#also Starscream is mine

[iwozlegit]

Earthspark Spoilers

|| 🍍• Earthspark has done it again. I’m crying. I love them all. A few very important points that elucidate the continuing strength of its narrative.

Incorporating Grimlock’s mind control as a metaphor for PTSD, and showcasing triggers.

Showcasing triggers in other characters.

Having the Maltos continually analyse all sides of issues they face (ethical/moral choices), for example when debating how to deal with Shockwave.

Having Hashtag acknowledge that Megatron (now an Autobot) once treated Starscream horrifically, and letting him know that he can talk about how hurt he’s been and be heard.

Combating the difficult topics of loss and anxiety (especially through the eyes of a child).

Discussing issues of self-esteem from a believable perspective by incorporating the use of feminism, sexism, and unity.

I’ve probably missed loads of important points from the new episode release and the conclusion of Season 1, but this show continues to not shy away from real-world topics. It’s real. It’s believable. And it’s not ashamed to be what it is.

It still baffles me endlessly how this series became under scrutiny in the media several months ago for being real. For having a character be real and authentic for themselves - a character with such an endearing outlook on life and exuberantly layered personality come under fire and scorned solely upon how they wish to be perceived. I hope this new instalment helps eradicate these issues, moving forth to educate and strengthen hope for many more great episodes for transformers fans and children everywhere.

[avastazyana]

insp

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

no bc hashtag literally showed starscream 2 oz. of compassion and believed him about his abuse from megatron and he went from doing Fuck All to try to help the other seekers when the dweller had them (and anything he Did Do was from afar without getting close) to not only running after the dweller bc it had hashtag and trying to pull her away but DRAWING ITS ATTENTION so she could get away from it and I just. it literally took her saying "I believe you were abused. and it wasn't your fault." to make him ready to risk his fucking life for her

[hiratelier]

Based on this tweet going around

[labb-ratt]

they would NOT get along

[siamesepolyporegoat]

I have somewhat recently found myself overly obsessed with Transformers so decided to draw my favourite trio of idots

[enbyblades]

I’m pretty sure that my head is entirely empty and there is a tiny Pharma dancing where my brain should be, and I feel like Optimus head is like that but with Starscream in your comics. I have no context for this, Pharma just make my autism go brrrrrrrrr.

no ur absolutely right.

[solannecontinuum]

Absolute machines.

[self-shipper-snowdrop]

I am in the airport heading back from vacation why do I see notifs for comments asking me to DM them

[transingthoseformers]

I've considered Shockwave autistic, and seen convincing posts about why Soundwave and G1 Starscream are also autistic.

I want to write them as autistic, but despite being autistic myself i don't know how to write autism or come up with stims/traits without coming off like a checklist. I have the same problem with Perchance To Dream's OC protagonist Shaft.

But propably more importantly, all the continuities. Should their autisms be the same in all alternate universes, or should clearly different versions (especially the SG versions, canon SGs or SGs of random continuities) have different traits and stims?

(I don't even recognize my own stims and i must be misunderstanding what meltdown and shutdown are because i genuinely don't remember experiencing either, and don't seem to have any huge sensory issues at least not anymore as an adult, despite the fact i'm officially diagnosed)

I think you said somewhere that you're autistic? Any help? When i post questions on #actuallyautistic, i just get empty likes.

I am indeed autistic as well! Though I do have to say the way it was described to me was "barely autistic" so sorry if my descriptions of stuff aren't accurate

I'm not the best judge of writing characters as autistic on purpose (I've definitely done it before in hindsight) but now that I realize it I'm running into the checklist effect too and I'm starting to realize that's part of it lol

I feel like it would be different across continuity and Baseline v shattered glass, especially in regards to the three characters you mentioned above being quite different in SG than their baseline appearances.

So there's that damn list

So far what I've got:

For sensory issues, for me it's a "mmhm that's the Devil™️ now" thing and I'll avoid them like fuck. Maybe mecha question why Shockwave has to leave the room when That One Machine needs to be turned on, or Starscream never flies when it snows because it makes his plating seem to itch. If the character is forced to go, they will be incredibly uncomfy the entire time and even a bit after.

I have... So many bad memories of meltdowns. Everything's Too Fucking Much™️ and people treat you like a dick for little things pushing you over the edge. Especially in an environment as unforgiving as the decepticons.

