#and think about how communities like this have actual problems

[pluralsword]

you could argue that we did this sort of, it's a little more complicated.

You see, the reason we maintain our beard and shave it in specific ways is because transformer women often have helms that fill their face in similar ways at the cheeks or with chin armor. That helped the person who has been with this body the whole time fully absolve of herself of any dysphoria by being able to connect her facial her euphorically to a collective gender identity of womanhood of giant metal transforming robots from space since knowledge of the fact there are a lot of intersex human cis women who have facial hair (and intersex people are as common as redheads) wasn't cutting it for xem (hah). we dysphorically regret having to shave our beard recently to fly across the country out of fear of landing somewhere in an emergency where we'd be arrested for 'doing drag' at a public facility.

The reason we say this isn't simply butch per se for us specifically (a human singleton is another matter) is because there isn't an oppositional dynamic between male and female to us. they completely overlap, there's just collective gender assemblage tendencies of components being put together and identified differently (some of our writing mixing alien robot trans material-aesthetic assemblage mixed with gender tackles this, the one that does so most directly so far is our One fanfic. there will eventually be original fiction), the term we use for in our sparktion/hearth/etc. assemblage model that most closely approximates butch is torque, but it is rather different in meaning since it's primarily concerned with the (clash of) momentum literally and metaphorically and not with being masculine (xenogender stuff is fun!). It's also not confined to a physical expression appearance, so helm shapes don't necessarily fit this, and there's no single umbrella for what torque looks like. it's all assemblage, which is very different from the real problem of butch erasure in 21st century human storytelling and history

In addition we've also built up musculature precisely because it is no longer dysphoric anymore to breathe meditatively / heavily when exercising since the chest feels more like how it should, because xey always loved and wanted to emulate the warrior gal vibe (we know this applies much more widely, too, but thought it was worth mentioning), and ultimately that our nervous system now feels so much better exerting strength with HRT than before. but how we dress we think doesn't normally quite fit butch and we recoil at the thought of being more heavily clothed or armored meaning we're perceived as more masculine. the oppositional gender human patriarchy dichotomy is painful to us, we're glad this is changing with a) people understanding how curvy and rounded a lot of armor historically is especially plate, and b) women in armor where sexualization need not mean sacrificing actual armor capacity is becoming more normalized

TLDR you absolutely can be a transfem butch lesbian and we absolutely ended up on a similar but very different route of being torquey zoomdare transfem (taganite) mutualists who will for convenience's sake communicating with other people we share this lovely blue marble with use the terms t4t, sapphic, lesbian, and sometimes butch if we think we have to explain why our gender isn't 'simple' (eugh we hate how reductive that is of binary trans women) but don't think we can get away with explaining xenogender stuff and plurality. unless we are fortunate enough to, I don't know, see our terminology take off or even better that this happens alongside other assemblage models with a growth of a worldwide curiousity and capacity to accept that no one will ever know everything there is to know about gender and orientation so nobody assumes anything of us, takes what we have to say for what it is, asks questions if interested in knowing and knowing us that way, and celebrates what we have in common and what differences we have <3

Is transitioning from male to female to become a butch lesbian a reasonable option?

it is beyond reasonable, it is one of the coolest things you can do on this bitch of an earth

[mistakenot4892]

Disclaimer that this is a post mostly motivated by frustration at a cultural trend, not at any individual people/posters. Vagueing to avoid it seeming like a callout but I know how Tumblr is so we'll see I guess. Putting it after a read-more because I think it's going to spiral out of control.

Recent discourse around obnoxious Linux shills chiming in on posts about how difficult it can be to pick up computer literacy these days has made me feel old and tired. I get that people just want computers to Work and they don't want to have to put any extra effort into getting it to Do The Thing, that's not unreasonable, I want the same!

(I also want obnoxious Linux shills to not chip in on my posts (unless I am posting because my Linux has exploded and I need help) so I sympathise with that angle too, 'just use Linux' is not the catch-all solution you think it is my friend.)

But I keep seeing this broad sense of learned helplessness around having to learn about what the computer is actually doing without having your hand held by a massive faceless corporation, and I just feel like it isn't a healthy relationship to have with your tech.

The industry is getting worse and worse in their lack of respect to the consumer every quarter. Microsoft is comfortable pivoting their entire business to push AI on every part of their infrastructure and in every service, in part because their customers aren't going anywhere and won't push back in the numbers that might make a difference. Windows 11 has hidden even more functionality behind layers of streamlining and obfuscation and integrated even more spyware and telemetry that won't tell you shit about what it's doing and that you can't turn off without violating the EULA. They're going to keep pursuing this kind of shit in more and more obvious ways because that's all they can do in the quest for endless year on year growth.

Unfortunately, switching to Linux will force you to learn how to use it. That sucks when it's being pushed as an immediate solution to a specific problem you're having! Not going to deny that. FOSS folks need to realise that 'just pivot your entire day to day workflow to a new suite of tools designed by hobby engineers with really specific chips on their shoulders' does not work as a method of evangelism. But if you approach it more like learning to understand and control your tech, I think maybe it could be a bit more palatable? It's more like a set of techniques and strategies than learning a specific workflow. Once you pick up the basic patterns, you can apply them to the novel problems that inevitably crop up. It's still painful, particularly if you're messing around with audio or graphics drivers, but importantly, you are always the one in control. You might not know how to drive, and the engine might be on fire, but you're not locked in a burning Tesla.

