#he may live I guess

[travellingtribble]

I'm in my feels thinking about how fucked up the TOS crew ended like

Kirk got stuck in the nexus from ~2293 to 2371 only to die again, for good, as soon as he got out? Come on. come on man.

Bones got old. like really old. and didn't get to see Kirk again??? It's been a while since I watched the TNG episode with McCoy, I don't remember what he says, but he was like 150 years old. Did he ever even see Kirk before he got stuck in the Nexus. Did he ever see Spock? (I'd hope so, Spock disappears years later, in Picard if I'm correct?)

Spock was... around doing Spock stuff. And then Kirk died and did Spock even know? did someone tell Spock that his literal soulmate died. twice. and then Spock got stuck in another universe, a reality slightly different from his own, where everyone is younger than him and Jim is not really Jim and he has his own Spock anyway and his planet is gone and he lived the rest of his days in the Kelvin timeline, alone.

And Scotty got stuck in a transporter buffer for 75 years. That's so long. They had to tell him Kirk was gone? (although, they were together when that happened, weren't they? they were on the Enterprise-B, technically Scotty knew that Kirk was "dead" didn't he? I guess spending 75 years stuck in a buffer mode will screw up your memory though.) Did he see Spock again? Did he see Bones again before either of them died?

Basically the only ones we didn't see explicitly (or implicitly) die or disappear of the OG crew are Uhura, Chekov and Sulu. Where were they? what were they doing? did they know about Kirk? about Scotty? about Spock?

Sorry but like. that is so fucked up. why does nobody talk about this!!!

[fisheito]

I started reading beastars so now HE's reading beastars .wait

THEY'RE reading beastars

[robinfollies]

Been really pondering Fantoccio and the cursed citizens lately… like, if you’re stuck in a city for 15 years with some of your only company being these cursed globby versions of the people that used to surround you normally, you’d start to Notice Things that remind you of who they used to be, right?

[deus-and-the-machina]

you know the contrast between how Vergil is presented vs thinking too hard about Vergil’s story is pretty funny. Man’s reputation is this iconic badass, the pinnacle of what video game rivalries can be, the coolest guy to play as, the guy who breaks every game he’s added to,

and then you go to the story and like. man’s lost his free will and autonomy at 19 and then came back a fractured man half of which was a lovecraftian eye beast the other half of which was a chronically ill goth man. and then he reunites and hes in like his 40s now I believe but legit the last time he was actually in a game where he wasn’t being mind controlled when he was 19 which is both sad but also thinking about how this guy who’s considered one of the top badasses of gaming has never really lived life outside of being a teenager.

Anyways this is the secret comedic potential of post DMC5 for Vergil because not only has the human world probably changed a fair bit in terms of technology, if he’s sticking around Dante he’s gonna actually have to learn in depth how taxes and grocery shopping work. Amazing.

[pinacoladamatata]

Man like. I really hope the theories about 'redeeming Solas' ending being to die/mirror his friend wisdom where he dies but will eventually get respawned as a 'new' him, aren't true. Because ngl that's. A very unappealing ending imo. Like that isn't worth the 10 year wait at all.

[picklesinabottle]

I think I would blame odysseus less if his reasoning was more "you are the ones who killed the cow when I specifically told you not to" or even "you all literally stabbed me" but it's just. Not that. And I don't think it's supposed to be? Like sure, they could be considered factors in his decision but when it comes down to it, it's really all about penelope

[gender-luster]

i need a spinoff of dead boy detectives about all the sad lonely gays the dbda left in port townsend (jenny, monty, the cat king)

[omgkalyppso]

not that the dragon age inquisitor didn't kill a large number of people or leverage power in a way that didn't have consequences for people without power, but. i do hope that in veilguard a reunion between lavellan (romanced or otherwise) and solas, allows lavellan to confront solas about how he "[you] killed people, killed our people, killed my people." like; he knows, but so rarely does he have someone who knows him willing to look him in the eye as they tie an anvil of guilt around his throat.

and i say this with utmost affection. lmao

[lord-squiggletits]

On the MegOP fandom trend of saying "Optimus should apologize to Megatron"

(Speaking specifically for IDW1, though it applies to a lot of MegOP especially ones that do continuity soup with heavy reference to IDW1)

I was talking to a friend in DMs and they mentioned a common headcanon/fanfic trope that I also concurred with, and both of us said it's something that bothers us: a common take in the MegOP fandom goes basically along the lines of "If Optimus had just apologized to Megatron, the war would've ended" (or other variants including "if he'd tried harder to understand Megatron/work in collaboration with him").

And firstly, this is incorrect for a number of reasons:

There were attempts at peace negotiations during the war, but they fell through. So Optimus WAS trying to work with Megatron to the point of participating in formal diplomatic meetings.

