#(i took all these quotes off of tvtropes)

[grimm-the-tiger]

Misadventures with Google Translate

I put Life Series quotes through Google Translate too many times. Please help me, I can't stop.

The Names

Bdubs -> Bduby

BigB -> Capital B

Cleo -> Language

Etho -> line

Gem -> Decoration

Grian -> Shooter

Impulse -> Road

Jimmy -> Jimmy

Joel -> Hurrah

Lizzie -> Lizzie

Martyn -> Martyne

Mumbo -> Explosives

Pearl -> Beer

Ren -> Ren

Scar -> Right

Scott -> Scott

Skizz -> Writing

Tango -> Background

The Watcher -> Inspector

Some highlights

Scott: this house Jimmy: And street. [Original line: "It's home?" "Home."]

Language: Be good to me: die for me. [Original line: "Do me a favor: Die for me."]

Lizzie: And I left this world the same way I entered it: troubled. [Original line: "And so I left this world just as I had entered it: confused."]

Shooter: Scar, I think we are spirit descendants and you are too busy catching fairies!! [Original line: "Scar, I think we're soulmates and you're too busy chasing fairies!"]

Scott: They tear up carpets and kill farm animals. It immediately burst into lava. [Original line: "They break carpet and kill cows. And they mine straight down into lava."]

Language: Look, if you have a lost father, you might lose it? [Original line: "Look, if you're gonna be an absent father, could you be at least absent?"]

Scott: Our theme is ABBA's summer house, is it there now? Dead metal?! [Original line: "Our theming was once Cottagecore ABBA, now it's what? Death metal?!"]

Martyne : Tell me something before you go. Why are you attached to the sun? Inspector: Hmmm... HE. It was never meant to be. He just wanted to look. [Original line: "Just... tell me one thing before I go. Why were you so set on Grian?" "Hmph... HIM. He was never meant to be there. He was only ever meant to watch."]

line: I'm a good person to have someone light my tree. [Original line: "I was a good person till somebody burned down my tree."]

Decoration: God, that seems like a recipe for anxiety. Yes I am. [Original line: "God, that sounds like a recipe for angst. Yeah, I'm in."]

Lizzie: Follow it! No friends! [Original line: "Ha! You've got no friends!"]

Beer: Something bad is happening here. [Original line: "Something wicked this way comes."]

Shooter: Here we show our true truth? For yourself or for someone else? Are we all excited? [Original line: "Is this where we show our true allegiance? To each other, and no one else? We turn on everyone?"]

Background: It's not fair, it's not fair, I'll come back to it. [Original line: "This is unjust, it's excessive, and I will return."]

Capital B: No holes! [Original line: "There is no hole!"]

Some notes

I thought it'd be funny if the translations I used were all into languages I either knew off the top of my head that the creators speak or are official languages where they live. This got really convoluted really fast, because Ren was the only person I could think of who speaks a language other than English and I completely ran out after French and Scottish Gaelic, so I added languages spoken by Hermitcraft members instead, then threw Maori on for good measure because New Zealand's close enough to Australia (sorry, New Zealand) and I couldn't find any aboriginal Australian languages on Google Translate. So the translation order roughly went Afrikaans -> French -> Scottish Gaelic -> German -> Swedish -> Polish -> Maori -> English.

Ren's line "Red Winter is coming, me laddie" line got translated as "The red winter is coming, my lady." Honestly, it still kind of works?

"Watcher" got translated as "Inspector", which gives me the mental image of Inspector Gadget in a Watcher costume.

I don't know where the extra e at the end of Martyn's name came from.

I don't know why Etho's name is the only name that got translated into lowercase.

The fact that Mumbo's name somehow got translated as "Explosives" made me start cackling as soon as I saw it.

There were several points where Grian's name got translated as "The Sun" instead, probably because "Grian" is the word for "Sun" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic is from the same language family, so they probably share the same or a similar word.

"Soulmate" somehow got translated as "Spirit descendants". I'm pretty sure it's because it got split up into its component words; "Soul" corrupted into "Spirit", and "Mate"...I honestly don't know.

I translated a grand total of one line from Bdubs, and for some reason when I translated the document back to English, that one line stayed stuck on what I'm pretty sure is Maori except the word "Boogey", which stayed exactly the same.

I'm genuinely surprised by how many lines stuck remarkably close to the originals. Aside from his name, one of Joel's lines ("Where's the fun in that?") somehow survived perfectly intact, and one of BigB's lines ("There is no hole!") got pretty close ("No holes!").

I think the best part about this is that you can tell how and why Google translated some things the way it did, and then others you're just left completely stumped about how the hell it happened.

[evilwickedme]

It's very frustrating to talk about fridging bc the original point of it was like a very specific criticism of how minorities are treated in comic books in particular and it's now been universalized so much people think it means "killing a woman off because she's a woman" or "killing any character to motivate another character" (the definition according to tvtropes fyi, kill it with fire kill kill kill kill). Fridging isn't bad because you're killing a character as motivation, and it's not bad because you're killing a minority off, it's bad because it's a pattern of behavior from an industry overrun by white men writing and drawing and editing those stories. You're allowed to kill a woman off if it suits your story, but the issue was that women are constantly getting hurt or depowered or raped or killed off to motivate other, non-coincidentally male characters.

The problem that stood behind the original women in refrigerators website was that the narrative that the comic book industry at large was telling was that the purpose of female characters was to get hurt in order to motivate some other guy. Kyle Rayner's girlfriend gets stuffed in a fridge, we're not sad because her life got taken from her too soon, we're sad because Kyle Rayner just lost his girlfriend. Gwen Stacy gets killed by the Green Goblin, we're not sad because she didn't get to live a full happy life, we're sad because she didn't get to live a full happy life with Peter Parker. That is not to say that the story doesn't still get told. Peter going after the Green Goblin is horrific and terrible and amazing and leads to some great plot and character development. But the choice was not to hurt Peter himself, not even to threaten his loved ones but not actually harm them, the choice - CHOICE! - the writers in the comic book industry consistently made was to hurt a character who was already part of a marginalized group, and to do that for the benefit of a (presumably) white male cishet able bodied main character's narrative.

I speak mostly in past tense because once fridging took hold in the collective popular consciousness it didn't disappear completely, but it did fall out of favor in being used so blatantly. It became isolated cases rather than the main feature of one of the best selling batman books of all time. Characters get killed off occasionally, and those characters are even sometimes members of minority groups, and biases still inform those writing choices, but I'm struggling to remember reading a comic in the last couple of years that specifically fulfills the criteria for fridging.

Anyway if you're reading this in context, you know that at the end of this month (may 2023) Marvel is planning to celebrate the most famous fridging of all time by absolutely not learning their lesson and fridging another character. They're being lazy about it, too - they've decided to do it to Kamala Khan in Peter Parker's book, two characters that mean close to nothing to each other, and being extra awful by making it a Pakistani Muslim woman being killed off during AAPI month, and so far the information we have doesn't even involve Kamala's own friends and family and superhero team mourning her at all. It's supposed to motivate Peter, because it's part of his book, and it's also supposed to parallel Gwen Stacy, and they chose to do... This. Kamala is a wildly popular and beloved character who deserves better, and frankly Peter deserves better too. If you're going to fridge, at least do it well.

But I'm also already seeing white men, who supposedly agree with me and think this is bad, saying, well it's for MCU synergy, not "because she's a female" or "because she's not a white character" (direct quotes don't @ me). And firstly, ok, way to assume the rest of us didn't also catch up to the obvious conclusion that marvel comics is doing MCU synergy, AGAIN. The thing is that those aren't separate concepts at all? Or well, they are, but they don't negate each other. They're trying to do MCU synergy and make Kamala into a mutant, but they could've done that a million other ways, just as cheap and not as offensive - a simple retcon would've sufficed, they just did that a few years ago with Franklin Richards.

They chose to do it by killing her off, and they chose to kill her off in somebody else's book to motivate him rather than tell a story about her, and they chose to do it while celebrating Gwen's fridging for some fucking reason. This is context that, when removed from the situation, makes the whole thing meaningless. And you can say a lot about Gail Simone, but that she didn't have a Goddamn point is not one of them.

[watchathon]

Stitch Day Special: Lilo & Stitch

In case you’re finding this post just by browsing the tags I’ve used for this post, this is the Watch-a-Thon, a blog where I’m hoping to watch an episode of a show every one-to-two days, with a short blog post where I give my thoughts on what I’ve just seen. Each new point starts with a hyphen and a bolded first word.

- Like so. 

But today? Well, today I’ve got an extra-special post in the wings about a movie, one of my favorite Disney movies, starring my absolute favorite Disney character: Lilo & Stitch!

- I like the variation on the Disney logo. That is the kind of stuff that they just couldn’t do with their new big fancy CGI logo. 

- No clue why Jumba tried to deny that he created an experiment. I don’t much mind since it led to a funny joke, but c’mon, evil genius, you should be smart enough to plead guilty.

- “I would never, ever... make more than one.” *glances meaningfully in the direction of the series*

- “What is that monstrosity...?” He’s a cute widdle fluffball, that’s what he is!

- “Meega nala kweesta!” Canonically, this translates to “I want to destroy”, but that seems a little lukewarm for the reaction he got. Maybe a looser translation is in order...

There could be an entire aristocrats joke in those three words. The whole script to Batman v Superman. The opening notes to “Never Gonna Give You Up”...

Or maybe just “bitch”.

- Blood work is a lot different in space...

- Weird to imagine given the rest of the franchise, but Gantu was once a respected captain of the galactic federation.

- It’s easy to perceive Stitch as a dumb brute, but he’s pretty smart. He connected the dots all on his own, within minutes of his imprisonment, that if the guns are locked onto his DNA, he can use his saliva to trick them. Jumba wasn’t kidding when he boasted of his experiment’s intelligence.

- And not only was Gantu a captain, Pleakley was an expert on the planet Earth. Weird, innit...?

- “Are [humans] intelligent?” “No.” An exchange that only hurts more with every year.

- Love the implication that Pleakley was just suggesting several different relatives to assist with the capture of Stitch from when they were on the deck up until they got to the prison where Jumba was held.

- Now this is what we (or rather TVTropes) call an establishing character moment. A fish floats by holding a sandwich in its mouth, implying (soon confirming) that Lilo was the one to give it the sandwich, before rushing to the hula practice that she was late for, stopping to take a picture of a tourist along the way.

- And then after she arrives at hula practice, she explains that she had to give Pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich because he controls the weather.

- No clue why the other girls are disgusted by Scrump. I always wanted a Scrump when I was a little lass.

- “Did you ever kill anyone?” Lilo asks the right questions.

- Nani, y’could’ve avoided this if you’d given a thumbs up instead...

- I don’t get the glare Cobra gives Nani after Lilo says that her friends need to be punished. Voodoo isn’t a failure of parenting. In many cases, at least...

- Licking Nani, growling after her capture, Lilo already has a lot in common with Stitch.

- Lucky that Lilo is such a quirky kid. The scene (semi-)explaining why she takes pictures of tourists was deleted, but it doesn’t feel like anything is missing because she already has a few habits that just plain inexplicable, like feeding Pudge, practicing voodoo with a pickle jar...

- Lilo wishing for an angel because of how lonely she is, that’s a sad moment. But also kinda funny in hindsight after she sarcastically names Stitch’s love interest Angel in the series.

- Lord give me the undisturbed...ness, of that frog who watched Stitch get run over by several trucks and only tilted its head.