I've talked about the bots stimming on this blog before but: I'm gonna ~science~ this out but it's probably a good idea to identify why said character is stimming. Are they excited? Are they upset? Are they trying to focus on something? Maybe it's clicking a pen, wiggling their finials, flicking their wings, hand flapping because I definitely do that a lot

Actually now that I realize it a lot of my posts during the second earthspark drop come off as me having been very overstimulated, I think I at that point accidentally overexcited myself into a panic attack lol (that happens)

A lot of their personalities do honestly come off as autistic so a great deal of the work is there

Barely related but apparently talking super loud is an autism thing??? And I used to get yelled at a LOT for that, so I'm either super quiet or super loud, and I say this because I feel like that's pretty g1 Starscreamcore or however you say it. Starscream's LOUD and a damn mood.

Also dunno if this is related but: you can totally say Soundwave uses loud music to try and drown out auditory sensory triggers because not only do I do that but because that's a thing I've heard of

[aethergate]

⭐

REWIND & CHROMEDOME

okay well i feel like this ones obvious. but it's because it's true to me i love these two. i think their dynamic is so interesting what if we decided to not end it all for the sake of each other.. but there's this strange thing happening where they know each other but not as well as before, because they're different versions of the person they knew. i'd love to go more in depth about how that shift effects them, and how they adjust and end up loving each other still but somewhat differently due to circumstance. their dynamic is so interesting i could ramble on about it but for the sake of this post i will not. as for plots i diverge a bit as for how they end up, instead him him getting stuck in his alt mode, he's working on expanding his archive to earth and other colonies connecting to cybertron! fun stuff. i'd love to write just about anything with them honestly.

TAILGATE & MEGATRON

I think these two are really funny based off the premise that Tailgate sorta missed the whole war and pretty much everything Megatron did. If I remember the time where he was before getting knocked out I think he missed everything actually. Which is really funny to me, because while Tailgate very much understands why other people are wary, he sort of... doesn't personally get it. There's a disconnect there. This is a stranger to him who he's only heard has done bad things. Obviously he gets to hear more and more about stuff he did, and see Megatron talk about it directly, all that stuff, but I feel like it's a really interesting aspect of their dynamic to discover. As seen by everything with Cyclonus at first, he's very hard to properly shake or make properly regard you as unreachable. So I think it'd be really fun and interesting to see how that plays out with these two.

okay and now i'm gonna hit you with a quick list of other ones i'd be interested in with maybe a few bullet points but nothing in depth. TAILGATE & RATCHET , because while I haven't read MTMTE in a HOT minute, I remember them having a fun friendship! WHIRL & WHEELJACK because, I don't trust myself to actually WRITE whirl until i reread the older comics and mtmte, i feel like there's history there or at the very least a very fun dynamic to be had. BUMBLEBEE & TAILGATE for the vibes I feel this in my soul. and if you'll let me cheat for a second and bring up sideblogs, i feel like this is obvious, STARSCREAM & MEGATRON. I have a MTMTE / LL verse for her, and I think it'd be super interesting to see how they'd cope with dealing with each other after the war. I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words here, but the war is lost, and I think it'd be interesting to see them navigate around each other with new circumstances. Lot of complexities to sort out between each other, trying to avoid falling back into old toxic cycles where they bring out the worst of each other. I have too many thoughts that'd make this post longer than it is, but if you'd ever wanna brainstorm something there just lmk and I'd love to discuss :]! Both for like these ideas for them and just in general cause I wanna make sure we can handshake and I don't wanna step on your toes at all ever. last but not least if i can cheat and mention a sideblog of YOURS, KNOCKOUT & STARSCREAM eaugayagah i LOVE their dynamic so bad SO BAD i think they're so interesting. I know yours is a mix, and I find that inch resting as well and would love to see how that blends together!

[sic-radical]

I forgot if I've told you this before (because I think it all the time), but I always read your blog name as sir-radical, which may be incorrect, but it makes me laugh every time. 🗡✨️

Sic is both meant to sound like sick and be an acronym for Second in Command, a (very subtle/unapparent) nod to my beloved starscream, so sir is honestly not a completely inaccurate interpretation 💀

[ramenbagel]

If I learned perspective and angles to make a Starscream related M.A.P

Would anyone be interested in joining it?

