App Revisions

[evo_lution]

Unfortunately, the writing and pacing in Generator Rex is so consistently poor that there aren’t necessarily canon explanations for some of the things you asked for. They don't give enough weight to things (like death) and character relations develop in strange spurts. It also seems to me as an analytical viewer that they rearranged the timeline in several instances to suit their own needs.

Generator Rex made the mistake of maintaining a target age group of ten to fourteen year olds and then not trusting their audience to be able to handle the dark themes and body horror they continuously pumped into the show. In order to keep things from coming off as too grimdark, they simply never focus on the broader picture and any time things are acknowledged, they either play it off as a joke or brush it off entirely. Take “Plague” for example-- thousands if not millions of people likely died in automobile accidents, others by drowning, and others by airplane crashes or factory accidents. The show acknowledges this fact with the “spitting on a wildfire” line, but after that, nothing. No deathtoll is announced, there’s no minute of silence, nothing.

THAT SAID: actually having to deal with the consequences of psychological horror themes is the whole reason I want to play him in AX in the first place, so I’m happy to give headcanon to help fill in some of the the blanks!

For the first 10 years of his life, Rex was raised by genius humanitarians. His parents’ dream was to improve the world by eradicating disease-- all disease. The nanites that they were developing could heal humans, animals, and and plants. Their technology would have bolstered crops worldwide and ended hunger. They were idealists, optimists, and were not in the business to make money. Rex grew up surrounded by science and dreams.

Even though he suffered from amnesia after the lab explosion, his parents’ attitudes left an impression on him. Throughout the show, Rex never bemoans his powers as a curse, even when the very people he saves reject him, even when his boss refers to him as an EVO freak. Rex unshakingly believes that actions determine whether or not you’re a good person, and never stops striving to prove that he is, in fact, good.

In the episode "Promises, Promises" which contains the origins of Rex joining Providence, Six finds Rex in an evacuated portion of the city after a major battle. When confronted with a big ass EVO, Six tells Rex to run and engages it. It becomes clear a few seconds in that Six isn’t going to win this particular fight, and a distressed Rex turns back to help him. With a futile ten year old wail of “Leave him alone” and a punch that does little more than make contact, Rex managed to heal the offending EVO on instinct, without any idea that he had the power to do so. Helping people was instinctive for him-- and as he grew older and more skilled with his powers, his drive to help people only went up.

Within the same episode, a field agent attempts to have a heavily sedated Rex microscopically dissected (Providence’s early-- and fatal-- method of studying EVOs) with the full knowledge that Rex is the cure. With Six and Doctor Holiday’s interference, Rex is extracted from the test chamber before this can happen.

(I’m gonna take a minute to be analytical again about the GR timeline because this episode is a pivotal split in how Holiday and Six are portrayed in the show. Before this episode, Six is pretty damn cold and forever unamused by Rex’s antics. He stands as a shadow ready to take Rex out if he seems like he’s losing control. Holiday’s interest in Rex is a mix of scientific wonder, and to a much lesser degree, concern for him as a person. She makes the case that he shouldn’t be treated like a tool, but as a teenager-- but all of her arguments imply that keeping Rex happy will make him a more effective tool. So, for the first season, they’re kind of assholes. BUT this flashback episode retcons it such that they’re both concerned with him as a person first and foremost, and from this episode on, that’s how they’re both written. The CR that is slowly built through the first season is sort of nullified by this episode. It was a dumb writing decision on their part. Why don’t Holiday and Six appreciate him for the kawaii ass kid he is after interacting with him for FIVE FUCKING YEARS prior to the pilot? We just dont know.

In order to play him consistently, I’m going to downplay a lot of their early writing for consistency’s sake. ie: Holiday’s scientific interest in Rex sometimes overshadows her interest in him as a person and Six’s distrust of Rex in the field stems from the fact that Rex didn’t do fieldwork in those five years, and there’s a very real possibility that he’ll lose control of himself during it. Six oversaw Rex’s training for fieldwork, but didn’t approve him for it. Rex got sick of waiting for permission, broke out of Providence, and began fighting on his own, afterall. )

The reasons that Rex sticks with Providence even though the vast majority of people in it treat him like garbage is because:

-He views Six and Holiday as improvised parental figures. Six is distant and stoic and an amazing fighter. Rex looks up to him but doesn’t necessarily try to emulate him. Holiday is nurturing, albeit in a “Your vitals are all over the place, are you okay” kind of way. They make up a fucked up sort of family unit, and without them Rex literally has no one.

-Six promised to use Providence resources to try and figure out who he really is. Providence is the best chance he has of learning his origins and potentially reuniting with his real family.

-A sense of duty. Even when Rex leaves Providence on his improvised vacations, he still fights and cures EVOs, even though he knows that will make him easier to find. Standing idly by isn’t in his nature. Although the idea of permanently leaving Providence crosses his mind, he acknowledges that they have resources, technology, and are first responders when it comes to worldwide EVO threats. Rex would have to stay constantly vigilant to worldwide news in order to be there to help. Going back to Providence and dicking around until an assignment is issued is a whole lot less stress!

Re: the emotional component to Rex’s powers
(This comes up several times early on in the show and is resolved within a few episodes, but once again, it’s something that I want to explore within a horror setting, which is why I initially mentioned it on the app.)

When Rex enters the field for the first time, he’s having fun kicking ass up until Six shows up on the scene. At this point, his confidence wavers and his powers fail. He’s so worried about messing up in front of Six that he… well. Messes up in front of Six. Six harshly orders him to retreat, which he refuses to do, but he still can’t seem to get his powers right. Holiday yells at Six to back off/be more encouraging which he does-- and lo and behold, a simple “You know how to do this, Kid” is the little boost of confidence Rex needs to function properly.

In a later episode, Van Kleiss has Rex restrained and is picking him apart verbally-- that Providence is using him, that no one cares about him, that he’s useless-- and when he starts to believe that he’s hard-pressed to summon up a single robotic hand to get himself out of the jam. It isn’t until Bobo and Noah bust in on the scene that he remembers that there are people that care, and that those people are worth protecting. He has no problem busting out after that.

It’s interesting to note that Rex’s ability to heal EVOs is the solution to 99% of the conflict in the entire show. Throwing him into a setting where his powers aren’t the be-all-end-all cure has the potential to splinter his confidence anew.

Re: Amnesia
There isn't a lot of focus on Rex's amnesia. The writers used it as a tool to keep the audience in the dark about Rex's parents/the origins of the nanite project/Van Kleiss's role in all of it. Rex acknowledges his amnesia is in the flashback episode when he realizes that he has it and asks Six to help him find his origins, but for the rest of the show, he's fairly nonchalant about the whole thing. You get the feeling that in those five years he made peace with the fact that Providence had zero leads. For example: when he tells Noah about his amnesia he avoids any pitying looks with the joke "You know the best thing about amnesia? ...I forgot."