awesomenell65
awesomenell65
Nell65
51K posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
awesomenell65 · 1 day ago
Text
Murderbot would love Mr. Terrific.
Tumblr media
Lady asks him to rescue her boyfriend. Does not really want to be here, but someone has to due to this rescue. She starts talking about their relationship, and he does not want to hear about it.
Her: I’m not even sure how I feel. Honestly.
Him: What?
Her: About Clark. He’s not my boyfriend. We’ve actually just been seeing each other…
Him: Yeah, lady, just to be clear,
Her: …for a couple of months…
Him: I’m not into people’s emotions.
Her: Yeah, no, totally. I’m just thinking out loud. I was gonna break up with him, actually. I mean, we had this huge fight, and he told me he loved me, and it just didn’t… Mr. Terrific's face when she keeps talking. Murderbot would relate.
Mr. Terrific also fights using drones
Tumblr media
And gets annoyed when his drone's are destroyed
Tumblr media
Murderbot would just find him the most relatable character ever
51 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 2 days ago
Text
I like the detail that SecUnit has both a malfunctioning risk assessment module and a malfunctioning threat assessment module that are malfunctioning in opposite directions so that every little thing is a threat and nothing is high risk. That's "paranoid but with low impulse control" representation if I've ever seen it
49 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 3 days ago
Text
Just deleted a harsher version of this post but,
It's been very weird watching "Murderbot is not just an unreliable narrator, but a highly unreliable narrator" build steam through the fandom and become a communally accepted reading such that people add it as a disclaimer or even a statement of fact to otherwise unrelated fandom posts because it's just ... not, in my opinion, an accurate reading of the text. And people aren't even putting it forth as a possible interpretive lens anymore, they're just - stating it as if it's both true and something everyone agrees on.
When it started, people were just saying "unreliable narrator" or even "somewhat unreliable narrator," and I didn't agree with it, but I saw the point. Murderbot has strong opinions on things that it doesn't hesitate to share, it struggles with self-awareness at times, and there are occasions when it's made a blanket statement about the nature of constructs or machine intelligences that it later started to question as inherent qualities of SecUnits or just part of its own unique personality as an individual. If your definition of what an "unreliable narrator" is is broader than mine, I could certainly see Murderbot just squeaking in at the more reliable end of that spectrum.
But people are now casually tossing off "extremely unreliable" and -
There are first person narrators in fiction whose narratives contain such strong contradictions that its clear they must be intentionally lying about major events, and the reader can retroactively no longer tell what parts of the narrative are true or false.
There are first person narrators in fiction who are experiencing mental health related breaks from reality such that you cannot tell which events in their story actually happened and which were hallucinations.
There are first person narrators in fiction who are pushing an agenda so strongly (and I'm not talking about just having a point of view on the narrative events at all, I'm talking about "the fictional prologue explains that the narrator wrote this in prison as part of a plea for sympathy and lighter sentencing from the jury" kind of agenda) that everything described has such an extreme spin on it that you can't trust the narrator's depiction of any event to be accurate.
Not only does Murderbot not fit into any of these categories (no, not even the third one, having an opinion is not the same thing as being a spin doctor), but I struggle to see how anyone could place it in comparison with these and then decide in good faith that Murderbot is hanging out with them at the "extremely unreliable" end of the scale.*
(I also really want to know who the first person narrators are whom this section of the fandom considers to be reliable narrators, because if any subjectivity at all renders a narrator unreliable such that one whose only questionable quality is a particularly strong personality and perspective falls at the "extreme" end of the scale, how could any narrator at all qualify as "reliable.")
*in the deleted post I said something snarky about how I read "Murderbot is an extremely unreliable narrator" as "I have never read another book before," and that was unfair, which is why I deleted the post, but I do wonder if some of the people pushing this interpretation don't read a lot of first-person narrated fiction and therefore don't have a great basis of comparison with overtly unreliable narrators vs those who are a bit subjective but to a more normal degree
181 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 4 days ago
Text
Something I've been curious about since first watching the show is those many little details in the background that probably don't really matter, but were put there on purpose nevertheless.
