madness and scars

Starting off with the basics: all the red parts come off. Their sole purpose is to protect the goods underneath. The red is actual armor, which also helps protect from timefall and other physical damage which is why it is rusted in spots. His cloak helps protect from the rain damage but the red metal just protects further. But yes, they are removable for maintenance, ease of movement, etc.

His legs have internal power but the red there is an external power skeleton! As you can see, there are pistons near his "calves" which give additional lift and speed. This skeleton attaches there and also near the lower back-pelvis region. The actual ball joint is located in the rear, which is odd. (In a human pelvis the ball joint is at the sides) This all can be removed at the expense of flexibility and ease of movement. His balance is also affected without it and is overall much weaker.

Underneath this outer shell, there is an expansive black region wherever skin would be. This covers his entire body and is flexible like skin near the joints. This is silicone sheeting, relatively thin but acts as a barrier to all the inner workings inside. It also is what holds in the tar - his "blood" - like all the other ghost mechs. If a cut is made, tar will ooze from the wound. Silicone (I assume) is resistant to timefall as it doesn't really decompose. It is waterproof and nonporous, meaning everything inside is kept clean and dry... aside from his tar.

There are ridges and seams near the joints, and wrinkles there as well. The silicone is looser in these areas which allows the large joints to bend. You can see this near the upper inner thigh region and armpits. These large joints need lots of freedom to move!

Now let's go deeper... under the silicone are various supports to give it its shape. This can be thin sheets of metal to hold shape or rods to hold things in place, similar to bones. I like the idea of sheets, that way round areas stay round. There is some give to it, there would have to be, but not much. It has to be stiff enough to support the weight of his body itself, lying down, bending, etc.

He has an internal skeleton, which appears to function just like a human. For example, if he is cut in half, the lower half will be completely disabled while anything above that portion will remain active. This skeleton is the innermost part of his body and gives strength and movement to the entire unit. There are pistons of varying sizes where tendons would be, and the metal rods where bones would be. They are of great strength and are difficult to replace if needed. They do not heal.

YES HE HAS LOTS OF WIRES bc I said so. Listen. I like wires. I am a freak. I am not ashamed of this. Hot robot becomes hotter with wires and electrical components. Anyway.

He is particularly sensitive near areas of structural weakness. Between his legs and around the collarbone/neck area are especially sensitive due to the high number of both sensors and moving parts that are there. Both legs, and their dozens of internal parts, all come together in a small area between them. His head is absolutely packed full of sensors and wires and pistons and everything else, and the entire rest of the body connects to it at the collarbone region. If you look closely, the collarbone is the start of the rest of the body and there is a significant junction/transition there.

Above the bones and pistons there is an extensive wiring system which acts as a nervous system. His entire body is not covered in sensors but certain parts are, as they provide valuable input to the "brain". The joints are more sensitive than other parts of the body because they need to register if they are bending too far and risk snapping. If you touch the silicone sheeting here he can feel it. Kind of. If you touch your arm it doesn't feel like that, but the touch registers in coding nonetheless. If you touch the outside of his leg though, he might not or the sensation barely registers. Impact definitely can be felt. Use that how you may

Stick your fingers in there. He can feel it. Feel around under the sheeting. He can feel it. Feel the heat generated by this machine, feel the wires and the tar threatening to spill. He can feel all of it, too. This is where the front of his body comes off for maintenance. Similar to a car hood, there's a latch under there and this gap contains a lot of sensors and exposed wiring. It is sectioned off by a rubber seal inside so moisture can't go past it, but if he bends the right way and your fingers know where to go you can absolutely fit your hand down under the collarbone up to your knuckles.

The red cap at his crotch works in a similar way, though it isn't as exposed as the collarbone region. He wades through tar and water, so this whole area needs to be at a minimum water resistant. We aren't talking about something that can dry off with a towel, remember. This at the end of the day is a huge computer covered by a baggie and a prayer.

The cap comes off and tbh I think he literally just keeps it there for modesty, as ironic as that is for Higgs of all people. Its not hiding anything but its there for the idea only. Nothing needs to be protected there, he has no use for external genitalia... right? What could it possibly even be protecting lmao. We can see up under it at certain angles and there's nothing there. Maybe I'll write more about it someday but he does have some kind of robot genitalia but it's all kept internal where it's better protected. Yes tentacles are involved kind of... but nothing is typically visible from the outside. Tar leaks out from a seam here to keep it clean and lubricated as he walks. Silicone touches silicone here and it needs to be able to slide, so a thin layer of tar is excreted to allow it to move smoothly. It also prevents dirt from creating friction which over time would degrade the silicone, creating micro scratches across the surface.

His voice comes out from speakers in his head. Many things can cause the synth to become distorted, and he can also control it at will just to fuck with people. He can emit any kind of sound that's been coded in. Obviously Higgs' entire vocal library is in here but he can also make other sounds - gunshots, animals, ambient, mechanical, etc. As long as it's been coded in he can make it. He also makes breath sounds as well, though they are not reflexive and he has to manually do them. If he sighs, no breath makes the sound, it's the speaker making the sound as a form of communication. He doesn't snore when he's asleep, because he's not really sleeping. He's just powered off or in rest mode.