Do Androids dream of … kicking each other's butts?

Before posting the poll, for those of you who don't know, Roy Batty is the bad-ass android/replicant from "Blade Runner", played by Rutger Hauer. Data is a milk-skinned emo-seeking android from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Here, it's these guys:

{democracy:213}

It's tempting to just declare Roy the winner here because he came from a darker, more dangerous universe than the sunny Lieutenant Commander Data. However, Roy faced off against a regular human and lost, and Data's stronger, faster, and smarter than Harrison Ford any day of the week and twice on any day he plays an Amish character. Nothing against the Amish, you understand, but they're not going to be reading this anyway so why not engage in totally made-up discrimination with no basis in reality? After all, it IS the holiday season!

On the other hand, Data has been shown to be susceptible to psychological manipulation, something this particular replicant excels at.

Personally I'd still stick with the replicant, because Data had to prove he was "fully functional" with Tasha Yar, and for that he deserves a swift mercy killing. But which would you choose?

20 Responses to Do Androids dream of … kicking each other's butts?

  1. Gero says:

    Depending on which member of the film crew/cast you ask, Ford’s character might have been a replicant also (the director says he was, but Ford says he wasn’t), so Roy losing to him might not be as bad as it sounds. But even if you do subscribe to the “he was human” idea, he was still a Blade Runner, someone who literally hunts down and kills androids for a living, so it’s STILL not really fair to handicap Roy for his lose to him…

  2. Gero says:

    *loss

  3. Myro says:

    Wait, you’re going to punish Roy Batty for beating the crap out of Roy Dekker, and at the last minute, with Dekker hanging on for dear life, Roy saves him, justifying it that Dekker now knows what it’s like to fear death every minute. And you call THAT losing to a human?

    Whatever, man. Batty turns Data into his personal biyatch. The only saving grace for Data is that replicants are designed to live no more than 6 years.

  4. Myro says:

    Err…Rick Dekker

  5. “Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled around their shoulders… burning with the fires of Orc.”

    Data longed to be human. Roy Batty longed to live. You don’t get tougher or meaner than that.

    Batty rips Data apart.

  6. John says:

    The &^%$(*&^ Batman takes them both out while bringing down Judge Dredd, Galactus, Darkseid and the entire Celestial host before breakfast.

  7. William A. Peterson says:

    Uhmm, guys? Have any of you ever SEEN Data in a combat situation? He’s fast! AND, he gets to carry a Phaser! Not to mention having access to Transporter technology…
    Sorry, “Old Yellow Eyes”, for the Win!

  8. Dan says:

    I gotta go with Roy over Data, especially if it’s Data with emotions. Roy would twist his positronic brain into a pretzel. Plus Roy gets about a thousand extra points for being played by Rutger Hauer.

  9. Brad says:

    I was just going to say something with the same effect, Dan. Roy wins by the factor of Rutger Hauer, for all of his Haueryness. Besides, if you take Data, divide him by 2, and then reverse, all you’re left with is “Ta-da!” Not very exciting.

  10. Joshua says:

    Look, I love “Blade Runner” as much as the next geek; not only is it another masterpiece from one of the greatest years in the sum history of cinema (…1982, we love you), but it poses a thought-provoking, existential question on the meaning of being human– but against the backdrop of a gritty, future-noir L.A. and with robots to boot!

    HOWEVER…Data’s stronger. Data’s faster. And Data is beyond smarter than a Nexus-6 replicant. Plus, Data’s chassis is resistant to gun fire– the guy is built with next level s$#t from the 24th century. Only thing Roy Batty is going to be waxing poetically about is how this Space-Age Pinocchio got the better of him.

    While I love J.J. Abrams re-envisioning of “Star Trek”, I would love to see Ridley Scott’s “Star Trek: TNG”. More specifically, his vision of the Borg.

  11. C. Baize says:

    Data.
    Hands down.
    He’s stronger, faster, smarter.

    Batty has will to live. And that’s awesome…
    But will to live never let a guy beat a woodchipper when he falls into one.
    Data takes poor batty apart. Then studies him.
    Then fixes him, and makes him his little bro.

  12. The Imp says:

    I’m aghast that ANYONE voted for Data.

    Come on.

    Really?

  13. William A. Peterson says:

    Impy, at one time, saying *anything* against the sheer awesomeness that is Data would get you lynched by the Geek Squad! If you don’t believe me, look at fan reaction to the introduction of Dr. Pulaski, whom I thought was a much more interesting Doctor than Beverly Crusher…
    She didn’t welcome Data with open arms (didn’t really hate him, just didn’t believe all the hype), so SHE HAD TO GO!!!
    Roy Beaty never had 1/10th Data’s fan club…
    Yeah, that’s faded, as Spiner grew more and more desperate to avoid permanent typecasting, and the entire Star Trek franchise has pretty much disintegrated…
    But attacking Data was on a par with stealing candy from a Baby while claiming that Spider-Man could beat Wolverine, at the same time! You’d have been burned at the virtual stake as a heretic!

  14. The Imp says:

    I stand by my comment. I never thought Data was anything special. Oh, the _potential_ was there, but he couldn’t ever really DO anything with it. Far too Pinocchio-like.

  15. mashlagoo says:

    There would be no fight.

    Instead, each would gaze upon the other and see a reflection of their awesomeness. They would then realize that fighting it out would only cause a reduction in their collective awesomeness.

    So, they would become allies (and fix Roy’s death problem) thus making their combined awesomeness increase exponentially.

  16. Novak says:

    Data would win because he can download all of the Batman comics and make himself into a Batman like character. That is the only way to win in these polls.

  17. nate dawg says:

    Send em both to the scrap heap. LOL

  18. mashlagoo says:

    I had to give the win to Batty.

    True, they are both fast, strong and smart.

    But Batty was designed specifically for fighting. I don’t think Data was. That should give Batty the edge. Also, I think Data would be more hesitant to “kill” Batty. Where as Batty (again designed for fighting and killing) would have little to no problem taking Data apart.

    The only edge Data might have over Batty is experience. Afterall, Batty is not even four years old.

  19. Gene says:

    After much consideration, I went with Data. It came down to Data having more experience, and a greater range of abilities and skills.

    Roy was built and programmed to do one thing; fight. But even then, we don’t really know how good he was at it. We only have second hand recounts, and he’s only gone against humans (To the best of our knowledge).

  20. Neon Sequitur says:

    Roy Batty went up against another replicant who was trained to hunt down and kill other replicants, kicked his sorry butt, then saved his life after proving he was superior.

    Data wouldn’t even score a “moral victory” against this guy.