#are both valid perspectives

[razberrypuck]

damn this "social experiment" really can social experiment huh

[telesodalite]

Sort of a ramble, sort of me just writing my thoughts out while I'm stuck with writer's block, but I keep thinking about how Fulcrum was in stasis for roughly 3 million years??

Like, that's a long time, even for Cybertronians. Not a really long time, not an entire lifespan. But still, it's a large chunk of a normal lifespan just gone. Poof.

One second you're crawling across the pockmarked terrain of an alien planet, surrounded by the sound of gunfire, and the shouting and screaming before and after each earth shuddering impact of another k-con hitting the ground. And then it's quiet. You're not there anymore. You're drifting somewhere between not alive and just asleep. Preserved somewhere in the background of a doomed body, ignored by time and space, still here, but also not.

And then there's sound. Not gunfire. Not shouting or screaming. Not the sounds that'll haunt you till your dying days, your own death sentence pounding in your head. No. Just voices, talking, standing out against a silent, dead world. Wondering. Joking. Bickering. Familiar. Just, not familiar to you. And you're awake. Pulled back from the nothingness you've been frozen in, consciousness tugged forwards with the yank of a fuel pump and the nearness of life.

These two moments are roughly 3 million years apart, but only minutes, maybe even seconds, to him. From a hectic harrowing battlefield, to an old silent graveyard in one blink.

How long did it take to really sink in? I mean, he seems to just roll with it. He doesn't seem particularly bothered. But like, what happened outside of what we see? How did he really feel?

Also, his body aged without him. While his mind preserved itself, freezing him as he was right then, his body was left to weather Clemency for all those years. No wonder it crumbled to dust when he jumped off the world sweeper. It's probably a miracle of some kind that it didn't just fall apart each time someone leaned on him.

And even after they rebuild him, give him a better, newer body. His spark, it's casing, all the irreplaceable core bits that make up their inner bodies, it aged in the time without him. Does he feel it? Does it make his body even more foreign to him?

Then he's also a technician with information that's 3 million years out of date. Lucky him that the scavengers probably weren't working with top of the line material. But still it's gotta be weird when faced with anything brand new, because a lot can change and progress in 3 million years, and now some of the knowledge he once prided himself in is obsolete.

Besides those things, his view of the galaxy, of the war, of their kind, of other kinds, is one of the few things actually pointed out when it comes to him being stuck in the past. So, how often were his old views challenged? Facts of life he held close proved to no longer true? There's 3 million years worth of new science, new beliefs, new words, new terms, new views.

And sure, some of it can be familiar, because they're an ever evolving kind, and they have patterns, core beliefs, repeating behaviors, but a lot of it's gonna be unfamiliar at the same time, because it's 3 million years worth of catch up, it's not like missing last week's trend.

In a way, it makes him a living relic of a bygone era for Decepticons. It would've been really interesting to have had that explored a little more.

[todayisafridaynight]

ohhhh my god im going to fucking throw up thinking again about the scene where sawashiro almost lopping off ichi's pinky parallels the scene from earlier where arakawa's mom threatens him with scissors

[lord-squiggletits]

"Rodimus is a better Prime because it didn't hurt for him to bond with the Matrix while for Optimus it did" headcanon/theory my beloathed.

One day I'm literally gonna snap and make a whole post addressing why what's wrong bc I'm tired of the inaccuracy and tired of ppl not understanding the Point TM of IDW and its version of the Matrix/Primacy and even more tired of people putting down Optimus in favor of Rodimus by essentially arguing that being unworthy means you deserve to be punished/put in pain bc you just weren't good enough to hold the Symbol of Ultimate Authority

[eosofspades]

next gen (2018) is the best movie ever for a lot of reasons but the biggest, most integral one that i've never seen anybody actually address before, is that it is fundamentally a story about being a very young child who is suffering so much emotional pain and the experience of that pain not being taken seriously by anyone around you. mai's anger issues and crushing loneliness are absolutely integral to any reading of the story's themes, and not only is her pain a driving force, but it is validated by the narrative. the story doesn't mock her for having "daddy issues," she's not just a whiny or dramatic little girl; she is ABSOLUTELY justified in feeling lonely and hopelessly angry, and the movie goes out of its way to show you things from HER perspective. and at the end, the "lesson" she had to learn wasn't that she was WRONG about how she viewed her mother and her situation - in fact, her MOM is the one who has to learn that she was mistreating her daughter and hurting her.

the movie also takes so much care to honestly and realistically show how that loneliness can manifest in the most destructive of ways - mai is ALLOWED to be angry, she is allowed to be rude and abrasive and destructive, and while it is portrayed as a problem and something that needs to be addressed, the narrative never BLAMES her for it - because she is a child reacting in a real, emotional, raw, human way to her trauma and pain.

what i'm trying to say is i have never seen a film before that takes a child's feelings of misery as something so valid. the narrative NEVER condescends to her character, it never comes across as patronizing. and the movie isn't about having to forgive the people who hurt you, but instead it's about the importance of not letting that pain stop you from making NEW memories and better relationships. it's so real and RAW and full of love and ultimately, it is about how even one person looking at you and saying "i see your pain, and i'm not going anywhere" and meaning it can be enough to save you.

