YOU vs T-1000 – Could You Defeat and Survive The Terminator

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to enjoy a day at the mall, playing games at the arcade, when all of a sudden, you see an ominous face in the crowd. Oh my god, is that actor Robert Patrick? Wait, why is he dressed as a police officer? And why is he showing people a photo of you? If you haven’t connected the dots by now, then maybe you were destined to get caught anyway. But chances are you’ve already realized that isn’t just an underrated actor famed for his portrayals of villains and authority figures; that’s the T-1000, and that means it might just be a critical moment for you!

For the uninitiated, the T-1000 is a fictional character from the Terminator franchise, specifically from the 1992 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Produced by the artificial intelligence, Skynet, in the war-torn future of 2029, the T-1000 is one of the most advanced Terminators in the franchise, designed with the sole purpose of eliminating human beings. What really sets the T-1000 apart from its earlier counterparts is the lack of a metallic endoskeleton. Other models of Terminators consist of a rubber skin or synthesized living tissue over the machine within. The T-1000, on the other hand, is made entirely out of liquid metal, a substance referred to as ‘mimetic polyalloy.’

This liquid alloy can shift and reform to fit the shape of anything it touches. While this might rule out considerably smaller inanimate objects or anything that requires mimicking a lot of complex parts like machinery, it does mean the T-1000 can shape-shift into human beings. This makes it a master of disguise and perfectly suited for infiltration whenever it is sent back to the past to carry out its missions. As if that wasn’t frightening enough – it could be anyone around you – the T-1000 can also use its liquid metal body to form various weapons, such as blades or hooks.

Typically, the T-1000 will imitate a civilian that it meets or eliminates, using them as a template in order to remain undetected. During this time, it will utilize skills in espionage and subterfuge instead of opting straight for brute force. In its primary disguise – a police officer – the T-1000 appears somewhat friendly as a way to manipulate human beings, gaining their trust in order to acquire information on its target or their whereabouts. It’s not just the shape-shifting provided by its liquid metal form that makes it such a good infiltrator; it’s also the T-1000’s ability to pass as an ordinary human. It possesses interpersonal skills and behaviors not unlike a person, making it harder to tell if your barista is just being friendly or is about to turn their arm into a weapon at a moment’s notice.

Usually, the T-1000 only attacks when it has successfully identified its target. And right now, that’s you. You have a few options where you are right now. The first is to run and hide. Not such a bad idea as long as the T-1000 doesn’t spot you making an exit. But even if it doesn’t, then someone around you will. That’ll be enough; even if some other random mallgoer sees you, the T-1000 could potentially ask them about your whereabouts. A total stranger has no reason to lie on your behalf, and no reason to conceal information from what is – as far as they can tell – an ordinary cop.

So, making a dash for the exit might not be a solid plan, or even calmly walking to safety. Plus, if you get spotted making your escape, then it won’t take the T-1000 long to catch you. After all, Terminators are designed to possess speed and physical strength far beyond an ordinary human.

Let’s say you were able to slip away unnoticed. Maybe you have a knack for avoiding security cameras, or know about a side door that leads you out of the mall without any witnesses. What now? Well, you’re up against an infiltration machine with the ability to be anyone or anything around you. A machine that will not tire or relent like a human being would. It knows only that it was made to complete a singular function: to eliminate you. And it’s equipped with all the means imaginable to achieve that goal. There’s only one thing for it: scream and run.

Getting as far away as you can, to the most remote place imaginable, could be the way to go. So, as you head off, you might start to wonder why the T-1000 is coming after you. You may not have a friendly protector to handily deliver exposition, but you have seen Terminator 2. So, that leads to the assumption that maybe, in your future, you’ll one day play a role in the human resistance fighting against Skynet. Maybe not the top dog like John Connor, but you could be one of his lieutenants? Perhaps in the future, you help save his life by feeding him some old food, and Skynet just can’t have that.

