The Lost Storyline of T-Bug | Fiction Forensics | Cyberpunk 2077 Explained

In today's video, we're taking a trip to the morgue that is Cyberpunk 2077's cut content. T-Bug is a character that's stirred up a lot of theories over the years, and I genuinely believe it's because you can still see the bumps of her prior storyline peeking through the (lack of) polish. On top of discussing a potential theory of who T-Bug was originally supposed to be, we'll be analyzing the character she became for the final game.
But, on top of it all, this essay is intended to emphasize the importance of perhaps the most boring stage of the creative process... the dreaded editing/revision stage. Ew. LOL. I love Cyberpunk 2077, but no amount of extra polish on its story would be a bad thing.
I'm overall sad that T-Bug never got be a full-fledged character of her own. She's already very interesting, so it's just a shame that she got lost so soon.
Please share your theories about T-Bug below! I would love to hear them. Also please debunk mine if you're interested, I know you guys can come up with something better than I did!
Thank you so much for watching! See you in the next one, guys. BYEEEEEEEE!
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[@lydiscott]

Apologies for the saw noise in the background sometimes lmao I’m neighbours with a workshop 😂

[@ChrisMcCarroll]

its almost if you work in Night City

[@miekamoore]

That's just somebody getting chromed up downstairs

[@Ghostie.]

What?! I can't hear you over the buzz saws!!

[@ticijevish]

Fun fact: the first chainsaw was invented as a tool for caesarian deliveries. I think real-life ripperdocs would definitely use chainsaws on a daily basis.

[@vortraz2054]

"Some brothers from Pacifica got back to me. Told me to stop looking." Dex on the subject of looking for the voodoos. By voodoo standards thats being on speaking terms.

[@madelynnk9727]

I believe T-Bug was killed by a Demon. According to the tabletop RPG, "Demons are a form of Black ICE with a limited Artificial Intelligence" . They can use the "zap" ability to defend itself within the architecture. I guarantee the Konpeki subnet was littered with all sorts of AI who sit waiting for netrunners. I think the devs changed her fate to show players how dangerous the net can be. As V, you don't really do real netrunning, and so if you don't play the tabletop game you might not understand how it works.

[@lydiscott]

Ohhhh that makes a lot of sense!!!

[@Kaiomikelee]

Was literally about to comment this. We run Cyberpunk Red, and there are some programs that only hit other programs, while others hit the netrunner directly. T-Bug was hit by the latter. Also, we see this happen to a certain someone in Phantom Liberty too, although not via another netrunner. Their nervous system gets hit. But it's your brain that's jacked into the Net, and your nervous system via that, so "being fried" is an immediate death.

[@Quzxpon]

*Daemon. (Though I think demon and daemon are used interchangeable in the game) The word stems from ancient greek meaning (not an official definition) a benevolent entity or force that works in the lives of people in unseen ways. It's where we get our moden word "demon", but would've originally meant more of what our modern understanding of an angel is. Nowadays, a "daemon" is a computer program that handles background tasks. Much like the original greek idea. These programs, invented by some of the first computer scientists, were labelled "daemon" as a reference to the greek philosophy while also communicating their function. Still today you can see these programs running on modern computers. They often end with " d. " They're easier to find on computers running a Linux os. However, in the 80's and 90's, the time period where the cyberpunk genre was born, people's imagination of "the net" was still wild, and so in Cyberpunk 2077 we get these image's of half ghost, half a.i. malicious killing programs. Anyway. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[@alexhulea2735]

Konpeki had more than just Black Ice, but yes....she most likely got got by something from the system, if not the Dweller venting his anger at her and hitting her with a Dragon or a Killer. I'd expect Konpeki to have a Balron or Efreet at a minimum, given the kind of secrets they have, and the customers they host. For example, during the heist V and Jackie can see the mayor literally getting orders from Arasaka. On the tabletop, in RED at least, netrunning is a complex and involved activity, where getting out is the least of the runner's worries (programs can throw you out, thus allowing all the ICE you bypassed to give you a warm gift on your way out). it's definitely not the work of a few seconds like the mini-game V does.

[@spacechannelfiver]

@@Quzxpon As for the word’s history, programmers from MIT’s Project MAC coined the term daemon in 1963. The inspiration came from Maxwell’s demon, a thought experiment that can hypothetically break the second law of thermodynamics.

[@Drakescythe9]

I always got the vibe that T-Bug wasn't on the up-and-up w/ V and Jackie. She makes very clear that she isn't your friend during the Scav job. It's just a job to her, and you're the crew she was tasked with. She was looking to get ahead, but always on her terms.

[@dCa991]

Tbh I love the idea that she still cared about V and Jackie as a crew even though she didn’t really show it, and that the last thing she did was try to help them escape instead of cutting and running. Especially because she wasnt trying to get ahead, she was trying to leave night city completely. It’s a nice contrast to Dex trying to act like a buddy with V and Jackie while only being out for himself from the start.

[@smiley4995]

It felt like she wanted it to be that way however she grew attatched to them.

[@JoeyLegendd]

People don't have to be your friend in order to get a job doing without betraying you.

[@antonk.653]

I believe that T-Bug was just professional. She cared for her crewmates like a professional would. And she helped V and Jackie to escape because she didn't see her own demise coming. Who knows how she might have reacted if she knew that her synapses were going to be fried if she stayed with them.

[@easydayez]

T-Bug is part of Cyberspace she ditched her physical form she is in vacation but within the NET. Just like Rache Bartmoss the one who gave her this fail safe using the Matrix pill reference. She can take over Cyborgs however like a doll if she needs a physical forum. Project Orion goes into depth with this about this

[@jonathanruiz8723]

V randomly receives a shard in his apartment in act 2 titled “Greetings from Des Moines”. It reads “Jump in the urinal and stand on your head. I'm the one that's alive. You're all dead.” I always thought that was somewhat fitting for a T bug betrayal. Maybe she’s living her quiet life in Des Moines

[@egor102]

Or its a leftover from her orignial story.

[@jonathanjoestar3785]

I guess that makes sense. I only saw that recently so I thought it might have been Songbird

[@LarkAlrion]

Bug seemed very adamant on cutting ties. To send a message to a former colleague , however cryptic that message may be, seems out of character to me.

[@dfeelz1488]

ive always assumed it was one of Delamain's personalities

[@Myrathosghost]

Des Moines isnt in greece

[@shaquille.oatmeal2724]

you know it's bad and she was done dirty when for my first playthrough I literally thought her main role was to be an npc for the training tutorial

[@Carnefice]

It was

[@Mordaedil]

One detail I notice about T-Bug is that she is using a really ancient Cyberdeck, one similar we retrieve from Bartmoss, which is like seeing a hacker using a laptop PC from 1993 or something. She could be using it as a firewall addon or something, but it still adds some strange idea of her character being very fond of older technology for reliability.

[@null_0012]

That's a detail I've noticed as well. I dunno if they only had one cyberdeck prop/asset for the game, but I think it meshes well with her as a netrunner regardless. Plausible imo because IRL some businesses use very old computers (like floppy drive old lol) as a sort of airgap for their networks.

