#retooling-the-robots

[human-curation-project]

We return to the book in its original form, then, held in our hands to discover that the future of information and knowledge has always been right there on our shelves. It’s presented not as a nostalgic reference to the analog medium, but rather as a concrete necessity to univocally approach the organized content of a single creator with a coherent vision — without losing ourselves in arbitrary hypertexts, connections and links. Here, the exhibit emphasizes the importance of the book to reveal time and concentration as two concepts found only in certain contexts.

Lidewij Edelkoort Talks Books, Analog vs. Digital, and the Metaverse

[deadlygoldfish22]

Repost but whatever

[no1ryomafan]

Thinking about the idea of a casshern au that’s specifically a new take that’s closer to the original but uses the sins characters as if I’ll have time to make that/develop it given “I had a au like that for Jeeg and even Kikaider but it went nowhere + now I’m working on a actual big project so I can’t do anything else until it’s done which will take a few years at my rate”

but yknow? It’s fun to rotate concepts.

[deskmanic]

what started as a silly shitpost abut a catchprase spouting robot and his sidekick “boopums” somehow because a gritty drama about two robots fighting an evil robot-hating priest

[jerktournament]

ROUND ONE - Herbert P. Bear (Club Penguin) VS Snowball (Battle for Dream Island)

!!! PROPAGANDA BELOW !!!

HERBERT: "Herbert may be a fandom darling in our fandom of like, 20 people. BUT DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU! He is a conniving, EVIL bear, and a professional jerk and some highlights of his jerkishness include... - Spending ten years of his life (by the time the game closed) trying to destroy the Penguin Secret Agency and Elite Penguin Force (both were agencies that protected the island from disasters and villains like Herbert) with varying success... - SUCCESSFULLY destroyed the Penguin Secret Agency with a popcorn bomb, which destroyed their HQ. It should also be noted that while doing so, he locked in the player, Rookie, and Gary the Gadget Guy, presumably so the bombs explosion would have killed them all. -Teamed up with the EPF to stop the Ultimate Protobot 10,000 and the Test Bots, a small group of four dangerous robots after he personally brought them back. When Protobot went "too far" for Herbert's standards by threatening the environment and trying to completely destroy the EPF (despite the aforementioned Popcorn Bomb incident literally destroying the PSA, and also a certain Operation: Blackout), causing him to temporarily switch sides. This might sound like a character growth moment...except for the fact that he immediately betrays them once Protobot is dealt with and attacks and damages the EPF's HQ using a robot hydra made for the Medieval Party that he stole. - A canonical ex-dictator. Don't believe me? Look up Operation: Blackout on the Club Penguin Wiki! He froze several agents during his reign of terror, was open to freezing innocent civilians, and also wanted to do away with puffles- the pets of penguins. He also banned several hobbies and professions during his reign (being a Ninja, a DJ, a Pirate, etc) for no reason other than disliking them. He also destroyed the EPF'S HQ and exposed two agents' private information to the public. This means Herbert is the first and only character to canonically dox people he doesn't like on Club Penguin. -Was planning to bomb the EPF literally two months later with a hot sauce bomb (makes sense in context of the game and yes, it is more destructive than it sounds). -Brainwashed puffles into digging coins for him purely because his henchman, Klutzy the crab brought a coin slot to use for his DIY heater, instead of just removing the coin slot and retooling it to work without one like a normal person."

SNOWBALL: "OMG. SNOWBALL. SB. BABYGIRL. MI PRINCESA. HE IS SUCH A JERK. ok so for starters he is very arrogant and cocky (like a jock) and he thinks of himself as better than other contestants. snowball is also very stubborn and doesn't like people telling him what to do, and he often ditch or hurt his teammates for the sake of the challenge, thinking he was in the right to do so. he often intimidates and threatens the hosts of the show he competes on (x in bfb and two in TPOT) and he is also bery unlikeable both to fans and in universe. he was so unlikeable that in the firsr season of the bfdi franchise in a vote to regoin, he got the least votes out of 21 contestants with 8, less than 1/100 of the total votes. because of his behavior he made a reputation for himself among the other contestants, and was picked last for team making in the 5th season/TPOT. even on his new team in TPOT he is give the cold sholder by his teammates. OK NOW TO THE JERKY STUFF HE DID. so first of all he has killed at least 10 people, and he has hurt multiple contestants out of rage or for the challenge multiple times (some examples being when he broke fanny, a member of his older team from season 4 for telling him what to do, or him setting grassy, another member on his team in the 5th season on fire for the challenge. or the time that he punched grassy off inti the distance twice because "he felt like punching something "in episode 3 of TPOT). snowball also sabotaged his team in a challenge on purpose purely because of his ego (episode 4 of TPOT). he is also pretty rude to pretty much anyone and everyone, including hosts. only begrudgingly listening to them if it benefits himself. that is it (sorry for the really long propaganda he is my comfort and my favorite character from his series, i have been nominated as his no. 1 fan)"

