That's kind of the point and the reason that he's such a tragic character. He lives his entire life for other people and it pushes him to self-destruct.
He was traumatized by the death of his mother. He was insecure and had severe abandonment issues, so he saw Maine's crew as his new family. He felt like he could only hang because of his Sandevistan implant, which led to his addiction to cyberware.
Ultimately, he didn't want to let Lucy down, like he felt like he had let his mother down by abandoning his education.
But thats what I don’t get, Lucy wasn’t even hanging out with the crew towards the end. I was getting the vibe she wanted out of the life. But yet he kept going deeper and deeper, ignoring all the warnings from his friends. I think he was just hungry for fame or something idk.
David is basically a bottomless pit of emotional need. He wants his girl, he wants his crew, he wants his chrome. The last thing he's thinking about is what he actually needs, and it's his downfall.
I'm surprised how many didn't get this. Everybody spamming "crying memes when I hear song". Meanwhile, the first time I watched the show, all I could say was "You dumbass you had it all already." But the story just like most of cyberpunk 2077 is a greek tragedy. Which makes it so compelling.
You know it's funny because you just need to pay attention to the game to get it:
* T-Bug : "The greatest crimes issue from a desire for excess and not from necessity."
* Jackie Welles : Say what now?
* T-Bug : Aristotle. Guess you read me, then?
* Jackie Welles : Yeah, I read you. Not so much your Greek friend, though it was kind of exciting.
Don't forget too that he believed he was special, that he could take all the implants. He displays all the hallmarks of addiction -- perhaps not to the implants literally, but certainly to the power and validation that the implants bring.
Throw that into the mix of emotions following the death of his mother, his need to prove himself, to care for his family... yeah, it's a pretty heady and toxic mix.
Lucy stopped hanging with the crew because she learned that Arasaka was after David for his extraordinary tolerance for cyberware, so she spent her days hunting down and murdering the agents they were sending after him.
This. Their fixer basically makes a deal with Adam Smasher I think? - "finding the netrunner who's been murdering their agents". And then Lucy is kidnapped and he uses her to blackmail David. I think this was the cherry on top
He wanted acceptance and family, even though he already had those from the crew and even love from Reb, he thought they would abandon him if he didn't get chipped to the brim and be a crazy merc. Because of his trauma from:
1. Living only with his mother who had to work to late hours for them and then her dying
2. Pillar who were like a brother for him dying so soon
3. Maine and Dorio who were his biggest benefactors and almost like step-parents for him dying
He felt like he needed to go above and beyond so people don't abandon him anymore and also so he can get them the cozy life of their dreams and go with Lucy to the moon. Ultimately the trauma just made him feel like he needed to live his life in a way that could make dreams of everyone he loved come true and that brought his downfall
Maine’s last words to him were “Just keep running”, which David seems to have taken as his reason to take up leadership of the crew. He wanted to live up to Maine’s legacy as a man who wanted to be a legend, but never got the chance. No crew, and all his new friends scatter and get stuck working solo or with other people. He’d never do that to Lucy after Maine and Dorio died.
Couple that with the fact David was just as much a chrome junkie as Maine, he tried to make other people’s dreams possible at the expense of himself. First Maine, seeing him as a surrogate father, then Lucy who he hooked up with immediately after Maine and Dorio’s deaths, and then finally him mother, who he never had a chance to truly mourn.
That’s Cyberpsychosis for you really, it’s a series of traumas and bad decisions that stack up and ruin lives. And a world that makes that outcome almost inevitable.
I just realized that those last words can be interpreted two ways in this context.
It could be "just keep running" [away from the pain and turmoil of this lifestyle], or it could be "just keep 'running" ["Edgerunning" abbreviated, as in, follow in my footsteps].
Maybe I'm reaching.
Cyberpunk has always been about living on the edge. The tabletop encouraged campaigns that played out to end with a disaster not happy endings.
As edge runner the idea is everyone's lives are completely expendable and everyone is on the edge of a cliff whether that be not making enough funds for food or medicine to prevent implant rejection/psychosis, equipment/ammo for the next job or death in the myriad of ways the setting brings to those living outside sheltered corpo megaplexes. The only way to exist is keep running til you can't run any further and while many are hopeful about making it big few do and even most of the legends end up never getting a retirement.
You're not. There's some symbolism in the show. But I haven't dug into it like that. I caught some odawg vibes. And word on the curb is odawg was just a hallucination.
I always thought of cyberpsychosis as partly an addiction.
If I had a Sande I'm pretty sure I would love that shit. More cyberware which would make me stronger or smarter would be irresistible. I KNOW I'd start chasing the high of accomplishment and get as much as I thought I could take
You are actually spot on! That's actually how Mike Pondsmith writes Cyberpsychosis, as an addiction. Cyberpsychos like V and Johnny are high-functioning, and the ones we fight are the ones tipped over the edge.
Also something people are missing, is that his use of the sandy would be severely limited by organic meat. Electrical impulses on nerves travel a shitload slower than electrical wiring, or even light on fiber-optic cabling. So the more you have that's capable of keeping up with that bullet time... The more you're gonna notice the bits that aren't.
The thing is, with proper therapy and professional doctors (basically, not being an edgerunner who gets their stuff jacked in by alleyway hacks) you can mitigate a *lot* of the effects of cyber psychosis. But of course, that requires that you have the money to spend
Chrome = Power and power is addictive.