[@bebomac5]

I have a feeling Mr. Hands would really have appreciated and valued T. Bug.

[@lydiscott]

That would’ve been a cool team!

[@bismarck5537]

I also think that if Mr.Hands was the fixer for Konpeki Plaza Heist, it would have succeeded. He is very thorough and cautious. He would have considered all possibilities including Saburo’s involvement and made back up plans for every scenario. That said, he wouldn’t have worked with amateur mercs who are still very inexperienced for a gig of that scale.

[@ForestRaptor]

He wouldn't have because of just the lit. Shit storm that would follow such a heist

[@Foxxie0kun]

@@ForestRaptor I feel like Mr. Hands WOULD participate in it, even fully knowing what could happen if it went south, with proper contingencies in place to pin the fiasco on a rival or even just leave the mercs out to dry as if they were just REALLY lucky solos. After all, Mr. Hands is the only fixer in NC with any amount of anonymity intact. What would the burned mercs have on him? A nickname and no face or deets to spill. Heck, I could even see Hands putting the idea into Dex's head to take charge as the "real" fixer behind the job, just for another layer of separation.

[@Christopher_Roa]

Absolutely, Dexter was an incompetent prick who got back what he gave out.

[@monkeybone1080]

I think she was altered for the better. The key narrative of 2077, and one Evelyn herself tells us, is falling for the lie of Night City. The bigger you aim, the higher you fall. Be it the Relic heist, or the plot of Edgerunners. It's all quite well executed as everyone but V is all in with the heist, failure doesn't even cross their minds, yet several times V can voice uncertainty, having issues with the small details, and who is the only survivor? The one person with doubt. The one person who didn't buy fully into the lie. T bug's role seems cut down and small, but it all ties into the greater narrative of Night City and shows us that no one is above Night City, no matter how important they seem or how good they think they are.

[@steelfoe]

That Konpeki plaza heist just went so bad. It never was going to be successful. Reminded me of Reservoir Dogs.

[@lydiscott]

Yeahhh. Like, even if it had gone as planned, you can’t help but get this idea that nobody involved would be alive to celebrate it for long. 😬

[@Foxxie0kun]

@@lydiscott Honestly, a few things changing could have meant they could at least get back to the lobby without triggering any alarms. They walked in with a big suitcase, they're walking out with a big suitcase. The big slip was in their cover being a meeting with an Arasaka arms developer (Hajime Taki, if I remember right), whom could easily break their cover if they speak to anyone about their itinerary and schedule and it DOESN'T include meeting with Militech suits about a suitcase. Without Saburo getting killed (Such as even just Saburo saying his piece and leaving), there's a lot that could still go well enough to get them to the parking garage with minimal suspicion. The sad fact is, Saburo dying and Yorinobu putting the hotel on full lockdown got their full suite of Netrunners and ICE activated, as opposed to just the dweller, not to mention all the armed security flooding the place top to bottom. There's also the prevailing theory that Adam Smasher's full borg kit gave him full thermal and EM vision to see V and Jackie in the middle of that central pillar and he said nothing, probably to ensure Yori's cover of Saburo's actual cause of death would be believed.

[@NiccoH34db4ng]

Honestly it's the worst plan ever and Dex is probably one of the worst fixers around and Evelyn choose him because this whole heist idea is so stupid that no one would accept a mission like this.

[@somewhatnerdy8112]

I've always had the idea that the shard was cursed from the start, think about it, anyone and everyone involved in some way with the shard ends up dead. Saburo, dex, t bug, ..even v technically dies. Plus you can catch a line from Judy telling V that she told Evelyn to not take the job in the first place, that everything about it gave her bad vibes.

[@adamwolson631]

I feel that Arasaka wouldn't use Soul Killer. From people we know they use it on, they only use it on high value targets. During the heist, all they know about Bug is that it's some random runner, not anyone particularly important or notable.

[@lydiscott]

Totally agree.

[@nikiong66]

She was caught infiltrating the location where the Emperor of Arasaka was killed, thats more than enough to warrant the use of all measures Arasaka has on hand. Its not stated if they did, but theres no reason for them not to. I dont think the question is "would they have" - they would, she's a suspect in a high level murder. A more interesting question would Could they have? As far as we can see, soulkiller requires the physical body of the subject at the location where the soulkiller apparatus is, we see that with Jackie and "Johnny's Memories" but it is also possible that they had a net deployable version, since it's rumored that they have used it as a countermeasure towards hostile netrunners in dialog

[@TCM_Hutchie]

The heist makes the group into high value targets though. We know already that if you make the wrong choice about where to send Jackie's body, Arasaka will intervene, capture his body, and then attempt to use Soul Killer on it, and you can meet what's survived of his consciousness in Mikoshi later. No doubt if they're willing to do that to Jackie, they'd have done it to Bug as well. Maybe you're right though, that during the heist itself (notably before Saburo is killed) they sought only to kill the invaders as quickly as possible, and it was only later and in light of the death of an emperor that they thought to use Soul Killer to extract information from them.

[@Foxxie0kun]

@@TCM_Hutchie I feel like Soulkiller needs more prep and physical access to the body to utilize. I feel like once Bug was caught by all the freshly activated ICE and Daemons in the post-Lockdown Konpeki subnet, she was roasted to death by everything at once before she could even think to unplug. Her biggest mistake was unlocking that last door for V and Jackie AFTER lockdown started. If she'd unplugged the moment she knew Arasaka was booting all their security for the lockdown (Including active deployment of netrunners, ICE, and Daemons), she might have gotten away. Heck, V and Jackie were lucky that the netrunners and ICE didn't circumvent her attempt to unlock that door.

[@shelbybayer200]

They did use it once. On Johnny Silverhand

[@AdamSiuda]

I like TBug, people can say she wanted to betray V and Jackie and she is cold but i respect her for staying with the gang to the end, opening those doors. She could just bail out instantly after hearing news about death of Saburo, but she didnt, helped our heroes and payed the price for it. I also like Bug character as a reminder that anyone who wants to leave NC on their own terms will end badly.

[@antonk.653]

This was probably professionalism, too. She stayed because you are supposed to as a professional. Her death came very sudden and rather unexpected, she might have reacted differently if she forsaw her demise.

[@aljazslemc9569]

Given the explanation of t-bugs concept it sounds like her original design might've gotten spun off for maman brigitte. The animation for the promo trailer was most likely made way in advance, based on an early draft of a scene. And if they hadn't yet decided on the details, it would make sense that everyone involved with the mission would be present at the No Tell Motel unless specified otherwise.

[@lydiscott]

Excellent points! Gotta wonder how the plot got from a to z. Wonder what other storylines they had going on that they axed. Hmmm.

