#i'm assuming you were referring to the bot in the message but as for the blog i just kinda forget to keep up with it

[fredits]

is there a time frame based on when freddie will be back? we miss him so much. <3

unsure for now </3 life has been hectic and i have not had the energy to figure out discord bot issues or keep up with my silly ol fredits

[elexuscal]

Protective prompt: “He(/she/they) said what to you?!” Murderbot & Pin-Lee. Who’s being protective? Up to you!

When movement triggered outside the door to Pin-Lee's apartment at 3am, local time, a full five days before she was due to return from a planet-side trip, I assumed the worse: i.e. GrayCris or other potentially hostile agent attempting a break-in.

0.2 seconds later-- long enough for me to be on my feet and formulating a response plan-- I registered the figure I was seeing as Pin-Lee herself, and settled back down.

Unexpected, but preferable.

Stil, once she was inside, I asked a message to confirm if she was okay. Pin-Lee waited a worrying long period of time (over five minutes), to respond with a curt 'fine'.

That rung my bullshit meter, but it wasn't any of my business, and also I didn't care. So I wasn't going to ask about it.

And I didn't ask her the next cycle, either, even when she gave my drone this really weird look.

And no. I didn't even ask her three cycles after that, when she ran into me unexpectedly within the halls of the Preservation Alliance government building, and she visibly flinched.

Flinching was fine. I could handle flinching. Flinching was just a thing people did, around SecUnits.

I wasn't going to say anything about it, and I didn't expect her to either.

Three hours later, she sent me a message: [I noticed you turned your drone off.]

I hadn't turned it off. It was in low-power mode. It would fully activate if/when certain key phrases/sounds were detected.

I didn't say anything about that.

Pin-Lee said, [I'm getting the sense I better apologise.]

[For what?] I said, before I could stop myself.

[For flinching like that, when I saw you in the hallway earlier,] she said, and then there was a 7 second pause before her next message. [It's not because I'm scared of you, or anything. I promise.]

[No one said you were.]

My drone was in hibernation, so I couldn't tell if she sighed or not. [I'm just in a weird head-space right now and you surprised me. I flinched and fucked up. Sorry.]

[Okay,] I said.

There was a long enough pause that I thought this conversation was over, and I had gotten back into my book. Then Pin-Lee said, [I got into a fight with my parents.]

[A fight?]

[Well, they called it an 'intervention'.]

[An intervention for what?]

[They said I was bot-drunk.]

They said what? [They said WHAT to you?]

[You heard me.] Pin-Lee stood up and started pacing around her office, which I could see, because I'd turned her drone back on.

Bot-Drunk was a Preservation-specific bit of slang, but most CR languages and cultures had their own equivilents, ranging from 'whales' to 'silicon sluts'. (Gross.) It referred to anyone who got sucked into an obsession with a chat bot, ComfortUnit, or other artificially-constructed personality, coming to view it-- and the supposed relationship attached to it-- as real.

[Wow.]

"They said," Pin-Lee ground out, "that I was working too hard. That I needed a break. Which, okay, fair, maybe I was! But that was why I came down to visit them, like they asked! And then they wait until I'm settled in, and all my childhood friends are there, to say hi, or so I assume. But then I come home one day and they're all gathered in the living room and…" She spluttered in a sort of wordless rage, which man, I kind of wish I could pull off. It looked cathartic.

"And THEN they sit me all down, and they remind me of the AI boyfriend I had when I was twelve, TWELVE. And they say that I'm falling into old traps again. And that they know that 'chat programs can be very convincing', but that 'a layer of fake skin might make you seem more realistic, you still need to keep some perspective on what really matters'…"

[My skin is fake? Could of fooled me.]

"Your emotions, too, apparently," she said, bitterly.

"Huh. Guess I can stop feeling so fucked up about them, then."

She laughed. Then she stopped, abruptly. "I'm sorry. I'm making this all about me."

I shrugged, remembered she couldn't see me, and said, [It's okay.]

"It's not. It's fucked up. It's fucked up that they'd treat you that way, that they'd talk like that to my face."

It was fucked up. But they weren't my family, so I didn't really care.

Except for the way they had very clearly fucked Pin-Lee up, I did. She didn't just look mad; I had seen Pin-Lee mad. Pin-Lee wore anger like armour, or a cape. It made her look distinguished and powerful.

