the player left with no reward except one minor event at the end.
  • Some critics have opined that, in addition to using androids as a metaphor for racism and bigotry, the game could have also used the setting to explore the class divide between the rich and poor. Something brought up by the game from time to time is how androids being used for unskilled labor positions have caused widespread unemployment among the lower socio-economic classes and increase in Red Ice use. However, the game never really addresses this.
• Ukefication:
  • Connor is the most obvious target of this in the game due to his brown Puppy-Dog Eyes, awkwardness, and tendency for awkward behavior, but fans forget that he's also the most skilled combatant out of the whole cast who can take down entire squads of trained soldiers with ease and is perfectly willing to defy Hank and the other humans he's supposed to serve. Not to mention he can be quite ruthless at times. Fans also have a tendency to exaggerate his more cheerful side to Keet levels, when in-game he's still quite aloof and barely changes his expression from a resting stoic face even when friendly.
  • Markus tends to get this whenever he is shipped with Simon. Although Markus is a powerful, charismatic leader who takes things to his own accord regardless if anyone agrees with his plans or not, he's reduced as some sort of scared little boy who can't do anything without Simon there to come by his side and scoop him up. Or rather vice-versa.
  • Disturbingly, Gavin Reed also tends to get this treatment in conjunction with a massive dose of Draco in Leather Pants. The game itself does nothing to indicate he's anything other than an utterly irredeemable {Jerkass who abuses Connor and mistreats all of his coworkers due to petty arrogance, nor does it ever suggest he has any reason for it outside of pure Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, despite providing a Freudian Excuse to other similarly repugnant characters. Fans tend to portray him as a tragic Troubled, but Cute Woobie with a tortured past to excuse his behavior, incapable of seriously hurting anyone (even though he can hurt and outright kill Connor in some playthroughs). The ukefication goes double if he's being paired with RK900, who also often receives the abusive boyfriend treatment and subjects Gavin to bucketloads of Romanticized Abuse in such works.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
  • After the official box art for the game was released, there have been numerous complaints due to the unsettling close up on Jesse Williams’ face, which is cropped up (presumably to highlight his character's nature as an android).
  • Chloe reaches some of the closest levels, no thanks to her having an extreme close-up on the main menu, making it easier to see the imperfections in the model and animations.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • The victim at the Eden Club is supposed to be treated as horrible for abusing the machines and even basically killing one them, but there is nothing to suggest he knew that the androids could feel actual emotions. It is not at the point of the game where the question of if androids can feel is treated as a legit question by the general populace. Yet, the game treats him as horrible and unforgivable for engaging in his fantasies in what was intended to be a private and safe manner.
  • Revolutionary Markus. The game makes it very clear that going for a violent revolution is the wrong choice. But at the same time, it doesn't really offer any good arguments against it aside from semi-empty platitudes in the vein of He Who Fights Monsters. Especially telling when Markus chooses to vent his frustrations to Carl about how the humans humiliate the androids at every turn and now expect civility from them. Carl actually can't deny this and only admonishes Markus for his hateful attitude. When Markus asks if he doesn't have a right to be angry after what humanity has done to his people, Carl's answer once again is limited to criticizing Markus' tone.
  • On the flipside, Machine Connor, depending on your views towards Revolutionary Marcus. The game treats Connor choosing to side against Jericho as an unambiguously evil act for which he gets demonized by Hank (if he's alive) and other androids for the rest of the playthrough, and it dooms him to an unhappy ending. But if you agree with the aforementioned He Who Fights Monsters platitudes expressed towards Marcus, chances are you also view Machine Connor as just doing his job and putting down a genuine threat to humans, at least on a Revolutionary Marcus path.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Generally a minority opinion, but this is how some feel for the deviants that Connor encounters, in particular Ortiz's android and the Tracis. In both cases, the deviants killed a human who was hurting/abusing them. However, neither can really be considered self-defense — Ortiz's android didn't just fight him off (he stabbed him twenty-eight times and used his blood to write on the wall), and the blue-haired Traci killed her customer not because he hurt her, but because she thought he was going to. Sympathy for them hinges on whether the player thinks Ortiz and the Eden Club customer were deserving of their deaths. Though the blue-haired Traci does say that she did not mean to kill the customer.
