#stray oc

i cant particularly speak for the canon of stray, hence why this is an au, but a big part of xyz's whole deal is his model type.

we do know that there are several differences types of companion models in stray, but a lot of it is very surface-level in that its just appearances. like miko, simon, elliot, etc... which is very cool, obviously.

but something that i always wondered about when playing is how exactly it affects them?? like take miko for example, do they 'see' through something similar to echolocation, or do they just have like... secret little cameras that arent obvious at a glance? or are they completely blind?

it certainly affects their speech, which is fuel to my over analysation fire, but what other internal processes does it affect that we can't see?

we already see all these different types, but the only outward difference in them is purely their head (i believe? minus height, and replaced limbs, of course) which is. like i said. very cool and all, but i wanna expand upon that and give different model types certain distinct features, much like how technology develops in real life.

like how different doll joints work, and how technology has progressed over the years, and different materials and trends and such.

anyway. that whole rabbit hole led me to overthink it a lot, and overthink my oc a lot, until i landed upon the thought that okay, well, if we consider the probable lack of materials once the city was shut down, but the also likely development of like... code, and programming, because if youre stuck inside then youre probably gonna spend a lot of time doing computer-based activites

then, thinking about every companies greed, i wouldnt be super surprised if they released prehaps a new model of companion, not long before the downfall of humanity. better software, and... mm, 'affordable' materials.

yeah im giving the robot chronic pain try and fucking stop me

worse battery, shitty plastic components instead of the regular mainly metal, loose joints that lock up, that kinda thing. granted, you also get better code, better (if, more fragile?) screens, maybe a little smarter or more developed, silver linings yknow

its mostly why he started changing parts of himself in the first place.

battery life sucks? get a new one, add more wires to accommodate the uptick in power! replace parts of yourself every few months cuz they were not built for the strain of real life! too many thoughts and not enough space to display them? add more screens! get your main face screen smashed up by... a certain event? well you can't fix it, because all the materials used to make you originally have been used up, but you can add more! maybe theyre worse quality, kinda pixilated, a little glitchy, but.... yknow!

saw a post about robot disabilities a while ago which i will reblog if i find again, but that is mostly what im getting at here. maybe i just project too much. .... ... ..