This made her look… bad. It made her skin look blotchy and her eyes look red and her body look shaky.

Okay, yeah. Now I was pissed, actually.

[Want me to go down there? Then they can for themselves just how made-up I am.]

She laughed. It was a long, ugly, bitter laugh. "Don't tempt me, SecUnit. Do not fucking tempt me."

[tehjleck]

Skimming over your blog, you seems to make well-intended points. DnD 2E is pretty hardcore too. But, back on politics, I have concern that your posts are not achieving their stated purpose. On your post about "republikkkans" you say you make these posts not to preach to the choir, but to appeal to centrists who are unsure where to land... I can accept that your audience is centrists, that makes sense. But, is your goal really to convince those centrists to agree with your ideas? To sound like a reliable source of information? If so, please consider this: While the term "republikkkan" has merit since, yes, there are overtly racist republicans, that term is counterproductive when speaking to any centrist. Think about it. The definition of a centrist is that they believe the conservative party might have valid policy, they aren't sure. If you come out metaphorical guns blazing, any centrist alive will dismiss you as a radical nutjob and ignore everything you say at best, or dismiss the entire aisle you claim to represent at worst. In other words, please consider the Overton window. I advise you of this in good faith that you are not, in fact, a Russian bot that is acting out the ultimate strawman (similar to what you accuse papasmoke of.) If you do genuinely want to convince centrists, you will have make your points using centrist language. Meet them on their own terms. Know your audience. It is also worth considering the saying that "any publicity is good publicity." I don't intend to condescend, so I will assume you already know why this saying is commonly accepted. Point being, it is applicable here. If you only make posts attacking others, e.g. political groups you disapprove of, you are giving them publicity of some amount. I argue it is always preferable to do this in moderation, and instead focus on speaking positively about groups and policy you do agree with. As a disclaimer, it is valid for you to voice your opinions as you currently do, I have no intention of suppressing that. I merely hope you do not lie to yourself and claim your current posts are achieving their stated purpose. Referring back to papasmoke... I admit, their THAC0 seems pretty high, seeing as their joke definitely went over several peoples heads, but the situation was avoidable. I would recommend, upon finding a post you disagree with, checking if they are perhaps a comedian doing satire. Common practice for this check is to skim their blog to gauge intention while making interpretations in good faith. Good luck.

First, I appreciate the non-confrontational tone throughout your message.

You're correct in saying I'm not expecting to convert the diehard MAGAts - they were conned over 8 years ago - their pride is on the line, it's unfortunate, but it's unlikely they will EVER admit that they were wrong - no matter how many friends and family members abandon them.

I do understand what you're saying about not reaching the 'centrists' (as you call them) by using the term "republiKKKans". But similarly, I'm not trying to... I don't have an "intended audience" on this site... but if anything, I hope it does get under the skin of any 'republiCans" (C not three k's) enough that they fight to restore their party. I'm old enough to remember when it was just policy differences, but now they're willing to throw away democracy for a rapist conman.

I'll say, also in good faith, that the "meet them on their terms" thing could quickly lead to the "meet me in the middle says the unjust man" problem.

As for the 'publicity' thing, I'm well aware of the saying, but I'm not on tumblr dot com to be tumblr famous, I could not care less. I genuinely don't know why so many people follow me as it is... but I digress.

The fact is - I'd love to *just* be a relatively fucking anonymous d&d blog again, but I can't watch this gqp insurrectionist shit show and not speak out. Just like I can't watch christofascists as they try to suppress and regress our society without also speaking out against that.

For every jackass that makes assumptions about me being a homophobe or a bigot, like damn near everyone in that thread - there are the messages I get from people who were already questioning the religion they were forced into because they saw a post I made that showed them there are no 'divine consequences' to standing up to religious bigots or abusers in the church. That alone means I'm not going to stop being an outspoken atheist.

and... If calling Donnie Diapers a rapist conman and convicted felon who is owned by Putin makes people unhappy, I guess they'll just have to drink russian brand bleach about it.

Be safe out there, fellow human

[mamamittens]

Masterpost!

quick and dirty banner, lmao, but it does the job. In theory, this will provide a guide and links to all the different major posts I've made and some rules/info about myself! If hyperlinks don't work, let me know. I don't exactly do these often.

Warning, it is a little long, but I wanted most information to be found here for easy reference.

