#to talk about my love of star trek with

[pilots-and-protons]

Quick blanket-statement for anyone who is thinking of sending me messages:

I am fully aware and conscious that there are problems with every Star Trek.

I understand the ongoing issues with racism, sexism, and a number of outdated ideologies. TOS-VOY (which are what I watch, other than the movies) are all products of their time and incredibly dated in many ways, and it’s wonderful that people want to point out the flaws and issues and discuss the varying ways that Star Trek could have and should have done better even for its time.

But let me make this clear: Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY) are my comfort shows. I am autistic and they’ve been my special interest for a long time now, and I cannot stress enough what that means to me. I watch them to be happy and to find a sanctuary away from the constant stressors of every day life, especially since I struggle with anxiety and depression.

I don’t want to talk about everything wrong with them. I just want to focus on the best aspects of Star Trek - the stories, the characters, the relationships. I want to talk about fascinating science-fiction concepts and the beautiful way Star Trek tried to bring important social issues to the table. I want to talk about found families who love each other, including all the ways they are strange and unique and different.

I know that there are problems and I am not ignoring them entirely - I just need a space to focus on the good things.

So please for the love of god, I don’t need people to question whether or not I’m aware of the racism or the sexism, I don’t need people coming after me because they don’t think I should enjoy specific characters, and I don’t need to be hounded about every little issue that ever existed because a bunch of (mostly) Cisgendered White Men were writing stories before we even reached the 21st century.

[dreamerdrop]

I don’t talk about my love for Kira Nerys too often because. Look. I think if DS9 handles anything well, it’s Kira, hands down.

Her character development is a work of art. She is so traumatised, so angry, so beaten down and STILL FIGHTING at the start. She struggles so much with her PTSD, with the idea that she is ever allowed to be in anything but attack mode…

And then, slowly, gradually, she becomes a whole new person. She laughs, she smiles, she makes corny jokes, she does dumb fun things for the sake of enjoying herself. She has friends, she has a family, she is surrounded by love and joy and HOPE.

Even in the middle of second war, she’s DIFFERENT now. She’s not the same miserable angry person she was, afraid to let go of the vigilant surivival instincts that kept her alive for so long. She’s come back to life as a person who has something to live for.

She has done terrible things. Her hands are stained with blood. She is never going to be able to forget her trauma or the suffering, both her own and that of her people, nor the suffering she inflicted while fighting for her freedom. But she recovers. She heals. She carves out an existence where she is truly, genuinely happy to be alive.

I don’t need to talk about Kira as much as some other characters because this all happens on screen. It’s right there, and it’s beautiful and perfect.

Kira Nerys goes from a person who cannot conceive of herself outside of the horrors she has suffered, inflicted, and fought against, to someone for whom her trauma is just one part of the larger picture, a piece of a rich and vibrant tapestry that is now filled, overwhelmingly, with joy.

Kira Nerys is like, hands down, bar none, one of, if not THE best characters Star Trek has ever created. I love her so much. She is just, completely and utterly perfect, especially in her flaws.

[muirmarie]

jim being canonically the shortest one of the triumvirate is genuinely so important to me lmao, like yesssssss, let that beefy babe be shorter than both his boyfriends!!!!

[major-comet]

the biggest problem with tos’ episodic format is that the episode usually ends pretty quickly after the conflict resolves and then they never really talk about it again - no matter how intense or harrowing it was

which means that we don’t get to actually *see* the interpersonal fallout of bones being diagnosed with and cured from a previously-incurable terminal illness (that he didn’t even want to tell jim and spock he had), and then just four episodes later drugging them so that he can go be tortured (and likely die) instead of spock, and so jim doesn’t have to make the choice between them.

did they talk about it? beyond just a standard debrief and a “never fucking do that again bones i swear to god i mean it this time”? did they make it the captains’ quarters for the debrief, only for mccoy to be pulled into a crushing, trembling hug as soon as the door shut while jim tried to assure himself that bones was still here, was still breathing? spock hovering nearby - a hand gently coming to rest on his shoulder?

why didn’t mccoy want to tell them about the xenopolycythemia, anyways? to try and hold onto a few more normal-ish months before every time they looked at him their eyes would be filled with grief - mourning a man they hadn’t yet lost? the same reason he ran away; to spare them what he went through with his father?

only for him to immediately turn around and throw himself back to the wolves to (almost) die right in front of them anyways

i don’t really know how they handled it. whether they talked about it and attempted to soothe the hurt, or just resolutely tried to bottle it up.

but i do know this: spock eventually came back from gol because jim simply (though accidentally) called out for him in a moment of need. bones only came back because jim personally drafted him back into starfleet

[isagrimorie]

Star Trek Voyager 4x09 - Year of Hell, part 1

Janeway: We're going through their space whether they like it or not.