Either way, the T-1000 has come here to eliminate you, and thus alter the course of events. So, going into hiding, if you were to successfully commit to it and pull it off, then that might end up altering the course of events that led it to the T-1000 being sent back in time to find you in the first place. Living off the grid was John Connor’s plan in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, so if you’re not around to be a part of the resistance in the future, then Skynet would have no reason to send a Terminator back in time to hunt you down. Problem solved, right?

The problem is, it’s actually pretty hard to be completely isolated. You need to get food for one, and unless you plan to live off woodland animals you hunt yourself, that means going back to civilization. Once you’re around people, there’s a risk that anyone could potentially be the liquid metal time-traveling machine. The T-1000 is relentless and unlikely to just give up the hunt because you went to hide somewhere. As we mentioned, it’s programmed to eliminate you, no matter how long that takes.

On top of that, this is a machine developed by an advanced self-aware artificial intelligence, giving it advanced reasoning capabilities and ways to track you down that you can’t even comprehend; it’s not always just asking witnesses if they saw you at the mall. This means that, in all likelihood, running and hiding would still probably result in a T-1000 victory.

Okay, so running is off the table – you’re going to have to stand your ground and fight. Luckily for you, you know what happens in Terminator 2; it’s practically everyone’s favorite movie, right? Anyway, if there’s one thing you learned from watching it, it’s that the way to deal with a killer liquid metal monster is with a lot of guns. Provided you could get your hands on one, a handgun isn’t likely to do the trick. The T-1000 is capable of resisting most small arms fire, taking only superficial damage from pistols. This damage is quickly regenerated, owing to the T-1000’s liquid metal construction. Most ballistic weapons aren’t able to leave much in the way of lasting damage; however, owing to its amorphous nature, the T-1000 can be affected by the force of small arms fire. The impact of gunshots can knock it back, albeit briefly, until it has had a chance to repair itself. Shooting it really only slows it down, but the more damage it sustains, the longer it takes the T-1000 to repair itself.

So, maybe more force and more damage is the key? Just as well that you and everyone else that’s seen it know the most iconic weapon from T2 is a shotgun. That exact firearm was wielded by the main character for a good portion of the movie, but unless you’re packing the same kind of strength as a Terminator, it’s probably not a good idea to try and fire it one-handed. The recoil alone could cause the shotgun to fly backwards towards you, fling out of your hand, or even break your fingers if they got caught in the gun’s lever loop.

Blasts from a shotgun are enough to severely knock back a T-1000, thanks to their high-kinetic impact, leaving more significant damage at close range. A shot to the face is even powerful enough to split its head in two, or separate parts of its body, such as its arms, from the rest – although it can still regenerate from wounds like this. That’s, of course, provided you can even find a working weapon like this since production of this particular model of shotgun stopped years ago.

How about something more powerful, then? During T2, the main character is also seen wielding a grenade launcher, a shoulder-fired weapon that was developed during the Vietnam War and fires explosive projectiles. This weapon is designed to be fired with manageable recoil, so you might not experience the same kick as a shotgun, with more portability, range, and accuracy than mortars. However, while a round from a grenade launcher is certainly enough to cause serious damage to a T-1000, enough to split its body with the force of a round detonating, getting your hands on one might be even trickier than a shotgun.

While they are technically legal in the United States, owning a grenade launcher requires an extensive background check. Add to that the prohibitively expensive fees, a long waiting period, and an additional application needed to shoot live ammo instead of practice rounds, and that’s frankly a lot of time that you don’t have. Great news for anyone concerned about the prospect of people owning grenade launchers, bad news for you, who has a T-1000 on your tail.

If you want to try a different explosive solution, then there’s always the option to ditch the launcher and just try detonating a hand grenade. Working on the same principle, the blast could separate the T-1000’s body into multiple parts, but the problem lies in getting close enough to do so. Thanks in part to its mechanical strength, the T-1000 is deadly in close-quarters combat, especially as it can fashion a variety of melee weapons, such as knives, simply by extending one of its limbs and then solidifying the metal into the desired shape. It’d be a gamble, so it might be a better strategy to retreat and call it even this time.