Optimus tried multiple times on page to convince Megatron to just stop fighting and work with him for peace (Autocracy, Chaos Theory) that Megatron rejected. Given that these on-page examples take place at the start of the war and at the end of the war respectively, it makes sense that Optimus asking Megatron for collaboration is something he was trying/willing to do the entire time. So again, Optimus was always willing AND ATTEMPTING to work with Megatron and find a joint solution

Even before the war when Optimus was still Orion, he was very explicitly inspired by Megatron's writing and names Megatron as one of the people who "opened his eyes" to the wrongs of Cybertronian society. So how is it that people claim "the war went on for too long because Optimus never tried to understand Megatron" when OP literally named Megatron as one of his biggest idols, thus implying that OP does understand Megatron's ideals

But the primary purpose of this post wasn't to defend Optimus, actually. Even though I personally think Optimus did plenty (dare I say, everything) to try to end the war, there are some who may still think otherwise, so instead of arguing about whether Optimus did "enough", or who should apologize to whom, or who "deserves the blame" for starting/continuing the war, I'd actually rather talk about this:

No matter who is most "to blame" for the war, it's my firm belief that neither Megatron nor Optimus would even expect/demand the other to apologize to them at all.

On Megatron's side, he would never seek to judge Optimus negatively for the decisions to the point of saying "you wronged me, apologize." Whether it's evil Megatron who doesn't care about atrocities and revels in an opportunity to expose Optimus as a hypocrite, or post-war/Autobot Megatron who knows that his own evil actions are irredeemable, the idea of Megatron judging Optimus and demanding an apology for the war specifically strikes me as out-of-character. Why would Megatron demand or even want an apology from Optimus when Megatron knows fully well that he has his own sins to bear, he prolonged the war for his own selfish/material gain, and that he is responsible for an untold amount of suffering? Demanding an apology would imply that Megatron sees himself as the wronged party and Optimus as the wrongdoer, but by the end of the war, Megatron is too aware of his own part in the war to ever demand such a thing of Optimus. Even if he DID think that Optimus was "equally to blame" for the war (which he doesn't/wouldn't, btw), Megatron's own feelings of guilt would prevent him from trying to seek the petty satisfaction of the moral high ground or making Optimus beg for his forgiveness.

Additionally, Megatron knows Optimus very well as a person: he knows that the position of leadership is full of "loneliness [and] agonizing self-doubt" for Optimus (Chaos Theory) and that "when Optimus hurts others, he hurts himself" (MTMTE). Another reason that Megatron wouldn't demand nor want an apology from Optimus is because Megatron knows Optimus so well that he already knows that being a war leader fills Optimus with immense guilt and suffering. Given that Megatron knows about Optimus' self-doubt and guilt, why would he even need an apology when he already knows how much Optimus regrets the war and desperately wishes/wished for it to end?

Then, as established in the previous paragraphs, Optimus is too full of guilt for his part in the war (both before it started and in being unable to stop it sooner) to demand an apology from Megatron. Again, demanding an apology would put Optimus in an implied position of moral superiority and/or victimhood, but Optimus doesn't see himself as morally superior or as a victim (or rather, he sees himself as being responsible for these bad things happening and internalizes this as a duty to do better/fix wrongdoings). In other words, Megatron and Optimus both share this view of themselves and each other: Their hands are so dirty, and they both feel such guilt over this, and they know each other well enough to know that the other feels this way as well. Because both of them feel blame for the war and are acutely aware of their own flaws/part in suffering, both of them feel far too responsible for the war happening for them to ever blame their archnemesis for "not trying harder" or "being responsible for the war."

Hell, if you even look at the socio-political climate of Cybertron before the war started, neither Megatron nor Optimus were the ones who put this conflict into motion. The corrupt legacy of the Primes, Functionism, class issues-- all of these things existed before Megatron and Optimus did. Even once they started doing things like writing about social issues (M) or fighting against the Senate (OP), both of them were "underlings" in sense that they weren't leaders:

Megatron's writings may have inspired the Decepticon movement, but that movement existed as an independent entity with its own leaders and speakers long before Megatron became the "official" ruler of the Decepticons. He wasn't even the leader of the 'Cons until he took control of the gladiator arena and the nonviolent sections of the Decepticons were (presumably) subsumed into the underground, exploitative battle culture that Megatron created.

Optimus-as-Orion was a police officer to start, but even once he started going against the Senate, he mainly worked in collaboration with others like Senator Shockwave and Zeta (later Zeta Prime), who he either saw as his idols or who were literally superior to him in rank due to government/military structures.

So with this in mind, even from a social level, while Megatron and Optimus may have been "catalysts" of a sort that caused the war to escalate to an outright planetary/galactic level, the scenario is too complex to solely lay the blame for the war at either of their feet. I'm not confident in saying that Megatron/Optimus would explicitly think of this when talking to each other, but what I'm trying to say is that M/OP were just catalysts in a long chain of brewing tension that exploded into a war. Even if one could claim that one of them "started" or "escalated" the war, the social issues that caused the war and the positions of power that allowed them to become leaders in the first place were falling into place before either of them actually BECAME leaders.