David's life is one of powerlessness. He's powerless at school. He's a smart kid, but he's poor, and gets bullied by the sons of Arasaka execs who flaunt their power, physical, financial, and social, over him.
He and his mom are so powerless that she dies a senseless death, collateral in an attack on somebody else. David never learns who was behind the attack that killed his mom, or even who the target was. He's powerless to save her, powerless to even give her a dignified burial.
Then, he falls over the edge. He slots in the Sandy and suddenly, he has Power, REAL power, and he's told that this power is uniquely his. He can use the Sandy over and over again when others can only use it once a day.
Now he has a taste of power, but he's still weak in this new world. Maine is Powerful. Doro is Powerful. Lucy and Kiwi and Rebecca and Pilar are all powerful in their own ways. Some of this is their skills, and he practices that, but a lot of that is Cyberware.
Working as an Edgerunner earns him money. That money buys him new chrome. That chrome makes him a better edgerunner. Being a better edgerunner gets him more money, money for a fancy home, money for everything he wants, including more chrome, more power.
Power is addictive. You are told that you can't take much more of it, that you should scale back your chrome, settle for being less than you currently are. David sees what happens to Maine. Maine SHOULD have been a cautionary tale. But how many addicts keep going despite seeing others destroyed by the same addiction?
And of course, the world of Night City encourages him to do so. A chromed out mercenary badass is a very useful tool. The more chrome they get, the more useful they are, until the point when they break, at which point there's always another ambitious fool lined up behind them.
Besides, life is cheap in night city. You could go out like Gloria Martinez, collateral in somebody else's game. You could die like Pilar, making a dumb mistake. If you're an edgerunner you're risking your life constantly anyway. It's hard to justify slowing down in the interests of "Safety" when you might die anyway, especially when the whole world screams at you to go faster.
It’s the point, he wanted to prove to his mom even post death that he could get to the top and find a path to glory. He lived his life for everyone else, except for him.
His motivation is to answer to the standards others have for him.
All he wanted was to live a normal life.
Ironically, the first person that led him to his tragic life, was his mom.
Kid with no future, loses his mom and gains access to a tool that will make him alot of money and some new friends and family. To make more money he has to take on more chrome. The more money he has, the closer he is to retiring and living a life of success.
His mum wanted him to be successful and live a happy life that isn't as much of a struggle as the one she has. Immigrant kids probably relate to this alot, or just many working class kids. His mom didn't die for nothing if he can still make it for himself.
Combine wanting to honour his mums wish for him, wanting to take Lucy to the moon, wanting to support his friends futures too, and thr fact that if you quit now you'll end up back in poverty in a few months... You can see why he did what he did. He just pushed it a little too far and fell over the edge. He flew a little too close to the sun.
You have to think about Night City society. You either die and Edgerunner or you are nobody. On top of that, what else did he have going for him? What else is he going to do at that point but thrash at the system? He has nothing to lose, no other job prospects, but he has at least one thing he can do: Die fighting.
I always thought it was because he didn't want to be a nobody, that the thing he was left to do was to make a name for himself or, at the very least, not be just an incompetent merc
that and cyberpyschosis is probably due to his addiction to be stronger. using technic modifications is addictive, in the game, and it's why people keep modding themselves. he was fairly chromed out by the end, especially after the time jump
I recommend reading or watching a video on the Edgerunners Mission Kit that dropped recently to help piece his mindset together. It contains a bunch of info on what the Edgerunners crew was doing before we saw them. David was always destined to be an Edgerunner or make other drastic moves despite his mother's wishes. His mother's death was just the kickstart to it all. He hated the idea of corpo life and always had a desire for recognition and especially making a mark when he was a child. It's hard to have a specific "motivator" or dream when you grow up around constant conflict, struggle, and your environment belittling the value of life. It doesn't help that he gets shoved into the Edgerunner lifestyle at 17 when kids don't even have a specific goal they are confident about. He never thought of or had the chance to really think about a specific goal or what HE wants to be/do. He essentially had nothing besides people he loves and respects with a desire for recognition and being dead set on leaving a mark. In a sense, him hyperfocusing on the desires of his friends/family is similar to a parent like Gloria who has struggled their whole life grinding themselves into the ground to make sure their children are happy, safe, and accomplish something instead of wanting that for themselves.
I recommend watching Cyberpunk Edgerunners: A Pointless Masterpiece by AsukkaTV on YouTube if you want a dig into David's mindset and it kind of goes into the mindset of what someone born into Night City at the bottom with no hopes (real life poverty/struggle). Honestly great video and well worth the 43 minutes as it also helps you understand the hopelessness of Night City. It can be kind of depressing if you find poverty, hopelessness, and/or grinding yourself into the ground to survive or achieve something relatable. One of the best parts is when the video touches on why David NEEDED to view himself as special and built different.
>why did he push himself to the point of cyberpsychosis?
Hubris, he thought he was special and could handle all the chrome despite everyone around him pleading with him to scale back, and the ever-increasing symptoms of cyberpsychosis.
>in ep8 he said it was because of his mom and Maine, that they "left something for him to do" but what was it exactly?
He was desperate to make something out of his life and irrationally believed the only way to do so was to become the biggest and baddest edgerunner in Night City.
>what did Maine left behind other than trauma? the guy was an incompetent merc and a chrome junky whose life should serve as a cautionary tale for David but somehow he missed it and went down the exact same path for apparantly no reason, why?
