#giving freedom and control

[actual-corpse]

Therac-25: *exists. Injures many*

Engineers of the past: aw damn. Better not put to much faith in software. It might override its safeguards and kill people! Thanks for the lesson Therac-25!!

Self aggrandizing software bitches: Self driving cars! Remove human error! No mechanical input!

Therac-25: wait. Have you learned NOTHING FROM ME?!

Self driving car enthusiast: We give the robot moral tests to make it choose between killing a baby and a grandma!

Any person with a lick of sense: Just.... Just drive off the road if you can... Bro!

Car bitch: THE CAR STAYS ON THE ROAD! THINK OF THE TROLLEY PROBLEM

Engineers: WE SOLVED THAT!

Another insulting name that I'm using in place of people like Elon Musk: YAY TECHNOLOGY! HUMANS ARE WEAK AND OBSOLETE I AM GOD!

[lambda-core]

I am way too tired/jetlagged to make this post right now, but the reason Armada Starscream is so specifically well done to me actually isn't just the way he's got more depth than just wanting to take over Megatron. It's the way he falls back on this image he has of himself as someone who is solely focused on Megatron. And he is obsessed with Megatron, but the disconnect between Starscream and his image of himself is what gives him actual depth.

The reason this is so cool to me is like, that self-image--that he is single-mindedly obsessed with Megatron and will sacrifice everything else for that goal, no matter who gets hurt--is pretty close to what every other Starscream is. (The selfishness you associate with Starscream is a little more subtle, but it's there in the "no matter who gets hurt" clause imo.)

So if you go into this as a Transformers fan, you're already expecting Starscream to betray Megatron and try to best him and rule the Decepticons. But so does Starscream, even when he's demonstrably proven to both his peers and the audience that he's more than that. It's almost like his past incarnations--or the audience's expectation of him--haunt him. It turns his own internal man-versus-self conflict into this really cool man-versus-narrative conflict.

And what's crazy about this is, through the last moments of this arc, Starscream does grow beyond the narrative we'd expect from other Starscreams! But he never admits that to himself, because it's easier for him to cling to the idea that he's laser-focused on his hatred of Megatron. Every time he helps the minicons--every time he helps the humans--even in his last words, he LIES to himself and everyone around him that everything he did was always about Megatron. Because it's easier to simplify himself than to grasp that he might be a complex character. Because he's a person and he has all the messy conflicts that come with that. He falls back on the same ideas every single other Starscream did, and THAT is his undoing. Not that he is self-centered because he's Starscream. Not that he is obsessed with Megatron because he's Starscream. That he THINKS he is all of those things and he will not LET himself be anything else.

I would argue that that's a bigger theme in Armada, as well. Optimus and Megatron more or less spend their final fight coming to terms with their story roles in Transformers. I really feel like if you sneezed on them, they would realize they do this in every universe and in every timeline. Starscream's is the most interesting example to me, though, because he's such a departure from other versions of Starscream; hell, he acts (and looks, lol) a lot more like some incarnations of Thundercracker. But he's still got classic Starscream in him in this roundabout meta reference. He's like an homage to his namesake. It's so cool! And it works perfectly with the story he's a part of.

[whitefang93]

One of my biggest issues with Kageyama role in the movie is it's there but not enough for people to understand why this moment is so pivotal for kagehina together in their numerous strides of trust/threat.

Kenma wasn't being illogical here. And any setter doesn't want the game flow to be hampered at the cost of emotional needs of one player. While all the same a setter should try to raise the morale, we see kageyama do that for Tanaka In the inarizaki match.

As far as Hinata is concerned for kageyama, no matter how much he says that "as long as you are essential for winning" putting it in Rough words for hinata, has hurt him the second time during the tokyo camp. He gets angry and hurt as he talks to Yachi, he is emotional and says it was even harder to get along with back then. But after all this time hinata expected Kageyama to be there for him. He says I don't expect closeness via friendship but he thought kageyama understands his desire to get better.

While that's another discussion on hinata pov, as far as kageyama is concerned, while he said those words, he himself fears change or isn't sure how to keep having hinata around. And he wants hinata to be able to play with him, kageyama for the first time found a partner who matches his speed. Both kagehina crave speed.

When hinata has his slip ups, kageyama is concerned. But also he asks hinata to get better at receives as that's basic for playing volleyball.

Now Hinata is ofcourse concerned if kageyama is going thru a choice of should I toss to him?, and.hinata only replies with strong conviction by receiving and being in position to always be ready for a quick.

