#shes like... a moderate at best
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I've just realized something about General Olivier Mira Armstrong.
Finally, I've come to understand the reason why she hates Mustang so much - and why she still respects his men.
Olivier Armstrong is a military woman down to her very core. In that she is an interesting character because she is in many ways complicit with the military dictatorship ruling Amestris while also condemning it. She's a political moderate, a mediocre politician, a fierce warrior, and a great leader.
We don't know much about General Armstrong outside of her military career - and her relationship to her brother. We know she's the only female general in the upper brass, we know she's been nicknamed "The Northern Wall Of Briggs" and "the Ice Queen", we know she cares greatly for her soldiers... and she despises cowards.
Now how does she define a coward?
That's were things are starting to get interesting. Because General Armstrong called her brother a coward multiple times because he failed to do what was right in Ishval - but, important to note, it wasn't the heinous acts themselves that she condemned (though it is implied that she does indeed condemn them) but the fact that her brother didn't follow his own principles. He didn't abandoned the Amestrian army to fight for the people he had sworn to protect even though he wanted to. He just went home. And that's what makes him a coward in her eyes.
This aligns with everything else we see about her. She calls Mustang a "sniveling coward" multiple times and notes his lack of a backbone. And yet her dislike of him doesn't seem to run as deep as her disappointment in her brother. Some of that might just be that Alex is family and that means personal relationships do indeed play a role... but some of it is probably the very simple truth that Mustang is trying his best to make up for what he did.
He also failed in her eyes, following orders he knew were wrong, but where her brother fled, Mustang had the strength to stay and look his victims in the eyes as he killed them.
Mustang's team on the other hand did something that General Armstrong very much appreciates: they chose Mustang and his goals the same way the men of Briggs chose her.
Mustang might be a coward and a fool in her eyes, but she can respect the choices his team made.
There is one scene near the end of the show that showcases that beautifully. In episode 58 (or 57) Izumi and General Armstrong get the general to confess the brass' plan to sacrifice the Amestrian people in front of a bunch of soldiers and - after hearing their own death sentence uttered by a commanding officer - the soldiers are unsure how to proceed.
And Armstrong gets angry at them.
Because they are simply following orders. They were killing her people and condemning her country - simply because of some orders that they never learned to question.
And in General Armstrong's eyes that's the actually unforgiving act. Killing and slaughtering for the army is not something she has any problem with (as evident by the Briggs soldiers bloody takeover during the Promised Day) but it needs to be an act of conviction. Looking away and hiding behind orders is what Armstrong sees as cowardly.
It's what Mustang did in Ishval and what his men failed to do when they followed him willingly. It's what Alex couldn't see through, but Olivier made sure her soldiers knew before joining her.
She wants to change Amestris and it's military, not because she's an idealist like Mustang, but because she wants a military in which each soldier is responsible for the people they kill.
It's fascinating because General Armstrong doesn't have the moral high ground - she doesn't see the military as rotten the same way Mustang does, and she doesn't see killing as wrong the way Edward does. She doesn't even contemplate her own kills with shame the way Hawkeye is prone to, or judge the system as harshly as Izumi does.
But she does have a strong moral core as a character, one that would perhaps even agree with Kimblee's famous quote: "Look straight at the people you kill; don’t take your eyes off them. Do not ever forget them because they won’t forget you." - and if you don't agree with an order given? It is your duty as a soldier to defy it.
That's why she can trust her men to plan a coup without her being there to lead them - because she knows every choice they make will be one they can live with. Just as every order they follow is one they can justify.
She is an interesting character because she questions the system while endorsing it - and that puts her at odds with both the military complex and Mustang and his team. It achieves complexity in what could very easily have been a simply narrative.
Olivier Mira Armstrong hates cowards - but she respects those who stand up for their believes, even if those believes defy her.