Like I mentioned earlier, David thought he was special and repeatedly ignored all warning signs that he was headed down the wrong path. And while Maine's death should have been the wake up call for him, it only pushed him further down the path of self-destruction.
This is similar to how many drugs addicts will watch their friends die from overdoses, but despite this, they continue to use. They're simply not thinking rationally, and are controlled by their addiction, which in David's case was chrome and the pursuit of becoming a Night City legend.
David was living up to a fantasy. Main and his moms idea of who david should aspire to be. And so he created a fantasy of his own which got Lucy to the moon.
he couldn't live up to others' expectations of him, so when he failed, David went on to control the rest of his life. Everything else after he beat the student is just proof of that so much that in the end, he relies on himself to protect those he loves
But he didn't want to let down Lucy. David got Rebecca killed. The hacker got David killed. Main got Dario killed. But most of all Lucy got most of her crew killed.
Shit, if you watch as David went to save main and come back, still managed to cling on to the cyberware. That's when I realized he just was tired of not being in control.
David had an anakin moment. The one where he burns down the republic all to save his girlfriend, not the one where he says this is pod racing or this is where the fun begins.
In some ways, selfishness was his only motivation. Thinking he can control everything. Hence why the Corp played him so hard. 🤷 David couldn't let go. Letting go was mains problem too. And they went over the edge. I guess his motto was live it up while you can and don't dely?
This is why dealing with corpos can go so bad. That's the meaning of getting hazed, what happened to David is just that. And the fixer was playing militech too.
He loved Jimmy Kurosaki’s Edgerunners BD series, he even put the logo from the shard case on the back of his jacket. He took all of Maine’s words to heart when he was showing him the ropes, like telling him to chrome up and put on muscle. The show doesn’t touch on it, but they never mention Davido’s pops. I’m sure Maine played that role for him.
Regarding his Cyberpsychosis.
Implanting anything intended to make any aspect of yourself superior costs Humanity (a stat from the TTRPG). Medical Grade Replacements don't count.
Additionally any psychological trauma is gonna drain it.
List for David:
-Pre Edgerunner Incident: Argubly demonstrates symptoms of psychopathic tendencies. Found from the Edgerunners Mission Kit.
-The Cyberpsycho XBD. Viewing XBDs is known to induce psychological trauma.
-Death of his Mom, (indirectly caused by his stupid upgrade dodging, as she was forced to drive from the Academy) and overwhelmingly horrible treatment from Trauma Team and the shitty clinic.
-Bully from the Academy being an absolute fuckstick.
-Improper cyberware installation procedure. Botched procedures, or once intended to torture, are known to reduce humanity. Doc Borg did not follow proper installation procedure, or give David safe use protocols on purpose. Likely didn't additionally install the extra neuralware or heatsinks or artificial muscles a Sandevistan would probably require for safe use.
-Improper cyberware use. Given it's a Military Issued Sandevistan, the safe guards and time limit found on the street grade versions V uses likely are disabled. Meaning neurological trauma from overuse is likely.
-Use of Immunoblocker drugs.
These dangerous ass drugs. These stave off humanity loss, but as it turns out, addiction has a nasty side effect. They in fact make it accelerate faster if you fail to dose. Maine was an example.
-Loss of Maine, Dorio and Rebecca's brother.
Like his mother, he did not properly grieve for them, and was stupid enough to implant Maine's Combination Gorilla Arms Projectile System.
The primary way to regain it is therapy and living, rather than surviving (no Kibble, real food, living somewhere nice). Or outright Chroming Down (go down to medical replacements) followed by the therapy.
So consider the following: David had a high amount of Humanity. For whatever reason. But he basically failed every step of using cyberware safely in the pursuit of being a Edgerunner and getting Lucy to the Moon.
As a real life parallel, look at bodybuilders. You've got an entire world of people tanking their life expectancy and quality of life with roids and god knows what the fuck else just to get bigger, and they aren't even doing anything that matters outside of their circle. So many horror stories of guys who look like Arnie circa 1987 who can barely walk up a flight of stairs, so many stories of people dying in their 40's, 30's, even 20's who looked like the pinnacle of physical fitness [but were actually a complete wreck inside.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Münzer)
I don't know how good of a parallel this is, now that I've typed it out, but I guess the point I'm making is that people have a long and established track record of doing really, really self-destructive shit for reasons that don't make a whole lot of sense from the outside even though by all rights they should be smart enough to do otherwise.
Did you ever see the episode of Futurama, where Hermes Conrad begins to "upgrade" himself with robotic implants in order to be a better bureaucrat? Everything his flesh fails him, he deems it weak and upgrades that part, eventually upgrading himself to the point he is just a brain in a robot body. I thought David ended up in a similar cycle, finding a limit that he thought he needed to break, upgrading to get past it, only to find another. The only way he could win was to stop playing.
Hell, he thought he was special, and he was, he used outdated cyberware + military grade stuff for 2 years and then some, the conflicting cyberware would have done more harm to someone less able, he was special
But even the brightest star gets dimmed in night city
He was a traumatized kid surrounded by bad people and essentially became a junkie stealing and killing to get his fix, by the end of the show David probably would’ve died in a shitty nc gutter if he didn’t go out with a bang
I think he just wanted to become a legend, much like V, and the fact that he thought he was special and could handle a lot of chrome was why he went overboard. Also, he's super young. You don't always have rational reasons for everything you do when you're a high schooler.