[@TheMecoolerest001]

@@lydiscott in the initial showings of the game you were able to choose a hero between Johnny Silverhand, Morgan Blackhand or Saburo Arasaka. The general consensus in the community was that you would have one of the three in your head depending on your choice. But then they cast Keanu Reeves and if you have Keanu Reeves you use Keanu Reeves. So Blackhand and Saburo stories got folded into Silverhand. Might be why we see him with the bomb in the final game when Blackhand was actually the one planting the bomb.

[@firstname4382]

keeping the same plot and adjusting the discrepancies to be Johnny ego tripping over his importance would be pretty great. they keep the black hand moments with johnny forcing himself into black hands shoes. typing this out, I realize it would have been pretty cool to have Johnny realize the truth of his death and memories. how unimportant he really is to arasaka, smasher, and the world would have been great.

[@TheMecoolerest001]

@@firstname4382 that seems to be what they did. Pondsmith, CDPR and even Alt in game all say his memories are BS. A good example is Samurai was broken up before either of the missions we see with him.

[@MauseDays]

@@lydiscott they likley axed the entireity of the flash foward at the start of the game. I feel your time with jackie and crew in the early days. was the orginal act 1. the early jobs likely made up the start of the story. ending with the big job at the plaza. leading to act 2 which likely would have been what we know as act one after jackies death. T bugs fate likely would have changed depending on your actions (actually i know it would have because it was mentioned either in a gameplay trailer or an e 3 showing early on)

[@warlordofbritannia]

My take is that Marcus Aurelius both never said it and is its originator. Meditations is inspired by Greek philosophy, and there’s a tendency in that literature to make up conversations to prove a moral point, such as Euyphro’s Dilemma. Just as Plato both felt obliged to his mentor Socrates and used him as a rhetorical authority, Marcus referred to his own mentors.

[@hansolav5924]

More T-Bug makes me think of one beautiful way they could have done the lifepaths. a character from each that 'stuck around'. offered messages, comments, jobs, whatever. THAT DID NOT SHOW UP IN THE OTHER LIFEPATHS.

[@Cyromantik]

That would be amazing!

[@lilrizq]

I think the "Nomad" Life Path should have took place mostly in the Badlands where the Jobs were mostly related to "Nomad" missions with V having to come to Night city to do jobs every once in a while. And then somehow they implement the Relic part later on toward the middle of the game. Our home should be that Tent from the Nomad Camp and our main Fixer for this life path should be the leader of the Nomad camp we saved from the main game. For the "Street Punk" should be from the prospective of a Valentino Gang member. And you have missions that pertain to Valentino Goals and Gang politics. Your main fixer should be that Valentino Gang leader, and somehow find out and get caught up in this relic business via the word on the streets level gossip or something. The apartment we live in the Mega Building should be the home we have in the "Street Punk" Life path. For the "Corpo" path we should work at Arasaki, with our lil office and workers that work under and over us. Our main fixer should be that head guy(forget his name) in the big office. We should be doing mission like escorting high level execs, having "dialogue choice driven" board meetings, or getting intel from rival Corporations, maybe even infiltrating or negotiations with other Corpo Companies. As a Corpo agent we should live in the Corpo plaza part of Night City in a penthouse apartment with AV access on the top of our penthouse building. Their should be AV access points for Corpos all across Night City for air travel, and we should have a company car we can call on. And we get caught up in the Relic business mid game. Each life path should have should us a whole new prospective on the politics and seediness of Night City. I Also like the Idea you mentioned about Certain Characters from each Life path sticking with you after the life path ends.

[@leaf0nthewind625]

My personal theory is that T-bug only agreed to participate in this job because she planned on betraying Dexter as payback for what probably happened 5 years ago in Pacifica, but never got the chance because she got hit with black ice. Either that or she faked her death and skipped the country leaving everyone else out to dry.

[@warlordofbritannia]

The part that always intrigued me is the philosophical edge. Was there going to be a questline referring to that trait? What was the thematic reason for having her be a philosophy aficionado? Quoting Marcus Aurelius and Aristotle in particular makes me wonder-a Stoic and a rationalist, those aren’t mutually exclusive but there’s clearly connective tissue missing here.

[@lydiscott]

It would’ve been interesting to see a quest continuing this theme! I feel like Bug’s philosophy and Misty’s mysticism would’ve been two interesting, parallel views of Night City.

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@lydiscott Perhaps…Stoicism and rationalism are both more grounded in tangible reality than Misty’s mysticism-wait, is that why her name is Misty? How am I just realizing this 😂 T-bug has a specific goal, to make enough to live the quiet life in Greece, while Misty has an explicitly spiritual mission. As is the game never does anything with this potential dichotomy, but now that you mention it, I wish they had

[@Cyromantik]

One of the things Mike Pondsmith has said is that the rogue AI have a penchant for quoting ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. It's my personal loose theory that T-Bug and Dex are being manipulated by rogue AI on this side of the Black Wall to make sure the Silverhand engram can make contact with Alt. I have no ideas as to why though.

[@warlordofbritannia]

Even her name is enigmatic-bug can refer to both her technical prowess and how suddenly her life is snuffed out. But T part, besides the possible connotation that it stands for “tech,” is even more open to interpretation. Not many people use aliases in Night City, somewhat surprisingly, so it raises questions on who, if anyone, is she hiding from.

[@maurog.ocaranza4142]

According to the pnp Cyberpunk, pretty much every single merc uses an Alias, called a "Callsign"

[@seeinred]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="720">12:00</a> Now this is an interesting detail. This gives the notion of T-Bug being more prominent character initially. Knowing how troubled development was, it feels like they had to do a rewrite and cut plenty in the last minute.

[@songsayswhat]

The trailer was just too good. My head canon makes T-Bug a traitor. Who she betrays (everyone, V & Jackie) changes. She could have faked the scream, started a rumor she'd been fried, and skipped the country as she wanted to do. It sounds like Dex screwed her over when he left 5 years ago. Why would she work for him if she knew what a screw-up he was? She didn't know V and Jackie well enough to care, and Dex as payback. I like to think she sold them out to Arasaka and then skeedaddled. Knowing Arasaka, she got her comeuppance eventually.

[@Cyromantik]

If you read the Cyberpunk book "No Coincidence" you could figure sometimes people come togther and form a team through happenstance, and sometimes there's another force arranging all your chance meetups.

[@deepseastonecore3017]

Thanks 4 all the hard work.

[@grayearly3116]

I think that when they decided to give Johnny a bigger role in the game they cut storylines for Dex and Bug

[@lydiscott]

Yes, this is a thing I keep hearing! And I think I read Keanu said he wasn’t involved with the project until around 2018? And then something about him wanting his role expanded.

[@songsayswhat]

Yeah. I love Keanu, but I think the story could have been better without him. They'd have had a wad of cash to spend on it if nothing else. It always felt like they changed their focus mid-game. That may have been why so much was incomplete and messed up.

