Frontline volume 4 info

[Pandonetho]

No clue about Kern, but he certainly got shot at by Nero.

Well, certain resoc'd individuals aren't entirely dark and evil. Marcus Wright in Firstborn was the nicest guy in the crew, despite being a mass murderer and cannibal.

Marcus Wright was the nicest guy because he GOT resoc'd. After the resocialization was done, he wasn't a nice guy anymore.

[Kimera757]

Same thing with Emily Swallow, went from serial killer to nice person

Some characters don't deserve to be resoc'd, eg Jin-ho Lim and Ardo Melnikov, but said characters almost certainly couldn't become reapers anyway.

I have to wonder how the Confederacy chose people to be resoc'd. Quite a few people who should have been resoc'd ended up not undergoing the process. I guess if you volunteered, they wouldn't impose it.

[l33telboi]

I don't mind this depiction of the Reapers. Sure, they're supposed to be hyper-aggressive and stuff, but to be effective soldiers they also need to have some control over what they're doing. They can't just go "RAGE!" and start shooting randomly the second someone takes off their leash. They’d be pretty horrible soldiers if they did.

As we saw in the last Frontline issue, they’re quite capable of restraining themselves, or at least focusing their aggression in the right direction (in that case, killing Zerglings while protecting the psychic kid, as they’d been ordered to).

Quite a few people who should have been resoc'd ended up not undergoing the process.

Thinking about someone specific? The Terrans only seem to resoc people who otherwise wouldn't become willing members of the military, like criminals and other unwanted (or not needed) people.

[Kimera757]

Thinking about someone specific?

Esmerelda Ndoci.

She was a serial killer who never got caught. She married a member of the Old Families, and when he died she joined the military. Between her high social status and her voluntary enlistment, they probably didn't resoc her. Also, they didn't know about her being a serial killer. They really should test such obviously unstable people, though. The rest of her team seems to be as nuts, too.

[LordArreat15]

This might another explanation why reapers don't last no more than six months. They're simply criminals who backstabbing each other when one don't follow another's way etc. Tho I don't how the reapers in vol 3 in War-Torn behave sense I haven't been able get a look at 3 yet.

[l33telboi]

Esmerelda Ndoci.

She was a serial killer who never got caught. She married a member of the Old Families, and when he died she joined the military. Between her high social status and her voluntary enlistment, they probably didn't resoc her. Also, they didn't know about her being a serial killer. They really should test such obviously unstable people, though. The rest of her team seems to be as nuts, too.

Well, if they didn't know about her being a serial killer then it's pretty hard to throw her into the slammer because of those crimes, or forcibly resoc her.

But yeah, I'd say that it'd be pretty pointless to resoc people who didn't need any resoccing in the first place. There are, after all, drawbacks in the process. Since she volunteered they probably figured that that's that. Also, the Annihilators were supposedly quite good at what they were doing, possibly part of some special forces branch. At least that's how I always figured they got access to stuff normal marines didn't have (cloakable dropship and weapons built into the suits.) If that's the case then I can easily see Confederate higher-ups looking between their fingers when it came to their somewhat ruthless tactics (like killing innocent civilians just because they came a little too close to a combat zone).

[Kimera757]

But yeah, I'd say that it'd be pretty pointless to resoc people who didn't need any resoccing in the first place. There are, after all, drawbacks in the process.

There's a few positives though, like enforced loyalty. In Melnikov's case, he had no intention of joining the marines. Alas, he lived on some unimportant planet, so he was kidnapped and pretty much literally brain-washed.

He was given a milder version so he could keep at least some initiative. (In fact, despite the harsh version Jin-ho Lim got, he could keep some initiative too.)