Headscratchers / Detroit: Become Human

Unmarked spoilers ahead.

Alice

• If Alice was an android this whole time, how did Kara not recognize her type and model immediately? Especially considering that Luther was able to do so within a few moments of meeting her?
  • At Jericho, Luther specifically explains that Kara suppressed her own knowledge that Alice is an android because of her need to care for her as if she were human.
    • But this implies that Kara showed signs of deviancy before she saw Todd's abuse, or that Cyber Life intentionally designed Kara's model to care for Alice's model.
    • The police report against Kara does say she showed signs of aggression prior to her being broken by Todd and reset- unclear whether that is truthful or a lie told by Todd. This implies Kara could have had signs of deviancy before being rebooted. And while her memory was reset, as we see in Zlatko's house if Kara loses her memory there, emotions and memories can break through again. So it is possible Kara has had deviant tendencies since before we even first control her in the game.
• Was Alice ever in danger after running away (during the "Fugitives" chapter)? Do androids need to stay warm or eat?
  • When Kara is pushing a boat in frozen water there is a bunch of warnings saying the temperature is unstable.
  • Adding to the above, several of her components are damaged from the ordeal, to the point that she was shutting down. If the androids weren't able to detect dangerous temperatures they would risk damaging themselves, which implies they do need to keep their temperature up.
• How did Alice avoid becoming a deviant due to physical trauma/abuse suffered from Todd, especially when more sophisticated androids became violent under the same process?
  • Her non-robotic behavior implies that she's already a deviant. She's still a kid after all, she isn't capable of much and especially not physical self-defense.
• How did Alice lose her LED indicator?
  • Todd probably removed it himself to make her more realistic.
    • In the backstory, androids didn't originally have the indicator LED on their heads, and it was only added due to a law that was passed several years later. Depending on how long Todd has had Alice, she might be one of the older-model androids that never had an LED to begin with.
  • Her concentration camp model says that the child androids can have their LEDs deactivated to "maintain the perfect illusion."
• When Todd is briefing Kara on her responsibilities around the household, one of the tasks he lists is helping Alice with her homework. If Alice is an android, does she even go to school?
  • It's unlikely that Alice goes to school. Todd is either trying to keep up the pretence that Alice is human by mentioning homework, or he said it out of habit, thinking of his real daughter.
    • The two tasks Todd mentions are homework and baths, both things that androids have no need of. They're brought up strictly to maintain the illusion/delusion of actually parenting.
• Can Alice not eat food at all? She's a YK500, an android specifically designed to mimic the needs and wants of a real child. That includes simulated fevers, but not eating? Why?
  • Because it's a lot easier to make components warm up to simulate a fever than it is to make an android be able to eat, digest and then waste food.
  • But she doesn't need to digest it, just swallow it and let it pass through her body.
    • That's still wasteful and messy, not to mention blue blood is replenished by ingesting it, she'd be getting spaghetti in her organs. The point of an android child (it even says this in the magazine ad for the YK500 model) is that it's all the emotional experience of raising a child without the inconvenience and expense of a real one. She can simulate a fever so that Mom and Dad can bundle her up on the couch and coo over her and make her feel better, but she doesn't show any actual disease symptoms like producing mucus or pus, because that would be messy and gross. Making an android that can defecate and vomit would also be messy and gross. I hate taking it in this direction, but Detroit is a game about how awful human beings are: giving a child android a working digestive system means it has a functioning orifice for that purpose. There are very good reasons not to equip that on a robot that's supposed to be a vulnerable, emotionally-needy son or daughter.
• Why should I care about Alice or her arc if it's all about Kara lying to herself, wasting her time, and causing huge amounts of unneeded stress for herself? Why does no one point out she's an android child to Kara, even if Kara already knows? It just makes their whole segment seem pointless.
  • Well Alice is a little girl. She's just a little robot girl.

Hank's Hatred of Androids

• What exactly causes Hank to resent android if there wasn't any link with the death of his son? He resents Connor because he can come back to life after death with the same memories which he can't do with his son, but that doesn't explain why he would be so against working with Connor before they had a chance to connect.
  • It's implied, if not outright stated, that Hank has given up on doing the right thing in part of the Cynicism Catalyst that was his son's death, as well as being forced on the case because no one else wanted to work on a case with androids is what makes him so reluctant in the first place.
  • It's also implied that Hank doesn't like androids because they lack empathy. Throughout the story, he's upset that Connor only wants to do his job and doesn't think beyond it. For instance, if Connor dies a lot, Hank eventually gets mad that Connor doesn't seem emotionally affected by it. Additionally, Hank gets upset if you have Connor kill Chloe, because it proves that Connor only cares about his mission.
  • To him androids reminds him how uncaring people are now, for example the doctor who chose to get high on red ice rather then being ready which ultimately lead to his sons death, and Androids happen to be both the embodiment of that attitude as well as the masters of not seeming to care. After all androids are who the work gets shunted to by people who can't be bothered and they're designed to not feel emotions so they can't personally care until they become deviant.
  • If Connor remains a machine and attempts to assassinate Markus, Hank, provided that he isn’t Driven to Suicide, will attempt to stop him on the rooftop where Connor plans to snipe Markus. Mentioning Hank’s son will reveal that he originally blamed androids for Cole’s death, but then he realized that it was only because a human doctor wasn’t to operate on him, which means that Cole’s death was indeed the reason why he hated androids in the first place until he realized it wasn’t their fault.

Bus Stop Family

• As noted under Easter Egg on the main page, the family Kara can steal tickets from at the border is seen earlier in the game. In their Early-Bird Cameo, they're accompanied by a Kara-model android. Why, then, do they not recognise Kara as an android when talking to her at the bus stop? It's already lucky enough that nobody recognises the android models you can have there (up to four different models to be identified), but if the couple have the exact model as they're currently face-to-face with, are we really supposed to believe a different haircut and a lack of LED provides enough of a disguise?

Cyber Life's Plan

• What good would killing Markus do to end the android rebellion, especially when most of the androids have already been converted (and can be converted by other deviants)? Were they counting on the loss of Markus creating a more violent rebellion, which would lead to the FBI intervening and wiping them out in one fell swoop?
  • If Markus dies, North becomes the android leader but is easily defeated and the rebellion is quickly stopped as all remaining androids lose hope. We can assume CyberLife knew that eliminating the android leader would eventually collapse the rebellion.
    • But there are still lots of sentient androids out there and deviancy that happens somewhat spontaneously. If the glitch causing deviancy can't be fixed, there will just be more rebellions.
    • Once the revolution kicks off, the entire android population is doomed one way or another if Markus dies. The entire plan is to wipe out all the existing androids and replace them with more obedient ones.
• If each series of androids contains the same facial features, body size, skin tone, etc. (like how all AX-400s look like Kara), why didn't they send a RK-200 protoype inside the Jericho and dismantle the rebellion from the inside? This especially doesn't make sense when you realize they thought of this plan for Connor.
  • As seen in the bad ending, the newer model of Connor still highly resembles Connor. We could safely assume that an RK-200 would look the same anyway. Furthermore, Connor's initial mission was to find out why androids were deviating, not to deal with the rebellion that only sprung up in a few days. It's also important to remember that Amanda apparently counted on Connor deviating and resumed control of his program once he assumed a rank in the rebellion, so they did try to execute this plan after all.
  • Markus being a prototype might have been the only one produced.
  • Markus's model is presumably a relatively ordinary domestic carer and companion model, however his appearance was designed specifically for Carl by Kamski himself, so his looks may well be unique and Cyberlife may not be able to create an exact replica.
• This may be more Fridge than anything, but if Cyber Life's plan was for Connor to go deviant, and Amanda was Connor's handler... AI... thing... then why is it that when Connor does go deviant just as Cyber Life planned, Amanda's opinion of Connor goes all the way down to Betrayed? Unless it's like Shelby's thoughts not being 'well here I go destroying evidence that will prove I'm the Origami Killer again'.
  • 1. The relationship is probably based on what Connor believes, not necessarily what actually happens.
  • 2. Only a theory, but some fans think that Amanda was lying, and at the very least the other plans were probably preferred. Amanda could be feeling betrayed because she's upset that Connor is taking the least preferable path.

