Alright, new removal proposal from me and this is coming from the guy who proposed him like in July and that was my latest PE proposal up to date for now as I'm now focusing on other stuffs. Let me tell you something: While I'm happy to get some upvotes, I did not like how the proposal turn out and how this candidate in question got approved especially I expect some debatable or at the very least voted down case. (Not even helping that most of the votes came from rather two problematic users with one of them getting banned, not gonna naming names but you'll get who they are). Regardless, to make amends, here's a removal proposal for him. The removal will have the same beat as the original proposal so you'll see where I coming from:
What's The Work[]
Horace is a 2019 Metroidvania created by Indie Studio from the United Kingdom (At least judging from the walkthroughs that I skimmed. So many references of works in the United Kingdom especially it’s controversial figures). The story tells us about the robot named Horace who is now the new member of the Old Man’s family. Horace was nurtured and raised by the Old Man much like his daughter, Heather, and became friends with everyone associated with the Old Man.
However, one day, The Old Man suddenly died from Heart Attack and as a result, Horace himself was shut down for many years. After he woke up, Horace learned that the world has been ravaged by a huge war between humanity and robots and as a result, Horace has no choice but to travel across the world to find and reunite with his friends that have gone missing during the war.
Alright, yes, the robots are the cause of mostly everything bad happening in the game considering the fact that they were tired of becoming mindless killing machines. They don’t count for a plethora of reasons. The person behind it on the other hand…
Who is He/What Has He Done[]
Alright, let’s talk about the person who is responsible for the war in the first place, The Man in Black. Back in the day, he is actually the brother of the Old Man who nurtures Horace to adulthood and the grumpy professor obsessed with time travelling. Nowadays, he is an agent working for the Government alongside The Man in Gray. In his first appearance, he participated in the event regarding the Old Man trying to showcase the abilities of Horace while also testing Horace to become a cold blooded killer, something that will be important later on. After the Old Man died, the Man in Black participated in the funeral of him and was absent for the most of the part in the story.
That is until the fact that he makes his appearance again in Chapter 16 years after the war between the robots and humanity had started when the heroes attempted to make a NICE Virus to pacify the robots which had already become successful. As he made an appearance again, it is soon revealed that he made an Organization known as “The Great and the Good” and evacuated themselves to the moon during the war. The Man in Black then invites the heroes to the moon so that they could discuss the new renaissance of the planet with a rocket that is seemingly defective.
As the heroes managed to successfully arrive on the moon, they then were greeted nicely by The Man in Black while also inviting some of the scientists from other countries while claiming that he invited them so that in order to keep the civilization alive, they will need new leaders and they were one of them. Still keeping his affable demeanor by organizing a tour guide in the moon base for the heroes, his affability suddenly slipped a bit when Horace was ordered by Man in Black to perform in his show in front of the heroes and the world leaders including Trump, avoiding several obstacles that were given to him.
As Horace reached the Grand Spectacle for the show, The Man in Black then orders Horace to kill The Man in Gray, something that Horace refused to do so and this is the moment where he suddenly grows a dislike towards The Man in Black because he viewed Horace as nothing but a thing rather than a human being. After the show is finished, the Man in Black then expresses his hatred towards robots having a free will and shows his Darwinistic philosophy before initiating a massacre towards the heroes and the scientists to cover his own tracks. The massacre kills all of the scientists and some of Horace’s companions, Preston and Heather which the latter ends up succumbing to her wounds.
After the massacre, Horace was then dismantled by both Man in Black and Man in Gray and was thrown into the incinerator that will eliminate Horace easier. In there, it was revealed that they experimented with lots of robots and also vivisect bunnies for their experiments to add an insult to injury. (Something I really overlook in the first playthrough). Fortunately however, Horace managed to escape and successfully managed to land on Earth where the robots are pacified albeit still continuing some of their ruthless ways.
Encountering the Man in Black again in the final stages, The Man in Black then finally reveals his true master plan: It was revealed that the Man in Black attempts to sabotage the peace between humans and robots and modified the NICE Virus to kill all of the robots from the face of the Earth after they were pacified. To that end, he modified the Master AI responsible for controlling the robots known as Ether Boss (I didn’t know this is his real name btw) to broadcast the NICE Virus to do his bidding.
In the same chapter, it is also revealed that he’s the person who funded Horace to exist and the similar person who funded the creation of the killer robots for the military, making him entirely responsible for the robot war mess in the first place. This was due to the fact that when Horace time travelled to the past, he smiled towards the younger Man in Black which gave him a lot of ideas. Oh! And if you ask me, most of the robots are sentient but lack any compassion for human beings before being pacified. Just as Man in Black had planned.
Speaking of time travelling, let’s talk about professor shall we, the reason why he time travelled is because he wants to prevent several mistakes that will happen in the future and try to save Ether Boss from his misery by sabotaging the time machine. After The Man in Black caught the professor in act, he gunned him down without remorse.
In the end, Horace attempts to defeat the Man in Black by fighting him with a huge mecha and if Horace decides not to save him, The Man in Black will fall into his death and in the other ending when Horace do save him, The Man in Black seemingly tries to beg forgiveness and trying to repent by shaking hands with Horace in which the latter refused and then meets his death as one of Horace’s companions, Mr. Silton, kills him with a poisonous mushroom as a revenge for killing his best friend so yeah…
Why Doesn't He Qualify[]
Yes, The Man in Black passes the heinous standard. But I still have the same issue on why I hesitated to call The Man in Black a qualifier for this category/trope alone even when first time proposing him: The ending. Now, in one of the endings, if Horace decides to save the Man in Black, there’s this scene where he seemingly atone for his actions by trying to shake hands with Horace in which Horace refused to do so which is understandable given the atrocities he had caused in the game.
I should not something, most of the endings where you either ignore to save Man in Black or at least saving him leads to both canon true end that is inevitable: Horace dies with a virus that was given to him but this ends up in a bittersweet manner empashizing on the sweet side as the conflict of the robots has ended and Horace was able to live until the day where Mr. Silton's second daughter was born as Horace went into heaven in peace alongside the Old Man and Heather.
So what my stance on one of this endings? I think judging by the tone of the video that I saw, The Man in Black really seems to be genuine on trying to apologize to his crimes after Horace saved him and really wants to make amends towards Horace even if he will be punished in the end and Horace refuses to apologize him. Whether you call it bad writing or not doesn't matter (I think this is bad writing but I should not that I don't want to overglorify PEs, personal views aside) as this is a rather glaring mitigating qualities that really needs to be scrutinized in the original EP...
So to whit, I don't think Man in Black qualifies anymore due to the tiny mitigating factors that are present in one of the endings so yeah...
Final Verdict[]
My feelings with some last minute redeeming qualities aside? Man in Black is a cut and I admit I was still hugely dubious on my attempt at EPing him and still holds the same sentiment now. Until then, I'll let you guys decide on this one. Game is still good btw, I recommend it to y'all.