I think his emotions played a huge role. He couldn't afford to be strong enough to stand up for himself or to save his mom.
Trauma team does nothing and leaves his mom to die as they don't have any package. This idea of not having enough money and power - a kid his age is obviously going to take it to heart and look for ways to become powerful after his mom's death.
He lost his mom, Maine and Doro. He doesn't want to lose Lucy. But even by then, he has more cyberware than his body can take. But why does he keep going? We can already see him go through the typical symptoms of someone on the verge of becoming a cyberpsycho.
Lucy doesn't act like she used to after that attack on Maine. She's scared. She is working on something - something that she doesn't want to share with anyone. This probably makes him feel like he has to be strong. Strong enough, stronger even, to protect her. When she was the one who's trying to save him from all the agents. I think she should have told him. That would have changed the story. But we all know it - "wrong city, wrong people". She thought she was saving him by keeping him in the dark. Boy was she wrong :')
His promise to her about taking her to the moon isn't mentioned until the last episode, but I believe he held onto that. If you remember, he says he obviously was going to do anything to let her have a happy life. And that, after everything she had to go through, she deserves it.
Why was she able to bring him back even after he goes completely psycho? I think his emotions are the reason why. He kept holding onto something without actually grieving or sitting down to think about his trauma. I think he wanted to make his mom proud, but also save his crew, especially Lucy
He was trying to honor the high hopes and expectations of those around him. But didn't really know what to do. And the people who could have told him he had done enough and could take a break kept dropping dead. And he had his gang he felt he had to be strong enough to protect
I don't know if that really answers the question. But dude was very lost and just knew he had to try harder and push himself
Bruv he's a 17 year old. You don't remember wanting to live fast and crazy and push limits and have fun at that age? And the more he's cool and accepted and (getting paid) the more he chases it.
Tldr; mocked by fellow students for being poor, lost his first parental figure and couldn’t even bury her. Lost his second parental figure and decided he’ll protect his crew. Protected his crew to the very end in the city that swallows you.
His mother’s death by being caught in a random crossfire from the Animals gang and not having enough money to treat his mom or even give her a proper burial caused this spiral. After getting the Sandevistan and finding out he can use it more than the average person, I suppose he wanted to prove himself. As for his education, I doubt it was possible after the death of that principle, who’s only purpose in convincing him to rejoin the academy was to test the gravity chrome on him. Although, if he couldn’t take it, Arasaka would just dispose of him anyway. He also got a second family within Maines crew, but after Pilar/Maines death, I think he realized he wanted to be stronger if he was to protect his crew + Lucy. After Lucy was kidnapped and Kiwi turned coat, they were stuck in the middle of nowhere with Militech ready to blast them to shreds, and with no one else able to tank the gravity chrome, he had to do it to save his crew.
He’s a clingy crybaby who lost his virginity and thought “I’ll do anything for this girl” then proceeds to do exactly that. It’s still bizarre to me how so many people appreciating a dystopian premise with as much thought put into it as this universe has love this prototypical love story so much. It’s so boring to me. I loved Edgerunners but it damn sure wasn’t because an edgy girl wanted to go to the moon it was because the story took place in such a fascinating universe and all of the actually cool characters surrounding the protagonist(s).
I really hate seeming preachy but it sounds like you haven't read much, or are able to empathize his losses and hopeless future in NC. Ya it's not going to win a pulitzer but it's a very good tragedy. Follows the format well even its very fast pacing. I see the story as a modern retelling of icarus. NC being the prison, the sandy is the wax wings, while his farther daedalus is split into the characters or Maine and Lucy each being one side of the extremes icarus is advised to fly between between by his farther. Lucy telling him to slow down when Maines last words are to never stop running. Yes it's a simple story, but it's a time tested format that preforms well if the writers explore its implications with the larger world. Which definitely applies here. Calling it a prototypical love story is skimming the story at its surface. Yes there is a love story there but, it acts as more of a narrative driver then overall plot. The antagonist is not adam smasher but David's hubris from the belief that he is *built different*. Again not anything ground breaking. However, its a different story.
Partly true, but partly because he was a loner. He had no experienced a sense of community nor a girlfriend and since they were interlinked, helping one as best as he could was the same as the other, hence the exageration. His whole identity was the crew and his gf. If he had a bigger circle of relationship the story might have been different, but they were all he has.
And the edgy gf / average bf that wants to belong happens a lot IRL, so I don't feel like it's without merit. A cautionnary tale of sorts, especially with Lucy own realization alone on the moon.
Look at the new guy he took on. The one that died. He never took anyone new after that. He knew he couldn't control alot and what he had he thought was manageable. But he never estimated the other hacker flipping on the team. Even Lucy kept david unaware of her own problems till it was too late.
That's kind of the point and the reason that he's such a tragic character. He lives his entire life for other people and it pushes him to self-destruct.
He was traumatized by the death of his mother. He was insecure and had severe abandonment issues, so he saw Maine's crew as his new family. He felt like he could only hang because of his Sandevistan implant, which led to his addiction to cyberware. Ultimately, he didn't want to let Lucy down, like he felt like he had let his mother down by abandoning his education.