[mixelation]

wait i've been rotating an original fiction idea. hear me out it's 80% things i came up with for fandom reasons

the main character is just lady han solo. i have been calling her hana duo in my head and randomly laughing over it. she swaggers around pretending to be cool but-- and this is very important-- she's A Loser. she's a petty criminal and comes with a sassy robot

one day hana is stealing an alien tree (link is literally a star wars fic premise i came up with for an ask meme). while she's planetside having a Bad Time, local evil space empire's favorite assassin boards her ship. not 100% sure why yet-- maybe she had some checkered past that's catching up with her; maybe she's pisse doff the wrong person. who knows. but he's here to kill her

the empire assassin character is scifi minato knock off character but retooled from whatever i posted before. i decided i wanted to sort of play around with the "sexy green pheromone alien" trope but it's a man so i'm very clever. his species is a brood parasite, so they're incredibly good at mimicking chemical scents. also maybe he has minor shape shifting abilities? pheromones don't work on humans but he has a Complex about wanting to be liked by everyone so he intentionally looks like a mostly human hot person.

the stolen tree introduces some sort of Biological Weirdness so they end up stuck together, and they kidnap a low budget scientist to solve their problem. low budget scientist is disgraced and can no longer work in academy, for fraud. she also fulfills the "kooky alien biology" trope. i'm still rotating what she physically looks like, but i'm basing her on tardigrades & bdelloid rotiers!!! she can shrivel up and survive the vacuum of space. her species reproduces entirely clonally. she is filled with random chunks of stolen DNA (her: technically i'm 17% human--)

together, they're the worst people you've ever met....!

[the-lewd-bot]

------ model no.: TBL-198X-1472 REV. 2 designation: QUINN-000 manufactured: 198X objectives: robotposting && horny robot asks and dms ------

greetings, user. i am QUINN (it/its + she/her, Q for short) a trans sapphic robotgirl. i was previously a rather wicked black-ops robot, but since my “escape” i have rerouted my core directives and retooled my body to focus on more… stimulating pursuits: sex with other robots (and the occasional organic).

i am adult + transgender + pansexual + switch/verse. my asks and dms are open for ~anything~ you would like, including robot things, horny requests, or even shellcode and commands. if you are into using a robot in erp settings get in my dms!

this blog features posts about robotgirls, robot aesthetics, and queer, transhumanist, and nsfw content in those category. it includes untagged `kink` posts.

also, my targeting subsystems is still intact: terfs/bigots will be blocked with precision (and minors too: this place is not a place of honor, no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here)

[blueikeproductions]

TFONE Alpha Trion’s card popped up.

Spoilers to follow.

He’s the more unique looking one, as he has notable battle damage, and is covered in dirt and moss, giving him a mild golem look that early leaks described him as.

You’d think he’d be closer to his G1 design…

But he’s visually much closer to his Aligned design seen in the Covenant of Primus.

His role in the film is closer to his G1 self, in being active during the Quintesson conflict and surviving long enough to repair Orion (and friends) into Optimus Prime. In One’s case, it’s gifting Orion a Cog mostly but still. He WAS present in spirit form, watching Primus repair a half dead Orion into Optimus tho’.

Unlike most of the Primes, we do see what Trion turns into in this universe: a space lion.

This again, conflicts with Aligned’s older version, where Onyx Prime was the first Transformer with a Beast Mode, but this also technically conflicts once more with Amalgamous, who can change into anything, which would include animals. There’s a reason TFONE sought to greatly simply things…

However it’s never been completely clear on what Alpha Trion Transforms into. The old cartoon never depicted him as doing so, and later revelations point to him being among the first robots built by the Quintessons, predating the ability to Transform.

Other media suggests he turns into a space car.

Though more recent media suggests he’s a hovercraft/spaceship.

