#MBD

[introsquirrel]

Rereading murderbot (again) and just got to art's introduction.

And like, art doesn't play nice with other bots. It bullies them, it intimidates them, it will hurt other bots to get what it wants if it doesn't want to waste time hacking it.

And it tries that with mb. I mean, info secunits is probably like 80% propaganda, 15% corporate promotions, and 5% actual development and research, almost exclusively focusing on what they are designed for and how they got there.

It's out there, about to start a boring transport/recon mission, and one of the most dangerous and feared entities basically jogs up to it and goes "hi, I'm a friendly bot, like super friendly, totally nothing suspicious here. Can I have a ride? Here's a GIANT file of pirated media"

And it's still a bot, just a bot with organic parts. Art is a research vessel and it's curious, and this is a rare opportunity to get info on secunits, which are probably a huge pain in the ass to deal with on its missions, with almost no practical info about them. Also, this might be an indication that someone has caught on to its antics and it probably wants to nip that in the bud.

And it turns out the huge file of pirated media isn't secretly a virus or malware, and looking at it's movements, Art can see that it isn't actively hostile towards humans. Unexpected, but hey. Points to this weird construct. But that might not be it's goal.

And then it sits down and starts sorting and watching media so art is like alright, it's obviously not here to fuck me up and it has no idea what the hell I am. Let's make sure this moderately dangerous condtruct doesn't get any funny ideas.

I don't think art was going for friendly in the slightest. I think to wanted to scare mb to make sure it didnt try anything. I think it expected mb to get pissed or argue.

But mb basically shuts down. It stops everything and huddles into a chair and i imagine that it does its best impression of a secunit in stasis.

And when art is like "I mean, don't fuck with me, but you can still watch your TV shows" mb responds with something that would not be in construct research outside of very clinical and vague explanation.

It shows art that it expects art to hurt it. And it's shows that it can be hurt, that it has been hurt, and that it probably has some trauma related to this hurt. It also probably accidentally added some context to the punishment recordings. I'll bet mb was punished for not wanting to hurt it's clients.

And art... well, mb said in the first book that being half human half bot isn't two conflicting sides, but just a whole of what it is. It isn't human, it isn't a bot. It is the culmination of both. A sentient entity that was developed by humans for slavery and spent its entire existence being punished for having free will.

Art is also a sentient entity that was developed by humans for a purpose. But it was treated with love and respect and it's free will was celebrated, if tempered.

Imagine thinking you are one of a very exclusive group of entities that has been categorized as something that is a gross misconception of what you are and what your capabilities are. Art is a bot, which are not humans and dont have rights because they don't have feelings or wants or desires and cannot feel pain. You think you are a very unique entity, no one has done this before.

But they have. The proof is sitting, frightened in your body and you had no idea. Mb is as capable of evil as any human, and as capable of destruction as any bot. You are also cable of extreme evil and destruction. But you are loved and cherished. This entity, this thing is as human as you, moreso even, and it has spent its entire life being hated and feared and it chose instead to just coexist when given the chance.

Art says "I'm sorry I frightened you". Not, I didn't mean to frighten you. And then mb grumpily (which is understandable!!) Lets art watch media with it.

Like, art just met the dumber more compact prototype version of what it could have been and went "wait no this is cool actually." Mb can't br programed to turn against its crew, it processes it's feeling both organically and inorganically, it can hack and learn and be loyal and be angry. And it has no idea what it's doing or what it wants, but it's VERY good at security.

So yeah, I can see why art kind of latched onto mb. And why it told it's crew about this strange little secunit it found on its mission. Kind of like finding someone SUPER cool who just gets you on a level no one else has been able to. Someone who coordinates so flawlessly with you but still is able to challenge you when it needs to. Someone who loves and is exasperated by humans as much as you, even as you need to be "human" to be able to interact with them.

So yeah. Mb and art, first meeting. Perfect 10/10 can, have, and will read again

Edit: ALSO ALSO art gets to watch media with full context for the FIRST TIME IN ITS LIFE. Mb can process human emotions into data automatically and now it gets to experiencd fictional story as it's meant to be experienced for the first time and mb is so so indulgent of it and kind to it, letting it take time to process things and rewatching parts with it when it wants to.

Jdjdhdhdhej fuckin LOVE THESE TWO

[fascinatedfinch]

"As the hostiles came through into the private docks, I activated the new code I had been working on. Code: Deploy&Delay."