In other words, this shared fate of being the final reaction that exploded a societal conflict into outright war... Megatron and Optimus both have that in common. And because of this, I really don't think either of them would even think to ask the other to apologize because they're both in such similar positions, with such similar feelings of guilt and responsibility, that they understand each other's feelings without words. To demand an apology would be akin to taking that shared vulnerability/guilt and stepping on it, attempting to claim that one is right/superior and the other is wrong/inferior, and that the inferior one needs to grovel and take responsibility for the bad things that happened.

[give-grian-rights]

guys i need y'all to remember that superheroes have existed for So Many years . so you get to ask yourselves "woww why didn't you save them" . Superman where were you during the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster . Spider-Man how dare you let 9/11 happen

[cinnamonsikwate]

watching the first 2 episodes of frieren last year shook me so bad i still can't get myself to continue it, but between what i remember of it and the nightmares episode of dungeon meshi i can't stop thinking about the ways laios would prepare marcille for his death. what would he leave behind to remind her that he (and by extension all the people she loved and who loved her) are still with her in spirit, even if not in body?

[dreamyeyes26]

Alcaraz invented a new sport-speed tennis.

[forcebookish]

it hurts me deeply that gun has never been in the closet but is still ashamed of being gay like his mom did such a number on him that he internalizes everything, assumes he makes everyone uncomfortable or they regard him with disgust, and just lets his employees make homophobic comments and baselessly accuse him of sexual harassment

[vigilskeep]

Whenever I think about your Keir I think about Bethany telling Anders he reminds her of Malcom. I’m sure that won’t ever affect Keir ever.

bethany is my favourite mage bc she never misses with that psychic damage

but really he and anders aren’t even a thing in act 1 so it’s less like “PLEASE stop comparing my crush to our father” and more like “oh fuck off i spend my entire life trying to act like our dad and one (1) mage rolls up and suddenly he’s dad??”

[amazingspider-z]

@wazzappp got me into ghost rider (v. robbie reyes) and let me play with some ideas plus mine.

so.

obviously, dying in a comic book universe means. less than nothing, half the time (unless you're a regular person, in which case rip), but man if your origin has you dying i think the technically completely and utterly dead angle should be leaned the hell in.

most of the time Robbie does look very alive from literally every standpoint (providing you dont look too close at his insides but. more on that later) but i think its fun to work with the idea that the magic/willpower/however it works has a time limit connected to his rider form-the longer he goes without transforming, the more it starts to fail, resulting in things like the vent and suit markings (<concept from wazzapp) becoming more prominent and metallic, his good eye getting milky and dull, any injuries gained not hurting, but also not healing, his skin losing vibrancy but also becoming kind of gray-ish because of increasing mercury levels in his blood (<another wonderful idea from wazzapp), and if he puts off burning up for long enough, even things like rigor mortis and livor mortis (blood pooling due to gravity) to start to set in if he stays still for long enough and coughing up toxic metal

by virtue of burning up his whole entire body, becoming the ghost rider resets the clock on his limit, although things get a bit wobbly once he realizes he's actually dead and he didn't resuscitate-resuscitate, on account of the wavering in the subconscious belief that helps hold him together

also, i think it's fun if Robbie's skull is always made of metal, not just when he's the Ghost Rider, it's just that. usually you can't see it (and bonus if he's working at least partially on zombie-esque rules, having metal protecting your brain is handy)

[kedicatt-cotl]

What was baabaa like before the whole genocide of the sheep, or at least before their execution?

Baabaa was born in a distant village with population of only about 20 sheep, one of many dozens villages like that.

The village didn't have a name and wasn't associated with any cult, and despite not all of it's inhabitants being related by blood, everyone in the flock was equal and considered each other parts of one big family.

The life in the sheep village was simple — they've been living in tents, raising lambs and spending their time gathering and growing herbs. Baabaa didn't stand out much. He was one of a few young rams, an older brother figure to multiple little siblings.

The genocide started when Baabaa was a teenager. The village was very distant, so they haven't heard anything about the situation in the outside world for the longest time, and even when they did find out, it never really felt like something that would actually reach their godforsaken grassland. For them, the life just kept going… At the point when Lamb was captured, he was in his 20s.

By now, Lamb's memories of his past life became a blur — part of it is a side effect of bearing a Crown, the other part is just effect of the time that has passed since then.

Baabaa has some of his old skills and habits, and occasionally gets déjà vu. He remembers only some fragments, the simple things — the faces of his flock and their voices, what they used to wear and do, but once he tries to focus on details like their names, the memories slip through his fingers like a fleeting fever dream.

They've been his family, the closest people he had until recently, and yet he doesn't miss them more than you'd miss a pleasant dream after waking up.

Their deaths may be permament, but life goes on, and everything keeps changing.