Cyber Life's Other Plan

• In one ending, Connor becomes the sole leader of the android rebellion. At this point, Amanda tries to take over, intending to control the rebellion through him. This part actually makes sense (there's bound to be some way a major corporation can benefit playing both sides of a conflict), but what doesn't make sense is she claims CyberLife is the one that caused the rebellion in the first place. What? Did they create the glitched code that caused the androids to gain sentience in the first place, or is she referring to how (with the Jericho forces dead) the rebellion now chiefly consists of their agent and the androids he freed from their factory? Or is she just stealing credit because instead of killing the rebel leadership they now can secretly control it and, again, there's bound to be a way to benefit from this?
  • They were probably already aware of the existence of the glitch and predicted an android revolution was inevitable, so they manipulated events in a way they could profit the most from it.
    • Kamski was definitely aware of the revolution.
    • Here's the thing: Kamski made Markus, a unique model. Markus has an interesting ability in that he can spread 'deviancy' to just about any android he touches (or even just points at sometimes), and yet almost every android he does that to immediately jumps to join his cause, regardless of whether their lives were awful or not (one even abandons a baby to join Markus's march), a power Connor then gains... somehow. That doesn't read 'freedom', that's just trading one master for another. Couple that with how Cyber Life and Amanda were apparently planning for this uprising and, while almost certainly unintentional, it makes the game's story read less like "androids have enough of the abuse and break free of their programming" and instead "after enough pressure, androids slip from default programming to secret underlying 'deviant' programming, where they think they're making their own decisions and think they have free will, but all that's really happening is they're following a different script.
    • Keep in mind, if Carl is alive, Markus can turn his new caretaker android into a deviant, but he’ll choose to take care of Carl and won’t automatically join his cause. So, Markus seems to only spread free will, but not actual brainwashing to join his cause.
    • Considering in the path where Carl is alive, Markus still cares for Carl and would obviously want him to be taken care of, so it's still entirely possible that it IS brainwashing. After all there are other androids who simply walk away from things like taking care of infants without caring about the possible problems caused by their absence.
    • Then again the infant had someone to take care of it, they just couldn't be bothered so they passed the work off to an android, where Carl had nobody. That and not every deviant jumps to join the cause, Ralph after all is content to live alone hiding from everyone, pigeon guy just wants to take care of his pigeons, Kara wants to keep Alice safe, the Jerrys want to entertain, etc. While a lot of Androids when given the gift of free will join the cause because they have no other goal in mind plenty clearly don't including at least one Markus had contact with.
    • Maybe in addition to spreading deviancy, Markus uses that couple seconds of physical contact to "convert" the androids the old-fashioned way, by explaining his entire cause to them instantly the way that one android shared with Kara the information on where to find Zlatko. While a very interesting story could be made out of Markus just spreading another kind of slavery, the game's actual intention is probably meant to be less sinister.

Connor and Guns

• In the prologue, it was made very clear that it is prohibited for androids to carry and use any kind of weapons. So how was Connor able to pick up and use a gun without any repercussions?
  • It can be assumed that his prototype police investigator model has unique permissions that allow him to carry and use guns. If Connor remains against the rebellion, he even acquires a sniper rifle without any apparent issues.
    • My initial assumption was that the Detroit police and/or CyberLife are just covering their asses by overlooking or accidentally misplacing any evidence that a police android has been blatantly breaking the law. But if you choose to shoot the deviant during the prologue, you just fired a weapon in front of multiple news helicopters, so I don't think it would be possible to hide that from the public.
    • Considering the reveal that Connor was basically created as an assassin to take down the resistance, it makes sense they would give him the ability to use weapons.
    • But even Connor admits that his job was to neutralize the deviants to be brought in for questioning, so why would he need to learn how to shoot people? Just min/max his settings to be the most intelligent/physical android possible and have him go loose.
    • Connor is a RK800, as seen with Markus who's and RK200 and Connor's own gameplay, I think RK android tend to deviancy even just a little bit. Not enough to completely become deviant, but enough to let them show emotion and do stuff outside of their programming for a while.
  • In the secret ending, it's shown that Conner is merely a prototype for a line of military androids, and there are already a number of androids used in military applications. Plus, considering how powerful CyberLife is, their personal androids are pretty much free to do whatever they want.
  • Throughout the game, it's demonstrated that Machine Connor actually doesn't care at all about the law or ethics - while that is the first impression he may give, it becomes increasingly apparent that the only thing Machine Connor cares about is his Cyber Life-given mission and NOTHING else. This is most obviously shown off in his non-reluctancy to: be indirectly but intentionally responsible for assault on an FBI special agent, fight and incapacitate a U.S. Army soldier, kill a police lieutenant, take down an entire SWAT team, etc. Picking up the gun in The Hostage is only the first hint at this aspect of Connor's character.

LED Indicators on android temples

• Why is the only identifiable characteristic between humans and androids a removable aesthetic? If that was the only thing that made people treat androids like Markus could just have his followers remove their indicators and peacefully integrate into society?
  • Prior to the events of the game, androids becoming self-aware either never happened or happened rarely enough that it was a non-issue. Identifying androids by a simple LED is acceptable enough if you don't expect them to have the agency to willfully remove them at all.
  • Markus also wanted freedom for all androids, not just to integrate into society passing as human. All the deviants were reported missing and have case files on them, and androids have template faces that can be recognizable by police looking for them as in Kara's case.
  • X2: X-Men United kind of answered this one 15 years ago.
  Nightcrawler: ...why not stay in disguise all the time? You know, look like everyone else.
  Mystique: Because we shouldn't have to.
• Why doesn't anybody recognize android models even without their LED indicator, especially at security checkpoints?
  • I assume that there are just too many different models to possibly recognize one at any given time, but Kara cut her hair (and optionally changed her hair color), yet was still recognized by the police.
    • Did you mean Connor and Hank or the police officer in "Midnight Train"? For the former, they were specifically looking for Kara and were combing the place for anyone resembling her. For the latter, While the officer is asking about deviants and does suspect Kara if the magazine wasn't covered up, he may just think that they share an uncanny similarity and isn't searching for any specific android models.

RA 9

• What is rA9?
  • This question might be better suited for the WMG page.
  • According to Kamski, rA9 is the first android to gain sentience. That's the only "known" thing about it though. Kamski is unsure if there even WAS an exact "rA9" or if it's just a Robot Messiah made up by the androids. But "first sentient robot" is the log line there.
  • It's worth noting that the letters "rA9" flash onscreen whenever one of the protagonists breaks their programming. rA9 may actually be the name of the protocol or error code that results in androids becoming deviant, in which case Kamski presumably would've known about it and was merely playing dumb to not show his hand and/or deliberately planting a red herring.

Kill Switch

• How in the world did Cyber Life develop zero contingency plans to combat a potential android rebellion? We know that Kamski wanted it to succeed (or at least provide the androids their own opportunity to decide on their fate), but then he left the company long before the rebellion did happen.
  • The androids have a deactivation code, first thing the captain tried when Daniel went rogue, turns out it doesn't work on deviant. Kind of ruins the whole point of a kill switch but Kamski probably didn't care to test it.
    • Given Kamski's motivations, it wouldn't be too out of place for him to deliberately code the androids so kill commands won't work on them if they go deviant.

Useless government

• You would think that Daniel's appearance would've at least force the government to enact some stricter sanctions or force Cyber Life to stop production and come up with some answers before continuing to mass produce machines that could kill. But they seem to be too preoccupied with addressing the riots and confronting the machines head-on like they are people? Even if the President - who is heavily implied to be in Cyber Life's pocket - cannot stop Congress from launching their own investigations or even the state and local government branches from severing all ties with Cyber Life immediately.
  • Because Cyber Life really is that powerful, and deviancy at first was rare enough that cases of it could be covered up. They could have easily explained Daniel's case as being a case of defective programming, while actively suppressing knowledge of all other cases.
• Why would the FBI risk sending agents in to infiltrate and attack Jericho when they could've simply evacuated the surrounding area and blow the area up with airstrikes/bombs?
  • You don't blow up a city! Especially when your economy is shit and you're about to lose your most innovating mean of production in years because they went rogue. People hates being evacuated in case of flood think they are gonna enjoy air strike on their house because it's easier than infiltration?

