#but i also dont want anyone to acknowledge it

[starscream-is-my-wife]

A way too serious reading on Fire in the Sky focusing on Skyfire

The first impression we have of Skyfire is Starscreams vision of him. He says they were close friends before the war. Skyfire is portrayed as a representation of innocence, he is the last cybertronian to know what life was like before the war, and untouched by the horrors of it. When the actual Skyfire is revived, he is in the future in the middle of a war, where for him, he was just a while ago he was a civilian scientist. He knows that this isn’t Cybertron, subconsciously or not, he is essentially trapped with the Decepticons, and with Starscream, who despite saying they are close friends, Skyfire treats Starscream more like an acquaintance. However, Starscream is the only thing that he has left from his old life, so he would naturally stick with him

 It doesn’t take long for Starscream to establish control over Skyfire. Starscream who not only has a ranking superiority over Skyfire, but in life experience. He is 5 million years older, most of which was spent as a warrior, and as the second in command. He tells him that he will make Skyfire his second in command once he takes over. Skyfire thanks him, telling him that he will give Starscream credit. It makes you wonder if this is what their relationship was like before the war, if Starscream believes that being close friends means that someone is willing to be subservient to you.

Then his first encounter with the Autobots. This is where Skyfire is alone, and you can see his actual personality, albeit still under the manipulations of the Decepticons. They engage in combat but stop when Spike and Sparkplug are in danger. When Skyfire goes over to help them, he speaks very softly for the first time since his reactivation. A gentleness for organisms that shows his true calling as a scientist. He then tells them the lies that he was told, showing he does genuinely believe in what Megatron and Starscream told him, like he looks up to his superiors.

So, when Skyfire raises a protest to the treatment of the humans, Megatron warns him that he’s stepping out of line, but it was Starscream who tightens his leash. not hesitating to shoot his hand as a punishment. Starscream should know how Skyfire should love organics, but maybe he saw this as an opportunity to taint Skyfire even more. Skyfire was shocked but not to Starscream shooting him, but to why they wanted to harm the humans. He does not question being shot by Starscream at all, filling in a picture of them before the war even more. Skyfire had also said that these humans were his friends, despite most of their very brief meetings being the humans terrified of him. This also makes you think if Skyfire before had any real friends other then Starscream.

When cornering a group of Autobots, Starscream said that the years under the ice had diminished his loyalty coefficient. And once again you wonder, ‘how did Starscream treat Skyfire before??’

Even after acknowledging their old friendship, the moment Skyfire refuses Starscream, he once again, does not hesitate to shoot Skyfire for being ‘wrong’, the Autobots look on in horror for Skyfire, Ratchet and Hound even saying something about it before getting destroyed -in Skyfires eyes- by Starscream, who steps on him before walking off. Another display of establishing his control. In the very short time that he’s been reactivated, Starscream has already shot Skyfire twice for miniscule ‘mistakes’ and Skyfire doesn’t even question why he was punished so harshly by being shot, only thinking of others.

Ratchet fixes up Skyfire the best he can after revealing that they are functioning they get interrupted by Starscream who orders his trine to fire at will at the Autobots, not caring that they were fixing up Skyfire. Ratchet doesn’t leave Skyfires side, tugging at his hand and saying ‘I won’t leave you here’ before getting shot. Skyfire stirs, this is probably the kindest anyone has been to him after being frozen and losing everything he knows.

Skyfire does join the battle, on the side of the Autobots, finally seeing a way out from the Decepticon grasp, and literally throws Megatron away. He ends up fighting Starscream, who only a little while ago had such a positive view of Skyfire, is now willing to kill him permanently. It’s almost like he would rather have Skyfire dead then have a Skyfire who is alive, but does not fit the loyal subservient imaginary image he has of him in his mind.

Starscream has far more experience in battle and although they both crash, Starscream will show up next episode, totally fine. However for Skyfire, in his final moments, fires a blast to bury the crystals, and himself to save his new friends. Perhaps that’s all he knows, instead of landing safely, he did everything he could to be useful to the very end. But in doing this he found freedom from Starscream, in death.

(until he gets revived)

[zeeposting]

ive had four dreams about school while sick so far, what

[linkemaus]

Not to be that person, but if Kamala Harris were a white man with the exact same ideals, positions, and beliefs, it wouldn’t have even been a competition. Realising that the worst thing you can apparently be is a woman, is truly devastating.

