#also if you're really mentally ill about it...

[genderqueerdykes]

How does identifying as non human work if it sounds like the reasonings are due to symptoms like dissociation and feelings of uncomfortableness with their own body, like that could be explained by other things like even autism.. so what makes it different than those symptoms?

hello there! good question! it's because we do NOT need to medicalize or pathologize every single mental experience! it's really not a good idea to chalk uncommon experiences up to mental illness or neurodivergence inherently because this leaves out and hurts people who aren't experiencing those things at all

not all nonhumans feel uncomfortable in their bodies! nonhumanity is not the same as body dysmorphia/dysphoria. many nonhumans don't have any of those symptoms at all. nonhumanity isn't dissociating! you're identifying as something else, not disconnecting from yourself or your physical body. you're not inherently dissociating when you say that you identify something else other than human. if trans people aren't inherently dissociating, neither are nonhumans.

nonhumanity is also not inherently a delusion or due to autism or anything like that. it CAN be, but they're not the same thing in every single case. it's not good to jump to trying to pathologize strangers because they think about themselves in a "different" way. also, not everything needs an explanation. sometimes people identify the way they do because they just do. it's not inherently tied to mental illness or neurodivergence

people really just are this diverse. it says absolutely nothing about someone's mental state just because they're nonhuman. yes, many nonhumans are psychotic, dissociative, or autistic! these people should not be left out- i'm one of them. but as someone who is delusional, dissociative and autistic, my nonhumanity doesn't stem from any of these things. i had been telling my mom i was nonhuman since i was under 10 years old! i genuinely believed it and still do. it's how i see myself, not a product of my mental illness. though it's okay if other people's nonhumanity IS a product of their mental illness or neurodivergence. but that's just not how it manifested for me

hope this helps! take care. remember, it's really not good to assume things about the mental state of others based off of a few snippets of information. people are very diverse and identify the way they do for a variety of reasons. it's better to accept new experiences than to try to pathologize them. thanks for stopping by!

[velvetvexations]

God the "transphobes are saying young innocent girls are convinced to become trans and blame transfems for it" talking point irritates me so much because it's just not true. I don't know why people keep parroting it. The main narrative around this is that it's other transmascs corrupting "young gullible girls", not transfems. That it's a social contagion, that teen girls see other "girls becoming trans" and want to follow the trend like gullible sheep. That "entire friend groups" of girls are allegedly suddenly identifying are trans or nonbinary because one of them switched pronouns one day and the others did the same because teen girls want to copy their friends, that we shouldn't let them medically transition because it's just one of these quirky fashion fad between silly teen girls. Often, they will blame the internet and when they do, they mostly blame trans men (in Irreversible Damage, it was trans male youtubers for example).

You're only an innocent teen girl for so long... If you actually insist that you enjoy transitioning and destroying your body with the evil testosterone and surgeries, then you become a deranged pervert flaunting your mutilation, encouraging poor young girls to follow your path by claiming that it's normal and that you're happy like this. Just posting a shirtless picture with your top surgery scars visible is seen as "trying to make other girls think chopping off their boobs is okay".

The transphobes do not see all trans men as harmless, innocent and misguided, they only do it when they think you can be "saved", this is just "Phase 1". Once you're too far gone in their eyes (e.g., are considered too brainwashed, too much of a trans activist, or too unfuckable/mutilated by your transition) then they switch to "Phase 2" and they become extremely vitriolic towards you, treating you like you're a dangerous mentally ill groomer enjoying looking like a mutilated freak to fulfill its deranged fetish and promoting it to others. (Which is just the Madonna/Whore thing again, you're either a poor innocent victim or an dirty sinner lower than trash who's evilly leading people astray.)