Now that I write this it sounds more like a set of coping mechanisms, but to be honest I do not have a healthy relationship with xorg.conf and probably should seek therapy.

It's a bit of a stretch but I almost feel like a bit of friction with tech is necessary to develop a good relationship with it? Growing up on MS-DOS and earlier versions of Windows has given me a healthy suspicion of any time my computer does something without me telling it to, and if I can't then see what it did, something's very off. If I can't get at the setting and properties panel for something, my immediate inclination is to uninstall it and do without.

And like yeah as a final note, I too find it frustrating when Linux decides to shit itself and the latest relevant thread I can find on the matter is from 2006 and every participant has been Raptured since, but at least threads exist. At least they're not Microsoft Community hellscapes where every second response is a sales rep telling them to open a support ticket. At least there's some transparency and openness around how the operating system is made and how it works. At least you have alternatives if one doesn't do the job for you.

This is long and meandering and probably misses the point of the discourse I'm dragging but I felt obligated to make it. Ubuntu Noble Numbat is pretty good and I haven't had any issues with it out of the box (compared to EndeavourOS becoming a hellscape whenever I wanted my computer to make a sound or render a graphic) so I recommend it. Yay FOSS.

[mywitchyblog]

I just wanted to say your takes on age and shifting have been really helping me. I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy my teenage years and I feel like everything is falling apart in my adult life, so I really want to age myself down and experience life as a teen again. However, tiktok constantly made me feel like a creep and I was even starting to doubt myself and my motivations, which is crazy. So thank you for standing your ground and having our back lol and stay away from shiftok yall

AS.YOU.FUCKING.SHOULD.

Girl, keeping your distance from ShiftTok? Absolutely the right call. That place is less of a community and more of a cult with a superiority complex, stuffed with self-appointed “moral guardians” who’d rather police everyone’s shifting practices than actually understand a damn thing about shifting itself 💅. They’re too busy gatekeeping, throwing their tired opinions around, and stirring up drama to realize just how hypocritical they look. Chile, the irony is thick enough to choke on, and trust, we see it 👀.

And don’t even get me started on the anti-age-change crew. These people couldn’t argue their way out of a paper bag without leaning on the same three tired-as-hell logical fallacies, dragging them out every time to keep shifters in check without an ounce of actual understanding or empathy.

Ad Hominem – This is anti-age changers’ go-to move when they’re out of actual arguments. They skip right over any real discussion and dive into calling people “pedo” or “creep” just to shut them up. Rather than taking the time to understand why someone might genuinely want to experience being younger again, they grab for the ugliest insults they can think of and throw them like confetti 🎉… only it’s confetti made of trash 💀. Example: A shifter explains, “I age down in my Desired Reality because I had a tough youth and want to relive a better version of it. Plus, I want to experience a healthy, innocent romance from my teenage years.” But instead of even thinking about the idea that there might be something healing and meaningful in that, here comes an anti-age changer with: “If you want to age down to date, you’re a predator—plain and simple.” Here’s the kicker: these critics don’t care about the reasons. They’ll weaponize shame to make shifters look like villains, ignoring the fact that not everyone who age-shifts and dates does it for predatory reasons. Many want to experience that sweet, teenage love they didn’t get in this reality, to relive the simpler emotions of that time without adult complications. But the anti’s? They’d rather throw accusations than try to understand even a sliver of the truth. They’re using the “pedo” card because they know it’ll silence some people, and honey, it’s a sad attempt at control through fear 🙄.

Straw Man Fallacy – Here’s where things get especially messy 🥴. Instead of listening to what you’re actually saying, they twist it into something completely off-base, creating a fake argument to attack. They don’t want to engage with your actual reasons; they’d rather paint you as something you’re not so they can feel good about their so-called “moral high ground.” 🙄Example: Imagine a shifter saying, “I age down because I missed out on a carefree youth and want to date someone my age in that reality. I want to experience young love in a non-sexual, simple way.” The anti immediately twists this into, “Oh, so you’re saying you’re an adult wanting to act like a teenager to date kids? That’s sick.” See the problem? They’re creating a whole new argument based on something you never said. This shifter just wants a clean, innocent experience of being young again, complete with those little flutters and first dates that only make sense at that age. Some shifters may even explore young relationships with some intimacy, but it’s coming from a place of reliving a time they missed—not about attraction to minors or anything predatory. These critics twist the intention, making it sound like a fetish when it’s about pure curiosity, nostalgia, or healing. They’ve crafted their own horror story and are trying to pin it on you 👑, and honestly? It’s lazy, transparent, and completely off the mark.

Hasty Generalization – This is when anti-age changers pull out the big, sloppy brush and slap the same, tired accusation onto every age-changing shifter. Because they’ve heard one example of someone age-shifting for sketchy reasons, they assume everyone who does it must have some secret, shady agenda. Girl, the logic isn’t even there 🤦‍♀️.Example: Anti-age changers will say, “Oh, I heard about this one person who aged down to act out some weird fantasy, so clearly all shifters who age down to date are predators.”This is their way of weaponizing a single, extreme case to invalidate every other shifter’s unique, personal reasons. There are countless reasons people age down and engage in romance, and most have nothing to do with predatory behavior. Imagine someone who wants to experience a first crush all over again, or who never got a chance to date as a teen and just wants that innocent thrill of hand-holding and kissing at a school dance 🕺💃. Some might even explore sexual intimacy because, for them, it’s about curiosity and filling in experiences they missed—not some twisted attraction.Let’s get real: most age-changing shifters just want to feel what it’s like to be young again, to make memories that heal, to have those butterflies and firsts they missed out on. The antis are so obsessed with scandalizing that they can’t imagine a reality where someone wants to age down without any creepy motives. This broad-strokes accusation is not only unfair; it’s lazy as hell. It paints every age-changing shifter with the same brush, and it does nothing but create stigma and misinformation. Like… maybe sit down and breathe for a second instead of trying to stir up a scandal? 😒

Here’s the reality: these fallacies are tools they use to twist, shame, and silence. They’re not here to have a real conversation about why someone might age-shift or date in that reality, or to understand that those desires can come from totally normal, even therapeutic places. They’re here to make it sound twisted, full stop.