Commissions are [OPEN]

Me: I'm currently 26 years old, and I usually prefer female pronouns, but I really don't care if you call me casual nonbinary/masculine pronouns either. I've been a casual anime fan for years, starting with Sailor Moon and Pokemon. I'm pretty easy going in general. I'm also double-demi and no, I will not debate it with you, this is not a democracy.

Rules: I am perfectly fine with people asking questions or requests, all I ask is that you don't be a dick and if you send me private messages instead of an ask, understand that I will block you if I think you're just a bot. So try to avoid saying "Hello" and nothing else for a whole day.

I don't do role play, please don't try to get me to engage in it.

If you ask about +18 subject matter, like the 12 days of Thirst Trap event I did for Christmas, I expect you to be at least 18 and with your age in the bio, assuming you're not asking anonymously.

I do write fanfiction (I have an AO3). I'm primarily into One Piece, Undertale, My Hero Academia, Legend of Zelda, and I'm stuck in the first season of JoJo (don't ask me unless you want very long rants) at the moment. I also make art, usually just jewelry for characters (digital, I don't make physical jewelry), and am willing to do requests for specific characters.

Any +18 content will have the tag "Hand Lingerie", reblogged, if I ever do, will have "second hand lingerie" until Tumblr makes it illegal. Now just some variation of "Smut" because somehow Tumblr never learns. Might bring back "Hand Lingerie" but idk.

I can and will reject requests if I'm not comfortable with them, and I will block you if you try and push me to do it anyway. I'm doing this for free, so I have no obligation to complete these requests if I don't like them.

Any asks about when I will update pushed back the chapter (once finished) by a day. Rude asks about when I'll update the next chapter pushes back the update by a week. This effect does stack, so better hope you're the only one and I don't forget I had a completed chapter unreleased.

But if you'd like I have a Kofi!

No go's, hands down, anything involving bodily fluids often found in toilets. Sexual content explicitly involving minors. I will add to this list at will.

Jewelry posts

One Piece

Ace

Marco

Thatch

Sanji

Jinbe

Sabo

Buggy

Shirahoshi

Whitebeard

Unrelated

Demisexual/Demiromantic

OC request

@secretsnailor OC

@jordan-star OC, OC Art 2

Misc Art

OC Requests

@animeangsteng Night Out

Unrelated

Nikia OC Alt Fruit

Ambitious 3 SI Friend Group

Nikia Character Reference in OP

Nikia Work Uniform

Nikia startle (for fun)

NikiaXThatch

Headcanons

One Piece

(One Bed)

Marco

Ace

Luffy

Sabo

Road Trip

Roast Sessions

Thatch (One Piece)

Nami (One Piece)

Teach (One Piece)

Ace/Marco (One Piece)

Tony Stark (MCU)

Shitpost headcanons where I thought too hard

One Piece

Can Ace get Drunk

OP Hot Ranking is canon to me

If Ace and Mustang were fused

Where are their nipples

Marineford crack

Honey Slime Thatch (One Piece)

Ace is a Gremlin Ready to Fight

Luffy Awakened Devil Fruit Thoughts

Mystery Flesh Pit Is Good Actually

My Writing

Confess (One Piece Thatch)

The Red Lady (OC without plot in One Piece)

Exquisite Control (Ace is Scary)

OC Character Design and World Building

When the Sun Goes Down (One Piece)

Powdered Sugar (Thatch/(OC/SI)) Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3

@secretsnailor To The Letter (Whitebeard/SI)

@marco--the--phoenix Count Us Lucky

Wanted Woman AU (F!Ace) Pt. 1, Pt. 2

A Lone Melody (ongoing), also available on AO3

Oh, Sweet Child of Mine (Complete), AO3

OC Experiment Blog (One Piece)

+18 under tag, minors DNI

12 Days of Thirst Trap 2021 (One Piece)

Day 1 - Thatch

Day 2 - Nami

Day 3 - Law

Day 4 - Perona

Day 5 - Marco

Day 6 - Robin

Day 7 - Ace

Day 8 - Alvida

Day 9 - Izo

Day 10 - Tashigi

Day 11 - Sabo

Day 12 - Hina

Day 13 Raffle winner @wildfandom - Katakuri

Extra Gift for @secretsnailor - Whitebeard

December Event 2022 (mix of SFW and NSFW)