Recieving and then getting in position for a quick attack is not an easy feat. He is openly targeted. So how does kageyama who wants to toss to Hinata, but has to have restraint to not let game slip by mistakes, BUT wants to reward Hinata for doing his best??? He let go of his obsession with speed. Hinata also let's go of his sole purpose as only hitting quick, with mutual trust that they haven't abandoned each other and to show off Hinata to kenma, to display his need, his want in tossing to Hinata he raises him to a new height. A tall king of the court, giving a simple four toss is almost like a gutsy ballsy move along with the kindness and ease and consideration for his spiker to shine above him.

It's also important to learn that Kageyama does have an emotional need to see hinata flying. Hinata represents his freedom to play anywhere across the court. Kenma also notes that by restricting of Hinata they aren't at a big disadvantage so why does Kageyama give??

Well long story short Kageyama will not leave Hinata behind, he isn't only essential to winning and was never that, he wants him to improve too and wants to sneak in tosses whenever he can, like someone giving treats to their fav. He adores the relationship he has with Hinata. And by extension Kageyama bonds with many others like tanaka, tsukishima too by raising limits and trusting their best is upto them. Kageyama core development is stability and loosing control and let his spiker shine.

[rainbow-neko-artblog]

Are we gonna see you on Tumblr more often, since the ban for TikTok might be going out?

mmmmmmmm

I really hate thinking about it but i suppose yes.

I think ill have to focus on posting to youtube i guess....since i can still make monetizable money over there....and ill probably have to push my patreon more-

Hey maybe ill be able to make designs for my redbubble and- work on Tiny Tails more hah....ah....

yeah.....work.......that'll distract me from such a volatile ban of freedom of speech......

...

[insufferablemod]

Life is wild,,, I'm likely gonna say no to what has been my dream job for like 10 years or something,,,???

[moe-broey]

I've hired this thing to stand there. Menacingly.

Wow, he's so good at tha--

Nevermind.

He also sits very politely though (needs assistance to do so, but hey! He's polite.)

[styxxsyringe]

chapter 1 of reassassination's nearly done script-wise! hopefully the next chapters won't take like 6 months of on-and-off work to complete lol

[peresephoknee]

Stephen you cannot be this inflexible about abortion. its accurate to how a 19th century catholic doctor would feel about it but that doesn’t mean I have to respect him

[astarlightmonbebe]

it's easy to read the situation between li tongguang, ruyi, and yuanzhou as a love triangle on a superficial level, but looking even one step further, it's clear that there's no triangle about it. li tongguang is obsessed with ren xin; ning yuanzhou is devoted to ren ruyi. ltg's obsession is fervent and all consuming, but it's not devotion. like ruyi herself notes, his feelings to her are on the basis of her as a mother figure in his life, as a replacement for what he never received from his mother. is there an element of romantic/sexual love/desire to it? maybe. more likely he's deluded himself into thinking that, because the truth is, it's doubtful that ltg even understands what love is (platonic, filial, familial, romantic, all of the above, etc), because he has no basis for understanding. ruyi's teachings and actions towards him are the closest thing he has to hold up as an example. what he wants is ren xin, is a replica of the master he had. he doesn't want ruyi, because he doesn't actually care about ruyi. therefore, he doesn't care if she's sad, angry, mad; he just can't bear her 'abandoning' him. we saw this way back when she first meet and left him, both at thirteen and seventeen. although he distrusts her first, she saves his life and cares for him in the way no one else has, hence her first being raised on a platform in his mind. when she leaves for good, ending their master-disciple relationship/training, even though it's for official business and she's not abandoning him, in his mind that's exactly what it is. so now that she's in his life again, he won't let her leave again. he was powerless before, a child with no proper name, but now he's a recognized member of the imperial family, a man who can meet her as 'equals' (even when that's far from the truth). as a child, he could only cling to her legs and beg her, but now he has the power to keep her by his side. it's telling that when he finally gets confirmation of her identity, it's not ning yuanzhou he seeks to harm (even though he detests him and their relationship), but yang ying. yang ying is ruyi's new disciple, and as ltg doesn't know she's a woman, he only sees her as his direct replacement.

ning yuanzhou, on the other hand, is devoted to ruyi. he wants to build a new life and future with her, instead of slotting her into a spot in the life he already has. he's someone who accompanies her on walks and makes her midnight snacks, who holds her when she needs to be held and lets her go when she needs to do things on her own. when she speaks her mind, he listens, even when it makes him discontent/it's not what he wanted/wants to hear. he sees her unabashedly as his equal, and though he acknowledges her skills and abilities, or points out her naivety, he never does it to belittle her; to him, she is his peer, deserving of the highest honor and respect. he trusts her to have his back, and she has come to trust him to have her. he did what she might have thought no man would ever do: he proved himself reliable, so she came to rely on him. yuanzhou gives her freedom and autonomy as both ren ruyi and ren xin. of course they run into problems, but they both learn and grow from them, as individuals and as a couple. yuanzhou's belief in her is unwavering, but adaptable, whereas ltg's is unwavering, but frozen in time, disallowing for any new information to be presented. yuanzhou works with ruyi to accept the changes thrown her way; he seeks the core behind her actions in order to better understand her. li tongguang cannot accept the changes in ruyi's character, because they run contrary to the master he has on a pedestal in his mind.

what li tongguang wants is to return to the past, but yuanzhou offers ruyi the promise of a future, even one that might never come to fruition. there's no triangle about it.

