The way I see Epsilon is more an extremist. Not a maverick, but an extremist. After all, he made sure to not harm civilians in Giga city, only his attackers, and We can assume tht the humans were banished without harm, since the sole reason X was sent was because of the rebellion itself, the idea... Nothing of Mavericks was really mentioned... Plus, the fact that they were simply "banished" as opposed to outright tossed off or killed says something. X himself did not seem to think Epsilon was maverick, (or entirely one) as when he talks to Redips, stating that at least epsilon understood the risks of his actions, "at least he wasnt maverick from the start". Plus his Maverick Status was deferred due to Redips.
Well, this is why I said "borderline". It is true that Epsilon is a lot less aggressive than your regular Maverick. But at his core there is still the dismissal of humans and the obsession with Reploid evolution, regardless of risk, or for that matter, the will of those affected.
Even if Epsilon himself tried to keep it clean compared to the likes of, say, Lumine, the core philosophy still attracts a lot of scum. Once you have labeled a group as inferior and/or irrelevant, disposing of them as opposed to herding them is only a small leap. It's a leap that Epsilon himself didn't want to make, but can we say the same of his henchman? Whatever code of honor he held pretty much ends once you get past Ferham and Scarface. And it's not as if there was not aggressive action taken within Giga City; Lagrano was destroyed and Jango attempted to blow up the Central Tower. If you spread that same influence that's affecting his henchmen across the world, it's pretty much asking for hell. I think that started to dawn on Ferham when she decided to abandon the "ideal" and destroy the remaining Supra Force Metal rather than risk it being abused by someone like Redips again.
All of this demonstrates why Epsilon was still dangerous. Where you draw the line in defining "Maverick" is beside the point after that. Whether or not he himself will attack humanity, his idea of evolution still encourages it, and he was utterly determined to force it upon the rest of the world.
"Deferred" doesn't mean he wasn't Maverick. It means the people who have to make that call were not confident enough to pass judgment either way. Hence, borderline. Redips was effectively the scapegoat that allowed them to dodge the issue. In reality he was not responsible for Rebellion, but he was the biggest threat in the end, so blaming it all on him was the easy way out.
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