One Piece Smut

Cream of the Crop (Thatch) - Pt. 1 gender neutral Reader, Pt. 2 Female Reader

Calm Waters (JinbeXAFAB Reader)

Aloe Kisses (SaboXAFAB Reader)

Always, High or Low Tide (WhitebeardXAFAB Reader)

Firework (AceXGN Reader)

Serene Waters (JinbeXAFAB Reader)

Riptide(Yandere!JinbeXAFAB Reader) Pt. 1, Pt. 2

Put on a Show (BuggyXGN Reader)

Shake Date +500 followers

Masterlist

Spooktober 2023

Masterlist

Spooktober 2024

Ko-Fi anyone?

[cicos-macos]

I want to talk a bit about the arcade machines and Glitchtrap's power over the characters.

I'll put things below bc I'm including screenshots as well. Spoiler warning, BTW!

We all know the 3 star ending - playing Princess Quest to save Vanessa from Glitchtrap's control.

It's reported that the PQ arcade machines won't turn on for several reasons, I assume being not played in order (PQ2 MAINT LOG), or some unknown reason. (RED FLAG, OUT OF ORDER)

But nobody seems to be talking about the other two available arcade machines, accompanied by their respective messages!

First being Chica's Feeding Frenzy:

Reported to be constantly on, just like her actual in-game feeding frenzy.

Throughout the game, Chica is constantly eating (our first encounter with her is her being deep in a pile of trash), which isn't the only time it has happened, and the management + workers were concerned about her ending up in the trash compactor because of it. (SAFETY CHECK, Food Storage)

And, the second being Monty's AR-Cade machine.

Fascinating how it's the only arcade game labeled as the AR-Cade.

AR stands for Augmented reality, which basically means a version of the real world achieved through use of digital visual elements, sounds and anything else delivered via technology.

We find this message right next to Chica's arcade machine!

In the game, you play several courses that are references to previous games, however the last map shows Monty on stage, and Freddy in the trash.

So, if Princess Quest had a possessive effect on Vanessa, if Chica's Feeding Frenzy had an effect on her behavior, then Monty Golf AR-Cade had an effect on Monty as well.

Before CFF, Chica probably never cared about food as much as she does now, and before MG Monty probably never cared about the spotlight either.

Roxy Racers is unavailable/unplayable but according to the promotional images of the game (in-universe), it would play as Mario Kart or another similar racing game.

In the ending where you escape with Freddy, he is replaced by Glamrock Mr. Hippo and Monty is the face of the Fazbear industry just like his AR-Cade game shows.

So, based on all of this, I think it's fairly obvious that Glitchtrap is controlling the characters via the arcade games.

The higher-ups hired Vanessa even though she has absolutely no qualifications to work there, the higher-ups keep repairing Chica, Roxy and Monty regardless of how much financial cost they inflict (Chica by destroying herself, Roxy by destroying S.T.A.F.F. bots (as shown in SORE WINNER which nobody is talking about. She may be just as aggressive as Monty is.), and Monty both that and with his claws, as shown in Monty Upgrade which I can't link because Tumblr limits image counts.)

With this in mind, I'm absolutely sure that, eventually, Steel Wool will create an ending where we can free every character from Glitchtrap's control by having Gregory play through all the arcade games.

Also, I find it really interesting how they're placed relatively close to the area where the animatronics meet their demise - Chica's Feeding Frenzy is in the Atrium, and Monty's AR-Cade is in the middle of Monty Golf.

I don't know where Roxy Racers is located, but it obviously has to be near her racing court - and Vanny's is in her room above Fazerblaster (which is assumed to be Freddy's attraction area).

Makes me wonder, all those arcade machines in the game.. are they all controlling someone? The management/higher-ups keep doing things in favor of Glitchtrap.. maybe they all are controlled via the arcade machines?

Does the control extend beyond the Pizzaplex? Some random teen kid wanting to play a game, going back home only to be possessed by Glitchtrap... it's a terrifying thought.

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Anon Asks ! (+one NSFW one below)

1. Awe, you're not selfish. I completely understand why you feel left out. Unfortunately, people already read my SFW stuff at such a lower rate that I'm afraid a SFW Series would totally bomb. Unless I was extremely motivated, I don't see myself being able to do it.

