ooo, now i kinda wanna hear your mack headcanons specifically-
Mack Headcanons/Theories :D
Gender/Sexuality
Trans man + Polysexual
Real reason: because I said so
"Logical reason": Mark and Mack are similar, but not the same. I headcanon Mark as a cis man + pan. So Mack, being similar but not the same, is a trans man + poly.
When we First Meet Him
I like to think that Mack had a feeling that we were from a different universe. That we were not his captain in that universe. But he chose not to say anything about it.
So like...you know how when we point out that he's not Mark he glitches out and is replaced with Mark? And how in every other universe we're in, whenever we mention the warp core or not going back in time to Mark, that universe glitches? What if...if someone were to tell us...that we weren't that universe's captain, we would also glitch out?
Now I'm not saying Mack didn't say anything because he wanted to "protect" us or anything. Kinda sorta the opposite.
I think Mack is such an a-hole to us because his captain in his universe is a mega asshole.
You know the "ending" in part 1 where we constantly beat up/boss around/bully Mark to the point of driving him insane? Yeah. That's Mack's captain but like...50x worse.
So when he sees us, while he has a feeling that we aren't his captain, and sees that we aren't acting like his captain right now, he thinks that we may start to act exactly like them once we reach the new planet.
And he's fucking sick of it.
He decides the only way to prevent us from going dictator on him...is to become a dictator himself.
"Great Job, Mack!" Route
In the route where we do let Mack take the lead, while he is dictator, the only person he seems to be actively hurting is us. He does use our torment as an example to the other colonists as what will happen if they also go against the colony, but no one else seems to be actually punished in that scene. The other colonists celebrate when we are about to be killed by firing squad, as they also believe we had caused them much harm.
Not saying no one else was harmed by his rule as dictator, but it seemed like the only person he truly wanted to torment was us. Because he thought we were similar enough to his captain.
Remember when I mentioned the "ending" in part 1, where we constantly bossed Mark around, blamed him for everything, punished him for every little mistake he made, etc.?
Yeah, this scene is the reverse of that. We are now the ones being constantly bossed around, blamed for everything, and punished for every little mistake we make.
Because that's what Mack's captain did to him.
This was Mack's revenge on the captain. Although we are not his captain, we are similar enough that it still feels satisfying to him.
"You're Not Mark" Route
Speaking of "similar enough"
I mentioned how when we say he's not Mark, he glitches out of existence because it's that bad of an identity crisis.
The line "You do not get to choose whether or not I exist!" still hits hard for me bro.
For multiple reasons:
1. He realizes that we know he's not our engineer, also confirming to him that we aren't his Captain.
2. He's meeting the fate that we would have had if he pointed out we weren't his captain.
3. Us dismissing his identity not only hurts him because of the paradox/warp core, but because of how his captain treated his identity.
Headcanon that Mack's captain, along with already being a mf asshole, was also transphobic. Constantly deadnaming and misgendering Mack just to piss him off and invalidate him.
So when we dismiss him like "You're not Mark. You're not real", he loses it.
We unknowingly just did exactly what his captain would do.
Miscellaneous
I know I said that it seemed like we were the only ones Mack wanted to hurt while he's dictator. But I also hc that he immediately sent all homophobes and transphobes to death.
Fav drink: Diet Coke (he's played by MatPat it has to be)
Fav food: Mac and cheese (No it is NOT just for the pun. I'm also projecting my favorite onto him.)
Doesn't know what fnaf is, but if he were introduced to it he would become OBSESSED. (Once again, MatPat)
In this universe, Mark is Theory Crew.
In our own universe, Theory Crew's real name is Mack.
So Mack and Mark basically just swapped places in this universe.
If the Captain knew that they probably would've just gone out to seek Mark as theory crew.
As a bonus, you get a fic idea I've thought of that takes place after the ending of ISWM! :D
Post-Canon Fic Idea
At some point after the true ending of ISWM, the captain somehow ends up in Mack's universe again. I imagine some kind of conflict/battle/whatever happens, including them running into Mack's captain.
(I headcanon that this universe's captain is played by Jacksepticeye, since he was originally cast to play Mack but couldn't due to Covid)
They're both appalled by each other. Mack's captain thinks we're weak and not as strong as them and a pushover. We realize they're a gigantic asshole and the reason why Mack treated us the way he did.
Doesn't excuse his actions towards us, but an understanding is made.
The Cap tries to convince Mack to leave this universe and join us in ours.
"...Why?! Why should I?!"
"Because things will be better there. You won't be trapped with that asshole anymore!"
"...No...things won't be better...because you're just like THEM!"
"How!? How am I like them?!?"
"You both think I don't exist!"
[flashback to the "You're Not Mark" route]
"...I'm sorry."
"...wait, what?"
"I'm sorry. I was just...trying to fix things in my universe...I needed to get to my version of the head engineer so we could fix a paradox. I guess I just...assumed...based on your attitude towards me, that you wouldn't help if I told you..."
[there's a pause for a moment]
"...Well, then...maybe I...shouldn't have assumed you would act like my captain...maybe then, it would've worked out better for you...for us...I'm sorry..."
"...Maybe your captain shouldn't have been a lil' bitch."
[Mack releases a small laugh]
"So...wanna join my crew?"
[Cap reaches their hand out to Mack, offering him to grab it, if he wants. Mack hesitates. Suddenly they both hear a distant shouting. It's this universe's captain giving orders to someone]
"That lesser version of me will not get away with this! Find them now! Oh, and if [deadname] is with them...bring [improper pronoun] to me as well. I'm sure helping an alternate version of me disrupt my colony counts as treason. And both of them will be severely punished."
[Cap and Mack both exchange terrified looks. Mack looks back at Cap's hand. He grabs it.]
"Please..."
[They run off together. Possibly more action happens idk. Wormhole/portal opens. They jump through. We're back in our universe. With Mack.]
That's what I got so far, @frayro-called-frey!