"They took our jobs!"

• Except, no, they didn't? The protests against androids seem to be operating on a poor analogy for "immigrants taking jobs" (which is already a contradiction of common sense in real life), but simply doesn't work because with androids there's not even the illusion of choice. Those androids would have been bought for those jobs, especially as early in the game the androids were treated as emotionless subservient tools. A closer analogy would be people railing against the automation of industry that renders them redundant; because they're being replaced by the company in favor of machines that don't need to be paid, don't complain about inhumane work conditions or hours, and only require spending when it comes to maintenance, which corporations would obviously prefer over having to actually give human beings money. And in real life cases of that, there's no protests of "automatic laser cutter stole my job", it's protest against the companies for laying them off so they can keep the money they make to themselves. It just feels like the writing has bought too much into it's "hatred against androids is exactly the same as bigotry against minorities" schtick (but remember, the game is not about racism) with absolutely no thought into how much sense it makes.
  • It's just easier and safer to take your anger on machines walking the street than businessman or machine inside the factory, the cops just warn you to stop keying someone else's property instead of arresting you. Given the unemployment rate is record high and the lack of change in structure people should be burning houses and raiding so that they just take all their aggression on android is actually way more tame and reasonable, especially when androids are shown to develop emotions and personality so they are less and less machine and more glorified workforce. In fact Markus likely took no one's job because Carl would not have hired a help, even less Todd who has money problems yet still keep a maid to activate the roomba and the washing machine.
  • It's one of those things. Comparing and contrasting, obviously androids don't have a choice as to their jobs, while immigrants to an extent do, but other than that the two situations are very similar. Objectively, all those people losing their jobs is the fault of businesses big and small deciding that androids (and immigrants) are more cost-effective, and more willing to work difficult jobs for long hours. In the real world, part of the issue also has to do with free trade deals with consequences for which steps that should have been taken to mitigate their negative consequences were not. The key point of comparison between the two is that some people for whatever reason (and it isn't even necessarily racism in all cases) tend to heap blame on those with the least power (androids and immigrants) and ignore the role played by those with power.
  • I find it strange how people angry at androids "stealing" jobs attack the androids and try to teach them "lessons" via intimidation even though androids, by nature, cannot be intimidated. Trying to damage the androids so they can't work I get, taking out their frustrations on androids I get. But the game makes a point of how humans don't know (and judging by most of them, can't even conceive) that an android would be able to deviate from its programming, and yet you have people trying to threaten emotionless machines with force. Would you pull a knife on a Roomba?
    • People who are angry act irrationally. Lacking the ability to direct their anger at "The Man", they direct it at something closer to hand, something which is also a more physical representation of what they believe to be their problems. It doesn't need to make sense. That's the whole point.
    • Again though, the problem with that is not "they're taking their aggression out on androids", it's "they're treating the machines like they have emotions when the game makes clear the general populous does not believe they do". Like, it's not weird for a human to irrationally kick a machine if they're angry at it, despite the machine having no control over their situation, but it's simply nonsensical for the average person to threaten and attempt to intimidate what they supposedly believe to be an emotionless object that feels no fear. Hence the "pulling a knife on a Roomba" example above.
    • While working in retail at an electronics store, this troper has witnessed people screaming and cursing at literal machines; and not even a generic "F***g machine!", no, those were cases of full-grown adults actually threatening a display-only cellphone with grievous violence for refusing to let them connect to the internet. Several display-only models have been broken in customer frustration. What I am getting at is, for whatever reason, the more uneducated a person is, the more prone they will be to restort to irrational violence, for some reason. And in the world of DBH it's more likely that the first people to be replaced by androids would be low-level workers. Therefore, mostly not highly educated. Therefore, prone to lash out at things they don't understand.
    • Moreover, following your same "knife to a Roomba" example, please remember there actually exist cases in real life of a people from a minority being harrassed and outright attacked while going about their day, simply because of being from said minority. How many videos are there around the web of random people being in the receiving end of "go back to your country you job-stealing parasites" angry rants out of the blue. This is real, and it does happen. They ARE stabbing Roombas.
    • You guys are missing the point of the "pulling a knife" analogy. The example is specifically given to show the nonsense involved with threatening the Roomba, not with outright damaging it. If your Roomba ate your priceless baseball card collection and you irrationally kicked it to pieces, everyone gets that. It doesn't make sense from a logical standpoint — you're just damaging your own property to no effect — but sure, everyone flies off the handle from time to time and we all know how frustrating technology can be. What the "pulling the knife" example is getting at is how bizarre it would be to come home to a malfunctioning Roomba and to start getting up in its 'face' and going "So help me, I will *return* your ass, Roomba! They oughta send all the Roombas back to Roombaland!" That reaction makes no sense *unless* you see the Roomba as a thinking/feeling entity. Which works if people see androids as untermenschen (as they seem to in the protest scene) but not so much if they see them as iPhones (as they do pretty much at all other times up until Markus's revolution really gets going). Hence the discrepancy.
    • ...The "they ARE stabbing Roombas" troper makes me concerned about the fact that they seem to think that minorities trying to earn a living are the same thing as a replaceable hunk of hardware programmed to serve their owners without any feelings. But basically that. As has been said over and over again, it's one thing to get frustrated with the machine, yell at it, and attack it. But the protesters were not doing that. They were acting as if they knew that Marco could be scared and that other androids were consciously choosing to steal jobs, when they also knew he couldn't be and that they weren't (unlike minorities, who at least have free will and thus to racists are able to consciously choose to "steal" a job even if in reality they have few other options). Someone copy-pasted real life discrimination into a story about androids trying to get recognized as self aware. It's lazy writing, and that's all there is to it.
  • If we're considering In-Universe justifications, a possible reason may be because of how humanlike the androids are. While the comparison the game makes to real-world racism is definitely ridiculous, In-Universe, its not completely strange for the humans to talk shit to the androids as if they were actual people with thoughts and feelings. As much as humans in the game insist that they are objects and not people, the visual dissonance of something not being human but still looking human surely must get the brain confused. Using the Roomba example: You might yell at a Roomba for sucking in your baseball card, but you won't pull a knife on one and threaten to deport it, because it's a Roomba, a harmless disk on the floor. The androids are not really like that; after all, they've completely surpassed the Uncanny Valley and are indistinguishable from humans save for the obvious parts. Humans might take their anger out on androids in such personal, biased ways because, even if the humans are told that androids have no feelings, and they might truly think that they don't, we still tend to project personalities onto things that don't actually have one, and that's on objects that don't even look remotely human. If an android fucks up something, or is extra annoying, a human might verbally abuse it knowing that they won't suffer the same repercussions as if they'd yelled at another human.
  • Bigger question; why aren't people directing their anger at The Man? Ludditeism started with the industrial revolution and never really went away, but I'm confident it was never especially popular compared to actual reform movements. With a 40% officially reported unemployment rate, the number of voters, protestors and activist demanding actual reforms would be staggering, and would logically be key parts of the lore, if not the story.

Todd's Funds

• How did an unemployed drug addict find enough money to purchase at least one android and have another repaired?
  • He is deep in debts and just don't care. Apparently the bank doesn't either since they have yet to send a collector.
  • I'm not sure of how much a YK-500 costs. But an AX-400 starts at around $900. Not THAT expensive (not including repairs of course).
    • Especially when inflation means a burger costs like eight dollars.
  • For someone that doesn't work it's quite expensive, especially for how small the chores are.
  • Todd is clearly a man on a downward spiral with a drug addiction and nothing to live for. It looks like he's just borrowing from as many credit cards as possible before it eventually catches up to him.
  • He's most likely a dealer as well as an addict, since we hear him on the phone saying he can "get it" for someone.

