#TFA novelization

[piglet26]

Calling all Reylos for a "What If"

[armitagehuxsleepschedule]

writing unhinged star wars fanfiction update: i have no idea what inauguration ceremonies are actually like and how they play out irl and google is not helping so i have resorted to watching the entirety of barack obama's 2013 inauguration on youtube so i can get an idea of how inauguration ceremonies work irl. just so that i can write one (1) scene in a star wars fanfiction. i gotta say, the american oath of office is way cooler than the canadian one.

[dykeredhood]

I am also not immune to the last day of the Rrrrrepublic

[finaliseur]

First Order starship crews operate in three crew sections per department. Each standard day is divided into six four hour-long shifts, with each shift consisting of a designated team. This consistency creates a cooperative environment that fosters a sense of team camaraderie and unity. The immense innerworkings of a star destroyer require constant diligence for smooth performance. The ever mobile vessel requires 24-operation; hence the grave importance of smooth shift transitions. The four hour break-down was designed to omit burn out and keep the staff energized for full attentiveness and maximum efficiency. This, unfortunately does not always apply to commanding officers who often work extended shifts to ensure their department's success, especially during battles or times of crisis. Each department has its own commanding officers, followed by section and shift leads.

With a significantly smaller staff than it's predecessor, The Galactic Empire, the First Order relies heavily on the collaborative environment of each ship to ensure functionality. This synergetic culture is what sets the First Order apart from the Empire. For the sake of the organization's growth and survival, it was imperative that a strong sense of loyalty and companionship was instilled into the new generation at a young age. This tactic was implemented into the training and upbringing of both officers and stormtroopers. Yet, it does not account for the many of the older generation who are still accustom to the competitive environment of the empire.

[starwarsbookckub]

I think we were talking about the metaphors in Stover’s ROTS Novel

[the-hawks-rye]

i know it's been said a gazillion times and said more eloquently than me but god the amount of missed potential in the sequel trilogy. thinking about how anakin became a villain because he felt he had no other choice (and the tragedy being that he always had a choice, and his character arc concluding with him deciding to stand up for what's right by saving luke), meanwhile kylo grew up surrounded by a loving family full of positive role models and chose evil knowingly because he craved power for power's sake. kylo idolizing the tragic figure of darth vader all the while burning the world around him. there was so much you could do with that but instead they had to sacrifice rey's character to make the movies about her fixing the genocidal white boy who never wanted to be saved

[kraniumet]

my issue is that i like tie-in books too much and this puts me in grave danger

[girlrises]

this blog is coming off of hiatus!

[drunk-on-starlight]

Honestly Rey and Finn were never going to get together because jedi don't marry.

[brawlite]

some horror fic recs for october 👻

i wanted to put together a rec list of my favorite horror fics for the spookiest month. there are a bunch of different flavors of horror in here as well as a number of different fandoms, so hopefully you can find something that tickles your fancy (though ngl i would still rec reading these bad boys even if you don't know the fandoms at all).

i tried to tag tumblrs when/where i could find them, but if i couldn't, the author name links to ao3.

a reminder as always: this is horror—please read all the tags.

thanks for reading and i hope you find something to enjoy!

also, pretty please feel free to reblog and add your favorite horror fic recs.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

the ghost apple tree by @thefearofcod

10k words, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Fixing up a decaying house in the woods is the same as addressing your problems. (sxx is haunted)

brawls' notes: i think about this fic a lot; i'm haunted by it. this is by far one of my favorite horror stories i've ever read—the vibes are off-the-charts and horrific in a very visceral, tense way. made me feel weird (positive). i hope it makes you feel weird too (this is a threat).

��

convergence by @astrophyllitely

33k words, rated e lan zhan/lan xichen, lan zhan/jiang cheng (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Lan Wangji regains consciousness in a crashed spaceship on an unfamiliar planet. He is not alone; Lan Xichen is there. He is not alone; Jiang Wanyin is there. But never both at once.

brawls' notes: space horror? check. psychological horror? check. uneasy and tense alien vibes? also check. beautiful push and pull of the narrative, paired with an an intense feeling of claustrophobia. there's a particular moment that had my heart right in my throat. stunning.

