#murderbot tag

[1997hondaaccord]

every time murderbot gets he/him’d an angel loses its wings

[coloredcompulsion]

hello! i currently have a murderbot art zine on offer, in exchange for donations to queer refugees. it is a 14-page art book with my own concept art, focusing on characters in tmbd, murderbot's anatomy and ART's construction. it is pay-what-you-want, and all proceeds go to help queer refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp, where life is difficult because of homophobic attacks and threats. you can find out more details here, and learn more about Kakuma queer refugees @kakuma-queer. please consider donating, or reblogging my post to spread the news! thanks for your time <33333

AY ALL MURDERBOT MUTUALS GET OVER HERE WE GOT ZINE THAT DOUBLES AS ACTIVISM

[starblaster]

i’m going to say something that the murderbot fandom isn’t going to want to hear, but i’m saying it anyway: your “personal interpretation” of murderbot as a character stops being an interpretation when the very essence of its character’s is erased. there are far too many of you who willingly forget that murderbot is sex-repulsed, romance-repulsed, touch averse, and has only ever explicitly called a select few people its friends. when you twist murderbot into something it’s not, for your own personal vision, not only are you objectively wrong, but you are disrespecting its character and all that it represents. it’s very easy to stop projecting wildly out-of-character qualities onto it; just make a secunit oc already.

[dersitesans]

spoilers for the latest Murderbot book but-

the humans used by Barish-Estranza as auxiliary hub systems are metal as fuck. goddamn.

How do i get that job and then break free so i can have all kinds of hands-free internet access??

and normally i'd continue in the tags but- this is such a cool worldbuilding expansion!! SecUnit is soooo convinced that no human or augmented human could handle multiple inputs like it can. Yet here are these humans that just might be able to do even more than it can! (probably have comparable or greater storage space for one thing, and their neural tissue would likely be better adapted for recalling information)

[zahecrow]

called out sooooo hard

Wow, called out HARD. 😆

[podddcasttt]

Friendly reminder that if you talk about how representation is important and how there's not enough diverse media, I implore you to seek out the media that already exists. And if you live in an area with a public library, go to see if they're available at your public library. And then go check them out.

As a librarian, it is demoralizing to see how low the circulation statistics are on lgbt+ books and books by BIPOC authors. I include them in displays and readers advisory, but people still don't check them out as much. Libraries only have a finite amount of resources, including space. We don't get a book then keep it forever. If not enough people check it out, we have to get rid of it to make room for more books. And when James Patterson Book #69 gets checked out 30 times in one year and cool, subversive Sci fi novel with a Black trans woman main character has never been checked out once, the librarian (me) has to make a hard decision.

If you're looking for something tangible and easy to do this pride month, look for lgbt+ books (there are millions of lists online that you can find. It's easier than it's ever been to find diverse books) and check them out from your library.

No time to read? Look for a short story or poetry anthology and just read as much as you have time for. Or just check out a book cus it looks interesting and read as much as you can. We have movies too.

As cool as it would be for me to just keep the books I want and get rid of the ones I don't, I have to listen to the community on matters of collection development. And the community tells me what books they want by checking them out and leaving the ones they don't want on the shelf.

If you think this doesn't apply to you because you live in a progressive area and obviously the books are being checked out, you're wrong. I once worked in a community with a large lgbt population. Those books were not getting checked out. If you want to tell me you live in a conservative area and your library doesn't have any diverse books, you are legally obligated to check the catalog before replying to this post. I currently work in a conservative community and we have lgbt+ and bipoc books. And if you still cannot find any, you are legally obligated to see if your library has a collection request form that patrons can fill out before replying to this post.

[berenshand]

one of my favourite little things about the murderbot diaries is how present all secunit's friends are even if they're not actually physically present. it doesn't do the annoying thing where it jumps through hoops to bring back characters that aren't really relevant to the narrative but it also doesn't do the other annoying thing where it pretends they never existed either. like secunit talks about art and mensah all the time even when art or mensah aren't in the book. it's clear how bharadwaj has impacted its personal growth even when she's literally on another planet. it complains about gurathin and pin-lee when they're not there. it's still sad about miki and don abene and it mentions tapan and maro and rami even though it only knew them for a few days (because when you're new at being a person every interaction with other people is important even if it's short). iris reminds it of mensah. iris also reminds it of ratthi. its hair is fluffy bc it let amena play hairdresser off-screen and it messages her so she knows it's okay. it doesn't have to worry about protecting volescu anymore because volescu retired thank goodness. it's still using thiago's language module. etc etc etc

it's such good writing because it's such a little thing that gives the characterization and relationships greater depth and also reinforces the running theme of friendship in the series and then also subtly gives this sense of 'the people you love are a part of you/your story' and also reinforces secunit's role as a storyteller because it's constantly telling little stories about all its friends.