The next time they pull out these tired arguments, just remember: they’re not about facts, they’re about control. They use moral panic as a blunt weapon, hoping people won’t look closer and see right through their paper-thin accusations. Keep doing you, stay fierce 🔥, and don’t let their fallacies dull your shine.

[safety-pin-punk]

I might be too naive to be punk. I want to trust all of my neighbors (except the gosh darn cops in this town, yuck) but trusting my neighbors is something my parents repeatedly tell me is ignorant and naive. That I shouldn't help the houseless people up the street, and that I shouldn't try to make a community garden because none of them can be trusted.

Apparently, one day I'm going to run into a criminal and trust them too much.

I don't know, can I still be punk?

Hmmm. I think your parents and I differ on a philisophical level. While I would never trust a stranger (or even a neighbor I only kinda know) enough to hop in a car and take a ride with them, I do believe in helping your community. And you don't even necessarily have to trust them to help them. But heres how I try to live my life:

If I help someone and they use my help to do something 'bad', that says a lot about that person. But if I see someone who seems like they need help and I just don't help them. Well that says a hell of a lot about me.

So yeah, I'd fully support making a community garden. Cause that says a lot about you and how much you care about people. If someone goes and tries to ruin it, take all the food, etc etc etc, well that says a lot about them. And if you encounter these problems, you can come up with innovative ways around them!

So I think you can definitely still be punk, and you actually seem to already have punk tendencies. You just need to figure out how to start getting involved. Even if you just start with volunteer work. And remember, you are still young. Even if you have restrictions now, you wont forever.

[weemietime]

Why the FUCK are you bringing up the Iraq war to defend Israel

That's like saying "oh you think ISIS is bad? Did you know America dropped agent orange on Vietnamese?"

Nigga we think both of those things are fucking terrible

Why the FUCK are you bringing up the Iraq war to defend Israel

Read my pinned post, for it explains in excruciating detail why it is important to treat every person and every country on Earth with equity and dignity. It is that fucking simple.

we think both of those things are fucking terrible

The problem is that you don't, actually.

Because you treat equivalent situations (actually, the Iraq war was far worse) with different standards. Which means that you don't actually have a problem with the situation, but rather with the parties involved.

It is not my fault that you are unable to read and comprehend the very plain and clear explanations that I have already laid out for you. But just in case you didn't get the memo, here are some posts I have made in my private friend group that elucidate it clearly to you fucking imbeciles.

Honestly it's an emotional thing for me because I've seen a lot of the unrwa materials for schools in Gaza that actively teach kids to cheer for dead Jews, sinwar was found with a unrwa employee tag, unrwa members participated in Oct 7th, the UN is being very quiet about condemning the sexual abuse that happened during this pogrom. They did finally say they found it credible but this was instantly buried and is never brought up by any UN officials any longer, the UN first didn't even admit to complicity and now are saying they want immunity for their unrwa employees who were complicit, countries like Russia and China are using their seats at the UN to push the narrative of genocide with no evidence and zero pushback while the UN platforms their voices and refuses to condemn their genocidal actions and it just feels like, you know, part of the intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust is that the international community at the time, the league of nations, was also very lackluster about condemning the genocide against us and did indeed have many member states who openly supported and participated. I mean this was an attack that was planned for 15 years by people who pretended for generations to be the friends of these peace activists and shit. It's just a theme of betrayal and the feeling that we Jews are alone. Because the loudest voices from every country are shouting from the river to the sea lol. Is it a totally factual statement, is it a cognitive distortion, probably. But there is a real sentiment behind the words that is born from pain, not just shit posting

Of course it's a lot. Even one is too much. But every time these dipshits talk they say "Israel killed 40,000 children." No, the official number given by Hamas and the UN is 7,797. Plus 4,959 women. That's 12,756 civilians. Out of a 40,000 death toll, that is 27,244 Hamas combatants killed meaning the ratio of combatants to civilians dying is 2.25:1. This is an INSANELY good C/C ratio and is the numbers that Hamas has given. The normal C/C ratio is 9:1, the USA C/C ratio in Iraq was 4.46:1 out of 174,000 meaning a 77% civilian casualty rate. And look at how people talk about the war in Iraq and Iraq war veterans and Americans and tell me that matches how people are discussing Israel. You know? I'm not blaming people for being antiwar. For being horrified. For not wanting to send ammunition or weapons. For being appalled at Israel's use of Lavender. But the double standard is very devastating because when 9/11 happened the world mourned with the USA. When Oct 7th happened, a literal pogrom, people literally spit in our faces, shut down universities, scream at us on the streets, fire bomb our synagogues, gang rape our children for being Jewish (happened in France), cheer gas the Jews, you will not replace us, Zionists are rats, kicking us out of cafes, interrogation us to see if we're a "good Jew". Like you don't understand how the atmosphere has changed in North America and how virulently antisemitic its gotten. Our memorials for our dead have to be held in secret. Because people deface them, vandalize them, and show up to protest screaming through a megaphone that we are baby killers while we are crying over our babies being killed. And eighteen year olds are being sent to fight in war in our behalf because every country around our homeland has declared they wish to exterminate us. And that taps into the very real intergenerational pain of the Holocaust.

