Wheatley intelligence upgrade

[ClawthornLongheart]

As of now, Wheatley’s intelligence is listed as below average, and I want to make a case this being upgraded to just average, or at the very least; the reasoning behind him being listed as below average changing. It’s true Wheatley was specifically designed as a core to make GLaDOS dumber, so she could be controlled easier. But he was distinctly bad at doing this, which is why the scientist put him in storage and replaced with him the cores seen the first game. This aligns with the fact he’s a “corrupt” or glitched core—a malfunctioning robot isn’t going to fulfill its programmed purpose all of the time.

Instead, when actually taking the time to analyze his actions, you can clearly it’s his personality defects that make him do foolish and stupid things, not his programmed purpose of coming up with bad ideas. He can come up with good ideas and does so consistently throughout the game, such as the plan to beat GLaDOS, looking back on past recordings of the Portal 1 boss fight as to not make the same mistakes she did, and boobytrapping the stalemate button. He even showed surprising mechanic ingenuity by fixing the broken neurotoxin generator.

It’s also listed that Wheatley, when presented with two choices, will always pick the worst one due to his programming. This is just outright incorrect, to the point where it borders on being headcanon. Wheatley’s programmed purpose was to act as a distraction for GLaDOS, and come up with bad ideas. But there’s literally no precedent whatsoever for him programmed to pick the worst out of two options every time. I honestly don’t know where they got this from.

Though, Wheatley obviously isn’t without weakness. He’s still very much a fool. I propose his weaknesses get changed to the following: Wheatley is easily distractible, lacking in focus, doesn’t tend to think things through or plan ahead, and fails to see the bigger picture. Instead of tending to his responsibilities as head of Aperture, his since priorities are heavily skewed, to the point he has an addiction to the stimulus that comes with a test subject solving a test. He’ll gradually fail to maintain the reactor core when distracted, primarily by an opponent.

 

[DaReaperMan]

You realize that when Wheatley was put in charge of Aperature, he managed it so badly it was literally going to ******* explode, right? That's his whole deal, he's actively stupid and does stupid things, see the turret cubes or the fact that he was LITERALLY DESIGNED TO BE A MORON. Just because he's malfunctioning does not go against the fact he was designed to be a dumbass.

Remember, NONE OF THIS is anything resembling a feat that allows Wheatley to even try to break out of Below Average. "He looked at recordings of the past to not repeat it", a child with basic memory functions can do that. Wheatley is below Average. Once I'm finished with Hellaverse's Vees profile, I'll get to work on reworking Portal profiles. Which will include me checking rando sources for what Wheatley is doing.

I wouldn't be surprised if parts of that intelligence section are never stated and are just 40K primarch style misinformation that's been spread since the dinosaurs were ******* on the mountaintops. But Wheatley and GLaDOS need far more than this.

 

[Armorchompy]

Wheatley's entire character is that he's a moron

 

[LegendariumOfLies]

Wheately was so dumb that the levels starting breaking down. He couldn't even insult Chell all that well - just started calling her fat and an oprhan.

 

[ClawthornLongheart]

You realize that when Wheatley was put in charge of Aperature, he managed it so badly it was literally going to ******* explode, right?

Yes. But again, that’s because he was distracted with trying to kill Chell and put off his responsibilities of maintaining the reactor core. It’s not due to mental deterioration or cognitive failure, but his personality defects that I explained in detail. Wheatley is a very distractible character and this remains consistent throughout the game.

Just because he's malfunctioning does not go against the fact he was designed to be an idiot.

But it does give leeway to the idea that he can come up with good ideas and isn’t as dumb as his creators intended him to be. That’s why he was out in his storage in the first place; he wasn’t as good at being as idiot as they wanted.

Remember, NONE OF THIS is anything resembling a feat that allows Wheatley to even try to break out of Below Average.

Okay, let’s go down the list. Despite his purpose, he was intelligent enough to fail at dumb-downing GLaDOS to the degree the scientists wanted. He tried escaping with five other test subjects before waking up Chell, only failing due to their implied brain damage. He gamed a door using bird eggs, creating a diversion so he could talk to Chell without GLaDOS overhearing. He broke Chell out of the testing track, and came up with the plan to sabotage GLaDOS’ turrets and neurotoxin. If the player doesn’t solve the turret production line puzzle, he eventually comes up with the answer on his own, and he haphazardly crammed test chambers together multiple times, and each time the test was fully solvable. He studied footage of Chell fighting GLaDOS to ensure he wouldn’t make the same mistakes, and withheld the final part of his plan to get the jump on them.