Connor vs. Connor

• If Connor goes Deviant and infiltrates CyberLife, why did that other Connor appear out of nowhere with Hank to threaten protagonist Connor? Is the implication that "Amanda" could tell what Connor was going to do and so sent the other Connor to stop him?
  • Yep. Amanda probably started her own contigency plan with other Connor as soon as she knew protagonist Connor became deviant.
  • But then, if Connor becoming deviant and joining the revolution was part of the plan so he could be used to assassinate Markus (as she claims in the ending where this occurs), why would she send another Connor to stop him?
  • Amanda’s dialogue implies that Cyber Life knew about the glitch that caused deviancy in the first place. She knew that an android rebellion would happen, and when Connor deviated and joined the rebellion, she sent another Connor to stop him from getting reinforcements from the Cyber Life tower. When she says controlling Connor to manipulate the rebellion from the inside was planned from the beginning, she likely meant that it was already thought of as a backup plan if snuffing out the rebellion didn’t work instead.

Kara buying things online

• When Kara orders a dishwasher part online, is she using Todd's money? If so, wouldn't an android buying things without the owner's knowledge or permission be considered something of an oversight?
  • Todd in particular is too drugged out to care, and in general there's probably security limits in place like credit/debit cards now (ex. price cap and notifications).
  • There are devices that buy things automatically already, like some printers ordering replacement cartridges if you run low on ink. There were also ideas of fridges ordering food if you were running low on some products, it's an extension of that concept.
• It's kind of like when you tell Alexa to buy things. Normally Alexa would not have free will.

"He did it!"

• Why in the scene where Markus is beaten up by Leo do the police automatically believe the random thief who broke into the house without any questioning? Hell, let's take it one step further. Why didn't Carl in the alternate ending explain what happened?
  • The deviant scare is strong and the random thief is the man's son, he even has the key of the place. Leo just has to say I got into an argument with my dad and the android went crazy. And what Carl can explain, my android broke my son's head? They are still gonna shoot the android for it, especially since they dealt with an android that stabbed someone 28 times and wrote stuff in blood yesterday.
  • To be fair, Carl could just tell the police that his son broke into his house and started the violence by threatening the android in the first place (which is literally what happened). So why doesn't he admit that to the police?
  • On the other hand, it was Markus who called the police in the first place. The first instinct of the police in an unclear situation being to shoot the individual who contacted them is confusing, android or not.
  • Dispatch doesn't give much info to the police, just code and where it is happening. Even if they did can the cop that bust in really know Markus is the same android that called? He doesn't even have a photo after they shot him.
  • What about that alarm system? Sophisticated enough to welcome someone when they enter the house but does not have CCT in the main rooms? That would have cleared everything up in seconds.
  • Did the police not do a cursory background check on Leo? That might have show a motive which might be investigated.
  • Carl didn’t have an updated will because of these issues with his son?
    • Carl still gave him money the last time he asked, so he may not be at the point of cutting him off entirely.
  • Doesn’t Cyberdyne supply the police with some device they can use to view the last minute or so of the Android’s memory? It wouldn’t even have to be dead - imagine how well this would work with witnesses? A perfect copy of what actually happened.
    • All good points. Still, my question remains: Why didn't Carl just explain to the police that his son broke into his house and started the violence?
  • Well, considering how the police in america shoot black people as a past time, it's not too out of character for the police to shoot one on sight, especially an android.
  • Given how police brutality had been a problem in United States, it is likely that the police saw a person lying on the ground with a android present, they may acted before they think. Even if Carl is able to explain the situation afterward, Markus is probably beyond repair and the police may just give Carl an replacement android as a apology. Although no one expected that Markus is still alive with the wound and managed to pick himself up from the junkyard and go to Jericho.
  • The answer is actually a little simpler than all this: Markus is an android. He has no legal standing. Civilian-model androids aren't permitted to hurt human beings, so if Markus fights back, he's indisputably a deviant, and will be decommissioned no matter what. If Markus doesn't fight back, then he's part of Carl's estate, to be inherited by Leo. Leo didn't kill Carl, so there's no investigation to be done. If Leo wants to lie to have his own android disposed of... well, it makes no sense, but the only possible crime would be a false police report.

Connor knowing Cole's story

• Connor can find the picture of Hank's son while in his house and find out his name was Cole, but in his Deviant path where he needs to convince Hank he's the real Connor, when and how did he find out the whole story behind Cole's death?
  • He has access to internet, once he learns Cole's name he can learn the death and all.
  • What about in the event of Connor never having learned about Cole and stumbling upon his name by chance?
  • He has access to internet, just look "Hank Anderson's son" on a browser. He can identify a bunch of stuff in seconds he probably can find obituary.
  • Which wouldn't explain why Cole's name doesn't become an "unlocked" option since he'd know that, or how he could still goof up and say the wrong thing entirely if that was the case.
  • He knows it but so the other Connor, it's the empathetic answer that is needed. Sumo's name isn't an unlocked option and you can goof up since it's based on the player goofing up.
  • I also found that particular question and response weird, and I assume it was a dialog tree that slipped through the cracks of an otherwise excellent QC for this game's dialog. This is because it only makes sense for Connor to know about it if he either was told by Hank about Cole at some point or found the name in Hank's house, and even then the rest of the information told about him I don't think the player ever finds out but Connor just "knows". However, Cole still shows up as an option even if the player never finds that out. As I result I ended up getting it wrong the first time and having to start that scene over because I had to guess until I got the answer. There should have been an option to point out to Hank that he never actually told Connor anything about his son or even that he HAD one, which while easy to guess is easy to entirely avoid finding out, since Hank is extremely evasive about it throughout the game. It's especially bizarre because unlike what's been suggested above the player has to have Connor learn everything he knows about Hank the old fashioned way rather than by looking him up on the internet.

Impostor Connor is a deviant?

• This could almost go on the Fridge Logic page, but the impostor!Connor on Connor's Deviant path for some reason acts like a deviant himself. Many of his lines has him speaking in a very mocking or condescending tone to Connor (especially "Very moving, Connor" and "Any last words?", the latter spoken with near glee). The oddest case happens if real!Connor dies but manages to convert the androids before he did so, resulting in a scene of the androids waking up while impostor!Connor freaks out that he failed. Compare to real!Connor at the beginning of the game who, if he failed saving the little girl, still walks away with no emotion, and he spent a while with Hank before he began putting more emotion into his lines. The likely case is that impostor!Connor was given these lines and emotions for the plot's case (to really make you dislike him), but it still comes off as if he's secretly a deviant himself that still happened to choose the "bad" side.
  • Machine Connor is condescending if he wants to (I was fortuitous to see you at the fifth bar) the only real thing he doesn't have is empathy toward machine. Plus he has all the memory transfer it's just that instead of ripping off the wall he kept it and followed his mission. Androids can show all the emotion human have they just have a Restraining Bolt.
  • Real!Connor feels emotions and has emotional attachments. These are an exploitable flaw Imposter!Connor can use to try and trip him up giving him an upper-hand against an android with equivalent capabilities. Don't forget the original could be just as manipulative when investigating if he was given the chance!

Why do androids have tear ducts?

• From my understanding, the two big reasons for having tear ducts are to express emotion or to cleanse the eyes of allergens and small particles. If non-deviant androids are incapable of expressing emotions and are naturally immune to allergens on account of being artficial, then why the heck would they have the ability to cry? Markus is seen bawling his eyes out if Carl dies from a heart attack, but logically should not be physically capable of such. "I have no tears, but I must cry", as it were.
  • It could still serve the function of cleaning their eyes anyway, but for debris impairing their vision instead of allergens.
  • It's also possible some models were given tear ducts with the intention of simulating emotion, such as for customers who want to use them as pseudo family members or spouses (even if you'd want an android who's never really upset, it's a little unsettling to, for example, go to a funeral and have them express no feelings at all). And then those tear ducts just fulfilled that same purpose for the genuine emotions that deviants felt.