[a-passing-storm]

Those were the big things, but I--OH MY GOD WAIT! Also, the way The Last Wish very plainly but not obnoxiously talked about toxic masculinity and how it’s good and okay to be vulnerable with other people and ask for help and be scared. Like! Oh My God!

[cluescorner]

Some people: Kaeya’s bio father is an abusive monster who abandoned his son in order to achieve his own selfish goals. He is an evil man who deserves everything awful that might happen to him. 

Other people: Kaeya’s bio father did the right thing and leaving Kaeya in Mondstadt was the only way to give him a halfway-decent life. He is a better father than he is given credit for and should not be as hated as he is. 

Me: Kaeya’s bio father is integral to the general ‘war is hell and bad choices can reverberate across time’ thing that Genshin seems to be going for. He made unethical choices, but mostly because the ONLY OPTIONS HE HAD WERE UNETHICAL. If our understanding of the Alberich’s role in Khaenri’ah is accurate, General Alberich (my name for him until stated otherwise) was suddenly in charge of a hopeless and dead kingdom which begged to be saved. Assuming that there was a reason Kaeya specifically was chosen for this mission, General Alberich was forced into a position where he needed to choose between the lives/future of every Khaenri’an vs the life and future of his young son. Abandoning either is an awful thing to do and a horrible decision, but the bad decisions of Celestia and Rhinedottir have led to a scenario where General Alberich can only make bad decisions. In the end, he chose to prioritize his people and made his young son into a spy. We do not know the process for this, but knowing how much Hoyoverse loves to torment people (especially Khaenri’ans) we can assume that this process was horrific for Kaeya and could definitely be considered abuse. General Alberich is effectively making his son into a child soldier for a war that the majority of people never wanted or asked for, and one Kaeya was likely far too young to understand. At least, until he was forced to grow up far too quickly in order to fulfill his duty. General Alberich likely loathed everything about what was happening and even in his last moments with his son he asks for forgiveness. He knows that what he is doing is wrong, but to turn back now is to both abandon his subjects and make everything that happened to Kaeya in order to turn him into a child spy be for nothing. So yeah, General Alberich is a terrible person who made horrible choices. But war and the bad actions of others have created a situation where he has nothing BUT horrible choices and where being a terrible person is the only thing he can be. And that’s without considering how the curse/abyssal corruption could impact the scenario. 

[jeanmoreaux]

girl i think it's hilarious how we're having mirror experiences with mine with Peeta's character, and yours with Gale 😂 how the turntables !

when i was much younger i preferred Gale simply because I felt he was far more capable of being a protector (in the very practical and physical sense); & his childhood bond with the protagonist--there was already friendship and trust between the characters. and I knew he understood what being an eldest sibling was like, the responsibility and the burdens.

i could not understand Peeta for a very long time even when i accepted of course he was the right person to be with Katniss through and at the end of it all. but now i see parts of myself in Peeta (both in my own nature and through my own life experiences/active choices I make now) and isn't this both a very bizarre yet magical thing about growing up and revisiting stories

love that development for us! it's all a about the growth. it truly is hilarious how closely our arcs mirror each other.

ngl while i am thee friends-to-lovers girlie gale did so not catch my interest when i was younger. there was just something about him that didn’t click for me, whereas peeta made so much sense to me. i do have a soft spot for characters like him—a little bit gentle, a little bit idealistic. and gale, in comparison, was so much more intense in his views and little baby tween did not know what to do with that. BUT NOW. oh let me tell you, i do see more than hints of myself in him. the sense of loyalty not just to individual people but humanity as a whole. the sometimes stoic but practical nature. the at times scorching and radical anger…. i don’t think i really understood him and refused to see his trauma in a broader context. he is a teenage boy fighting in a war against a system that reminded him daily that it wants him and his loved ones dead. like. you cannot walk away from that without a splinter lodge somewhere deep inside of you.

and while i still don’t see katniss and gale as a romantic couple, their friendship has become so precious to me. and the way they drift and grow apart over the course of the trilogy is probably one of the lost painful things to witness. because you (as the reader) know it’s happening and katniss and gale know it’s happening but they both hope that they can work through it, that they can hold onto each other and be okay again. but it happens slowly and the all at once. they fall apart and with that the last part of their old selves and their old lives slipping through their fingers. they look into the eyes of their best friend, the person they have loved and trusted and relied on for years, and they do not recognise each other anymore. and it’s the most sobering realisation that they cannot salvage their relationship. that somewhere along the way they have lost each other completely. and when they part that final time they almost part as strangers and it’s so devastating it has me on my knees 🧎‍♀️ in the end their friendship is just another thing the war cost them. another price they paid for the sake of the greater good.