AKA: "you know the thing in media where someone disappears when a transport drives in front of them? yeah, that"

Bonus:

[riseandfallofsecunit]

That one scene where Murderbot fights by “wrapping itself around the other SecUnit’s face”

[nymph1e]

so i have some thoughts about the adaptation

[hellofriendhawke]

I wanted to draw this:

[ojiito]

             

                      ͟ ͟ ͟⬚͒͟͟ ྀ͟͟ ͟ ͟ ͟ ⠀⠀ ꫶        

ㅤㅤ⠀ㅤ 4月ㅤ ㅤ𓂂ㅤ

         

           

                             

[foxofanequinox]

mb was so real for having uncontrollable expressions. i make the most rude and inappropriate faces in conversation/public because i wear a mask. and no one knows. not even when i mouth wtf, because they can’t see it. if i had a face-plated armor suit covering my body + mannerisms, i too would be making unrestricted facial expressions and then be shocked to learn people could see them when i uncovered myself.

[rose-serpent]

Still figuring out how I picture Murderbot

[elexuscal]

[Image descriptions within the alt-text]

Y'all remember that Powerpoint style of media recs from a few years ago? i'm bringing it back for my Very Professional explanation about why YOU should read The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells!

With a HUGE round of kudos to all the wonderful artists who contributed to make this little thing come to life. Featuring the works of:

@non-plutonian-druid for Triple AAA Murderbot and Pin-Lee

@alex-van-gore for Refugee One, Dr. Mensah (from All System's Red), and ART+Murderbot

@grammarpedant from Three in Clay

audzilla@insta for Dr. Mensah (Headshot), Dr. Ratthi, Dr. Gurathin, and Murderbot in Sanctuary Moon Shirt.

Plus official cover art and other tie in pieces by assorted artists

Seriously, everyone's work is amazing, please go check them out!

[indigo]

[dimicielo]

♡̷̷ . ⊹ 𓂃 pron, year.

花 𓈒 ｡✿ pron (age)

˳ 𓂃 ⠀ personal diary

◌｡ age. pron › % εїз

[hisbodycorpse]

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ꯭ ꯭ She Ride Like A Carnival.

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ 𓊈 ㅤꨴ 🩸𓊉

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀Ejecútala-Conmigo ⠀⠀ … 𓍚

ㅤ ˙ 🥷🏻 ࣭ٜ࣪࣪  I done did the 𝐢͟𝐦͟𝐩͟𝐨͟𝐬͟𝐬͟𝐢͟𝐛͟𝐥͟𝐞. ۞ ▭

[riseandfallofsecunit]

System Unit Acknowledge: Identify?

[rosewind2007]

“Gurathin was the only loner, but he seemed to like being with the others. He had a small, quiet smile, and they all seemed to like him.”

All Systems Red, Martha Wells

Soon to be a TV series! With David Dastmalchian as Dr. Gurathin (augmented human)

[coffeenonsense]

I have a lot of feelings about network effect and ART and murderbot's relationship but imho a peak and very telling moment for ART is when it makes the humans ask what happened to that one SecUnit because:

it knows murderbot has told its humans Absolute Jack Shit about what having a governor module was like

that despite that murderbot won't actually lie to the humans about it

and finally, that the humans in question are smart enough to understand the implicit threat ART is making by having this question answered, which means it gets to be both informative AND terrifying (a win win)

[murdermetamay]

Welcome to #MurderMetaMay!

This is a event for creating, sharing, and enjoying meta for The Murderbot Diaries. Our AO3 collection is accepting submissions from now through June 8.

We have weekly "themes" and bunch of meta prompts in the AO3 collection to get you started on making meta! But feel free create works that don't fit into specific prompts. Follow your meta-analysis heart.

Week 1 (May 1 - May 10): Inside: close readings & character analysis Week 2 (May 11 - May 17): Outside: connections to other media, social issues, etc. Week 3 (May 18 - May 24): Outside-In: expanding the setting via speculative additions Week 4 (May 25 - May 31): Inside-Out: personal reflections of how the books have shaped how you feel, think, and live

If you post your works to tumblr, remember to use the tag #MurderMetaMay

For more detail about the event, and prompts to get your meta-thoughts flowing, check out our AO3 collection!

(This blog's header image is from the free-to-read pre-series short story by Martha Wells, "The Future of Work: Compulsory," hosted on WIRED and illustrated by Tracy J. Lee.)