[@Grobut81]

Dex never had a story beyond the heist. Betraying you was his sole function to the plot, and after that his character nolonger serves any purpose. Dex's story has probably remained pretty much unchanged from the first draft to the final game. T-Bug clearly did play a larger role, at the bare minimum we have the trailer in which she is seen hacking V's mantis blades at the No-tell motel, so in an earlier draft of the story, she did atleast survive the heist. Some also speculate that she would have ended up playing the part Mamam Brigitte plays in the final version of the game. Which is possible, but of course only fan speculation at this point,. However, i don't belive Silverhand had anything to do with T-Bug's re-write. Rather, i belive she was a casualty of CDPR choosing to drop 3'rd person cutscenes from the game, and instead have all these story segments play out as real-time gameplay. If you look at that cutscene they had made at the No-Tell motel, the fight between Dex, Bug and V, something like that is easilly done in a cutscene, but not as gameplay. If you actually let the player fight Dex and Bug for real, then there's a million things the player could do that would break the intended sequence. So it had to be simplified to work as a gameplay segment, and i belive this is when Bug's role in the story was reduced. Also, they didn't give Johnny a bigger role, his role was always this big. The relic, Johnny's engram, this was always the main plot of this game, it was always ment to be a focal point of the story, long before Keanu accepted the role (some speculate that Morgan Blackhand could also have been on the chip, but i don't think Mike Pondsmith would have allowed that, as he seems to have his own plans for the Morgan Blackhand character. Apparently that's why Blackhand is not in the game at all, Pondsmith woulden't allow it). People are conflating two things here. At some point it was reported that Keanu requested some more dialog, and that he was given more. People take this to mean his part in the main story was expanded. That's not what happened though. He was given more dialog, but this extra dialog is now featured in various gigs in the game (example: The Wakako gig to retrive the corpo lockbreaker, this is one of the gigs where Johnny was given some dialog). So they didn't change the main story for Johnny, Johnny was always a big part of the main story. What did change is that Johnny origionally only had dialog in main-story missions, and now he also has dialog outside of the main missions. When you're playinga Gig and he suddenly shows up to deliver some sarcastic quib, well, that's the added dialog, that's "Johnny's bigger role".

[@steinarbergstl5799]

@@songsayswhat My biggest gripe with the game, and I honestly _LOVE_ CP2077, is that it often feels like it's Johnny's game, not V's. It feels like Johnny is the main character and the game is his story and eventual fate one way or another rather than the story of V. I'm hoping Cyberpunk Orion (the working title of the next game) will have more of a focus on making it feel like the player character's story.

[@suburbantimewaster9620]

Yeah, T-Bug was a wasted opportunity.

[@lydiscott]

It’s so sad! 😞

[@fortnight5677]

The entire game is a wasted opportunity.

[@Torresgamingchannel]

I viewed Tbugs use of philosophy as a way to draw structure and reason out of the chaos of NC. She’s trying to cognitively work her way through the trauma of surviving through some pretty heavy stuff.

[@jameslayman]

"Frying" the nervous system is the main way in which ICE, Soulkiller, etc actually kills the person, Soulkiller just basically "scans" the brain and then obliterates it, so even if it was Soulkiller, the fried nervous system wouldnt be out of place. But Soulkiller is also seemingly saved for the people, for whomst death would be too light a sentance (at least in the Arasakas mind). T-Bug was just some netrunner to Arasaka in the end.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

Except she and her crew were considered the number one suspects in the murder of their patriarch. The fact that they're willing to steal Jackie's body...speaks directly to how lightly they aren't taking this at all. Likewise, Yorinobu at the time can't at all afford to make it seem otherwise. Everyone on the crew has to be "Public Enemy #1" and they all have to be seen as dumb, but also massively capable and dangerous.

[@QuarantineV1]

Glad you were able to hit T-Bug as a topic. She was taken from us too soon!

[@TheMecoolerest001]

I do like your theory and think at some point in production that may very well have been the case. But in the final game I do not think she is at all connected to the VDB. First and most important is she does not have a Haitian accent. All the VDB are first gen Americans. Second is her connection to the shop in Kabuki. The VDB do not work with outsiders unless they plan to burn them. So the shop owner being a friend of Bug would indicate she likely has no connection. Lastly her relationship to the rest of the crew. For V and Jackie it seems like the Dorsett job was not their first as a team. And for Dex I have always gotten the vibe that they were an item romantically. I may be misreading but Bug tries to dodge the question about how she knows Dex. If their last job was such a shitshow she likely would never work with him again, unless she had an emotional reason to do so. Lastly Placide is a bastardman. I know it has nothing to do with Tbug but he was in the video and it has to be said.

[@lydiscott]

I think you’re right, Bugs background is definitely different in the final game. All very good points! AND HMMM romantically eh? See I’ve never gotten that vibe myself HOWEVER i may very well have just missed it, lmao AND YEAHHHH Placide is… he’s somethin else. Especially with that text he sends later in the game. Like WHY DUDE 😂

[@TheMecoolerest001]

@@lydiscott it took me many run throughs to get Placides text because I made sure to put him down basically every time. I think it was the callousness of him that made me think he was the biggest bastardman in the game. At least Smasher wasn’t dishonest.

[@TheMecoolerest001]

Oh and my first time through I knew to side with Netwatch because of the Tarot outside the church. So when I was told he was planning to flatline me I turned heel immediately. I even suspected Netwatch did something like they did and basically just said serves em right lol.

[@ezshottah3732]

I don’t think the accent is evidence to discount the possibility of her being connected to the vdb. There are so many variables that impact a persons accent

[@jadetortellini6150]

Genuinely so disappointed with how they handled T-Bug, but honestly if their original intent _was_ to have her betray us I’m kinda glad that got cut. Almost, if not every, black character in the game ends up being an asshole or betraying us 😑 loved the game but that’s been one of my biggest gripes. Like with the VDB’s I love their story and lore, but the way they’re portrayed in game is very unforgiving to the point where I only ever see people talking about how much they fucking hate them. Like none of the nuance of their background comes into play, it’s not made clear that there is actually a reason they’re so secretive and isolated, and why they burn every merc they work with personally. Netwatch lets other corps like Militech just do whatever they want, and they were actively trying to turn the black wall into a weapon, netwatch is also a corp. they’re objectively the worst option but everyone sides with them cause “VDB’s tried to kill me now I’m big mad and want to slaughter them all for no other reasons I want or need to reckon with”

[@pie8863]

i was so excited for you to explore this! wish they did more with her

[@lydiscott]

Ahh thank you for watching! Same here, it’s a shame.

[@ThatMykl]

Love that you highlighted that quote from Aristotle. Everybody ultimately wants the quiet life, but the quiet life is different for everybody. “Just another tale for the next dreamer” Thank you, as always 😁

[@Th3C0urtJ35t3r]

Thanks for the community post, I love your videos.

[@Th3C0urtJ35t3r]

I think T-Bug would've had a redemption arc. V couldn't see straight, so maybe they missed anything critical. We meet back up with T-bug and she tries to show that she is sorry. An up and down side quest kinda thing.

[@PNut8421]

amazing video as always! can't wait for the next one! please keep up the awesome work!

