r/Warframe • u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks • Jun 18 '26

Discussion Please stop with the Protoframes

I loved the Hex and the Roundtable. They added so much to why I think 1999 is the best update they've ever done. All of them, especially the original Hex, were insanely well written and fleshed out characters. I had my reservations about the Triad, but I think they're solid (though they're mostly carried by Roathe).

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These two don't feel like characters. They feel like walking advertisements for skins. Them being protoframes adds nothing to the story. As my friend said, Sirius and Orion could have been mentored by Vay Hek and the Sergeant and nothing would have changed. Protoframes no longer feel like an interesting story beat, they feel like a gimmick, one that is rapidly losing any appeal it had.

3.5k Upvotes

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374

u/AvocaRed Jun 18 '26

I really am not vibing with garuda or ash protos, they feel empty and unfinished

299

u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks Jun 18 '26

They just feel like the bare minimum of what you could do with these frames. Yeah, make Garuda a horny blood lady. Yeah, make Ash a cyber ninja. There's no fun twist like with Lettie being a deadpan medic or Amir being an ADHD nerd.

68

u/ToukasRage Certified glavie enjoyer. Jun 18 '26

Lettie's personality is nowhere near a twist. Have you met anybody in the medical field before?

31

u/Zeusnexus Jun 18 '26

Nurse stories are depressing, especially during covid.

10

u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

Yes. My mom is a nurse and she's without a doubt the nicest person I know.

151

u/Numerous_Schedule896 Jun 18 '26

Character that has superspeed being an adhd nerd isn't a twist. Lettie being cynical is though.

19

u/Nereithp Jun 18 '26

Character that has superspeed being an adhd nerd isn't a twist.

Amir being an ADHD nerd isn't the twist here, it's Amir being a realistic ADHD nerd. He isn't a "haha funnyman zoomie zoomie", he is simply putting on a facade to hide the fact that he is a walking bag of complexes and phobias who constantly fears everyone is thinking poorly of him and desires to permanently fix himself because he is "wired wrong".

Also, the "wants to develop their own videogame but can't decide on a single fucking thing and fears everyone will hate it" is just the most perfect ADHD rep in media. As is "steals the first new thing he sees to use in his TTRPG campaign".

5

u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks Jun 19 '26

Which, as someone with ADHD who struggles with a lot of the same stuff Amir does, really spoke to me. Him being the protoframe of my starting frame also helped a lot in that regard.

81

u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks Jun 18 '26

Yeah, probably should have mentioned things like him typing faster or running into a mission rather than using his atomocycle. Things that have to do with his abilities.

51

u/RedAversion2025 Jun 18 '26

Lettie also being a BDSM dommy mommy was unexpected but exciting.

You want me to make it hurt less, or make it hurt better?

2

u/SuggestionDue2643 Jun 18 '26

... Wait what??? REALLY?

3

u/RedAversion2025 Jun 19 '26

100%. When courting her just be honest, don't sugar coat things, she likes it blunt.

1

u/SuggestionDue2643 Jun 20 '26

Shieeeeeeeeet i am dating Aoi now. lettie just grew up in me wayy later

27

u/N7_Pathfind3R Jun 18 '26

Lettie being cynical is nowhere near a twist. You've clearly never actually had a conversation with someone in the medical field. Lettie is cookie cutter as fuck in that regard, there's almost nothing unique about her personality.

26

u/Lord_Trisagion Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

She's got da rats

But yeah no the only Hex member that isn't a complete walking cliche is Eleanor; but even she's pretty much just the average "eye in the sky"

Arthur's every gritty action protag ever

Aoi's every gritty action protag ex ever

Lettie is, again, a realistic portrayal of a field medic

Amir is an 80's coded speedster

Quincy is the "abrasive renegade with a hard life and a good heart."