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

wait so did they like. forget about the AI in hashtag's head or something. VAL literally wasn't even mentioned where did she go

[hiratelier]

Thinking about how this song is so SG Skystar coded after listening to it a second time. holy shit

[outeremissary]

Top 5 Traitors

oh fuck yes

5. Kas the Bloody-Handed

Legacy pick (only one to make the final cut). You have had some contact with tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons, so you may be familiar with the tale of Vecna: once upon a time, a powerful lich was betrayed by his trusted vampiric lieutenant, who cut off his hand and carved out his eye. Vecna is the most famous figure of this story, but as a kid reading through the relics in the 3.5 and AD&D books in the house, I was always fascinated by the vampire. Without Kas, the most iconic aspects of Vecna simply would not be: the Hand and Eye became the symbols of the lich's power in godhood and the clash between the two created the greatest myth of his existence. And Kas was related (at least in 3.5) to a wicked item as well- the Sword of Kas, a sentient blade dripping with its former master's malevolence and waiting to take control over its new wielder. Kas has a longer and richer publication history than just this (especially in 2e), but the bare basics of my pre-internet youth were enough to set wheels turning in my head. I was so fond of the idea of Kas and Vecna, former allies and now bitter enemies over some secret quarrel, that I made the focus of the campaign I ran in high school their history. We never quite got to Vecna, but the vengeful spirit of Kas did make an appearance, where he served as the party's mysterious and ominous adversary (and occasional ally).

4. Goro Akechi

I am told it is "very unsurprising" I am an Akechi fan. I really don't think anything else needs to be said about this one.

3. Alcibiades from real life

If you aren't familiar with the Athenian Alcibiades, he is my all time favorite historical figure. I think due to Assassin's Creed a lot of people know him now (fascinating choice with the white hair in that game), but he's a person so interesting he altered the trajectory of my life. Alcibiades was a younger contemporary of the famous Socrates (this is relevant. put a pin in it), living at the end of what many consider the Classical period of Ancient Greek history. He is one of the most famous students of Socrates, but he wasn't a philosopher. No, young, noble Alcibiades, nephew of Pericles, was a politician. Famous for his wild hedonism, keen intellect, and blinding charisma, he became a major populist leader in Athens in the early years of the Peloponnesian War and won a fairly significant command in Sicily. However, shortly before he was set to leave for Sicily, Alcibiades and peers were accused of defacing the hermai, protective statues of Hermes distributed throughout the city, rendering the hermai impotent in their function (two common beliefs about how they were defaced are that either the noses or penises were broken off- both prominent features on the simplistic phallic statues). The defacing of the hermai was a major act of impiety and an ill omen for the campaign.

Under scrutiny in the wake of these grave accusations Alcibiades ultimately decided to flee justice and defect to Sparta- if you're not familiar with the Peloponnesian War, it was fought between Athens and allies (many unwilling) and Sparta and allies (somewhat less coerced?). Up to this point, the war hadn't been going too poorly for Athens despite significant setbacks due to a plague in the early years and the death of Pericles. As an informant and strategist, Alcibiades turned the tide. Athens was put on the defensive and it seemed likely that Sparta had the edge needed to actually win against its wealthy foe (and as a side note the Sicilian campaign ended in disaster- some speculate that Alcibiades could have averted this if he had retained his command). Unfortunately, in the midst of these giddy successes Alcibiades fell out of favor with the king of Sparta when it was suspected that he had seduced the king's wife; some accounts go so far as to say there were rumors that King Agis's son was actually fathered by Alcibiades. In a bad position, Alcibiades fled once more, this time to Persia; the historian Thucydides claims that under new patronage Alcibiades embarked on a campaign of political and economic revenge against Sparta by ruining its relationship with Persian allies.

With both Sparta and Athens now in a disadvantaged state, Alcibiades persuaded the leaders of Athens to welcome him back and give him military command (as well as the curb democracy in the city-state and make him a part of the oligarchy). Once more, the war seemed to shift. Sparta stalled under wishy washy leadership while Athenian efforts saw some success thanks to the excellent leadership from now two time traitor Alcibiades. At the height of this, Sparta attempted to petition for peace and was denied. But it was the man's nature to be dogged by scandals wherever he went: ultimately political upheavals resulted in the installation of a less friendly government and he was driven from the city by enemies yet again after a major defeat. After that, he wound up an exile in the Achaemenid Empire once more; at one point he reportedly attempted to offer advice and aid to Athenian troops he recognized as being in a poor position, but was dismissed (these forces were annihilated by their foes). Ultimately he played no further significant part in the war. Athens lost and a Spartan puppet state was installed.