[planet4546b]

i’m honestly not all that pressed about not knowing what the veil is (<- guy who is the num one garden enjoyer and never wants a concrete answer on what it actually is) but i also sort of keep coming back to the important part of it just being like. it’s name. the veil as in the veil between life and death. the veil as the in ‘beyond the veil’. destiny is a game about death in like four trillion different ways and the division between light and dark isn’t quite as simple as light = life and darkness = death but there is a division there and to me the veil seems like a connection across that line. the traveler is a dead thing and the veil opens a hole in its heart but the veil itself also feels like the traveler. it requires both the light and darkness to open that direction. the visual of your ghost (your GHOST!!) floating up towards it and drifting away from you. it’s rooted in darkness. it’s imitated and mirrored in the garden, a place of life. it’s the matrix for the un-death of the cloudark. the witness uses it to go to a plane we can’t follow it to. it’s even underground. am i making any sense

[theeconstantcompanion]

Loooove how white women are blamed for both Biden and Trump having gotten into office from either side, respectively.

I've heard from left-wing youtubers that it was the rich privileged white women basically just following what their husbands/daddys said, prioritizing their wealth and race above all else, that went MAGA.

And now after Title IX I'm seeing right wing youtubers say it's the "white, overly pampered, suburban women" who keep voting for Democrats despite knowing what they do for women's rights.

Like those aren't necessarily wrong critiques! Those women exist! For a myriad of reasons. But why are they the only demographic singled out? (For context, I am indeed a white woman, but not American). How are ~we~ responsible for both outcomes? While seemingly being purposefully disadvantaged by either "side"?

[positivelyadhd]

I've been reading a lot of anti psychiatry works and honestly I agree with a lot of them too. I know psychiatry and psychology are important but it's also important to listen to the people you're studying! It's all very interesting.

exactly!! i took a clinical psych module this term and interestingly a lot of it has actually been about the flaws of clinical psych and the harm it can do. while psychiatry and diagnosis can be very useful for some people it can also be very harmful! like most things, its very nuanced and different for every person!! different people also feel very strongly about it and you're right, its so important to listen to what people from both sides have to say!

[technoxenoholic]

you can't gaslight yourself.

if you feel like you are or were gaslighting yourself, please understand: you probably are/were in denial or suffering from dissociation or something like that. that's a pretty normal part of dealing with ongoing and/or recent trauma.

gaslighting is an intentional attempt to cause you to question your sanity and your perception of reality and rely on the perspective of your abuser. it's done by someone else to harm and control you. you can't do it to yourself.

on the other hand, your brain puts you in denial or dissociates or whatever else so you can make it through a bad situation you're in -- to protect you. it doesn't always help, of course, but it is a defense mechanism.

please be kind to yourself in your recovery.

[the-everqueen]

i think maybe the problem with kuang's "yellowface" is that there ISN'T a constructive way to write that kind of story. either you do what she did, and make the white protag a parody of personhood (which further obscures the material and systemic realities of racism in the US, while allowing white readers a sort of...distance from id-ing with a Bad Person). or you write something very subtle, with the understanding that readers and reviewers might totally miss the mark, rendering your "critique" worthless. either you write a popular, obvious satire, or you--idk, don't, i guess. because i'm not entirely sure who this book is FOR. we KNOW whiteness hates us. we KNOW we're the Other. we know how they think about us. and white people based entire (economic, social) systems around antiblack, anti-indigenous hierarchies that profits off our creative labor while denying us personhood. so they're aware, too. no matter how much they pretend ignorance.

[smallishdoggo]

i love FCG and Prism’s relationship, actually. I have only had them for an hour, but what we got was *chef’s kiss*

I think if given the opportunity they could actually be very close friends.

[transmascwillbyers]

The #1 piece of byler proof for me isn't the van scene, it's that Will's way too intelligent to ever have feelings for Heterosexual Mike (tm)

[pepplemint]

Im curious- what is a book or poem or quote that changed you fundamentally in some way?