—

mockingbird by MarInk

82k words, rated e stiles stillinski/peter hale (teen wolf) summary:

Stiles works tirelessly to keep the roof over his heads and longs for a proper challenge for his brains. Peter chafes under his sister's authority and nurses big, bloody dreams. One day, the two are connected by a mistaken text message. One never knows who is on the other end of a wrong number. Sometimes it's somebody one will come to cherish and adore. Sometimes it's a ruthless, unapologetic monster. Sometimes it's both.

brawls' notes: sometimes you read something and are just blown away by it, forever altered. that's what this was for me. want a type of monster-au you've never seen before? this is it. also: ostensibly a wrong-number au, but don't be fooled. (i was.)

—

never meant by nonhicsumus

3k words, rated m alex krycek & dana scully (the x-files) summary:

Sometimes the past isn't worth digging into.

brawls' notes: whump and psychological horror? plus alex krycek?? my favorite. every word of this is perfection—i instantly wanted to read it again for the first time. you can.

—

fais do-do by @moku-youbi

18k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal)

summary:

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (this fic does not have a summary, but begins with this quote)

brawls' notes: a different-meeting au packed with everything you need for the perfect horror story: violence, blood, a chase scene, and an unreliable narrator. delightful.

—

blackbird, fly by @acroamatica

19k words, rated m kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa)

summary:

One sunny afternoon in the mountains of Washington state, Ben Organa-Solo walked out into the woods. He never came home. Six years later, a journalist specialising in missing-persons cold cases decides to follow his footsteps and see where they might lead.

brawls' notes: a masterpiece of vibes. this reads so much like a spooky mystery novel, but with a creeping, anxious dread. perfect for the season if you want that true autumnal sort of chill. i've carried this fic in my heart for nearly a decade now—it has inspired me in my own writing so much over the years.

—

grey stars on the rise by @iodhadh

4k words, rated e song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Xiao Xingchen comes back. Xiao Xingchen comes back wrong. It takes too long, maybe, for Xue Yang to realize something is wrong with Song Lan too.

brawls' notes: the exact embodiment of: be careful what you wish for. brutal and crushing and so deeply, utterly satisfying. absolute yi-city perfection: the vibes are wretched but strangely romantic (chefs kiss).

—

half your life you've been hooked on death by @whatever-you-can-give-me

4k words, rated m vash the stampede/nicholas d. wolfwood (trigun) summary:

Wolfwood is cornered in an alleyway. Things get worse before they get better.

brawls' notes: and what's a horror rec list without a little bit of gore? whump and blood and near-death-experiences—oh my. this is brutal and feverish and exactly the right flavor.

—

black rock mountain by @bokuno-jinsei

24k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal) summary:

Will is a hitchhiker with questionable hobbies. Hannibal is a man who has questionable motives. When Hannibal drives by Will who just so happens to need a ride, things quickly take a turn from the questionable to the downright depraved.

brawls' notes: you know That Fic that is really the epitome of that pairing for you? yeah, this is it for me. perfect alternate first-meeting fic. lives rent-free in my head.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and hey, why not be a little self-indulgent: i can't help but rec a few of my own horror fics here, too:

old growth

21k, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

There’s something in the woods outside of their hometown. Xue Yang and Song Lan are going to find it.

brawls' notes: i tried something new with the formatting on this one and i think it panned out solidly and was a desperately fun way to tell the story. this is full of spooky, sleepless forest vibes.

—

what's real or isn't

57k, rated e kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa) summary:

Hux's new house is not haunted. It isn't.

brawls' notes: i honestly love playing favorites and this is one of mine. this was a load of fun to write—it's chock-full of vibes, personal experiences, local history, and love notes to my favorite horror stories.

—

acquiesce

16k, rated e original luo binghe/original shen qingqiu (svsss) summary:

After seeing the gentle and loving Shen Qingqiu of the other world, Luo Binghe returns to his own with a hunger that can only be satisfied by one thing—a Shizun of his very own.

brawls' notes: this isn't spooky or haunted, but it is psychological horror—packed with nightmares, flashbacks, dread, and manipulation. enjoy!

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and that's it! hope you find something fun to read for this october 🖤

and again—please reblog and add your own horror recs if you are feeling so inclined!

[gffa]

I gotta say, watching the reaction to these first two episodes of Acolyte...I wasn't that online to witness the backlash to TFA and TLJ when they first dropped, but looking at the one now, it's just pathetic. This fandom can't handle a goddamn thing and it's saddening.