With the help of the alphabet I put together (which you can find here), I sat down and tried to find good shots of the outside of the hoppers. Having the writing be readable is quite hard considering the symbols all follow the same basic shapes; the vehicles are big enough to make them an easy starting point.
Let's start with some basic information!
On the outside next to the ramps, you can find the vehicle's designation and what I assume is a model and registration number.
The PresAux Hopper is an old model, and by old I mean OLD—first generation. All the lettering is pretty scuffed and faded, but I managed to decipher it with a lot of squinting and going through scenes frame by frame.
They call it an "aircraft" instead of a Hopper, the model number is 1023-98, and they helpfully put "authorized personnel only" underneath it. The number is on the back of the hatch and can be seen when it is closed.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
When we compare it to the GrayCris vehicle, we not only notice that it is visibly more modern in its design and less damaged, the designation confirms it. They refer to it as a "Hopper", specifically a survey model 6023-98, which is the same number as the PresAux one except it is five whole generations more advanced; no surprise there.
Tumblr media
Both vehicles have a weapons storage unit on either side of the hatch:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Considering the size, they're meant for actual weapons and not SecUnits or bots.
Now we're getting to the really fun parts (for me at least). While watching, you probably definitely noticed that the company puts its logo everywhere. Every article of clothing, piece of equipment, you name it, it all has a logo.
However, there's a logo that's not actually a logo on both hoppers! Do you want to access their coms? No problem, just scan this neat future version of a QR-code and you're in. Of course, it is still designed like one because why miss out on chance Nr. 2786 to put branding in plain sight.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
From a security point of view, this seems stupidly unsafe but hey, no one's asking the constructs built for that purpose so no wonder they slap that shit right on the outside of the ship. Only thing missing is a big red arrow and a blinking neon sign reading PLEASE SEND US KILLWARE.
While the hoppers are more or less identical with small modernisation differences and the like, there's one thing I have only been able to find on the older PresAux one. Several questions popped up when I started paying attention to it.
Tumblr media
Who does that insignia belong to? So far, this is the only instance of it I have been able to find anywhere.
Is the resemblance to the GrayCris symbol accidental or on purpose? Since it's faded and was put there when the hopper was manufactured, it's not related to PresAux and maybe not even to the Company TM.
Maybe it's related to GrayCris' parent company? Or an old CR logo? A company that manufactured the vehicle but no longer exists or sold it to the Company TM?
Another detail is that they call it the "Corporate Rim" and not "Corporation Rim", which might seem negligible but iirc this is the only time this phrasing has been used. Considering the amount of effort that has been put into designing the outside of the hoppers there might be more to it, at least world-building-wise.
That's all I have for today (though there's so much more I'm working on if people enjoy this), and PLEASE feel free to chime in with your own comments, ideas, and theories! I'd love to hear and talk about them with y'all.
135 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 5 days ago
Text
I've been meaning to write this post for months, and I've realized the only thing holding me back was being a damn perfectionist about it, so just imagine me dumping a backpack of well-loved books and DVDs in front of you, and that's basically how I'm presenting you with (drumroll)...
The Murderbot-Withdrawal Media Survival Pack 🎒🦾🚀
for when you want more media that shares some of the qualities you love about Murderbot
Read an existential embodied robot and machine intelligence story: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (check your library* or buy from bookshop.org**)
Read a fun and surprisingly poignant novella about four robots who team up to start a restaurant against the odds: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (bookshop.org)
Read a compelling series about sentient ships in human bodies challenging the ruling regime one move at a time: the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy). (bookshop.org)
Read about lesbian academics in space solving mysteries: The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series by Malka Older (The Mimicking of Known Successes, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, and The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses). (bookshop.org)
Read a book Martha Wells has mentioned as part of her sci-fi writing inspiration, about humans living on a terraformed planet, and the scientist who gets called out to deal with Earth-spliced plant and animal genetics gone wild: Mirabile by Janet Kagan (ebook at Barnes and Noble, physical book or ebook at Amazon)
Watch a series Martha Wells has written tie-in novels for, where scientists and the military are in space debating when to use force or just talk to the aliens: Stargate (the movie, SG-1, Atlantis; Universe if you're really hooked) (last I checked, available to stream on Amazon Prime, may or may not still be on Netflix or Hulu.)
