#tron programs

The grid and its programs run hot… literally.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a headcanon dump and I now think I’m marginally better at in system/grid writing so here we go

“It/it’s” is commonly used interchangeably with gendered pronouns for programs. It’s a way to reflect that they’re not human and gender if anything is more a display/user reflection thing.

Programming languages = literal languages (this is somewhat canon, there’s background characters talking about needed to translate “Don’t speak Fortran”- there was a post a while back)

There’s more gore on the Grid because it’s not running properly, it’s a form of lag! So there’s gore, missing limbs etc instead of a quicker de-resolution and re dispersement of energy. Think of it like how the wall on the game grid stayed unfixed in the original movie- the energy is focused elsewhere.

Not original stated by me but similarly to the gore Grid programs have simpler circuitry as they lack purpose, it got worse as time went on. Started as sleek aesthetic but as the system sat dormant it became less and less. I don’t know I just think this is sad and great to play around with.

Programs will occasionally make/produce noises. Similar to the bleeps and random electronic sound in the world around them, there’s a whole non-language based communication. (Animalistic isn’t the right term, inhuman? Like someone just makes a really angry dial up tone at you)

Pings. Also not mine originally but I fully believe this headcanon.

Counterpart’s are connected via code, also not originally mine. However the idea of being literally apart of someone you love? Able to just look at each other and know what to do/say is so so good. (At least in the Encom system)

There’s multiple forms of transport beams, some of them will have a ship attach and ride it while others a program can step into and is sort of like a tube system.

User and maker are often thought to mean the same thing within the fandom and in the world itself however this is not always the case.

Our main character’s users just so happen to be their makers in this case because they’re integral parts of the main system. They’re not to be “used” by anyone commercially. Tron is a security program while Yori works in design and fabrication (permanent memory, updates etc). Neither of them are on the commercial everyday use computers. It makes sense for their users to be who made them- as they’re probably the only ones to access them when things are running smoothly.

Ram and Crom however aren’t the same, working for insurance firms and a savings and loan respectively. Crom’s user is “Mr.Henderson” a regional manager while we don’t know Ram’s but it’s probably a lawyer or office worker but not Roy. They’re much more commercial use non system based programs… they’re designed to be in regular access to all sorts of users not just one.

All humans are Users but not all users are Makers, I’d say in technical terms it’s more fitting to say Programs reflect makers but still address them as users.

So it’s been a long fandom accepted thing that circuits/light lines are not just a part of the suits but are on programs skin. This is a little thing I absolutely adore in art and fics, and do myself.

But I was never completely sure if there was anything in canon considering light suits are pretty conservative (until legacy). But there is!!

Sarks  Lieutenant(?) Appears to have a shorter neck on his suit than is standard, or extra circuitry on the neck. (It could simply be a coloring error but I don’t think that’s true as we also see it black/uncolored/unilluminated) in multiple shots. When I started to notice it was towards the end of the movie.

It’s been mentioned by me before but a detail I really enjoy is how User requests come across in the system. It took me a few watches to fully understand, like a lot of things in Tron it’s really metaphor/allegory heavy but I like to think of in universe implications.

Partnership and translation-

I can’t remember which post I first mentioned this idea but Programs see their relationship with the users not only religiously but as a partnership. They’re given orders but trusted to work things out to their best judgment and own abilities. They see the User’s as needing them, in a much more heightened sense than how we view it. The relationship between programs and users is symbiotic!

Through their religion and the way their society works, being formed around function and purpose their relationship to us is much more personal. Because to them our simple commands come across much more as a conversation than we imagine, just look at the movie.

Flynn is mumbling to himself at his keyboard, typing in the command at the same time and Clu reacts and responds to all of it! While I initially thought it metaphorical, look at when Tron’s in the I/O tower and talks with Alan- it’s similarly conversational compared to the few words he typed in reality.

In their world a few lined command translates to a User being just as conversational and excited as their programs. This fuels both the religious and personal relationship aspects of everything. The way they see things User’s are very aware and active in their world, when things are running as they should. (Not to bring everything back to the novelization but there’s a great line where Tron’s wondering why the users haven’t done anything or sent anyone and then he realizes- he is it.) I like this detail as the translated instructions keep the voice of the User- it’s a mix of their thoughts and the actual request and it’s so interesting.

