*NOTE! Sorry for calling it “Danger Girl”, I swear I thought I read it was called that, but then I saw in editing it was “Danger Gal” lol PLS FORGIVE THIS ERROR MY BRAIN FARTED! Thanks so much for watching, and Happy Holidays! 😊
Well it originally was called Danger Girl, but was renamed in expansion "Danger Gal dossier" which provides info (stats and lore) on some characters that were in NC circa 2045. From the top of my head i can only remember Wakako Okada, but there's probably someone else.
@@VeRG1L_47 trust me. When it comes to Wakako in 2045, a lot of things make a lot more sense in the video game. Like how she was never a TC by choice, and she is only associated with them because of the debt she incurred with Shinobu the Second :3
I always find it interesting that Michiko is the only Arasaka family member that survives in all different endings, whichever you pick she'll still be around. And while the game doesn't show it and state it explicitly, I really believe she was secretly allied with Yorinobu all this time, as Takemura tells us at some point, her faction is one of the more progressive within Arasaka and (kind of) align with Yorinobu struggle for power.
“She’s Adam Smashers Ex!” Me: I’m sorry WHAT “But that’s far from the most interesting thing about her!” Me: you had my attention. Now you have my undivided attention.
You mean a walking, talking Id? No clue why someone like that would want to get their rocks off. Remember, all night, EVERY night, and she'll *never* know the difference.
Most probably he got a character chip implanted onto him for the exact purpose of being a BF for Michiko, I really dubt even before being a super fucked up dude he was in any good state to date her, or maybe thats exactly what she liked about him. Bitches be craaaazy.
The fact that Johnny's memories are unreliable made me so frustrated that Morgan Blackhand wasn't in the Phantom Liberty DLC. It would have been awesome if him and Johnny had conflicting narratives about that night, and got annoyed at each other. Also was kinda hoping we would find out what happened to Spider Murphy after she killed Michiko's dad.
@lydiscott Last anyone saw of her was when Bartmoss crashed the Net. After that, she seemed to vanish, feeling partly responsible. He was her mentor and idol, and a naive idiot who destroyed the Net for nothing. It ended up working in corpo's favor.
@@thedarkderp2520 And its justifiable, dude went out in the nuke to never be heard about again, hes either like Reed being a sleeping agent somewhere in the world, or a Adam Smasher equivalent ready to be released. I really doubt he died that night though, if Adam Smasher survived, Morgan Blackhand LIVED. I do hope they will mention him more and make more use of Blackhand in the continuation of the game. Strange they let us LARP as a cuban ultra important hitman but not get a word about Blackhand in the Phantom Liberty DLC
I think Michiko's and Smasher's fling is very simple to explain. Michiko was young and expectedly horny (not even in her 20s) in a morally corrupt world and Smasher had an Elvis body (and is also horny). Plus, Michiko knew that Adam would get obliterated by Arasaka missiles if he did anything bad to her.
@@lydiscott Take the fact that many violent psychos (male and female) often get admirers in the real world, couple it with Cyberpunk's world being full of corruption and the fact that people tend to have lower standards when they are younger.
@@lydiscottTake the fact that many violent psychos get male and female admirers in real life, couple it with Cyberpunk's global corruption and the fact that many younger people have lower standards.
Johnny's body could be in the oil field. According to the information we get in-game, Adam sought for and retrieved Johnny's body. My take on it is that at some point after the "Black Dog" story, Adam tracked down Samantha and extracted the information of what happened from her. He has Johnny's old car and gun, objects Samantha canonically owned and wouldn't voluntarily part with. Then he took that info and went to New Mexico. By this point Angel and Johnny 2.0 (a canonical clone of Johnny Angel makes) had left by then but they left behind Johnny's body and the Soulkiller chip Spider Murphy used on the dying Johnny back in 2023. That damaged chip was given to Arasaka whom created the engram we encounter in the game. This is one of the reasons the in-game memories of Johnny are so wrong. They've been reconstructed by Arasaka technicians who likely were kids at best when the events happened.
We love our kick ass cat girl queen! ^v^ I'm glad I was wrong and that you were able to put enough material together for her to make a full video Speaking of, fantastic video, I was so hyped when I saw this pop up on my notifs! Danger Gal is the best organization in setting, no question, at least on the flavor front. Love this so much. XD
I just found your channel and listened to the Tbug video in the shower. I check out your channel and find this uploaded 20 minutes ago. What a good morning.
Great video Lydi! Important to remember Danger Gals Dossier came out after 2077 came out so they didnt have all the same info about Michiko as we now have. Its interesting you mention Silverhand prob isnt in the oil field. I never thought of that. I always assumed they got his body took the engram I think Spider left on him then dumped the body in said oil field. But its interesting that it could still be floating around. A lot of people also think Johnny’s superfan is in fact Alt. And that Alt and Johnny were pre-relic’d into new bodies and are wandering around.
I"m so glad that you made a Michiko video; I had been wanting to learn more about her lore. I would totally play a Danger Gal private eye mission pack DLC for Cyberpunk 2077.
* if* Orion is a continuation of 2077’s story I could totally see Michiko being for more instrumental in the story, taking the lead in the efforts to either bring fundamental changes to the corp or bringing it down altogether. I actually really love the Devil ending, especially when played as a Corpo. I think it brings together the different storylines nicely together to bring into Orion, especially since Phantom Liberty. I don’t know if they plan on going with a canon ending but if they do, it makes the most sense to me the Devil ending fits best if Orion is a continuation. Plus, I find it hard to believe Pondsmith would be okay with Arasaka no longer being the “big bad” in the Cyberpunk universe. There’s also how the role of engrams and their full potential are lost in the other endings, and that’s too good of a universal “big bad” to not further develop. It’s interesting how how bodyguard played a big role in Takemura’s development (a lot of his characteristics and abilities are why Takemura is thought to be one of the deadliest men in Cyberpunk’s universe). If Orion is continuing 2077s story I could Michiko requesting Takemura as her bodyguard, seeing his abilities, how well he and V worked together, and especially how 2077s events left his loyalty shaken. She would have the means both of Arasaka and the NUSA to aid V… But I dunno, really. There’s also a bunch of reasons that couldn’t work canonically I’m sure. I just think it’s a really interesting concept that would be fun to see explored. It also stems from my own disappointment of how little Michiko was used in the game. I know Mike is particularly fond of her character, and since that’s the reason we didn’t Blackhand in the game it’s likely the reason we hardly saw Michiko.