- If they thought Stitch was dead, why did they keep it in the shelter? I mean, Lilo would probably adopt a dead dog, but she’s the outlier.

- I like how Jumba programmed, as part of Stitch’s destructive tendencies, an urge to steal everybody’s left shoe.

- You can just about pinpoint the moment where Stitch’s heart drops at learning that he’s on an island with no major cities.

- Just occurred to me that the badness level is red, and Stitch’s evil counterparts in the series (627 and Leroy) are both red.

- Ah, David. One of the best Disney love interests, mostly because he isn’t entirely a love interest. There is a mutual attraction, but Nani just isn’t ready for that with everything going on in her life, and David respects that and is happy to be a friend.

- I like how everyone except Lilo heavily suspects that Stitch isn’t a dog. 

- Ohhh, the thought of Stitch having drank coffee. I mean, I’d love to see it, but it’d be Hell for Nani.

- Stitch looks just plain adorable with a lei.

- Well, Lilo, you did tell Stitch he should create something. And he did, he just destroyed his creation afterward.

- Pleakley is a gender-nonconforming icon.

- The first time we see Stitch doing something without even the intention of destroying anything is when he finds the book about the Ugly Duckling. It’s clear that he’s fascinated just by looking at it. And when Lilo explains the story? It resonates with him. Or, well, perhaps he wants it to resonate with him.

- I wish I had an evil koala dog that played records.

- Are we sure that “Meega nala kweesta” means “I want to destroy”? Maybe it means “I was born to dance”, ‘cause Stitch learns about dancing and in less than a minute he’s already an expert.

- I imagine this montage, or slightly earlier, would be when that deleted scene of Lilo trolling the obnoxious racist tourists originally came into play. And I like this scene, but, I do wish that scene hadn’t gotten cut. And I wish that they fully animated it and inserted it into the movie like Warner Bros did with The Iron Giant.

- Nothing cheers me up more than this scene of Stitch and his newfound family going surfing. And especially since Stitch is aquaphobic. He’s very much aware that he cannot swim, and likely wouldn’t survive if he fell off the board into the ocean. But even he eventually gets into the spirit of it, asks Lilo himself to go surfing, and enjoys a nice bonding moment with his family. And David.

- Of course Jumba and Pleakley had to ruin a perfectly sweet moment.

- And so we transition from a heartwarming wholesome moment, to a heartbreaking tearful moment. You can just see Nani holding back tears as she says that she needs to take Lilo home. 

As for Stitch, David probably didn’t even realize that Stitch could understand him when he said that Lilo and Nani had a chance until Stitch came along. But Stitch did understand, and he’s visibly hurt by the idea. He always wanted to destroy, but in this moment, he’s ashamed of how he might have destroyed Lilo’s family.

- And the Ugly Ducking metaphor comes back, when in this moment, as Stitch is coming back to a family that he fears he may have ruined, he sees a lone duck... before that duck is followed by a big family of ducklings.

- Lilo says that Stitch cries at night. So, it would seem that even before he completely learned how to be nice, Stitch wasn’t entirely emotionless.

- This whole act of the film is heart-wrenching. First Nani gets confirmation that she and Lilo will be separated, then Stitch starts to fear that he may have caused it. Then because of that? Stitch leaves, taking only the Ugly Duckling book with him. And he can only see in himself the page of the Duckling, lost and crying.

- Then Jumba tells Stitch, who’s already in a bad place emotionally, that he was made to destroy, has no family, and could never have one.

- I don’t want to think about what happened to that chainsaw.

- There’s a certain feeling that comes up in the middle of this fight scene, where you realize that a house is being destroyed, a house belonging to a family that was very much at risk of separation. And you realize that this will only hurt their case beyond any repair.

- If the past day hadn’t been bad enough, Stitch is told by his best friend Lilo that he ruined everything, and to get away.

- And so Nani really does have her sister taken away. Now, taken away by aliens is a lot different than taken away by social services. It’s worse. This way Nani knows that Lilo definitely won’t get a loving family, and Nani will definitely never see her again.

- The confusion is visible on Jumba and Pleakley when Stitch goes and comforts Nani with a quote about family. All they know about Stitch is that he was made to destroy. And then, once he’s captured, he does just about the opposite.

- “Ih.” To this day I sometimes say Ih on reflex when asked a yes-or-no question. Guess I watched this movie way too many times as a kid, huh? ...I regret nothing.

- Originally, the big red plane-looking thing was supposed to just be a plane, and it would’ve flown through a city. And it was changed because it was too soon after 9/11. But me personally, I think the big red thing is real cool, and I like it flying through the valleys.

- “Stitch is unconscious.” I like that Jumba calls Stitch by his name here. In the series, he always calls Stitch “626″ but his name is Stitch. And I like the rare occasion when that’s respected by the mad genius who created him.

- I want to believe that Stitch dodged that laser for the sake of the frog he was holding more than for his own sake. Stitch is strong enough that a few moments later, he survives an explosion of a whole truck that he’s lying on top of.

- Stitch proudly calling himself “cute and fluffy” is another thing I just love. Might be reading too much into it, but I like that he can call himself by those descriptors and still have total confidence in his ability to kick Gantu’s patookie.

- My favorite scene in the movie, and the scene I took the picture from.

Stitch corrects the Grand Councilwoman about his name. And when he’s told that he needs to go in the ship (the implication being that he’ll be punished like he was meant to be at the beginning), he doesn’t rebel or try to escape. He only politely asks that he be allowed to say goodbye.

He explains that his family is “little and broken, but still good”, both explaining it to the councilwoman and reassuring Lilo and Nani.

This is the ultimate display of how Stitch has grown. And he grew because, despite what Jumba said, Stitch could find, and did find, the one true place he belonged: With a good, loving family.

- The Grand Councilwoman is clearly remorseful that they’ll have to separate Stitch from his family, but she can’t bend the law for this one case. And she doesn’t, but it just so happens that, legally speaking, Lilo owns Stitch. And, well, what self-respecting Grand Councilwoman would steal a child’s property?

- A lot of people (including middle-school me) say that the stuff with Stitch and the aliens get in the way of the story of Lilo and Nani. I disagree. These two stories are intertwined, both about people wanting to stay with the family where they know they belong. I just couldn’t, at all, imagine one without the other.

- Now this is the kind of ending I love. It’s become common for animated movies, sequels in particular, to end on the two main characters getting separated. But here? Stitch is now a definitive part of the family, and won’t be separated from them anytime soon. Anime? What anime?

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I guess I’ll be doing this on the rare occasion I cover movies...?

Anyway, this is a great movie. A modern classic. And one of very few things that doesn’t just hold up from when I was a kid, it gets better. When I was a tiny kid, I was only interested in the space aliens. When I was in my early teens, I thought the aliens were kiddy stuff. 

But nowadays, I can truly appreciate it. I can appreciate how both aspects are vital to the movie. Lilo and Stitch are both equally important. You can’t have one without the other.

And most of all, I can appreciate the story of Stitch (as well as Jumba and Pleakley) finding a family, and Lilo (as well as Nani) saving theirs from being torn apart.

Lilo & Stitch brings me to tears of both joy and sadness every time I watch it. And I guarantee I’ll be watching it many more times in the future.

...Does it still count as a Stitch Day special if I’m posting after midnight? No, probably not. I thought I’d only take two hours, then I took four and a half. Guess that means I had more thoughts than I thought I did!

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Star Trek: A Product of the Times

Miniskirts, beehives and bowlcuts, goodness gracious, is there any time that Star Trek could have been made but the 1960s?

The short answer?  Not really.

Star Trek was made at quite an interesting time.  The Civil Rights Movement, the space race, Vietnam, the Cold War, the hippie movement, and the new wave of feminism was all coming in a wave that swept the nation, turning the country on its head and plunging its people into turmoil.  The 1960s were an uncertain time: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated at the beginning of the decade after dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Luthor King Jr. was assassinated near the end, just in time to see the Civil Rights and Voting Act of the mid-’60s come to pass, ensuring equal rights for all.  In 1969, America put a man on the moon, Nixon won the election of 1968, and Woodstock closed out the summer of ‘69 with a bang.

This was the world Star Trek was born into: a world full of hope and fear.

You may be wondering why I’m telling you all this, why this all matters.

The answer is extremely simple: to help contextualize, and therefore understand, Star Trek, we have to understand the 1960s.

See, no piece of media is an island.  Every movie, every book, tv show and song, is a product of people living in the times, therefore, a product of the times itself.  Everything, no matter how much of a ‘classic’, exists as a product of those who created it, people whose thoughts and actions are influenced very heavily by the world they live in, and the culture around them, ‘dating’ them to future viewers.

That’s to be expected.

It makes sense that our culture shapes who we are and what we think, and therefore the kinds of things we create.  This, in and of itself, is far from a problem.  However, it does leave those of us who enjoy older films with a rather interesting question:

How dated is too dated?

Can we as an audience still enjoy a film that is discernibly made in a time before our own?  Is it possible to relate to the content created in a time of different technology, clothes, and, most importantly, a different political and social climate than the one we currently live in?

The fact is, there is nobody and nothing in existence that can stop any piece of media from being ‘dated’ in the sense that, no matter what, whatever is being made will have the impact of the culture it is made in.  It simply can’t be avoided.  Even films set in the future will feature the hairstyles of the decade it was created in, or use the special effects of the time.  This, although sometimes a little odd, does not negatively impact the films that we watch.  These things are mere trimming, the external demonstration of the culture of the times.  We can watch The Breakfast Club or The Terminator and notice the ‘80s clothes, slang, trends and references, but it does not hurt the core essence of the movie.

So what does?

Ideas.

In my opinion, it is not the styles of a film, but the ideas, the themes, how the world is viewed, that dates a film, more than any beehive or mullet ever could.  It is these elements that cause modern viewers to cringe at offensive lines or words, to wince at blatant displays of sexism or prejudice, and sometimes, turn away from older movies forever.

However, ignoring it, and refusing to watch it, doesn’t make anything better.  After all, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it, and although movies and television aren’t quite history, they’re a picture of it.

Looking at the context in which a film was created can help us figure out why decisions were made, and understand how the culture has changed.  By looking at where we’ve been, we can better appreciate where we are now, and look to where we are going to be.  We can, and indeed, we should look back at older films, and recognize what doesn’t hold up and what is considerably Not Okay, without ignoring what does hold up.

That’s what we’re doing now.  Today, we’re answering the question:

How dated is Star Trek?

Let’s take a look.

To be honest, at first glance, it seems like it is.  Very much so.

Between very on-the-nose storylines facing off against hippies, racism and the Vietnam war, Uhura’s miniskirt, Yeoman Rand’s beehive, and Chekov’s bowl cut, it seems utterly impossible that this show can exist and hold up in a time period past the 1960s.  The special effects are sometimes cheesy, the acting can be hammy, and the moments of ‘progressiveness’ that are so often praised seem rather small.

Uhura was a black woman on the bridge, sure, but she was horrendously underutilized.  Female characters regularly wore skimpy outfits and threw themselves at male members of the crew, serving as props, seducers, innocents, and rarely holding any real power.  The final episode of the series is about an insane woman who swaps bodies with Captain Kirk because she claimed women weren’t allowed to be starship captains.  Evil Kirk’s assault of Janice Rand is brushed off.  The main characters are all white, and every minority character is in a supporting role.

It’s easy to look back from the twenty-first century with uncomfortably raised eyebrows and ask: “This was progress?”