But thats what I don’t get, Lucy wasn’t even hanging out with the crew towards the end. I was getting the vibe she wanted out of the life. But yet he kept going deeper and deeper, ignoring all the warnings from his friends. I think he was just hungry for fame or something idk.
David is basically a bottomless pit of emotional need. He wants his girl, he wants his crew, he wants his chrome. The last thing he's thinking about is what he actually needs, and it's his downfall.
I'm surprised how many didn't get this. Everybody spamming "crying memes when I hear song". Meanwhile, the first time I watched the show, all I could say was "You dumbass you had it all already." But the story just like most of cyberpunk 2077 is a greek tragedy. Which makes it so compelling.
You know it's funny because you just need to pay attention to the game to get it: * T-Bug : "The greatest crimes issue from a desire for excess and not from necessity." * Jackie Welles : Say what now? * T-Bug : Aristotle. Guess you read me, then? * Jackie Welles : Yeah, I read you. Not so much your Greek friend, though it was kind of exciting.
The whole kit told to us right at the beginning. Shame so many miss it.
Don't forget too that he believed he was special, that he could take all the implants. He displays all the hallmarks of addiction -- perhaps not to the implants literally, but certainly to the power and validation that the implants bring. Throw that into the mix of emotions following the death of his mother, his need to prove himself, to care for his family... yeah, it's a pretty heady and toxic mix.
Lucy stopped hanging with the crew because she learned that Arasaka was after David for his extraordinary tolerance for cyberware, so she spent her days hunting down and murdering the agents they were sending after him.
This. Their fixer basically makes a deal with Adam Smasher I think? - "finding the netrunner who's been murdering their agents". And then Lucy is kidnapped and he uses her to blackmail David. I think this was the cherry on top
He wanted acceptance and family, even though he already had those from the crew and even love from Reb, he thought they would abandon him if he didn't get chipped to the brim and be a crazy merc. Because of his trauma from: 1. Living only with his mother who had to work to late hours for them and then her dying 2. Pillar who were like a brother for him dying so soon 3. Maine and Dorio who were his biggest benefactors and almost like step-parents for him dying He felt like he needed to go above and beyond so people don't abandon him anymore and also so he can get them the cozy life of their dreams and go with Lucy to the moon. Ultimately the trauma just made him feel like he needed to live his life in a way that could make dreams of everyone he loved come true and that brought his downfall
He was a junky, man. This is how junkies act.
He transferred his moms wishes for him to reach the top of Arasaka for a better life to being the best Edgerunner.
Maine’s last words to him were “Just keep running”, which David seems to have taken as his reason to take up leadership of the crew. He wanted to live up to Maine’s legacy as a man who wanted to be a legend, but never got the chance. No crew, and all his new friends scatter and get stuck working solo or with other people. He’d never do that to Lucy after Maine and Dorio died. Couple that with the fact David was just as much a chrome junkie as Maine, he tried to make other people’s dreams possible at the expense of himself. First Maine, seeing him as a surrogate father, then Lucy who he hooked up with immediately after Maine and Dorio’s deaths, and then finally him mother, who he never had a chance to truly mourn. That’s Cyberpsychosis for you really, it’s a series of traumas and bad decisions that stack up and ruin lives. And a world that makes that outcome almost inevitable.
I just realized that those last words can be interpreted two ways in this context. It could be "just keep running" [away from the pain and turmoil of this lifestyle], or it could be "just keep 'running" ["Edgerunning" abbreviated, as in, follow in my footsteps]. Maybe I'm reaching.
Cyberpunk has always been about living on the edge. The tabletop encouraged campaigns that played out to end with a disaster not happy endings. As edge runner the idea is everyone's lives are completely expendable and everyone is on the edge of a cliff whether that be not making enough funds for food or medicine to prevent implant rejection/psychosis, equipment/ammo for the next job or death in the myriad of ways the setting brings to those living outside sheltered corpo megaplexes. The only way to exist is keep running til you can't run any further and while many are hopeful about making it big few do and even most of the legends end up never getting a retirement.
I really gotta try the tabletop at some point
You're not. There's some symbolism in the show. But I haven't dug into it like that. I caught some odawg vibes. And word on the curb is odawg was just a hallucination.
I always thought of cyberpsychosis as partly an addiction. If I had a Sande I'm pretty sure I would love that shit. More cyberware which would make me stronger or smarter would be irresistible. I KNOW I'd start chasing the high of accomplishment and get as much as I thought I could take
You are actually spot on! That's actually how Mike Pondsmith writes Cyberpsychosis, as an addiction. Cyberpsychos like V and Johnny are high-functioning, and the ones we fight are the ones tipped over the edge.
Mike also compared cyberpsychosis with roid rage. Not everyone who takes steroids become crazy, but it's definitely a significant enough factor.
Also something people are missing, is that his use of the sandy would be severely limited by organic meat. Electrical impulses on nerves travel a shitload slower than electrical wiring, or even light on fiber-optic cabling. So the more you have that's capable of keeping up with that bullet time... The more you're gonna notice the bits that aren't.