However, there was one final part Alcibiades had to play in history! You may recall in paragraph one I mentioned Socrates. You may also know that Socrates was condemned for corrupting the youths of Athens and compelled to drink poison to carry out his own execution. Well, as it happens, one theory about what exactly was happening with that charge is that Socrates was specifically scapegoated for teaching Alcibiades, a dangerous enemy of Athens. Whether or not this is true (Socrates was an unpopular asshole in other ways) I feel that when you read Alcibiades as written in works like Plato's Symposium you can feel the tension of Alcibiades' ruined post-war reputation and how it reflected back on his acquaintances. The Alcibiades of the Symposium is vivacious, careless, sexual, and dangerously defiant of social order. He delivers the final speech in the work and when he finishes his followers cause the entire dinner party to collapse into disorder and be broken up. And at age 18, I was so enamored with this bizarre ending to the work that I decided I had to study Ancient Greek history to understand everything about the world that produced that scene. When I wrote my honors thesis to complete my bachelor's degree, Alcibiades provided the frame of my introductory chapter: even though I had planned not to center him, in the end he became my mission statement.

As it happens, most of my relatives never read past that first chapter, so I'm glad he was lively enough to impress... At any rate, he's quite special to me. If I could meet any one historical figure this would be the one. Basic bitch answer, I know, but hey. He had a real impact on me.

2. Tristian

(Spoilers up to the end of the quest Betrayer's Flight)

Kingmaker has made something absolutely wretched of me, as any who have had contact with me in the past three years (yikes) can attest. Tristian has entirely, wholly melted my brain. Something about a treachery that's so vividly clear and predictable but you still can't believe because you just... can't reconcile the idea with the person you know. And then the added layer where there's nothing false about that initial understanding! Despite all the secrets and deceit, somehow Tristian is still exactly as they are originally met. All of that good intent and compassion and naive sweetness is real, every bit as real as the little bursts of pettiness and condescension and the fixation on performance as a servant of Sarenrae. It's such a heady mix of sincerity and selfishness. I am enamored with this character. You know I am enamored with him. Complicit in attempts on your life! Enabled mass murder! Willing to sink to the absolute depths to recover the comfort of life as some ideal self that never really existed! Dogged by guilt, but never enough to endanger himself or his goals until it's far too late to avert the most heinous crimes. And so many of the little sabotages and treacheries centered on one single person of personal interest... I adore the ways that Tristian contradicts and undermines himself while being so straightforward and undisguised. Such a unique character to me, and one I find... very personally relatable in some of the flaws and motivations. Not that I've engineered any bioweapons, of course! Anyway. I could prattle on endlessly about Tristian, and I think you've already heard much of it! So I'll let this be.

ACTUALLY coming back in with an edit that I will try to keep SPOILER FREE so I don't have to change the warning but the end of that companion quest line was a betrayal to ME PERSONALLY and I will DIE MAD and it is EXTREMELY RUDE to be abandoned like that!!! Fuck this guy. Fuck this guy. I'm feeling some kind of fucking emotion here.

Anthy Himemiya

I went back and forth on who should occupy the number one position on this list and was ultimately won over by the fact that in the famous "Top 10 Anime Betrayals" of memetic fame, Anthy is in fact listed as number one. Anthy is also my favorite anime character of all time. If you haven't watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, stop reading this and go watch it. Seriously. Watch the whole thing. Even the stupid bullshit and the recap episodes. It is the best anime I've ever seen.

Anyway. If you have watched it, then you probably already understand my reasons. Anthy is a captivating symbolic depiction of femininity under patriarchy, a woman who does not desire her own oppression but struggles even to dream of liberation. She is a victim of abuse and a perpetuator of the cycle: she casually destroys the vulnerable and ruins those who would be her allies. She is on a campaign of her own destruction. Anthy is not a good person, but she has born the blame for evils she was never responsible for as long as she can remember: she is the quintessential Eve figure. Her betrayal of Utena is shocking not only because the two have finally reached an understanding and earnest trust, but because it is a clearcut betrayal of her own desires (even if Utena wavered in a critical moment). And ultimately? Ultimately? Anthy isn't freed by Utena! Although Utena never gives up on her, she doesn't "rescue" Anthy, only passes on enough hope to allow Anthy to escape her circumstances herself- perhaps ultimately making Anthy the true heroine of the story. I laid on the floor for a few hours and thought about life after finishing this show.

I adore Anthy. She's such a subtly drawn character so dripping with nuance. She's not a heroic or villainous character, in contrast to Utena, and she can be truly vicious both in her service of Akio and pursuing her own petty vengeances. Although she is constantly cast as weak by other characters, she has endured unspeakable suffering and has found a form of power and agency even in her captive state. Anthy has a mystique that I could spend a lifetime thinking about. This is such a rich, complex story, but Anthy shines at the center of it and stands head and shoulders above the rest of an unbelievably compelling cast.