All in all, it seems impossible to modern audiences that this show could possibly be as revolutionary as it is often said to be.  How can this show be a television game changer, the show that inspired so many and so much good?  How can Star Trek be considered so progressive?

Honestly, it’s all dependent on the time.

Looking back, it’s very easy to judge, to turn our backs on a show that is, in a lot of ways, clearly dated.  There’s no saving the reputation of the bowl cuts, the campy acting, or the tinfoil bikinis, but, if you will, allow me to contextualize, not just the show, but the culture as well.

The year is 1966, and Star Trek’s first pilot has failed, accused of being ‘too cerebral’, (among other things) and having a woman as the second in command on the ship.  The new show, considerably retooled with a whole new crew except for a mixed-race half extra-terrestrial, is set to air, and your crew includes two white American men, the aforementioned half alien, a Scotsman, an Asian man, and a black woman, all in positions of authority on a military ship designed for exploration in deep space.

An Asian man with no stereotypically Asian accent, hobbies, or background was the helmsman for the Enterprise.  A black woman was a lieutenant commander, the chief communications officer.  They were positioned in such a way that they were unmissable for viewers, and regularly took part in landing parties and missions.  They were very smart and very capable.

Now, that’s nothing.  Then?

In 1966, that was huge.

While to modern eyes, the show’s claim to progressiveness seemed like the bare minimum, in the time that the show was produced, it was a big deal.  The equality on the bridge of the Enterprise, (unquestioned, undiscussed equality) changed television, and subtly forced viewers to question their own prejudices.  The idea of a perfect future was one with no prejudice, no distinction among humans.

To quote Kirk himself:

“Leave any bigotry in your quarters; there’s no room for it on the bridge.”

On Star Trek, especially in the Federation, everyone was an equal.  No member of the crew was worth more, or treated differently, than any other.  Multiple characters (non male, non white) characters are portrayed as high ranking, deserving of equal respect.  Sure, now it doesn’t look like a big deal, but in the end, that’s a good thing.

It means that times have changed, and that even in the 1960s, people knew they should change.

In the end, Star Trek remains a good look at a utopian future where everyone is deserving of equal respect and care.  Is it perfect?  No.

But it was about as good as we can expect: Fair For Its Day.

To quote the TVTropes definition of this specific phrase:

“Something from the past that seems like a huge load of Values Dissonance. It seems laden with, say, a Rose-Tinted Narrative or a Historical Hero or Villain Upgrade.

Only… it turns out it was comparatively Fair for Its Day. Maybe the Historical Hero Upgrade or Historical Villain Upgrade wasn’t that unfair a reflection on the person’s views. Maybe the Rose-Tinted Narrative just wasn’t rose-tinted enough for its original audience. Maybe it was even ripped apart in its own time for being downright insurrectionist, and was brave to go as far as it did. It might even completely agree with modern attitudes, but not do so Anviliciously enough for today’s audiences.”

Such is Star Trek.

The miniskirts?  A demonstration of freedom and fashion in the late 1960s.  Uhura’s job?  As a black woman in the ‘60s in a position of authority, it was groundbreaking.  A non-stereotyped Asian man and a non-evil Russian?  Unthinkable.  Khan, one of the show’s most memorable and well-loved villains?  Played by Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican.  Kirk reported to higher-ranking non-white officers.

Does that fix the fact that Janice Rand’s assault was largely brushed off?

No.

But it’s a start.

Star Trek’s legacy is, not in its perfection, but in the fact that it was a product of the times that saw the need for change.  It’s impact, it’s importance lies in its guts to push the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time, to be a product of the times that was looking for a better future.

Yes, times have changed, and Star Trek no longer looks as groundbreaking as it did at the time.  That’s good.  It shouldn’t.  But that does not mean that it loses its importance.

Star Trek remains a titan among game-changers in the history of pop-culture, and rightfully so.  Very few franchises have the scope of influence and inspiration that Star Trek lays claim to having, and in a true test of its values, continued to expand on them and grow and change with the culture with each version, continuing to strive for the best.

All that leads us to our final question.

Is Star Trek dated?

In some ways, yes.  Some of those stories could only have been created in the 1960s.  Some interactions were only possible in a bygone era.

In others?

Star Trek’s general concept, and indeed, a lot of its execution, actually does hold up very well.  The stories are often just as interesting and compelling as they were when they were first released, and the characters remain as gripping and entertaining, over fifty years later.  In terms of storytelling and characters, for the most part, Star Trek is not dated.

After all, the idea of equality, and a better future, is never dated.

Yes, Star Trek is a product of its times.  Very much so.  However, that fact makes the series no less enjoyable.  It was influenced by its culture and its times just as much as it would go on to influence, and even today, it still casts a long shadow on television, and the culture at large. Star Trek stands the test of time, serving as a reminder of times past, while at the same time looking to the future.

In 1966, Star Trek was a visionary concept that ended up changing the world.  Just because we’ve seen progress since then doesn’t take away any of its punch, it just shows us that it was on the right track.

Fifty years later, Star Trek is still boldly going, and it will continue to do so as long as people still look for a better, brighter future.

Thanks so much for reading!  Don’t forget to use that ask box if you have your own ideas or thoughts that you’d like to share.  I hope to see you in the next article.

[bkdkink]

here’s part 2 for the ehhhh stuff 

“okay, so dy,” you ask, “if it looks good and plays well, story is excellent and music is perfect, wtf is up your ass about it then?”

so bear with me. what i am about to straight-up complain about rn is by no means anything major or even something that should prevent anyone from ever being apart of the game and its story. these are minor, personal complaints that i want to vent out, and if it so happens that i have people who agree with me then great! if not, then yeah i totally understand because people see the story differently and want different things, as life goes.

long rant ahead, beware. 

so the negative about kh3, ill start with the annoying and lead up to the heart-crushing part (yet expected) part first.

The Frozen and Tangled levels were rough. lmao, not skill-wise, no. Just. Tangled was going through the whole damn movie......right? without songs and certain minor characters, but we...went through the whole movie with Rapunzel and it was sooooo awkward to watch the cutscenes....because sora, donald and goofy were just. there. they did nothing to progress the story. they were just....there? eugene died. they witnessed a man DIE. and it was........anticlimatic a little in how they reacted???? like that they dont quite understand death so they were just like awwwwww :/ and then he came back so yeah, but. it was so weird?? with them there???? why were they there??? why this way???? why not make up a whole new story or add to it or something or other??? is it cuz she’s one of the new 7 princesses of light so we had to do a whole thing??? cuz we didn’t for any other princess??? oh besides Frozen.

Frozen was the worst level for me. just the worst. i never liked the movie, so that’s strike one, strike two is i had to re-listen to two of those infamous songs.......because sora had to listen to them. why....when....when was there disney songs shot frame-per-frame.....in KH? and no, ariel in KH2 doesn’t count because that whole WORLD was a MUSICAL WORLD. the only actions you could take was THROUGH muSICcccCCCCC.

my point is that there was too much pandering going on there, also the story was just as nonsensical as it was in the movie. if i never saw it i would have been so confused as to where that brunette dude came from, how he got Elsa, WHY he wanted to kill her---the game (tangled was a tad bit guilty of this too, wtf did Rapunzel start calling Flynn Eugene? i saw the movie so i knew but they didn’t explain that until their world was finished) so....good luck to whoever did watch the movies?? KH assumes you’ve seen both of them, compared to the Carribbean where I never saw the movie but i knew wtf was going on??? also big hero 6, never saw that but could get the gist!!!!

they were just WAY too movie heavy which isn’t the usual for the series, and im sure if they are included in the next game itll be a different experience because the movies are now established, so there hopefully there won’t be any pandering from Frozen’s end too much.

Now......the stuff that is more personal. okay here goes. 

KH, from the jump, has somewhat kinda tried to establish a maybe romantic angle between Sora and Kairi. Now, because of how friendship heavy the whole series is and the love friends share....I for one never picked that up until i was reading tvtropes and i was reading up on Kairi being one of the main reasons that Sora and Riku were even beefy in the first game to being with??? the both liked her but she chose Sora or something????? that shit flew so far over my head and no, i wasn’t a child playing the first game for the first time---this was only a couple years ago. i just....did not...pick up romantic interest? i picked up...friend?? because they kept saying....Friend™? 

anyway, series goes on, Kairi is known to the fandom as being written mostly out of focus and is never used well enough in the plot. and i agree. they never used her to her potential, and even in KH3, where she is now a keyblade wielder, she still becomes something to save...............even in the very end.........even when she and Sora had their moment of “imma save you this time!” .....no........sora still leaves to go and save her.............so.like.......yay for....growth? kinda....? i just feel bad for her tbh. 

that’s one thing. the main, large thing that i did see coming but was disappointed in nonetheless was that several games later of pushing her aside, of focusing much more on the relationship between Sora and Riku with an ENITRE GAME narrowed in on both of them and their journey toGETher---KH3 begins to focus on the romantic angle between Sora and Kairi again. and its obvious enough where NOW yes, even I picked up on it this time around.

and at this point......it just.....came off so forced? they lay it on thiccccccc my dudes. and it feels like it. yes, there are still moments between Riku and Sora, sure, but that is down-played SOOO much compared to fuggin KH:DDD or hell even KH2....

like.........i don’t expect any gay male video game protags from Square Enix, I really dont. but i also dont want some  last-minute romance shoved down my throat??? when i was fine with how it was before??? maybe if they still kept the subtly that they had done and with newer games continuing to build off of that, I wouldn’t be so put off by the idea. KH2 did a good job of building it, like when Sora imagined Kairi and him dancing together in halloween town--that was cute af?????? and well integrated????? and could STILL be taken as him just missing a FRIEND or yeah, a potential love interest! but just. jesus. you didn’t care about them being together then, don’t do it now because it comes off a little cheap.

also fuck Riku i guess???? kairi doesn’t give a fuck about Riku at all?/??? is the overall vibe i was getting???lmao aren’t all 3 of them friends??????? no???????? kairi only messes with sora and riku only messes with sora?????? can i get some uhhhhhhhhhhh riku and kairi time too or nah????? we had a moment of them at the beginning of the game i guess and then....that was....kinda it? so fucking disappointing how they write her man. she’s so much more than a love interest and there are moments when that shows, but there’s too many where she just....is only sora-focused? 

you want an example of how forced it was that they were switching Sora’s relationship from Riku to Kairi? now don’t quote me on this i could very well be wrong because i never actively listened for bkg music until DDD, but Dearly Beloved? the titular theme song for every single KH menu and emotional scenes? the theme song that DDD later ESTABLISHED in CANON that it was Riku and Sora’s heart song playing together????? a song that plays in some kinda version whenever Sora and Riku are having a moment??????? WELP. i wanna say they still kept it for Sora and Riku for at least one cutscene with them together. at least. i can’t name others, but they at least did it once cuz i remember getting excited about it. 

they now played it more frequently whenever Kairi showed up on screen, or when she and Sora were having a moment together. 

SORA. and RIKUS song....playing now for SORA and KAIri???? please correct me if im wrong, absolutely tell me if im wrong that im just not observant and it’s always been like that because tbh that’ll make this better for me lol but they just took Riku and went YEET. “Sora is the hero. Sora gets the girl because of course he does. Sora is GOD and fuck yall for not expecting him to have a love interest at the end of this and YES it will be a girl and YES it WILL be the one we keep forgetting about to make his love interest up until now because yall were getting the most wrongest ideas of where this was going so we’ll fix that right up for ya” 

i still loved the game. hell, even with the ending like that (”i gotta go save Kairi! again! even though we had a whole thing with the papou fruit about how she was going to save me and protect me this time! and i gotta do it alllll by myself!!! she has a keyblade you say???? she wants to be more useful to me you say???? well FUCK that imma go rescue her because im Sora and i am hero boy!!”) i still had a good time! it really is a good game, please go play it to get all the feels in the world, if this minor stuff is minor for you too, then go play it RIGHT. NOW!!!!!

but yeah. ya girl was disappointed by how forced it was. expected it, but still doesn’t negate how i feel in the end. so now im gonna indulge in soriku art. 