[quietwingsinthesky]

most of those are jokes but not the one about dean going slowly insane in heaven as he realizes no one he’s talking to is real and his pseudo-son he once tried to lock in a box to keep everyone safe has now locked him in a slightly nicer box where he can talk to his Fake Mom and Fake Dad and Fake Brother all he wants, and jack even lets him think he’s escaped sometimes and made it to different universes just for fun. i want to say none of this is malicious on jack’s part, and i’m sure he believes that and that he’s being a good and kind god who doesn’t even let dean feel pain and erases his memories whenever he gets too stressed in his tiny heaven enclosure, but also. it’s a little cruel, pulling wings off of flies and all, but not evil, only the sudden overwhelming realization that he can control everything all the time in the hands of a three year old who learned all of his morality from the man he’s inadvertently torturing with paradise.

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

i love love love when a teacher says:

so i'm going to leave this assignment pretty open, there's about one sentence of vague instructions and i don't really have any guidelines for you, i just want you to interpret this however you want and make something from that, just be creative and enjoy the opportunity to explore however you want.

i'm definitely not heading for the nearest window that would be ridiculous

[average-hua-cheng-fan]

it's actually so important to me that in the memory loss extras xie lian finds out he doesn't have spiritual power anymore (because he's been having sex). it means

he feels comfortable relying on hua cheng

he's able to be 'selfish', and choose what he wants rather than what other people think is correct

he's free from the responsibility of being the most powerful martial god in heaven

he's getting thoroughly dicked down

[zeb-z]

jrwi riptide 100//

Jay wanting to be a pirate just because of the freedom it gives her in this world. No lofty goals or ambitions. That’s what it’s always been about, hasn’t it? Since La Alma, who set sail from Joaldo without a thought of his future, and even before him, it’s been a clear theme. There is freedom in the open seas, there is freedom in having an open future. Not knowing what is next because you get to decide your heading.

And they help others find their freedom as well, as they make their own journey. Whether it’s by helping them fight back against whatever boot is crushing them, or trying to help them and give them resources to continue on their journey, or other such means. They’re the best goddamn pirates because they embrace this freedom, and they use their power to help others find their freedom as well.

[basiltonpitch]

i think el would benefit from dyeing her hair a bright color

[rose-tinted-nostalgia]

I’ll never understand how a man I’ve begged to leave can pretend like I’m holding him hostage. I do, regrettably, need his support, and yet I’ve actively begged him to go over and over and over again, because I’d rather be homeless then live with this threat hanging over my head, and still, he doesn’t leave, and he pretends like he’s some god-tier husband and father, and I’m the nagging, helpless bitch of a wife who won’t put out, doesn’t appreciate his efforts, never lets him have a moment of peace, and is actively keeping him here against his will, killing him with some misery I’ve forced upon him, as if he’d allow me that kind of power.

[kyouka-supremacy]

What's p/p?

Ah, I meant to say, pp, Psycho-Pass. I usually add slashes to avoid unprompted rambles to show up in main tags, sorry if that resulted confusing.

I love Psycho-Pass. I already made a post about why bsd fans might find it enjoyable, but honestly, there's so much more to it beyond what it has in common with bsd.

The prompts for reflection this series offers are just wonderful: on the relationship between citizens and government, on pervasive systems, on freedom of choice and free will, on safety vs. freedom, on discrimination of minorities and creation of scapegoats, on propaganda and brainwashing, on the increasing and treacherous presence of technology in everyday life, on how government uses technology to control and manipulate people, on fighting the system from the inside vs. fighting the system from the outside. I should watch it again too. It's crazy good.

Akane Tsunemori - the coprotagonist of the first season, the protagonist of the second season and overall the true core and heart of the franchise - is one of the most complex and beautiful characters I ever met. Her growth and character development is truly amazing: the way she starts off as unknowing and naïve, and grows so so much from there; how her writing finds this perfect balance between becoming more mature / hardening and staying true to her beliefs - even when everyone, the system, the people she relies to, the people she looks up to - tell her that there's no other way, that it can't be. It's breathtaking. She is a breathtaking character. The way alone that no matter how conscious and aware she becomes of how cruel the world is, how unredeemable people are, how beyond saving the system is, she still keeps believing in humans… It may sound cliché by itself, but believe me, it's wonderfully executed, and her character is truly amazing. Not to mention, the way she mirrors the coprotagonist Kougami is fabulous, but this is not really about him; she's an amazing character of her own right, and I will die on this hill.