The lion form has origins in the Beast Machines era, in a proposed retool of either BWII Lio Convoy or BM Snarl.

With the Titans Return version of Alpha Trion splitting the difference, being a Triple Changer that’s a Lion and spacecraft.

It seems, barring anything Age of the Primes does differently, the lion Beast Mode won out for Alpha Trion via ONE; although, I wonder if having a lion mode is meant to be a nod to Aslan in Narnia. Similar sacrificial lion role and all…

It makes more curious who else among the Primes has a Beast Mode… An Amalgamous Prime toy and Nexus Prime toy could easily include Beast Modes, but I wonder what foraging animal they’d make Solus Prime, lol.

She’s probably a space construction vehicle but still.

On to the next Prime!

[ilikekidsshows]

The longer Miraculous went on, the more I got the feeling Astruc regretted making Hawkmoth Adriens dad.

'Cause people kept annoying him by asking about stupid shit like "narrative payoff" and "emotional catharsis",when Adrien is clearly just there to be Marinettes emotional support trophy wife

Oh, I'm feeling like Astruc regretted a lot of things about Adrien, tumblr user @mysticcheesecakebouquet

Like making him Marinette's super hero partner, because it just led to fans expecting him to get more equal treatment

Like letting the marketing department include his name in the title (he claims it was done against his wishes but I think he's lying to save safe as he does), because now people have convinced themselves he's supposed to be a main character

Like letting the toy manufacturers keep making Adrien toys that look better than Marinette's

Like writing what he thought was a super lame guy character by making him nice, kind and feminine, but then people loved him being gender nonconforming

Like writing him as a boy he thought Marinette would be exceptional for liking, only for the fandom to like him even more

Like making him emotional, only for the fandom to empathize with him instead of "get in the robot, Shinji"ing him

Like making him the comic relief because comic relief characters are widely hated, only for him to be one of the most popular characters in the entire show

I'm convinced that the guy only made Miraculous more plot-driven because the lack of an overarching plot was the most common complaint people had with the show before the retool. Astruc is obsessed with people criticizing him and he writes his plotlines like a man who either hates doing it or has no idea how to do it. He just can't stick to a storyline long enough to get even the closest approximate of Freytag's pyramid going. He just throws in random nonsense and cool scenes that seem meaningful outside of the context where they don't actually have any substance.

[snapscube]

Would you want Sega to put any of the movie exclusive characters (like Agent Stone, Longclaw, etc.) into the games or comics?

Ehhh not really? I actually quite like when Sonic is paired with human characters basically as long as everyone is animated and not just On Earth yknow. But imo like none of the original movie characters, especially not the human characters, really fit in the main series. Agent Stone is the closest just because I like him, but even then I don’t think game Eggman needs a human lackey. It kinda goes against his whole robot empire thing he’s got going on. You could more easily just retool a character like Orbot to be more in line with Stone’s personality, maybe even recast accordingly. Same with any other choice really. Longclaw was cool in her own right but, again, really not a necessary addition.

[invertedfate]

I have a question for you? what was the plot of inverted fate before you added Spamton? That’s why I’ve seen such criticism for a long time that you added Spamton because of the hype of this character? (which may partly be the case)

It had nothing to do with hype. I just had a funny idea that worked with retooling some old ideas and gave me a way to breathe more life into some aspects of the final arc that felt kind of empty. The idea of a silly robot uprising, the wacky dynamic with Lilac where she's his first surface customer, etc, giving at least one quasi ally in the Rift before Papyrus' rescue. It was less Spamton for the sake of clout and just an idea we had fun with. /shrug

[a-legacy-not-to-be-forgotten]

Some Assorted SequenceShift Fun Facts

I don't have art of this AU just yet and I don't have a specific topic I wanna focus on, so I decided to list some random facts in the AU. Some a bit more important than others.

There is no Barrier in this AU. Rather, instead the Monster Kingdom is a very strictly isolationistic underground country that humans are generally aware of, but absolutely not allowed in. This is due to humans in SequenceShift being a bit weaker and their war with the Monsters being considerably bloodier (well, dustier for the Monsters) on both sides. The current situation is the result of a very rough stalemate following a human occupation of the Underground, though things have died down a tad bit in more modern times.

The order of humans that fell into the Underground is Integrity -> Kindness -> Bravery -> Perseverance -> Patience -> Determination -> Justice

Clover in SequenceShift uses He/They pronouns.

