Psycho Prototype: Difference between revisions

So, you've got a [[Super Soldier]] program, perhaps an [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI research]] initiative, an organization that has access to all sorts of [[Phlebotinum]] goodness for its operatives, or some other [[For Science!|cutting edge experiment]] designed to [[Scale of Scientific Sins|alter]] or [[Create Life]].

Maybe [[Ghostbusters|the streams crossed]], the [[Super Serum]] is actually of the [[Psycho Serum|Psycho]] or [[Toxic Phlebotinum|Toxic]] flavors, the janitor [[Bullying a Dragon|tossed rotten tomatoes at it]], the psych evaluations weren't [[Critical Psychoanalysis Failure|as rigorous]] as they should have been, or an honest to goodness [[Didn't See That Coming|unforeseen complication]] happened during Alpha Testing (if there was any, that is). Whatever the case, the experiment has [[Gone Horribly Wrong]] and the first and eldest of a nascent [[The Chosen Many|Chosen Many]] has gone rogue [[Phlebotinum Rebel|(and not in the good way)]], is evil, and likely wants to kill its makers ''and'' younger siblings.

This tends to happen ''very'' frequently to projects started by altogether good conspiracies who want to [[Mass Super -Empowering Event|create an army of heroes]]. By the time they get around to perfecting the process and the hero undergoes it, "big brother" will show up and either [[Circling Monologue|"offer"]] to form a [[Secret Project Refugee Family]] after killing their "parents"... or kill him dead if he refuses. Or if he agrees. Inevitably, any previous version of a hero who reappears is invariably evil.

Contrast [[Evil Knockoff]], [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]. Parent Trope of [[Beta Test Baddie]]. See also [[Flawed Prototype]] and [[The Paragon Always Rebels]].

* In the ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' [[Prequel]] ''Idolo'', the Metatron used to power the [[Humongous Mecha|Orbital Frame]] is a slow acting, [[Artifact of Doom|sentient]] [[Psycho Serum]]. It turns the pilot, Radium Levans, into a hateful and destructive force, while enabling him to use Idolo's powers to their destructive apex.

* ''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'' originally inverted this trope, with a number of his villains created by attempts to duplicate his Super Soldier Serum. Eventually, Protocide was introduced via [[Retcon]], thereby playing this trope straight.

* Pretty much everyone in the [[Marvel|Weapon Plus]] programme except [[Wolverine Publicity|Wolverine]] and [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] qualifies. Almost without fail they were super-villains, and each was the first, and often only, in their generation of the programme.

* Valentine Romanov, eldest brother of ''[[Nikolai Dante]]'', was the first Romanov to be bonded with a weapons crest. Unfortunately, his was a prototype which caused [[Body Horror|massive scarring, making him resemble a metallic skeleton]] along with some ''major'' [[Sanity Slippage]].

* While Ash the android didn't technically go insane in ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Alien]]'', it did engage in homicidal behavior, unlike the more "stable" later version represented by Bishop in ''[[Aliens]]''. Also, Ash "malfunctioning" is merely the official explanation to cover up that {{spoiler|he was fulfilling his mission to get the Xenomorph back to Earth without the interference of the crew}}.

* It turns out that Johann Schmidt/Red Skull in ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger]]'' was this compared to Captain America, receiving the same serum. It gave him more power, but it is implied to have also driven him insane and deformed him as a result.

** In the third book in the series, "Everfree", one of the {{spoiler|thawed-out Gedaechtnis employees admits to tampering with Mercutio's DNA to make him more dominant, because he was the only pure white subject.}}

* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Otherland]]'' series, Mr. Sellars' backstory involves a secret military program to develop [[Powered Armor]] - one of the soldiers being trained for the program was mentally unstable and went on a psychotic rampage in a prototype suit, destroying billions of dollars of equipment and killing nearly all of his fellow personnel. Sellars himself barely survived, with horribly disfiguring injuries. The project was supposedly scrapped as a result of this incident, though Sellars notes that modern combat gear incorporates similar technology, albeit in a less [[One -Man Army]] form.

* A textbook example of this trope occurs in the [[Dean Koontz]] novel Mr. Murder, even having the superhuman clone assassin named Alpha. It is explained that their attempts to make him asexual just resulted in him being extremely sexually frustrated, as well as homicidal.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* Sylar/Gabriel Grey in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' started out as this. He was [[My Hero Zero|Patient Zero]] to Dr. Chandra Suresh, and it's partly due to Gabriel's desire to prove to him that he was special that drove him to start killing people and taking their powers. However, later [[Retcon|RetCons]] have shown or implied that his [[Ax Crazy|Ax Craziness]] is also due to a couple other factors including [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|his ability]], [[In the Blood|his biological father]], and some pretty serious childhood trauma among other things. So the guy didn't exactly have the stablest psyche ''before'' encountering Dr. Chandra Suresh.