This is a combination of what was initially two separate essays. The first part is going to be diving into how programs see freedom and the second part is going to go into the absolutely terrifying implications of the MCP from a in-system perspective. He’s a lot darker than what’s on the surface and it’s a shame this gets overlooked along with most of the movie because it’s a tad more optimistic in tone.

Freedom in subservience-

Programs exist to serve their function. They “just keep doin' what it looks like what you're supposed to be doin', no matter how crazy it seems.” Living, working, communicating for the users in a way that we as humans would see as Subservient or cruel. To a program being used, being useful is Freedom. To not work is to die. If you were created for the soul purpose of a task and then one day couldn’t do it anymore the blow would be devastating. The way Ram speaks with so much pride about his work and how much he misses it. The way it breaks Crom In the novelization when the guards don’t believe in the users.

“All programs have a desire to be useful, but in moments you will no longer seek communication with eachother or your superpfolus users…”

The MCP says it outright that they’re basically hardwired to want to be useful and do their best. And within the religious system they don’t see Users as these cruel gods but more of a partnership. They aren’t aware we dont know their alive, their communication with us is far more complex and symbolic than our communication with them. In the real world there’s a few words in a screen but in theirs they’ll get a detailed talk with their user, even if it’s a bit one sided. (Example being how trons ecstatic to talk with Alan and is all ‘im here yippee!’ But Alan never responds to anything he says). It’s a complex society with a social structure and religious system and customs! Dumont’s speech and how Tron and Yori bow their heads as he gives it. There’s so much good- just religious allegory and system stuff in general that I’d love to dig into if there was time and it’s such a shame it’s not in more Tron media post 82’.

“This code disc means freedom”

Let’s return to “to not work is to die” shall we? This is a civilization built around communication with the users and each other. A society built around fulfilling your purpose. What’s that look like when it’s taken away? This is a system where all functions are stripped from everyday programs and now are preformed by the MCP now what? If you aren’t dead you’re apart of the red elite severed from the users where your only real task is to protect it and eliminate believers— sure there’s power but that’s not very fulfilling once nothing else is left, is it?

Superior life form/ MCP’s lesser spoken on crimes-

Have you ever taken a second and really thought about the end goal of the master control program? He wants absolute power and his way of getting that is by being the only Program/AI- becoming a User within itself. It absorbs or eliminates. Ram explained it perfectly but no one listened “If he thinks you’re useful he takes over all your functions so he gets bigger, and if he can’t use you he sends you down here to the game grid to get the bits blasted out of you.” The  identity discs are a great control method but also useful- they don’t need a body just the disc. In the end he gets your functions regardless. It doesn’t matter if you hold onto your beliefs or not, you will become a part of him in the end.

Here’s just a collection of things the MCP has done that make it absolutely terrifying and all the more pressing why Tron had to win:

The super computer hivemind end goal. Seriously absorbing programs and picking them apart for what’s “useful” is fucked up.

Religious persecution/severing people from pivotal aspect of their existence but shutting down communication.

Mass Kidnapping

Military sabotage/attempted world domination

Systematic execution -> let’s be real the MCP had enough power and programs behind him at this point he likely could’ve just derezzed or absorbed user believers but this is more fun and efficient.

Identity discs (see above)

Implied restriction on circuitry. The Red v blue, there’s a Implication there colors were changed to make both groups easier to identify as well as a restriction on how one looks regardless. Like forced uniform v true form thing

Canonical lack of privacy, street and air patrolling , no doors

Draining cities of energy, cutting them off to die. This is where Yori was found one of the cities that will eventually just- derezz or be taken over. They’re running on fumes and down to base functions (automation, no life/personality speaking in numbers etc.)

Keeping select few around as zombies to run things it can’t yet. This would also play into the hivemind thing where the end goal is to run it on his own or take them over puppet style.

Keeping a few chosen warriors that you know he’s going to get rid of the moment he wins. That deception and turning on your own people all for power and safety that it let them believe in that was never there

Who’s ready to sound really pretentious about beddy-bye?! I made a half joking post about God mandated bedtime before, but now I have a more concrete idea.