I've seen protests that look no different than Nazi Germany protests against the Jews. It is wrenching. Most Jews I know have lost their entire friend groups literally over night. Lost their living arrangements. Have professors fail their work if it's about Jewish history. Teach that Zionism means Jewish supremacy and conquering the middle east because we are all from Poland. It hurts. It hurts. And I know that Palestinians are suffering, too. 12,000 innocent people were killed. And I mourn them as much as I mourn my own people. But no one else is going to mourn our dead but us. The world has shown that they cheer when we die. And that hurts.

If I say "I'm grieving the actual people that I PERSONALLY KNOW WHO DIED IN A POGROM" people turn around and scream at me that I am a pedophile rat Zio Nazi genocidaire baby killer. When this first happened I posted the article "bombs fall in sderot" and joked "haha idk if my friends are safe." well my friend wasn't safe. She fucking died.

Ppl don't understand how small the Jewish community is. Whenever Jews meet up we play Jewish geography and we ALWAYS find someone we know in common. When Pittsburgh happened people in my community bc we are conservative Jews too, knew the victims. Ppl I know post about having to go to a bomb shelter all the time, their friends dying in terrorist attacks, experiencing terrorism as children etc these are innocent people who have nothing to do with fucking ben fucking Gvir

My friend is a gdmn [redacted] she deserves to die???? Okay all Americans deserve death because of Iraq. All Russians deserve death because of Ukraine.

Conscription is wrong and we should be protesting against it but no not every Israeli deserves death just as no Palestinian civilian deserves death even tho many of them are radicalized as children to want Jews dead and to join Hamas and get conscripted as well. THIS SUBJECT IS COMPLICATED. and anyone who reduces it to one side vs the other good vs evil is full of fucking shit.

Like I always say the settler colonial language I feel is misguided in some ways because of the whole Israeli population we have 70% Jews, 61% of that 70% were not migrants during waves of Zionist aliyah they were expelled and murdered and ethnically cleansed from Iraq Afghanistan Iran Ethiopia Yemen (every single Jew in Yemen was expelled to Israel) and they literally have no place to go.

Which is why from the river to the sea, means they will end up being literally pushed into the sea lol. And then 20% aren't even Jewish they are Arab, where will they go if Hamas takes over Israel and tries to enact extremist fundamentalist religion when they're used to living in secular democracy? They go into the sea too. Now 31% are European descent of those, many are from Russia which means they were kicked out and not Zionist oleh as well. But then we get into the west Bank where Israeli Jews are literally living as settlers and literally calling themselves settlers and perpetrating violence. The legal terminology of this all is also twitchy. Technically it isn't apartheid because Palestinians aren't Israeli civilians but we cannot ignore Hebron where Israelis literally dump piss and shit and garbage on their heads so they had to build a fucking net. Okay maybe it's not legal apartheid but it's obvious fucking degrading and they are not free to move or work or have the same rights regardless of who is in charge and we need to fix that. We also can say ok it's not a genocide in Gaza bc the numbers suggest of 40k, 12k were civilians according to Hamas themselves giving a 2:1 civ casualty ratio. The normal ratio is 9:1 so it legally cannot be called genocide. But Lavender is indiscriminate targeting civilians and bombing the place to fucking rubble which is a war crime and the Israeli government must be held accountable for this. Hamas does war crimes too they fired 20k rockets per year for 20 years into Israeli residential zones

[10:38 PM] Anyone who reduces this conflict to one side good one side bad is a fucking idiot. There is harm and suffering and complexity on both sides and both sides must be held accountable and then work for peace and prosperity

In conclusion: if you have nothing constructive to say, you can do everyone a favor and shut the fuck up.

[rudeflower]

Shane as a female Jess

Okay I'm on my s3 rewatch and reminded what a QUEEN Shane is

And really thinking that, while they aren't remotely the same person in different genders Jess and Shane have so much on common in terms of how they exist in Stars Hollow

Jess is implied to be more sexually experienced and comfortable than Rory/the average Stars Hollow kid. Shane is too

Jess is rude to customers at his customer service job. Shane is too.

Jess misses social cues or deliberately doesn't interact the way he's supposed to to keep the Stars Hollow people happy. Shane does too (Appearing to completely not notice/consider that a customer is waiting while she's on the phone)

Shane and Jess both communicate largely through slightly atonal speech (sarcastic and dry in customer service settings, at times forceful when talking to people close to them)

Jess and Shane are both more comfortable with PDA than Rory/Lorelai/Luke/Stars Hollow wants them to be

Jess and Shane are both confident in their point of view and are quick to challenge the people close to them when confronted about it, even if it's not completely rational (BLOATY IS A WORD I BELIEVE YOU SHANE)

Shane, like Jess, is reliant on a part time job with in the world of Gilmore Girls codes them as POOR, especially when you consider working class hero Rory didn't have a job all through high school.