Do me a favor and send me another Anon about SFW Series recommendations. I just asked my Discord, but I want to give them some time to respond!

2. You are so wonderful. Thank you for sending me such a lovely message not once, but twice. I appreciate you taking your time to read my work and then go even further and tell me about it.

I hope you have the best day ever 😭

3. They've been friends since they were teenagers! Las Vegas is a surprisingly small place, all things considered. They promised him back then they would let him direct a music video if they ever made it big. It's very cute.

4. Who, me? Naaah, I'm just a worm 😉 (does anyone recognize this reference? or do I just look silly?)

5. I'm assuming this is about Quid Pro Quo (although it could also be about Fuzzy Pants, lol), and I'm so happy you think so! I was worried it'd be a bit too niche, but it's great to see people enjoying it 🤗

6. I don't think I'll be able to swing a whole series of that, but I do have a couple Virgin Post-Prison Spencer WIPs. I also plan on writing a Virgin Spencer mini-series after TB&TB (called Centerfold), but it takes place when he's in graduate school/ten years later.

7. Ah, you are so sweet. And yes, I have been writing quite a lot of that lanky fucker, huh... The truth is, my answer is very simple and can be summed up in a very funny way. How do I keep writing him?

✨ a u t i s m ✨

I can honestly say I have never, ever bored myself out of anything. Other things just became more interesting for a little while. Matthew was one of my first ever special interests as a young teen. I cycle through mine for periods of a couple years at a time (I popped in here hot off my Naruto re-emergence).

Whereas a lot of people go through interests in much shorter bursts (especially those with ADHD), autistic people have a tendency to fixate for much, much longer periods. There is nothing wrong with you, we are just different ☺️

I use the "Other" MGG characters to grant myself the freedom to do other things. I honestly really wanted this to be a multi-fandom blog, but I was immediately inundated with Spencer requests that never stopped.

Maybe one day I'll introduce another obsession, but I don't see it in my immediate future. I usually have a pretty good warning that I'm slipping out of the fandom. Right now I'm mostly just sad people are leaving. I'm still going strong though, lmao!

8. I'm a firm believer in the idea that Laziness Does Not Exist, but I totally understand. You're actually describing something experienced by ALL writers, although having ADHD will no doubt exacerbate the problems. I do not have ADHD, but the good news is that ADHD has a large number of treatment options (both pharmaceutical and otherwise).

I think you can talk to a trusted adult about it if you'd like. I know very little about the diagnostic process of ADHD, but I do know that it's significantly more straightforward than most autistic testing. A number of my friends got a diagnosis in less than a month (granted, they are all adults, and their parents were willing to cooperate).

A diagnosis won't make your parents (or anyone else) believe you, though. It's just one of those things you have to learn to deal with. But with the case of ADHD specifically, because there are pharmaceutical treatments, it might be worth it. I personally absolutely abhor stimulants (and am also medically contraindicated). But I'm autistic, so they don't help me, lol!

As for being more motivated generally, I think a lot of it is literally just forcing yourself to do it. You have to get over this idea of writing it perfect and just start writing SOMETHING, even if it's garbage. You can always edit it.

Fanfiction is so much easier with this because it doesn't have to be perfect, or even good (lol). It's just for fun! It's not an easy thing to do, but it is so rewarding. I know a lot of people in my Discord like utilizing our Writer Bot to have writing "sprints" where you are timed and see how many words you can write in short bursts.

Not how I function, but it works for some people! We are all different, and that's what makes us wonderful 🥰

9. Awwwe, I have so many Hozier songs on their playlist! I listen to him whenever I need general inspiration. Like most basic white bitches, I do love me some Hozier. Also, I am honored.

NSFW WARNING, MINORS DNI

Hahah, good news is I have a number of fics about that premise! H2M, Different Kind of Daddy, Big Bad Wolf, Protege, sections of the NSFW Alphabet, Thimble of Honey, aaand... Spoiled. I think that's most of them.

It will come up VERY briefly in TB&TB. I'm positive I have other Spencer WIPs that include it, but I couldn't tell you which ones. It's requested of me very often 😅 which is fine, it is a kink I have IRL!

I agree, though. It makes me feel things.