Rant over! if you actually read over this and wanna talk about it, feel free to hit me up! let’s rant together. maybe im wrong and too focused on my ship and i have ship glasses on too tight. 

[friendlycybird]

1X06 - Dipper vs Manliness - Rewatch

Me: Up next, Dipper vs Manliness!

My Partner: Dipper vs Manliness? 

Me: Yep. This one has minotaurs in it! 

Partner: Mini-taurs? 

Me: Man-a-taurs. Get it? 

Partner: Oh.

Me: At least, I assume that’s the pun Gravity Falls was going with here. 

Let’s get started!

Stan trying to pass broken glass off as crystals and getting called on it makes me giggle. 

They literally just locked him in the gift shop. I wonder how long it took him to notice. 

huh. Fiddleford seems to really like coffee. 

You know, it kinda blew by me, but my partner just asked if Stan was really just trying to feed them dressings and...huh. Of course, that’s kinda Stan’s relationship with money in a nutshell isn’t it? 

Also it’s kinda sweet that Dipper initially wants to try the manliness test to get Mabel some pancakes. 

Dippers entire crisis here stems from being laughed at. Okay, yes, he’s shown signs of having insecurities before but this seems like the first time it’s directly connected to his masculinity. Previously it’s just been coolness or ability to fit in, but a lot of the phrasing and specific points of ridicule make it specifically manliness he becomes obsessed with here. 

Also I...I’m not sure what exactly Manly Dan thought he was doing trying the manliness test right after a literal twelve year old failed at it. Seems kinda like a dick move. 

You know what? I completely forgot the whole Stan and Susan thing started with Stan having a crush on her. Although I find it slightly suspect that he was fine when he first walked in and she took his order but then when she actually brings him food he gets all flustered. I’m not sure what it makes me suspicious of, exactly, but it’s certainly interesting. 

“Nothing is stronger then the power of...”

“love?”

“Mabel.” 

The cops running around in the broken hydrant spray is hilarious and adorable. 

The whole Mailman/Male Man joke feels like a little bit of a stretch though...

Okay but Dipper’s been shown already to be stronger then the lifting the stick bit suggests. Like, I’m pretty sure gnomes are heavier then that stick.

And I think I missed something. Where exactly did Dipper get that jerky? 

Also I have another Society of the Blind Eye question. Dan saw the Minotaur, but we can assume he got his memory of it erased. Dan saw Dipper while he was running away. Did this just not come up when the memory was being erased? Did he deliberately not tell the society about Dipper because, you know, they probably kidnapped him? Or did that detail just get lost in the shuffle? I’m overthinking again. The whole existence of the society does that to me. 

The Minotaur does that “huh, uh-huh, uh-huh” thing while Dipper is talking that supposedly shows someone is “really listening” but honestly always drives me nuts and makes me feel completely un-listened to? He quite literally sniffed out Dipper’s emotional issues and invited him to talk but I wonder what creator intent was there with those reactions? 

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Mabel’s scrapbook, is it? I think it’s the first time she’s actually mentioned scrapbooking out loud. I could be wrong. 

Also. Soos: “I’m soft, like a woman.” ...I love Soos. I love him so much. Absolutely no crisis of masculinity going on there. 

Also I paused to type this and the look on Stan’s face walking up to Soos for this little role-play...he looks so scared. Like. Not, you know, bad things are happening terrified. Just. Like. *whimper* ...it’s kinda adorable. 

You know, ironically, Dipper getting the Minotaurs to train him is an example of how Dipper’s specialty isn’t the physical but the mental. He’s smart yes but better then that, he’s clever. I mean sure, it’s a pretty obvious ploy, but he was so quick to think of it and it actually works.

Oh hey, the Pain Hole. They talk about this on the Nightmare Fuel page of TVtropes for Gravity Falls. ...yikes. 

I...so...the training montage. I want to have thoughts about the training montage. I want desperately to have thoughts about the training montage. I just don’t. The training montage killed my brain. It’s done. I’m just gonna skip over what I’m sure was a lot of important, or at least hilarious, clips, and move on. 

49 trials in a few hours though. That’s pretty impressive. 

Dipper has a bigger reaction to this guy pulling a bone spear out of his chest then to him literally eating a dude ten seconds ago. Like...on one hand I almost get it? ‘cause I think that the pulling out the spear might be our goriest moment yet in the show (to of course be surpassed in subsequent episodes) but like. He literally ATE a dude. And nobody reacted. ...the fuck? 

...and much like the jerky, where exactly did the Babba CD come from? Why was Dipper just carrying that with him? 

Wow the multibear really lives out of the way, doesn’t he? 

You know what? I feel really bad for Stan with this whole attempt to “fix” him. Mabel 100% has good intentions but like. This absoloutly can not have been good for the mans self esteem. 

Dipper may not be that strong, but he’s fucking FAST. Always has been really. 

Also multibear is adorable. And sad. Why was he so willing to just accept death? Why did he say it was “for the best”? What’s going on with the poor multibear? His bonding with Dipper is really sweet too. 

lol “top 40 hits are in the top 40 for a REASON.” ...I don’t know why, but this quote reminds me of Glee. Specifically Blaine. I guess that’s just how old obsessions can bleed into new obsessions talking...

“Then I guess I’ll never be a man.” ...the subtle change of Dipper’s expression right after he says that is everything. There’s just...the tiniest moment of oh god...I really just said that didn’t I? But it’s not...alarm. It’s acceptance. It’s not just his stubbornness talking, but genuine conviction. 

Honestly, Susan was so easily convinced to give Stan her number, I wonder if she didn’t also like him a little bit all along too? Y’know, it’s really too bad the show basically sinks this ship in a couple episodes. It could’ve been cute. 

You know what I just realized? This is the first time we’ve seen a non-human and not gotten a journal page about them. Low key clue there are other journals? ...nah.  

Okay so, Stan initially rejects Dippers story of hanging out with the Minotaurs, but I mean that had to have alarmed him at least a little bit, right? And he limits his rejection of it to “Here we go.” That’s the extent of his denial of the weird. ...I’m developing a theory that Stan developed a reflex to cover genuine concern with skepticism. 

And then, maybe the best part of the whole episode, Stan telling Dipper that standing up for what was right when nobody wanted him to was “pretty manly”. That’s so incredibly sweet. And important. ...also it’s vaguely weird to me that Stan is summarizing the message of the entire episode. 

...and then Stan literally rips his shirt open to make the kids laugh. I love him so much. 

Also forget what I said about them sinking the Stan/Susan ship in a couple episodes. It’s sunk in the stinger. 

[iincandcscence-a-blog]

Rodimus has clearly obvious tropes that are embedded into his personality, I want to elaborate on a few. Namely, his Chronic Hero Syndrome / Hero Complex / Heroic Self-Deprecation (these all, ironically, go hand-in-hand), his Brilliant, but Lazy attitude (which is also tied into another trope that I wish to elaborate on), his very clear Fatal Flaw(s), what’s Beneath the Mask / his personality as a Jerk With a Heart of Gold, his role as The Atoner (it’s not an extreme level, but it’s there) and how it connects with the trope My Greatest Failure, and last but not least his thought processes: It’s All My Fault / My God, What Have I Done?

Oh, and of course, you have his Father To His Men attitude. Because he’s not always immature when it comes to that but I will go into this last.

(Thank you, TVTropes.)

Now, to put this under a read more because it’s LONG. Like, super long.

Chronic Hero Syndrome is different to Hero Complex, and Hero Complex is different to Heroic Self-Deprecation. What’s kind of sad is that, for Rodimus, they all tie into each other in some way. You might have gathered that this all has something to do with him being a hero. And it is! Just not necessarily in a good way.

The definition of Chronic Hero Syndrome is provided by TVTropes and is as follows:

“Chronic Hero Syndrome is an "affliction" of cleaner heroes where for them, every wrong within earshot must be righted, and everyone in need must be helped, preferably by Our Hero themself.”

This part of Rodimus is... Well, it’s not entirely mild. It shows in the comic in various ways and when Megatron came into play, they decided to go around and help those in need along the way (or, maybe, it pushed Rodimus into doing more and trying to help - whether it was out of pride or finally having a reason to try and one-up Megatron is debatable). Though, because of this trope, it’s more than likely the key reason Rodimus was so easily manipulated by Getaway and, by extension, the mutineers - because his heroism can be so obvious, they could’ve expected that he’d jump on the opportunity to go and investigate a distress signal.

And, in a way, this stems into his Hero Complex. Where Chronic Heroic Syndrome is an extreme, Rodimus more or less fits better into the Hero Complex. Simply put, a Hero Complex is the innate desire to fulfill heroic deeds, for recognition of their heroic deeds.

The extreme is destroying things to then make said things better once again, though with the intention of doing so in the first place. Rodimus does this unintentionally, but that’s not quite the focus. Rodimus wants to make amends for what he’s done (this will be discussed a little later on), but to do so, he has to complete as many heroic deeds for this. However, there is usually always a motive behind their Hero Complex: what would Rodimus’ motive be?

Thanks to this in-depth look into what causes someone to have a Hero Complex, we can gather what motives Rodimus may have and why he has the drive to be everyone’s hero.

“They are approval-seeking and require outward validation. A person who was unable to learn how to approve and validate their inner world will sometimes seek approval and validation from others to the point where they are willing to nearly die for it. Those who have this reason for their hero complex have inner worlds of insecurities abounding, and they need that other person or other people to help them feel like they’re worth something.”

This probably isn’t so obvious, but we do know that Rodimus hates himself (as confirmed by James Roberts) and seeks validation from others. He does reckless things because he knows that, if done right, people will praise him for it. So sure, the whole process of doing it, nobody really thinks that he’s doing this right... But the approval he gets from actually pulling off a dangerous stunt and the validation for being others’ heroes is enough for him.

The best example is at the very start of More Than Meets The Eye. He shoves the sparkeater into the quantum engines as they jumped and promptly saved his crew in doing so. He got the approval and praise from Drift, which was enough for him (clearly, since it didn’t bother him much when Ultra Magnus attempted to scold him for pulling off such a reckless move). Another time that applies this is also pretty early in the comics, where he sacrifices the Matrix - and nearly himself as well - to save all Cold Constructed Cybertronians. While he never got outright approval for such a risky action, and got a rather... Unpleasant reaction from Optimus (granted, he only mentioned that he broke his half of the Matrix), it still plays heavily into this.

Which brings me to the last point: Heroic Self-Deprecation. Just to clarify what this means:

“No matter how much they do for the world or what their loyal friends tell them, they're still incapable of believing that they're anything more than useless. Every little mistake leads to a massive display about how it's all their fault and how they're just not good enough.”

Now, one might think, “oh, Rodimus couldn’t have this, he’s too confident!”, but I beg to differ. If his backstory is anything to go by, he puts the entire world on his shoulders and holds up every little regret like it’s the end of the world if he doesn’t. What he does do well, he doesn’t seem to give himself enough credit for. Perhaps the key turning point for this was after issue 15, specifically, since he seemed to suffer from this more prominently since then...

