.:2B or not to [B]e:. [SPOILERS]

[Min Nohara]

Well, this is not about the ending in fact. The title is just decorational.

What I want to discuss here is about 2B's actual designation.

2B series starts off as droids completely designed for battlefield-close ranged combat, with their ability to kill other YoRHa units restricted. Unlike the 2E series, which are designed to KoS (Kill on Sight) anything that is considered a threat to YoRHa (either to find out their mischievous plans or desertors/traitors), which means she has the ability to kill YoRHas unrestricted..

Still don't getting it...? All right, I'll explain further...

2B grieves about killing 9S over and over and over as he kept finding out about what happened to humans and why aliens were extinct waaay time before. Does not hesitate on killing YoRHa desertors on-command along 9S. They wont kill Resistance desertors, as they were not told to interfere on the Resistance's internal conflicts, nor YoRHa has anything to do with them (Pascal's Village). She doesn't kill the Resistance member and the missing YoRHa unit upon giving them the YoRHa intel chips (this, decision made by the player, no matter what you choose, the outcome will be the same and cannot be avoided).

With that said, killing virus-infected units shouldn't be a bother for 2B, or actually, 2E, right?
Why did she hesitate... or couldn't kill them? Her systems didn't allow her attacking YoRHa units
so she needed 9S's hacking skills to get rid of them. But why, if 2E were simply made capable to destroy YoRHas?

This, makes me think 2B must have been "born" on a totally different body and raised to be a by-the-book android, without questioning chain of command, unlike the rest, which seems to show emotions/feelings at times (I think O60 is lesbian, but we're talking about robots...).

Why?

Because Memory Data can be transferred to a different body (21O transferring her memory to a B/E unit, totally making her a treath on the downside if something goes wrong). This making 2B accepting a decision that would totally have her gun-pointed at some point before the events of Automata, and forcibly accept her new designation as a 2E rather than a 2B, while 2B being just a nickname. And forcibly installing a brain-washing, or subconcious in her memory that would let her execute the traitor unit.

Why do I think so?

They could have this function working as a subconcious being triggered in something like the "Order 66", and once they realize what they've done, they can't live and bear with it anymore, like 2B or the red-haired Resistance member (Amnesia sidequest). Could also 2B have been forced to do the dirty work she didn't wanted to do in the first place?

Could that be also possibly be why the prototype A2 decided to be a desertor knowing all the risks?

A2 is a desertor because she knew the Command betrayed everyone.

What kind of betrayal, though...? She learned way later the truth, and the untold truth.
Which leads me to believe YoRHa wanted to apply this mindtrick on her, but since she seems in some way more advanced and much more self-aware (being a slacker, lazy bum in training despite orders but being a total weapon master in battleground), they decided to build the newer units with the mindtrick already on-board to not let that happen again and gain control over them. That would explain why most of the droids wears blindfolds or masks (to show submissiveness to the Command). And why Jackass is a... Jackass.

Maybe I'm just overthinking and adding stuff of my own.

[=No_Soul=]

Dude O60 is a total lesbian

[Prolixus]

Originally posted by JINRUI NI EIKO ARI!:

Maybe I'm just overthinking and adding stuff of my own.

Sounds about right.

I don't think "E" units had the ability (or rather, permission) to kill each YoRHa unit on sight who they identified as a threat to YoRHa. As far as I know, this (or something that is even remotely resembling) was never stated in the game. "E" units executed other YoRHa members if they got the order to do so. They were "E" units because they were designed to be even able to kill other YoRHA units and in my opinion being an "E" doesn't neccessarily mean that you can kill other YoRHa unrestricted, it means that you are powerful enough to cut down your kind too if it comes to that. When "E" units got their orders to kill other YoRHa member, the YoRHa command must have cleared the restriction against that specific YoRHa member. Desertors obviosuly weren't YoRHa anymore so the moment they got the "label" offically they basically became free-to-kill by other YoRHa units.

2B had orders to kill 9S if he discovered the truth (I think 2B didn't even know what that truth was, she just followed her orders every time she killed 9S), so the "being restricted" problem clearly couldn't arise.

The blindfolds are technical visors basically. I don't know exactly where this info did come from, but it was an official source. You can look up for yourself if you want.

Regarding A2: Command used A2 and her squadmates as guinea pigs. They were deployed to a mission that was secretly planned as a failure from the very start. The point wasn't them to accomplish their mission objectives, in reality, they were merely sent down to fight against machines in really tough and hopeless situations so that command could record and gather valuable data through their experiences. When YoRHa command got what they wanted, A2 and her squad was abandoned and was left to die without sending the requested reinforcements. From her squad only A2 survived and having realized the truth she became a desertor. This is the betrayal she was referring to. YoRHa command later used this data in the design of newer YoRHa models, like 2B or 9S. This story was told in the YoRHa stage play, written by Yoko Taro so it's basically canon and Anemone memories revealed part of it as well.

[Epithet Lost]

Command probably has the authority to remove the no friendly fire restriction, as they did in the YoRHa betrayer mission. At the beginning of playthrough 3 2B and 9S' communication from command were cut off, so they couldn't get authrized to attack infected units.

And 2B totally does show emotions at times; like she said "some suppress their emtion better than others".