#shes like... a moderate at best

[sassydefendorflower]

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.

[b4kuch1n]

glorioso from last years twitterin

[fairweathermyth]

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:

[fjordfolk]

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

[makenna-made-this]

Ah, spring in new england

Not live, laugh, leghorning this weather^

[timechange]

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?”

[ghostcrows]

I wish I met a trans girl named Goombella

[mars-ipan]

i am going to kill whatever part of my brain gives me appetite issues

[ssaalexblake]

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 

[miabrown007]

mal in the grishaverse is to alina what jacob in twilight has been to bella. in this essay i'll...

[chappell-roans]

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.

[chaseprice]

,

[thebluepeninsula]

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???

[thelaughingmerman]

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.

[anthromimicry]

“ i feel like i’m pulled back in time to when it happened.” @twcfaces :)

in response to the other's words, silence spread throughout the room almost instantaneously, but it was not the kind that was born out of awkwardness or of any sort of malice — it was a quiet sort of understanding that misao was regarding the other with now. it was undeniable that harvey and two-face, as they were ultimately two halves of one whole, had clearly been through something very traumatic as evidenced by the events that harvey (who was seemingly the host of their body from what she'd gathered from their conversation thus far, though she could be wrong) described to her. so it was important to treat the topic with the respect it deserved... and not to immediately jump to saying that he needed help, because that could be misinterpreted as ' there's something wrong with you, ' which was the exact opposite of what those who practice talk therapy should say to their patients.

misao instead wanted to show him compassion (or, at least, as much compassion as she could given her propensity for having to fake empathizing with her patients perhaps more often than she'd like to admit) and so all she did at first was nod to affirm the other that she was indeed listening. the gears in her mind right now were just turning was all, as she tried to find what the best thing to say to him would be in this moment. misao preoccupied herself with pushing the tissues on the table across from them closer to harvey just in case he might need them. and this gave her the time she needed to finally settle on what she should say, her expression remaining neutral besides the blink-and-you'll-miss-it frown that tugged at her lips, ❝ i see. well, thank you for trusting me enough to share such a personal and difficult story. ❞

misao took a moment in order to let everything he said to her set in more and continued, leaning forward to show him yet another sign that she was in fact very attuned to what he was saying, ❝ i am so sorry that you were hurt, harvey. or would you prefer for me to refer to you through plural terms? it seems as if the therapists before me that have treated you have made you aware that you have disassociative identity disorder... but i know that every system's preferences tend to vary whenever it comes to pronouns. so, i thought i should ask. but we do not have to talk about two-face at all during this session if you don't want to or unless he wishes to join us. i am correct with my assumption that i am speaking to harvey, yes? ❞ making a trust her and forming a safe environment for them in her office was absolutely vital to helping them heal. and whenever it came to people with a disassociative disorder, misao felt it was especially important to establish a baseline with them about their system.

she only had what other psychiatrists had said about the two of them to depend upon currently in her notes, after all, and things could always change / be inaccurate. misao cleared her throat as she rolled her pencil in between her hands, ❝ now, please correct me if i am using the wrong terms here, but if you are comfortable with answering... i'd like to ask you whether this is the first time you've experienced such a thing. i mean, having this feeling that you are being brought back in time to when it happened. because i believe that if you have been experiencing these flashbacks to the past in a reoccurring fashion, that there may definitely be more to it than what meets the eye. ❞ misao grabbed something from beneath the table in front of her and it was soon revealed to be a notebook with a pen.

she carefully slid it over to him, wordlessly at first, ❝ i don't know if you are fond of doodling while talking, but i always keep a set of these in my office for those who are. so feel free. and i realize that it can be intimidating to speak about these things to someone, but i promise you that my goal here is to just help you to the best of my ability. ❞ misao offered him a small smile before settling back in her chair.

he, or they, might desire to have some space to process everything. and she was more than willing to give it to them.

[foilflingza]

my family bs is finally starting to weigh on me again