In Dark Cybertron, the feeling that he’s not good enough is way too clear: this is highlighted in a few different parts, one namely being his conversation with Magnus before he left. When Magnus tells him he’s not a leader, Rodimus responds, “don't tell me that you can't do my job, because you can do my job - probably better than I can”. Now, while this may be true, he’s putting little to no faith in himself; not only that, but he blatantly ignores the obvious compliment that Magnus had given him. That was, I quote, “I haven't got-- whatever it is that you have. That extra something. I haven't got that”. There was something Rodimus had that Magnus didn’t that made him a more capable leader in Magnus’ perspective.

I think the worst part of it is during the rescue mission of Kup. No, really. It hurts me because I love both Rodimus and Optimus / Orion, but the exchange they have when Rodimus tells him about what he did and then how he handled it...

“I messed up. No, but I mean hugely. I smuggled a Decepticon prisoner on board the Lost Light and he escaped, and people died, and then I let my best friend take the blame... And after he left - I haven’t heard from him in ages - the guilt got the better of me and I ‘fessed up. First to Ultra Magnus, then the rest of the crew. I apologized. And after I said sorry, I invoked the Crisis Act.”

“You asked them to vote?”

“All of them, yeah - well, the 190 who were functional at the time. A referendum, really: ‘should I stay as captain? Yes or no.’”

“And here you are. Still captain.”

“Yes, but... Eighty-nine people wanted me gone. That’s why I carved the- y’know, in my hand. See? ‘S like a permanent note to self: ‘you gotta win ‘em back, Rodders.’”

...

“You could’ve resigned.”

“I, er... I what?”

“You should have resigned. You only invoked the Crisis Act because you thought you’d win. If you’d been truly ashamed of your actions, you’d have stepped down.”

“Um... I kinda thought it took more courage to stick it out?”

“Nonsense.”

“Um. Yeah.” ... “I was, um, sort of expecting the standard Optimus pep talk...? Nobody’s perfect, learn from your mistakes, that kind of thing?”

“I’m not here to absolve you of your guilt.”

(Conversation between Rodimus and Optimus. Dark Cybertron, Volume 2.)

While this is reconciled later on in the story (with Rodimus giving Optimus the pep talk; I’m so proud of him), it’s in this moment where there’s no praise. There’s no helping him. Nothing. It’s just Rodimus confessing everything, right from what he did to how he wants to get them back, and he’s actively seeking some comfort from his role model; he said so himself that Optimus is his role model. Sure, not exactly direct, but...

“You know who I always wanted to be, Orion? I’m talking all my life.”

“Yes - Rodimus Prime. And I’m sorry, but that makes you a fool. To actively want to be a Prime after the damage wrought by my predecessors...”

“You’re wrong. I never wanted to be ‘Rodimus Prime.’ Not deep down. Deep down, I always wanted to be you. The real you - not Orion Pax.”

(Part of a conversation between Rodimus and Optimus. Dark Cybertron, Volume 2.)

(And then, when the conversation ended and Rodimus was shot in the chassis by Nova, Optimus went into full dad mode. Because nobody shoots his son after he gives the pep talk and gets away with it. Looking at you, Nova Prime. I hope you feel many regrets.)

I feel like all of this, all of this right here, connects with his Heroic Self-Deprecation. He knows what he did, he knows that somehow, he has to win them all back, but at the same time... He wants to be like Optimus. He wants to have those same qualities that Optimus has and he knows that it’s impossible for him to have it, because he’s even scared to live by the decency, and the integrity, and the morality. But that’s not the point.

The point is, Rodimus thinks little of himself. He thinks so very little of himself, in fact, that he thinks that Magnus would be a better leader than him, even though he has that extra something. He got a pretty obvious thing, that he mostly like had thought of, smacked in his face by Optimus saying that he should’ve just given up because of that mistake. He thinks that, essentially, he’d be better off being someone else rather than himself. Rather than Rodimus, or even Hot Rod.

Now, let’s go onto the next one, shall we?

Rodimus has a serious case of being a brilliant mind, but being rather lazy. This does tend to make him seem stupid, but let’s just face it; he might never understand science, but he knows enough to come up with some pretty smart ideas. He might rush in at a moment’s notice, but he’s smarter than he looks overall. The definition of “Brilliant, But Lazy” is as follows:

“...you have the Brilliant, But Lazy character, who is more than capable of taking care of any situation that the heroes have to deal with, but doesn't care.”

It’s less that he doesn’t care, but more that he doesn’t like to deal with responsibility. When he does deal with it, he can be brash and quick to make assumptions, or he can be level headed for once and actually help out a bit better than most. However, it’s this dislike of responsibility that stems from a few various sources (after all, he already has a lot of burdens) that makes him seem lazy in nature. He’s capable, more than capable at the best of times. But even when he accepts the responsibility, it always seems like someone else is willing to stand in for him...

“... Need a scapegoat? Get an ex-Decepticon.”

“Well it’s not gonna happen. I’m taking the fall for this one. Your name doesn’t have to come into it. It’s taken you years to win back people’s trust, and you’re not throwing it all away on my behalf.”

...

“I won’t let you do this for me.”

“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for everyone else.”

(Bits of the conversation between Rodimus and Drift about the inquiry related to the Overlord incident, in the prose story “The Sound of Breaking Glass”, MTMTE #21.)

Or, they push aside the fact that he’s taken responsibility for something because it’s just expected of him. That, or they think he’s doing it because there’s something about the situation that really calls for it, even though he has shown great promise as a responsible leader and warrior, behind the various levels of (faked) immaturity. He tends to shove it all onto Ultra Magnus, or Drift, or even Megatron when he arrives on the Lost Light - but for what?

This can be left up to interpretation, but for me, it’s linked to his Heroic Self-Deprecation. How, you might wonder? Well, he not only thinks little of himself, he’s sure others think little of him as well. Perhaps he just plays into everyone’s thoughts of him...

Which brings me to the trope I connect with this one; him faking his stupidity. He’s not an idiot. Actually, he’s far from it. He’s made smart decisions in the past that have saved his life, and even his reckless decisions have some sense in them. He has remarkable timing, he’s got sound strategies when he needs them, and he does know what he’s doing.

“Another variant is of someone who is a genuine genius but who pretends to be The Fool in order to avoid responsibility, either because they are lazy or because of some trauma which has undermined their confidence.”

Based on the quote above, I think it’s safe to say it’s a mixture of both.

He might not be a full-blown genius like Perceptor or Brainstorm, but he can play connect-the-dot in the right situations and he can make the right decisions when he needs it. For example, he was the sole reason that Nightbeat was able to break Nova Prime’s hold on him by asking him a simple question that forced Nightbeat to think. This was related to the numbers on his hand, a personal reminder that he needed to win back the 89 people of 190 active crew members that wanted him gone as captain. He knew Nightbeat couldn’t resist the right mystery.

But, just like that, I’m linking it back to his brilliant but lazy attitude; he shoves his responsibility on Drift, Magnus and Megatron, intentionally or not. And he’s stated once before, in the More Than Meets The Eye annual; “... Beneath my cocksure exterior I have incredibly low self-esteem”. Now, whether he was joking, and whether or not Ratchet realized this...

(Most likely not, since he seemed quick to dismiss this and claim that further beneath that, he does think he’s better than everyone else...)

... It’s possible - no, certain - that Rodimus hides it with layer upon layer of faked confidence and egotism. And that faked confidence and egotism links back to the mistakes he’s made and the Heroic Self-Deprecation, and THAT links to his brilliant but lazy attitude and his faking of stupidity. Because it seems like, whenever he is smart, people are surprised by it.

And if he can’t impress them, and it dents his self-esteem, then why bother being smart?

...

Let’s move onto the next one!

Rodimus is painfully aware that he has many flaws, and even more so aware of the fact that he has some very clear fatal flaws.

“Heroes have a Fatal Flaw which they wrestle with on a consistent basis. This may open them up for specific conflicts later...”

One could say his fatal flaw is his ego - but based on the evidence above (and that I’ve stated this literally a few paragraphs up), this ego seems to be a very extravagant cover-up for his lower self-esteem. Plus, he doesn’t quite fit the criteria to have his fatal flaw be egotism. This, ironically, seems to fit Getaway. No, Rodimus’ fatal flaw wouldn’t be egotism.

It’s one of two things: his impulsiveness, or his recklessness. Both are connected, however...

Let’s have a look at what TVTropes has to say.

“A Tragedy of Impulsiveness is when a tragedy is caused by someone's impetuousness or irrational impatience. This trope's power comes from the fact that if characters had thought before they acted the tragedy could have been avoided.”

This seems rather accurate. Perhaps it was also what Rodimus was referring to when he was talking to Drift at the end of Lost Light #7, when he said that he needed people like Drift and Ultra Magnus to keep him in check. And perhaps he’s right; his impulsive nature has gotten the crew into many unpleasant situations that derive from exactly that, and a lot of said situations tend to contain a tragedy in them. So, this as a fatal flaw makes perfect sense. Rodimus’ impulsiveness knows no bounds and he needs someone to regulate this.

But what about his recklessness as his fatal flaw?

(How lovely for TVTropes to title recklessness as “Leeroy Jenkins”. Funny video.)

“The Leeroy Jenkins (or just Leeroy for short) is a specific type of [person] who has no patience for complicated plans, preferring to charge full-tilt into the fray and start attacking whatever's in front of him.”

... Well, it’s not wrong.

Rodimus is notorious for running in without a plan. That, or his plans are to the extreme, and therefore are more suited to the trope called “Crazy Enough To Work”, since half of them actually do seem to work in his favor. (See: “Spotlight: Hot Rod”.) In general, however, Rodimus will think recklessly and make a frontal assault without really putting in the thought as to how it could all go wrong. Granted, the times he did so in prominent parts of the comic were in the Overlord arc, the Tyrest arc, during Dark Cybertron when it called for it, and of course, that one time Rodimus thought it was a brilliant idea to tackle one of the Functionists...

What may be obvious is that his impulsiveness and his recklessness tend to go hand-in-hand with each other. Actually, one tends to lead into the next, and it’s his biggest flaw. What’s further ironic is that his impulsiveness and recklessness, accompanied with his Chronic Hero Syndrome as mentioned much further above, are all reasons behind him falling into the trap...

Now, let’s look at his attitude, shall we?

“Virtually everyone has to wear a public mask in order to be accepted by others. That's a simple fact of human psychology. When circumstances (such as anonymity, strong emotion, or sufficient power) allow a character to take off that mask and act in complete accord with their inclinations, they reveal what's beneath the mask.”

Look, I won’t dismiss the fact that Rodimus does have confidence. I won’t dismiss the fact that he’s charismatic, and with a slight hint of an ego, and overall a fun guy that attracts others to him by being him. (After all, he and Megatron combined killed off the personality ticks due to there being too much charisma in one room...) However, you would have noticed that throughout the comics, it seems to have been enhanced to the point that it’s actually obnoxious and almost infuriating. You may have also noticed this started almost immediately when Megatron became co-captain of the Lost Light and after Dark Cybertron.

This was something told by James Roberts as well: Rodimus enhances his better parts of his personality to cover his self-hate. There’s nothing quite as simple as that. Rodimus is a strong character, in both physicality and mentality, but there’s only so much one can handle, especially after four million years of war.