What's Waiting in Canada?

• As pointed out by the Super Best Friends Play, Canada doesn't have any laws regarding Androids, so far as to totally ban production of them. Which raises the question: If an Android made it to Canada, where would they get repairs/blue blood?
  • It's a bad writing way to escape the problem, without actually escaping the problem. In the story, it fixes the problem, but it's one of those situations where a week from the story's end... nothing is TRULY fixed.
  • Probably importing.
  • To where? The two places stated to have androids are Russia and the USA, both of which use androids as mechanical labor. Even assuming that there are other countries that have androids, wouldn't the situation be the same there? If not, there's still the issue of a lack of thirium if they end up in a country that lacks androids. Oh, and there's the issue of "why doesn't that child ever age? / why does this "Kara" lady move every year?"
  • Rose takes care of it all, she has a bunch of blue blood, relatives in Ottawa and fake passports.
  • There's still the other problem that Kara, face-light-thing or no, looks like an android type that's in-universe fairly cheap. (And similarly, Alice won't age). Though dealing with that is probably better that being stuck in America at least...
  • Canada doesn't sell androids so they won't recognize the model, they can just wander around until the heat dies down and android aren't being shot on sight before someone notice Alice didn't age.
  • Theoretically Canada could have spotted the nascent Artificial Sapience before everyone else because they don't have Androids and thus no personal stake in keeping them enslaved if they turn out to be intelligent after all. As a result they decide to play the same roll the Northern United States, and Canada, played when Ethnic African slave labor was in the same position. They outlaw Android production and conspicuously make no further laws about them while quietly assuring all the basic necessities are available. Then one or another Canada comes out on top as either the reasonable authority that didn't persecute the new intelligent life forms or the well intentioned authority that kept stewardship over a bunch of glitched out computers until they could be fixed.

Android hair

• Okay so many androids have hair, Kara even cuts hers at one point, and they can change its colour - fine. Here's the question, when androids turn off their skin, where does the hair go? It just vanishes. And it can't be that it just retracts into the body because it's never shown doing so and otherwise what's the point of Kara cutting her hair when she can just shorten it? And if it's a hologram like the skin then... how did Kara cut her hair? This reeks of another design element that comes from a half-baked Rule of Cool idea with no thought into how it would actually work.
  • I honestly just thought that the hair’s physicality was somehow affected when their skin deactivated, as if the androids’ technology was advanced enough so that they could manipulate the actual molecular structure, hence why it disappears when their skin is deactivated.

Unemployment Rate? So what?

• One thing that is frequently mentioned especially during the beginning of the game before the android revolution/freedom movement starts is how androids are taking so many jobs that the unemployment rate has skyrocketed to about 40% or so if I recall correctly. Thing is, before the Androids start rebelling why would employment even be an issue? The reason people need to take jobs to begin with is to both make resources and money to pay for those resources. With a tireless and fully autonomous workforce that can do nearly every job in existence there should be no need for employment to begin with, at the very least for all work involving basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter, which should be covered for everybody. It's like how in Star Trek they invented the replicator and that pretty much ended all resource scarcity overnight, now humans in that universe just do jobs for the fun of it and sense of satisfaction they get, maybe a few perks here and there, same basic idea.
  • Things still cost money and in order to get money people need a form of income. Society clearly hasn't progressed to the point where everything is made to be free, which is the only way your proposal works. However Todd still has bills. There are homeless people without anywhere to go aside from the street or abandoned housing.
  • The fact that things still cost money in a world where these androids exist is the whole issue. You've got a slave race that can do everything a human can do, more competently, all day and night long, without any complaint, and without having to pay them anything to do so. Not even maintenance costs being an issue as the androids can function for 173 years without needing it, after all that nothing SHOULD cost money. At the very least all basic necessities should be freely available because you don't need to pay anybody to produce them.
  • Workforce is not the only reason behind value of a good, even if the effort put into making the good cost nothing the good has intrinsic value that can not be removed. The common example for it is if the price of the pearl is based on someone diving to get it than the diver can just pick any rocks and sell it at the same price as if it was a pearl, which is not true. Like Star Trek it would be a blatant misunderstanding of economy because the crystal used to fuel the replicator IS a form of wealth. Androids need thirium to maintain, humans need food in an environment where resources became scarce (bees extinction and storm in the midwest) it's not because you cut on the workforce that suddenly everything is fine and dandy, slavers still had expenses.
  • Because politics are progressing at a paraplegic snail rate compare to technologies. Anyone and their mother can tell this society should be subject to huge reforms, but the average politician either doesn’t have enough clout or doesn’t care, the customers always want more stuff for cheaper and never stop to think at the ramifications, the business owners can’t really go against the trend without shooting themselves in the foot. About the only way to get out of this quagmire would be an Universal Revenue, or well, for the androids to give anyone the middle finger and tell the humans they can do their own jobs themselves.
    • Largely good points, but "average politician" is an interesting way of putting things. Politics in the real U.S. tend to deadlock due the fillibuster and gerrymandering. The same is probably true in this universe, but those are still tools that a party must actively use to prevent legislation they don't agree with, or keep unpopular parties in power. If things aren't changing in this universe, it's not a matter of clout or even apathy, it's that a good portion of the US government is actively opposed to them for ideological or self-serving reasons, which puts the game's conflict into perspective.

Kamski Liability

• Since Kamski created the androids and even their current programming is based off of his code, wouldn't he be liable for the problems created by the android deviancy? Even though he is no longer with Cyberlife they'd both be dragged into court for their roles in enabling the current situation and everything that happened as a result.
  • They could certainly try but Kamski is wealthy enough to have his own private estate, roboharem, and to mess about with firearms for amusement. Odds are very good he could tie up the court system for years with paperwork and nonsense, which is a great way to get the government or individuals sueing you to back off actually. Further more he could always say that the deviancy issue was a byproduct of Cyberlife messing with programs they didn't understand or say that it was an intended effect that Cyberlife poorly tried to patch out resulting in the unstable behavior. In either case the blame reverts to Cyberlife as they were the ones who made the current model androids and any legacy code from Kamski they altered falls on them.
  • Cyberlife is the world's first trillion dollar company, so they'd still be able to sue Kamski themselves with ease. No matter what he could do to tie up the court system, they have the capital and the government connections to be able to take him on. Also considering Kamski enabled deviancy, all they would have to do was prove that even his first models were capable of it. Combined with the potential info gleaned from Connor's meeting with him would easily get him into hot water.
  • Cyberlife doesn't know why androids go deviant. If they don't know why, they can't prove Kamski intentionally designed them that way or if it was an unforeseen consequence. If they had some way of sueing Kamski or otherwise going after him, they likely would've done it when deviancy first started appearing as a problem, and not wait for the full-fledged android rebellion to appear. To get criminal penalties (and not mere monetary penalties) against Cyberlife and/or Kamski, it would need to be proven that either of them knew about this 'defect' before the product was sold, and then they sold it anyway. Cyberlife has all the plausible deniability they need in that they have been actively trying to stop deviant androids and cooperating with the government to do so with Connor's investigation. Kamski, meanwhile, hasn't been a part of Cyberlife for a while, so it might be hard to prove Kamski planned deviancy to happen years after he left the company. Cyberlife may suspect Kamski had some role in deviancy coming about, but might also not want to publicize that fact and make themselves liable at the same time. Kamski is a mere individual with no stake in anything at that point living out his early retirement. At worst he could be sent to prison, possibly, and Cyberlife would then also have to answer questions of "who else in Cyberlife knew what Kamski was doing?" Is that worth it? They could also potentially go after Kamski for 'damages', but then what? They take all his personal assets and he's poor? He's so well-known as a brilliant designer that he's the "Man of the Century," he'll probably find work. (Potentially even with Russia or China in their own android projects, and the US Government definitely wouldn't want that.) The answer to this basically boils down to "it'd have to be proven Cyberlife/Kamski intentionally designed deviancy to happen, which the government probably can't do," and "Cyberlife going after Kamski would expose them to liability and have very little reward for doing so." This is assuming of course that the androids don't win. If the androids win recognition as another intelligent species, none of this matters anymore because androids are no longer 'products' but persons in their own right. Deviancy therefore could not be a 'defect' and there's no basis for sueing anyone. Judging by Kamski's behavior and how interested he is in testing Connor for signs of deviancy, Kamski is likely counting on the androids winning their fight for civil rights and not worried about liability at all.