What's more Stars Hollow reacts to them in extremely similiar ways. While we don't see a town hall meeting called about Shane, she appears to be just as isolated as Jess is, and treated by Stars Hollow's favorite heroes in similar ways:

Called a freak by Lorelai for being excited to see her boyfriend. Quick check: Lorelai is an adult who we are meant to believe is a feminist and advocate for plucky young woman. Shane is a child minding her own business whose only offense was to brush against Lorelai as she walked by. Extremely minor infractions blown up to enormously? Where have we seen this before?

Treated as though she is stupid ("To you how ice is made is probably fascinating") with absolutely no basis

Considered a problem by Luke, a disappointment right off the bat even though he knows almost nothing about her. Sound familiar?

Yelled at by Rory because she didn't instantly meet her Stars Hollow magic expectations of fake kindness and exceedingly generous service. Alternatively, the actual reason for the yelling was because Shane failed to meet her secret expectations of making her romantic dreams come true (Getting out of the way for Shane, on the flipside pining and waiting on Jess's part) . SOUND FAMILIAR?

Even cool girl Lane who so pursues the unusual and off beat goes along with Rory being confrontational with Shane with no prompting, even though she visibly is confused by the treatment. Like Jess, in the world of Stars Hollow Shane is wrong, off, bad and the treatment even in her short time on screen very much is in line.

SHE DESERVES BETTER SHE DESERVES THE WOLRD

[strawberryangelx08]

yesss this!!

these are the same ppl who are probably like

“all victims matter” or “all mental health matters”

until someone does a coping mechanism or a hobby that’s deemed to be evil or disgusting by some others on the internet

“but this doesn’t help you it makes you worse”

literally how do you know? like just because you seen people did a certain coping mechanism and didn’t work out for them or for you doesn’t mean it’s also not going to work out,for the person who does like fictional media as a gateway way to cope

i personally believe there’s way other things worse than ppl shipping or drawing pixels on a screen like for example most people physically sh themselves as coping mechanisms or sometimes harm others but pixels are more of a problem i guess 🤦🏾‍♀️

and also most antis are the same people who call people predators without looking up into the actual definition

as much i hate p3dos like any sane person it’s also a disorder??(correct me if I’m wrong) because no sane person normally wakes up one day and thinks about someone like that under the age of 18 so it has to be some sort of mental illness

like there’s so many minors in the proship community using it to cope or just have fun with it

telling a minor they’re going to end up as s3x offender over what the fictional dynamics or ships you like is disgusting and may seem disrespectful to proshippers,darkshippers,comshippers who may also be victims to p3dos and may get them panic attacks and believe the fiction they consume might make them harm someone in the fiction which isn’t true

if the person has no interested or intent of trying to hurt someone younger than them irl you literally can’t prove anything about them

oh and when you antis hear a therapist actual recommends fiction to cope suddenly most of you guys want to act like you are a psychiatrist and wants the therapist to get fired?

like do they want the therapist to say

“weirdo fiction is bad and you can’t do that!”

many therapists have ways of teaching their clients to cope if it’s not between you and them mind your business please.

[valvedimension]

Hiiiiiiii

About that "The Matrix giving Optimus baby fever"

What if The Matrix (after the war) realizes how little cybertronians are left and sends a wave(?) giving EVERYONE baby fever

The Matrix causing a baby boom, that's the ask

OOOO YES YES very interesting…

I’ll go for a few continuities on this… add a little variety to the mix.

Prime: Honestly both Ratchet AND Optimus should be carriers. Optimus would look absolutely divine and angelic knocked up and Ratchet - well we can all agree that he’s a milf, right? Maybe the Matrix takes a little piece of his and Ratchet’s sparks and fuses them together to create a sparkling that Optimus carries, but they do the old-fashioned route for Ratchet. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack would probably be another pair. Magnus is all “do not look at me like that absolutely fucking not” and Wheeljack is like “whatever you say lmao”. Magnus caves in (consensually!!) and Wheeljack resists every urge to say “I told you so”. AND LISTEN, LISTEN TO ME HERE OK. The team is wondering why Arcee isn’t that affected by it. She’s cranky and frustrated and pent-up but shows no interest in taking anyone from the team as a mate. Turns out that she found another lady-bot to partner with and team prime feels a little silly for not knowing she’s a lesbian. She’s the sire, btw, I can’t imagine her carrying at all.

Now for Earthspark. Optimus, Elita, and Megatron get hit first, since they’re around Optimus and the Matrix the most. Megatron - the big, strong bot that he is - is in his room fingering his valve over and over, left a desperate mess. It’s taking all of Elita and Optimus’s strength not to jump Megatron and start rutting into him. But they can’t stay separate forever, they need to get fuel, to use the washracks, etc. Megatron is taking a shower in the washracks and whoops!- Elita’s there too. She can’t hold herself back - he smells so sweet, and fuck, he has the perfect body for carrying - so she pushes his back against the washracks walls, teases him open, and fucks him HARD. Optimus joins in, too, admitting that he’s wanted this since pretty much forever :3 Megatron’s carrying in no time and the Terrans are overjoyed to find out that they’ll be getting a new earth-born Cybertronian to be friends with! Op, meg and elita are just like “oh yeah megs just got pregnant out of nowhere! So weird right!!” And the Terrans agree, and would you look at that - Bee is looking a lot like Megatron, are they going (I think I need to make this an actual fic…)