LMAO at this point you know what? I'm sick of the Discourse about stuff that's subjective preferences and I'm sick of the Discourse about Discourse about stuff that's subjective preferences. I completely agree that there are large swathes of fandom that just cannot handle anything--from canon or from other fans--and this is about subjective preference stuff, not about actual issues--and the best antidote for that is to start talking about the things we do want to see in the fandom! For example: How many of you read some of The High Republic in preparation for this show? It's not necessary, you won't really gain much if you're familiar with the novels/comics, other than a few moments of HEY I KNOW THAT THING!!, but I'm curious if it got people motivated. What do you think of the books? Do you guys have a Blorbo? Or if you're watching The Acolyte, did you develop a Blorbo there? (I am so into Sol and Osha, though, the Jecki & Yord Adventures for a full episode would be AMAZING, please let them interact more, they're so great.) Or if you're still a prequels bitch like I am, have you read/watched anything there lately? Read any fics you liked lately? Seen any cool art? Read some thoughtful meta? Had a thought you're itching to share about the SW themes? This is the kind of discussion I want to see, COME JOIN ME, YOU GUYS.

[piglet26]

Underrated Reylo Moments

Kylo Ren

He had reacted poorly to what had happened earlier, and that had been reflected in the Supreme Leader’s judgment. To add to the discomfort, that slimy sycophant Hux always seemed to appear at the most awkward possible moment.

He gritted his teeth, angry at himself. It was a measure of his current weakness that something like jealousy toward an insignificant simpleton like Hux could even enter his mind. It was nothing but a waste of physical energy and mental concentration. Hux—Hux was not worthy of such attention.

The girl, on the other hand…

Rey

Even as [Kylo] callously rifled through her mind, he had somehow revealed his own. Rey found herself in his mind even as he invaded hers. She felt his rage...But she also felt his hurt, and his loneliness. And his fear...Kylo had retreated at finding Rey in his head - had practically fled from her. But that had not been the end of that strange, sudden connection. She had seen more - far more...It was as if his training had become hers, unlocking and flinging open door after door in her mind...Kylo had urged her to let him be her teacher - had pleaded with her, almost.”

Rian Johnson 

 I don't think that he's playing chess there. I think that this is something that he genuinely saw, and genuinely believes that because of this connection [they share], basically. It's less like, 'I can use this on her.' It's more, 'Oh my god, we have this in common, this is more of a kindred spirit that even she realizes.'" [...]It's a very naked, open, emotional appeal. It's his version of, 'I'm just a girl standing in front of a guy'...

Kevin Smith (Filmmaker/Actor):

 "You can tell, he genuinely cares about her."

This is just the truth

"His relationship with Rey is one of equals, a constant tug of war and peace.[...] As they battle for each other’s hearts and minds."

Leia/Rey

Standing at the foot of the ramp, an uncertain and uneasy Leia found herself fiddling with the seals on the front of the jacket Rey was wearing. Foolish nonsense, she told herself even as she continued. Unworthy of her status and position. But it felt so right, and so natural, to be doing so.

“I’m proud of what you’re about to do,” she told the girl. 

Rey replied in all seriousness. “But you’re also afraid. In sending me away, you’re—reminded.”

Leia straightened. “You won’t share the fate of our son.”

Script

Trepidation flashes across Rey's eyes......Kylo Ren nearly touches her face........ They're both surprised: they react to a feeling that passes between them. -- An energy they recognize in each other.

And then it's gone. Adversaries again.

Rey/Kylo Ren

Rey

"Let him think she'd given up--he'd soon discover otherwise. Jakku had trained her to do two things better than anyone else could. The first was to salvage broken things. The second was to wait."

Leia

“Ben as a toddler, forever following Han. Carrying the dice from the Millennium Falcon - the ones his father had used to win the beloved, battered freighter - and promising anyone who’d listen that one day he would be a pilot, too, like his daddy."

Rey

“She had felt so alone, all those nights. But never as alone as she did staring at her own reflection, beneath the island in the cold and the dark. When the tears finally ebbed, Rey lifted her head. She knew who she had to talk to about the cave, about what she had sought and what it had shown her - someone who would understand how solitude and loss could eat away at you until there was nothing left.”

Kylo Ren

“Kylo Ren knew who was in the escape pod even before it opened with a hiss of vapor - her presence had been a steady pulse from the Force...”

JJ Abrams ('The Force Awakens' Co-Writer/Director)

"So the idea here is that Kylo Ren’s gotten inside of Rey’s head, sees that she has seen the map and is now letting go of the droid as his goal, and focusing just on her. And clearly you think, well he must be able to just extract the information he wants now. But because he’s taken her, you get a sense that there might be something else going on here."

