#social norms suck

[queerstudiesnatural]

i'm just gonna say it i don't know why it's not acceptable for adults to walk around with their stuffed animal/doll/blankie. why are we all expected to stop needing comfort and familiarity and whimsy as we grow up

[lord-squiggletits]

Wanted to send an ask as well to hopefully provide some distraction from…recent events.

Are there any parts of world building in the TF IDW universe that you wish were explored/expanded upon more? Or that you want to explore in your writing? Like certain aspects of pre-war Cybertron, cybertronian culture, post-war Cybertron, etc?

Okay this is actually perfectly timed for a rant I wanted to go on about the way mnemosurgery is written in IDW1 because I hate how JRO basically made it an ontologically evil field of medicine both intrinsically and in terms of the average person who does it, like

First of all I want to preface this by saying I'm not accusing JRO of having any particular beliefs, this is just my commentary on how things came off and how his writing style contributes to both virtues and flaws in his writing. So I might say "he's basically saying this" but in the sense of "unfortunate implications, accidental or purposeful, in his writing."

But like... it makes me so mad because the worldbuilding around mnemosurgery kind of makes no sense to me? It seems like a really fucking wasted opportunity to cast basically every mnemosurgeon in the continuity as evil and to make it so that even just doing mnemosurgery is basically a toxic, destructive act that will literally kill you? Honestly, I don't think JRO even came up with mnemosurgery as like, "here's a thing that exists in this world and how it works" so much as, he took a character-first approach to writing (as he always does) and wrote mnemosurgery to work whatever way would work best for Chromedome and other character-related conflicts and plot points.

Like, mnemosurgery can view/alter memories from a living person but from a dead person it can only get moments from right before death. Makes sense. Mnemosurgery slowly kills you every time you do it??? Uh... honestly that comes off more as a handwave to make it so that any time the LL needs information they can't just needle it straight out of whoever's mind they need bc of course Chromedome can only do it when it's really important after all. Mnemosurgery... is only ever used for brainwashing people? Like, literally every mnemosurgeon except Chromedome is evil (and cartoonishly so, for Trepan and Sunder, like literally unredeemable monsters in every way) and any time they actually enjoy their field of medicine it's bc they're a sadist that likes to manipulate and oppress people? Kind of... uncreative.

Mnemosurgery is ADDICTIVE?? You're addicted to needling people's brains because mnemosurgery is ontologically evil and then it literally kills you? Okay like... do I even need to explain how tone-deaf it is to incorporate addiction of all things into the worldbuilding here? "You're an addict which makes you dangerous to society. The good ones stop doing the addictive thing because they're morally strong/care about others/aren't hedonists, but the bad ones who only care about doing their drug of choice are evil because the fact that they don't quit shows that they don't care about other people and OF COURSE the main/only fate that awaits addicts is their inevitable death by their own addiction!" Like, we get enough of that shit in real life, JRO. Did you really have to take an already heavily stigmatized condition like ADDICTION and slap it onto your ontologically evil mnemosurgery where the evil ones are evil because they love abusing/manipulating people and don't care enough about dying to stop being addicted to mnemosurgery? Come the fuck on.

Like, I understand that "the science of studying/altering memories" is heavily laden with nightmare fuel as is, and I don't have a problem with that (and stuff like the Institute) because the mind/memories are an intrinsic part of personhood, so any scientific field around it (or any government that wants to sponsor it) will abuse that knowledge just like with any other field of medicine. But to use human examples, why the fuck does mnemosurgery have to be inherently evil? What about stuff like Alzheimer's that degrades ppl's memories to the point of not even remembering a few seconds ago? Wouldn't it be beautiful if mnemosurgery could help with that? What about psychological issues where maybe people with intense PTSD/trauma/etc could have their worst memories be removed/dulled so that they become mentally stable enough for psychiatric/therapeutic interventions to become effective? What if someone has a TBI and wants help recovering the memories they lost?

What about non-scary, non-medicinal applications of mnemosurgery? What if someone just really treasures the memory of a particular day with their best friend and visits a mnemosurgery every couple years so that information creep doesn't slowly alter their memories of that precious day? What if it was possible for mnemosurgeons to intensify memories, so that maybe someone could have a happy memory intensified and think of it any time they're sad, struggling, having mental health struggles, etc? What if mnemosurgeons could take/copy memories from people's brains and convert them to video format in a way that other people could watch it? Imagine the sheer potential present in that when it comes to preserving history through literal firsthand testimonials of what happened! What if a mnemosurgeon could transfer memories from one person to another-- what kinds of breakthroughs in empathy, communication, and understanding others could happen if you could LITERALLY see a conflict from another person's perspective? In those ways, mnemosurgeons would basically be able to act as a hybrid of doctor, psychologist, diplomat, mediator, and archivist all in one!