This is somewhat of a coping mechanism for Rodimus. If he can’t voice his grief and even gets criticized for something that isn’t true (yes, Rung, looking at you; he really did feel like he failed the crew), then it’s better to hide it and say that he’s completely okay. Some may be able to look right through him, others will take it the wrong way and think that he’s just being childish. In retrospect, turn to the very start of the comic series. He was more like himself; charismatic, somewhat confident, a slight ego. He didn’t act the way he does now back then.

In turn, this leads me to my next point.

“A person you would expect to be a big Jerkass has some redeeming qualities behind their tough demeanor. Occasionally, they'll try to make it a Hidden Heart of Gold.”

It’s no secret that Rodimus has acted like a jerk, even in the newest issues; and, unfortunately for our poor learning speedster captain, it’s had an everlasting effect on a few people. One of those people namely being Brainstorm, having adjusted so poorly to Rodimus’ usual reactions to his work that he even has to explain himself to Cyclonus...

“You see? You see? That’s what success looks like! Swerve and Ten, plucked from a pocket prison and delivered, safe and sound, to your welcoming arms. And to think - to think! - you said it couldn’t be done.”

“On the contrary, I said I was confident you’d find a way to bring them back. In fact, I’ve been nothing but supportive since I brought you the wand.”

“Oh. Yeah, sorry. Thanks to Rodimus I’m conditioned to expect incomprehension, mockery and boredom - usually in the span of thirty seconds.”

(Conversation between Brainstorm and Cyclonus, Lost Light #5.)

So yes, Rodimus has screwed up a lot by acting like a jerk. However, I firmly believe that it isn’t intentional, and that his mouth runs faster than his thoughts do. It doesn’t excuse the behavior, and I could provide plenty of examples where he was a downright jerk. For example, when he said that he had “rehabilitated” Drift (yes, how smart of you to say, Rodimus), or when he attempted a joke about Tailgate’s face being punchable during the Brainstorm arc...

But, he really does have a heart of gold. Or, a spark of gold, in this context. In which a heart of gold is an expression that means “to be very kind and generous”. Synonyms vary from considerate, to well-meant, to supportive and good-natured.

Rodimus cares deeply about his crew members, and I will elaborate on such later on, but he is willing to do what it takes to make up for his actions. He doesn’t quite have the hidden heart of gold like Whirl, for example, because it can be so damn obvious that Rodimus has this wonderful heart of gold for his crew members. Let’s take, for example, not only the prose story “The Sound of Breaking Glass”, but also MTMTE #36. Oh yes, that issue. That one issue. Where Rodimus tried, with all his power, to make sure that Trailbreaker would live in the future.

But first! In the prose story, Rodimus is shown being kind and good-natured towards Red Alert, who had just been woken up after his suicide incident - which Rodimus put upon himself. This is in front of Getaway and Fortress Maximus, too, but he’s kind of... Subtle.

“Red Alert?”

“Captain, I want to apologize for--”

“Stop right there. No apologies. Not on my ship.”

“But I can’t imagine the inconvenience I caused by my decision to, um, remove myself from the field of play.”

“Nonsense. You were under tremendous pressure. Okay, so you didn’t feel able to confide in me, but that says more about my failings as a leader than anything else.”

...

“My point, Rodimus, is that I’d like to stay here ... What are they called, Legislators? We could reprogram the Legislators to act as the moon’s protectors.”

“I think with you and Fort Max, Luna 1 is going to be in safe hands. Just promise to stay in touch!”

(Conversation between Red Alert and Rodimus, “The Sound of Breaking Glass”, Issue #21.)

Based on the meaning behind having a heart of gold, it does shine through here. Whether or not the others present register it (a part of me feels like Getaway was too silent in this moment, which is both understandable since he wasn’t involved in the conversation, but concerning...), Rodimus clearly cares. And clearly, he knows that being on Luna 1 is better for Red Alert.

Now, Issue #36. How many of you remember the despair Rodimus had when he saw that Chromedome had shaken hands with Trailbreaker and ultimately erased his memory of the previous conversation he had with him? The conversation that would’ve ultimately allowed for Trailbreaker to live in the future? A lot of you might find that moment memorable (at least, I do. Roddy was incredibly hurt because it was his only chance to avoid the needless death), and/or very painful to reflect on, but that conversation he had before showed his kindness.

“Will you do that for me? It’s very important.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

“Trailbreaker.”

“Ofsted XVII. Stay inside the ship. Got it.”

... “You’re a good person.”

(MTMTE #36, conversation between Rodimus and Trailbreaker in the past.)

What really gets me is that Rodimus even went out of his way to tell Chromedome to not shake hands with Trailbreaker, no matter what, even though he never said why. Mostly because one isn’t supposed to be tinkering with time (because Rodimus, you’re not supposed to change the future, even if you really want to), but it shows he cares. It even proves his kindness and his consideration, even. He most likely puts himself at fault for Trailbreaker as well, even though he had nothing to do with it; after all, Trailbreaker was a member of his ship.

This will be used as an example for his “Father To His Men” attitude, but let’s continue.

The Atoner. Now, this trope quite literally makes up Drift’s entire character, but this applies to Rodimus in a very specific context. He wants to atone for whatever he’s done in the past. This isn’t just relating to Overlord, either; this can be seen in a variety of different lights. Though, the real problem is that Rodimus doesn’t necessarily fit into The Atoner by definition of the trope.

“The Atoner is an evil character who has realized the error of his ways, possibly wants to make amends, and has decided that they will do so via heroic deeds. Simple imprisonment won't do, because it does nothing to make recompense for what he's done wrong.”

The trope clearly specifies this is for a character that was once bad turned good, and seeking out redemption for the past sins that have been committed. Which is why, while Rodimus does want to atone for his mistakes, he just doesn’t quite fall into this category. This is very much suited to Drift rather than Rodimus, though the elements behind it make it favorable...

He’s more suited to the category of “My Greatest Failure”. By definition, given via TVTropes:

“Nothing defines a hero better than his morals, and the biggest sympathy point can be guilt over some monumental screw-up that taught the hero to buckle down and stop taking his job too lightly.”

So, the last part didn’t quite follow through like he intended to, but in MTMTE #21, Rodimus tells Ultra Magnus the truth behind Overlord and how he wished to make amends for it.

“Magnus-- (I’m gonna call you Magnus.) Magnus, if this is it - it I’m going to die - I need to come clean. Everything you’ve just said - I’ve done worse. I’ve done much worse. I brought Overlord on board. I was part of it, with Drift and Brainstorm and the Duobots. I let it happen. Prowl said I owed it to the Autobots. Before we left Cybertron, he... We met in his office, and he told me he wanted an Autobot Phase Sixer - somebody as powerful as Overlord, but on our side. And then he said-- These might not have been his exact words, but he said if I was scared of having Overlord on board I could say no, which... Well. Here we are.”

...

“I don’t want to die.”

“Of course not. Of course you don’t.”

“No, I mean-- Self-sacrifice, Magnus - it’s cheap. It’s a cheap way out. I need to live so I can make amends and--”

(Conversation between Rodimus and Minimus Ambus/Ultra Magnus. MTMTE #21.)

The idea behind “My Greatest Failure” is that they feel incredibly guilty over a gigantic screw-up and they start taking their job seriously again. While Rodimus does feel insanely guilty over the fact that it was his fault Overlord was on board, it doesn’t mean he stops taking his job lightly. That’s thanks to his personality, however. However, his need - not want, need - to live to make amends? It’s what fits him into the Atoner trope. He knows what he did was wrong and he desperately wants to fix it. He does make some amends with Drift, with their reunion...

“I don’t trust myself with words - they’re too easy to manipulate. But you taught me that there are a dozen better ways to speak to someone. If you read my aura, or listen to the timbre of my voice, or look at the colors in my eyes... If you do any of those things you’ll understand how bad I feel - and how badly I want things to be like they were.”

(Part of the reunion conversation, said by Rodimus. MTMTE #52.)

I adore this little bit of conversation. And while I am a little upset that there was only one page dedicated to their reunion and their need to talk out the radio silence and so on (seriously, it had been three years since Drift left - you can imagine how bad Rodimus felt without his best friend around, and at his fault too), this really touched me. Not only does Rodimus try and make amends for his banishing of Drift, but he does so through telling Drift to analyse how he says things and what his body language tells him.

And so, Rodimus is kind of a mixture of the two tropes, though contrasting one another. But let’s not dwell on these contradicting tropes for too long and move onto the second last points I have.

“My God, What Have I Done?” and “It’s All My Fault” go hand-in-hand. They usually follow from one into the other, and this is so very prominent in not only the Overlord arc, but he has a literal moment in the Functionist Universe arc in Lost Light. The meaning behind the two are:

“My God, What Have I Done?” - “Well-intentioned but misguided character ... comes to realize that his actions have caused incredible damage, physical pain, emotional pain, or even loss of life.”

“It’s All My Fault” -  “You see characters blaming themselves for major messes fairly often, especially when they're not the only ones who are suffering as a result. It's a universal phrase used in every genre and medium.”

Rodimus has this moment a few too many times, and it ties into his Heroic Self-Deprecation, for the most part. The two most obvious moments are, of course, after the Overlord incident and he talks to Drift about the inquiry (as so in “The Sound of Breaking Glass”), and during the Functionist Universe arc, soon after he decided to punch alternate Rung.

Let’s see, did he say either of the two phrases in the first example?

“I had to do something! People were asking questions! And what do you do if you want to stall things? You launch an inquiry.” ... “An inquiry into something I’m responsible for. Oh god. Oh god, I feel sick. I’ve messed up big time.”

“I can sort this out, Rodimus. Honestly, I can fix this.”

“This is my fault, not yours. We were standing in Prowl’s office, and he was trying to convince me that bringing Overlord on board was ‘right and proper’, and you called me an idiot for even considering it.”

(Conversation between Rodimus and Drift, “The Sound of Breaking Glass”. MTMTE #21.)

... Well. Looks like he says both of the phrases, even though worded a little differently. This is important: Rodimus knows he’s responsible, and he knows that technically Drift is responsible for it too, but he’s more than willing to take on all of the blame and avoid getting anyone else involved. Or, more like, he feels like it’s all his fault and he knows he’s messed up horribly...

Alright, how about the dialogue about alternate Rung? Now, this is more or less just focusing on the whole “what have I done�� aspect instead.

“I’m serious, Rodimus. I need the Cog to destroy Luna 2, and I won’t let you stop me. I can’t.”

“If that’s how it is...” ... “Fine!”

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“I...” “... I...” “... What the hell am I doing?”

(Rewind snaps some sense into Rodimus. Lost Light #6.)

Now, this is a less minor occasion, but the trope still applies. Rodimus has caused physical pain to alt. Rung, just because he was so desperate to get to Luna 2 so he could get home. And, because of that, he made an impulsive and reckless decision to punch alt. Rung in the face.

This also heavily ties in with his Atoner-like personality where he feels obligated to make amends for what he had done. It was why he was so quick to tell everyone to get off the Cog while he remained behind, to make sure that the Cog found its target... And while yes, it’s implied that perhaps he was thinking of self-sacrifice, he’s crashed ships into things before and survived it. (See: that one time Hot Rod stole Magnus’ ship to re-retrieve the Matrix.)

So, in case you haven’t quite understood what I’ve said so far: each of these tropes feed into one another.

Fatal Flaw(s) (Impulsiveness + Recklessness) > It’s All My Fault / My God, What Have I Done > The Atoner / My Greatest Failure > Chronic Hero Syndrome / Hero Complex / Heroic Self-Deprecation > Brilliant, But Lazy / Obfuscating Stupidity > Beneath the Mask / Jerk With A Heart Of Gold.