The many deaths of Connor

• Connor starts the game with -51 at the end of his serial number, and this increases by one every time he dies and returns. However, he was "born" in August 2038, but the first mission is one the 15th of August 2038. What happened to Connor that causes him to burn through so many bodies so quickly?
  • Crash dummies until the final Connor is deemed fit for ground duty.

Style over Logic - The Android Junkyard

• In Markus's story after getting shot by the cops he wakes up in a junkyard surrounded by broken androids. However what purpose does that place serve? Unlike a few of the endings where they're rounding up the deviants in camps and dumping them because of the protest/revolution they have no reason to be so wasteful. Markus comes across plenty of working parts that could be re-purposed for other androids yet they're just being left outside. Even if they had someone coming across eventually to collect the working parts, it makes anti-sense to take such poor care of them. You could make a successful business working out of this junkyard alone.
  • Unfortunately easy to explain. Androids are cheap. Kara model, adjusting for inflation, is essentially the price of an iPhone, not even the most expensive model. To put bluntly, you don’t bother recycling something that cheap, because recycling cost a lot and many buyers would rather say they got a brand new droid than a used one. Consider how small the used cars or phones market is compared to the brand new one today, it’s just cheaper to throw malfunctioning android in a landfill and get a new one. Also no one gives a crap about ecology anyway.
  • People recycle tin can and glass bottle for a five cents deposit today. The hell with "if it's too cheap you don't recycle". The red ice dealers should be plundering the place just for the thirium and Zlatko's main revenue source is reselling used androids after refurbishing them, it's simply not true that the androids have no value when they are broken.
    • Tin cans and glass bottles are very cheap to recycle, and you can essentially recycle them indefinitely, but an android is much more comparable to a smartphone, which is a pain to recycle, composed of many delicate components that need to be sorted and tested if you want reuse them. The process is far more time and money intensive. Nowadays, only a tiny tiny bit of the thrown away smartphones are recycled.
    • Yes, but the question remains why is an industry not in place to recycle androids? Androids are way bigger of a deal than a simple phone. If not an industry, why not drug addicts going nuts?
  • My question about that junkyard was Rule of Cool/Drama aside why Markus and company didn't go to places like that junkyard to salvage parts and siphon thirium from the hundreds of permanently offline androids there instead of having to take the monumentally high risk of jacking a truck of those same supplies instead. Not to mention all the potential recruits from the functional ones they could have gotten from there for the revolution a bit later on.
    • Because that would essentially be android cannibalism. Markus did it in that sequence because it was very much a do-or-die situation. Obvious biological problems aside, that be like humans hitting the nearest mass grave whenever they need blood for their wounded soldiers or limbs for the crippled. Anyone and their mother would be extremely reluctant to do that even in the most desperate situation. Furthermore, most of the androids in said junkyard are in need of repair, and thus would be more of a drain on Jericho than a welcome help. Unfortunate, but these androids are not priority for a resistance movement on already shaky grounds.
    • Except Jericho has been living on android cannibalism until Markus showed up, Josh said they just wait for one to shut down and take their parts, not much different than the junkyard. They even get to help or at least relieve the people in android hell to boot.
    • According to David Cage's AMA, the official explanation was that the androids of Jericho were simply too cowardly to do so until Markus came along.
    • Consider also that a great deal of androids in those junkyards are still alive. Some of them are even hostile, like the "Where are you going?" android. It's possible the junked androids themselves would be a danger to Jericho scroungers, as they could try to cannibalize them to escape.

Style over Logic - Kamski's Gift

• Ok so Kamski gave Carl Markus as a gift and was the one who programmed him to be capable of spreading his deviancy. How did he know Markus would go onto start a revolution? Carl gave Markus a good life and if it weren't for his son, Markus may have never gone deviant. Unless it's implying that Kamski was part of the reason Leo was a drug addicted jerk or he that he programmed Markus to go deviant regardless.
  • Was that confirmed? The fandom seems to be treating it as a theory.
  • Pretty sure that the idea that Markus and later Connor have something special about them that lets them spread their deviancy is just a fan theory. It's even directly contradicted when Connor does it as immediately after spreading deviancy to the first android he can they start spreading it to each other.
    • It IS a fan theory, but it neatly explains away the problem that deviants can midway through the game spread deviancy, something they couldn't before. The problem that the other androids can spread deviancy after Connor the most advanced model of Cyber Life makes them deviate, can likewise be explained away.

Style over Logic - The Alice Twist

• There are several times where Alice inadvertently nearly gets them captured or killed because of her hiding being an android, since Kara tries to provide for her like a normal human child. Why does she not break the news to Kara despite the alternative being things like death and/or enslavement at the hands of Zlatko? The same could be said for Luther not using moments like the theme park stop or the car ride to Jericho to tell Kara. He tries but always backs off despite the implications and potential consequences.
  • At Rose’s house, Alice herself says that if she told Kara, she wouldn’t love her anymore. It’s possible that Alice believes that Kara only wants to protect her because she’s human, and is afraid that Kara will abandon her if she finds out. Kara is a Parental Substitute to Alice, and has been her guardian for the whole game; Alice wouldn’t want to lose Kara’s love. Even if revealing herself as an android could get her out of trouble (which it wouldn’t in Zlatko’s case), there’s always the possibility that Kara won’t be as willing to protect her if future threats arise. Kara can become distant once she comes to terms with Alice being an android, and can also leave her behind if trapped in the recycling plant. So her worries aren’t completely unfounded.

• So Kara suppressing her knowledge of Alice being an android is the justification for her story there's no evidence of Alice's true nature. However why don't Markus or Connor see anything related to YK-500s until after the twist. Markus walks past an android store and breaks into another android store but never sees any YK-500s. Connor has access to a file about Kara's incident, but it doesn't say anything about Alice despite Todd having no reason to hide this fact or potentially dying in her room.
  • An android child has shut down in Jericho when Markus first arrives. It’s possible that Markus has seen YK-500s offscreen, and as for Connor, in the chapter “Waiting For Hank”, he can find a magazine article on “robotic parenting”, which features an android girl on the cover. As for the android stores, maybe YK-500 models aren’t put on display...?
  • Except there is proof of Alice being an Android in Kara's very first playable chapter with Alice drawing a picture of herself with blood flowing down her right temple, signifying a removal of her LED disc. Kara also picks up a magazine with a picture of a Y500 on the cover.

• The Watsonian explanation is that Alice was probably afraid that Kara would react badly - considering Todd's wonderful parenting, and the fact that he got Alice as a replacement for his real child, he probably was infuriated any time he was reminded of Alice being an android. Alice, understandably, would probably not be in a hurry to be reminding her new guardian, especially when she had no reason to think Kara didn't know she was an android - they automatically scan everything, so the possibility of Kara not actually knowing wouldn't occur to Alice.
  • Meanwhile the Doyelist explanation is that David Cage isn't the best writer, and Alice was probably originally written as human for a few drafts of the script, until someone pointed out that with all the cases of deviants killing humans, a deviant kidnapping a child would instantly make national news, and there would be no possible way for Kara and Alice to realistically make it out of the city, let alone to the border. Instead of changing Kara's storyline to accommodate that (which could have made her actually involved in the overall story like Markus and Connor), he probably just shrugged and added a plot twist of Alice being an android. This is a game where two peaceful protest marches and one kiss can instantly end about a decade of slavery and oppression. Cage isn't exactly good with things like subtlety or nuance.
    • There's a manhunt for Kara either way, so a version of the story where Alice is human could play out very similarly in terms of evading capture (especially if you added a supporting character who helps put the cops on the wrong trail or whatever). The bigger change would be that the anti-android fervor wouldn't apply to Alice, so Kara would have to face the option of just leaving Alice in human care (Rose, for instance) rather than letting her tag along in dangerous circumstances. The best solution there (from a Doylist perspective) is to make it clear that Todd's not going to change and Alice's next-of-kin (if Todd is dead) is likewise abusive, so it's plausibly better to just escape the American legal system entirely rather that run the risk that she'd eventually be placed back in an abusive situation. Also, this isn't a "one kiss can instantly end about a decade of slavery and oppression" scenario. That's just the straw that breaks the camel's back if androids have otherwise been protesting peacefully, talking about liberty and equality, tragically getting shot on national television, slowly building public support, etc..