Rachael (JournaloftheStarWars.com) 

"There is no mention of Snoke or even the Dark side – Kylo is intent only on Rey, and the offer he makes is an offer made between the two of them [...] his regard for and fascination with Rey win out over his duty to Snoke. He selfishly wants her to himself"

Matt Martin (LucasFilm)

"He actually spent a lot of time shirtless, just hoping for that connection to kick in." - think this is a bit cheeky

Michael Semanick

"Rian wanted the rain and fire to peel away as their hands were getting closer. Having a big sound there just didn’t have the intimacy that the scene demanded. It can be so hard to get the balance right to where the audience is feeling the same thing as the characters. I wanted the audience to lean in and feel those hands about to connect. When you take the sound out and the music out, then it’s just two hands coming together slowly. It was about finding that balance to make the audience feel like they’re in that moment, in that little hut, and they’re about to touch and see into each other’s souls, so to speak. That was a challenge, but it was fun because when you get it, and you see the audience react, everyone feels good about that scene."

Joanna Robinson (Vanity Fair)

"I can say no moment draws more audible gasps and applause than when Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley’s Rey whirl around in brief slow-motion, stand back-to-back, and take on a room of their shared enemies together.

DAISY RIDLEY

"I think he is redeemable. He does the right thing, in order to help her.

William Shakespeare, Jedi the Last

"Two bodies in a swift, majestic dance, Made for this fight, this moment, and this chance."

[blackkatmagic]

Hey Kat I have. A fairly large SW question for you.

What SW novels or comics would you recommend to get a better grasp on the setting at large? I am writing something for my fiance that is SW but I have. Hm. Only seen TFA? & Naturally need a better understanding of the universe at large before I dive into this task. If it helps this gift for my fiance is set between Prequel & OG Trilogy.

& The catalogue of what's out there vs. what's canon vs. what's GOOD is. Well too intimidating to wade through casually.

Thanks for your time!

Tbh the time between PT and OT isn't something I've read much of anything about - I find other periods more interesting. I'd recommend watching Andor and Rogue One, though. They're both excellent and give a good sense of the world and the Rebellion. There are Darth Vader comics I would tentatively rec - I've read the 2017 Darth Vader run and it's interesting, and I liked Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison - but I don't really have any other recommendations, sorry.

If anyone following me has recs, please leave them in the replies! I'd like to know what people enjoy, too.

[bloominglegumes]

THOUGHTS ON PROWL......

overall i like prowl! tfa prowl was the first depiction of the character i saw as a kid, so i think he will always be dear to me :,D plus his voice is one of my favourites ,, looking back now tfa prowl's stoic sweetheart type deal is so refreshing to see compared to like everything else.,., g1 prowl is funny as the clearly token police car toy in a line of car toys, cyberverse prowl seemed like just a nice guy and i honestly wish he had gotten more screentime, and i'm afraid i haven't seen energon, RID, or the aligned novels, so i can't say anything about those versions of powl

tldr prowl is one of those characters that i'd love to put into a little jar and rattle around, more rambles below

i think idw prowl especially is so fascinating as a character, and since he's a constant throughout like the whole comic run, i find it fun to go through and see how he changes over time from stick-up-ass-cop to.like. universally scorned manipulative bastard + the most unfortunate man alive to where it just gets kind of tragically funny by the time of unicron.???, he has the air of having had at least 7 exes but he's never been in a relationship at any certain point in time, it's like he hops straight to divorced

i know i always write tags about him on here as my favourite worst guy ,, which is true, but.thinking about his motivations and how he essentially played badcop/goodcop with optimus for millions of years, wanted the same thing but prioritized his idea of "the greater good" over optimus' generally consistent huge amounts of hero protagonist-type emotion + care for individual lives,, unable to understand peoples' clinging to baseless sentimentality when the numbers are right there and we are at war, like ahrhggdhg i call soundwave a soggy cat but prowl is more like a pissed-off bird of prey tangled in clotheslines to me.somehow. i don't think he's right to manipulate the lives of the people around him the way that he does, but i can understand how he's willing to do whatever it takes for the highest chance of success in this never-ending war, and i think it's much juicier story-wise to include this type of character to challenge a hero like optimus who constantly is seen as the morally righteous, idealistic leader

like he's so,,,.sad sad man

[defira85]

didnt the tfa novel author used to whine at you on anon bc you (rightly) called the book racist in its handling of finn am i remembering that correctly

Not even anon! I had anon already turned off at that point so he used the submissions feature to send me long messages until I turned submissions off too! AND THEN HE SENT ME EMAILS INSTEAD

[darkstarofchaos]

Ableism in Transformers: EarthSpark

So I didn't plan to post this during Disability Pride Month (I actually started writing it before Season 2 came out), but you know what, it's thematically appropriate, this post was nearly done anyway, might as well finish it off.