Now there are some people blaming transfems in the mix, but this is definitely not the main narrative. People are also likely to blame cis people like drag queens, teachers and doctors (they're really angry about all these "greedy doctors" running around prescribing hormones and operating on billions of "brainwashed young girls claiming to be trans" because of some "agenda"). Even then, it seems to be associated with boys more ("drag queens reading books to kids and making boys think chopping off their dicks is ok"), in general transfems are accused of "grooming" or "transing" young boys way more (down to the "transfems are forcefemming our poor cis men with their jokes!!!" online discourse).

The transphobes aren't exactly subtle about it so again, why lie about it ? Trans women are already treated like shit, there's no need to make shit up and say that when trans men are targeted it was actually secretly targeting transfems all along. Like if you want to make a point about transphobes targeting trans women and painting them as predatory, there would still be plenty of examples outside of "they're transing our poor innocent wombyn daughters", which is mostly about trans men (as both the victim and the perpetrator, the "Whore" trans men turning the young "Madonnas" into more Whores like them by being a bad role model).

what you're forgetting, anon, is that trans women are the only victims that have ever existed or ever will exist and everything bad always happens to trans women and no one else ever

[navelgazed]

Character AI is still so funny to us. The kids don't even know how to roleplay anymore.

[lord-squiggletits]

Y'know the thing about writing feral/unhinged versions of Orion/Optimus, is that you can't go too far into the feral/unhinged direction to a point where OP's core character traits are lost or become too diminished. After all, in a multiple-continuity franchise like TF, part of what makes the stories make sense is that even if details change (sometimes major details), the characters are still recognizably themselves to one degree or another. (Although this isn't always the case due to executive meddling or some characters being such blank slates from their initial G1 appearances that there's basically nothing to model them off of, but I digress.)

It's pretty much another reason why I love IDW1 Optimus, bc he literally is a canonical feral/unhinged Optimus who's unhinged as a direct consequence of who he is as a person and what he's been through. Like, he still has those fundamental character traits of trying his best to be moral and make good choices, trying to be a role model, etc, except after 4 million years of war and untreated depression he's basically holding onto his sense of self by his fingertips. So when he "goes feral" e.g. losing his temper and beating up/killing people or saying hurtful things, he's feral in a way that's directly tied to his normal personality and not just as a random quirk he has.

IDW OP's feral moments arise from the gaps between "Optimus' attempts to be who he thinks he needs to be" and "the reality of the world that he can't fix/seems to only make worse" that cause him to lose hope, or become cynical, or lose his temper. But in this case, the unhinged-ness makes perfect sense because it arises out of Optimus trying and failing to be the best person or to make the most morally good choices he's trying to make. Basically, the "feral/unhinged" label is just another way of me trying to say that he's not just unhinged because he's weird or because he's a bad person, but because it's an emotional reaction (more like an emotional explosion due to pent-up emotions) to the context he exists in.

I'd also say that IDW OP's personality being generally reserved/stoic and (trying to be) noble works in tandem with those moments he has of going feral because it makes him more realistic. His psyche is treated in a way where the writers are like, "Hey what if the pressure of having to be everyone's idol and be the best person in the galaxy at all times actually broke Optimus down mentally and emotionally?" It makes IDW OP far more relatable. Instead of naturally being a perfect Christ-like figure who never wavers in his morals or convictions and is just naturally a nice person who always has the wisest and best answer, being a good person is something that IDW OP has to consciously strive to be. Even when he feels like it's useless, or the cycle of violence will never stop, or any attempts he makes to help only ends up with things becoming worse.

And I feel like this does a service not only to IDW Optimus as a character, but also as a sort of moral/philosophical perspective for the reader to ponder upon? I feel like culture at large (or at least my experience of it) tends to believe that "goodness" in a person is simply an innate feature that people are born/not born with, and that being "good" means that you must be good at all times, both in your actions as well as the way you feel emotionally about yourself and the world. Like, there's a tendency for our vision of "a good person" to be good in every aspect at all times without having to try to be a good person. So I think IDW Optimus' character stands as a good example of how someone can be good at heart but still struggle to maintain those feelings of optimism and hope and justice. It's a good idea to have such a paragon of a character (in-universe and out-of-universe) be so conflicted and to even be mistaken, misguided, or make things worse because it shows that goodness is as much about "trying to behave/act in a way that is good" and not just "existing as an innately good person."