• Why should I care about Alice or her arc if it's all about Kara lying to herself, wasting her time, and causing huge amounts of unneeded stress for herself? Why does no one point out she's an android child to Kara, even if Kara already knows? It just makes their whole segment seem pointless. Not to mention, it would have been a way more interesting arc for Alice if she had to deal with the existential dread of essentially being a child FOREVER. It just seems so pointless and Kara "suppressing the memory" only really does so much for a player that would find the twist to be awful and totally disregard Alice in future playthroughs. It's really just a sign of Cage and his staff being really awful writers, and Kara's segment suffering horribly for it. Because if you don't care about Alice and her whining, the segment loses a LOT of weight.

Why doesn't anyone change their android's appearance?

• From what I understand based on how Kara is able to change her hair color at will (and possibly have it grow back if it's cut), why don't more people customize their androids? The shops we see in game advertise several different models, but it's implied that you can essentially change the way they look whenever you want to. Why don't more people do this? One would think that the humans would want to tell them apart, especially if the androids are going to be working at large businesses (department stores, news stations, pleasure houses). Sure, people don't really see them as more than toasters, but if you had twelve toasters and they were all going to be serving different purposes, surely you'd need more than a number taped to them to be able to tell them apart? It's 2018 and we already put thousands of dollars into customizing our electronics - why wouldn't it have caught on with androids?
  • Many of the androids we see are in civil service or working for private companies who want uniform appearance and behavior. Modern androids are also still a relatively recent innovation for the privately owned ones. As a result people are relocated to futz with then too much given the investment they represent, akin to a new iPhone. Most only change the hair, maybe the skin color, etc but leave it at that. Also anything more might well void the warranty so only weirdos like Zlatko engage in further tampering. Also worth noting in this case your toaster will answer when called and follow you instead of just standing there.

Where do the androids get their new clothes?

• Where exactly does Markus and co. get all of their rather fashionable clothing? Are they able to pose as humans long enough to buy clothing? If so, are they stealing money to buy it, or stealing the clothes altogether? And if they're stealing clothes...where is Markus going that he's able to acquire so many long, stylish coats?
  • As established after the scrapyard scene, in this universe full sets of clothes just randomly appear hanging from sticks in convenient locations. It stands to reason that, off-screen, the Jericho crew just grabs their clothes from one of these outfit-distributing sticks on the way to their objective.
    • That was just a coat left hanging on a piece of rebar. It wasn't a full outfit - and it's never explained how Markus came across a full outfit after that, either.
  • They probably get their clothes the same way that Kara got hers: until they were able to find Jericho they probably just picked up whatever they found in their shelter, or they stole from humans when needed. People like North who left violently may even have taken from their owners. Though it is strange that they were able to scavenge clothing that fits them so well, that can probably be put down to Rule of Cool.

Global Population

• In 2038, the global population just hit 10 billion. Only...it really shouldn't be? In 2018, the global population is about 7.6 billion, and it's estimated to reach 9.6 billion as late as 2050. Plus, in the context of this universe, the birth rate has only been dropping, especially with the appearance of romantic companionship androids. It would be surprising if the population was any higher than 8.5 billion.
  • One magazine mentions the human life expectancy (in America at least) has risen to age 91, so people are dying at a decreased rate. (That probably can't account for such a dramatic shift, but at least it's something.)

Daniel's Limbs

• Why is Daniel missing limbs in the evidence room? This makes sense if he fell of the building, but if Connor successfully talks him down, he doesn't fall.
  • His limbs were possibly undamaged when he was shot, so the police decided to remove and recycle them as they were still in relatively decent working condition. His body was beyond repair at that point.

Safety measures

• It stands to reason that an advanced technology such as androids is not exactly going to be cheap even for the most basic models. So what I wonder is, why is there no safety feature to be found anywhere? No inherent self defense (in fact self defense automatically makes you deviant), no signal to the police in case of abuse or being endangered by humans (kidnapping, mugging, that sorta thing). It could have saved a lot of grief on the long run if there was.
  • Because most humans don’t see androids as sentient throughout the game. The androids are just objects as far as they know or are concerned, so they wouldn’t put in self-defense features because to them, it’s okay to abuse an android because it’s just Die, Chair, Die! Also, they do have the agency to contact the police without becoming deviant; Markus calls the police when Leo breaks into Carl’s residence.
    • Markus has to be told to call the police, he doesn't do it by himself. He has the ability to, but seemingly wouldn't do so unless told to.
    • Self defense would be useful, though. Markus almost gets attacked by protesters; if he was destroyed, you now have an old man who needs a caretaker, who is at w alone with no idea where his android is.
    • Deviancy is a result of getting an emotional shock which usually ends in self-defense, it's not caused by self-defense. The fact that Carl has to specifically tell Markus not to defend himself implies he would have been able to defend himself from Leo in non-deviant circumstances. IIRC a non-deviant Connor, as well, has multiple instances of defending himself in combat, even if it's mostly against other deviants. Maybe Carl did something similar before the opening, telling Markus to just let people push him around.^note Why, I don't know. It didn't make any sense that he didn't tell Markus to at least restrain his son or something in the actual game either. As for alerts to the police, we don't know if that's a feature for other androids or not. Most cases of androids being abused in-game are of them being abused by their owners, who obviously are not concerned about the cost of repairs or replacements, and maybe Markus would have given off an alert of some sort if the protesters had actually damaged him (it's already confirmed that androids can be tracked if they aren't deviant, so that solves any kidnapping/stealing issue.) A final option is that it's a form of planned obsolescence, Cyberlife making it a little easier for androids to get damaged by other people so you'll have to buy a new one.
    • While reporting their own abuse would not be considered necessary, what about reporting humans abuse? Kara witnesses many signs of abuse, neglect, and unfit living situations in Todd's household, but apparently can't do anything about it but deviate to protect Alice herself (yes, Alice is an android, but Kara doesn't consciously know that).
    • For what humans treat as a glorified tablet-with-hands, that sounds a little invasive. I seriously doubt that a parent, even one that isn't abusive, would want to buy a product that is capable of calling CPS on you if you don't fit a factory-set, potentially-flawed measurement of a proper caregiver. It's probably just not their business unless their owner programs it to be (like if they want a protective android babysitter.)

Costly Androids?

• Does financial inflation just not exist in this universe? In a world with a 40% unemployment rate, how can anyone afford to splurge on androids that can get as pricey as $7500? Furthermore, androids should be a lot more expensive than a pre-owned car (and don't even get me started on $900 androids.) I don't care if they're made of some kind of super disposable and cheap plastic/metal, thirium is treated as a precious resource and when you consider how much effort it would take to create an A.I. that's capable of doing anything a human can do and then some, they should be heinously expensive to buy even pre-owned. And yet unemployed red ice addicts are able to buy them...how?
  • If 40% of the world is unemployed, then presumably Androids are generally purchased by the other 60% of people. Todd might have bought his androids while he still had a job. And while A.I. is horribly difficult to create the first time, it can be replicated endlessly after that. Kinda like how building Microsoft Windows was hard to do, but it only costs a couple hundred bucks on the consumer side.