[@hansgouws6590]

Only recently discovered your channel and absolutely love the writing, delivery, look, voice, and thoughtful insights to the characters. Top notch CP2077 analogy content. Each video is a gem and the effort put in is appreciated. You're doing a great job. All the best.

[@lydiscott]

Thank you so much for your kind words! Means a lot! 😄

[@lazy_kalm]

Excellent insight as always, thanks for the vid

[@lydiscott]

Thank you for watching and for your comment! 😄

[@Calhouned]

Oh I love this video so much. Your conjecture about T Bug’s role in the full story sounded really compelling. It would be something I’d add to the plot of some fanfiction or something

[@lydiscott]

Aww thank you so so much for watching! 😁

[@honkeykong4049]

You have an oddly comforting way of speaking. You would make for a stellar teacher or councillor or something like that.

[@DoctorNemo446]

I feel that the current version of T-bug and her death is a comparison to Jackie. Jackie was a man of passion, he loved, he hated, he fought, he dreamed and he died in a blaze of glory. T-bug seemed to be very detached, we don't even know if she even had friends or family to mourn her passing. Jackie gets a big send off by all those he impacted. From Vik, Mama Welles, Misty, V, the Valentinos, and others he grew up with. T-bug probably got zipped into a body bag and put into a freezer until Arasaka decided she wasn't anyone important. Bug seemed like she was a more watered down version of Kiwi from Edgerunners. She didn't trust anyone, but unlike Kiwi, we don't know why. I assume it's similar to Kiwi were she was betrayed in the past, by either her Parents or a close associate. Either way Bug is just another person squashed by Night City.

[@TheDivineDice]

I love how there's so much to almost every character introduced in the Cyberpunk world. Great video!

[@scottleneau6221]

Got a beat, I can dig it! Thanks for the lovely character deep dives. This is why I wanted KiteTales to revive "What a character".

[@lydiscott]

Aww hey thank you so much Scott! 😁 Much appreciated, glad you enjoyed the video.

[@jonesy279]

This is an excellent video! Subbed and now I’m going back for a channel binge. Thanks!!

[@youngrootv]

The algorithm gods have BLESSED me once again 🙌🏾

[@H1Dragons]

The T in T-Bug stands for Tyrannosaurus Also, I like the theory of her working as a monitor/handler for the voodoo boys keeping an eye on Dex, as he would make for an easy independent scapegoat, and I reckon Dex would be too arrogant and narcissistic to realize. Idk it just clicks

[@AW-ix5qg]

I love what you have done with you recording room.

[@lydiscott]

THANK YOU! 😁

[@maddashkilla6123]

V & T-Bug might’ve linked up in person on the low. During the meet at the After Life Jackie mention they all finally met in person than T-Bug said “1st time in real space” than winked at V Could nothing could something who knows🤷🏾‍♂️

[@keithjones2194]

Great video with interesting insights! Glad I discovered your channel. Subbed!

[@diojiwoolf4723]

T-Bug was one of my favorite characters and was so disappointed we didn't see them again. I need some fanfiction of this character!

[@havonetae]

I generaly headcannon that she truely did faked her death. Partly due to her 1 knowing the risks involved with this heist along with knowing Dex and their past history. 2 she saw things going to shit and cut and ran early. But lastly because at some point she actualy started to like both Jackie and V but their relationship never had the chance to flourish. Jackie caught on to her jokes and her love of greek poets And V...is well V 2 mercs that actually tried to be her friends despite her pushing them away. I think she faked her death due to her even saying wanting to cut ties with everyone and never setting foot in cyberspace again. But also she started acting...off very early one and just so happens to "Die" when things go bad when we supposedly used counter measures for that. Plus with the store owner saying she was found dead. We NEVER find her body theres not even a hint to where it might have been. We can find Dexs body We can fuck over Merideth and find her body We can actualy find the bodies of almost all the characters but her? I know its probably not true but i hold the theory she escaped in my heart

[@lydiscott]

I hope she did. Gahhh. Too many runners in these stories get caught up in night city and never get to escape. Would be nice if Bug made it.

[@havonetae]

@@lydiscott not to meantion i think alot of content and story for alot of characters gpt cut

[@Cyromantik]

​@@havonetae Once we got our Keannu everyone else just became a side-character. I would have loved to have the opening montagees playable!

[@SWNavII]

❤i’ve been waiting for this one! i’m so early too omg

[@ChrisMcCarroll]

This was an amazing video

[@lydiscott]

Thank you so much! 😊

There was a FIA agent code named Ladybug, killed during the heist, revealed in notes in Phantom Liberty. This agent was directly implicated into the heist. There is four characters possible: T-Bug, Dex, his bodyguard and Jackie. The more probable character is T-Bug and it is compatible with your theory with the VDB with T-Bug as triple agent. The code name is a little too obvious but it is an internal code name so maybe FIA was a little too sure about their network security.

[@AnachronicRodent]

I somehow stumbled across this video and really enjoyed it, and was something I felt the same about her.. but never had an idea that there could have been more to her story originally!

[@WojtChuk]

For last few months I've been GM'ing TTRPG Cyberpunk and all your analisis on cyberpunk characters made me rethink some aspects of NPCs I created and improve their backstories to make them deeper and more "human". Thanks a lot for inspiration!

[@user-ef1lc4bt6r]

I feel the same thing about Evelyn Parker. I feel like she was a super interesting character and they could have given her a bigger role in V’s life post heist. If you had time to develop more of a relationship with her before bad things happened it would have it much harder.

[@lydiscott]

Yes, yknow what, I get the feeling she had a lot of content cut. I think I read somewhere that Judy’s quest was initially supposed to be longer, and it was meant to include the Mox a lot more. Not sure if this is true, but I wonder if this would also mean Evelyn had more screentime.

[@user-ef1lc4bt6r]

@@lydiscott agreed, it would have been interesting to see if Evelyn could have been a romance option for both V’s that ended in that tragedy. It would have had to have come from V getting deeper involved with the Mox and Evelyn.

[@jonathanruiz8723]

@@lydiscottI’ve read rumors that Evelyn was meant to fill a more central role a la Johnny Silverhand . But when Keanu Reeves went all in on the project they redid the story to make Johnny the centerpiece. He only really got involved like 2 years before the game released. The last minute changes would also explain the state the game released in. All rumors and conjecture ofc.

[@lokilucario]

I feel the same about Jackie. He died way too soon imo. A couple missions and a montage wasn't enough for me to connect with him to the point that I'd be sad for his death. I feel more impact from V's reaction more than the actual death.

[@user-ef1lc4bt6r]

@@lokilucario yeah, that was my very first impression about cp2077! We needed more time with Jackie to make his death hit us harder. I know that we can’t get everything we want because games have budgets and stuff and something have to be cut for the overall experience, but I feel like they could have spent less money on recording actual gun shots from 500 types of guns and car sounds from 20k cars and put that money into character development.