According to Mike Pondsmith, Michiko was a very sheltered girl and watched too much anime. Adam ? He was just surprised a cute girl would take interest in him. Also it's Michiko who went after him, not the other way around.
Michiko's presence in the "Black Dog" appears to be working with Angel, which is a clone of and agent of AI Alt Cunningham makes me think those two powerful women have an alliance of sorts.
Angel being a clone of Alt hasn't been confirmed although hinted towards. Personally I think Angel is what parts of the engram of Alt was "rescued" from the 'Saka network during the tower heist by Spider Murphy, and put in a cloned body (Alt had taken control of a BioTechnica facility that specilized in cloning technology). The fact that Angel looks a lot like Alt could basically be proof or a massive misdirection. The Black Dog story also ends with Angel addressing Johnny's corpse as "my love.", which seems very much like they're hinting to that. Hopefully we'll found out more in the sequel.
@Gforcez A little known fact is that Angel first appeared in the alternative timeline supplement Cybergeneration which mixes superhero tropes into the cyberpunk setting. There Angel is explicitly described as the result of AI Alt Cunningham trying to resume human existence. The problem is that mind transfers operate by SOMA rules in the Cyberpunk world. Consciousness is copied, not transferred. Thus a smaller version of AI Alt Cunningham was inserted into her clone and the original still remained. This daughter-clone started her own existence independent from AI Alt. This being an alternative timeline it was originally non-canon to the main setting until Mike Pondsmith greenlit her appearing in the RED sourcebook short story "Black Dog". The hints dropped there are designed to confirm to us long-term fans that yes, this is indeed the same Angel and the events of her creation are likely identical. As an aside, if you wonder why Soulkiller doesn't leave the original consciousness alive if consciousness is copied, it originally did. The human Alt developed the prototype as a way for digital immortality but her bosses weaponized it by adding a killswitch. This why Saburo Arasaka is still alive but also has an engram in Mikoshi. He used the original version.
You’ve been cooking with all these cyberpunk videos thank u so much recently finished my first play through of liberty city and was itching for more cyberpunk content lol!
At 15:20, the part about the sky being red: I had the same thought. During the shootout, you can fire at the windows and find out that the sky actually isn't red at all. It's just tinted glass lol
I have a few theories as to how Michiko got onto the board, either a) Saburo knew she was attempting to subvert Arasaka and was keeping her close so he could mess up or misdirect her efforts. 'Keep your friend's close and your enemies closer' b) Yorinobu got her in, to either give her better access to subvert Arasaka or wanted to give Hata a figurehead to help divide Saburo's control and attention to aid his own plans c) Saburo views his family more as chess pieces at times, so despite Michiko being raised American , she's still an 'Arasaka' and he wants her as his chess piece. Especially if he knows she worked with Militech, so that's a middle finger to Militech.
Great Video on my favorite Cyberpunk character! Since she's the only Arasaka to get out regardless of ending, hopefully she's explored more in the next one.
I really wish geography wasn't an issue and I could invite you to my TTRPG Cyberpunk game. I think you'd love how much I tie existing lore into the very much new stories about the player characters. For example, they don't know yet that they're currently working for Michiko.
An element of the Smasher-Michiko relationship most people don't consider is to recall that Michiko at the time was a double agent for the NUSA. In intelligence circles, seduction is considered a prime method of recruiting or at least neutralizing the loyalty of a potential asset. Michiko already had the loyalty of Arasaka's best solo in the form of her bodyguard. Gaining the loyalty of the number two solo just increases her security as two of the men most likely to be ordered to kill her if her true loyalty was revealed would at least hesitate. Also, given the motor mouth Adam is just think of all the Arasaka dirty laundry he knows that Michiko could gain in their pillow talk.
Love it. Great analysis and break down video. Didn't know she was so interesting. Love it man. Again. Good job. How much time do these videos take you? Hope you're doing well.
You know I have always wondered if Johnny Silverhand was actually a real person or just an AI that was given a specific fabricated memory. A weapon of sorts that was meant to be released into a system for whatever reason but instead, it's now in our head. Part of me really REALLY hopes that they explore that avenue and it's real. While also knowing that it's most likely not and it's just an open plot hook to some other weird thing. Great video Lydi, I love the logo!! 👻
In my game, Danger Gal is one of the recurring enemies. The skillset they use to chase down Arasaka is startlingly similar to the sort of skillset useful for union busting. So I run them like the Pinkertons. They do shady stuff, but with a hell of a lot of PR. And just enough feel good jobs to make people think they're heroes.
@lydiscott No Problem! You mentioned having written a book in one of your previous videos, so I went ahead and read the excerpt from it on your website 📚 Can't wait to binge-read the rest of it!
First, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that they used Lizzy's model, slightly modified, for Michiko. Why she would join the Arasaka board is obvious-on the inside, she's got influence and first hand knowledge of the corporation's plans. But I agree that she's such an interesting character in the lore, and her company would have been a terrific source for gigs and resources for V. Maybe in Orion?
Thanks for this. Danger Gal might be my favorite faction in the cyberpunk lore and sadly they're not even included in the game. Hopefully we see them in the sequel really.
Seats on the board of companies are often given to owners of large share-holdings, or their proxies. Michiko (presumably) inherited and still owns her late father's entire portfolio. She likely could have forced her way onto the board at any time after his death.
