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If you're curious about why I portray Newt the way that I do, this will go into a fair amount of detail on the subject, specifically with regards to Pacific Rim Uprising!
The way I try to approach Newt's characterization is a little... complicated.
Firstly, we have to take into account the first Pacific Rim, where Newt is shown to be rude, condescending, full of himself, but also brilliant, energetic, and genuinely compassionate under a prickly outer shell and an over-inflated ego.
Then, we have to look at Uprising- ten years later, Newt appears to have matured quite a bit compared to the man we saw in the first movie. He still has his outbursts of anger and his moments of manic energy, but he's more composed.
And then, of course, we must take into account the fact that nearly every single word Newt said in Uprising- nearly every movement, every twitch of his hand, every grin or sneer- was not actually him, but the Precursor aliens controlling his mind, forcing him to move like an awful flesh puppet. And the fact that Newt has almost certainly been watching his body move and speak without his control, for god knows how long.
That changes a lot of things- both how we can interpret the scenes and timeskip in Uprising, and how Newt himself would act after his body and mind belong to him and him alone, again.
First of all, I believe that the Precursor possession started due to Newt attempting to continue drifting with the secondary Kaiju brain presented in the first Pacific Rim. This brain, later dubbed "Alice", was considered useful by Newt in continuing to try to learn more and more about the Kaiju. Specifically, he wanted to learn more about their society, their biology, how to prevent future breaches, their weaknesses, and so on. The project was terrifying, but Newt refused to even let Hermann know about it, despite the risks to himself. Surprisingly, none of these drifts had the same effect as the first one- no seizures, no passing out, nothing medically or physically wrong. This is due to the Precursors noticing an opportunity and seizing it.
The possession began to take hold not long after the events of the first Pacific Rim, but it was very subtle. Increased nightmares and paranoia. A sense that something wasn't right in his head, more so than usual. Feeling of being watched. Et cetera. This very, very slowly increased over the years, to the point where Newt didn't even realize the ramp up- the "boiled frog" scenario. Perhaps the Precursors started to put in little mental suggestions- such as, "yeah, why don't I change jobs and move away from Hong Kong?" or "Maybe I should start researching this aspect of Jaeger tech." More subtle at first, slowly becoming bigger.
[An alternative theory based on this: Newt didn't begin drifting with Alice until after the Precursor possession took hold and began to offer suggestions like the above. The reason why I go with the idea that Newt started drifting with Alice first, is because it feels the most fitting for Newt's character. Newt is a very egotistical man- he would absolutely be the type of person to try to drift with a kaiju brain for a 3rd time purely for scientific exploration, because he believes he can handle it. It's also yet another way for Newt's pride and confidence in himself to come back to bite him- hard.]
Nothing physical happened until maybe a few years after closing the breach, at which point Newt would occasionally start to disassociate and watch/feel his body move and speak without his own input. He would be confused, but chalk it up to a lack of sleep, or just a new symptom of his mental illnesses emerging. These experiences would very slowly become more commonplace. By this point [and this bit is purely headcanon], Newt would have broken off his relationship with Hermann due to various reasons that, when asked, he can't quite put into words.
Newt would slowly begin to realize that his disassociation episodes aren't as harmless as he thought, but when he'd try to say something to someone[for example, a therapist], he'd immediately fall into one of those episodes and be unable to continue the thought, and his mouth would change the subject without his input. He'd start developing blueprints for plans that weren't his.
After this point, the amount of control the Precursors have ramps up exponentially, no longer concerned about Newt giving anything away.
Approximately 10 years after the breach closed[That is to say, the time of Pacific Rim Uprising], Newt is only in control of his body and himself about 1% of the time. Any attempts to reach out to the people he knew and loved are either dissuaded or altered by the creatures piloting his body.
When the Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids are unleashed, that last sliver of control is completely quashed out. The only time Newt manages to break the Precursor's control for a moment is when they force him to strangle Hermann. In that one moment, Newt is able to apologize before he's lost again.
With all this said, I believe that most of the personality changes shown by Newt in Uprising can be discarded as being the work of the Precursors. However, I do believe that being under extended possession has caused Newt to mature quite a bit.
He'll definitely be more subdued and introspective than he used to be- being stuck in your own mind will have to do that to a person. His manic-depressive episodes may err more on the side of depressive, and he'll definitely be even worse at navigating social situations than he used to be. Newt's only had the evil aliens controlling his brain to talk to for years- cut him a little slack, there.
Newt's still got his energy, his weird nerdiness, his excitement over monsters and stuff that he think is cool, his ego, and all that fun stuff. His views on the Kaiju are pretty... complex, now, but even after all of this, he admires them. And he doesn't regret his tattoos.
The idea of losing control of himself- his body or his mind- will panic him. He hates losing time. He's even more rambly than usual, seeming to never get tired of hearing his own voice. Newt will be even quicker to anger than he used to be- years of not being able to actually argue have left him spoiling for a fight.
Overall, he's the same Newt that we met in the first Pacific Rim. But he's ten years older, a little more mature, a lot more traumatized, and definitely more depressed. At least he bounces back pretty quickly[or tries to]!