[@wogsi]

I think T-Bug was intended, as you say, to stand with Dex during the betrayal. But her role was scrapped to give more room to Jackie and Dex. Jackie to make sure every player feels that friendship with jackie. And to build up that fury against dex. To have a third character detracts from the "purity" of the emotions towards them. Also, T-Bug would've made that link to voodo boys stronger and seem almost sloppy instead of the "how the shit did you discover this?" angle we get from our investigation with Judy in Evenlynns memories. V needed to seem desperate and grasping for straws to properly hone in the themes of the overarching story.

[@knighth2452]

This proves how much of a loner she was. No one claimed the body and put her remains in the columbarium.

[@gravejello2331]

Such a great deep dive. Would love to hear any thoughts and theories you have about potential cut story content

[@kingbaaka3D]

she was attacking V in the first video of cyberpunk 2077, and you can also see her acting sus once V and jackie get in the room. she waiting for the arasaka family to come, something big was going on behind the hiest. i think she booked it once things went wrong. the quite life.

[@kingbaaka3D]

its like a rule, if you dont see people die, they are not dead.

[@Steriodsman1]

You can find her body. She's most definitely dead.

[@spyguy888]

@@Steriodsman1wait really? Where?

[@kingbaaka3D]

@@Steriodsman1 thats not her body, its just they like to reuse many models. many youtubers have already debunked it.

[@suburbantimewaster9620]

@@kingbaaka3D Just wish they had done something more with that theory.

[@grey3247]

Very interesting video

[@lydiscott]

Thank you!

[@3rdstspartan606]

Sweet I was wondering when this would drop

[@letstartgames]

Just two questions that I wonder: First: A high level netrunner with a price on her head, would simply sail to Greece without making a deal or selling something out, or someone? Second: When a netrunner gets fried by Soulkiller, the engram is not suppose to be storage at Mikoshi? And one more thing: You know what else is being known by t-bugs? Tardigrades. Alas, what the T stands for. And you know, these little buggers are not so easy to kill, heh? ;) Whatta ya think? Food for thought!

[@Cyromantik]

I love me some waterbears! It would be fun if that's what the monicker stood for, but I have a feeling it's something far more boring like her given name being something like Tanisha or Tammy.

[@letstartgames]

@@Cyromantik yes, well put that's also very likely. But for what I see, T-Bug has Voodoo Boys written all over her, so you can expect a french name under that T. And let's not forget, the threat level status in the Net for Voodoo Boys is officialy "extreme" by Netwatch. And then she's fried by some lower level Arasaka subnet ICE. Right in her last gig before retirement. How convenient. You know, I keep running these numbers but it simply doesn't add up she's a gonner that easy.

[@patronofdragons]

Didn’t Dex try to find put more about Evelyn and the VBD told him to drop it? That should have clued him in that she was up to something. I bet that was when they were supposed to send in T-bug, who was already familiar with Dex.

[@lydiscott]

AHHHHHH I forgot about that very good point!!!!

[@GoofyGE3K]

I think the decision to move bugs death up to the mission rather than after is to boost Jackie. Had he been the only one to go down he looks like s goofy gonk who never stood s chance. But by killing the hyper-competent T-Bug, it raises the stakes during the mission, sells the danger of Arasaka, and makes Jackie not the only one to die from a betrayal (Dax and V) 3 betrayers rather than 2 may have also veen one too many

[@lydiscott]

Very good point, this makes a lot of sense!

[@lainpilledaddy6963]

Omg girl that dress is amazing!! Also love the cyberpunk lore!!!

[@YoBeezick]

super interesting to think about having just completed phantom liberty recently i wonder how much of that DLC's story was retooled from Tbug's original plot just cause there are a handful of similarities there

[@1x93cm]

Nobody gets out of NC alive. That's the lore and the promise.

[@Ched_D_Bitcoiner]

great job

[@Chunthoor]

It's an interesting video, because I've actually suspected for some time that Bug's role was supposed to be completely different from what it ended up being. Also in relation to Dex, because I've long had the feeling that the background of Dex and the Vodoos is not only directly connected to Bug, but also to the whole Relic story, but as you said so well, we'll probably never know, because we were told a different story in the end. Anyway, thanks for the great video and best regards from Germany.

[@cyberpunkdarren]

I just saw her as a "deus ex machina" that the heist needed - for example, magically open doors for them that otherwise wouldn't be able to

[@warlordofbritannia]

Ooooo, love the new ‘do!

[@SaltySquirrelInn]

I would absolutely love to get my hands on all of the development documentation for Cyberpunk 2077 just to see what could have been. I feel like there's a bunch of interesting cut content that was removed either for time or because it was no longer part of the vision they had.

[@jvoy8821]

CDPR need to hire you, a reveal of T-Bug having been a VBD plant from the beginning would've been such an amazing reveal during their questline

[@rafaelorona1395]

I think the narrative of the game overall is half-baked. T-bug, Jackie and Dexter in particular as characters are not shown enough to the player for anyone to gauge their importance, we know they’re, because we’ve been told they’re important. Specially Dexter because we are supposed to know that name because he is a legendary fixer, yet we only hear from him right before meeting him. With that said, this happens because the game fast-forwards V’s development as a criminal with a montage. V starts with some reputation taking gigs with Wakako, already has his own car and apartment and a strong relationship and not much later we meet Dexter for the most consequential gig of the whole game. T-bugs relationship, skills and story could’ve been explored during that period of time the developers skipped. The novelty of having her appear physically on Dexter’s job could’ve been a big narrative point, but she dies as quickly as we know her in the game. The same with Jackie. The main problem of the game’s narrative is that it completely skips V’s development and where he creates this relationships.

[@Kaiomikelee]

Was excited to hear Great video! Something interesting that I wanted to touch on that you mentioned briefly: I don't think *any* of the crew was nearly as good at their role as they thought they were. They were just the best ones around at the time, or at least among the best. We don't know what V really did prior to leaving for Atlanta, and they're not in NC long enough to become a top-of-the-line merc during play. They're only just beginning to scrape the bottom of the Afterlife. Jackie had been at the game way longer than V, but hadn't made ANY headway until joining V. So he probably wasn't the best merc around, probably due largely to him being more hot-headed and immature. But also, just being one of so many mercs. T-Bug, like you said, takes a LONG time to complete her netrun. Someone else touched on it, but netrunning in 2077 is nothing like what we see in the tabletop, where it's more like jacking into the Matrix and battling digital Pokemon. Even in the tabletop version, though, netrunning time is nowhere near that long. The only people who really vouch for T-Bug's abilities are those whom we know aren't the most reliable sources. V and Jackie, who don't seem to know anything other netrunners, and Dex -- who messed up his last heist so bad, he flew to space. So, maybe not the best judge of character. Even Evelyn, like you said in another video, couldn't separate the job from her humanity and ended up paying the price. Everyone bit off way more than they could chew. Hell, even Silverhand wasn't nearly as good as what he thinks or remembers. The downfall of a lot of mercs seems to be overestimating their skill or importance.

[@poetikinjustice]

Cool Theory. I enjoyed this.