Though the rest of Johnny's memories are suspect (I love the fact he imagined himself the guy who spat in Smasher's eye when he literally just gets torn in half in 2 seconds in actuality), the time of the red we see from Atlantis might be accurate. The nuke didn't cause the Time of Red as a whole according to the TTRPG, but instead the combination of devastation in the 4th corporate war, especially orbital strikes. It kicked up so much debris it hung in the atmosphere, causing the sunsets to look that way.
On the Adam Smasher bit Lydi, if you're not familiar with Harley Quinn, she was the Joker's Psychiatrist in the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. It's not uncommon. I would also suggest you look into a phenomenon called Hybristophilia. I won't explain it. I will let you go down that rabbit hole yourself.
There needs to be a game where you play as her or at least one of her operatives. Hell, I’d take playing as her husband, because there’s just enough there for him to be an interesting character.
I think the red from the bar is just the bar window. Moments before we get there we drive up to the bar with Thompson and it’s full night time and no red. So just a window tint in the bar
Getting to work with Michiko and Danger Gal might have also been a cool way to make River Ward less mid. She could have easily been included in the Peter Pan hunt, but Pondsmith and CDPR didn't do that for some reason.
Could defo see Michiko through NUSA contacts be aware of NetWatches intentions and the heist. If she had actually been in contact with Yorinobu, they could've better coordinated to make sure Arasaka was put in the dirt for good. But I could see her being VERY distruusting of Yorinobu with his ganger past
I am really, REALLY hoping that Michiko is used extensively in the next game. I could easily see her as someone who is playing parallel angles throughout the experience.
Hi, First i like your content. The good thing the edgerunner Mission Kit was released this year, bringing Cyberpunk red to 2077. so you can play now in the works of 2077. I really Like the role-playinggame and am thinking about the time I would like to play. But I have a question. Where did you find the stuff with the Nuke an Joni’s body?
This character is an enigma, as is that faction. It's a description of the "third way", something distinct from Yorinobu's Rage/chaos faction and Hanako Traditionalist/order faction. I still see the game writes in Saburo as the arch-villain who is like a pupeteer, even in death- thats the function of the engram in the devil ending......but its only one possible view and its very like the struggle between order and chaos (aka alignments in D&D) points of view. You, as a player in the games, have to decide what you stand for.....but that is all dependent on the scenario the referee sets. In my next TT game the players are all corporate employees, so their freedom of action is not entirely their own. They take corporate resources and services in doing activities others would consider to be bad or against "freedom"- what ever that is in the NC circle of hell. Is this an "evil" campaign i have created therefore....well that depends on a your PoV. The players will decide if they can accept corporate objectives and seek their managers climb up a corporateladder- who ultimately working for the CEO who inturn is seeking domination in a battle over "market share" in this the late stage capitalist world. The world is therefore not black or white.....its just grey
You should make a whole video just about how unreliable Johnny’s memories are. The first one to come to mind is that jump from Smasher showing up to Johnny somehow getting to the ‘copter before actually getting smashed by Smasher. Clearly Johnny’s ego is strong enough to write false memories into his own engram 😂
Given River's original intended role of finding V in the scrapyard was replaced by Takemura, there's various theories that before that took place Takemura was Kenichi Zaburo, and Michiko had a bigger role, when they rewrote the River role and needed a nice Arasaka henchman, Kenichi was replaced by Takemura. In the process Michiko's role was minimize and just like how Morgan Blackhand's assets was reused for Mr Blue Eyes (his hair is tagged with Morgan Blackhand in the files, most likely because he featured in Johnny's flashbacks at one point before being cut for unknown reasons) Michiko was just left in the Arasaka ending. It also makes it a bit amusing that Takemura doesn't know anything about Michiko if he was originally her bodyguard. As for Johnny's body, it can still be in the oil field; during the assault Morgan Blackhand's team was set to destroy the main Arasaka data center, while Spider Murphy was to release Alt from the subnet first (what Johnny does in the game with the "European ICEbreaker"), in the process Spider copied Soulkiller as well. Adam Smasher showed up and insta-fragged Johnny and cut him in two with his gatling shotgun (which I so wanted in the game), but before Johnny faded away, Spider hit him with the Soulkiller, but had to gtfo before it could finish its job due to the destruction caused by the ongoing battle between Smasher and Shaitan (the cyborg that gets knocked out like a punk in Johnny's "memories"), leaving it in Johnny's head. So far this is tabletop RPG, but here's some headcanon that should fit into things; After this point Arasaka had no Soulkiller, since it was wiped, but they have it in 2077... so how did they recover it? From Johnny. Saburo sent Smasher to locate Johnny's body, and he tracks it to New Mexico, retrieves it and the various items like the Porche and gun, brings it back to Night City and Arasaka recovers Soulkiller, and builds 2.0 from it. Afterwards the still radioactive body is disposed of in the oil fields. Note that while that likely spells bad news for Samantha Stevens that had most of the collectibles, Angel or rather Alt Cunningham reborn still probably got away, because it's just too much fun to imagine Alt and a cloned and revived Johnny still bumping around out there, making Johnny's initial rants in V's apartment that he's just a copy and the real him is still out there somewhere actually true.
@@lydiscott Thanks a lot, thank you also for making these videos, I have enjoyed them a lot so far, regardless of if I knew most of the info already, you have a great way of delivering it.
I've always thought that a nomad faction has the bomb. As they did the clean up after the disaster, they were on scene before anyone else. And all "good deeds" in Cyberpunk are never just good deeds. I then think that living Alt acquired the bomb.
If she doesn't have the bomb, she definitely knows who does. There can be a whole game just on the Arasaka corp. At the least, all of this should have been woven into the corpo path.
