AvPGalaxy Forums

Who is your favourite Synthetic character and why?

Talk about what you like about those android characters which you like best.

It's too hard for me to choose out of the synthetics in the films but it's probably a close tie between Ash and Bishop followed closely by Call & David and then Walter.

I didn't trust Samuels at first but after his sacrifice I grew to love the man.

I find the relationship between Bueller/Butler and Newt an interesting one. Both of them questioning how real the love between them truly is.

The character development of Davis One and Liliya were both interesting takes on androids overcoming their programming for the good of mankind.

Lmk if I need to add anymore to the list but there's already a lot there to choose from.

Can't decide between Bishop and Samuels, but chose Bishop because why not? They both prove they're good guys through risky tasks that ultimately get them maimed or destroyed.

Difficult choice.

Films; Best to worst;
David, Walter, Call, Bishop, Ash.

Love the characters of Arnaud Eisenburg, Samuels and Davis.

Overall? Marcus though.

Ash.

It's Ian frickin' Holm man.

Makes all the difference.

Love Ian Holm as Ash. But Bishop character was more interesting. I liked Call as a character too.

Marcus is the best one. This character is so subtle and ambiguous in the nove.

In close seconds, Samuels and Bishop. Both are heroic and adorable, I cannot choose between the two of them.  :)

Bishop is my favorite. Ash is a hard second as upon second viewing you start to see these kind of warning signs (Of him being an android) as he almost never changes his tone of voice, or how his face is always straight, everyone else is losing their cool and yelling but Ash just keeps his cool throughout the entire film.

"silent whisper" david "louder" David "louder and louder"David! "screaming"DAVID! "screaming with foam around my lips"DAVID! DAAAAAAVIIIIID!

---

Quote from: The Old One on Mar 03, 2019, 06:40:48 PM
Overall? Marcus though.

What i really didn't get about TCF is actions of Marcus in the end. So he just pukes Plagiarus Praepotens due to his insanity or what?

Could you be so nice to bother explaining it to me?  :)

Blue's dream/nightmare?

So it was not real? OK

By the way TCF was the first book written in English i've ever read. I really felt how much my vocabulary supplies lack. Maybe second reading will be better experience. And here's still audiobook left untouched. I like to save better pieces of cake for later.

I'm with Ash. Ian Holm's performance was great.

You forgot Jeri?

TC

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRJBisf6sOja3FLPQt1eoqbrRcvNl-1rJmyv-2smLIdKNgXPlry)

Quote from: TC on Mar 21, 2019, 01:41:17 PM
You forgot Jeri?

TC

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRJBisf6sOja3FLPQt1eoqbrRcvNl-1rJmyv-2smLIdKNgXPlry

It's unfair. It's really unfair. I've never expected that idea of synth Alien can make such fun-to-read comic. I demand adding Jeri to the poll. Or i gonna...Or i... Ok i don't have plan for such case. But it gonna to be something terrible and gruesome...like cigar smole full of instant deadly virus.

Old One, stop to be perfectionist, please. There should be place for some craziness.

Jeri is perfection, for Jeri's story.

Correct.

I voted Bishop because there was only one choice allowed but I do like Ash, Bishop, the Working Joes and Samuels

(https://media.giphy.com/media/Cbq9QW9n7Wsr6/giphy.gif)

Hard to choose between Ash, David & Walter, Bishop was great too. I picked Walter to give him some support. But Ash was awesome, love that actor.

PS> Hadn't noticed the other additions, Working Joes and the main Synth from Defiance are awesome too.

Anything Fass

I have to say Ash just because of his performance and him being so memorable. It's the little nuances he does that make you wonder what's up with him or that can also make him frightening. Fassbender has later done that style but taken it to 11. I like Fassbender's performance A LOT, but Ian Holm is the original and best twitchy robot. :)

(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-mYdQJ-nHpgE%2FT0Cgkhsqk7I%2FAAAAAAAABFM%2Fj1kzYyPEut8%2Fs1600%2FxZdke.gif&hash=e2521f72657ec8279f118f6b948a352b30e25a12)

...Fair enough.

Still no Jeri option? ARGH!

Quote from: Kradan on May 14, 2019, 08:20:10 PM
Still no Jeri option? ARGH!

Good shout! Added and voted.  ;)

---

Also added Norbert but I can't remember the name of the other Synths from Stronghold.

Dean was the chonky boi, wasn't he?

Dat's the unit I was thinking about. Added him.

Those are quite different models of the kind of android characters I was talking about, but I'll cop it.

No love for Liston, Steward or Billy?


(Joking.)