IDW: hmm… you know what? Fuck it I’m going with Rodimus. And I’m doing dratchrod because I loooove it. Rodimus, Drift, and Ratchet are getting into a relationship, fixing problems and communicating issues. But uh oh! - turns out the Matrix made some modifications to Rodimus’s reproductive protocols, and it’s DEMANDING a sparkling. It knows that Cybertron is no longer plunged in the depths of war and that new life is possible, so it says that Rodimus needs to make up for lost time! He’s so needy that it’s almost humiliating, he’s never been this horny before, and what would his partners think? They’ve never interfaced together - Rodimus hasn’t even had his seals broken yet! - and he wouldn’t dare demand sexual acts from them. So he stubbornly set on the plan to deal with it himself. Ratchet and Drift notice that he’s withdrawn and doesn’t get physically close to them, so they go to visit his hab to have a talk and give him comfort if he needs it - only to walk in on him sinking down on a false spike. A very awkward moment is shared as they just stare at Rodimus, who’s all “ohh hey guys!! uhhh mind knocking next time?” but Rodimus is trembling now, because the two sweetest, kindest, and sexiest bots are right in front of him. They ask Roddy if he’s ok, but are hit with a strong EM field pulse - looks like the Matrix gets to mess with other bots, too - and they’re very charged up all of a sudden. Wouldn’t he be such a good carrier? They certainly think so. Ratchet eases the false spike out of Roddy’s valve and he whines at the loss of fullness, but Drift is shushing him because it’ll be alright, he’ll be ok soon. Ratchet goes first, sinking in and filling Roddy with 3 loads before he lets Drift have a turn. Drift praises him and Ratchet stays at Rodimus’s side, talking softly to him. “Feels good, right? Having your forge all full?” “You’ll be sparked in no time.” when Drift is finished, Rodimus’s forge kicks online, sensing that the breeding is over, creating a pleasant warmth in his belly. “You feel that, Roddy?” Ratchet says. “That’s your forge kicking online, like the good bot you are.” Drift joins in and rubs Roddy’s swollen midsection, “You did all that work, you did so well, we can’t wait to see you knocked up.”

I like to think that Rodimus is pretty clingy during his carriage - he wants to snuggle, cuddle, and kiss his partners all the time. He also had super strong cravings and a soft layer of protoform settles on his body. He’s pretty happy, too - who knew that Rodimus Prime, the hothead that he is, would actually be happy as a carrier? He feels insecure about his body sometimes, but Drift and Ratty make sure to remind him that he’s beautiful AND to be easy on himself because he’s sparked!

Ratchet sees an influx of more sparked bots in gis clinic, because the Matrix couldn’t just affect him and his partners, it had to go for everyone on the Lost Light!

Agh sorry if this wasn’t what you wanted!! But I really did enjoy that prompt :3

[that-satireguy]

Okay, I'll start with what you said at the end because this is a dumpster fire of gotchas, ad hominems, assumptions and fallacies.

Bad faith VS Good Faith:

A good faith argument is an honest attempt to persuade the other person to your way of thinking, without the use of fallacies. You lay out the points and explain why you're right.

A bad faith argument is at its core an attempt to antagonize the other person, aka: arguing for the sake of arguing. This usually involves personal attacks, putting words in other peoples mouths, not addressing what was actually said, engaging in personal insults, or otherwise wasting their time and energy on someone who doesn't actually want to understand.

If you're struggling with making a good faith argument, a simple list of things to go through:

No logical fallacies

You cannot start with the assumption that the other person is not able to understand your points. (because in this case you would have no reason to argue)

Do not assume that the other person is being disingenuous with what they say. You are a person on a screen, you don't know whats going on in their head. Address what your opponent says.

Don't put words in their mouth. Eg:'You might even say...#I'm being a bit hysterical!' 'She's a brainless sucker, through and through. She fell for my trap'

Take for example, what you said.

You made up a hypothetical person, and we established that this is a bad person. That is fair, made up people can be assigned to represent badness, for the sake of argument.

The problem then is that you converged this made up person with an actual human being. This made up person, who you can unequivocally state to be bad (all of their thoughts, opinions and actions are entirely made up by you) is equated with someone who's thoughts opinions and motivations you do not know.

This is a fallacy. You made up a figure, wrote them to have a bias, and then purposefully mirrored their actions to a real person to imply they are one and the same. They are not. One is made up.

'I'm not a trans woman, but I consider myself qualified to speak on their oppression, even when most trans women disagree with me.'-

In the screenshotted post, they did not speak on trans women's experiences with oppression, or assume how those are. All they did was state that transfeminism should not assume the experience of non-transfems. Literally, the thing you're saying is bad? They did not do so in this screenshot, however several aspects of the thing they are criticising do.

'Even if it leads me to consider every single critique'

The original poster listed out the types of critiques they were considering as bad faith. And they were (assuming they are honest) correct. Taking the things they said they stated as 'complaining about trans women' is bad faith. I just listed how it was.

'it does not readily occur to me that my personal standards of what constitutes 'good faith' are not the same for trans women as they are for everyone else!'

This is something you can state about your hypothetical figure, but when you apply it to the screenshotted person, that is a fallacy, because within what they said, they were correct that those things were bad faith, and they are, universally so. Within what they said, you cannot assume they would apply lighter standards to TME people. If they were lying, you can provide evidence of such.