#fma#fma meta#fullmetal alchemist brotherhood#fmab#olivier mira armstrong#roy mustang#riza hawkeye#edward elric#fma brotherhood#character analysis#alex louis armstrong#solf j. kimblee#shes like... a moderate at best#she is definitely pro military#but at the same time#she would have supported every soldier#who changed sides during the ishval genocide#because at least that meant they were ready to die for their believes#and stand up for them too#very cool and complex character writing
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glorioso from last years twitterin
#pokemon#swsh#champion gloria#professor hop#drift compatible#<- their common tag wahoo#sometimes (all the time) I think abt how much I love gloria and wanna finally write that 4-part thing for her#hop shoooouuuldve been a moderating presence or whatever but the thing is. he just thinks she's genuinely cool#so every time anyone questions anything she does to him he's like why? it rocks#gloria's the same with hop tho like if hop tells her anything she just takes it as fact. its dangerous but so far its worked out#so ultimately they actually make each other Worse(tm) and thats awesome to me. I love them#I love them so fucking much everyones like dang that champion's taciturn how come she's best friend and rival with that#super nice professor. even tho it takes being next to them literally three seconds to realize they just think the other is the coolest#man. these were drawn like right before I caught the A virus last year iirc. inked that first thing while having a fever#how was november and december last year Like That... what made it be like that. what da hells....#oh well theres this. I gotta go back to business now#have a good night lads. we begin at the beginning and where we begin is the beginning etc
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Susie's Super Star Repair Service! (coming eventually...?) ft. new side blog, just dropped
"When strangely-familiar stars spark to life across the universe, Susie sees a chance to rescue her father from the byte-sized boundaries of his digital purgatory (and turn a profit, while she's at it). However, her developing plans evince an undesirable yet ultimately inescapable side effect—in piecing together Max Haltmann's soul, Susie will simultaneously restore functionality to the Deus ex Machina, Star Dream: the destructive, numb-hearted computer that has held him and his memories ransom for years.
"Still, no good businesswoman is afraid to take strategic and potentially-catastrophic-on-a-universal-scale risks when majority shares of her dreams are at stake. The biggest glitch in this technological operation, as a matter of fact, has nothing to do with her father, nor the not-even-half-baked Clockwork Star that became his tomb. No…
"The greatest risk is prolonged exposure to the trademark antics of a beguiling wizard extraordinaire (which roughly translates from Magolorese to 'least agreeable person in existence'). Susie knows he can't be trusted—but his understanding of ancient technology can't be beat and his long-suffering Starcutter can't be outpaced. If only she and her insufferable 'captain' can follow their begrudging agreement to the letter… maybe they'll both come out of this with only minor injuries and moderate insanity.
"The bottom line: it'll take patience, prowess, and persuasion for Executive President Susie Haltmann, the universe's greatest powerhouse of pink-haired persistence, to finally make her dreams reality—and with everything between a shrouded suitor, a cosmic jester, secret keepsakes, long-forgotten promises, clandestine coronal plots, and Star Dream itself threatening to send her off course… it might take just a little bit of magic, too."
some cover thumbnails. still not sure which one i'm going with, if any. but i did like the top middle so i gave it some values. (i wanted to incorporate magolor since he's unfortunately an important character, and the lor and star dream/haltmann of course... and, yup, that's it. nobody else along for the ride. no murderous stowaways or anything.)
this might be the last post about my fic on this blog (unless i make some particularly banger art based on it or something), so if this interests you, check out my other blog, dedicated to this and any future fanfic endeavors, fresh off the Gryll (btw that was a Kirby joke, based on the Kirby video game series, very few will get this!!!). and feel free to send in asks i suppose? i will try not to spoil TOO much
#kirby#kirby fanfic#lrblev art#sketch#creative writing#text post#susie haltmann#magolor#master crown#star dream#president haltmann#kirby planet robobot#its literally a fix-it fic har har har!#except i dont really like that term for it#i wouldnt call it “fixing” stuff. just some ideas that went WAY TOO FAR. as in 230k words too far. currently#and anyway... who knows if susie will actually do more GOOD than HARM this time around...!#because there WILL be harm. on all sides. for it is the best of times. it is the worst of times. there are black markets and dinner dates.#oh wait i should mention this is a gen fic#i draw the catboy and the science girl kissing sometimes but this is... not quite that. OR IS IT? its not. UNLESS? nah#also she has a different love interest...#okay besides meta knight (completely one-sided. but its okay susie! everyone else has a crush on him too. including magolor.)#(a moderately-plot-relevantly bi wizard.)#(its still gen tho.)#(okay bi.)#(i mean bye.)