Danger Gal's Puma Squad is definitely a front for anti-Arasaka operations even in 2045. It's a hella subtle hint, even if the books literally say it. In the mission The Incident.... Major Cyberpunk Red spoiler by the way..... An Arasaka asshat hires some dumbass gonks to steal some data out of Danger Gal's servers. The gonks got a major lead overdose, and the Arasaka guy wen to ground. Puma Squad then outsourced the finding of where said asshat is hiding. The guy has an encripted doodad on him that makes Mouse break script and get really scary. 😮😮 As for Michiko's position on the Arasaka Board, it's automatic. Lemme explain: Her father Kei was CEO of Arasaka. Therefore, he had major shares. Well, all of Saburo's kids have major shares. Now Michiko has his shares, therefore a seat on the Board. Nothing secret or special. Also, if Michiko has the lost bomb, she may be saving it to shove somewhere unfortable in Myers' body. Millitech has always been scummy, and going by the bad ending of Phantom Liberty (where V loses the ability to use cyberware), a Corpo war is about to start. 3 guesses who's gonna start it, and the first 2 don't count 😂😂😂
Well, depending on the ending, Michiko might be a future body for Saburo, as is Hanako. They might combine forces to make sure it does not happen. Re the Danger Girl thing ... i think they changed it due to some Copyright problem after the first printing, don't quote me though. I just remember googling Danger Girl and finding some other ip behind the name.
15:15 Could be wrong but I remember the windows being destructible and the sunlight being normal outside, making them just tinted glass giving off that color. Could also be in-game time dependent. Actually pissed me off, lol Ruined the red sunset vibe for me, heh
I like how a good portion of the video was just talking about how crazy it was that she dated adam smasher and trying to udnerstand what got them togheter, I really got a good chuckle out of that. Aside from that: Yeah most probably the body of Johnny is actually buried somewhere nice and cozy, and also the nuke is like.... 99% sure in the possesion of Michiko, I dont believe anyone else could have gotten a lead on where the real nuke was dumped, unless Mike pulls out an ass twister with a random scuba diver finding it and giving it off to one or the other faction, but that: A. Is fucking boring and B. Its pretty unlikely realistically speaking, both factors I am hoping Mike hates as a writer. Michiko having the nuke AND the codes, definetely could have played a huge role in the fact she got back onto father's good side and on the board of directors, this is a bit far fetched since there is no real evidence to this but if you think about it, what could mend such deep wounds? Your daughter fucking up your corporation across the entire country of a rival state and corpo, working alongside them with no regards towards family ties? I am betting getting your ass saved from another huge media wave telling everyone "Hey actually, Arasaka was ready to blow up their tower AND the entirety of the city alongside it if something happened that they didnt like!" *And boy did she use that to her advantage* I am betting all of my sand coins that she played both sides for fools, Militech and NUSA left her alone to do what she wanted with no strings attached, whilst not getting bad PR because she didnt tell the media they were the one that blew it up, Arasaka let her back in because she didnt make a fuss about it to the media telling everyone they were ready to nuke the city alongside the tower, how convinient, isnt it?
Sadly our Rounds of CP 2020 are not set in NC at all or even the NUSA or something our master runs a very own brew would love to have some of the characters in our games that are basically canon to the universe
So, it probably ended up more like if Batman hooked up with Harley. Actually, I don’t know if that happened in DC, but the intelligence and psychosis kinda matches. Or Barbara with Bane?
He’ll probably be my last big cyberpunk character analysis, just because I want to take into account every single interaction with him. Not sure when that will be lmao
i wish Michiko and Morgan Blackhand are together after the bombing and Morgan was the one who took the second bomb and keeping it like Joker card, but its just a teory an S.B.S. teory!
Saburo Arasaka has a weak point. His family. That's why he let Yorinobu get away with so much. So Michiko could get on the board through nepotism sor sure.
*NOTE! Sorry for calling it “Danger Girl”, I swear I thought I read it was called that, but then I saw in editing it was “Danger Gal” lol PLS FORGIVE THIS ERROR MY BRAIN FARTED!
Thanks so much for watching, and Happy Holidays! 😊
Well it originally was called Danger Girl, but was renamed in expansion "Danger Gal dossier" which provides info (stats and lore) on some characters that were in NC circa 2045. From the top of my head i can only remember Wakako Okada, but there's probably someone else.
@@VeRG1L_47 trust me. When it comes to Wakako in 2045, a lot of things make a lot more sense in the video game. Like how she was never a TC by choice, and she is only associated with them because of the debt she incurred with Shinobu the Second :3
Keeping up with the Arasakas would be a wild ass TV show
I always find it interesting that Michiko is the only Arasaka family member that survives in all different endings, whichever you pick she'll still be around.
And while the game doesn't show it and state it explicitly, I really believe she was secretly allied with Yorinobu all this time, as Takemura tells us at some point, her faction is one of the more progressive within Arasaka and (kind of) align with Yorinobu struggle for power.
“She’s Adam Smashers Ex!”
Me: I’m sorry WHAT
“But that’s far from the most interesting thing about her!”
Me: you had my attention. Now you have my undivided attention.
Yes 😂
"Not Dexter DeShawn, Dexter De show"
Yo I was silently hoping you'd make a video on her! Her RED lore and randomly appearing on the Arasaka board left so many questions unanswered
Only David Martinez and Michiko know what Adam smasher is packing for hardware.
I’m shocked Adam Smasher was even interested in relationships. Man is a super-borg psychopath.
You mean a walking, talking Id? No clue why someone like that would want to get their rocks off. Remember, all night, EVERY night, and she'll *never* know the difference.
According to Mike, breaking up with Michiko was what caused Adam to go full cyborg
Most probably he got a character chip implanted onto him for the exact purpose of being a BF for Michiko, I really dubt even before being a super fucked up dude he was in any good state to date her, or maybe thats exactly what she liked about him. Bitches be craaaazy.
Smasher was his porn name, it just stuck
Sex not a relationship
The fact that Johnny's memories are unreliable made me so frustrated that Morgan Blackhand wasn't in the Phantom Liberty DLC. It would have been awesome if him and Johnny had conflicting narratives about that night, and got annoyed at each other. Also was kinda hoping we would find out what happened to Spider Murphy after she killed Michiko's dad.