'Instead, I attack the things that are associated with trans women'

Something being associated with a minority does not make it bigoted to critique. See earlier example of terfs, or what israel is doing atm. If you are stating that this is your hypothetical person's motivation, you cannot apply it to OP- because it is a fantasy of yours, not theirs.

'instead of 'trans women' I say 'perisex trans people', or 'the trans community'.

See above mention of assigning traits and motivations to a hypothetical figure in order to be able to pretend they reflect on the person you are arguing with.

'Someone else is likely to take my place and insist that, rather than a critique of rhetoric, she is playing into identity politics.'

This is quite interesting, because its the first decent point you've made. Hive mind mentality is bad. This is why callout posts are probably a decent solultion. However in order to do so, you must take a screenshot of something actually bad, rather than theorising and fantasising about their motivations over a logically solid statement.

, she's forced to defend herself the same way TERFs do

If you have a valid point, you are not forced to state that your opponent is wrong on the basis that the ideology they are critiquing is majoritively followed by a minority. Its a weak and stupid argument, and if its your only option, frankly thats on you.

'She's a brainless sucker, through and through. She fell for my trap

Its kind of insane that you (in your own hypothetical) create a character who uses harmful rhetoric, and positions this as the fault of the person who is being criticised by that rhetoric.

I don't want to defend this person, as obviously, I am operating from a lot less context than you are, but they are right in this specific case, you are objectively making a bad faith argument.

You could make your point in a better way, by addressing things that are wrong with what they said, pointing out why its wrong, or outlining the benefits to the tme/tma binary, rather than stating criticism of it is transmisogynistic.

I don't complain about trans women! i just call them bioessentialist, intersexist, bad faith, zero nuance, indistinguishable from cisfeminists, who deny that transmasculine people are oppressed. if they had a brain they'd know i don't complain about them! DUH!

[mickeym4ndy]

Mickey and Ian’s characterization was flawed in the final seasons but one thing I found particularly odd about some of Ian’s decisions is that they almost felt like he didn’t know Mickey at all. Which is so weird because Ian is the one who knows and understands Mickey better than anyone. It’s one of the main things about their relationship.

But then he tells Mickey that he only has 87% of his heart when he knows about Mickey’s own insecurities and doubts. He knows his husband. So he had to have known how Mickey was going to react to that and how much it would’ve hurt him? Similarly suggesting a temporary break in prison. After everything surely he’d have to know how that was gonna go? Same thing with the monogamy conversation I think.

Signing the lease without telling Mickey when he knows how Mickey reacts to change and new surroundings. And about how Mickey feels about the South Side (he literally has a tattoo that says South Side Forever, no matter what happened to him there, Mickey viewed that place as his home). I do think Ian’s intentions for it were pure so they could start fresh, and probably part of it was because he knew if he brought it up to Mickey before signing then Mickey would never agree. But why would he ever think Mickey would be okay with him making that decision without him? And surely he’d have to know that a change that big wouldn’t be easy for Mickey to adjust to.

Not comforting Mickey after Terry’s death and being dismissive when he knows how complicated grieving an abusive parent is and Mickey’s history with Terry. Ian understands how complex those feelings are because he felt them after Monica. And he knows Mickey, even if how Mickey feels about Terry is hard for Ian to understand, he still knows that showing that level of emotion is difficult and rare for Mickey.

These aren’t even criticisms of Ian, they’re criticism of the writing. It’s fair that sometimes they’ll both make decisions that might be against how the other person feels, no one’s perfect. But a lot of these just don’t really make sense to me? One of the most important things about Gallavich before the later seasons was that Ian often saw through Mickey and understood him. He knew what Mickey wanted/meant even if it was contrary to what he said. Where did that part of their relationship go?

[a-book-of-creatures]

Tumblr being tumblr, this post is overly reductive for the sake of being funny, so a bit of context. It’s kind of depressing too.

Ken Rex McElroy was, according to Wikipedia, accused of “assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, animal cruelty, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary”, but never convicted. When he was shot by persons unknown, “there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. Nobody called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness was either unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges, and an extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges either. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "he needed killing."”

According to this article by Jakob Prater, “[t]he killing was covered by the news for weeks, and the reputation it developed killed the town. There used to be gas stations, a grocery store, even a high school but now all that remains is Good Time Charley’s, a great grill and bar that I recommend.”

The 2000 murder of Wendy Gillenwater isn’t unsolved. She was beaten to death by Greg Dragoo, her boyfriend. The body could only be identified by her ring.

The 2004 murder of Bobbie Joe Stinnett isn’t unsolved. She was strangled by Lisa Montgomery. Stinnett was eight months pregnant at the time and Montgomery cut the baby out of her. The baby survived.

Branson Perry (Bobbie Jo Stinnett’s cousin) disappeared in 2001. In 2003 “Jack Wayne Rogers, a 59-year-old Presbyterian minister and Boy Scout leader… was arrested on charges of first-degree assault and practicing medicine without a license after removing a trans woman's genitals in a makeshift gender reassignment surgery at a hotel in Columbia.” He was suspected of involvement in the case but this suspicion has since been dropped. Perry’s whereabouts remain unknown.

Prater’s article ends on a hopeful note.

In the case of Montgomery’s crime, they learned their lesson. The people of Skidmore did all the things they didn’t do before. They talked about what happened. They called the police, and the police got an amber alert. They did what they didn’t do for Gillenwater or Perry. They took the event seriously, and the baby was found.