It's way more realistic for a person to want to be good, try to be good, and sometimes/often fail than it is for them to just be a good person. I enjoy the fact that IDW Optimus is both a good person at heart, but also has to strive to be a good person and live up to other people's expectations of what they see in him. I like how he wants to be a good person and change society for the better, but he also spends a good amount of time either feeling hopeless and alone or being angry at/detached from other people because of how frustrated they make him. He's realistically portrayed as someone who wants to be good and hopeful and change things for the better, but is also mentally and emotionally broken by that burden because of how impossible it is for him to Fix Everything and be the Perfect Prime/Leader/Autobot that people see him as. It's this fascinating mixture of "yes, this is who he is as a person" but also "there are things he desires to be that he could never possibly become or live up to."

This got really far off based from feral/unhinged Optimus sdklfjaslkdlfkas. The TLDR is that if people want unhinged OP, I feel like they should give IDW OP a chance because he IS unhinged but he's unhinged in a way that's a realistic/thematic representation of how being an Absolute Good is impossible. And how being a good person isn't just about Existing And You Are A Good Person, but rather goodness is a constant state of flux in which you adjust, you make mistakes, you lose your temper and feel hopeless, but then you pick yourself up and try again.

Also IDW OP really likes climbing in dangerous wilderness and jumping out of flying vehicles which I think is very feral and sexy of him to do.

[ask-codeearasure]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as Levi said... Dust was never specified to have a specific condition like schizophrenia. In fact I remember his creator posting that they didn't want to say he has any specific condition at all, one of the main reasons being they didn't know enough about mental illness to make an official connection.

This doesn't mean there is no connection that can be made between the two since hallucinations are one of the most known symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis, but those are not the only two disorders where hallucinations and delusions are possible. Again, referencing Levi's reply. You don't have to have either one to have these symptoms.

You could have something """simple""" like depression or anxiety and it's possible to hallucinate with that diagnosis. It's possible with personality disorders and dissociative disorders. It's possible with trauma disorders like PTSD. It's possible with mood disorders like bipolar disorder types 1 and 2. It is possible to have hallucinations and delusions caused by disorders I haven't mentioned too.

We don't know everything about the brain and what methods it resorts to under duress and I don't think we ever will. In fact what we do know isn't much in the grand scheme of things. This isn't to excuse the ableism that might actually be there in these works (which would have been done unintentionally if anything else) or how a good chunk of the fandom treats these characters and their symptoms, but to point at one part of a story purposefully written to be a little twisted and use that to mark the entire work as ableist is a far enough reach that you're really struggling to grasp the handle.

What I'm saying is you're allowed to be upset at a theme, but it's possible to read a part of media wrong and as a result, you will get an incorrect idea about it. Trying to re-explain what you have already claimed again and again to avoid the fact you might be wrong is not a good habit to have.

It's okay to be wrong sometimes. I am not saying this to be patronizing, but as a fact of life more of us have to accept. Opinions can be wrong and it's possible to re-evaluate what you believe and change those opinions.

Also, and this is something that actually ticked me off about your response... Rocky Horror sucks fucking ass. It was intentionally made to be transphobic and the main fucking character encompasses harmful and perverted stereotypes stapled onto transgender people, giving that piece of media any slack because "it's a classic and is widely beloved!" is what you really call pissing on the poor.

Giving Rocky Horror the benefit of the doubt but losing your cool over Horrortale and Dusttale is an odd standard to have considering their backgrounds in comparison and the context within their stories.

Horrortale and Dusttale are fanworks made by fans, not professionals. Horrortale's creation is managed by one person and Dusttale was initially created by a team of three, then two left. Rocky Horror was distributed by motherfucking 20th Century Fox, scripted, directed, and recorded by a whole team of adults that should have known better.

