hmm. for virabot alan: would he develop any unique 'quirks', instincts etc.? i think this was mentioned before, but i'm just thinking about how not only would alan have to get used to them and even understand them but so would the cg! not only is he not like other sticks, but now he's even MORE unlike other sticks! dude is messed up in all sorts of ways
ooh speaking of
if he did develop such things could you imagine his confusion (and fear) of not understanding them or even knowing he has them? idk much about spiders (because i fear them) so sadly i can't give you any examples/scenarios for this idea
gosh now that i'm writing this out another idea/question popped up in my head: i think you mentioned that he'd sorta be out of it after he transforms (and gets under dark's control i think but i might be wrong), right? well, how would he get out of that? would the code or whatever just be removed? i personally find the longer route more interesting: the cg helping him deal with that and the instincts mentioned above and him slowly becoming himself again, but still having difficulties with it. maybe sometimes he just sits and dissasosiates
i think if he were any spider it'd likely be tarantula! of course the virabots are a different kind of spider though. so alan primarily uses force rather than webs to fight and is very drawn to movement. he also likes dark places and will often hide under anywhere he can fit if given the option.
he probably needs his glasses replaced by the point where he's fully spider also, but Dark doesn't really bother considering he can usually tell the hollowheads apart from other sticks and also he's still able to discern colors and everything.
also i imagine that he can fight the control but like Dark, leaving it untreated can have major consequences that range from withdrawal symptoms (shaking, crabbiness, etc etc) to completely losing control of himself! the best thing to do is probably still to shear it out of his code and while they obviously can't repair the whole of his code, yellow can do their best! it would still likely make him sick for a while and take time for him to recover though!