* Lore (prototype for Data) in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|ST:TNG]]''.

** ''Knight Rider'' sequels follow the KARR formula. In ''Team Knight Rider'' the TKR AI car prototype KRO went crazy because his driver was crazy. In ''Knight Rider 2008'' the second KITT had to face his own KARR predecessor which can transform to a robot. KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot), KRO (Knight Reformulation One) and KARR 2008 (Knight Auto-Cybernetic Roving Robotic-Exoskeleton) are all prototypes that went rogue.

* {{spoiler|Number One, "Cavil"}} from ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''.

{{quote| '''Vyvyan''': It's basically a ''cure''! For not being an ax-wielding homicidal maniac.}}

* ''[[Firefly]]'s'{{'}}s River Tam is the most advanced and successful version of the psychic assassins produced by the Academy, and while it isn't stated outright, both River and the methods used to create her have all the trappings of a prototype, including uncertain technology, unpredictable side effects, and crippling flaws. Naturally, River is also insane.

* Adam from [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]], an almost perfect version of this trope in fact. Very first thing he does when he awakes is to kill his creator.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' LOVES villains with this backstory.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'', talking to an NPC in the Empire's capital city will reveal that Kefka was the first [[Magitek]] [[Super Soldier|knight]] created by [[The Empire]], and he was driven insane by the process. (Luckily, they got it right with Celes.)

** Kuja from ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' is this in addition to a [[Flawed Prototype]] (albeit, ''intentionally'' flawed).

** ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' reveals that {{spoiler|''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Garland]]''}}, of all villains, was one. He was a [[Super Prototype]], too; his powers were once strong enough to defeat [[That One Boss|Omega]] and all the summoned beasts in his world.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Sephiroth was the prototype of the [[Mega Corp|Shinra]] program that would eventually develop [[Super Soldier|SOLDIER]]; while he was extremely well-behaved for a time, discovering the secrets behind his creation [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|drove him mad]] and turned him into the greatest threat to life the Planet had ever seen.

** ''FEAR'' oddly messes with this, the first prototype ({{spoiler|the pointman}}) is considered a failure, the second prototype ({{spoiler|Paxton Fettel}}) is the one who cause problems, but only with a little help from his mum.

* ''[[Killing Floor (Video Game)|Killing Floor]]'' the clot is basically a prototype clone of Kevin's dead son. It had all the natural traits of a zombie, aggressive, bloodthirsty and is practically cannibalistic.

* In ''[[StarcraftStarCraft II]]'', Spectres were a brief program run by Mengsk to create a new breed of more powerful psychic assassins, replacing the original Ghost units seen throughout ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]''. Nova, a Dominion-loyalist Ghost, claims the project was shut down and the Spectres imprisoned because they were psychotic killing machines.

** {{spoiler|However, if the player takes the "Breakout" mission, which has been stated to be the canonical mission, then they learn that Nova was basically lying and Spectres are no more prone to going mad than Ghosts are, if less. The real reason the project was abandoned was because the power-boost that made a Ghost into a Spectre let them blow out their [[Restraining Bolt|Restraining Bolts]]s.}}

* Alpha in ''[[MegamanMega Man Battle Network]] 3'' is the prototype of ''the Internet itself'' given form and AI.

* Proto Man, but only in the ''[[Mega Man (Animationanimation)|Mega Man]]'' animated series. In the games he's more of an [[Aloof Big Brother]]; he also has some kind of design flaw in his power plant or buster that can prove fatal, and means he has less health.

* Earl, Rusty's "older brother" from ''[[Big Guy and Rusty Thethe Boy Robot (Animationanimation)|Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot]]'' isn't exactly crazy, but his AI is woefully incomplete and he's a very angry kid. Basically, take [[Astro Boy|Atlas]], [[Full Metal Jacket|Gunnery Sargeant Hartmann]] and [[Rain Man]], put them in a blender and hit puree.

* Protoform X, from ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'': the [[Ax Crazy]] Rampage. He was created by Maximal Scientists (attempting to duplicate Starscream's annoying ability to not stay dead) as an immortal supersoldier. What they got was a psychotic killing machine that massacred them and the rest of the colony they were on. Also, [[Gone Horribly Right|he was an immortal supersoldier.]]

* XL from ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (Animation)|Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' was built before XR; XL had villainous inclinations.

* ''[[Robotboy (Animation)|Robotboy]]'' had Protoboy, the titular character's older brother who was captured and turned into an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] by Dr. Kamikazi. He would go to various lengths to attempt to prove he's Professor Moshimo's best invention/kill him, including [[Grand Theft Me|switching his motherboard with his brother]] so he can get close to Moshimo and later threatening to kill Moshimo in a robot factory by pouring molten titanium on him unless Robotgirl offers to take his place. While he had a penchant for coming back to life after being blown up he's supposedly [[Killed Off for Real]] in the aformentionedaforementioned factory.

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