spicer-motherfucking-lovejoy:

expositionfairy:

Ah, Clu.  Launcher of a thousand fics.  Memetic Molester.  Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. 

In the film, and in Betrayal, Clu actually has a surprising amount of depth to him for a guy Disney presented to us as Cyber-Hitler.  He does terrible, terrible things to just about everyone around him, but underneath all that villainy all he wants is to fulfill his directive and to be loved and appreciated by his creator and his people.  He never comes off as being evil for the sake of evil, and it wasn’t long before the fandom was on that shit like Donkey Kong, producing some truly excellent fanworks exploring these aspects of his character.

…aaaand then there’s Tron: Evolution.

Sympathetic Villain?  ROFL, Program please.  Clu in Evolution is a gloating, moustache-twirling, Evil-League-of-Evil candidate sociopathic bastard.  He casually lies to everyone he talks to.  He sets Jalen up, corrupts him in a horrific, painful manner that arguably puts what he does to Tron to shame, uses him to pin the whole debacle on the ISOs, and then gloats about it all to poor Radia before having Abraxas gut her with his disc.  He’s clearly enjoying every minute of it, too; you can practically hear the “MWA-HA-HA!” in his dialogue toward the end of the game.

So, those of you who’ve played Evolution (or watched it on Youtube), I’m curious…what’re your thoughts on his portrayal in the game, and how do you work with it (or not) in your personal headcanons?

i am keeping this curt because i’ve ranted about clu before but

i am all for what i have seen of his evo self which i still need to play through/watch a play-through of augh

i just can’t seem to find the hurt woobie aspect of his character to be that overarching

by the time legacy rolls around, it’s bubbling to the surface a little, but OH MAN

whatever ‘forgotten son complex’ he’s had has been warped and distorted over 1000 years into a vicious, seething, spiteful anger

which is why he kicked flynn

clu is more cold, brutal, and needlessly sadistic than sark could ever hope to be

sorry guys erm

Reblogging this one, too, because you also have many good points.

I think Clu’s bitterness has overcome his desire to be accepted by daddy when we see him in Legacy. Yes, this is partially demonstrated by him kicking Kevin.

On that same note, it makes me sympathize with Clu even more- because it took Kevin so goddamn long to figure out that Clu wasn’t just upset about the ISOs, that there was something inherently sour about their relationship with one another. And even after Clu kicks him, Kevin’s words are a kick right back, because even after apologizing to Clu and attempting to make up for the things he’d done, he still didn’t get it.

Way to go, Kevin. If I were Clu, I would have given up on their relationship after all that time, too. In fact, I’m almost impressed by that reaction, because it shows so much independence. He has established that he doesn’t need Kevin anymore- not just in the existential sense, but also in an emotional sense. At least he’s not the Zuko that takes three goddamn seasons to realise that daddy doesn’t love you and nothing you do will change that.