Are you okay, Anon? I am asking this genuinely.

-- Sarco

Transcript: Oh cool the sans au fans are already misreading my confession in the most "piss on the poor way " possible! Yay!

Anyways to clarify- horror sans lobotomizing alphys doesn't make the character abelist- the reaction to it as something she 'deserved' is abelist. I'm talking about the fan reaction and the authors role in choosing this as something to base her character around. *authors can be unintentionally offensive but their writing choices should be allowed to be critiqued.*

Horror sans and the rest of the horror tale cast 'going insane' as they are slowly starved and being turned into actual murderers is an abelist writing decision in the same way movies like Texas chainsaw massacre rely on abelist tropes to demonize people with mental and physical disabilities. Again- you can like horrortale- I like horrortale- I don't think this was the authors original intention either- it's just really REALLY infuriating how you cant seem to point these things out without people jumping to fictional characters defense.

Rocky horror picture show is a wonderful piece of queer media and is widely beloved- but it still uses transphobic tropes to tell its story. It's a good piece of queer media but it's still transphobic and I'd like to be able to idk TALK about the issues in the ut au fandom without people purposefully misreading the things I am saying because it happens to involve their blorbo.

Horror sans the character is not abelist. But the writing choices surrounding the work he comes from uses abelist tropes to tell the story and I think it's lame how incapable this fandom is of writing 'morally neutral characters' without falling back on hurtful tropes and stereotypes.

We can talk about how papyrus and/ blueberry are infantalized for having autistic traits but I can't talk about dust sans being a textbook example of the 'serial killer schizophrenic'????? Plz don't tag as au negative this isint me talking about how much I dislike sans aus, I do like them I just don't like how I can't talk about my dislike of aus that use abelist tropes and don't even deconstruct them. Dust sans isint a deconstruction of negative tropes affecting people with schizophrenia..he just is those tropes! Played straight!

-actually affected by this crap irl anon who is tired of this lame ass fandom perpetuating weird tropes like their lives depend on it. (Sorry mod 😅)

[deservedgrace]

I don't think that framing "Marginalized™️ Atheism/Deconstruction" and "Cishet White Male Atheism/Deconstruction" as inherently ~separate and distinct~ is super effective (and disclaimer I'm specifically speaking about my experience with christianity, atheism, and ex christian atheists/deconstructors), but also... okay so I was raised in a cult, and cults are oppressive for all its members. Nobody gets out unscathed, everyone experiences the abuse tactics, everybody is a victim. But within the cult there is a hierarchy, and cishet white men are at the top. So while the cult is oppressive to everyone, and everyone is harmed in some way, it is also uniquely oppressive to queer folks, to BIPOC, to disabled folks, to women, etc etc. And the thing that happens to some of those cishet white men is they leave an oppressive cult, where they are considered the "default", and they go into the ~real world~, where they are also considered the "default", and even in atheist/deconstruction spaces, their bodies and experiences are often the leading voices.

The men that leave go from an oppressive patriarchal culture to a far less oppressive (to them) patriarchal society. The white people that leave go from an oppressive racist culture to a far less oppressive (to them) racist society. The people that leave go from an oppressive culture that does not value marginalized voices to a different, less oppressive culture that also does not value marginalized voices. And if you personally do not experience [xyz] oppression, it can be difficult to even realize there are things surrounding that you have to deconstruct unless you listen to the voices of the oppressed. But some cishet white men go from being considered the "default" in an oppressive culture, to being considered the "default" in a less oppressive culture (to them). Their experience of "overcoming systemic oppression" comes from leaving the church, and it can be really easy to fall into the trap that the church, specifically, is the sole oppressor and enemy of everyone.

Of course this doesn't happen in every single case and it's also not exclusive to cishet white men. But those blind spots are why I think it's important for everyone to listen to a variety of voices when they're deconstructing, especially if those voices are talking about oppression you wouldn't have experienced firsthand.