[rowanthestrange]

I think the intended theme of Kerblam was hugely overshadowed by the fact that the episode didn't address that Kerblam didn't even try to keep their workers safe. The main issue I found was that the scene at the end implied the murders couldn't have been prevented without the doctor's expertise. A responsible employer would have supended work until the power drains were fixed (I'm assuming that's why any security systems were down allowing charlie to escape notice)

*hides face in hands*

You’re right. You are - my expression is not…oh it’s not for you.

I mean I’m not sure there was a set intended theme, it was bothsided to hell, but yeah, definitely…there was definitely an issue there with it not actually addressing anything.

*leans back*

The power drains were - in my understanding - because of both Terrorist Boy messing around with the system, but far more importantly, was because the system itself was trying to channel a lot of energy into one place. The power-drain that occurs when the bot tries to kill him for example.

It isn’t clear. How much of it is under the system’s control is not explored.

Leading neatly to your next point - the system needs the Doctor’s expertise.

Why?

It would have succeeded in killing Terrorist Boy had it been smarter about it. Not done it around people. Sure maybe it’s trying to basically scream ‘He’s the bad guy!’ but that’s not obvious, nor apparently necessary, because kill him and there’s no backup, no deadman’s handle, you’re done. Statistically the guy has been alone at some point, and there were no ‘we cannot murder’ rules implied, so off you go chums.

Maybe the robots didn’t want to murder him - a good theme that would have tied perfectly into both the terrorism and the themes being built in this series, and does work with them knowing the Doctor would stop it.

But that didn’t happen. I just made that up. None of this stuff was explained, nothing addressed. The roots for this episode are so good and go nowhere.

Explain why they don’t care about power outages in a 90% automated factory. Use it for character development with the woman - she doesn’t care and is lighthearted about it because she’s in people, while the rest of the company is having kittens - because that is a big deal and everyone would have noticed.

And this place clearly can’t just shut down for a month, are you joking?! Unless you’re playing a Bad Wolf Satellite Whatever with this, the consequences would be absolutely huge. Space Amazon shuts down, only gives its workers half that time off as paid leave, and it’s clearly the backbone of the Kandokan economy, that’s on last legs enough that Kira’s never got a goddamn Amazon delivery in her life, but also where six year olds print metal pendants for their Daddies.

And if you still want to do all this, then make it a goddamn point that THIS IS WHY YOU NEED PEOPLE. Not in meaningless goddamn packing, but that if you had PEOPLE paying close attention, they would have been more likely to catch the flaws in the system, or notice it being abused and be able to act on it. Slade was clearly useless - cut that character, he’s only a red herring anyway, and use all that time and energy to give us context with the robots.