Fighting back with conventional weapons might be off the table, but those aren’t your only options. Just like in T2, why not try to freeze it? Well, actually, to call it ‘freezing’ is a bit of a misnomer since that term actually describes a substance going from a liquid state to a solid one at low temperatures. Although the T-1000’s body is composed of liquid metal, it technically retains a solid state whenever in its normal form, only becoming liquid when forming weapons or occasionally to fit through small gaps. A cryogenic heat treatment would arguably be the scientific term for ‘freezing’ metal, but if you’re trying to really emulate T2, there’s only one way that you’ll likely accept. Liquid nitrogen is used to freeze the T-1000 solid, causing it to shatter into pieces afterwards when shot using a pistol.

Providing you can get your hands on some, that might mean that freezing the T-1000 with liquid nitrogen could be a viable option – as long as you’re able to handle the substance with care, while also under the intense stress of being hunted by a liquid metal machine.

You see, liquid nitrogen can be highly dangerous if not handled correctly. Small splashes can run off bare skin, thanks to a vapor layer that forms between the substance and human skin; however, that shouldn’t be relied on for protection. Since liquid nitrogen rapidly vaporizes into gas form, it can fill up the air rapidly – and your lungs, too, potentially leading to serious consequences. The vapor from liquid nitrogen can also rapidly freeze skin tissue, as well as the fluid in your eye, leading to cold burns, frostbite, and permanent eye damage after even brief exposure.

Provided you can not only get yourself some and avoid any of the aforementioned injuries, then while the liquid nitrogen approach might halt the T-1000 in its tracks, it might not stop it permanently. Well, not unless you’re able to keep it in that frozen state somehow. Any rise in temperature would result in the T-1000’s body becoming less brittle and more malleable again, allowing it to regain function. And whatever you do, don’t shatter… oh, you did, didn’t you? You just couldn’t resist.

You had to get all “Hasta la vista, baby!” Well, that was a mistake; shattering the frozen T-1000 into pieces now means that it has less overall surface area. Those smaller shards can now heat up much quicker, returning to their liquid state and allowing the T-1000 to reform its body again. One of the prime directives the T-1000 operates on is recovering any parts of itself that are separated from the larger whole. The molecular memory of the liquid metal alloy it is made from compels any missing piece to seek out the T-1000’s main mass and rejoin it.

Just like with the option of shooting at it, simply separating parts from the T-1000 isn’t enough to stop it. The liquid metal is constantly regenerating, and external damage of any kind reforms so that the Terminator is fully functional again. You’d buy yourself some time since the smaller volume of particles would take longer to recombine and become whole again, but for now, you’ve only postponed it; the critical moment is inevitable.

Having exhausted all other options, you’re left needing to finish off the T-1000 the same way it’s dealt with in T2: you need to melt it. When it comes to that, you might find yourself with more options than you think. Hydrochloric acid could dissolve the liquid metal polyalloy; after all, a T-1000 was shown to be highly susceptible to chemical damage in… oh, in Terminator: Genisys. Well, we guess the extent to which that’s true relies on how much you consider that film to be canon.

Actually, come to think of it, which timeline are we even on? What day is it? What year? Never mind all that; getting too bogged down in thinking about timelines might be the difference between you surviving or being caught by some spiky hand weapons. Your last resort is molten steel, although like with most of the earlier options, you need some on hand. And by that we mean, definitely don’t get any on your hand!

On top of that, be careful not to look directly at the vat for too long. The glare and infrared radiation from molten metal in most furnaces can cause severe eye damage and even skin burns without the right protective clothing. Be careful you don’t also accidentally breathe in the fumes produced by the steel being kept hot. How hot exactly? Around two thousand-five hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

The T-1000 is able to survive high temperatures, up to well over five hundred Fahrenheit, allowing it to walk away unscathed from large explosions and fires. But the extreme heat of molten steel can not only melt but denature its liquid metal body. So, as long as you can trick it into falling into a vat of molten steel, as well as properly handle the heat yourself, then you might just survive your run-in with the T-1000 and avoid being caught. After all, the future’s not set, and there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.