Also, happy Disability Pride Month.

Transformers historically does not handle disability well. From the earliest days of Chip Chase - a disabled character - declaring that no one is truly disabled as long as they have courage, to TFA Blitzwing being a DID stereotype and beyond, ableism runs rampant in the franchise. So when EarthSpark made Dot disabled - thus giving us a disabled character who isn't the villain or a stereotype - I actually thought it was a step in the right direction.

Then I saw someone point out that the hero got the disability that can be hidden, while the villain's disability is scary and deforming. And you know what? They're right. In fact, not only is Mandroid's disability portrayed in a far more disturbing way, Dot's disability just never comes up outside of plot-relevant moments (this includes episodic plots like that of Bear Necessities).

I'll come back to Mandroid's Disabled Villain status later, but suffice to say, the show's ableism only gets worse as it goes on. Credit where credit is due, I liked the bit in Bear Necessities where Nightshade learns not to mess with Dot's prostheses. That was a good message. But we do see a lot of other characters fall into ableist tropes. I might miss a couple, but here's at least some of the major ones (under the cut for length, but also, minor references to Season 2 ahead):

Jawbreaker Jawbreaker is widely perceived by fans as having autism, and while he's not confirmed as such, his struggle finding an altmode does feel like an analogue for delayed development. Which makes it kind of infantilizing that he's the one portrayed as sweet and naive. Yes, he's very young and socially isolated, and yes, people mature at different rates. But his siblings are also young and isolated, and they all get to grow as characters very quickly (well, most of them).

Twitch, Thrash, and Hashtag all start in a similar place of innocent enthusiasm, but their personalities develop beyond that within a few episodes. Twitch is shown to be more responsible than Thrash long before she takes on a leadership role, Thrash's initial rebelliousness fits well with his later cynicism about inheriting the consequences of the war, and while Hashtag matures a bit more slowly than her older siblings, she has distinct hobbies and interests. Nightshade doesn't really have much emotional development, but even they have clear interests (anyone who says their character revolves around being nonbinary is willfully ignoring both their scientific proclivity and their instant and enthusiastic attachment to a sci-fi/fantasy novel).

None of the triplets get as much development as their older siblings (yes, I'm saying that Thrash, largely ignored by the narrative, gets more development than they do. I'll talk more about Hashtag in a minute), but two of the three at least have their own identity. But what about Jawbreaker? What does he like to do when he's on his own? What are his interests? Aside from a passing mention of wrestling, I have no idea. There's not a whole lot to his character except "sweet", "naive", and "wants an altmode".

Don't get me wrong, I like Jawbreaker. And it's not ableist to show a character feeling left out or less capable because he can't do things other kids his age can. But he should have been allowed to develop as a character, regardless of what he can or can't do, and he wasn't given that. His entire motivation and defining trait prior to having an altmode was wanting one, and lamenting his inability to help the others at various points because he doesn't have one.

Originally, I finished the above paragraph by saying that has to change now that he does have an altmode. However, I can no longer say that because Season 2 took all the problems of Season 1 and made them worse. He still has no motivation or personal goals outside of those shared by the group, still has no clear interests, and his naivety has been boosted to socially oblivious, overly trusting, and a stereotype of chattiness who can be outright told he's bothering someone and keep doing it. Even thought he's more confident now (and good for him, truly), his portrayal has somehow become more infantilizing. Someone give this mech a hobby and a focus episode that isn't about how sweet and naive he is, please.

Grimlock Soooo. Character with trauma gets triggered and attacks people. We're really going there, huh.

Honestly, I'm not sure I need to say more about this. Grimlock's episode was one of the most disappointing S1 episodes to me for a lot of reasons, but his rampage at the end was the icing on the cake. Even if you assume Grimlock was one of the (rare) cases of trauma leading to a violent reaction, literally nothing was forcing him to go into town. If he was overwhelmed and upset, there is no reason why he would beeline to the most stimulating area possible instead of literally any other direction that wasn't as busy. Entire latter half of the episode was just manufactured drama to hit a robot battle quota.

(Random PSA, Grimlock does not have PTSD. Not yet anyway. A diagnosis of PTSD requires symptoms to last at least a month. If they resolve sooner, it would be Acute Stress Disorder instead).