Walter, of course ;D

For me, Ash was low-key, his quirks easily explained away by his appearance as a prissy intellectual who couldn't be bothered with anyone other than the Captain or Kane. Consider the use of androids like Ash to guard Company ships' crews against any 'funny business': would the investment (and risk) in deploying a machine like Ash far outweigh the potential 'threats' to which Company assets might be vulnerable during these voyages?

Ash is my favourite synthetic. The A2 models appeared to have (limited) free will - the malevolence Ash displayed when interrogated by the three human survivors was disturbing.

Why "limited"?

Ash was a company product. He / it followed orders.

Bishop II

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 18, 2019, 11:28:55 PM
Ash was a company product. He / it followed orders.

So the same as the crew when they followed orders to land on the planet?

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 01:00:41 AM

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 18, 2019, 11:28:55 PM
Ash was a company product. He / it followed orders.

So the same as the crew when they followed orders to land on the planet?

Ash followed his agenda - which was Company programming.

Ash followed his orders - which were typed out in text.

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 04:46:19 AM
Ash followed his orders - which were typed out in text.

Which were Company orders - his program.

Aren't all androids in the franchise (especially in the movies) a slave to their programming? That programming can just be more or less creative and focused on problem solving which looks like free will. It basically functions the same as our "free" will if you have complex enough programming, but the illusion is destroyed when they receive a direct order to achieve a short term goal by extreme means, like capturing the alien and letting everyone else die.
Ain't it like that?

It is complex, no doubt. I see a parallel between Ash and HAL and their reactions to their respective program directives.

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 19, 2019, 06:06:58 AM

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 04:46:19 AM
Ash followed his orders - which were typed out in text.

Which were Company orders - his program.

It's simply an order.  It's not more a program than a clause in a contract that someone has to follow.

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 08:27:32 PM

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 19, 2019, 06:06:58 AM

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 04:46:19 AM
Ash followed his orders - which were typed out in text.

Which were Company orders - his program.

It's simply an order.  It's not more a program than a clause in a contract that someone has to follow.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't synthetics placed aboard company vessels to oversee and protect company assets and interests - even before receiving their Special Orders via text?

Quote from: Still Collating... on May 19, 2019, 02:58:08 PM
Aren't all androids in the franchise (especially in the movies) a slave to their programming?

Usually that is the impression I get on them.

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 20, 2019, 03:02:45 AM

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 08:27:32 PM

Quote from: Elmazalman on May 19, 2019, 06:06:58 AM

Quote from: SM on May 19, 2019, 04:46:19 AM
Ash followed his orders - which were typed out in text.

Which were Company orders - his program.

It's simply an order.  It's not more a program than a clause in a contract that someone has to follow.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't synthetics placed aboard company vessels to oversee and protect company assets and interests - even before receiving their Special Orders via text?

Possibly.  That's Ridley take on one of the commentary tracks, though it's not something that's been born out on film.  Parker sounded very surprised that Ash was a robot, and if such a policy was public it would breed suspicion and paranoia.  Maybe not the best mood to foster on deep space crews, and it wouldn't be hard to work out who was the robot anyway.  By the time of Aliens, synthetics were standard and everyone knew who the robot was.

Don't know how this is relevant to the discussion though.

My point is that people claim 'Ash was programmed to bring back an Alien'.  My response to that is - 'No, he didn't need to be programmed; just ordered.'  It's like Bishop was ordered (or rather was given 'specific instructions') by Burke to bring back the specimens in Aliens; Burke didn't program him to do it.

Quote from: Samhain13 on May 20, 2019, 03:11:51 AM

Quote from: Still Collating... on May 19, 2019, 02:58:08 PM
Aren't all androids in the franchise (especially in the movies) a slave to their programming?

Usually that is the impression I get on them.

So,  David's simulation of human consciousness is supposed to be more complex ???

It would appear so since as soon as he's activated he realises he's a 'higher' form of life than his creator and that he has to keep that on the down low.

Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on May 20, 2019, 03:31:58 AM

Quote from: Samhain13 on May 20, 2019, 03:11:51 AM

Quote from: Still Collating... on May 19, 2019, 02:58:08 PM
Aren't all androids in the franchise (especially in the movies) a slave to their programming?

Usually that is the impression I get on them.

So,  David's simulation of human consciousness is supposed to be more complex ???

David's simulation of human consciousness isn't like the others. Weyland didn't want just a machine that follows orders, he wanted a son. David's simulation was made too human. In a way he is a slave to that programming, his actions are a result of that, the contradiction of a very realistic simulation of man's mind on a plastic body. Someone forgot to consider that. Plus when the Engineer ripped his head, maybe some stuff got screwed.

David's "uniqueness" existed since the beginning. As the prologue demonstrates.