The way I try to approach Newt's characterization is a little... complicated.
Firstly, we have to take into account the first Pacific Rim, where Newt is shown to be rude, condescending, full of himself, but also brilliant, energetic, and genuinely compassionate under a prickly outer shell and an over-inflated ego.
Then, we have to look at Uprising- ten years later, Newt appears to have matured quite a bit compared to the man we saw in the first movie. He still has his outbursts of anger and his moments of manic energy, but he's more composed.
And then, of course, we must take into account the fact that nearly every single word Newt said in Uprising- nearly every movement, every twitch of his hand, every grin or sneer- was not actually him, but the Precursor aliens controlling his mind, forcing him to move like an awful flesh puppet. And the fact that Newt has almost certainly been watching his body move and speak without his control, for god knows how long.
That changes a lot of things- both how we can interpret the scenes and timeskip in Uprising, and how Newt himself would act after his body and mind belong to him and him alone, again.
First of all, I believe that the Precursor possession started due to Newt attempting to continue drifting with the secondary Kaiju brain presented in the first Pacific Rim. This brain, later dubbed "Alice", was considered useful by Newt in continuing to try to learn more and more about the Kaiju. Specifically, he wanted to learn more about their society, their biology, how to prevent future breaches, their weaknesses, and so on. The project was terrifying, but Newt refused to even let Hermann know about it, despite the risks to himself. Surprisingly, none of these drifts had the same effect as the first one- no seizures, no passing out, nothing medically or physically wrong. This is due to the Precursors noticing an opportunity and seizing it.
The possession began to take hold not long after the events of the first Pacific Rim, but it was very subtle. Increased nightmares and paranoia. A sense that something wasn't right in his head, more so than usual. Feeling of being watched. Et cetera. This very, very slowly increased over the years, to the point where Newt didn't even realize the ramp up- the "boiled frog" scenario. Perhaps the Precursors started to put in little mental suggestions- such as, "yeah, why don't I change jobs and move away from Hong Kong?" or "Maybe I should start researching this aspect of Jaeger tech." More subtle at first, slowly becoming bigger.
[An alternative theory based on this: Newt didn't begin drifting with Alice until after the Precursor possession took hold and began to offer suggestions like the above. The reason why I go with the idea that Newt started drifting with Alice first, is because it feels the most fitting for Newt's character. Newt is a very egotistical man- he would absolutely be the type of person to try to drift with a kaiju brain for a 3rd time purely for scientific exploration, because he believes he can handle it. It's also yet another way for Newt's pride and confidence in himself to come back to bite him- hard.]
Nothing physical happened until maybe a few years after closing the breach, at which point Newt would occasionally start to disassociate and watch/feel his body move and speak without his own input. He would be confused, but chalk it up to a lack of sleep, or just a new symptom of his mental illnesses emerging. These experiences would very slowly become more commonplace. By this point [and this bit is purely headcanon], Newt would have broken off his relationship with Hermann due to various reasons that, when asked, he can't quite put into words.
Newt would slowly begin to realize that his disassociation episodes aren't as harmless as he thought, but when he'd try to say something to someone[for example, a therapist], he'd immediately fall into one of those episodes and be unable to continue the thought, and his mouth would change the subject without his input. He'd start developing blueprints for plans that weren't his.
After this point, the amount of control the Precursors have ramps up exponentially, no longer concerned about Newt giving anything away.
Approximately 10 years after the breach closed[That is to say, the time of Pacific Rim Uprising], Newt is only in control of his body and himself about 1% of the time. Any attempts to reach out to the people he knew and loved are either dissuaded or altered by the creatures piloting his body.
When the Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids are unleashed, that last sliver of control is completely quashed out. The only time Newt manages to break the Precursor's control for a moment is when they force him to strangle Hermann. In that one moment, Newt is able to apologize before he's lost again.
With all this said, I believe that most of the personality changes shown by Newt in Uprising can be discarded as being the work of the Precursors. However, I do believe that being under extended possession has caused Newt to mature quite a bit.
He'll definitely be more subdued and introspective than he used to be- being stuck in your own mind will have to do that to a person. His manic-depressive episodes may err more on the side of depressive, and he'll definitely be even worse at navigating social situations than he used to be. Newt's only had the evil aliens controlling his brain to talk to for years- cut him a little slack, there.
Newt's still got his energy, his weird nerdiness, his excitement over monsters and stuff that he think is cool, his ego, and all that fun stuff. His views on the Kaiju are pretty... complex, now, but even after all of this, he admires them. And he doesn't regret his tattoos.
The idea of losing control of himself- his body or his mind- will panic him. He hates losing time. He's even more rambly than usual, seeming to never get tired of hearing his own voice. Newt will be even quicker to anger than he used to be- years of not being able to actually argue have left him spoiling for a fight.
Overall, he's the same Newt that we met in the first Pacific Rim. But he's ten years older, a little more mature, a lot more traumatized, and definitely more depressed. At least he bounces back pretty quickly[or tries to]!