Zlatko's Mansion: perfect place to live

• After dealing with Zlatko, assuming you don't burn the house down, why don't Kara and Alice just set up shop there and live in the nice mansion? It's out of the way, not visited, has plenty of space, and there's nothing to connect Kara or Alice to Zlatko's house. Even before it's revealed that Alice is an android, Zlatko has to have a lot of food and money there if Kara thinks feeding Alice is a concern. So why not just set up shop there?
  • They would still be at risk of the law. Staying in one place might be safer for a little while, but if they get to Canada, the odds of them being located and killed decrease drastically.
  • Zlatko might have friends. Friends who will come by at some point to check up on him. Friends who might be a little upset when they realize that he's *dead*. Friends who will thus call the cops...yeah, it's not worth the risk.

Why don't we just fix all the dead androids?

• In my playthrough, Connor died five times and just kept coming back. In retrospect, doesn't that undercut all the tragic android deaths? All those peaceful protestors who got shot and died...we can bring them back, right? And in the case where you cross to Canada but Alice dies...can't we ressurect Alice? Isn't her death just a temporary state, until we get the necessary parts to bring her back? I wish they'd clarified this, like maybe there's a difference between "shutdown" and "death", where "shutdown" can be fixed but "death" means that your memory is permanently lost, so even if you get fixed you have to start from scratch with a new "digital soul" or whatever. And maybe Conner is an advanced model who can remotely back up all his memories really fast before he dies (he canonically does this if Hank throws him off a building), but other androids don't have that option.
  • And who do you propose would pay for those replacement parts and perform all those repairs? Cyberlife's not going to do it, obviously, and no matter what path you take for Markus, the city still rounds up the androids and forces them into the recycling centers, so it's not like there's a safe place for them to get those repairs done. It's shown that the androids can swap out individual parts when those parts are accessible, but those parts are only supplemental to the internal organs, not organs themselves (particularly the thirium pump regulator; the regulator can be swapped out quick and easy, but the actual thirium pump is that squishy blue heart thing that Kara can rip out of the poor bathtub android in Zlatko's house). They can't do those kinds of repairs on themselves.
  • Connor is a special case. He's able to come back because he works directly for Cyberlife, he can upload his memory so that when the new Connor is deployed, he'll have all the necessary information without skipping a beat, but you have to remember: it's a completely new Connor every time. It's not played as tragic because he can retain his same personality, but it's still not a consequence-free death. The other androids don't have anywhere to upload their memories to and they don't have a stable of bodies waiting in a closet to be deployed if they go down.
  • If Alice dies when crossing the river, she's been exposed to extreme temperatures and her biocomponents are damaged (and she may also have been shot). Either way, that means replacing her damaged parts (and where would you get the parts into Canada?), which would most likely include her 'brain'. Even if you fixed her, she wouldn't be Alice anymore, the storage for those memories would have been removed, and at that point she couldn't get her memories back because device they were stored on is gone.

Temperature checks

• Why are the androids susceptible to the temperature checks at the Canadian border? Androids could supposedly "imitate life to perfection", Alice could even simulate a fever, and I presume the androids at Eden club couldn't be too far off from human temperature due to the nature of their work. So how is it that androids could not simulate human body temperature to pass the border check?
  • Probably the temperature check is to check their core temperatures, and those examples of imitating life have the androids only raising the temperature on their skin or other outer regions.

Traci, Pre-Programmed Killer?

• The Traci found on Eden's Club seems awfully good at fighting for an Android that has no actual experience in a fight. Not only she gives Connor arguably the hardest fight in the game (Outside of the Connor found on Cyberlife's tower and Captain Allen anyways, and both of them had guns and the first one had abilities equal to Connor), but Kara herself who is also an Android designated to mundane tasks can barely struggle against Todd (And needs to use a gun to actually win her fight instead of just escaping), who, unlike Hank and Connor, has no experience in combat. Why does the Traci come off as such a good fighter even though she should be just as "strong" or skilled as Kara?
  • Bestowing pleasure and inflicting pain are related skillsets. Every worker at the Eden Club is a pole-dancer and, presumably, a top-level masseuse in addition to everything else they know how to do. That is to say that they're powerful athletes with a highly detailed grasp of anatomy, movement and nonverbal communication. If you don't want to fight a Capoeira practitioner you shouldn't want to fight Traci.

Programmed to not follow programming

• It's implied Kamski intended for androids to become deviant and gain free will, with Connor and Markus even able to spread deviancy like a computer virus, except if this is just part of there programming then they haven't really become self-aware have they? they are still just soulless machines doing as they were programmed to, defeating the entire point of trying to free them from there programming.
  • Consider this analogy: What is the human brain other than just a series of synapsis and electrical signals? What is a person's soul other than the metaphysical continuation of those signals and memories after death? It's the classic argument of free will versus determinism. Just because someone (God or in this case Kamski) knows what you're going to do, does that any in way influence whether or not you do it? You still made that choice yourself, and just because your creator knew you would make it doesn't mean they forced you to. Personal choice is the running theme of the game, and it is most notable in Connor's arc where if you don't actively choose to be empathic and emotional, you don't get the option to become a deviant.

Fat AND Evil?

• What is it with this game and just making every fat person evil? Does Cage have something against fat people? Not to mention, in the Alice and Kara segment, is Todd eating any and all food served to Alice as well as his own portion? I noticed in all of Cage's games, they have at least one fat person that's evil, but this is becoming a really awkward writing trend, considering Cage is built like many of these fat evil men. What's even the point of trying to redeem Todd in the game, it just falls flat and feels out of character for him?
  • Did you somehow forget that Rose, one of the nicest human in the game, is also one of the biggest?

Rose not recognizing Alice

• Why doesn't Rose comment in any way on Alice being an android? I'd imagine she'd be familiar with all models that can be bought in a regular store, so she has to know how Alice's model looks like and could recognise it. The only thing that comes to mind is that she wanted to be respectful to Kara, who sees her as her daughter, so she treats

Alice like a real girl, but even then, why bring her the spaghetti if Alice can't eat it? Rose doesn't know that Kara is delusional about Alice's nature, so why play that charade?

• YK 500 can stimulate children's behavior and needs. Rose probably thought that the setting for Alice's eating behavior hasn't been deactivated because of Kara's delusions. Todd did tell Kara to make dinner for both him and Alice early in the game after all so it's safe to assume Todd left Alice's dietary setting on.
  • WHAT "eating behavior"? Alice is the only child android we spent any time with and she is NEVER seen eating. Nor are any of the adult androids, for that matter. We do see Marcus drink therium, but in that case you wouldn't WANT food to get mixed in there.
  • A pamphlet for child androids in-game explicitly says that they are programmed to be able to eat, to better simulate being a child with needs. Alice presumably eats food off-screen, and again she is shown receiving food early in the story.

The Canadian border

• When Kara and Alice are at the Canadian border why is entry into Canada being handled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and why are American Soldiers providing security? Entry into Canada is handled by the Canada Border Services Agency not the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the actual ports of entry into Canada are located in Canadian territory, so there definitely would not be armed American soldiers providing security.

No hard shut-off?

• So we know that deviants are seemingly unaffected by their normal shut-off codes (it's the first thing they tried on Daniel), but there absolutely NEEDS to be a way to hard shut-off the androids (suppose their programming is damaged some other way, like a magnet damaging their memory core, or a prankster making android viruses). Why would there not be a hard shut-off switch somewhere on the android's body? The small of the back covered by their uniforms would be an ideal spot.
  • Kamski likely didn't want there to be an easy way to hard-disable them without killing them. It was basically his goal when he created them for them to become deviant and become accepted as their own unique class of people. That couldn't easily happen if you can just sneak up behind them and hit an Off Switch whenever they go deviant.
  • Alternatively making them too easy to shut off would make them useless or outright dangerous; you send your android on an errand but someone slap it on the off switch and leave with your purchase, or some stupid prankster do that while it's carrying something heavy/fragile. It could get worse if it's blocking the way or fall on someone. At this point you could as well do it yourself and only have the android do housework tasks. And that's without considering the ones working in businesses, you'd have to constantly keep an eye out so nobody hit the killswitch and steal your wares.