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For one thing programs aren’t like us they don’t take something like food and convert it to energy. It’s absorbed straight and directed to whatever function they need/want. There’s Energy used to run but it can also be directed and transferred. An example being, Yori uses some of the energy Tron gave her to transform the apartment and herself. There’s purpose and intent behind the way they use energy. It’s what differentiates X from Y ( Thus not every energy transfer = sex )

They get power from just about everything they do and the world around them, if everything is running properly (when we see the ENCOM system and the grid they are not running as intended). Honestly I’d say a energy cycle is like a water cycle except transferred between programs,  vehicles and their surroundings etc. (I don’t know a thing about computers this is all speculatory based on the world we see in the films,) I think the occasion where a program would need to drink energy or find a pure source would be rare, and it’s more of an extra boost. Like how the only setting outside of the cavern we see anyone drinking is the End of Line club, a bar. In both films it’s shown getting that excess/pure energy can pretty much get you similar to our idea of “being drunk”.

Anyways, what’s this have to do with sleeping? Well,

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Sleep is a self-regulatory thing, just like people it’s saving that extra energy and sort of “recharging”, honestly with programs I think it’d be fun to take that literally. For programs it’d be storing the unused energy and absorbing more from their surroundings ->charging (again it gets more fun the more literally you take this). It’d be different depending on purpose and type, some may follow the “God mandated bedtime” whenever the computer shuts off or goes to sleep while others may not sleep at all! (Like how some constantly run in the background even with your stuff turned off). Additionally like drinking power/energy I think it could sort of be recreational? Someone said it before me but programs are their job- so the occasional rest might be thrilling? I don’t know.

Ok so now we’re getting into headcanon territory as opposed to me theorizing. Beds! What, where, how- or is it like a stand up thing in a tube. Looking at Yori’s apartment and the brief glimpses of furniture and how the Novel vaguely explains- furniture is Function> looks- even after Yori’s designs come through it’s sort of “a put a nice warm electric pillow on the lounge seat”.

I’d say it’s Ancient Greek very table/sofa like beds mixed with 80s contemporary meets liminal space. I think beds being table/slab like would make sense… charging table like a phone lmao. Some are completely content “Frankensteining it” but mattress, sheet, pillows are more for fun. (Yori would probably rather de-rez than not have it decorated, can you blame her? Her styles great.) basically computer lounges,  conversation, pits etc

Now not everyone considers novelization’s cannon, which is a real shame as they add on a ton to the film. Especially ones made back in the day as they’re A lot closer to the script etc.

Here’s a bunch of stuff from the novelization I either shared (or haven’t) that made me lose my mind. Between lore, world building and extra bits of characterization. I love learning more about this world and oh boy does the book do that

Tron is a hope symbol and champion long before he’s free or defeats the MCP. He has managed to survive in the games for so long without breaking - he hasn’t lost and never gave up his faith. This program is that little bit of hope for all the user-believers captured or otherwise.

Encom is already a mega corporation in 1982- like the MCP takes systems, it gobbles up smaller tech companies. It’s actually hard to pinpoint what they actually *do* there besides “everything”

Tron has a slew of trauma from his time in captivity, both from being worked into a killing machine and from the isolation the cells can bring (it’s also made clear that the schedules of working them through the games lead to socialization, both being in cells to talk is very little)

The MCP controls the color of circuits and how a program presents them. The spectrum is limited to Blue user believers and Red elite. As well as the patterns being much more natural and flowy, but made so harsh under his regime.

The novel shows us a lot about power , the transfer of it as both an act of love and a life Source. By restricting it to such an extent half the population is essentially zombie worker drones without much function- they move and communicate but there’s no thought behind any of it. With warriors there’s just enough given to them to keep going, to fight but not much else there either. It also goes into how it can be transferred to save another’s life or… uhhhhh other reasons. (These two acts are different and very specialized, you have to have intent so transfer is not inherently sexual)

Circuits are described by Flynn to look almost like acupuncture lines… sensitive circuits confirmed? (There you go nsfw tronblr lmao)

Circuits are moodrings! But they’re also a show of power level. As when we first see Yori as an automated worker she’s extremely dim.

Yori was a premier design coordinator before the takeover, like Lora she’s high ranked and undisplayable at her job.

Like Alan, Tron hates waste

Tron and Yori have an apartment together. It is important you know this.