So, what's everyone's opinion of Synthetic Shaun?

What is your character's reaction to him?

What do you think of the plot?

Weird?

Moving?

Interesting?

It's tough for me to say because I could bond with the 3rd generation Synths in general as my descendants but I found Shaun's plan to recreate himself as a child to have himself raised again to be, well, incredibly [censored] up.

He reminds me of David http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/. Probably my favorite film.

Mainly heartbreak. The scene is setup such that the character would believe the child is Shaun at first. Then Father steps in and unloads the truth, shutdown code emphasizing the point... at least the truth is something, but utterly heartbreaking. Synth Shaun isn't the real Shaun at all, and is already fully indoctrinated by Father anyway, so there is little hope of say, stealing synth Shaun and trying to raise him. He'd just be a kidnapped child at that point and would never really be able to trust the player or let go of Father. Father is too old to really develop a mother/son relationship with. He's already lived a full life and there isn't much that can be done to turn him around. There might be some shred of good in him, but it's too little, too late. The sheer truth of the situation is that there is no saving Shaun. ((from all I've encountered so far anyway... maybe there is more of this synth Shaun story than what I've encountered yet))

I see some vague hope that a Shaun clone could be made to sort of replace Shaun, but that memory will always be there of the loss. It would be better, cleaner, to just move on.... perhaps start a new family... or just decide to not to have a family and make the Commonwealth your family. A life dedicated to building a safe, properous nation would be a life well spent. As things are now, who'd even want to have a child in that mess?

Of course, I also have 7 vials of immortality serum from another questline and an incredible array of contacts with various extraordinary skills. I don't think mortality will be a limit for this character. I expect that after a relatively safe and prosperous nation has developed, the idea of a child might be start looking more practical.

Going to do an Institute run with Curie and Synth!Shaun, we'll see how that plays out.

Sided with the institute first an on my second run I just left him, he's a machine programed to act like a child so figured id nuke him with the rest of the terminators.

I found it very effed up for a number of reasons:

? Imagine the trauma our character suffered there: here they are, finding what they think is their son only to learn that he is NOT their son, that their real son is this old man here. It turns out that the boy is a Synth, and that they missed out on their real son's entire life. I'm surprised we didn't get an option to punch Shaun across the jaw for this act.

? Even if we accept and agree to care for the Synth boy, the boy will spend an eternity trapped in the body of a child even if his mind grew and learned from experiences gained in the Commonwealth Wasteland. One day, our character will be an elderly man/woman on our deathbed and among our aging companions bidding us good-bye is this Synth boy, forever looking like a ten-year-old Shaun. Who will take care of him then? Nick Valentine? Curie? They'll have to spend an eternity caring for a Synth who looks like the ten-year-old version of a long-dead mad scientist who was the aged son of our character who was trapped in Vault 111 for his whole life.

? The boy will forever believe himself to be our true child, and he will likely wonder why we're slowly getting older and older, more weaker and moving more slowly while he still looks like a child and has the strength of one. Imagine THAT conversation. How will that go down?

It's all kinds of messed up...

1. I'm not sure if 3rd generation Synths age or not. After all, they're based on Bladerunner.

2. You can tell Synth Shaun he's a Synth.

3. At least the kid has some skills. He's very good at scavenging. Maybe he could replace the kid who manages the Water at Diamond City or set up his own franchise. Actually, if he's an unaging Synth that would make A LOT of sense.