I hope Spiders okay. Maybe in the next game, if it focuses more on Militech, we’ll see Blackhand. Would be cool.
@lydiscott Last anyone saw of her was when Bartmoss crashed the Net. After that, she seemed to vanish, feeling partly responsible. He was her mentor and idol, and a naive idiot who destroyed the Net for nothing. It ended up working in corpo's favor.
Cyberpunk has a lot of cool characters they do nothing with and the cool characters get killed way to early
It's because Mike Pondsmith didn't want him in the game despite him being his favorite character
@@thedarkderp2520 And its justifiable, dude went out in the nuke to never be heard about again, hes either like Reed being a sleeping agent somewhere in the world, or a Adam Smasher equivalent ready to be released. I really doubt he died that night though, if Adam Smasher survived, Morgan Blackhand LIVED. I do hope they will mention him more and make more use of Blackhand in the continuation of the game. Strange they let us LARP as a cuban ultra important hitman but not get a word about Blackhand in the Phantom Liberty DLC
I think Michiko's and Smasher's fling is very simple to explain. Michiko was young and expectedly horny (not even in her 20s) in a morally corrupt world and Smasher had an Elvis body (and is also horny). Plus, Michiko knew that Adam would get obliterated by Arasaka missiles if he did anything bad to her.
BUT ADAM SMASHER?!
@@lydiscott Take the fact that many violent psychos (male and female) often get admirers in the real world, couple it with Cyberpunk's world being full of corruption and the fact that people tend to have lower standards when they are younger.
@@lydiscottTake the fact that many violent psychos get male and female admirers in real life, couple it with Cyberpunk's global corruption and the fact that many younger people have lower standards.
Idk why but I always find it hilarious that Adam has a thing for Elvis Presley
@@lydiscott i mean, i can see it. maybe she likes the thrill of danger? its certainly not an uncommon fantasy
Johnny's body could be in the oil field. According to the information we get in-game, Adam sought for and retrieved Johnny's body. My take on it is that at some point after the "Black Dog" story, Adam tracked down Samantha and extracted the information of what happened from her. He has Johnny's old car and gun, objects Samantha canonically owned and wouldn't voluntarily part with. Then he took that info and went to New Mexico. By this point Angel and Johnny 2.0 (a canonical clone of Johnny Angel makes) had left by then but they left behind Johnny's body and the Soulkiller chip Spider Murphy used on the dying Johnny back in 2023. That damaged chip was given to Arasaka whom created the engram we encounter in the game. This is one of the reasons the in-game memories of Johnny are so wrong. They've been reconstructed by Arasaka technicians who likely were kids at best when the events happened.
So happy this video came so soon after I asked for it, but it must have been in works for a while.
We love our kick ass cat girl queen! ^v^ I'm glad I was wrong and that you were able to put enough material together for her to make a full video
Speaking of, fantastic video, I was so hyped when I saw this pop up on my notifs! Danger Gal is the best organization in setting, no question, at least on the flavor front. Love this so much. XD
Michiko deeeeefinitely read weird fan-fictions growing up.
I just found your channel and listened to the Tbug video in the shower. I check out your channel and find this uploaded 20 minutes ago. What a good morning.
AHHH THATS AWESOME THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!
I'm so happy you're diving into Red's lore! That's where I started getting into Cyberpunk!
Great video Lydi! Important to remember Danger Gals Dossier came out after 2077 came out so they didnt have all the same info about Michiko as we now have. Its interesting you mention Silverhand prob isnt in the oil field. I never thought of that. I always assumed they got his body took the engram I think Spider left on him then dumped the body in said oil field. But its interesting that it could still be floating around. A lot of people also think Johnny’s superfan is in fact Alt. And that Alt and Johnny were pre-relic’d into new bodies and are wandering around.
AHH THANKS FOR WATCHING!!! THAT WOULD BE SO INTERESTING! I have to cover all the Alt theories soon!
@ ive mentioned it on a few vids but my number 1 Alt theory is she is Lillith.
I"m so glad that you made a Michiko video; I had been wanting to learn more about her lore. I would totally play a Danger Gal private eye mission pack DLC for Cyberpunk 2077.
You're giving me a lot of ideas for running a Cyberpunk Red game with these lore bits. Thanks!
* if* Orion is a continuation of 2077’s story I could totally see Michiko being for more instrumental in the story, taking the lead in the efforts to either bring fundamental changes to the corp or bringing it down altogether.
I actually really love the Devil ending, especially when played as a Corpo. I think it brings together the different storylines nicely together to bring into Orion, especially since Phantom Liberty. I don’t know if they plan on going with a canon ending but if they do, it makes the most sense to me the Devil ending fits best if Orion is a continuation. Plus, I find it hard to believe Pondsmith would be okay with Arasaka no longer being the “big bad” in the Cyberpunk universe. There’s also how the role of engrams and their full potential are lost in the other endings, and that’s too good of a universal “big bad” to not further develop.
It’s interesting how how bodyguard played a big role in Takemura’s development (a lot of his characteristics and abilities are why Takemura is thought to be one of the deadliest men in Cyberpunk’s universe). If Orion is continuing 2077s story I could Michiko requesting Takemura as her bodyguard, seeing his abilities, how well he and V worked together, and especially how 2077s events left his loyalty shaken. She would have the means both of Arasaka and the NUSA to aid V…
But I dunno, really. There’s also a bunch of reasons that couldn’t work canonically I’m sure. I just think it’s a really interesting concept that would be fun to see explored. It also stems from my own disappointment of how little Michiko was used in the game. I know Mike is particularly fond of her character, and since that’s the reason we didn’t Blackhand in the game it’s likely the reason we hardly saw Michiko.
You can see her standing in front of one of Arasaka's building in open world, with some jumps you can get to her but no interactions
Oh you getting into the table top lore LET GOOOOOOOOOO
According to Mike Pondsmith, Michiko was a very sheltered girl and watched too much anime. Adam ? He was just surprised a cute girl would take interest in him. Also it's Michiko who went after him, not the other way around.
