On the note of the four copotypes (I AM ignoring honour, art and hobocop.) I want to talk about what they mean to me. Something I realised when watching my friend play the game after I played it myself. It’s maybe a bit personal. Not sure.
When Half Light chimes in to tell you about the Apocalypse, Harry asks if that isn’t just a coping mechanism, which then prompted me to rethink all of the copotypes and why they’re there and what they represent.Â
Obviously first copotype I got, which I related to heavily, was the Sorry Cop. Of course I am used to apologizing all the time, of course I just want to satisfy all my friends and every little thing that I might do wrong, I need to apologize for, because I clearly fucked up, even though nobody said anything about that right now. Nobody is telling me to apologize, I just felt like it’s appropriate because my existence is burdening. I don’t know what to call that behaviour, but I just know it’s there. It’s relatable.Â
Superstar cop is the next one I kind of understood. I tell myself I can’t stay in this hole and then I start overcompensating, I am the best, I can do anything, I have done this before and I will do it again, fuck everyone else, I am the smartest, the BEST, the COOLEST. Feels like there can’t be middle ground, because then I might have to critically think about my actions again and that pulls me into my Sorry Circle, I can’t have that happening when I have to push through to be the best I can be.Â
Apocalypse cop I only sort of understood after watching a video. The sheer hopelessness and “Everything is going to be over anyway, it’s time to prepare for the end, everyone needs to know that the end is coming.”. Trying to cope with this situation by... I don’t know. Exaggerating? I guess I can kind of relate, in specific situations you just wanna throw in the towel, look at it and go “It’s all fucked anyway, so why bother trying? It’s gonna end.” It’s easier accepting that the end is coming than seeing some hope in all of that mess.
And the boring cop is one that. Felt closest to me lately. I haven’t understood that one at all. I just didn’t. I looked at it and went “How is this a copotype? Look at Harry, he’s not fooling anyone. Boring?? Out of EVERYTHING I wouldn’t call him boring.” AND THEN IT HIT ME LIKE A BRICK, when I talked to my partner, feeling overwhelmed and absolutely like a mess, and just blurted out “I am so normal. All of this is SO NORMAL.”.
The fact that he is trying so hard, SO hard, to just. Get it together. But let’s put a blanket over all the issues, let’s focus on the case, let’s focus on anything else, I am acting SO normal right now, I am so boring, look at me, good ol normal cop right here, I have never been more boring in my life. Actually - I have always been boring, this is who I am supposed to be!
The absolute avoiding and ignoring. Trying SO hard.Â
Anyway, thanks for reading, I love the copotypes in the game, they are all to some degree relatable, they are all amazing depictions of how to deal with your own issues in unhealthy ways. That’s what I think at least.