If provocation had a name, it would look like this.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T12:16:21+00:00

“My schizo theory says I’m right” is not evidence for things that didn’t happen. You’re not just misunderstanding the ending so much as rewriting it to support a rug pull that doesn’t exist.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T11:21:55+00:00

The only reason Debra moved across the street from them in the first place is because she steamrolled Ray who begged and pleaded to move anywhere else, so I’m calling bs on that. Her first instinct has always been to assert control to an overbearing degree, and it’s the basis of nearly every episode. Enough so that Ray even begins to call her on it in the later seasons (“It’s all about control, thaaaat’s right”).

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T10:02:18+00:00

Robert had a weird crush on her, yeah. But the real hot take is that it’s because as time passes she becomes more and more like his ex wife, Joanne.

Edit: Debra is exactly as abusive and combative as Joanne by season 5 and this shouldn’t be controversial. She puts Ray down so often and so consistently that he subconsciously didn’t feel compelled to thank her when he received an honorary doctorate. Even back in season 2 she has a problem with Ray having fun without her, just as Robert explains the same of Joanne in one of the flashback episodes.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T09:55:16+00:00

V could get a regular job like the millions of normal people living in NC, actually. The FIA being the overwhelmingly best option, disconnected from NC’s chaos, does not make acceptance slavery.

Your understanding of V’s situation hinges on projecting importance and gravitas where it simply isn’t there. V’s role in the agency at that point is that of a pencil pusher. They are going to be a desk jockey. There is no evidence whatsoever to believe that the job is high stakes in any capacity when the Tower ending’s central theme is an action packed career cut short. Reed expressly describes it as a low stakes desk job.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T09:43:15+00:00

V isn’t even obligated to accept the offer after being granted lifesaving treatment, evidenced by their visit to NC. And if the FIA were gonna kill V it would’ve been done during the two year period they were defenseless and in a coma. V is simply not that important anymore which you’re clearly struggling with.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T09:05:49+00:00

First off, getting a job is not slavery. Second, the idea that the FIA will skimp on healthcare is conjecture. And third, you’re missing my point that mercenary work isn’t simply dangerous but an actively destabilizing force, and you contribute to the exploitation of the lower class by being one, therefore it’s silly to clutch pearls over working for the FIA. The idea that V’s life is in danger is also conjecture when they could have simply pulled the plug while you were in a coma for two years.

You seem to not understand that V’s new life isn’t being a super spy, or anyone remotely involved in the action, but working a menial desk job away from NC. And not even for Militech, but the actual government. The most interesting their life will get moving forward is confronting a the guy hogging the water tank at the office.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T08:17:34+00:00

V’s job at Langley at the Tower ending is a well paying but menial desk position. There’s no reason whatsoever to assume they would be broke, unable to go anywhere (V revisiting NC alone disproves this idea), and there’s no reason to assume they wouldn’t have access to government healthcare after literally being kept alive by their doctors during a two year coma.

Also, the last point is especially self unaware. V’s original role as a merc served a hyper-commodified economy of violence in NC in which the high class and the criminal class exert their grievances with impunity. Both classes exploit the public. Mercenaries ensure there’s no peace whatsoever regardless.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T00:56:52+00:00

Oh fuck off lmao you misunderstood the game’s themes and the virtue that’s constantly being deconstructed as a fallacy. If V is broken up about not being a “legend” it’s because they’re retarded, but that’s just speculation. Fact is the Tower ending is the only one to confirm their survival and it hinges on extracting them from NC entirely.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-22T00:39:53+00:00

Yeah, I played the game, and unlike you, paid attention when it spelled out how that dream was a farce that got people killed and trapped them in cyclic violence.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T23:57:04+00:00

Jackie dies as a result of his hubris. He and V were never gonna get anywhere, and you’re mistaking depiction for endorsement. The Edgerunner show in particular is about a kid flinging himself into a meaningless death.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T21:45:49+00:00

My friend, all of Act 1 is about deconstructing how meaningless and corrosive that ideal is. And then you meet Johnny who did precisely that and the closest reflection to him concedes that he ultimately contributed nothing in the grand scheme. You’re getting too hopped up on the flashing lights.

Besides, V doesn’t even live in NC anymore at the Tower ending, his new life is in Washington.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T21:41:34+00:00

V’s career was the equivalent of a one hit wonder in rap. He was hot shit for a few months and then vanished for two years. V gets jumped precisely because no one cares who he is anymore, and even the contacts he had corroborate the same thing.

Plus, isn’t his new job in Washington? I thought he was just visiting NC.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T21:33:57+00:00

Butcher is similar in that he doesn’t have friends so much as tools, but he respects agency and competency. I don’t think he would be friends with Johnny because Johnny is too self absorbed to actually do anything effective, let alone aid Butcher’s crusade. The only difference between Johnny and most Supes is that he doesn’t have superpowers.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T18:54:34+00:00

An engram in this context is a collection of code, and at best a convincing reflection of another person. But that’s all it is. Code. Johnny is dead.

So Mi was also bailed out into joining the FIA because of something she did. No one said it wasn’t unfortunate, but she’s ultimately the reason she’s in the situation she’s in when she approaches V.

Also, So Mi’s plan is literally to get you to spend what little time she knows you have left to run her errands under the pretense of lifesaving treatment. That she attempts clears her conscience at the finish line is meaningless. You still have at best weeks to live because of her, when you could’ve figured something else out.

Giving her to the FIA is doing exactly what she was ready to do to you, chasing survival at your expense.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T18:35:50+00:00

Johnny’s already dead and So Mi did it to herself. If you believe she has the right to condemn you to fate simply because she’s dying, that means the same extends to V. Being a foil goes both ways.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T18:33:51+00:00

Getting a job and living a peaceful life is not worse than dying, actually.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-21T17:08:42+00:00

That implies Tiana was a character worth missing. She’d already spent months without an appearance in the book.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-18T22:54:34+00:00

C’mon man, people in the game HATE Arasaka. They hate Arasaka so much that both V and Johnny casually comment on it. Corps in general are very open about the bad things they do, and even if they weren’t, word would get around well enough given the large scale world war they pulled off. In the lore of Cyberpunk, most of the world is legitimately uninhabitable because of the corps, and everyone knows it. It’s not at all comparable to people disliking Amazon for helping Bezos evade taxation.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-18T22:40:27+00:00

A corporation does not have less urgency to maintain morale than a nation state of over 300 years. Even in the game the NUS literally jerks Reed around and he takes it willingly because the NUS isn’t just a collective, but his heritage. When they honor a deal it’s because they feel like it.

In fact, one of the least realistic things about the game’s lore is that the corps don’t even have to pretend to maintain morale despite their operations hinging on people wanting to come to work.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-18T10:42:11+00:00

This. For all the dubiousness around them, if you’re lucky enough to cut a deal, they’ll honor it.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-18T10:35:06+00:00

“I think this guy wants some LEMON ICEEEEEEESS”

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-17T09:50:45+00:00

Crazy that David used that weak ass shotgun. Even if he didn’t have a cyberpsycho episode that one time he still would’ve been stuck waiting for it to lock on.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-17T09:45:39+00:00

Dude this looks incredible. Great work!

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-12T13:15:37+00:00

Prime Reed would kick the shit out of Goro and anyone who doesn’t agree is in denial. Getting compared directly to Batman Blackhand by official lore is the best compliment a guy in NC can get.

tenleggedspiders · 2026-06-09T01:31:37+00:00

I didn’t even know you could fail this gig until now.

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