And apparently shes the one who dumped HIM too lmao
@lydiscott Better say good luck to the poor gonk who had to announce him the news without dying 🤞🏻
Michiko's presence in the "Black Dog" appears to be working with Angel, which is a clone of and agent of AI Alt Cunningham makes me think those two powerful women have an alliance of sorts.
Angel being a clone of Alt hasn't been confirmed although hinted towards. Personally I think Angel is what parts of the engram of Alt was "rescued" from the 'Saka network during the tower heist by Spider Murphy, and put in a cloned body (Alt had taken control of a BioTechnica facility that specilized in cloning technology).
The fact that Angel looks a lot like Alt could basically be proof or a massive misdirection. The Black Dog story also ends with Angel addressing Johnny's corpse as "my love.", which seems very much like they're hinting to that. Hopefully we'll found out more in the sequel.
@Gforcez A little known fact is that Angel first appeared in the alternative timeline supplement Cybergeneration which mixes superhero tropes into the cyberpunk setting. There Angel is explicitly described as the result of AI Alt Cunningham trying to resume human existence. The problem is that mind transfers operate by SOMA rules in the Cyberpunk world. Consciousness is copied, not transferred. Thus a smaller version of AI Alt Cunningham was inserted into her clone and the original still remained. This daughter-clone started her own existence independent from AI Alt. This being an alternative timeline it was originally non-canon to the main setting until Mike Pondsmith greenlit her appearing in the RED sourcebook short story "Black Dog". The hints dropped there are designed to confirm to us long-term fans that yes, this is indeed the same Angel and the events of her creation are likely identical.
As an aside, if you wonder why Soulkiller doesn't leave the original consciousness alive if consciousness is copied, it originally did. The human Alt developed the prototype as a way for digital immortality but her bosses weaponized it by adding a killswitch. This why Saburo Arasaka is still alive but also has an engram in Mikoshi. He used the original version.
@@Gforcez "The reason Saburo Arasaka is alive _at the beginning of the game_ but still has an engram in Mikoshi."
You’ve been cooking with all these cyberpunk videos thank u so much recently finished my first play through of liberty city and was itching for more cyberpunk content lol!
i love how much cyberpunk2077's narrative lies to you. keep rocking with these!
I hope Michiko has a larger part in the Orion sequel.
Great video. I love Michiko Arasaka as a character in Cyberpunk 2020/Red. I even play Danger Gals in the miniature game Cyberpunk Red Combat Zone.
At 15:20, the part about the sky being red: I had the same thought. During the shootout, you can fire at the windows and find out that the sky actually isn't red at all. It's just tinted glass lol
AHHHHHHHHH
I have a few theories as to how Michiko got onto the board,
either a) Saburo knew she was attempting to subvert Arasaka and was keeping her close so he could mess up or misdirect her efforts. 'Keep your friend's close and your enemies closer'
b) Yorinobu got her in, to either give her better access to subvert Arasaka or wanted to give Hata a figurehead to help divide Saburo's control and attention to aid his own plans
c) Saburo views his family more as chess pieces at times, so despite Michiko being raised American , she's still an 'Arasaka' and he wants her as his chess piece. Especially if he knows she worked with Militech, so that's a middle finger to Militech.
man, I hope we could see more of Michiko if there's a sequel to cyberpunk 2077, because *damn* if she isn't interesting.
Great Video on my favorite Cyberpunk character! Since she's the only Arasaka to get out regardless of ending, hopefully she's explored more in the next one.
I really wish geography wasn't an issue and I could invite you to my TTRPG Cyberpunk game. I think you'd love how much I tie existing lore into the very much new stories about the player characters. For example, they don't know yet that they're currently working for Michiko.
An element of the Smasher-Michiko relationship most people don't consider is to recall that Michiko at the time was a double agent for the NUSA. In intelligence circles, seduction is considered a prime method of recruiting or at least neutralizing the loyalty of a potential asset. Michiko already had the loyalty of Arasaka's best solo in the form of her bodyguard. Gaining the loyalty of the number two solo just increases her security as two of the men most likely to be ordered to kill her if her true loyalty was revealed would at least hesitate. Also, given the motor mouth Adam is just think of all the Arasaka dirty laundry he knows that Michiko could gain in their pillow talk.
Love it. Great analysis and break down video. Didn't know she was so interesting. Love it man. Again. Good job.
How much time do these videos take you? Hope you're doing well.
Memes aside, i really wanted a lore breakdown of her for my tabletop campain, thank you!
Aw thanks for watching! Happy to deliver!
5:05 you went on full savage mode with this one
You know I have always wondered if Johnny Silverhand was actually a real person or just an AI that was given a specific fabricated memory. A weapon of sorts that was meant to be released into a system for whatever reason but instead, it's now in our head. Part of me really REALLY hopes that they explore that avenue and it's real. While also knowing that it's most likely not and it's just an open plot hook to some other weird thing.
Great video Lydi, I love the logo!!
👻
In my game, Danger Gal is one of the recurring enemies. The skillset they use to chase down Arasaka is startlingly similar to the sort of skillset useful for union busting. So I run them like the Pinkertons. They do shady stuff, but with a hell of a lot of PR. And just enough feel good jobs to make people think they're heroes.
I just ordered your book, Merry Christmas 🎄
AHH THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!
@lydiscott No Problem! You mentioned having written a book in one of your previous videos, so I went ahead and read the excerpt from it on your website 📚
Can't wait to binge-read the rest of it!
First, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that they used Lizzy's model, slightly modified, for Michiko. Why she would join the Arasaka board is obvious-on the inside, she's got influence and first hand knowledge of the corporation's plans. But I agree that she's such an interesting character in the lore, and her company would have been a terrific source for gigs and resources for V. Maybe in Orion?
Thanks for this. Danger Gal might be my favorite faction in the cyberpunk lore and sadly they're not even included in the game. Hopefully we see them in the sequel really.