No, our deconstructions are not inherently different, but the experiences and circumstances prior to it often are. It's okay to acknowledge that and beneficial for everybody to listen to each other's experiences.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[pa-pa-plasma]

NEW DOCTOR BERATED MY MOM FOR DOWNPLAYING A SERIOUS LIFELONG MEDICAL CONDITION & TOLD HER I NEED A CT SCAN

[mister13eyond]

talking to a friend about getting back into art and i think the #1 most important piece of art advice i could ever get or give is just "figure out what is FUN to you"

like i think there is sooooo much emphasis on how to build SKILL in art but a lot of it really treats art like a job or like video game grinding, like it's this thankless job that you have to work at in order to reach a Threshold and i know it's not EASY to make yourself have fun but like

imo a solid 70% of the reason i create art is because the Act of Drawing is fun to me. it's fun problem-solving and planning and putting down lines and playing with colors and tools. it's fun to depict little scenes in my head or to create outfits or to find ways to fill the canvas. never forget that creating can be fun. sometimes it's hard and sometimes you have to battle through your own blockades to get there but the ultimate goal should always be to ENJOY it, to find what you enjoy doing and then do it forever. improvement will follow enjoyment.

i think especially with all the debate about ML image generation it's more important than ever to embrace FUN. if you're only focused on the end result it's so easy to get in your own head- to think about what doesn't look good or what skills you don't have yet or to compare yourself to other artists. but photography didn't kill the art of drawing and AI won't either because, simply put, there will always be people who want to do the physical act of making art because it's fun to do! using paints and markers, splashing colors around, doing shitty pen doodles, using the symmetry tool in your art program to do abstract mandalas that are just squiggles formed into patterns. do art like you're 5 and you've been handed markers to pass the time. do art like you're bored in class and you're keeping your brain entertained by drawing stick figure comics in the margins. do art like an absent thing, do art because it satisfies your brain. the goal is not to make something beautiful and perfect, the goal is to make something because your hands need to make and your body needs to make.

[xxswagcorexx]

hell ya! please info dump about casino quartet that would be awesome

STARTS VIBRATING OKAY!! for those who dont know, casino quartet refers to the group/ship name of ash, branzy, clown, and red (also known as branzypierceswagdoons or the abcd's because. Ashswag Branzy Clown and red. Doons) . i am #)(%*@#()%*#(@% about them 4 reasons i will elaborate down the cut ^_^

reason one: oh my GOD the comedic potential of these fuckers is sooooo. not one ounce of communication or sanity between any of them god bless!!! they are all enablers of different things and all make each other worse!!!! they will kill each other over not doing the dishes!!! also the diff dynamics between all of them would be Insufferable like clown and branzy would just do So Much pda during the most inappropriate times while ash and red have to Put Up with it while beating the shit out of each other <3 cue clown and red coming back home and doing God Knows What (not talking about feelings straight up) (repressed emotions) (bullying) and ash and branzy get white girl wasted on whiteclaw of wine or whatever and ash bitches about red to branzy while branzy calls him babygirl (branzy is the only one that can call ash this) (once red overheard this and ash almost killed him) (he had to be held back by branzy and clown so he wouldn't kill him) (<- this one is sponsored by cherny)

ANYWAYS ash and clown r a funny bunch too. clown would Always attempt to get ash to do stupid shit and try to hit him with the big wet pathetic eyes and "but please?? for me.,.." and it only works 20% of the time when ash caves in (do not worry ash bullies clown back) (also literally based off of this) . both of them think they're the most normal ones . red and branzy r literally just vibing. imagine everyone else being insufferable/them being insufferable to others and they're like "omg hiiii bestie ^_^" and they chill and knit while drinking sweet tea together or whatever . they're awesome