Warning From The Future: This fix-it got long

But if I’m allowed to make changes, just off the top of my head, I axe Kira too. Don’t kill off Lee Mack (no I’m not gonna learn the character’s name) so quickly, and then you already have a ‘human’ element in the plot and he fits it well. Kira only exists for man-pain and to humanise Terrorist Boy - which you’re already doing with Graham (Their scenes should have been much the same, but highlighting some extremist tendencies - particularly his odd choice of referring to the system as He - and clearly indicating that no-one talks to this kid enough to see them). Also fewer humans would help sell this idea of the 90-10% thing. Swap team positions - the Doctor goes down and meets Mack (because she’s already sympathetic to the robots so needs to become less so, and this leads to lots of little opportunities to dig at Amazon, capitalism, workers rights etc), and Yaz and Ryan are on packing. It gives Ryan a chance to be good at something in front of Yaz for a change, lets Yaz do some competent police work that actually goes somewhere (seriously McTighe), and Ryan we’ve seen be sceptical but sweet before with the baby situation, so therefore he takes notice of the robots (because he needs to be more sympathetic to them and is a better audience avatar). The combination of him being emotionally intelligent, and Yaz cognitively intelligent, means they work out the origin of the ‘Help Me’ which also fits the fact that Yaz was the only one to notice the message at all. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Mack are facing robot villains. Hmm that’s weird. They run to find each other, Yaz and Thirteen probably doing the grabbing each others forearms thing, and say at the same time “The robots are trying to kill us” “The robots are asking for help”, look at each other in confusion, and that’s when Graham and Terrorist Boy (foreshadowing) show up with the maps. Woman (don’t remember if she had a name, sorry) can show up again, having done some digging and phoning around (she uses a large phone, not a large tablet), and has found the people never made it back home. She’s panicking, the Doctor still gets her ‘If you are lying to me’ moment, etc. etc. things progress, plot as before, but instead of losing Kira, we lose Mack - pendant left behind. In trying to find him, the tracker lures Yaz and Ryan away from the others (Terrorist Boy’s intent was to get everyone, but that’s this Scooby-Doo team for you with the splitting up). Ryan is the one that nearly gets blown to bits by the bubble-wrap because of course he does, his defining character trait is to effing touch everything. Terrorist Boy gives himself away by legging it as Ryan moves to grab it, and Yaz saves him, cus she has good instincts and reflexes. Maybe a robot then says “Would you like me to dispose of this an an environmentally conscious way” - subtext layers, and at a safe distance, pops it - the system showing what damage it can do. This also acts as a set-up for the scene with the robots exploding it later, and makes it look less like the Doctor committing mass robo-murder (and prevents the robots from having to be deliberate murderers themselves). Doctor having got Twirly etc. hijacks a bot teleporter, and with the Woman and Graham finds the soup, etc. etc. same as before. That Terrorist Boy pegged it before, makes sense as to why Yaz didn’t catch him and restrain him, and everyone meets up again. This time though, we have some space. Have the Doctor excitedly (almost obscenely) working things out, while Graham explains the soup - clearly ruffled, and Yaz gets the Woman to bring up the details of Lee Mack’s family. If there’s thirty seconds to spend on how she’s had to call in a lot of dead bodies but never explain it to people’s families, do it now, leave her staring at the phone. Doctor comes to her excited conclusion, and the Terrorist Boy suddenly shows up threatening people with a detonator. Yaz stands (she looks extra shaken), but she’s behind, clearly looks to the Doctor who takes charge (characterisation, shows where she sees herself and her trust in the Doctor, and explains why she isn’t more active yet). Scene, scene, etc, etc, all the bullshit about millennials = bad obviously removed, Graham actually gets most of the attempted calming lines, and it nearly works. But as it fails, the Doctor gets in with him “Killing the people he was supposed to be trying to save”, that to him the people are no more real than the robots - oh no? Prove it. Grabs the phone from Yaz’s hand, which is still on, turns the volume up, and forces him to listen to the six year old asking for her Daddy and telling him to stop being silly. It’s almost on the edge of cruelty, and we see that glimmer in her eyes again. It doesn’t work. It’s his plan, his vision, he’s going to be the one to take control, he he he. But it’s not funny. It’s all about him and his power fantasy, and that becomes increasingly clear the longer you let him talk. (Him stomping on the device is more explicitly visually framed as a mirror for the Doctor doing the same for the neo-neo-nazi’s Vortex Manipulator, but it isn’t explained, just complex forshadowing for the Doctor’s monster breakdown later). Yaz never grabs for him and fails, we just go straight to him running into the bots - maybe standing on the balcony railing first to get a proper little-hitler shot above his tin soldiers, then jumping down to hide among them. But as before, the Doctor doesn’t stop him getting blown to pieces. At the end, the need for more humans to manage the system and particularly to work with each other is noticed, and that’s what the human positions should be for - what humans are good at, noticing patterns and each other. There’s no ‘lol Graham what are you like’ moment in the TARDIS, it’s just Yaz’s feeling of failure as a Police Officer shining unspoken in her eyes, and her request to go see the daughter personally being honoured, while Graham is drinking a cup of tea and watching Ryan intently (clearly been hammered by events, but taking comfort in his own odd-but-blessedly-harmless boy), while Ryan pokes and prods at Twirly, whom apparently they never actually gave back. And it ends with the Doctor once again being rebuffed as company, Yaz leaving the TARDIS, kid’s necklace in hand, and walking into a room across the camera - the Kerblam! poster with Mack’s face on the wall behind her.

I’ve only watched the episode once, and I don’t have a transcript to refer to yet, so might be missing some pieces, but broadly speaking.

And I appreciate that the Kira scene and the ‘You had a plan, but you weren’t expecting to fall in love’ is almost certainly meant to be a Direct Mirror for a future scene with The Doctor and Yaz, but without Chibnall over my shoulder and saying that has to be in there, the transition to the concept of general filial/agape love works for me.

Apologies. Bit longer than I expected. I just started writing and it kept flowing. Apparently I did have some concrete ideas about how to fix it. Sorry, wow.