[dustykneed]

(tsfs feels anyone? fanart below.)

You've been in his head.

But he says, never faltering, the words,

"I choose the danger."

It is in that moment that you understand:

He could never, would never,

Has never hated you.

Now you realize:

this is what humans refer to as love.

[hollis-art]

as the local star trek nerd in my school's theater group, someone was asking me where exactly they should start in order to get into the whole thing, and YAYYY!!! not only will i have another star trek person to talk to BUT I GOT TO RAMBLE ABOUT IT IN CLASS!!!!! AND THEY WERE ACTUALLY LISTENING AND NODDING ALONG!! YAYYYY

[professional-termite]

Draw something you want to draw

ive been rotating a tng modern au in my head for a few days now. look at my sillies. look at em 🗣🗣

also i made lore gnc because uhh i think he would be if given the opportunity

[bumblingbabooshka]

Voyager should have had an episode where the command trio beat the absolute hell out of each other while blaming each other for being stuck in the delta quadrant as the fever pitch of a rising tension that was building throughout the episode. Like, they're absolutely being pushed to do it by some outside force. Maybe it's a telepathic being - maybe it's that they're stuck in some arena or an alien court or a time loop only the three of them are aware of - no matter the specifics, the sentiment behind their words has to be true and it has to be something they've been keeping back for months, maybe years. That fear and hatred and blame that doesn't really have an actual target because it's not actually rational but 'who's to blame' doesn't have to be capital T true to feel true. If Chakotay hadn't been in the badlands, If Janeway hadn't made that choice, If Tuvok hadn't supported it... "You trapped us here. It's your fault. If you hadn't-! If you hadn't-! If you hadn't-!" are just echoes of "I trapped us here. It's my fault. If I hadn't-! If I hadn't-! If I hadn't-!" Because at the end of the day more than being angry or hateful they're despairing in their own ways. Episode probably has a somber end - they beat whatever it was and it's a victory! They won by working together even after they beat each other half to death! But after the celebration we see them alone in their quarters...silent. Gazing out at the stars, into a candle's flame, at that same family picture before turning away. Because even though they won they're still there in the delta quadrant. Is that really victory?

[libartz]

[itsoveranakin-ihavethehighground]

watching the tng episode the loss (4x10) where deanna loses her empathic abilities and becomes disabled and everyone around her tells her to just adjust and that she can do it and they all try to guilt-trip her into staying in her role despite the fact that she is literally now disabled.... and then riker says that she thinks she's superior?? because she's a betazoid?? and accuses her of neglecting her human heritage?? picard literally tries the whole 'well i knew a disabled person once and they could do it' and 'lots of people do this thing everyday without your struggle, you should be fine'

[svartalfhild]

Anybody else get any formal requests for collaboration from a supposed concept artist on their old FF.net account recently?

I just got one from someone named Gloria Jenkins, and a quick google tells me that there is a Gloria Jenkins who's been a storyboard artist for many children's cartoons starting in the 90's, and there's a Gloria Jenkins with an Artstation account, who may or may not be the same person, but the art in that account is much more consistent with the "concept artist and fan of high fantasy literature" the person from this message claims to be. (I also can't imagine a veteran children's cartoon artist wanting to collab with me, considering the kinds of stuff I write, unless they have a more diverse portfolio that it would seem lol.)

Anyway, I've been on the internet far too long to not be suspicious of something like this. This Gloria person is messaging from an empty account made a couple of days ago, and there's a few possible innocent explanations for that, but the scam possibility is also high.

[dreamerdrop]

Okay I finally started season 7 of DS9 and.

I like Ezri.

I’m not surprised she was unpopular, Jadzia was JADZIA after all, and the circumstances of it all kind of suck but.

I like this woman. She’s insecure, she’s scared, she’s completely out of her depth, but she is TRYING. Holy shit, how can anyone look at her and think she’s weak? She’s tough as nails, and it’s obvious from the start, because she clearly FEELS so fragile but she’s holding herself together and doing what she can and she is so…

If she’d been the central character of a show AFTER DS9, she’d have been PERFECT. An adorable, unique character who could slowly grow into someone who stands tall, not as a shadow of Dax, but as HERSELF.

I love you Ezri and I think you and Jadzia woulda been besties if you’d been able to meet under more fortunate circumstances.

[tues-dayy]

Gwyndala, the unifier.

An edit to Stella the Begonia to celebrate one of my favorite characters, and the family that she made for herself.

[raisins-n-space]

thinking about him (genesis spock)

[mamawasatesttube]

trying to codify rules for running that lil followers only "we must fix the kon tags" minibang and i think this is the funniest one ive come up with so far:

NO jason todd allowed.

exceptions can be made for background tentatodd ONLY