Problematic because: "The original “the hot man in sunglasses has betrayed everyone” Resident Evil problem. He starts as captain of S.T.A.R.S., the elite police unit sent into the Spencer Mansion, but he’s secretly an Umbrella spy using his own team as test subjects/data collection for the company’s bioweapon research. He survives through an experimental virus, gets superhuman abilities, steals/reuses bioweapon research, works with rival organisations, manipulates Ada’s mission around the Plaga sample, and eventually ends up in Resident Evil 5 trying to release Uroboros across the world. His plan there is basically forced “evolution” - most people die horribly, a tiny number survive, and Wesker gets to stand there pretending this is science instead of eugenics. Also, after Jill and Wesker fall during the Spencer estate incident, he keeps her alive, uses her as a test subject, and later controls her with the P30 device so she fights Chris and Sheva while fully aware but unable to stop herself. Then he betrays Excella too by infecting her with Uroboros once she’s no longer useful. Wesker’s whole thing is treating every person around him - teammates, allies, enemies, women who trust him, literally the entire planet - like material for the next stage of his plan."
Propaganda: 1. "Wesker is terrible, obviously, but he’s terrible in such a satisfying old-school video game villain way. He has the betrayal twist, the sunglasses indoors, the secret lab job, the ridiculous superhuman dodging, the obsession with Chris, the god complex, the voice. What makes him fun is that he’s both genuinely important to the horror plot and completely over-the-top by the end. The early games have him as this cold traitor working in the background, and then by RE5 he’s talking about world evolution while punching people through walls and planning mass bioterrorism on a global scale. It should be too much, but it’s Resident Evil, so somehow it’s exactly enough."
2. "wesker is THE resident evil problematic fave to me because every time he shows up the plot immediately gets more stupid and more serious at the same time. like yes, he betrayed his team. yes, he worked for umbrella. yes, he did virus crimes, jill crimes, global saturation crimes, and “chris i have thought about you an extremely normal amount” crimes. but also. look at him. the man is dressed like a matrix villain. he’s awful, he’s iconic, he’s impossible to take fully seriously, and yet he still feels like a real threat whenever he’s onscreen."
3. "Imagine surviving the mansion incident and finding out your captain was secretly working for the evil pharmaceutical company the whole time. Already bad. Then he comes back with glowing eyes, super speed, a trenchcoat, new virus nonsense, and the confidence of someone who has never once thought “maybe this is a bit much.” By RE5 he is fully trying to rewrite humanity because apparently being a normal evil scientist wasn’t dramatic enough. He is not morally grey. He is not misunderstood. He is a bioterrorism peacock with a superiority complex and a weirdly personal beef with Chris Redfield. But that’s why he belongs here. Sometimes a problematic character is compelling because they’re nuanced, sometimes they’re compelling because they walk into the room, adjust their sunglasses, say something unhinged about evolution, and make the entire fanbase go “oh thank god, this idiot again.”"
Problematic because: "He wants to open a high-end nightclub/party brand, gets offended when Frederick doesn’t take him seriously, and decides to throw an exclusive masquerade orgy in an abandoned Fortunato property. The building isn’t safe, the water tanks on the roof haven’t been checked, and the entire plan is built around rich people, drugs, sex, secrecy, and potential blackmail footage. He also invites Morella, Frederick’s wife, partly as a revenge move against his brother, which is already grim before the acid sprinklers even turn on. It turns out the tanks aren’t full of water but toxic Fortunato waste/acid, and when Perry triggers the sprinklers, nearly everyone inside dies horribly, burned alive by the acid."
Propaganda: "He’s such a good first domino because he’s awful in a very young, messy way. He’s not sitting in court denying opioid deaths, he’s not doing illegal heart trials, he’s not mummifying his sister, he’s just trying to throw the most exclusive rich-people sex party imaginable and maybe collect compromising footage for future leverage, because apparently that counts as entrepreneurship if your dad has enough money. And then the punishment is so much bigger than him, which is why it works. Perry is reckless and sleazy, but he doesn’t know those tanks are full of toxic waste. That’s the family business reaching up through the ceiling. He dies inside the exact kind of hidden Fortunato mess the Ushers have spent decades ignoring. Horrible little rich boy, yes. Also a perfect “welcome to the consequences” opening act."
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
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prguitarman