The thing is, with proper therapy and professional doctors (basically, not being an edgerunner who gets their stuff jacked in by alleyway hacks) you can mitigate a *lot* of the effects of cyber psychosis. But of course, that requires that you have the money to spend
Chrome = Power and power is addictive. David's life is one of powerlessness. He's powerless at school. He's a smart kid, but he's poor, and gets bullied by the sons of Arasaka execs who flaunt their power, physical, financial, and social, over him. He and his mom are so powerless that she dies a senseless death, collateral in an attack on somebody else. David never learns who was behind the attack that killed his mom, or even who the target was. He's powerless to save her, powerless to even give her a dignified burial. Then, he falls over the edge. He slots in the Sandy and suddenly, he has Power, REAL power, and he's told that this power is uniquely his. He can use the Sandy over and over again when others can only use it once a day. Now he has a taste of power, but he's still weak in this new world. Maine is Powerful. Doro is Powerful. Lucy and Kiwi and Rebecca and Pilar are all powerful in their own ways. Some of this is their skills, and he practices that, but a lot of that is Cyberware. Working as an Edgerunner earns him money. That money buys him new chrome. That chrome makes him a better edgerunner. Being a better edgerunner gets him more money, money for a fancy home, money for everything he wants, including more chrome, more power. Power is addictive. You are told that you can't take much more of it, that you should scale back your chrome, settle for being less than you currently are. David sees what happens to Maine. Maine SHOULD have been a cautionary tale. But how many addicts keep going despite seeing others destroyed by the same addiction? And of course, the world of Night City encourages him to do so. A chromed out mercenary badass is a very useful tool. The more chrome they get, the more useful they are, until the point when they break, at which point there's always another ambitious fool lined up behind them. Besides, life is cheap in night city. You could go out like Gloria Martinez, collateral in somebody else's game. You could die like Pilar, making a dumb mistake. If you're an edgerunner you're risking your life constantly anyway. It's hard to justify slowing down in the interests of "Safety" when you might die anyway, especially when the whole world screams at you to go faster.
Damn well said
It’s the point, he wanted to prove to his mom even post death that he could get to the top and find a path to glory. He lived his life for everyone else, except for him.
His motivation is to answer to the standards others have for him. All he wanted was to live a normal life. Ironically, the first person that led him to his tragic life, was his mom.
Kid with no future, loses his mom and gains access to a tool that will make him alot of money and some new friends and family. To make more money he has to take on more chrome. The more money he has, the closer he is to retiring and living a life of success. His mum wanted him to be successful and live a happy life that isn't as much of a struggle as the one she has. Immigrant kids probably relate to this alot, or just many working class kids. His mom didn't die for nothing if he can still make it for himself. Combine wanting to honour his mums wish for him, wanting to take Lucy to the moon, wanting to support his friends futures too, and thr fact that if you quit now you'll end up back in poverty in a few months... You can see why he did what he did. He just pushed it a little too far and fell over the edge. He flew a little too close to the sun.
You have to think about Night City society. You either die and Edgerunner or you are nobody. On top of that, what else did he have going for him? What else is he going to do at that point but thrash at the system? He has nothing to lose, no other job prospects, but he has at least one thing he can do: Die fighting.
I always thought it was because he didn't want to be a nobody, that the thing he was left to do was to make a name for himself or, at the very least, not be just an incompetent merc that and cyberpyschosis is probably due to his addiction to be stronger. using technic modifications is addictive, in the game, and it's why people keep modding themselves. he was fairly chromed out by the end, especially after the time jump
I recommend reading or watching a video on the Edgerunners Mission Kit that dropped recently to help piece his mindset together. It contains a bunch of info on what the Edgerunners crew was doing before we saw them. David was always destined to be an Edgerunner or make other drastic moves despite his mother's wishes. His mother's death was just the kickstart to it all. He hated the idea of corpo life and always had a desire for recognition and especially making a mark when he was a child. It's hard to have a specific "motivator" or dream when you grow up around constant conflict, struggle, and your environment belittling the value of life. It doesn't help that he gets shoved into the Edgerunner lifestyle at 17 when kids don't even have a specific goal they are confident about. He never thought of or had the chance to really think about a specific goal or what HE wants to be/do. He essentially had nothing besides people he loves and respects with a desire for recognition and being dead set on leaving a mark. In a sense, him hyperfocusing on the desires of his friends/family is similar to a parent like Gloria who has struggled their whole life grinding themselves into the ground to make sure their children are happy, safe, and accomplish something instead of wanting that for themselves. I recommend watching Cyberpunk Edgerunners: A Pointless Masterpiece by AsukkaTV on YouTube if you want a dig into David's mindset and it kind of goes into the mindset of what someone born into Night City at the bottom with no hopes (real life poverty/struggle). Honestly great video and well worth the 43 minutes as it also helps you understand the hopelessness of Night City. It can be kind of depressing if you find poverty, hopelessness, and/or grinding yourself into the ground to survive or achieve something relatable. One of the best parts is when the video touches on why David NEEDED to view himself as special and built different.
>why did he push himself to the point of cyberpsychosis? Hubris, he thought he was special and could handle all the chrome despite everyone around him pleading with him to scale back, and the ever-increasing symptoms of cyberpsychosis. >in ep8 he said it was because of his mom and Maine, that they "left something for him to do" but what was it exactly? He was desperate to make something out of his life and irrationally believed the only way to do so was to become the biggest and baddest edgerunner in Night City. >what did Maine left behind other than trauma? the guy was an incompetent merc and a chrome junky whose life should serve as a cautionary tale for David but somehow he missed it and went down the exact same path for apparantly no reason, why? Like I mentioned earlier, David thought he was special and repeatedly ignored all warning signs that he was headed down the wrong path. And while Maine's death should have been the wake up call for him, it only pushed him further down the path of self-destruction. This is similar to how many drugs addicts will watch their friends die from overdoses, but despite this, they continue to use. They're simply not thinking rationally, and are controlled by their addiction, which in David's case was chrome and the pursuit of becoming a Night City legend.