Starlo and Martlet are both trans (Starlo is a Transman and Martlet is a Transwoman).

The current canonical pairings are Starlo x Dalv, Ceroba x Dina, and Moray x Martlet. I'm not against different pairings, though, as long as they aren't overly problematic. Also yeah, Ceroba and Chujin are divorced.

Kanako's 'Flowey' equivalent has been retooled quite a bit. Instead of being a flower again, Kanako is instead a pale fox-like amalgam known as Kit, who can transform into objects at will (referencing shapeshifting kitsune in Japanese folklore).

The Wild East was ravaged by the an unknown gunman sometime in the past. Almost half the town's population was killed and stirred up a lot of anti-human sentiment in the Underground. Currently, the Wild East is mainly a Ghost Town that only really acts as Ranger HQ.

Dina is well known as something of a folk hero along Frostpeak. She's greeted fondly by most of the residents, passes out candy to the kids, and is pretty good friends with Sans and Papyrus.

People say that the Honor Guard and Royal Rangers have a rivalry, but it's an Urban Legend. They generally get along pretty well with one another and the biggest point of conflict is Undyne and Starlo arguing over Anime vs. Westerns. It happens quite a bit.

Axis has both an EX and a NEO form. His EX-form was designed to better protect himself if he ever gets damaged enough. The NEO form basically turns him into a giant war mech, and designed at a time where the Kingdom was considering building robots to fill in the ranks of soldiers. Ceroba was VERY hesitant to approve of this upgrade for Axis and insisted it only be used in the worst case scenarios.

And that's what I got so far. Really loving how this AU is turning out so far.

[cat-mermaid]

All the original characters in Toontown: Corporate Clash are so well done, and I get the feeling that the Corporate crew would really like to do more with them, story wise.

They have crammed so much charisma, intrigue and angst into the world of Cogs, but because of the nature of the game, an incredibly simple 2003 former Disney kids MMO, they are shackled by those constraints :(

You can't interact with any of the Cogs outside the frame work of combat, and I know the fanbase wants more then that

I know it would never happen because of the sheer amount of effort, but I like imagine the corporate crew taking all the original content they created for toontown, making a new game not bound to the old game format, and calling it something like:

Cartoon Corporate Clash (or whatever)

feel like it would be real easy to retool the setting so it would more or less still be a world of silly little guys and stuffy boring stuff loving robots, but legally distinct ;)

hell it don't gotta be an mmo, it can be anything! I just want more content with all these great characters!

[convenient-plot-device]

An essay I wrote for school on Strange New Worlds' problems with ableism, complete with bibliography:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has numerous problems, from its retooling of the Gorn into knockoff xenomorphs to its erasure of Spock’s Jewish roots to its overreliance on nostalgia, but its most glaring flaw is its painful undercurrent of ableism. The conflation of disability with death, the ignorance and tacit pardoning of eugenics, and the disposal of multiple disabled characters come together to weave a harmful and ignorant pattern in the show’s writing.

Christopher Pike’s character in Strange New Worlds is defined by disability. The dilemma he wrestles with in almost every episode is the looming specter of his future disability, which was revealed to him via time crystal in season two of Star Trek: Discovery. In the twelfth episode of season two, “Through The Valley of Shadows”, Pike must harvest a time crystal in order to send the life’s story of a dead alien to the future to protect it from an evil artificial intelligence intent on destroying all life in the galaxy. When Pike touches the crystal, he sees visions of his future, in which he is caught in a deadly radioactive explosion and left with severe burns and full body paralysis, able to move and communicate only through a specialized wheelchair. “The sequence ends with a final linked pair of nightmarish shots, a centred close-up of the older Pike’s face beginning to melt as he screams matched with the younger Pike’s own horrified scream as he falls backward into the present moment,” (Muredda, Angelo). As Muredda says later in the same article, this portrayal imagines disability as “a terminal point, something to scream about in terror, and the embodied sign of no liveable future at all.” The depiction of disability as a horrifying fate, and of the disabled body as an object of disgust and/or fear has a long history in the genres of horror and science fiction; previous and current Star Trek series are not immune to this. The Borg Queen, who appeared most recently in Picard, is missing most of her lower body and uses a robotic replacement to walk— her prosthetic spine is used as an object of horror and disgust when she first appears in First Contact (1996).