Now, it seems they will let the proper authorities know, and they won’t just use it for gossip and rumors. They will no longer hold mysterious town meetings or whisper about when someone is in trouble or doing something they shouldn't.

Annual pumpkin-related festivals happen in lots of other places too. Happy October.

Does any horror story about small towns capture the vibe more horrifyingly than this paragraph on Wikipedia

This small farming community is known for its mob killing, its unsolved murders, its unsolved disappearances, and the annual pumpkin festival

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[blueskittlesart]

I genuinely can’t remember or not if your botw/totk link knows sign language or not…or am I thinking of a different link?

my personal headcanon is that he knows basic sign and uses it when he's completely nonverbal, but that for most of his time as a soldier pre-calamity he limits himself to basic signs that are well-known enough for anyone to understand and not much else (thank you, please, basic combat orders, occasional fingerspelling) and uses them VERY sparingly if at all. I personally believe that the lack of communication he displays pre-calamity goes beyond just physical muteness, and I think that removing the communication block by having him sign freely removes some of the nuance of his relationships with other people pre-calamity, so while i think he CAN sign, i think he only uses it when communication is absolutely necessary.

[imunbreakabledude]

saw a post saying “the only reason Israel exists is because of western oil interests” - and my thoughts here aren’t specific to that one post but a similar Sentiment I feel like I’ve seen a bunch… it feels… off to me when I see ppl on the left express this notion that Israel is wrong and evil BUT NOT Jewish!!! They don’t want to be antisemitic and they know that Israel does not represent all Jews, and they also want to call out other factors that ARE very significant factors in the past & present of Israel’s militarized existence, but they go so hard in that direction that like… it gives me the Bad Vibes in a different way. Different example that gave me a similar feeling - couple weeks back I remember seeing several friends shared an insta post that was all about Christian Zionism with stats and graphs showing the numbers of Christian zionists, how way more zionists are Christians than Jews, like a 9:1 ratio, and it also said something like “ZIONISM IS ANTISEMITISM”. Which - I wanna be clear, I do think raising awareness of that info is helpful, and I do personally feel that Zionism is harmful to everyone including Jews (but I wouldn’t call it ‘antisemitic’ bc I feel that’s deliberately pushing the limits of words in a way that less clear and more inflammatory than it should be).

But anyway both of these examples feel that common thread to me of like - calling out REAL factors that are at play in Israel’s creation, continued existence, relationship with US (and other) imperialism, but also… like… trying so hard to say “it’s not about Jews, it’s not about Jews at alllllllll!” When like. IT IS A LITTLE ABOUT JEWS, PAL? and it’s okay to acknowledge that?? And honestly I think trying that hard to ignore or talk around the notion of Israel as a Jewish homeland EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PERSONALLY AGREE WITH THAT NOTION OR THE WAY ZIONISM HAS USED VIOLENCE AND COLONIALISM TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, just makes it harder to contend w the reality of the situation. let alone communicate w people who aren’t already on the same exact page about this issue as you are. Like this attempt to try to critique Israel while so desperately talking around the Jewish part is well-meaning, I know, and probably in part a practical defense/response against those who continue to lob accusations of antisemitism against any critique of Israel, but at some point you sound ridiculous

[forestgreenlesbian]

.

[agirlinthegalaxy]

It's been rolling around in my brain the last few days for some reason, but I still hate the family backstory reveals for Sophie and Eliot. I've seen some of the meta for it, but quite frankly, it still makes no sense. If it had been something actually thought of and intentional in the original, I think it could have been so fascinating. I mean, Sophie's willing abandonment of Astrid to contrast with Nate's loss of Sam or Eliot's adoption in contrast with Hardison's and Parker's? Could have been excellent! But they came out of nowhere in Redemption and don't work with these characters.

Sophie was still actively using the fucking alias that she met Astrid under! She met with someone from her past on the show! Like. Quite frankly, that one is unequivocally bullshit that they made up and threw in and pretended could fit with the established canon. (And I'm sorry, but the idea of Sophie abandoning Astrid and never telling Nate about her just... So much of Nate's trauma was rooted in the loss of Sam, and I think that introducing this element after he's gone and unable to respond to it taints Sophie and Nate's relationship in a way bc I'm not exactly sure how Nate would've responded to learning about this but I think that it's something he'd have needed to know. I don't know how to fully express my thoughts on that but yeah.)

As for Eliot, I don't like the adoption aspect literally at all. The way that he would interact with his family and the memory of his family would be different, and I think that it's flat out ridiculous to think that he'd have never mentioned it to the team in the original show, especially when dealing with the kid cases. (I also dislike the biracial adoption as its own element because if Eliot was actually raised by Black parents in the... idk what 80s/90s? That just. doesn't feel congruent with how they write Eliot interacting with PoC, not necessarily in a bad way, but babe, he's written like a white southern man raised in a specific kind of culture that does not jell with that. It also makes Eliot look... really bad that he was apparently raised with the knowledge of how fucked up the military was and his parents' history and made the choices that he did.) Like the show may not have explicitly stated it but the implication of that relationship was vastly fucking different throughout the original show.

Just. These were not backstories that were congruent with their depiction and characters in the original show, and they're also just moves that I don't particularly like or find interesting directions for those characters. There's also something to be said about how it was apparently unacceptable for a woman to not have kids or someone not reconciling with their biological family when that was something that the original show handled a lot better. Out of all the directions to take Sophie and Eliot's stories, that's just not really one that I think was a good idea.