None of this is below average behavior. I stand by the idea that it’s personality defects that make him do stupid things like putting off his problems, and that’s he no different from a normal person when it comes planning and coming up with ideas. He has a shockingly consistent track record when it comes to workable plans, despite what the narrative tries to tell you. It’s his personality that gets in his way and makes him self-sabotage, not a lack of intelligence. At minimum the reasoning for him having “below average” should be changed to explain these specific flaws in depth, so people can get a better understanding of his specific brand of stupidity. He isn’t just a “hur dur” cartoon moron who can’t do anything right. He can succeed and he can come up with good ideas. But he’s a character with consistent flaws that hold him back, and these include those personality defects.

"He looked at recordings of the past to not repeat it", a child with basic memory functions can do that.

And that’s not what a moron would do. It shows he has at minimum average planning skills.

 

[DaReaperMan]

Yes. But again, that’s because he was distracted with trying to kill Chell and put off his responsibilities. It’s not due to mental deterioration or cognitive failure, but his personality defects that I explained in detail.

Sounds like a massive excuse to me.

But it does give leeway that he can come up with good ideas and isn’t as dumb as his creators intended him to be. That’s why he was out in his storage in the first place; he wasn’t as good at being as idiot as they wanted

Yeah, when attached to an extraordinary genius supercomputer that was also murderous. Every core that is used on her isn't even ******* coherent, he can hold a conversation.

Okay, let’s go down the list. Despite his purpose, he was intelligent enough to fail at dumb-downing GLaDOS to the degree the scientists wanted.

...You realize that that just means he's slightly more intelligent than outright lunacy, right? Every other core wasn't even coherent.

He tried escaping with five other test subjects before waking up Chell, only failing due to their implied brain damage.

Because he sent 10-Bs/10-As to do 9-B jumps and falls and shit. This is Below Average levels.

He gamed a door using bird eggs

A child can do this.

creating a diversion so he could talk to Chell without GLaDOS overhearing.

A child could do this. It's not hard to make GLaDOS look another way since Aperature was still half-falling apart at the time.

He broke Chell out of the testing track,

He opened a ******* door, if I am not mistaken. My cats can do this.

and came up with the plan to sabotage GLaDOS’ turrets and neurotoxin.

Very basic plans, if I'm not mistaken, that he had full prior knowledge for. He doesn't need average intelligence to say "1+1=2" when it's written in front of him.

If the player doesn’t solve the turret production line puzzle, he eventually comes up with the answer on his own,

Eventually. After awhile. A child can, and did do this faster. That child was me. I have few nice things to say about child me.

and he haphazardly crammed test chambers together multiple times, and each time the test was fully solvable.

Making a puzzle is also something children can do, espeically when they have borderline limitless examples of a solvable puzzle.

He studied footage of Chell fighting GLaDOS to ensure he wouldn’t make the same mistakes,

Pattern recognition is a sign of sentience, not intelligence.

and withheld the final part of his plan to get the jump on them.

Children do this all the time.

None of this is below average behavior. I stand by the idea that it’s personality defects that make him do stupid things like putting off his problems, and that’s he no different from a normal person when it comes planning and coming up with ideas. He has a shockingly consistent track record when it comes to workable plans, despite what the narrative tries to tell you.

To sum it up: Shit children can do, that he had prep time, full prior knowledge, and an entire ass memory bank to look at for.

Also, this is forgetting the fact that, even with said prior knowledge and prep time, he still had Chell pull a lever that then flips every other lever. He also forgot that the ******* moon was portal-able.

Wheatley does not need average intelligence to do any of this, is he as Ricky ******* as his profile makes him out to be? No. But that's because his profile is a fossil and needs redoing.

And that’s not what a moron would do. It shows he has at minimum average planning skills.

He actually shows child-level planning skills. Most children are not average.