The female cast in general is all amazing honestly. Don't get me wrong, the male characters are just as complex and multilayered (and I LOVE Gino and Kou, how couldn't I), but that's… Something we're more accustomed to, while finding well written female characters is objectively much harder. Female characters in Psycho-Pass aren't written as female characters, they're written as people, just as much as their male counterparts are. They have their fears and hopes and strengths and weaknesses just like any other character. I love Yayoi for being strong and coolheaded. I love (LOVE) Shion for being her fabulous self, kind and flirty and confident and with an heart so big, and for her subverting the trope of guy in the chair by being a glamorous woman who's also incredibly competent at her job of analyst. I love Akane's friends and I don't like season 3 but Mai is genuinely awesome and a joy every time she's on screen. I love Risa so much I could die, I love how strong and independent she is, I love the dilemmas she had to face, I love her choices and how they might have been the wrong ones and how it still haunts her, I love the tragedy of her character in general, I love the doomed friendship that used to be between her Gino and Kou. I love love love Fredrica, I love her being bossy and confident, diligent and determined. There's just a lot of… Strong and independent women in Psycho-Pass, and it's not just a way of saying, they really are.

I LOVE women loving other women, canonly, on screen. The confirmation may be delegated to a small moment in the last episode of the first season, but the fact that it's still there nonetheless, and how it confirms that all the previous moments and exchanges were indeed moments and didn't leave it to ambiguity… It's nice, to say that the first season of Psycho-Pass came out in 2012. And you might have to wait eight years, three seasons, five movies for it, but the phrase “I just want to go outside, dine somewhere nice, and go for walks with someone I love” may make it worth it.

And I LOVE how all the leader positions are filled by women. It's a little funny, honestly, in the best way– despite what I made it look like so far, the Psycho-Pass cast is still men-dominated (or at least a pretty equally split 50/50?); yet all the leader positions are always filled by women: Akane and Mika and Kasei and Frederica and Karina, it's always women.

Also, Mika is a brilliant character. Of course I love her. I'm so so sorry for how much hate and criticism she gets (over being a purposely annoying character! Insane! When Dazai exists!), when she does really and excellent job at conveying “look! A fucked up brainwashed individual in a fucked up brainwashing environment! I wonder how that could have happened!”. Not to mention that her growth, her long and devious way to admitting that the system is flawed, is truly well made, too. Unpopular opinion, characters with big flaws, characters who are unsufferable and make lives impossible to everyone around them, characters who mess up again and again, are actually great to watch.

Again, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore Gino and Kou too ahah. They're both great!! But that you can probably see by your own. Gino in particular used to be my favourite, how his character does a total 180° turn. I love to see men admit their mistakes and make the choice to be better tomorrow.

About that, the relationships between the characters are AMAZING. Especially the main trio Akane / Kou / Gino, all the combinations within it are beautiful and deep and brilliant, so so enjoyable to explore and with their fair share of canon content, while still never straying to romantic territory (I mean, Akane/Kou may be going in that direction, but if that's true, that's the slowest slow burn I've ever witnessed in my life).

What's more. The world building / general premise - a dystopian world, where your predisposition to do crime can be measured and the government makes use of such technology to monitor and control the population and guarantee everyone's safety - is genuinely interesting and compelling. The aesthetic is genuinely cool (AH, now that I think about it, I've got my unfair bias for people in suits, and pp has a LOT of people in suits… ). The opening and endings feature great artists like Egoist, Ryo, Who-ya Extended and Cö shu Nie, so you're sure to love them!!

(Also, Psycho-Pass is something I used to spend entire nights talking about with a friend, and I'm always thinking about her and hold her tight to my heart in every moment so. That's worth mentioning for me, pfffttt. I love my friend so much.)

Finally, because the other Psycho-Pass post I made here keeps haunting me for the lack of trigger warnings, please be aware: Psycho-Pass DOES have trigger warnings. Pretty much for eveything you can think of. Sexual assault and gore and body horror on the top of my mind, but it's quite dark and gritty at parts in its entirety, so please please keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up.

Well, this is the end of my Psycho-Pass love letter for now. Please give it a chance if you can! I'll go rewatch it now. General watch order, in order of release, is season 1 → season 2 → movie → Sinners of the System movie trilogy → season 3 → First Inspector movie → Providence movie. I don't really like the third season or First Inspector movie (the characters are still great tho, even the newly introduced ones), and I've yet to watch Providence. The first season later came out with an extended edition of added scenes between episodes, and they're quite nice, so if you can't get ahold of it, you might want to look up for a compilation of the missing scenes still.