Seats on the board of companies are often given to owners of large share-holdings, or their proxies. Michiko (presumably) inherited and still owns her late father's entire portfolio. She likely could have forced her way onto the board at any time after his death.
To add some info, it was Morgan Blackhand who set up the bomb that blew.
You're the best. Thanks for the vid!❤
Aww hey thanks for watching!!!
Though the rest of Johnny's memories are suspect (I love the fact he imagined himself the guy who spat in Smasher's eye when he literally just gets torn in half in 2 seconds in actuality), the time of the red we see from Atlantis might be accurate.
The nuke didn't cause the Time of Red as a whole according to the TTRPG, but instead the combination of devastation in the 4th corporate war, especially orbital strikes. It kicked up so much debris it hung in the atmosphere, causing the sunsets to look that way.
Michiko getting with Adam Smasher is Harley getting with the Joker.
On the Adam Smasher bit Lydi, if you're not familiar with Harley Quinn, she was the Joker's Psychiatrist in the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. It's not uncommon.
I would also suggest you look into a phenomenon called Hybristophilia. I won't explain it. I will let you go down that rabbit hole yourself.
thank u for video!
i love listening to Cyberpunk 2077 lore while playing Warframe 1999 lol
Im binging a corpo build in 2077… but i am so psyched to dive into WF99
There needs to be a game where you play as her or at least one of her operatives.
Hell, I’d take playing as her husband, because there’s just enough there for him to be an interesting character.
I think the red from the bar is just the bar window. Moments before we get there we drive up to the bar with Thompson and it’s full night time and no red. So just a window tint in the bar
Now I want to play a Cyberpunk Danger Girl campaign. Awesome. =D
would you ever consider, doing vids on manga/comic book characters? I'd love to see your take on guts and griffith from berserk
Getting to work with Michiko and Danger Gal might have also been a cool way to make River Ward less mid. She could have easily been included in the Peter Pan hunt, but Pondsmith and CDPR didn't do that for some reason.
Could defo see Michiko through NUSA contacts be aware of NetWatches intentions and the heist. If she had actually been in contact with Yorinobu, they could've better coordinated to make sure Arasaka was put in the dirt for good. But I could see her being VERY distruusting of Yorinobu with his ganger past
I am really, REALLY hoping that Michiko is used extensively in the next game. I could easily see her as someone who is playing parallel angles throughout the experience.
Hi, First i like your content.
The good thing the edgerunner Mission Kit was released this year, bringing Cyberpunk red to 2077. so you can play now in the works of 2077. I really Like the role-playinggame and am thinking about the time I would like to play.
But I have a question. Where did you find the stuff with the Nuke an Joni’s body?
This character is an enigma, as is that faction. It's a description of the "third way", something distinct from Yorinobu's Rage/chaos faction and Hanako Traditionalist/order faction.
I still see the game writes in Saburo as the arch-villain who is like a pupeteer, even in death- thats the function of the engram in the devil ending......but its only one possible view and its very like the struggle between order and chaos (aka alignments in D&D) points of view.
You, as a player in the games, have to decide what you stand for.....but that is all dependent on the scenario the referee sets.
In my next TT game the players are all corporate employees, so their freedom of action is not entirely their own. They take corporate resources and services in doing activities others would consider to be bad or against "freedom"- what ever that is in the NC circle of hell.
Is this an "evil" campaign i have created therefore....well that depends on a your PoV. The players will decide if they can accept corporate objectives and seek their managers climb up a corporateladder- who ultimately working for the CEO who inturn is seeking domination in a battle over "market share" in this the late stage capitalist world.
The world is therefore not black or white.....its just grey
Her lady parts must be made from titanium alloy, if she dated Adam Smasher.
just wanted to note that the red outside in Johnny's memory is cause of the glass
Not surprised at all the Lydi would play Danger Gal.
I modeled a character after Michiko and Okada
Smasher : ......
Michiko : ......
Smasher: So, err you look like a cut of f-
Michiko: Let's go!!!!
You should make a whole video just about how unreliable Johnny’s memories are. The first one to come to mind is that jump from Smasher showing up to Johnny somehow getting to the ‘copter before actually getting smashed by Smasher. Clearly Johnny’s ego is strong enough to write false memories into his own engram 😂
honestly this would be a lot of fun! I'll add this to the list!
Given River's original intended role of finding V in the scrapyard was replaced by Takemura, there's various theories that before that took place Takemura was Kenichi Zaburo, and Michiko had a bigger role, when they rewrote the River role and needed a nice Arasaka henchman, Kenichi was replaced by Takemura. In the process Michiko's role was minimize and just like how Morgan Blackhand's assets was reused for Mr Blue Eyes (his hair is tagged with Morgan Blackhand in the files, most likely because he featured in Johnny's flashbacks at one point before being cut for unknown reasons) Michiko was just left in the Arasaka ending. It also makes it a bit amusing that Takemura doesn't know anything about Michiko if he was originally her bodyguard.
As for Johnny's body, it can still be in the oil field; during the assault Morgan Blackhand's team was set to destroy the main Arasaka data center, while Spider Murphy was to release Alt from the subnet first (what Johnny does in the game with the "European ICEbreaker"), in the process Spider copied Soulkiller as well. Adam Smasher showed up and insta-fragged Johnny and cut him in two with his gatling shotgun (which I so wanted in the game), but before Johnny faded away, Spider hit him with the Soulkiller, but had to gtfo before it could finish its job due to the destruction caused by the ongoing battle between Smasher and Shaitan (the cyborg that gets knocked out like a punk in Johnny's "memories"), leaving it in Johnny's head. So far this is tabletop RPG, but here's some headcanon that should fit into things;
After this point Arasaka had no Soulkiller, since it was wiped, but they have it in 2077... so how did they recover it? From Johnny. Saburo sent Smasher to locate Johnny's body, and he tracks it to New Mexico, retrieves it and the various items like the Porche and gun, brings it back to Night City and Arasaka recovers Soulkiller, and builds 2.0 from it. Afterwards the still radioactive body is disposed of in the oil fields.