 

[ClawthornLongheart]

Okay, yeah, you’re not going to listen to what I have to say. If you’re not going to at least try to hear me out and dismiss every single intelligence feat with “a child can do this,” then I have nothing to say to you. These feats are clearly at least average level intelligence and not on the level of literal children. But it’s clear to me I’ve put significantly more thought into this than your willing to try and give, and respectfully, I don’t feel like talking to an extremely stubborn and dismissive brick wall.

Though I stand by what I said. My overarching point here is that Wheatley isn’t as big of an idiot as his current profile makes him out to be. He can come up with good ideas and does so consistently, and he certainly isn’t forced to pick between the worst of two options when given a choice. At the least, the justification for below average should be changed to: “Wheatley is easily distractible, lacking in focus, doesn’t tend to think things through or plan ahead, and fails to see the bigger picture. Instead of tending to his responsibilities as head of Aperture, his since priorities are heavily skewed, to the point he has an addiction to the stimulus that comes with a test subject solving a test. He’ll gradually fail to maintain the reactor core when distracted, primarily by an opponent.” This actually reflects the mistakes he makes in game, and isn’t literal headcanon.

 

[Comiphorous]

If you’re not going to at least try to hear me out and dismiss every single intelligence feat with “a child can do this,” then I have nothing to say to you.

But they are?? And even if they weren't things children can generally do, he has so many anti-feats against having average intelligence that this upgrade wouldn't stand anyways.

Though I stand by what I said. My overarching point here is that Wheatley isn’t as big of an idiot as his current profile makes him out to be.

His entire character is being a complete utter moron??? I'd argue his profile doesn't go into how dumb he actually is enough.

“Wheatley is easily distractible, lacking in focus, doesn’t tend to think things through or plan ahead, and fails to see the bigger picture. Instead of tending to his responsibilities as head of Aperture, his since priorities are heavily skewed, to the point he has an addiction to the stimulus that comes with a test subject solving a test. He’ll gradually fail to maintain the reactor core when distracted, primarily by an opponent.” Because that actually reflects the mistakes he makes in game, and isn’t headcanon.

His current intelligence section doesn't even go into his mistakes nor is his current intelligence section headcanon. it blatantly just states two things that are confirmed things revealed about Wheatley which those two things alone are enough for him to be at Below Average, the actual stuff he does in Portal 2 makes him look even dumber than our profile even makes him out to be.

 

[Diamond_Drone]

It’s true Wheatley was specifically designed as a core to make GLaDOS dumber, so she could be controlled easier. But he was distinctly bad at doing this, which is why the scientist put him in storage and replaced with him the cores seen the first game. This aligns with the fact he’s a “corrupt” or glitched core—a malfunctioning robot isn’t going to fulfill its programmed purpose all of the time.

Nothing suggests that Wheatley is corrupted or failed at being dumb, Wheatley is at the very least less corrupt that GLaDOS prior to becoming the Central Core and the first core attached to him that brough him to 50% (Also worth noting that GLaDOS being overwhelmingly corrupt at 80% didn't really have any noticable effect on her intelligence or function)

Plus, multiple media implies that it wasn't the cores malfunctioning that made controlling GLaDOS difficult (though that may have played a part with the corrupted cores we see in Portal 2), but rather just GLaDOS just getting gud at dealing with the cores and exploiting vulnerabilities. So yeah, nothing suggests Wheatley was so corrupt that he wound up smart or something.

It’s also listed that Wheatley, when presented with two choices, will always pick the worst one due to his programming. This is just outright incorrect, to the point where it borders on being headcanon. Wheatley’s programmed purpose was to act as a distraction for GLaDOS, and come up with bad ideas. But there’s literally no precedent whatsoever for him programmed to pick the worst out of two options every time. I honestly don’t know where they got this from.

Technically correct that it wasn't ever stated that Wheatley always picks the worst choice, it still doesn't make him better than Average since he doesn't really get many choices in the game itself besides opening certain not-password protected doors (sometimes by accident). Plus GLaDOS does reaffirm that Wheatley is the built-to-be-dumb when she's not even capable of lying, which is also supported by Wheatley's actions in finale where, instead of pressing the "any key" to fix the reactor malfunctions, he decides to DELETE the safeguard, panics and tries to undelete the safeguard and then gaslights Chell into being the evil mastermind of everything and that nothing is wrong with the facility (and then he admits he has no idea what he's doing).