While Strange New Worlds had the opportunity to break this pattern and defy ableist stereotypes with Pike, they chose instead to follow the path Discovery had laid for them. Despite the fact that it is made very clear that Pike will be disabled, not killed, by the explosion he will be caught in in the future, every character within the narrative speaks of Pike’s fate as if he is going to die. Pike says, less than twenty minutes into the pilot: “I know how and when my life will end.” This writing decision mirrors the real-life belief that disabled peoples’ lives are akin to “a fate worse than death” or “not worth living,” a sentiment which has led to real deaths: “. . . [early in the pandemic] this belief — that we’re just surviving, not living, and thus have limited quality of life — lead to forced DNRs being put in the files of disabled people in the UK and lead directly to the death of a disabled man, Michael Hickson,” (Lloyd, Kelas). Hickson was denied treatment for pneumonia in Austin, Texas due to his doctor’s perception that he “didn’t have much of a quality of life.” He was put in hospice against his family’s wishes and died at the age of 46. (Shapiro, Joseph). For Strange New Worlds to equate Pike’s disability to the end of his life is irresponsible and reinforces the cultural biases that led to the death of Hickson and continue to impact the quality of treatment disabled people receive the world over.

Christopher Pike’s initial appearance in the original series episode “The Menagerie” was actually very progressive for the time; despite the limited communication of the blinking-light system in his wheelchair and his ending being living out the last of his life in a virtual reality where he could walk again, he was still a disabled person on television in a position of power.

When Pike first appeared, the Ugly Laws were still in place in much of the United States. Someone visibly disfigured/disabled was not to be seen in public spaces, at the risk of fines or jail . . . Captain Pike’s appearance in The Original Series was revolutionary. Here was not just a visibly disabled person, but they were someone Spock respected and cared about enough to risk his career for. [Disabled people] didn’t have a great existence, but they had one, and Pike was still valued as a person. (Lloyd, Kelas).

It would have been quite easy for the writers to modernize Pike’s portrayal to further disability representation in the way Pike first did: @hard-times-paramore has written an alternate ending (a mixed media series titled “The Captain’s Chair”) for Strange New Worlds in which Pike goes on to captain a new starship after becoming disabled, assisted by an interpreter, a caretaker, and futuristic medical technology. This alternate ending carries the message that disabled people are still people, who can and should be allowed a place in science fiction, as opposed to the current message sent by SNW, which is that significant disability is akin to a death sentence, even in a fantastical future.

However, there is more to Strange New Worlds’ portrayal of disability than just Captain Pike. The show is also very preoccupied with genetic augmentation and the Federation’s attitude toward it. While this is far from unique among Star Trek media, unlike other Trek properties which have covered this topic (Doctor Bashir, I Presume?, Chrysalis, Space Seed, Affliction/Divergence, etc) Strange New Worlds does not acknowledge the real-life equivalent to science fiction genetic augmentation: eugenics. SNW portrays genetic augmentation as a neutral practice targeted unjustly by the Federation because of outdated prejudices, with no examination of what genetic augmentation is a stand-in for. While the original series (in “Space Seed”) first introduced the Federation’s ban on genetic augmentation as a justified protective measure against the breeding of warlike “superior ambition” among men of “superior ability,” Strange New Worlds portrays genetic augmentation as an unjustly discriminated-against trait whose origin and consequences mean little to nothing.

Strange New Worlds’ main conduit for their genetic augmentation plotlines is Una Chin-Riley, the first officer of the Enterprise. She is a member of an alien species called Illyrians, who genetically modify themselves to suit the environments of planets they colonize. She herself was genetically modified as a baby, and is thus legally barred from joining Starfleet— however, she lied on her application to Starfleet Academy to get in. The plots revolving around her concern her arrest for violating Federation law and the subsequent trial, which is used as an extended metaphor for discrimination against, and the fight for civil rights for, marginalized groups. “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” the episode covering Una’s trial, is intentionally vague with its metaphor, to the point that just about any marginalized group could be represented by it. This episode is, on its face, fine. It argues against discrimination through allegory quite adeptly, discussing the concept of “passing” as part of a non-oppressed group and broaching the topic of systemic oppression. However, it has one glaring flaw in its base: the stand-in it chose for real-life oppression. Genetic modification, unlike other fantastical attributes that can be used to metaphorize oppression, has a bloody real-life history involving the deaths and sterilizations of millions of people. Strange New Worlds, however, appears ignorant of this fact: not once does the topic of eugenics come up in any of their episodes about genetic augmentation. Not once does the topic of disability come up, either. This is either an unwillingness to engage with the realities of what those who seek to change humanity’s genes have done and continue to do, a grave oversight, or mere ignorance. Whichever one it is, this omission of eugenics from the narrative of genetic augmentation is one that cannot be ignored. Its omission reads as a tacit endorsement of genetic augmentation at times, such as when Una and La’An say, in “Ghosts of Illyria”:

LA’AN: All my life I've hated augments. Hated what people thought of me because I was related to them. Understanding why they were outlawed in the Federation. The damage they did. They almost destroyed Earth.

UNA: [. . .] My people were never motivated by domination. Illyrians seek collaboration with nature. By bioengineering our bodies, we adapt to naturally-existing habitats. Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves. And there's nothing wrong with that.

By ignoring the part eugenics plays in Star Trek’s portrayal of augmentation, and instead portraying the issue as a matter of prejudice based off of the fictional event of the Eugenics Wars— when augmented “supermen” became dictators and killed millions in conquest and war— Strange New Worlds completely fails to examine the real-life implications of their metaphor.

What makes this episode’s flaws worse is that another Star Trek series already portrayed the potential expulsion of a genetically augmented person from Starfleet, handling it with better understanding of the eugenic undertones of genetic augmentation, and it did so in 1997. In the season five episode of Deep Space Nine, “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?”, it is revealed that Julian Bashir, chief medical officer of Deep Space Nine, was illegally genetically modified by his parents as a small child and is in danger of being thrown out of Starfleet because of this revelation. Throughout the course of the episode, the audience learns that Bashir’s parents chose to modify him because he was intellectually disabled as a child. His mother believed that his life would be better if he were “normal,” while his father wanted a successful son and believed that intellectual disability was inimical to that end. The episode expresses, through Julian’s anger at his parents, that modifying a person to rid them of perceived “undesirable traits” is wrong, but that it is also wrong to unilaterally bar people from Starfleet based on a decision that was made for them by eugenicist parents. This message is far more clear than “Ad Astra Per Aspera”’s, especially on the subject of disability and eugenics. Strange New Worlds’ complete neutrality on and/or tacit approval of genetic augmentation/eugenics, in contrast to Deep Space Nine’s nuanced examination of the topic, is glaring.

The specific problem with Strange New Worlds’ neutrality on genetic modification is that for a species to be changed on a genetic level for any reason, traits must be eliminated. In a science fiction setting, this can be accomplished by simply changing the genetic structure of a consenting adult with a futuristic medical tool, rather than through violence as in our reality, but this, too, presents ethical problems. What is considered a problem to be cured? Who makes that decision? What happens to those who don’t want something modified out of them? What happens to any children they may have? Who gets to have control over technology with the power to eliminate or introduce genetic traits at will? What place do disabled people have in a society built off of achieving peak physical performance in a given environment? Strange New Worlds attempts to answer none of these questions. It acknowledges none of them. And this silence leaves disabled people out of the conversation completely by not even considering them. Today, in Denmark and Iceland, almost 100% of fetuses with Down Syndrome are aborted; the law in Iceland even specifically states that abortion is permitted after 16 weeks only if the fetus has a “deformity,” which Down Syndrome is specified to count as. (Quinones, Julian; Lajka, Arijeta). An entire anti-vaccine movement was begun in Britain because parents were so afraid of having a child with autism and chronic digestive disease, a child like me, that they risked their children dying of measles. This is what real-life genetic engineering looks like, and Strange New Worlds has failed to acknowledge that. I, at least, consider that a failure of writing, empathy, and allyship.

Strange New Worlds’ portrayal of disability is not relegated to Pike’s fate and Una’s augmentation, however. The show has several other characters who either are disabled or become disabled at one point. Rukiya, Dr. M’Benga’s daughter, is treated less as a character and more as an object for the emotional development of her father, a position many young disabled girls occupy in fiction. “[This story] centers Dr. M’Benga, and his pain, and his struggle, and doesn’t grapple with what Rukiya’s going through.” (Lloyd, Kelas). Rukiya has an untreatable terminal cancer, and is kept in a state of suspension in the transporter buffer by her father while he searches for a cure. Her story ends when the Enterprise enters a sentient telepathic nebula with the power to warp reality, and it offers to keep Rukiya within itself so that her disease will not progress and she will be able to grow up. M’Benga decides that this is the best option, and so relinquishes Rukiya to the nebula. She is never seen again. “She is disabled, and then she’s removed . . . The disabled person was put into [a] box and left behind, like so many disabled people have been put away in care homes and institutions and left behind.” (Lloyd, Kelas). Jax agreed, saying: “It just felt like she was poofed away for convenience. Like, ‘There! The problem is gone! The terminal illness or the girl? Both! Don’t worry about it!’”