Watch the OG TV-style Sanctuary Moon: Star Trek The Original Series and Star Trek The Next Generation (available to stream on Paramount Plus and possibly other streaming services)
Play as badass augmented human detective Vera Englund solving a murder mystery in a post-robot-revolution society: Whispers of a Machine (on Steam; also available for cheaper as an app in the Google Play store, and I assume also the Apple store)
Play as a robot named 1K in a city of robots and explore gorgeous environments while solving logic puzzles that challenge the nature of your very existence: The Talos Principle 2 (you don't have to have played the original, and I personally think the second is much more enjoyable.) (on Steam)
*Some books and shows may be available physically or digitally through your local library. If you don't want to buy them/stream them, I recommend checking your library's inventory, requesting an interlibrary loan, or seeing if your library has a digital catalog through the Libby, hoopla, and/or Kanopy app(s) (for US users at least, since I'm not sure which other countries each app is available in).
**All the books linked at bookshop.org can also be bought through Amazon if you prefer.
Feel free to reblog or comment with your own Murderbot-adjacent media recs!
66 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 5 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
two deus ex machinas arguing over what to watch next
I'm so deep in the murderbot hole you guys 8)
998 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 6 days ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
We were melted in the furnace and the pit—    We were cast and wrought and hammered to design
— The Secret of the Machines, Rudyard Kipling
I regularly think about Moiraine's quote about "A tool made for a purpose is not demeaned by being used for that purpose." About Moiraine as one of the Moirai, or all three at once, for the Emond's Field 5. About forging people for great purposes, throwing them, and herself, into the fire. About the weaves of fire Moiraine uses so often. About the fact she is described as ice, when it's the fire of her hope, her belief that fate could be gamed to save the world, that kept the embers burning for 20 years.
341 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 8 days ago
Text
Do you think the people who design modern sewing machines in plastic cases ever feel insignificant because of it? knowing that they're making machines with the lifespan of a dog when they could (if they'd been born a few generations earlier) be making machines with the lifespan of a Galapagos tortoise?
33K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 8 days ago
Text
I had a dream about a Star Trek series with a ferengi captain and he was super endearing but it was like…the worst ship in the fleet and it was full of the misfits of starfleet But I loved this captain I loved him who is he
this is an amazing idea
It’s Nog.
Despite its face as a purported utopia, Starfleet’s got some unfortunate cultural hangups to work through when it comes to certain species, of course. Being the only Ferengi in Starfleet, Nog has to deal with all kinds of racist bullshit from his peers, his superiors, those he eventually outranks.
He makes captain real quick, through a combination of a few open-minded mentors, bull-headed determination, and the good old-fashioned lobes for the business of dealing with people. And he does it despite the bullying, the unfounded rumors and stumbling blocks thrown in his way. He campaigns to have his own ship and gets it simply because the bigots at the top can’t find a legitimate reason to deny it.
But they still try to set him up for failure. They crew his below-substandard ship with the dregs, the misfits, the near-dropouts of the Academy. But instead of getting frustrated, Nog sees opportunity. He knows what his ragtag crew feels like- the unwanted, expected to crash and burn, pushed out to be forgotten.
They know why they’ve been dumped together, pushed aside in the hopes that they’ll just go away. After an admittedly rocky start, Nog sits the crew down in the mess hall and tells these square pegs to start carving corners into the round holes Starfleet has shoved them into. You can’t fit the job? Make the job fit you. We could just give up and be bitter that we’ve all clearly been put here because Admirals Whats-Their-Faces are just waiting for us to bumble into a black hole, or we could surprise them. Prove them wrong.