  • Related to the Eden Club case, shooting the Traci at the Eden Club is treated as the "bad choice", and it will make Hank's regard for Connor drop. Many do feel genuinely sad at the scene, but most defend their decision for three reasons: 1) The blue-haired Traci had just killed a human, and both had attacked Connor and Hank in their attempt to escape. 2) At the choice, the Traci is charging for Connor with clear physical intent. 3) Connor can die in several places throughout the game, with negative results, and some feared that if they did not shoot the Traci, she would kill Connor. It was an effectively emotional scene, but said emotion tends to be sadness instead of guilt.
  • A lot of players have no sympathy for the humans, due to them treating the androids like property at best and like slaves at worst. Even at it's most peaceful, no human will ever openly support the android movement until the very end. Many players even argue that a violent revolution would be justified, since trying a peaceful approach nearly always ends in humans pulling their weapons on unarmed androids. After all, why should the androids be understanding and kind when only some humans choose to be?
  • Carl Manfred is clearly supposed to come across as a benevolent mentor and pacifist figure who just wants what's best for androids, but he can easily be seen as both naive and elitist. He dismisses human protestors out of hand as a bunch of luddites, ignoring that Carl himself is quite wealthy because as a world-famous painter he's blessed with a high-value skill that isn't easily replaceable by androids. His pacifism also directly results in his death if Markus listens to him during his confrontation with Leo, or gets him chewed out by Markus much later if he survives.
  • Revolutionary Markus can qualify if you agree with the game's He Who Fights Monsters message. For as much as the game tries to push the theme that violence begets violence and you should try other options, Markus, even at his absolute worst, is always portrayed by the narrative as A Lighter Shade of Black whose fight for android rights is meant to be supported. This is most noticeable if both Revolutionary Markus and Machine Connor are part of the same playthrough. As while Revolutionary Markus is still portrayed sympathetically, Machine Connor is portrayed as an unambiguous villain who's wrong for opposing the revolution.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Despite David Cage's insistence that the game is not meant to be political, it's very hard to ignore the heavyhanded allegories to race discrimination. Androids are forced to sit in the back of the bus, are referred to as "slaves", and even escape to an android safe zone in a chapter titled "Midnight Train".
• The Woobie:
  • As a demo with Connor playable shows, the hostage, Emma Phillips, is a more straight example of a woobie. Yes, the family was planning to replace Daniel, but you discover during your investigation that Emma herself is not responsible; a video she took shows that she actually loved Daniel very much and thought he was cool. But because of her family's decision, this innocent little girl is being held hostage with a gun pointed to her head by her former friend, who shot her father earlier and is now threatening to take her off the building with him and kill her. During the hostage situation, she's crying and pleading for her life.
  • As bad as Emma has it, Alice Williams, the daughter of Kara's owner, has it much, 'much worse. At some point before the events of the game, Alice's mother left Alice and Alice's father, Todd, the ordeal causing Todd to become mentally unstable and take his anger out on Alice, abusing her both physically and verbally. By the time the game starts, Alice has been reduced to a quiet, broken shell, constantly in fear of everyone around her, but especially her father. There's also the fact that Alice had to witness Todd severely damage Kara at some point prior to the start of the plot (he ripped off Kara's arm and head as seen from Alice's drawing), the event which left Alice heavily traumatized. And depending on what choices you make, she may end up killing her father to protect Kara, a decision which will obviously leave her severely scarred for the remainder of her life. And the moment Alice and Kara find a place to stay for the night, Alice will blame herself for her father's abuse and wonders if he'd love her if she was 'better.' Much later in the game, you learn that she's actually an android herself, replaced by Todd after Alice's mother took the real Alice and left, which was why he was so angry with her and why she blames everything on her.
  • And then there's the Androids by and large.

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