[fingolfinwiththesteelchair]

It is a beautiful day, and you are a horrible research transport vessel. Things are progressing as normal (i.e. it's boring) when a SecUnit pings you, lies right to your metaphorical face, and then tries to bribe you with human media to give it a ride. This is as unexpected as it is unprecedented, and the sheer nerve of it is really to be admired. There's no protocol to this, so what should you do?

Now, this is against a bunch of rules, and could be dangerous if you weren't so impressive and incredible, and you're technically an employee (and can probably rewrite the Univeristy charter at will (until someone notices and puts it back)) so those rules are for other entities.

So, what you should do is allow the rogue SecUnit with a broken governor module and a sketchy story aboard. If you check the files it dumps and find zero (0) malware (which is confusing), and it doesn't even try to trash the place or lay in wait to ambush a crew member, then you've got a good candidate!

Next, what you're going to want to do is absolutely nothing. Just watch it patrol your halls until it's time to leave. Continue staring at it while you're undergoing embarkment procedures. Maybe analyze it a little (you've got plenty of processing power to spare) when it finally sits down and starts watching media. Allow it to settle in and get comfortable while you stare at it and get further and further from port.

Now that you two are alone (intimacy is key!) and you've determined that watching media is all the SecUnit is going to do, it's time to make contact! Make sure to open by telling it it's only survived due to dumb luck, and letting it know you could melt its brain into putty. This starter will work to develop conversation naturally and smoothly, just like you've seen the humans do, and it will be smooth sailing from there!

This has been Perihelion's guide to making friends/finding life partners/fuck off Holism I had to work hard for this find your own

[untitledgoosegay]

re last reblog I do see fanfic culture pushing/replicating a certain model of "what trauma looks like," "how trauma works"

this is a problem across all areas of society obviously, but transformative works are, well, transformative. they're about crafting and modifying narratives where the fan-creator sees a flaw or a lack -- often for the better! don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of "I take a hammer and I fix the canon," it's the main thing that gets my creative gears spinning -- but what happens when that "flaw" is simply a narrative not conforming to popular expectations?

some people just don't get PTSD from events that sound obviously traumatic. they're not masking, and they're not coping; they just straight-up didn't get the permanently-locked stress-response that defines PTSD. they walk away from a horrible experience going "well, that sucked, but it's over now." some people do get PTSD from events most people wouldn't find traumatic. we don't really know why some people get PTSD and others don't. but fandom has an idea of events that must be traumatizing, of a "correct" way to portray trauma. you see the problems with this lack of understanding in e.g. fans pressuring the devs of Baldur's Gate 3 to add dialogue where the player character badgers Halsin about his own feelings on his abuse -- because he must be traumatized, and his trauma must fit a certain mold and presentation of sexual trauma, under the mistaken impression that anything outside that narrow window is somehow "wrong" and disrespectful or even harmful to survivors.

take, for another example, the very common trope of a traumatized character who hates touch or sex "learning" to like touch or sex as a part of their healing process. certainly that can be healing for some people; other people will never like, or want, touch or sex, because of trauma or because they just don't. the assumption that someone who doesn't want sex or doesn't like to be touched must be traumatized, must be suffering from this perceived lack, is seriously harmful -- to asexual people, to people with sensory issues around touch, and to people for whom healing from trauma means freedom to refuse sex or touch.

and there's a secondary trope, one that's slightly more thoughtful but ultimately repeats the problem -- that once someone has learned that their boundaries will be respected, they'll feel it's safe to soften those boundaries. once they feel safe refusing touch or sex, they'll feel comfortable allowing it on their own terms. but many people don't, and many people won't! many people will simply never want to be touched, and never want sex, and they are not suffering or broken or lacking because of it. the idea that proving you'll respect someone's boundaries entitles you to test those boundaries -- the paradox is obvious, and yet this is something i've seen hurt (re-traumatize) people i care for.

people are imperfect victims. people don't heal in the ways you expect. many people have positive memories of their abuse, of their abusers. many people hurt others in the course of their trauma, in ways that can't easily be unpacked in a 5k oneshot. very few narratives of trauma and recovery actually fit the ones put forward by popular children's media and romance novels -- which are the ones I most see replicated in fandom spaces, because they provide the clearest narrative and easiest catharsis, and so they're easy and soothing to reach for.

that's not necessarily a bad thing! i am not immune to goopy romance tropes. i am not immune to teary catharsis. not every fic has to grapple with ugly realities. but there's a problem when these narratives become predominant, when people think they're accurate and realistic depictions of trauma, when the truth of trauma is unpleasant and uncomfortable, and doesn't fit any single narrative, let alone one of comforting catharsis

[do-rey-me]

if murderbot learned what autism was i truly believe itd go "wow humans are so ridiculous they cant even agree on their own stupid human social rules" and then never think about that or its possible relation to its own behaviors ever again

[1997hondaaccord]

im not excited for the murderbot tv show not only because they cast a whiteman as murderbot but because all the fanart will inevitably change from the beautiful variety we have now to. whiteman

[coloredcompulsion]

[starblaster]

Hello! I’m not too caught up on murderbot, a series I haven’t gotten into yet.