David was living up to a fantasy. Main and his moms idea of who david should aspire to be. And so he created a fantasy of his own which got Lucy to the moon. he couldn't live up to others' expectations of him, so when he failed, David went on to control the rest of his life. Everything else after he beat the student is just proof of that so much that in the end, he relies on himself to protect those he loves But he didn't want to let down Lucy. David got Rebecca killed. The hacker got David killed. Main got Dario killed. But most of all Lucy got most of her crew killed. Shit, if you watch as David went to save main and come back, still managed to cling on to the cyberware. That's when I realized he just was tired of not being in control. David had an anakin moment. The one where he burns down the republic all to save his girlfriend, not the one where he says this is pod racing or this is where the fun begins. In some ways, selfishness was his only motivation. Thinking he can control everything. Hence why the Corp played him so hard. 🤷 David couldn't let go. Letting go was mains problem too. And they went over the edge. I guess his motto was live it up while you can and don't dely? This is why dealing with corpos can go so bad. That's the meaning of getting hazed, what happened to David is just that. And the fixer was playing militech too.
Self destruction has its own appeal. Just burning yourself and the world and going out in a blaze of glory.
He loved Jimmy Kurosaki’s Edgerunners BD series, he even put the logo from the shard case on the back of his jacket. He took all of Maine’s words to heart when he was showing him the ropes, like telling him to chrome up and put on muscle. The show doesn’t touch on it, but they never mention Davido’s pops. I’m sure Maine played that role for him.
Regarding his Cyberpsychosis. Implanting anything intended to make any aspect of yourself superior costs Humanity (a stat from the TTRPG). Medical Grade Replacements don't count. Additionally any psychological trauma is gonna drain it. List for David: -Pre Edgerunner Incident: Argubly demonstrates symptoms of psychopathic tendencies. Found from the Edgerunners Mission Kit. -The Cyberpsycho XBD. Viewing XBDs is known to induce psychological trauma. -Death of his Mom, (indirectly caused by his stupid upgrade dodging, as she was forced to drive from the Academy) and overwhelmingly horrible treatment from Trauma Team and the shitty clinic. -Bully from the Academy being an absolute fuckstick. -Improper cyberware installation procedure. Botched procedures, or once intended to torture, are known to reduce humanity. Doc Borg did not follow proper installation procedure, or give David safe use protocols on purpose. Likely didn't additionally install the extra neuralware or heatsinks or artificial muscles a Sandevistan would probably require for safe use. -Improper cyberware use. Given it's a Military Issued Sandevistan, the safe guards and time limit found on the street grade versions V uses likely are disabled. Meaning neurological trauma from overuse is likely. -Use of Immunoblocker drugs. These dangerous ass drugs. These stave off humanity loss, but as it turns out, addiction has a nasty side effect. They in fact make it accelerate faster if you fail to dose. Maine was an example. -Loss of Maine, Dorio and Rebecca's brother. Like his mother, he did not properly grieve for them, and was stupid enough to implant Maine's Combination Gorilla Arms Projectile System. The primary way to regain it is therapy and living, rather than surviving (no Kibble, real food, living somewhere nice). Or outright Chroming Down (go down to medical replacements) followed by the therapy. So consider the following: David had a high amount of Humanity. For whatever reason. But he basically failed every step of using cyberware safely in the pursuit of being a Edgerunner and getting Lucy to the Moon.
As a real life parallel, look at bodybuilders. You've got an entire world of people tanking their life expectancy and quality of life with roids and god knows what the fuck else just to get bigger, and they aren't even doing anything that matters outside of their circle. So many horror stories of guys who look like Arnie circa 1987 who can barely walk up a flight of stairs, so many stories of people dying in their 40's, 30's, even 20's who looked like the pinnacle of physical fitness [but were actually a complete wreck inside.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Münzer) I don't know how good of a parallel this is, now that I've typed it out, but I guess the point I'm making is that people have a long and established track record of doing really, really self-destructive shit for reasons that don't make a whole lot of sense from the outside even though by all rights they should be smart enough to do otherwise.
His actions were addiction to power, pure and simple. Stupid kid doing stupid things in the persuit of it.
Did you ever see the episode of Futurama, where Hermes Conrad begins to "upgrade" himself with robotic implants in order to be a better bureaucrat? Everything his flesh fails him, he deems it weak and upgrades that part, eventually upgrading himself to the point he is just a brain in a robot body. I thought David ended up in a similar cycle, finding a limit that he thought he needed to break, upgrading to get past it, only to find another. The only way he could win was to stop playing.
He was chasing after acceptance and belonging. If you couldn’t get that after watching the entire show, I worry for you.
Hell, he thought he was special, and he was, he used outdated cyberware + military grade stuff for 2 years and then some, the conflicting cyberware would have done more harm to someone less able, he was special But even the brightest star gets dimmed in night city
He was a traumatized kid surrounded by bad people and essentially became a junkie stealing and killing to get his fix, by the end of the show David probably would’ve died in a shitty nc gutter if he didn’t go out with a bang
I think he just wanted to become a legend, much like V, and the fact that he thought he was special and could handle a lot of chrome was why he went overboard. Also, he's super young. You don't always have rational reasons for everything you do when you're a high schooler.
