What if there was an alternate version where Cortex somehow finds out about Buzzy and wants to take revenge on him for replacing him? We fw villain Cortex?
I totally get why his personality would lead to a well-constructed AU like this, but I personally can’t see it based on how I interpret the character.
Cortex absolutely strikes me as someone who’s emotionally fragile. He undoubtedly carries a lot of anger regarding that replacement, but instead of taking it out on others, he seems like the type to take it out on himself.
An example of his severe distress and self-blame when faced with failure is actually in the demo audio, when he’s under the impression that he got Bobby in trouble with the principal. If you listen closely, his voice breaks and he sounds like he’s about to start crying. You can hear the exact moment that cocky, confident front collapses, and I built a lot of my characterization for him based on that. (More text under the video)
Cortex talks so much trash about the corporation in my AU, but what does he actually do to take it down? Nothing. He concludes that he can’t do anything out of fear (which he isn’t wrong for), and that wrath and sorrow end up psychologically harming him, and him alone. If he were to execute a revenge plan on Buzzy, I think something similar would go down.
Cortex could so easily launch an attack on him, only for Buzzy’s unwavering kindness, apologetic nature and encouragement to keep moving forward in life to straight up crush that ego and amplify that pain and self hatred. It would absolutely come back around to bite him, Tex is NOT winning that one. No matter how you look at it, though, post-rejection Cortex is TRAGIC and it’d be really cool to see him get fully fleshed out as the actively vengeful type.