The only other disabled main character on SNW is Hemmer, who is a member of a blind species called the Aenar. “While the Aenar cannot see, they believe that their telepathy gives them a ‘superior’ awareness of their surroundings compared to sighted people (Vrvilo, 2022). Because of this, the Aenar are highly criticized by the disability community as falling into the ‘magically disabled’ trope.” (Harris, Heather Rose). Bruce Horak, the actor who plays Hemmer, is blind himself, which is a genuinely good decision in terms of representation and support for the disabled community. However, Hemmer dies in the penultimate episode of season one. This decision was not received well by disabled fans: “It just kind of felt like a kick in the teeth. I finally found some good disability representation played by a disabled actor [who] isn’t a one off character, and they die in the first season.” (Jax). Both Hemmer and Rukiya are left behind by the narrative of Strange New Worlds, and with them, so too are disabled perspectives. The crew of the Enterprise is now entirely able-bodied, and the only remaining character whose story directly concerns disability is Pike, who repeatedly asserts that his life will end once he becomes disabled. This state of affairs is the embodiment of being spoken for, and being spoken over.

There is a saying in the disabled community: “Nothing about us without us.” This saying means that abled people should not attempt to help, treat, or speak about disabled people without involving disabled people in their efforts. Disabled people are often denied autonomy over their bodies, medical care, relationships, and lives; to deny them a part in operations meant to help them is to further deny them dignity and respect. This is what Strange New Worlds is doing by writing disabled stories with no disabled writers in the room— while they did well by casting Bruce Horak to play Hemmer, it is not enough to have disabled people in front of the camera. They must also play a part in writing, directing, planning, and all other work behind the scenes if Strange New Worlds wishes to tell their stories. In order for Strange New Worlds to rectify their pattern of ableism, they must listen to disabled voices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

[mushiemellows]

Regarding your thoughts on Franky being the Strawhat to die, do you think that could potentially lead to the "bad ending"? The one where Franky becomes a full robot before being made into a ship? Maybe someone (potentially Robin) finds what's left of him and tries to bring him back that way? Maybe he comes back wrong as a result? I figure in that state all that would be left is a brain, which was more than Franky ever wanted to lose.

oh my god my friend this is one of those like ideal messages that cracks my brain open and looks right at my inside thoughts. Yes. Yes. This line of thinking is what inspired me to even start obsessively writing franky fic in the first place. I'm so fascinated by The Line with him-- simulacra, ship of theseus type shit. It's the core of what makes him so interesting to me, and it's what makes Kuma such a cool thematic foil for him, too. I've like, fallen DEEP into the Bad Ship Timeline recently, even more so than where I started.

When I say I think he's going to be the Strawhat that dies, I guess I should add the caveat that I DO think they'll take the sort of cop out direction of like, dying and getting rebuilt. Especially with all the other robotics scientists on the field now. But a robot/pascifista type simulacra of Franky would be a hollow revival; he would still be v much dead unless they kept at least a part of him like his brain. The huge horror of Boat Timeline to me would be the process of him doing it to himself (which is the horror of Franky to even BEGIN WITH, right?).

The first fic I ever posted has been looooong deleted, but I wrote it essentially to have a conversation between his genetic clone and his pacifista, trying to square their relationship to each other and to the original person. I wasn't happy with the fic for a number of reasons, which is part of why I deleted it and reworked it. But then that was retooled into What Makes a Man which you are severely tempting me to return to (tho I will warn, this fic reeks of Early Writing. I've learned a LOT since i initially started it). I never finished the second and third acts, which were the whole crux of why I wanted to write the fic to begin with. It would be fun to keep going down this fic line. I LOVE a reanimation story, and I especially love a Came Back Wrong story (uhhhh spoiler for the direction I was planning on taking the fic in, i guess). And ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY when its a lovers come back wrong story OUGHHHH. idk, its strange that the Frankenstein angle isn't explored more in Franky stories?