[@loganriling4888]

This is excellent

[@M3TAN0IA]

in-game, it is openly suggested that T-Bug and Dex once had a.. closer relationship. I took that to be the reason (along with the promise of The Heist) for taking on the job. It was meant to be one last time.

[@Mir1189]

From what I have seen of T-bug in the game: 1. She gives you the tutorial program made by Militech. She is either so good, and stole that, or she is working for Militech. Keep in mind that agents of Militech kept The Heist afloat by providing the bot. 2. She is a netrunner, probably from Pacifica. There is a slight hint, when you visit Pacifica ripperdoc for the first time, also working with Dexter... 3. She could easily fake her death over comms. 4. It was her who was keeping Jackie and V in a hotel room for hours, under pretense that Ice is too thick. 5. Its hinted that Yorinobu Arasaka knew about Jackies and V presence in the Konpeki the whole time. The golden barman. So the theory is that Yorinobu Arasaka wanted his father dead, so he stole the chip in order to lure him to Night City. He used Evelyn to let the word out about the chip and thats how she enlisted V, Jackie and got Voodoo Boys involved. Evelyn knew too much but also wanted too much so thats why she met her fate. Yorinobu wanted to dissolve Arasaka from the inside, and that is why Militech was into helping him so much.

[@NachozMan]

The first part of the game feels like an entirely different one than what we get once it "opens up", feels like a lot of scraps were left on the cutting room floor going away from the early linear part of the game.

[@calvinware7957]

My personal theory is that all three characters you sit down with to plan the hiest were supposed to be a lot more involved than what we got. You were probably going to get a much longer intro sequenece through the origin process, likely having unique missions with Jackie based on the origin you chose. T-bug and deshawn were likely going to be targets of V's revenge. I suspect one of the branching narrative moments they had planned was that if you told Dex evyln wanted to betray him that was going to change the outcome down the line with some of that content.

[@Quzxpon]

I'm replaying Cyberpunk, so this vid is good timing. I love these videos. T-bug feels so robbed. I wish they kept in the original effort they put in, or at least that they'd tell us the truth about T-bug

[@TheSelphir]

T-Bug's story was most likely retconned into Song So Mi - a heavy duty netrunner who just happens to fit a lot of the narrative we're fed about T-Bug. They had already made plans for So Mi by the time we were given the "finished" product, and didn't want us to have to deal with what was effectively two super powered netrunners. So, instead - we get a cautionary tale about a netrunner who bit off far more than she could chew and ended up getting fried as a result.

[@7thsealord888]

Good video. For myself, I've always noted the odd vibe that T-Bug gives when Jackie and V arrive in their Konpeki hotel room. She is clearly preoccupied and (imo) holding something back from her teammates. Cut content there, unquestionably. An aside. I'm guessing that T-Bug's apartment was especially close to the Afterlife. Maybe even somewhere INSIDE it? I dunno. Reason being that she is so quickly back online after leaving that final briefing.

[@thekingsquare]

T-Bug's death definitely fits into the theme of Cyberpunk: riding the edge until you fall off. I think there probably was more to her story in initial drafts but as is wont to happen in gaming, the story was scrapped as the game was refined. I would have liked to see some kind of closure for T-Bug. With that being said, I think some of the ideas behind T-Bug's original story ended up getting used with Songbird in "Phantom Liberty". There are times where So Mi's story has some of the same connective tissue as T-Bug's.

[@Apillis124]

She is mentioned again later when you first meet with Rogue, "...Jackie, T-Bug, Dexter... Lot of bodies, V."

[@Larsonpl]

Love your videos. Is there a possibility of analysis of Night City itself? Why people drawn towards it? Why it's so hard to run away from the city and move on? Why you can't win against it and why it's always destroy you in the end?

[@nathan3252]

I have had a theory lately on this. There was several different plans going in game. The first was the yorinobu plan. Then there was the suburo plan. Yorinobu originally stole the chip with the threat of selling it to netwatch to lure in Suburo Arasaka. The plan was changed when he caught parker spying on him for the VDBs. He secretly manipulated her into going into business for herself thus making her a double agent. He then basically laid the groundwork for the heist while passing it on to you guessed it, T-bug. T-bug acted as the man behind the scenes. Parker would get info from t-bug on dex and t-bug would also arrange for two nobodies to serve as the scapegoats for the heist. As the plan progressed, t-bug kept everything moving along until after suburo was killed. After that yorinobu needed to reclaim the chip which is why he locked the building down. After that T-bug would be paid and would disappear as she was the real key to the plan. That is sadly where his plan ended as after that everything he had planned was ruined. Suburo knew of his son's plans to kill him so he made plans of his own. First he informed Honako of his plans as she was the key to it all. He secretly leaked the info about the silverhand engram and parker to the VDB. Parker was merely a mistress for yorinobu at the time. The VDB's got parker and manipulated her into collecting info for a later heist. When yorinobu caught her spying he flipped the plan against the VDB without realizing it was actually a trap by his father. Suburo prepared to be soulkilled as soon as he died. He came to konpeki and did not fight yorinobu who killed him. Honako immediately arrived and suburo was soulkilled. After that it was up to honako to continue the plan. T-bug knew too much and was a potential liability for arasaka so she was eliminated first. Then parker's location was leaked to the VDB who in turn went after her. At this point yorinobu was suspicious of both t-bug and parker's disappearance which was why honako needed a distraction to keep yorinobu from suspecting her or suburo. She arranged for Dex to be captured which was her last act as yorinobu caught on thus forcing her to stay out of sight. Yorinobu did not know if T-bug shared the details to V and if V would spill to his Suburo's bodyguard so he arranged for both of them to be killed. After that V was used as a massive distraction to keep yorinobu focused on V while ignoring Honako. It was only after V finally met honako at the bar that he became suspicious of her and forced her to live in a mansion. At this point we all know what happens next. The first thing that made me believe T-bug was a double agent is the supposed over inflated value of the chip. No one could give an actual amount. Dex, Parker, V, and Jackie were all led to believe it had a massive value but thus far no one could state what that actual value was. Even 100,000 eddies would be too little. A million eddies? Even split 5 ways that is not the massive amount and considering the massive amounts of money v can rake in from jobs in night city alone. The amount was astronomical but there didn't appear to be a lot of actual buyers. Netwatch wanted it but were not willing to pay a lot for it. The NUSA showed little interest in it. Even the VDB more or less make it clear they never had any plans for the actual chip. They just wanted silverhand. Now comes the question of who created this illusion of value. It could not have been Parker as she is not a tech person. It couldn't be dex because he would only trust a heist like this if it was brought to him by someone he trusts. Who is someone he trusts? T-bug. T-bug was the one who claimed it was enough for everyone to retire comfortably. She was the one who seemed to be putting all the heist together while V collected parts and Dex sat on his keister. Little did they know that only T-bug was the one who knew the actual value. She was the only one who was gonna be collecting that paycheck in the end. The second thing that made me suspect T-bug was a double agent was how dispassionate she was to Jacky, V, and Dex. The way jackie talks to her it appears they were good friends but now she seems to be particularly dispassionate. She knows she is gonna screw over everyone and yet she is trying hard to keep her emotions in check. When you talk to her about what she does after the heist is also when she starts to spill that more ruthless side of her. The side that is willing to abandon everyone in favor of a good retirement. You also will notice a similar dispassionate nature when talking with honako. When she talks about her brother she tries to give the illusion of emotion about her brother and the death of her father. She knows what is really going on but she tries to put on a false front that is quite fake. Crocodile tears anyone? That is what really makes me believe that this whole thing is one big poker game with a ton of bluffs and big gambles. V is the only wild card in this scenario which is why yorinobu wants you dead, honako wants to use you to help her father win, and T-bug basically used jackie and V as scapegoats to help yorinobu's plan which would in turn help her retire. She instead discovered too late that she too was just another card to be played and then discarded as honako was the one who ordered her death.