Note that while that likely spells bad news for Samantha Stevens that had most of the collectibles, Angel or rather Alt Cunningham reborn still probably got away, because it's just too much fun to imagine Alt and a cloned and revived Johnny still bumping around out there, making Johnny's initial rants in V's apartment that he's just a copy and the real him is still out there somewhere actually true.
WOW THIS COMMENT IS AWESOME! Thank you for writing it! WOWOWOOW!
@@lydiscott Thanks a lot, thank you also for making these videos, I have enjoyed them a lot so far, regardless of if I knew most of the info already, you have a great way of delivering it.
The Atlantis actually just has some super orange tinted windows, incredibly cool looking but it’s just a filter
I've always thought that a nomad faction has the bomb. As they did the clean up after the disaster, they were on scene before anyone else. And all "good deeds" in Cyberpunk are never just good deeds. I then think that living Alt acquired the bomb.
If she doesn't have the bomb, she definitely knows who does. There can be a whole game just on the Arasaka corp. At the least, all of this should have been woven into the corpo path.
Danger Gal's Puma Squad is definitely a front for anti-Arasaka operations even in 2045. It's a hella subtle hint, even if the books literally say it. In the mission The Incident.... Major Cyberpunk Red spoiler by the way..... An Arasaka asshat hires some dumbass gonks to steal some data out of Danger Gal's servers. The gonks got a major lead overdose, and the Arasaka guy wen to ground. Puma Squad then outsourced the finding of where said asshat is hiding. The guy has an encripted doodad on him that makes Mouse break script and get really scary. 😮😮
As for Michiko's position on the Arasaka Board, it's automatic. Lemme explain: Her father Kei was CEO of Arasaka. Therefore, he had major shares. Well, all of Saburo's kids have major shares. Now Michiko has his shares, therefore a seat on the Board. Nothing secret or special.
Also, if Michiko has the lost bomb, she may be saving it to shove somewhere unfortable in Myers' body. Millitech has always been scummy, and going by the bad ending of Phantom Liberty (where V loses the ability to use cyberware), a Corpo war is about to start. 3 guesses who's gonna start it, and the first 2 don't count 😂😂😂
Well, depending on the ending, Michiko might be a future body for Saburo, as is Hanako. They might combine forces to make sure it does not happen.
Re the Danger Girl thing ... i think they changed it due to some Copyright problem after the first printing, don't quote me though. I just remember googling Danger Girl and finding some other ip behind the name.
15:15
Could be wrong but I remember the windows being destructible and the sunlight being normal outside, making them just tinted glass giving off that color. Could also be in-game time dependent.
Actually pissed me off, lol Ruined the red sunset vibe for me, heh
Just getting over bronchitis, this was an awesome present ^_^
AWW NOO NOT BRONCHITIS!!!
I like how a good portion of the video was just talking about how crazy it was that she dated adam smasher and trying to udnerstand what got them togheter, I really got a good chuckle out of that. Aside from that: Yeah most probably the body of Johnny is actually buried somewhere nice and cozy, and also the nuke is like.... 99% sure in the possesion of Michiko, I dont believe anyone else could have gotten a lead on where the real nuke was dumped, unless Mike pulls out an ass twister with a random scuba diver finding it and giving it off to one or the other faction, but that: A. Is fucking boring and B. Its pretty unlikely realistically speaking, both factors I am hoping Mike hates as a writer. Michiko having the nuke AND the codes, definetely could have played a huge role in the fact she got back onto father's good side and on the board of directors, this is a bit far fetched since there is no real evidence to this but if you think about it, what could mend such deep wounds?
Your daughter fucking up your corporation across the entire country of a rival state and corpo, working alongside them with no regards towards family ties? I am betting getting your ass saved from another huge media wave telling everyone "Hey actually, Arasaka was ready to blow up their tower AND the entirety of the city alongside it if something happened that they didnt like!" *And boy did she use that to her advantage*
I am betting all of my sand coins that she played both sides for fools, Militech and NUSA left her alone to do what she wanted with no strings attached, whilst not getting bad PR because she didnt tell the media they were the one that blew it up, Arasaka let her back in because she didnt make a fuss about it to the media telling everyone they were ready to nuke the city alongside the tower, how convinient, isnt it?
Could you do a character analysis on Aurore Cassel and her brother? From phantom liberty
oh yes YES I WILL!!!
Sadly our Rounds of CP 2020 are not set in NC at all or even the NUSA or something our master runs a very own brew would love to have some of the characters in our games that are basically canon to the universe
Let's hope that Red uses her in the next game!
I really hope there’s a Claire video in the works
So, it probably ended up more like if Batman hooked up with Harley. Actually, I don’t know if that happened in DC, but the intelligence and psychosis kinda matches. Or Barbara with Bane?
What happened to her bodyguard?
New video for final studying
Ahhh best of luck!!! Hope this helps pass the time! 🤗
How high were you when you recorded it? 🌿
Still good though, but wishe we could see your face more.
Not high, I also just prefer not using my face and just using my words lol
>:( I WANT DANGER GAL!!! WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!!! That needs to be an expansion, mini game or something.
When are we getting a silver hand video
He’ll probably be my last big cyberpunk character analysis, just because I want to take into account every single interaction with him. Not sure when that will be lmao
Smasher???
I hardly know 'er.
So she not only got smashed by Smasher but also created cat girls to go after Arasaka?
i wish Michiko and Morgan Blackhand are together after the bombing and Morgan was the one who took the second bomb and keeping it like Joker card, but its just a teory an S.B.S. teory!
Saburo Arasaka has a weak point. His family. That's why he let Yorinobu get away with so much. So Michiko could get on the board through nepotism sor sure.
day 50 of asking song bird video
So Adam smasher? 😂
:)
🥰
If only Cdpr added such story lines and not those various gigs that are boring and cookie cutter.