Additional tangent, but I personally think that episode should have been a Hashtag episode. Or at very least, her side role should have been more relevant to the fact that she and Grimlock both experienced the same thing. Yes, Jawbreaker needed to get his altmode, and I understand making him the focus of the episode because of it, but there would have been plenty of time for Hashtag to have a talk with Grimlock or one of the other adults if the whole rampage thing was cut. Maybe she couldn't tell Elita what happened to her because the kids weren't supposed to be out that night, but she could have asked if Grimlock was okay and learned a bit about trauma that way. And it would have been a natural steppingstone to her being surprisingly insightful with Starscream later.

But no. We needed "dino rage". Because apparently some people are just inherently violent. Really do not like that episode. And speaking of episodes I don't like:

Robby I know this post is the ableism edition and not the "things happen because plot" edition, but I just need to throw out there that the entire episode where Robby got hurt should not have happened. The entire series is about keeping the Terrans hidden from GHOST, neither Dot nor Optimus should have even considered that a secret field trip to GHOST Headquarters might be a good idea. Not for the human kids, and especially not for the robot kids.

Anyway.

Not gonna lie, I thought they were going to go in more of a chronic illness direction with Robby when he was struggling in the following episode. He seemed fine apart from not being able to keep up with the others (okay, not fine, but I didn't look at him and think, ah yes, this child is dying. No one was treating it like it was that serious). I don't think it would have been too dark, either - certainly not as dark as Robby almost dying to this thing twice - because there are plenty of kids out there with acquired disabilities. It happens (in retrospect, the action cartoon for kids was not going to take one of the main kids out of the action, but I still feel like it was a reasonable assumption at the time).

And of course, we heal the mysterious illness with magic in the end. Even though they could have just, y'know. Made it nonlethal and chronic, and then they wouldn't have needed a magical cure. Or even just nonlethal and lingering, there were plenty of options apart from deadly and cured by magic. I guess I can't complain too much about the magical cure when the illness might have been magical in origin, but honestly, if I can't complain about that, I'm just gonna complain about the lack of explanation regarding the illness instead.

Twitch Honorable mention goes to Twitch having an optic broken and then magically repaired a minute later. I actually didn't mind the magical life tower that much - the healing powers were foreshadowed with the above Robby arc, it may have been a copout, but it was a copout that made sense with the established story - but I was really annoyed that Twitch's optic got repaired. Specifically because I had an OC once who was blind in one eye, and while roleplaying with my brother, he decided to magically heal the character. Magical eye-healing has been a weirdly specific pet peeve ever since.

Hardtop Honorable mention #2 goes to Hardtop, not because of the show, but because of the viewers who keep asking why his arm isn't fixed. Neither side has a medic, and it's unlikely the Decepticons have the knowledge or the resources for that kind of repair. I'm sure Hardtop, like many disabled people, would love to get the medical help he needs. Alas, that requires having access to it. And he doesn't.

I guess we should get to the elephant in the room now, shouldn't we?

Mandroid So. Yeah. Disabled villain who's a villain because he's disabled trope.

I gotta be honest, I had no interest in Mandroid as a character. We didn't get enough time with the villains to fully develop more than one, and I'd rather have seen more focus on the leader of the evil organization that the heroes were working with (I am admittedly biased, since "protagonists are forced to work with antagonists who have all the power" is a favorite of mine and we don't see it enough). But of the characters who actually needed more development, we could have used a few more sentences for Mandroid. We could have had them, too.

I don't have a problem with a villain claiming their path to villainy started when they were disabled. I don't even necessarily mind if they believe it, because harmful people will use whatever they can to excuse harmful behavior, including disabilities. But if your villain is going to use it as an excuse, it needs to be clear that it is an excuse: not "well, I was disabled too, and I'm not a villain", but "they were always the kind of person who would do something like this".

To put it another way, Mandroid's hatred for Cybertronians should predate his becoming disabled. At bare minimum, he should have been predisposed towards hating them (not seeing them as people, working with them only grudgingly, resenting both factions for bringing their war to Earth, etc). This way, he's already antagonistic towards them before becoming disabled, and it's a logical step to blame Cybertronians as a whole for his injury. And we even had a means of learning this information, because Alex knew him. A bit more insight into that history could have told us a lot about what kind of person Mandroid was before the war.

Would this have fixed the problem? Maybe not. Frankly, the best solution would probably have been to make his disability incidental to his motivation and not the reason he started down this path. But disabled people are still people, and sometimes people suck. Better to show that they always sucked than to make them suck because they're disabled.