[@newnamesameperson397]

How soul killer works is left ambiguous. Johnny says it copies the brain before frying the body. In the flash back of Johnny's memories which are unreliable he unplugs alt after she has been soul killed (in the source books it says she has a faint heart beat) so who really knows if t bug was soul killed or not.

[@niteus4907]

I swear on my first playthough I ran into a side area that had T-bugs body and a note talking about entering the Voodoo boys

[@Cyromantik]

There are two netrunner bodies that have notes nearby mentioning VDB, one was working with B@D and the other wanted to join up and was used as a "ranyan". I too have looked to T-bug but it's safe to say either her lair is so secret noone's found it in the nearly 4 years since game launch, or it simply wasn't in-game to begin with.

[@amazanta1605]

Daemons will definitely be a focus in cyberpunk Orion it’s beyond obvious especially with the phantom liberty endings I really wonder about mr blue eyes as well and if she knew him at all

[@lydiscott]

Mr blue eyes is a whole other rabbit hole that makes me question everything I thought I knew about the game ahhh lmao

[@b0lobattali0n78]

For sure i saw T-bug plugged in at the araska parade before oda attacked me lol.

[@NiccoH34db4ng]

I have always believed that T Bug worked since the beginning with the Vodoo Boys and that long unexpected delay during the heist was her way to actually sabotage the operation and after that she faked her death.

[@engitions]

I've still be trying to figure this out

[@livescreaming]

Feel like I would have loved to have played the progression from meeting Jackie, making a rep and getting picked out by Dex.

[@6611nitro]

Hmm, a thought. T-Bug was a Voodoo Boy at one point, born and raised in Pacifica as one of their numbers but with a more open mind then most. As a result she looked outward aiming to use outsiders as more then just ranyon that would be discarded building a network of support outside the gang to use for the gangs benefit, It got to the point that her influence couldn't be ignored such that T-Bug convinced whoever was in charge at the time to follow her lead in that endeavor hooking up with Dex as a way to get more power, or at least that's what T-Bug thought they were doing. An outside job to get them more resources to gain greater influence. What was actually happening was that the leaders of the Voodoo Boys had decided that T-Bug was too dangerous in her willingness to open up to the rest of the world which made her vulnerable to manipulation. They couldn't outright kick her out because her tactics were working such that the rest of the gang was questioning but they could set her up to fail then use that failure as an excuse to kick her out. T-Bug went into the mess with Pacifica expecting to steal a bunch of Corpo data to use for extortion with the VDs backing her up and the Animals as raw muscle to keep the physical threats at bay. What T-Bug walked away with was a bunch of her closest supporters spiked, some kind of major divide between the VDs and the Animals manufactured like planted data showing she was playing them all, Pacifica in chaos but a specific type of chaos the leadership of the VDs could take advantage of, and her on the run right alongside Dex. Swiping the Relic with Dex was a parting fuck you to the VDs as she kept them off the tracks of Dexter DeShawn so while they would know Evelyn was up to something they wouldn't grasp the extent of what she was doing. At best the VDs would think Evelyn was pumping them for info so she could steal the Relic after drugging Yorinobu to sleep not grasping until it was too late that she'd put together a crew of mercs to break in. Then when the tower heist goes wrong the tower net floods with not only Arasaka Security but the Voodoo Boys trying to find an opportunity to seize their prize since shit is going sideways. T-Bug gets spiked but not by Arasaka ending up kidnapped by the Voodoo Boys since she's now not so much an exile as a direct opponent. V's choice to leave her in their care knowing they'll do things to her worse then the Savvs or secure her freedom at the cost of pissing off the Voodoo Boys even if V helped them prior.

[@Neakal]

So, you talking about an ending where T-Bug retires to Greece made me realise how similar it is to Alex in the DLC getting her happy retirement in Monaco. Makes me wonder if you were right about T-Bug's story and they transplanted that story to Alex as a way to salvage the concept.

[@easydayez]

T-Bug is part of Cyberspace she ditched her physical form she is in vacation but within the NET. Just like Rache Bartmoss the one who gave her this fail safe using the Matrix pill reference. She can take over Cyborgs however like a doll if she needs a physical forum. Project Orion goes into depth with this about this

[@lucianozepeda4197]

Concidering that V stumbles across many corpses of fryed net runners and after reading the attached shards, make one feel that T-Bug was juast another netruuner who bit the dust only to be replaced by another netrunner who most probably face the same fate...

[@beige_projection]

Maybe Bug, like Evelyn, just became desperate for a gig that would allow her to finally fulfill her dream of retiring to that Greek island, so she worked with Dex again. Possible that because she's part of that failed gig, other, more reputable fixers didn't wanna work with her. I think that if she kept failing to reach that dream, she could have been in a desperate state at that point.

[@GreedoShot]

i can't tear the theory apart, it's too good i'd say i hated t-bug but she was hardly a part of the game, she could have been a faceless, nameless voice on the line, or not included in the game at all, and it would have made no difference when she died i was a little confused, a tiny bit shocked, but mostly indifferent. especially considering that it happens while you're having a tense moment with jackie, squeezing yourselves behind a monitor, watching an assassination, and then trying to escape from the rooftop. i wasn't even certain she was dead at first, it seemed really perplexing that they would off this character so soon. i played for several more hours genuinely expecting to see her again. it really felt like there was more to her that was going to be revealed, but there wasn't. she really just showed up for a few voice lines and then died off screen. baffling.

[@arc00ta]

I always got the feeling Bug was still working for the VB, because they were after the chip the whole time. The whole game to me felt like a setup for them to break the blackwall and somehow the story went awry due to development reasons. Even Phantom Liberty gives that kind of vibe. I find it ironic that the VB annoy the hell out of me and I ruthlessly slaughter them every time I go through that mission so it was all for nothing in the end 😅

[@JermaineBryan-nn1qk]

Nice

[@guru5890]

The world building in pacifica really is underused sadly. The whole animals vs vodoo boys thing could have been such a cool conflict, especially since the set-up seems so deliberate with the entire loudmouth roidheads vs. shy but smart nerds dynamic going on...

[@lydiscott]

Totally agree. Feels like such a missed opportunity !