[supahstarrr]

so i was just thinking about whit's behavior in chapter two; he's trying to be so secretive about david's secret to the point of disrupting the flow of trying to survive in a life or death situation. this behavior from him is likely an extension of his behavior in chapter one, where he tried to keep the reason behind charles behavior and the interactions between the two of them a secret as much as possible.

what motivated the secrecy was him being emotionally aware about trauma; how trauma is such an intimate and personal thing. so here in chapter two, could this flaw be in root of him being emotionally aware of how mentally (and life) damaging it could be on david's life if his career, which largely financially supports his life, is suddenly tarnished?

he values privacy so much to the point it becomes a flaw. the root of this flaw is his emotional maturity and awareness towards other people (i can't word this in a way that also acknowledges his awkwardness with dealing with people). and then i think about his relationship with romance, commitment, detachment and his career. the reason he is an ultimate at what he does is because of his heightened awareness towards the emotional aspects behind romance. his patience and consideration of others suggests emotional awareness.

yet despite how serious and aware he is about romance, him flirting as a joke—thus burying down how prudish he actually is (confirmed by drdt dev)—suggests he attempts at somewhat detaching himself from the concept of romance by treating romance as a joke when it's applied to him and his interactions with others. in other words, this behavior can show you're not putting your full commitment when it comes to romance. hinted by treating your romantic words lightly to detach them from romance.

that trait isn't always an immediate deep thing, but what makes it deep for him is that this is an extension of him constantly joking about serious things in general, thus expressing detachment from dealing with the weight of an impactful situation. as he is aware of the impact about romance, this means he is aware of the commitment—and responsibility, which connects with commitment—that intertwines with romance (the commitment can be vary to little or a lot).

so in a way, it appears he has some sense of aversion about commitment and responsibility that he is very aware of. he acknowledges the responsibility with revealing other people's secrets, so he avoids that, even if it means hes heightening up the risk of a deadly situation by being secretive. in fact this interests me because i can take it far and say this aversion of his could very much be linked to his mother's death and neglectful childhood.

i dont want to say too much tho so i wont go on about how. if anyone does want to hear more thoughts then ask me. anyways any other people who analyze characters way more better than i do/get his character way more than me PLEASEE talk to me what do we think .. i usually dont trust myself with deeper thoughts on characters so im just gonna say this is more like an interpretation than a serious analysis

[yellllowstar]

slowly I'm recovering the beauty of discovery

(creature by half•alive)

(textless + timelapse below cut)

[storywestistrash]

i am actually so tired of the way westerners treat eastern europeans

[macchiatosdumptruck]

I don't really ascribe to the whole "writing bad things in fiction means you condone bad things irl" line of thinking because it's just false.

But it is interesting and possibly troubling how they thought Robby "deserved" whatever bad treatment he got, and for what? They invented him. They created his character. He did what they made him do. And what he did was basically just exist.

[verdantmeadows]

Sun Wukong is fat!

Hi all! One detail I noticed about the Season 4 special that made me incredibly happy is this: Sun Wukong has gained weight. He is fat, and hasn't always been fat. One of my favorite tropes is weight gain as a form of healing. If you didn't notice this, let me show you what I mean. There aren't that many images that need to be used, but if I need to include more, I will.

Since all characters are generally a bit rectangular because they're LEGO, you can see how Wukong's waist is defined through his lighter fur, creating a very much hourglass figure. He has no lines underneath his chest to indicate muscle or fat there.

However here, you can clearly see that the light color covers ALL of his stomach now, and all of his chest. This is done because now that the light fur pushes "out", it stops creating the hourglass figure to show that he's gained weight. His upper arms are also definitely larger than before.

The lines underneath his chest are also very clearly from fat. They are curved, which is not how pectorals are stylized in LEGO Monkie Kid.

And since that yeah, these don't make it THAT obvious, it's more obvious here.

His stomach rolls over itself more than it does for skinny people in his posture. Usually, you'd have to be more slouched over for that to happen as a skinny person, but he's laying down. And if you look closely at his chest, it's very visibly rounded and caused by fat.

And finally, it's INCREDIBLY obvious here. If you weren't sure he was fat, you really can't deny it with this one.

His chest is round. His stomach is sticking out and very round. Sun Wukong is fat. He wasn't always fat, but he's fat now.

I leave this post by saying this: please don't draw Sun Wukong in present day as skinny or muscular. He is fat. Fatness as a neutral or positive thing is incredibly underrepresented. It is an important part of someone's body type, and it shouldn't be erased. LEGO Monkie Kid already has issues with fatphobia (MK's delivery clone), so characters like Sun Wukong and Pigsy are great steps in positive representation of fatness.