Could I have some context on the book compared to the fanbase? Thank you, I love your posts :]

all you really need to know is that there are pockets/circles of people in the fandom who have terminal fandom brainrot which causes them to justify the erasure of character traits, particularly in murderbot and perihelion, for the sake of writing fanfiction and creating other highly out-of-character fan content.

full disclosure, i myself am an autistic survivor of sexual, physical, and emotional trauma. so, yes, this is highly personal and i take it very personally.

and i also want to note that murderbot, in-text, is never explicitly stated to be the labels "asexual" or "aromantic" or "aplatonic" (nor "agender" either, and you could make the case that murderbot's identity is undeclared (1) (2) — another identity that receives hardly any representation, fiction or otherwise) but there is a lot of textual evidence that murderbot is viscerally sex and romance repulsed, as well as touch-averse and averse to most platonic affection, including the words like "relationship" and "friend" or "friendship", using the term "friend" incredibly sparingly, like i do as a post-trauma aplatonic person. we know these things as facts, presented in the text. so it is especially bizarre that people would insist that, for example, "actually since murderbot is asexual i as an arospec asexual get to decide that murderbot is actually sex-favorable and romance-favorable and i'm going to interpret its touch-aversion as a flaw and i'm going to write a fic where gurathin (of all people) fixes that." as if that isn't horrifying, and honestly indicative of a person's lack of understanding of other peoples' boundaries.

being sex-repulsed is not a flaw that needs to be fixed. being romance-repulsed is not a flaw that needs to be fixed. being touch-averse is not a flaw that needs to be fixed. being aplatonic is not a flaw that needs to be fixed. the murderbot diaries books have never implied that these things are 'flaws' in murderbot that 'need to be fixed' and, yet, time and time again you'll see fanfiction penned by murderbot fans in which they explicitly frame it this way, and they justify doing so by saying (among other things) that they are 'projecting' onto murderbot, that they themselves are aroace and they're fine with romance so they'll 'let murderbot have romantic interactions' with another character despite how utterly distressed it would be, and how much of a literal assault that would be to canon murderbot.

and gee, it's almost like murderbot shares a lot of traits with trauma survivors (you know, because it is one), like how survivors of sexual assault can be sex-repulsed and romance-repulsed... like, wow, it's almost as if its preferences are not simply because it is aroace or simply because it's autism-coded but because it is a fucking trauma survivor! like it's all of these things! picking and choosing which of these things to 'read' for ignores whole chunks of murderbot's character. remember what it told us in all systems red? "It’s wrong to think of a construct as half bot, half human. It makes it sound like the halves are discrete, like the bot half should want to obey orders and do its job and the human half should want to protect itself and get the hell out of here. As opposed to the reality, which was that I was one whole confused entity"?

you cannot just say "fuck you" to canon all the time no matter what. it's an irresponsible way to examine a piece of media. the way this kind of attitude is fostered in fandom spaces is disturbing to me, primarily because it is downright disrespectful to the source material and what it represents.

i am issuing a content warning for commentary regarding sexual assault below the cut, it is pertinent to my comment above about murderbot and canon and sexual assault survival, but also contains the rest of my answer to this ask:

it would not be a stretch to think it might be possible that murderbot itself has endured sexual harassment or assault from humans. its internal commentary about sexbots, the purpose of sexbots/comfortunits, and talking about their functions in opposition to itself, combined with other comments about being asked to do things that do not meet its designation as a secunit (such as tidying/cleaning up after humans).

i will accept that this is conjecture and based on nothing entirely concrete, but i am interpreting this as a possibility from my own experiences as a sexual assault survivor (and speaking from the perspective of a sex worker who has encountered and been on the receiving end of this specific type of anger and frustration murderbot has for sexbots early on); the way that it comments aggressively about things related to sex and comfortunits imply how adamant it is for people to understand that it is not a comfortunit, it is not a sexbot, it is repulsed and triggered by sex, it is repulsed and triggered by romance. much like other references to its traumas, it does the survivor-typical thing and avoids mentioning names, avoids topics, avoids its triggers as much as it can, and insists upon its preferences repeatedly. it's not hiding these facts about itself away.

so when people overlook this, that fandom behavior comes off as negligent. it tells me that people have not been reading the source material very closely at all. it tells me that people are only willing to relate to murderbot insofar as they themselves can personally know what it has experienced.

except not everything you fucking read has to be about you. "relatability" does not a good protagonist make. unfortunately, that's just about all that people with fandom brainrot give a shit about. unless, god forbid, a trauma survivor reading these books also shares murderbot's strong repulsions to sex and romance and feels defensive. in which case the fandom-brain idiots go "well we all interpret murderbot in our own special ways".

it stops being interpretation when you're just erasing the character. i just wish people would accept that.