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Sometimes, I gotta tell ya, I actually am not fully sold, like sometimes when people are like wearing fake noses or whatever, I’m like, I know it’s you. You know? I’m not fully fooled. The question is, that sort of subtlety that you see with like Gene Hackman where it’s like, I know it’s always him but somehow he’s enough of himself that I also believe he’s these other people completely. So I think about that a lot in terms of what that subtlety is. Or like Peter Falk has that. [...] I always believe that he’s telling me the truth. So I really aspire to that kind of organic thing.
NATASHA LYONNE at the LA Times Comedy Roundtable Tyler James Williams continued laughing bonus:
#tvedit#pokerfaceedit#russiandolledit#natasha lyonne#poker face#made by carolyn#i watched this like a year ago and thought about it constantly while watching poker face lol#this moderator trying SO HARD to be like you're always natasha but in a good way#and natasha immediately like actually i'm always joe pesci#she's my best friend actually#btw trying to transcribe natasha lyonne stammering through a sentence is so hard ajdhfkajf
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powder keg (full under the cut)
#wip success story!!#for a bit there i expected it to be a wip failure but i think we turned it around boys#arcane#arcane jinx#isn't it kinda cool how vi and powder don't. have last names. do vander or silco have last names#this thing has 49 layers and 1 of them is completely unrelated#approximately 8 of them are lineart#so it took 40 layers to color this.......#most of them are hidden too it's cuz i am so indecisive and afraid of messing stuff up so i just duplicate the layers and keep going#this is not a great art philosophy but it is what it is#eyestrain#my eyes got fucking STRAINED while working on this#but i love bright colors </3#the evidence of duplicating layers is in one of my shading layers called Layer5-1-2-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-1 or something like that#i went into overdrive lowkey bc i was like this Has to be finished before arc 3 (uhh very mild act 3/trailer spoilers to follow ig)#bc i Know her look changes and god knows i was NOT gonna erase those braids i painstakingly outlined (over a year ago)#it's the principle of the thing. i basically redrew half of it anyways but only because i could not stand it if i did not#i was already feeling like euhhhhhhhhhh abt the whole composition bc when i originally drew it it was kinda half based#around her league personality#so working on it now felt like it was just. Quite ooc for our current moment in the canon timeline#well. whatever. i think she looks cool enough. character notwithstanding. i just hope she is happy after saturday </3#jinx#jinx league of legends#felt like i should tag that on bc the personality thing lol.... lol#i just went through the jinx tag and reblogged a whole stream of super sentimental and super angsty jinx stuff#and now i am posting what i post best. moderately cool poses and mildly affective expressions :)#my art
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100% don't punish the growl and listen to your dog and your puppy is not an evil mastermind AND ALSO seeing how Melis behaved today and latey, feeling very validated in our approach to her outbursts of screaming thrashing gnashing teeth being less "sorry sorry never mind" and more "ok buddy are u sure though"
time will tell if she has another ride on the melty brain hormone train coming (Sparta didn't - but she might) but at this moment in time, Melis is a pretty tolerant, people-oriented, socially intelligent little dog who's displaying some very pleasant traits. and who has not growled or snarled or gotten near threshold in many months. at this rate our worst puppy might end up our best dog
#her impulse control is tons better (as one expects when they start to hormonally mature a bit)#and its not so much about teaching her to moderate her behaviour anymore as it seems like she finally understands#that the best way to the best outcome for her is simply to#behave. and take it easy. and trust us and the environment to make things work out in good ways#conflict free resolutions etc#to be fair i think melis has ALWAYS been socially intelligent#i dont think she wouldve adopted the behaviour style she had if she wasnt. she learned VERY EARLY (pre-8wks)#that if she blustered big enough she'd win anything. and that became the most convenient and successful way for her to behave#so all we really had to do was make that behaviour inefficient. not punish it - that wasnt necessary#because the wanted behaviour requires less of her than the unwanted one does#anyway i love her and her remorselessness to bits and now we can foster her need for chaos and violence in productive and harmonious ways#<3
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Ah, spring in new england
Not live, laugh, leghorning this weather^
#live laugh leghorn#nothing says springtime in new england like a snowstorm#the birds are Not Having It#chickens#tiny fluffy dinosaurs#the BEST animals#chickenblr#nature#snow#the poor tree buds#pls ignore how Filthy Winry is i just refilled their dustbath and she doesn't know the meaning of moderation
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MCFLY JULY ‘24 — marlene's sleepover.
APRIL 19, 2015, 10:38 PM
Yeah, she could have called Emmett. In retrospect, she probably should have.