If you're still not sure, think about this. If you wouldn't draw Pigsy as skinny or muscular, why would you draw Sun Wukong that way?

Now, I implore all of you to celebrate that Sun Wukong is fat! Make fanart about it! Make fanfic about it! Whatever it is you like! And if you don't make fan content, just celebrate it and how this is a wonderful thing for fat people.

[alastor--altruist]

maybe I should be shot

[5-htagonist]

i am genuinely so crazyyyy about lbruuuuu.... like Genuinely Genuinely. its pretty bad guise

[fadeintolight]

pont pont vesszőcske

[fatedroses]

Your Avendurer! Zenos comics are always so good, and I love how you write him. The touch about him being functionally doomed to immortality is the perfect level of extra spice on top, too. Imo it's the perfect motivation for him to genuinely try to better himself as a person.

Thank you! Tbh the concept has had a hold on my brain since the end of Endwalker, and I'm glad you really enjoy it ^-^

It’s the subtle character development he’s gotten over the course of the story and the potential he has that makes me adore writing Adventurer!Zenos and the journey he has in turn of following the WoL's (Meteor, in my cases) footsteps.

Making himself immortal is actually the main inspiration behind it too, it's a consequence that self-sabotaged his original goal. Maybe eventually becoming a wake up for him that Alisaie was absolutely right and that he may still have an opportunity to not doom himself to being alone forever.

It's actually why I also made him a tank too, having him turn away from being "the man who was willing to destroy the world for his own chase of his desires" to him being willing to throw himself in and to help and protect others even at the cost of himself for a time, a thought that has stuck with me since the theory of him saving WoL with the remote crossed my mind.

[aromantic-karamatsu]

Yeah thing abt anxiety is you actually literally do have to grab your brain sometimes and go "Are you actually in danger?! Is this problem something we can actually fix now or is it a situation that is out of our control and therefore worrying about it actually does nothing?! Huh?!" And then force yourself to realize what situations your anxiety is ACTUALLY helpful and how to let go in situations where it isnt

Unfortunately this is not a skill that you get with a snap of your fingers, you literally have to TEACH yourself how to do it and it's painful.

Even more unfortunately rational people sitting outside of your anxiety are NOT AWARE that this is a literal skill you were basically born without and just tell you "calm down" without understanding YOU DON'T HAVE THE TOOLS TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. If someone who was super good at weight lifting told me, a beginner at weights, to just "pick up a 50 pound dumbbell" I'D DIE, because I haven't trained to do that! I quite literally don't have the muscle or knowledge on proper techniques to do that without hurting myself, physically or emotionally!!!

So yes, sometimes you DO have to take the high road and just tell yourself "I do NOT need to worry about this" even though it feels stupid and useless because you still worry, but you also have to forgive yourself and understand you are learning! It won't be easy the first few times, and even when you get more used to self soothing and emotional regulation sometimes it's not linear and it's like your first day of lifting weights all over again!

I just think we as a society do need to understand that anxious disorders are both something we (anxious people) can NOT control without effort and therapy and that we (anxious people) need to realize sometimes we DO have to put in painful, uncomfortable work to manage it! It sucks but thats life, and it can get easier with the right support and whatever treatment looks like for you!

[faunandfloraas]

The asks that were sent today- I don't know if they were by the same person or 2 different people... anyway! I do agree a lot and I appreciate what you said and I think it's sweet, but I also don't feel comfy answering them just in case people misinterpret. Please understand 🩷

[thursdayg1rl]

one of the dramas from the wedding was one of the grooms cousins (on the other side not mine) just not wearing the clothes we had made for her specifically

[hallufabrication]

It's a small world

A fic about various things I wanted to write about instead of rambling about them; focuses on Manta and Hannah. The whole thing is under the cut.

Manta didn’t expect his and Hannah’s connection to fizzle out the way it did.

Not that he was expecting anything specific; She wasn’t someone he would really consider a friend. At the same time, though, he couldn’t deny that they weren’t exactly strangers, either. They hung out sometimes, she tried to help him during his illegal race against Corto, and they bonded over how great they thought Teach tech was – something that left a bitter taste in his mouth now.

He would have expected some kind of a lukewarm goodbye, or an awkward wave as they stepped onto the boats meant to take them to their homes. But as the boat steering towards the Solar Sea took off, there was no exchange between them - in fact, he wasn’t even anywhere nearby, instead preparing for his and Shino’s attempt at getting a better life for themselves.