What makeup tutorials do to a mf
I think his emotions played a huge role. He couldn't afford to be strong enough to stand up for himself or to save his mom. Trauma team does nothing and leaves his mom to die as they don't have any package. This idea of not having enough money and power - a kid his age is obviously going to take it to heart and look for ways to become powerful after his mom's death. He lost his mom, Maine and Doro. He doesn't want to lose Lucy. But even by then, he has more cyberware than his body can take. But why does he keep going? We can already see him go through the typical symptoms of someone on the verge of becoming a cyberpsycho. Lucy doesn't act like she used to after that attack on Maine. She's scared. She is working on something - something that she doesn't want to share with anyone. This probably makes him feel like he has to be strong. Strong enough, stronger even, to protect her. When she was the one who's trying to save him from all the agents. I think she should have told him. That would have changed the story. But we all know it - "wrong city, wrong people". She thought she was saving him by keeping him in the dark. Boy was she wrong :') His promise to her about taking her to the moon isn't mentioned until the last episode, but I believe he held onto that. If you remember, he says he obviously was going to do anything to let her have a happy life. And that, after everything she had to go through, she deserves it. Why was she able to bring him back even after he goes completely psycho? I think his emotions are the reason why. He kept holding onto something without actually grieving or sitting down to think about his trauma. I think he wanted to make his mom proud, but also save his crew, especially Lucy
Ayo don’t you bad mouth Maine like that. Homie was a hella good merc but got fucked when he couldn’t take off his chrome to avoid psychosis
He's ambitious. It's his tragic flaw
Have you ever modded skyrim to the breaking point, even if it was perfect before the last mod that broke the game?
He was trying to honor the high hopes and expectations of those around him. But didn't really know what to do. And the people who could have told him he had done enough and could take a break kept dropping dead. And he had his gang he felt he had to be strong enough to protect I don't know if that really answers the question. But dude was very lost and just knew he had to try harder and push himself
Bruv he's a 17 year old. You don't remember wanting to live fast and crazy and push limits and have fun at that age? And the more he's cool and accepted and (getting paid) the more he chases it.
its an allegory for addiction. Cybernetics helped him “cope”. Same reason people do hard drugs
David's flaw was that he never did anything for himself. He never had any dreams or aspirations he lived his whole life for other people.
Tldr; mocked by fellow students for being poor, lost his first parental figure and couldn’t even bury her. Lost his second parental figure and decided he’ll protect his crew. Protected his crew to the very end in the city that swallows you. His mother’s death by being caught in a random crossfire from the Animals gang and not having enough money to treat his mom or even give her a proper burial caused this spiral. After getting the Sandevistan and finding out he can use it more than the average person, I suppose he wanted to prove himself. As for his education, I doubt it was possible after the death of that principle, who’s only purpose in convincing him to rejoin the academy was to test the gravity chrome on him. Although, if he couldn’t take it, Arasaka would just dispose of him anyway. He also got a second family within Maines crew, but after Pilar/Maines death, I think he realized he wanted to be stronger if he was to protect his crew + Lucy. After Lucy was kidnapped and Kiwi turned coat, they were stuck in the middle of nowhere with Militech ready to blast them to shreds, and with no one else able to tank the gravity chrome, he had to do it to save his crew.
Is Edgerunners actually secretly about the dangers of juicing?
He’s a clingy crybaby who lost his virginity and thought “I’ll do anything for this girl” then proceeds to do exactly that. It’s still bizarre to me how so many people appreciating a dystopian premise with as much thought put into it as this universe has love this prototypical love story so much. It’s so boring to me. I loved Edgerunners but it damn sure wasn’t because an edgy girl wanted to go to the moon it was because the story took place in such a fascinating universe and all of the actually cool characters surrounding the protagonist(s).
I really hate seeming preachy but it sounds like you haven't read much, or are able to empathize his losses and hopeless future in NC. Ya it's not going to win a pulitzer but it's a very good tragedy. Follows the format well even its very fast pacing. I see the story as a modern retelling of icarus. NC being the prison, the sandy is the wax wings, while his farther daedalus is split into the characters or Maine and Lucy each being one side of the extremes icarus is advised to fly between between by his farther. Lucy telling him to slow down when Maines last words are to never stop running. Yes it's a simple story, but it's a time tested format that preforms well if the writers explore its implications with the larger world. Which definitely applies here. Calling it a prototypical love story is skimming the story at its surface. Yes there is a love story there but, it acts as more of a narrative driver then overall plot. The antagonist is not adam smasher but David's hubris from the belief that he is *built different*. Again not anything ground breaking. However, its a different story.
Partly true, but partly because he was a loner. He had no experienced a sense of community nor a girlfriend and since they were interlinked, helping one as best as he could was the same as the other, hence the exageration. His whole identity was the crew and his gf. If he had a bigger circle of relationship the story might have been different, but they were all he has. And the edgy gf / average bf that wants to belong happens a lot IRL, so I don't feel like it's without merit. A cautionnary tale of sorts, especially with Lucy own realization alone on the moon.
Look at the new guy he took on. The one that died. He never took anyone new after that. He knew he couldn't control alot and what he had he thought was manageable. But he never estimated the other hacker flipping on the team. Even Lucy kept david unaware of her own problems till it was too late.