REASON NUMBER 2: PUNCHES THE GROUND ok ok. they're like 0 canon content of them IN VIDEOS but u have to understand : the original team chaos had red in the group . and the only reason red left is bc they didn't tell him anything (also ash was asleep like 90% of the time L) but like. i think u Could do smth interesting with lingering feelings abt team chaos Esp considering ash Did go back to red and apologize for s3/team chaos and gave him favors .,.. that's if u wanna go Canon Compliant ofc but i think there Could be something that u could write abt clown and red being Farely loyal and strategic and ash and branzy being willing to betray and both being wildcards. i feel like u could do smth interesting with that (and also if you wanna go romantic) some polymary negotiations might b fun ti explore :thumbs_up: usually the Link between them is clown and red but i've also seen branzy and ash ^_^ either way they r rlly fun to think about either way!!!

i dont really like a reason number 3 so i will put this mangoball edit here . thank u for letting me indulge in my insanity

[infizero]

my sources for shuichi being trans:

girl voice (in the original jp - voice is noticeably higher and more feminine sounding than any of the other boys)

general appearance (prominent eyelashes, fairly soft features, pretty androgynous esp when you pair with the jp voice, at certain points if ur insane enough it kinda looks like he has a binder outline)

wears a hoodie to the beach

gets really weird about having to go into the girls bathroom (obvs for different reasons but if you view those lines thru a trans lens then it honestly makes a lot of sense)

depressed and suicidal (not explaining)

im trans and i said so

[xanas-eye]

Earth did nothing wrong.

That's it. That's the post.

[bluevelvt]

when people think anakin wouldnt have turned to the dark side if qui-gon trained him im just ?????

YOU THINK THAT WOULD HAVE STOPPED PALPATINE???

i mean qui-gon took anakin to be trained cause he thinks anakin is the chosen one or this is at least a major reason why and like??? PALPATINE WOULD HAVE JUST PIVOTED LIKE

"it's such a shame my boy that the council and even your master only see you as the chosen one and not your own person"

"i hope that they trust you as a jedi and not just part of a prophecy"

"i fear that qui gon only wants you as the chosen one and if you weren't, you would never have left tatooine"

LIKE PALPATINE WOULD HAVE DONE THAT! HE ENGINEERED A WHOLE WAR JUST TO TAKE POWER AND QUI-GON BECOMING ANAKIN'S MASTER WOULD HAVE DESTROYED PALPATINE'S PLANS???

idk just gets on my nerves and feels like a slight against obi-wan who yeah wasn't perfect and the circumstances for becoming anakin's master weren't ideal but i think he was a great master and this idea also makes palpatine seem far less manipulative, cunning, and evil

the man once said he would gladly make vader again given the chance, even knowing how it would eventually end, so he's not stopping just because anakin has a different master

[starpros-sunshine]

What's with all the "Them and Us" stuff I mean. I thought the whole point of this acceptance stuff is realising that despite all the little differences everyone is still kind of similar in the way that they should be granted at least the basic but of respect everyone deserves? Call me naïve and childish but isn't the point of all this to Not have the clear distinction between people who are slightly different? Isn't the whole point to Not have a "Them" and an "Us"?

[bernardisgross]

I'm the kind to think pushing your mental illness on your loved ones can only bring awkward conversations and strain relationships, or worse, worsen the mental state of your friends and family, when they care for you and have their own troubles to take care of, but i also believe it's important to be vocal about your state, how it affects your everyday life and relationships. Maybe i'm lucky to have them but my loved ones understand, each to some extent, what i may be going through, they love me regardless, they don't act different, and they try to help in their own way. I appreciate all that, i love them for that, i'm grateful for them.

And you know what i'm confident when i say it's all a result of not hiding how i feel or why i may sometimes reject them, why i sometimes need to flee and hide, how i can't always explain it, how most of the time, there's not other explanation than "i'm sick". For my friends and sister to simply go "oh they get 'tired' sometimes" and move on, i'm so thankful :3

[holygroundgone]

Man if you don't like binghe do you even actually like svsss?