Can you see how they all interconnect with one another?

And now, drumroll, for the very last trope that I want to talk about (finally!)............ And now we shall talk about his attitude as a Father To His Men!

Now, hear me out. Rodimus is technically not cut out for this trope. He has trouble remembering his crew, and he has his moments where he seems to have blatant disregard for them. He’s just that bit too much of a jerk, though unintentionally, to make this work. Optimus fills this role so much better than Rodimus does. However, he has his moments shine through.

Now, I wish to give you a few snippets from the page that stands out.

“This commander cares deeply about his men and exhibits it constantly. A mentor to the officers under him, he takes a deep personal interest in their welfare and tries to keep them out of harm's way.”

“This character generally cultivates a father-figure atmosphere. He is a source of morale, discipline and stability.”

“He will accept responsibility for any mistakes, even if it was not entirely his fault, especially if the failure would result in severe punishment for a subordinate.”

... Which are all, unfortunately, not true in Rodimus’ case.

While he does care about his crew, and very much so, he does a horrible job of keeping them out of harm’s way. A constant example is convincing Chromedome to inject when he needs it, so he can ultimately help the others, while not being any help at all to Chromedome. Another example is Overlord, since it was a last minute decision that put many in harm’s way.

He’s far from the second snippet. In fact, it sounds more like Optimus. Optimus gives off a father-figure atmosphere. Rodimus even stated himself, Optimus defined what the title of Prime really meant during Dark Cybertron. Optimus is this snippet, but this is what Rodimus wants to be. He wants to be the source of morale, discipline and stability, but he can’t be - because he’s none of those things. He’s far from it, actually. And he knows it.

The last point is a little iffy for Rodimus. He was prepared to do it once, for Drift, but I cannot recall another time he was willing to take the full blame for something that wasn’t solely his fault. The only reason he didn’t go through with it was because Drift insisted he left instead...

So, why am I talking about this trope when it doesn’t seem like it fits Rodimus?

Because, out of all the tropes possible, this is the one trope Rodimus aspires to have. He wants to keep his crew safe. He wants to be the perfect role model and he wants to be the one to take on any responsibility regardless, because he just won’t let them take it instead. The only thing that’s holding him back is his own fatal flaws. His impulsiveness and recklessness hold him back from being this kind of figure to his crew. He has the heart of gold to make it work, but Rodimus doesn’t have the right level of... Well, maturity, perhaps. But he also makes poor decisions, and they usually come at the cost of the crew. And he gets in the way of himself.

And so, overall, Rodimus has a very fleshed out character. These tropes may be common, but they make up most of his character, and they’re all so important in their own way. And, in a way, they all affect how I portray Rodimus. He’s not always immature, he might say something insensitive here and there but he never really means it...

He really is trying to do the best for himself and his crew. It’s just too much for him right now.

[johnatthemovies]

John’s Film Review: Power Rangers (2017)

First off, I have a confession to make.

I was never really a fan of Power Rangers.

Yeah, go ahead, gasp and clutch your pearls, but I had never gotten into Power Rangers way back when.  I don’t know why, I just never did.  You’d think it’d be up my alley, what with giant Japanese robots that combine to form bigger robots beating up giant monsters and all.  But I was too young for the Mighty Morphin’ era, and the other eras passed me by in a blur of toy commercials and bumpers during Saturday Morning cartoons.  Literally, all I know of Power Rangers is through the fantastic retrospective videos by comic critic Linkara.  All of them up to the Turbo era are on YouTube, with the rest on his website.  Give them a watch.

With that aside, I honestly expected this movie to be hot garbage, maybe some fun hot garbage at best.  I never expected it to be this good at all.

The Rangers themselves are quite likable, with Blue Ranger Billy Cranston (Fun Fact: Billy Cranston was actually named after Zordon voice actor Bryan Cranston, who voiced quite a few of the monsters the Rangers fought in the original series) stealing the show.  Billy had gotten a lot of press when it was revealed that he was somewhere on “the [autistic] spectrum.”  This is never treated as a joke, unlike certain characters from certain shows we know, which I appreciated.  Yellow Ranger Trini was also another controversial figure, with the character’s sexuality hinted at with a throwaway line in the film.  This is never really focused upon except for the one line in question, and maybe, that one line was all that was needed.

Many people have compared the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to an episode of Saved By The Bell mixed with a Japanese monster movie. Funny enough, the movie reminded me more of The Breakfast Club mixed with a Japanese monster movie, especially with the Rangers’ characterization.  Jason is a jock that got thrown into detention for a stupid prank gone horribly wrong, Kimberly is the popular girl, Billy is the nerd who got in trouble for blowing up his locker, Trini is the basket case, and Zach is the misunderstood rebel from the boonies.  They grow closer to each other after a heartfelt conversation while they all sit in a circle.  To quote TVTropes, Does This Remind You Of Anything?

Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks, is enjoyably campy.  You can easily tell that Banks is having fun with the role, and that makes it absolutely impossible to take your eyes off her.  What can I say, I enjoyed it.

If there was one thing wrong with the film, it’d have to be the design aesthetic.  It seems like the filmmakers took a page from the Bayformers design book, in which alien=ugly as sin, usually made out of metallic splinters.  Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer the original ‘90s designs of the Ranger suits and the Zords.  But that’s just me.

In short, Power Rangers was a shockingly good movie, better than it had any right to be.  What’s really shocking is that almost all of the movies that have come out this year so far have been pretty good, Lego Batman, Logan, Kong: Skull Island, and now Power Rangers.  The question isn’t if the other shoe will drop, but when.  That’s what worries me.

[radthursdays]

#RadThursdays Roundup 06/15/2017

A frowning child holds up a postcard that reads, "White supremacy is killing me". Source.

Issues

Fighting Words: "On May 26, 2017, white supremacist Jeremy Christian allegedly murdered two men and maimed another as they attempted to defend two women he took to be Muslim from his abuse on Portland public transit. Days later, appearing in court, Christian roared out the same refrain that conservatives and far-right agitators alike have been repeating online for years: Racist violence is free speech. 'Get out if you don’t like free speech,' he howled. 'You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism. You hear me? Die.' Words have consequences. What was surprising was not how precisely a bloodthirsty criminal can echo the language employed both on racist reddit forums and by milquetoast liberal commentators wondering whether left-wing student activists aren’t the real fascists after all. What was surprising was that anyone at all was surprised. Where did you think this was going to end? When you start telling people that standing up for racism and bigotry makes them brave free speech defenders, they’re going to believe you, and they’re going to act on it. Two men are dead in Portland, and their murderer believes himself a hero. Internet, take a good look at your boy."

Three Thoughts on Emotional Labour: "Acknowledging the ways that emotional labour goes unseen and uncredited is important. We need to name the exploitation and devaluation of this important work. At the same time, the acknowledgement that emotional labour is frequently exploited has translated into a belief that emotional labour is inherently exploitative. As a femme who frequently performs emotional labour, both in my personal and professional life, I do not appreciate my important, needed, complex skill set being framed as something that is necessarily oppressive to me. I do not appreciate the suggestion that I am somehow being tricked into doing the hard and necessary work that is deeply important to me. This discourse devalues emotional labour. So, instead of assuming that emotional labour is necessarily and inevitably exploitative, can we consider how we might accept emotional labour ethically?"

Anti-Civilization AMA: Interesting AMA from a few anti-civ anarchists that address some of the most common questions around transphobia and ableism, along with questions about gardening, cities, asteroids, and more. "First, I would say that a huge amount of illness and disability is a product of civilization […] Second, a huge amount of folk medicine has been lost and nearly wiped out by specialization and the division of labor. I think the technocratic medical establishment, broadly speaking, is a symptom of and producer of deskilling and dependence. […] Third, I think a critique of the medical establishment is important for keeping our perspective of its value in check. […] Fourth, a huge part of the reason we need specialized care for certain groups like the elderly, sick, and disabled is that most people do not have the time and energy to care for those to whom they are close and do not live with them, and moreover because many people do not have close ties and so need to seek care from specialists. […] Fifth, as regards trans people, I am not trans myself and do not claim to know that experience (or anyone else's experience) except by inference; but I am or have been close with a number of people who identify as gender non-conforming in different ways and have talked with them at some length on these topics. Some have told me that they think some significant part of their gender dysphoria is a result of the intense imposition of gendered ideology that has always characterized civilization, and that they might feel it less intensely in a very different world."

People lie on the ground outside the Wisconsin capitol holding tombstones above them as part of a die-in to protest the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The tombstones list various reasons for death: "Pre-Existing Condition: Being Female", "Pre-Existing Condition: Cancer", "Cut From Medicaid", "Couldn't Afford Premium", "Suicide: Mental Health Coverage Optional", "Pre-Existing Premium Too High", and "One of the 24 Million". Source.

Women in Refrigerators

eyes I dare not meet in dreams: Short story by Sunny Moraine. "At 2:25 a.m. on a quiet Friday night on a deserted country road in southeastern Pennsylvania, the first dead girl climbed out of her refrigerator."

Women in Refrigerators: "'Women in Refrigerators' can refer to three different pages on TVTropes: Disposable Woman: A female character, who is present in the story just so that she can be attacked. Her attack spurns the story forward, and that's all. Stuffed into the Fridge: A character is killed off in a particularly gruesome manner and left to be found just to offend or insult someone, or to cause someone serious anguish. Women In Refrigerators: The original website, created by Gail Simone, documenting the disproportionate tendency of female characters in comic books to be brutalized."

Short Business: "Eyes I Dare Not Meet In Dreams" by Sunny Moraine: "Moraine's creepy short story is taking on that most despised of tropes - fridging the ladies. Fridging is the practise of killing a character (usually a female, non-binary, chromatic or LGBTQ character, and including characters that have intersectional identities) in order to further a plot. Characters are usually fridged in order to give a male character (generally a cisgendered, straight and white male character) the motivation to pursue a goal or embark on a quest. Stories that hinge on an instance of fridging also tend to focus on the male character's emotional pain and desire for revenge rather than the life, feelings or pain of the character who gets fridged."

A smiling Black woman poses with her sign that reads, "Pay Me Like A White Man!" at the Women's March in Washington, D.C. back in January. Source.

Direct Action Item

June 11th was the International Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners. "Each year, June 11th serves as a day for us to remember our longest imprisoned anarchist comrades through words, actions and ongoing material support." Prisoner support is important, under-acknowledged work. What can you do to help? From regular correspondence, being on a support team, and fundraising to sharing prisoners' stories and words, putting up flyers, and writing one-off letters, your imagination—and unfortunately, prison correspondence restrictions—is the limit!

A large billboard displays a quote by Robert Jones: "We can disagree and still love each other—unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist." Source.

If there’s something you’d like to see in next week’s #RT, please send us a message.

In solidarity!

What is direct action? Direct action means doing things yourself instead of petitioning authorities or relying on external institutions. It means taking matters into your own hands and not waiting to be empowered, because you are already powerful. A “direct action item” is a way to put your beliefs into practice every week.