He did think then if he should have approached her outburst the day before the way he did. Back then, he didn’t see it as anything more than a show of weakness; she wouldn’t have lasted a day in what he had to live through on Polaris. Why should she get sympathy for being a double-crosser? For only feeling bad now that it was too late anyway, now that Gavinda’s plan was in full swing?

But it wasn’t too late. Not to her and the Tikis, anyway. And she did her part in fighting against Teach…

Unlike him, at first.

No, Hannah wasn’t weak. After everything, Manta could tell that much.

Maybe he shouldn’t have underestimated how cruel Teach could have been to her. Maybe that shouldn’t have been his last words to her.

“Oh well. Too bad”, he thought, going back to packing his stuff. What’s done is done.

He hasn’t really thought about this, or anything related to the Mirages, for the next few months. He had more important things on his mind - building a new life from scratch with Shino (and Debbie) on an entirely new island was challenging enough to take away any time he could have had for reminiscing about his old acquaintances from the Whale Cup.

They weren’t on his mind these few months later, as he was walking through one of the lesser known alleys of Tortuga to his boat, either - at least not until he saw a familiar looking silhouette walking through one of the streets he’d usually pass.

“Hannah?” He called out instinctively, more out of surprise than anything else.

“Oh– hi, Manta.” She replied, turning around to face him. “Been a while, huh?”

“Yeah, but– What are you doing here?”

“On Tortuga? I came for the Rotor Punch, obviously.” She shrugged. “But, I wanted to see how you’re doing with my own two eyes while I’m here, too.”

“You heard of me?” He asked, squinting his eyes.

“Duh. It’d be harder to not hear of the famous White Tiger, honestly.” She said, leaning on the wall next to her. “You’re taking Aquagram by storm– You know that, right?”

He shrugged and made an indecipherable hum. Debbie did tell him that he was getting more popular day by day, but he never really got interested in how popular he was outside of Tortuga, exactly. His winning streak mattered to him more than whatever she was doing over on her hologlove.

“Wait, but– Rotor Punch? You’re competing?”

“What, you think I can’t handle it?”

“It’s just– I didn’t know if you’d still be racing after… Everything.”

Hannah frowned for a short second, but quickly smirked instead.

“It takes more than that to make me quit, you know. I managed to get into Solar Empire’s drone guard.”

She crossed her arms, still leaning on the wall.

“So, I’m the one representing the Empire this year.”

“Oh, wow. You got yourself a solid position, huh?” He said, walking over and sitting down on the stairs next to her. “How’d you even do that?”

“Eh, turns out getting to the finals of the Whale Cup was good enough of an achievement to sign up. Only had to climb a few ranks after that.”

“Pshf, sounds easy.” He teased. She only hummed in response.

“What about Adam? Is he participating with you?”

A slight grimace showed up on Hannah’s face. Manta wasn’t sure how to decipher what emotion it was supposed to show.

“...No, he’s not. He hasn’t reached out to me after Teach’s defeat.”

“Oh.” Manta said. “...Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Hannah sighed, sitting next to him on the stairs.

“...I haven’t tried to reach him, either. At first I thought I should, since Teach manipulated him, too, but… He was always more invested in her plans than I was. It seems like we both picked our sides.”

“...I see.”

“Yeah.”

A moment of silence fell upon them.

“And you’re…not worried?”

Hannah glared at him for a few seconds before deciding on an answer.

“I… don’t know. I have mixed feelings about it all.” She stated, resting her chin on her hand.

“Teach was cruel to him, too. She’s not going to suddenly do a 180. But, if that was his choice, then–”

She suddenly waved with the same hand in the air, leaning back.

“--so be it! I’m not going to chase after someone who made up their mind!”

She let out something between a groan and a sigh, hiding her face with her hands for a moment.

“...What’s it to you, anyway? I didn’t take you for the type to talk about this kinda stuff.”

Manta shrugged, looking somewhere else.

“You were the one who said it’s been a while.”

“Heh– yeah, that’s true.” She chuckled. “I guess it did a number on you.”

“Hmm.”

They sat for a moment in silence before Hannah stood up from the stairs.

“...Well, I should go. I take it you’re taking part in the Rotor Punch too, right?”

“Of course. Who do you take me for?”

“Yeah, thought so.” She smirked again, turning back to go about her way.

“I’ll see you around, then. Just don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“Psh, as if I’d need that. But yeah. See you around.” He replied, also getting up from the sidewalk.

As he got back to walking to his boat, he felt a sense of a relief he didn’t expect.

Turns out, he was sorta glad to see her again.