When Kamski asks Connor to shoot Chloe and he doesn’t and then he tells him, he’s a deviant Connors LED turns red, it’s still red when he’s outside, talking to Hank until Hank says, maybe it was right and smiles, then it IMMEDIATELY turns blue.
I have a lot of feelings about this. Connor is immensely stressed until Hank tells him what he did was right and smiles, suddenly he’s calm again. These small moments are why I ship them. They mean so much to each other. They’re so important to each other.
I made gifs, it’s not easy to see because loss of quality but if you look closely you can see that it’s red at first.
They are so good together. Like… they’re both flaming assholes, but when they meet in the middle, they just click.
Hank’s obvious flaws and instability, which he even flaunts, combined with his unique way of thinking and how flexible he is, makes Connor realize that he doesn’t have to be rigid and perfect and in control all the time. His original programming tells him he has to be all those things, but Hank likes Connor best when he is unstable, questioning, awkward, or flirtatious, and if Connor’s overall strategy is to get along with Hank, things like that have to throw him completely off balance.
Hank likes me when I fail my missions, can I consider this particular failure a failure or not since it checks my other objective of bonding with Hank?
This is also a reason why I will never accept the father-son interpretation of their relationship. It somehow cheapens the thing they have with each other and simplifies it to “Daddy told me I’m a good boy, so I’m a good boy!” Yuck.
@maddsmallow tags:
#prev VERY TRUE#also to add to the last bit—not to mention the fact that hank’s whole thing is that he misses his human son#who died a human death and cannot be brought back or replaced. to even insinuate he would replace cole with connor#and android he met a WEEK AGO. is to COMPLETELY misunderstand his ENTIRE character#can connor see hank as a sort of mentor figure? YEAH hank literally is who guides him to deviation. he IS a mentor figure#(like hank led him to the water and markus got him to drink it like that one saying goes)#like him being an exceptionally flawed human mentor is The Point lmao#doesnt make him connor’s literal father 💀#anyways
I absolutely agree that Cole is irreplaceable to Hank. The idea that Hank would bond with Connor just because he wants to have another child is disgusting. But I can also mention this:
Hank has zero daddy energy. Does he love his dead kid? Of course he does. Does he act like a father figure to other people? Hell, no. He had Cole when he was in his mid-40s. I think we can safely assume that he didn’t have any children before that. And why is that? Well, most people who don’t have kids until they’re in their mid-forties just don’t want them. I truly believe that Hank is that type of person, and that’s what makes his bond with Cole so painful, good, and unique. Why he would want an android son (who is literally a killing machine, flirts with him, and looks like a guy in his thirties) is beyond me.
You don’t have to be someone’s mentor to turn their world upside down. Does Hank try to teach Connor something? Does he act like a guide or an authority figure to him? No, absolutely not. I don’t think he’s Connor’s mentor figure because he doesn’t have an agenda to make Connor a deviant, he’s just being himself and reacting to Connor’s words and actions like a partner. There’s almost no power imbalance between them because Hank treats Connor like an equal from the beginning. Like a human, even. Despite all his harsh words.