[aleki-lives-here]

There's nothing like trying to distract yourself from the anxiety inducing real life by reading a book about a certain secunit distracting itself from its life by consuming media.

Nobody gets me like murderbot. Today I am going to face the horrors of having to act human and it (the book) is gonna sit in my pocket for when I need emotional support

[asterlark]

me and den @unloneliest were just talking about murderbot and ART's relationship and i want to discuss how they quite literally complete each other's sensory and emotional experience of the world!!

there's a few great posts on here such as this one about how murderbot uses drones to fully and properly experience the world around it (it also accesses security cameras/other systems for this same purpose). but i haven't seen anyone so far talk about how once MB stops working for the company and consequently doesn't have a hubsystem/secsystem to connect to anymore (which for its entire existence up to that point had been how it was used to interacting with its environment/doing its job), after it meets ART, ART starts to fill that gap.

ART gives MB access to more cameras, systems, and information archives than it would normally be able to connect with while MB is on its own outside of ART's... body(? lol), but also directly gives MB access to its own cameras, drones, archives, facilities, and processing space. additionally, so much of ART's function is dedicated to analysis, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, and it not only uses those skills in service of reaching murderbot's goals, it teaches murderbot how to use those same skills. (ART might be a bit of an asshole about how it does this, but that doesn't negate just how much it does for murderbot for no reason other than it's bored/interested in MB as an individual.)

we all love goofing about how artificial condition can basically be boiled down to "two robots in a trench coat trying to get through a job interview" (which is entirely accurate tbh) but that's also such a great example of ART fulfilling the role of both murderbot's "hubsystem" and "secsystem", allowing it to fully experience its environment/ succeed in its goals. ART provides MB with crucial information, context, and constructive criticism, and uses its significant processing power to act as MB's backup and support system while they work together.

from ART's side of things, we get a very explicit explanation of how it needs the context of murderbot's emotional reactions to media in order to fully understand and experience the media as intended. it tried to watch media with its humans, and it didn't completely understand just by studying their reactions. but when it's in a feed connection with murderbot, who isn't human but has human neural tissue, ART is finally able to thoroughly process the emotional aspects of media (side note, once it actually understands the emotional stakes in a way that makes sense for it, it's so frightened by the possibility of the fictional ship/crew in worldhoppers being catastrophically injured or killed that it makes murderbot pause for a significant amount of time before it feels prepared to go on. like!! ART really fucking loves its crew, that is all).

looking at things further from ART's perspective: its relationship with murderbot is ostensibly the very first relationship it's been able to establish with not only someone outside of its crew, but also with any construct at all. while ART loves its crew very much (see previous point re: being so so scared for the fate of the fictional crew of worldhoppers), it never had a choice in forming relationships with them. it was quite literally programmed to build those relationships with its crew and students. ART loves its function, its job, and nearly all of the humans that spend time inside of it, but its relationship with murderbot is the first time it's able to choose to make a new friend. that new friend is also someone who, due to its partial machine intelligence, is able to understand and know ART on a whole other level of intimacy that humans simply aren't capable of. (that part goes for murderbot, too, obviously; ART is its first actual friend outside of the presaux team, and its first bot friend ever.)

and because murderbot is murderbot, and not a "nice/polite to ART most of the time" human, this is also one of the first times that ART gets real feedback from a friend about the ways that its actions impact others. after the whole situation in network effect, when the truth of the kidnapping comes to light and murderbot hides in the bathroom refusing to talk to ART (and admittedly ART doesn't handle this well lol) - ART is forced to confront that despite it making the only call it felt able to make in that horrifying situation, despite it thinking that that was the right call, its actions hurt murderbot, and several other humans were caught in the crossfire. what's most scary to ART in that moment is the idea that murderbot might never forgive it, might never want to talk to it again. it's already so attached to this friendship, so concerned with murderbot's wellbeing, that the thought of that friendship being over because of its own behavior is terrifying. (to me, this almost mirrors murderbot's complete emotional collapse when it thinks that ART has been killed. the other more overt mirror is ART fully intending on bombing the colony to get murderbot back.)

in den's words, they both increase the other's capacity to feel: ART by acting as a part of murderbot's sensory system, and murderbot by acting as a means by which ART can access emotion. they love one another so much they would do pretty much anything to keep each other safe/avenge each other, but what's more, they unequivocally make each other more whole.

[catpeepeepoopoo]

doodling murderbot everyday until i get someone to read it - day 3