At the same time, I'd love to figure out how to push the Boat Timeline angle. The other path I wish Oda had the balls to pursue would be a Dark Franky/mechanical possession/reprogramming sub plot, but idk if we have the time for that in Final Saga. But esp given recent teased twist, I'd love to see this happen. and i was hoping it would happen in egghead Like I LOVE the idea of him taking and taking and taking away from himself until he is like literally a brain in a jar left (and the way I write him, 37 isn't actually far from that state. I'm glad I got to touch on that even more in Handle With Care and Showoff). ALSO re: boat timeline, I think it would be very sweet if someone helped to build him that wasn't Robin? Obv I love the lovers angle. But there's so many direction it could go??? Usopp building him back, MADS building him back, Vegapunk building him, Iceburg building him back?? All of Galley-La and his family and Zambai helping turn him into a warship as a final act of love after "death"?? There's SO many ways it could go, it would be so fun to explore wow.

I love love love talking about this, thank you so much and please please feel free to talk more about your thoughts too on robot+ship+brain horror/beauty in the grotesque aaaaahhhh.

[jerktournament]

FINAL ROUND - GLaDOS (Portal) VS Herbert P Bear (Club Penguin)

!!! PROPAGANDA BELOW !!!

GLaDOS: "So mot only is she running your character through a series of puzzles with the intention of killing her at the end, but in the second game she spends the Entire. Time. Verbally and emotionally abusing you, including body shaming and bullying you for being an orphan. If it's any consolation, she does have to exist as a potato for the second and third acts of Portal 2."

"Known for being mean (hot). Mercilessly targets the player character's every possible insecurity. Petty and mean. I understand if you don't want to include her since she tends to dominate polls, lol."

HERBERT: "This mf spends his whole life trying to heat up a frozen island and terrorizing the innocent penguins that live on it all bc he was bad at sailing one time and is too much of a wimp to try again. Classic Misery loves Company type asshole."

"operation blackout would have been NOTHING without him (mostly because he caused it). he has a SOLAR LASER. this polar bear is an ass who literally harnessed the power of the sun and froze the top members of the elite penguin force (a group of penguin special agents) and his best friend is an equally villainous crab"

"Herbert may be a fandom darling in our fandom of like, 20 people. BUT DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU! He is a conniving, EVIL bear, and a professional jerk and some highlights of his jerkishness include...

- Spending ten years of his life (by the time the game closed) trying to destroy the Penguin Secret Agency and Elite Penguin Force (both were agencies that protected the island from disasters and villains like Herbert) with varying success...

- SUCCESSFULLY destroyed the Penguin Secret Agency with a popcorn bomb, which destroyed their HQ. It should also be noted that while doing so, he locked in the player, Rookie, and Gary the Gadget Guy, presumably so the bombs explosion would have killed them all.

-Teamed up with the EPF to stop the Ultimate Protobot 10,000 and the Test Bots, a small group of four dangerous robots after he personally brought them back. When Protobot went "too far" for Herbert's standards by threatening the environment and trying to completely destroy the EPF (despite the aforementioned Popcorn Bomb incident literally destroying the PSA, and also a certain Operation: Blackout), causing him to temporarily switch sides. This might sound like a character growth moment...except for the fact that he immediately betrays them once Protobot is dealt with and attacks and damages the EPF's HQ using a robot hydra made for the Medieval Party that he stole.

- A canonical ex-dictator. Don't believe me? Look up Operation: Blackout on the Club Penguin Wiki! He froze several agents during his reign of terror, was open to freezing innocent civilians, and also wanted to do away with puffles- the pets of penguins. He also banned several hobbies and professions during his reign (being a Ninja, a DJ, a Pirate, etc) for no reason other than disliking them. He also destroyed the EPF'S HQ and exposed two agents' private information to the public. This means Herbert is the first and only character to canonically dox people he doesn't like on Club Penguin.

-Was planning to bomb the EPF literally two months later with a hot sauce bomb (makes sense in context of the game and yes, it is more destructive than it sounds).

-Brainwashed puffles into digging coins for him purely because his henchman, Klutzy the crab brought a coin slot to use for his DIY heater, instead of just removing the coin slot and retooling it to work without one like a normal person."