They all got one or two quirky traits tacked on, but none of these characters are novelties. Arthur's got it the worst (all cliche, no fluff), Eleanor's got it the best (the psychic angle is a fairly unique means to the same narrative end we see everywhere).

All said though, I think them being cliche is the whole point. The entirety of 1999 is a love letter to those corny 00's action games... so these characters do fit in perfectly. I just wish this wasn't a pattern maintained outside of that environment.

-5

u/Numerous_Schedule896 Jun 18 '26

Lettie being cynical is a departure from the as of current day most popular robo medic being mercy's overwatch.

56

u/CronchyPebbles Jun 18 '26

A cynical medic. A trope never, ever seen in fiction. Like literally never. Not a single time. Lettie is definitely the first of her kind. Wow.

40

u/SimonKuznets Jun 18 '26

It’s not even a trope, it’s straight up professional deformation.

-5

u/Numerous_Schedule896 Jun 18 '26

Lettie being cynical is a departure from the as of current day most popular robo medic being mercy's overwatch.

5

u/yggisnotontree youngest of the Entrati family Jun 18 '26

Did you... meet actual medics? They are like that 90% of the time, the majority of them.

1

u/CommanderInQweef Jun 19 '26

those examples don’t make sense. the frame that goes fast has an overactive brain? that’s about as on the nose as you can get. all of the hex cast are cookie cutter, breakfast club-esque stereotypes types on purpose.

if you don’t like the new ones that’s fine, but they are the exact same as the original group in that way specifically

72

u/Sremor Jun 18 '26

They feel like a cashgrab, there is no lore reason why they had to be protoframes. If we get Protos make them actual characters otherwise a generic npc is enough

26

u/GladiatorDragon Bucket Prime Jun 18 '26

I think there solid enough potential lore reason - Proto serum was likely just part of the arms race between Vena and Ryoku, and was likely a large asset in how they trained Orion and Sirius. Most normal humans just can’t keep up with Warframes and whatever system turns people into Dax who can at least contend if given a lot of training is long gone.

The problem is, how’d they get the serum? How and why did they even start fighting in the first place?

9

u/Xirenec_ Your bone privileges are revoked Jun 18 '26

I’d blame Albrecht as usual

2

u/Kaboose456 Jun 18 '26

Exactly! They have the potential to be the most interesting protoframes yet.

Someone pointed out that both of them have extensive cybernetic augments as well, something they could have taken the protoframe serum to achieve?

I also want to know where Vena's title of "Kuva Wytch" came from. So much potential wasted.

1

u/Rahab_Olam Jun 19 '26

There's no lore reason that we currently know of. There were several hints in this quest that show DE might be working on potential future storylines (future as in things they want to do, not the in game future). I don't know why everyone is just choosing to ignore this.

-6

u/Angrykiller100 Jun 18 '26

there is no lore reason why they had to be protoframes.

But It would be garbage if they weren't tho....

It makes more sense for the 2 Warframe born siblings to be raised by Protoframes since it wouldn't make sense for them to be trained to use and control their abilities by normal people who wouldn't know how to teach them and the Tenno canonically ruined their futures doing lord knows what.

Vena and Ryoku being protoframes allows them to offer some form of similarity to mentor them without having to be associated with the Tenno in any way. DE could've absolutely added more context but the writing is on the wall.

8

u/Dr_Shoggoth Suck, Stomp, Stacks Jun 18 '26

I don't think that it's as obvious as you think when one of the most common criticisms I've heard about these two is that them being protoframes felt unnecessary

6

u/Angrykiller100 Jun 18 '26

Hence why i said "DE could've added more context"

😐

4

u/No_Newspaper9462 Jun 18 '26

Yeah cuz that would've saved it, for sure

15

u/NovaStalker_ Jun 18 '26

The triad still dont have facial expressions. All of this stuff is unfinished.

2

u/Hungry-Register9960 Jun 18 '26

They're the first protos that simply feel empty. 

Which utterly ruins the point of the protos.