Or, y’know, her parents.
But, it was his turn with the car, his turn to have an amazing night with the girl he’d been crushing on for approximately forever (at least since the beginning of the school year), his turn to be in the spotlight. Plus, it was Mom and Dad’s date night, a tradition they’d kept up for pretty much forever no matter what life had thrown at them. There was at least one night a week where they’d find time to be together and do whatever disgustingly-in-love stuff they wanted (long nights spent stargazing, cuddled up together laughing in the movie theater, late night drives to the beach, holding hands at a restaurant).
She’s not gonna be the one to break a twenty year streak.
Plus, Mimi and Papa are out of town on a book tour so they’re out, too.
That’s why Ellie finds herself walking down the mean streets of Hill Valley at 10:30 at night toward the city limits down a path she could navigate in her sleep, carrying her heels by their straps, getting soaked in the rain. She puffs a strand of hair out of her face, running her hand through her hair to try to tame the tangled mess it’s rapidly turning into.
APRIL 19, 2015, 11:23 PM
Okay, so maybe she slightly overestimated her capabilities here.
This sucked.
Why didn’t she listen to Kayla and wear her Converse tonight? Why today, of all days, did she decide she had to be stylish?
The asphalt is digging into her feet, one of her calves is spasming, and her stupid dress is probably giving her the beginnings of hypothermia (maybe she’s being just a little bit dramatic, but it feels like it, okay? It feels like it).
At least she can see the lights of the farmhouse now.
She steps onto the porch, rapping on the door with her knuckle.
The door swings open and @doctorbrown is standing there, agape at the sight of her. Ellie gives a crooked smile that is far too reminiscent of her father, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.
“Hey, Uncle Doc,” she says, tired and sheepish. “...Can I sleep over tonight? The party… well, it wasn’t really my scene, y’know?”
#drabble tbt.#mcflyjuly#mcfly july ‘24.#elizabeth tbt.#twins tbt.#ellie may be our very best girl#but she's also moderately stupid just like her old man (affectionate)#'ehhhh i don't wanna bother my family let me walk FORTY FIVE MINUTES in the RAIN'#IN THE MIDDLE OF APRIL#anyways <3#doctorbrown#you're my best friend in the whole space time continuum [doc brown.]#queue. this is heavy.
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I wish I met a trans girl named Goombella
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i am going to kill whatever part of my brain gives me appetite issues
#marzi speaks#i was having Issues yesterday w eating. didn’t eat too much#today i wake up still feeling kinda ill. my roommate gives me some of her food and it helps. i eat a snack and enjoy it!#later she brings me dinner (i went to the store w her and her boyfriend so it was like a ‘thank you’ n also she’s the best)#it was yummy as hell. i eat most of it#literally the last two bites the issues come back#i carefully finish the meal trying not to upset myself. and now i am sitting here mildly nauseated and moderately irritated#man. why’s food gotta be a whole ordeal. can a man just eat
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the master is a woman for one regeneration and suddenly becoming a good guy is like, the Worst thing to want for that story to conclude with and that it’s actively wanted by people sometimes floors me
#dw shit#for so many reasons like come on???#the story doing this (aside from being a terrible continuation of twelve and misssy) would have some weird#gender bullshit going on that is so not needed or cool#missy wasn't aiming to be good#she wanted to be 12's friend hence why she was acting 'good'#dhawan did not want to be 13's friend#so he didn't try to be good#proving ultimately missy's motivations Were selfish#(that's fine. that's not a problem. her motivations do not invalidate good deeds done.)#but all of this is actually based around the master's agency#as in#if they feel like pandering to the doctor's moral standards#missy did#dhawan does not#i think at the Very best you could say they reach chaotic neutral#and don't break into the good barrier#meanwhile the doctor lives on the whole square#feel like the doctor being an arrogant asshole is left out of this discussion a lot bc fandom has no sense of moderation#and either 12 did Nothing wrong or was an abusive monster#neither of which is true
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mal in the grishaverse is to alina what jacob in twilight has been to bella. in this essay i'll...