[megashadowdragon]

jaune will wield the sword of destruction

In “Uncovered”, we find out that the Relics have spirits bonded to them, with the Relic of Knowledge’s being Jinn, who is based on a Genie. It would make sense if the Relic of destruction  which is in the form of a sword  as shown in volume 6 chapter 3 and foreshadowed by the fact that vacuos symbol being a sword    had a spirit based off of the creator of the most famous sword in myth, Excalibur.  after all vacuo used to be a beautiful place with an oasis) before the destruction

Vacuo is currently home to Bertilak Celadon, named after Lord Bertilak the Green Knight from Arthurian myth, and Carmine Esclado, named after Esclados the Red from Arthurian myth. and holds the sword of the destruction to quote @luimnigh

and the reason why I think that all of the relics have spirits connected to them is due to the fact that we got a lot of emphasis on the statues at beacon in volume 1′s intro and the statue in haven has a strong resemblance to how jinn looks including the chains

and jaune may get rwbys version of Excalibur given his knight theme and how his secondary inspiration is king arthur

megashadowdragon . tumblr . com/post/171244914427/jaunes-secondary-inspiration-is-king-arthur/embed

,  jaune is an example of the tvtropes . org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KnightInShiningArmor tropes“Forever Fall shows him saving the life of Cardin Winchester when an Ursa was about to kill him. Jaune pretty much showed everybody what it means to be a Huntsman: staying cool under fire, carefully positioning yourself to find the enemy’s weaknesses, and defending those who can’t defend themselves, even if they don’t necessarily deserve it. He also fights in a knightly style with sword, shield and armor. However, he subverts this trope in one respect: while he has the personality to back up the trope, he really doesn’t have the skills”

.For one, Jaune uses the stereotypical Knight Templar combination of sword and shield he also has blond hair, which is associated with Nobility, similar to a king. Arthur’s early fighting style was similar to Jaune’s clumsy fighting style of swinging around with brute force, though eventually becoming better in combat. They both descend from well-renowned families. What’s also interesting is found in the name of his team, JNPR. It’s spelled using the first letter of their first names, but should the last names (Arc, Valkyrie, Lie, Nikos) be arranged in said order, it would form AVLN, similar to Avalon, the final resting place of King Arthur. Finally, Jaune’s semblance of aura amplification  provides healing and shielding to those who receive it’s power, whether its himself or his allies (he can amplify his own aura or the  other peoples aura  and all the effects that come with it  megashadowdragon . tumblr . com/post/170041919557/on-jaunes-aura-amplification-semblance/embed , similar to the  power of the scabbard of Excalibur

en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Excalibur

“Excalibur’s scabbard was said to have powers of its own. Loss of blood from injuries, for example, would not kill the bearer. In some tellings, wounds received by one wearing the scabbard did not bleed at all.”

www . ancient-origins . net/myths-legends-europe/where-did-king-arthur-acquire-excalibur-stone-or-lake-008851

Excalibur’s best known magical property is the ability of its scabbard to heal wounds. This meant that whenever King Arthur had Excalibur’s scabbard with him, he could not be hurt

Jaune picks the White Rook piece in the initiation ceremony, reminiscent of a castle. Young Arthur won one of his earliest fights by Running into his opponent and knocking him down before finishing him off. Kind of like what Jaune did on his first Ursa kill.

Plus in fate stay night king arthur was a woman who disguised herselflf as as man to be king and her name was artoria pendragon and she ended up being mistaken for joan of arc  

and in fate  exacliburs scabbard is  something  where

The holder of the scabbard is granted potent healing, allowing for critical and fatal wound to be rapidly repaired to restore the wielder’s health. Minor injuries are restored easily, and even large missing portions of the body  which sounds like a more potent version of what jaunes aura amplification allows him to do

“Caliburn and Excalibur are two different swords. Caliburn is the “sword in the stone” which is used to prove king Arthur’s right to the throne. He used this weapon in many battles and won but at some point the “King’s sword” is broken, leaving king Arthur with no powerful swordsAnd by accident, king Arthur found the lady of the lake and was given the sword Excalibur which is made by the wishes of mankind and said to give him the ability to win wars“

“Caliburn was what Excalibur was made to be first, then when Arthur broke it, Merlin took it to the Lady of the Lake to make it whole again. So Caliburn got reforged into Excalibur. I found this out by reading the Timeline Story of Arthur Pendragon“

Later, however, once this first sword is broken in battle, it is made clear that Arthur must receive the "true Excalibur" from a mystical source, the Lady of the Lake, and Merlin (who seems to be the magical force behind both swords) guides him to the place where it will be offered to him.May

salem is  basically  the lady of the lake ( she got turned immortal due to the pool of creation and became grimmified via the grim ( and the relic of creations spirit is inspired by merlin  lady of the lake imprisoned merlin in one of the variations Merlin is betrayed and placed inside an invisible and indestructible tower and salem was the girl in the tower 

jaunes sword in volume 8 had broken its name was crocea mors and there is a theory that it belonged to the king of vale ( crocea mors belonged to julius caesar but he lost it when it got stuck in prince nennius shield ( so jaunes ancestor could be inspired by prince nennius) so crocea mors was the kings sword that got broken

“Jaune has serious King Arthur vibes here. Not knowing about his true lineage and his sword being destroyed. Now he needs a new one. Only one sword that seems to be available. He seems to be headed in direction of wielding the sword of the king. Maybe he'll get a queen too. (an ice or snow queen ) ( weiss who is nicknamed ice queen and is based off snow white whose prince rescued her from a deathlike state or winter whose inspiration is the snow queen)  and joan of arcs father was named Jacques d'Arc  if jaune got together with one of them jacques would be his father in law “

the sword excalibur is often associated with the idea of worthiness in order to pull the sword from the stone you have to be worthy and jaune and cinder are foils and cinder got a whole speech about how you have to be worthy  from arthur there are various versions where this is a requirement

@thehtg-therealone @spoonoftar

[friendlycybird]

1X05 - The Inconveniencing - Rewatch

Okay, we are on the first episode I watched 100% solo, and honestly I forgot how early this was in the series. I suppose that makes sense as it is the one that establishes most of the dynamic between Wendy and Dipper.

Let’s go. 

I kinda love that the S on the “Mystery Shack” sign hasn’t been fixed. 

I forget whether or not we found out where Stan was heading in this episode? 

Also a shower curtain is a pretty lame way to hide a secret ladder. 

Soos is an adorable worrier. 

So, my player has been kinda stop and start, but that means I’m getting a lot of fun freeze-frame moments. Like when Wendy says “check it out” on the roof and Dippers face is literally just Ooooooohhhhhh and Mabel’s face is more like Whaaaaattt. Like they both look surprised but in very different ways. 

Aww, it’s the first appearance of the secret sign between Dipper and Wendy! 

...You know what, that cut is EXACTLY how I figure out I have crushes on people too. “Not like I lay awake thinking about her.” *Cut to laying awake thinking about her* “...uh-oh.”  ...the rare moment in which Dipper is me. 

“Since when are we thirteen? Is this a leap year?” Mabel, a leap year would not make you thirteen already. You’re adorable. 

Wow. The literal start of the feud between Robbie and Dipper actually had nothing to do with Wendy. Robbie took initial dislike to him because he mistook the explosion picture for a muffin and the others laughed about it, not at Dipper for the mistake but at Robbie for the art being mistakable in the first place. 

Wow. You know Thomson is a really great person when you think about it. He lets himself be the figurative group punching bag (although that ball-in-the-stomach game is a little bit literal on that count) and not only has zero resentment but he’s the guy that DRIVES them everywhere.

Also Mabel’s idea of grafitting a car is adorable. 

 Stan’s freakout at “The Duchess Approves” coming on is hilarious. His first response being to call the kids makes me wonder if he’d have been more willing to get up and look for the remote if he knew he was alone, like, you know, before this exact summer. Or maybe it’s a case of before the kids the remote never left its spot so of course he won’t get it ‘cause it’s not his fault the remote is someplace else? Why am I thinking about this? 

Mabel had less trouble with the fence then Dipper? ...but Dipper climbs up onto the roof with zero trouble and knocks off the cover on the pipe thing and gets to the door again in seconds. I guess Dipper’s athleticism is directly tied to his level of motivation.

Y’know, I really hope this place wasn’t closed for very long. Or else NONE Of those sweets would be any good. 

...okay, so Smile Dip is actually pretty creepy. Why, exactly, did the store owners just put up “do not sell” signs instead of, you know, getting rid of it when it got banned for, as Dipper suggested, “good reason”? Like, the initial hallucination itself seems...harmless? enough? I mean. As Hallucinations go. But Mabel’s face is just. ...you know I think I remember seeing this listed on the Nightmare Fuel page for this episode on TVTropes. 

“You’re surprisingly mature for your age” “Yes, I am.” *promptly misses mouth with Popsicle several times.* 

So, I read that it was apparently “Word Of God” that the freezer monster would never be explained but like, isn’t it just another generic part of the haunting? Like, thirty seconds later Dipper sees all their reflections as skeletons, and we’re suppose to assume at this stage that’s the same cause as the freezer monster, which turns out to be the old ghost couple...so didn’t the ghost couple just manifest the weird freezer monster? Or is it suppose to be something else that was deliberately left unexplained? 

Also, if Stan didn’t want to get up for any reason, how did he get the Ice Cream? He must’ve gotten invested early on and made a run to the freezer during a commercial because he could tell he’d need it. 

Okay, so the whole Smile Dip thing is actually pretty horrifying because like. What’s IN those things? and with how many Mabel ate (”eleven..teen”) she could easily have overdosed. Hell she LOOKS like she overdosed. Yikes. 

Ah yes the body outlines. Makes sense that’d be the first thing to make Dipper speak up about his concerns. 

Incidentally, while I had the video paused to type this, my partner (who is in the room while I’m working on this) said that this episode is “making (her) skin want to crawl away” I told her that this episode is kinda the shows first venture into proper horror but it’s not nearly as scary as some later episodes. (Weirdmageddon, I was thinking of Weirdmageddon.) Then she had a small crisis over this being a scary show designed for children. “Why are they trying to scare children?!” so I compared it to Coraline and that whole thing Neil Gamin said once about how “what a lot of adults experience as horror, children experience as adventure.” ...I’m not sure how much it helped. 

So, these teens live in Gravity Falls...but don’t believe in haunting or, presumably other weird things. But we find out later the reason most people in Gravity Falls don’t believe in the supernatural is because of the Society of the Blind Eye. So like. Have these literal Children already had their minds erased sometimes? Or are they just...really lucky? 

Tambry managed to update her status while trapped in the television? 

Honestly in most situations, even supernatural ones, chucking the cash register at the glass doors would be a really good solution. 

“They got Mabel!” ...poor Dipper. He’s already stressed out of his mind and then his sister goes from, you know, possibly overdosing on Smile Dip to being Possessed by a Ghost. That’s not...he’s really not having a good night. 

“It Begins” you’ve...you’ve literally fucked over MOST of these teens already. This began several minutes ago. 

Also, if this couple hates teens and therefore video games so much...why did their store even HAVE a dance machine? 

FUCK that cracking sound when Mabel’s head twists around backwards. YIKES. 

“Oh. Well. There it is.” ...this reminds me so much of the John Mulaney quote about “...well this might as well happen.” 

Wendys face while Dipper was dancing is adorable. And the fact that Wendy lies about it for him is just. The best. 

Also Mabel’s “I’m never going to eat or do anything ever again” has a vague DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything to it. 

At least Wendy acknowledges what they went through was traumatizing. Even if she is, in typical Wendy fashion, awfully chill about the whole thing.

I also appreciate Mabel looking at her own writing and asking what kind of sick joke it is. Poor Mabel. 

...also Stan gets...really passionate about his movies? Like. What seems like a standard love triangle related wedding interruption gets him to throw his TV out the window?  He must *really* hate that character.