But no... instead we just got "Mnemosurgery is evil and pretty much only used for brainwashing, 99.8% of all mnemosurgeons are evil creeps, oh by the way it's also addicting and will literally kill you if you do it too much." SMFH.

[19thcenturyfuck]

every time i get into a fandom i tell myself i will not fixate on some bizarre worldbuilding detail. anyway, here i am going insane thinking about time lord societal views/attitudes/norms/etc. about regeneration

[mejomonster]

I wrote 6000 words today!

[strangecowplant]

so often now i see someone uploading their very first piece of cc like a recolour or tattoo and they have a patreon already

its like theres this idea that you HAVE to have a patreon and a preview style and link ur socials and make yourself into a Brand™ now right from the get go instead of just??? enjoying the game?? being part of the community?? making cc because you wanted it and maybe someone else would like it too??

so many paywall creators literally arent active in the community for anything but posting more cc to get that dosh pls dont use them as a template, enjoy the game and make cc for yourself dont make yourself a faceless brand there enough of that shit in and out of this community as is

[pegasusdrawnchariots]

the eternal question: is scheduling w friends as an adult That Hard or am I just bad at it

[kidotomy]

🐜 the only app I've bothered to use for personal posting is officially dying (vent.co, which I've used since 2018... ) so I guess I will try migrating my mind back to tumblr.

I will miss vent because often times I used it moreso as a personal diary than anything social. Farewell terribly managed hell app.

Spent tonight playing pathologic 2 for the first time though and I love it. Little idea what is going on for real!! Beat to death in the streets... Twice! Great game.

I accidentally hit the poll button and can't remove it on mobile (thanks tumblr) so.

[ahalliance]

kalvin garrah era of transmedicalism really was something . like girl even cis people don’t have one Dominant way of expressing their gender why the fuck should trans people

[funkylittlebats]

Also it's rude to undermine what's making someone upset, worried, or frustrated, no matter how small the cause. Good job making it all about you though, I'm sure everyone really respects and admires you now

[troglobite]

.

[stealthpotato]

I know "scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds" has been constantly proving itself for as long as it's been a phrase, but holy hell it really feels like they're just taking a dive down the cheese grater slide lately

[oilith]

I think more guys should wear skirts and dresses. Like, imagine a big buff guy in a loose off shoulder top and a long flowy skirt. It would look SO GOOD

[the-gayest-show]

Sometimes the urge to speak my mind gets the better of me and I get situations like this:

My comm tech teacher was taking about prom and joking about doing his hair (he has a shiny head and is bald. Not old bald but the voluntary kind i think where he looks 40 to 50 at most and is hairless)

My ass resisted the urge to ask the dominating question of "what hair?" For maybe 2 minutes before I asked it aloud.

Literally everyone was like "OHHHHHH!!!!" in the way that's like "woah sick burn" and I realized that it was a mistake from then on bc part of my brain like "fuck yeah" and the other genuinely wanted to know and i was conflicted

Don't even get me started on the shocking amount of times I answered a rhetorical question just get shut down by all of the teachers being like "iT wAs a RhEtOrICaL qUeStIoN"

I'm usually 60% able to identify one but they sound so similar to real questions its so stupid. Like if you ask me a question i answer. That's how i roll and I have an iep telling you I am fucking neurodivergent pls read that for once.

do u ever walk from a social interaction like damn. this is why i keep my mouth shut most of the time

[yumenosakiacademy]

the other day i was talking 2 my nana n dad abt how when i had friends i was actually 1 of the ppl most ACTIVE when doing things like talking n stuff n i said how i was the 1 who initiated most of the convos in the group chat n whatnot n sent the most msgs esp there n dad was like "mayb they got tired of u psychoanalyzing them sm [there]" or w/e w a chuckle n nana laughed 2 n i fucking saw red.

[owlandwillpeck]

What are you supposed to do when you wanna talk but there's a few other people talking and they don't stop talking? I just raise my hand but i noticed it isn't socially acceptable

[kolethecrone]

Oh no the pit hair what ever shall one do?! 😱 I also love when people complain that fat people need to go to the gym and then ridicule them in some type of way when they do.