#okay so in twilight jacob is like bella it's unnatural that edward is alive he should have been dead long ago. and if he was and he didn't#meddle with natura and the timeline i would be the one for you in our timeline. but he's here because he's extra special and that makes me#obsolete. because like alina and mal matched until they were both common and not special but now alina is a summoner and#she's the specialest of special girls and mal is throwing a tempter tantrum over that right#and they are like. they should be best friends and nothing more.#anyway that was point A#I'm over not one not two but three glasses of wine but even like this I know that one point justification belongs in my friends DMs not#an essay so let me present point B#so he's like the firebird right (he just circled her hand where the last amplifier would go and they felt weird#incredible foreshadowing btw) so like he belongs to her but only part of her belongs to him and that's very jacob vibes with all the#renesmee business. and also mal is just. so desperate to define himself by what he is to alina like he expects the answer to his own#identity crisis that is the consequence of his own actions (deserting literally no one asked that of him) from her#like the only way he thinks about defining himself is in relation to her . and like yeah ig they are teenagers and 'in love' or whatever#(they have zero chemistry while the darkling and nikolai are constantly standing next to alina and it works but ig I digress)#so i'm just constantly being told and they are in love and want a simple life (and that's the very thing that made me side with Gale instead#of Peeta back when so I'm probably primed to not want that for characters) but idk I just don't see it that they'd make such a good pair#anyway I guess this is a Mal hate post and I'm dragging the moder YA lit's each and every love interest into this 'analysis'#blueberry wine is excellent by the way would recommend#miaing
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apparently there really are young rfk jr fans. my friend said there are more independents than ever so he can win and asked what i thought of him and i said not a fan lmfao and she said have you read anything about him tho and i was like …yes. and i just !!! help us all. her “research” is TikTok. she thinks he has a shot bc he’s blowing up on her gen z tiktok. i really don’t like making generational generalizations but oh my god guys it’s bleak.
#she thinks the issue is not working together and compromising#compromising on what?#i just !!!!!!! moderates don’t make sense to me#and rfk jr is a fucjing grifter at best#personal#i’m so tired i just couldn’t w the conversation i was like girl.
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,
#depressing thot but i have like internalised the fact that i will get cancer at some point in my life time#i mean the likelihood of getting cancer at some point in ur life is already 1/3#then i have the extra % working against me because of genetics and heredity#and then the fact that in general i don’t have the best health and i have a ton of carcinogenic habits!#supposedly a first degree relative having had it doubles your risk#and the fact it happened to my mum under the age of 50 increases that risk#from avg/ moderate to strong#and it being in both of one organ increases risk and she had to have a preventative double mastectomy because of precancerous cells in the#other breast is like#halfway there into that particular added risk category#i believe also her grandmother had it too#all of these are considered ‘strong risk’ following like every cancer organization#and i guess it compounds#so uh#really makes me feel like all of her abusive and controlling tactics over the years have credence and i’ll regret being belligerent
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does anyone else find it extremely annoying how so many restaurants got rid of paper menus over the pandemic and now make you scroll through the menu on your phone to order???
#it made sense when we thought you could spread covid via contact#but please#we sat down to eat at one of these places last night - it was crowded and indoors and the waitress said#'you'll order through your phone when you're ready but if you prefer you can order at the counter if you're comfortable with that'#I truly didn't know if she meant comfortable in a hygienic way or a social extroversion way#anyway sometimes the best ux is not digital 🤷♀️#(also I feel the need to clarify that I do typically avoid crowded indoor places & take risks like that in moderation)#(it was a special occasion)
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One thing that got me more about Inside Out 2 is in the first even though the emotions were at the controls it still felt like Rileys struggle and her struggle with these big life changes and emotions was understandable and easy to connect to. In Inside Out 2 idk man I connected more with the actual emotion Anxiety and her struggle with the anxieties rather than Rileys struggle with it idk man. I love that they focused on the other emotions a lot this time they didn't get much screen time (fear is a mood and I like anger and disgust). But I wonder if there were just too many characters and things to focus on that really bogged it down.
#they made it hard not to. sympathize with my anxiety is that weird?#like anxiety is fine in moderation like the end bit where joy was like hey lets not focus on stuff we dont know about yet lets focus on what#we do which was great!!#i liked that a lot. i liked when anxiety was moving so fast joy couldnt even figure out where she was which is so much what it feels like#everyone talked about how anxiety was the villain and its just not the case i think#she also wanted what was best for riley but she did what anxiety does to an extreme degree#as someone with an anxiety disorder i related to that a lot
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