For himself, Nog adapts the Rules of Acquisition to be compatible with Starfleet culture. His uncle Quark would need a fainting couch if he ever heard, but Nog is thinking profit in a much longer game. He wants to be just the first of many Ferengi to join Starfleet, so he must be a consummate cultural pioneer. More Ferengi in Starfleet might mean eventually Ferenginar joins the Federation. It’s a… very long shot, admittedly, and he might be long dead of old age by the time it happened, but Nog has faith in his people. The females’ liberation movement, going full steam ahead back on his home planet, proves his people can change for the better; it’s a start. Wider acceptance in the galactic community = profit for Ferenginar’s people, and Nog’s idea of profit has expanded somewhat beyond just latinum. (Quark would also need that fainting couch if he ever knew the radical altruistic turn his nephew’s philosophy had taken.)
Ishka listens to her grandson’s weekly transmissions home and could just burst with pride with each one.
He susses out the talents and skills each of his crewmembers has to offer. Puts them to work in ways that dance just around the edges of regulation, finding loopholes in only the way a good Ferengi can. The jerks in charge of handing out assignments keep giving him missions either designed to be a guaranteed fail or are so terrible and frustrating that they should just want to quit, but he turns these fetch quests and garbage details on their side to not only succeed, but return with valuable data or objects of interest. Nothing galaxy-shaking, but more than enough that it makes Nog’s detractors fume at the thought of this upstart shrimp of a Ferengi and all those should-be washouts doing well. Pretty soon Nog’s supporters, the handful of teachers back at the Academy, are all smirking quietly at each other in the faculty conference rooms.
Then Nog and his crew land the big one. One of their little throwaway missions turns over just the right space rock and there’s some universe-ending anomaly staring back at them. Their calls for assistance are treated casually at best- ‘Ugh, it’s the Ferengi and the USS Jury Rig (not their little tub’s real name, but the insult backfired, and Nog’s pretty sure Jenkins is the one who handpainted the nickname on the nacelles during a spacewalk; Nog pretends not to have noticed.), what, did they get caught behind a flock of asteroids?’
Nog and his crew realize help is dragging their warp-speed asses and they’re on their own. Defiantly, they roll their eyes, sigh (gee, shouldn’t we all own condos here at the back of everyone’s priority queue by now?) and get to work. By the time the first ship arrives to help, its just in time to watch the crew of the Jury Rig banish the terrible thing in the sky.
In the fallout, Starfleet command is made aware of all the things Nog and his crew has actually accomplished, along with all the shit they’ve put up with from superiors who set them up to fail. Nog is offered a newer, better ship. Some of the crew are offered promotions, positions on more prestigious ships. To a one, they decline. They’re staying with Captain Nog.
…they take the new ship, though.
10K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 8 days ago
Text
“average Doctor is really really cool” factoid actually just statistical error. average Doctor is very uncool. The ninth doctor who wore a leather jacket 24/7 and told a dalek to kill himself is an outlier and should not have been counted
7K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 8 days ago
Photo
Tumblr media
47K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
boldness is all
Tumblr media
37 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
Re-reading my way through the Murderbot Diaries and I love how many of the books are just
Part 1: Murderbot has a thing to do. Murderbot goes to do the thing, which forces them to interact with humans.
Part 2: Murderbot finishes the thing and prepares to leave.
Part 3: Murderbot finds that the humans are in danger, and begrudgingly, despite the fact that they have nothing to do with its goal and it has no obligation to do anything, puts its life and freedom on the line to save them, all the while going "damn, I should have just left when I finished the thing."
125 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
murderbot & miki: a transgender reading
I just finished reading Rogue Protocol and I have a lot of (positive!) thoughts about it, but the think that stuck out to me the most was Murderbot's relationship to Miki -- specifically because it felt so familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place why until about halfway through.
[I should mention that this reading is largely based off my personal experience and the lens I read through, which is that of a transgender man, and I don't mean to imply that this reading was Martha Wells' intention when writing, or even what people should take away from reading Rogue Protocol, just simply the connections I made while reading the book.]
Murderbot's reactions to Miki and its social position, autonomy or lack thereof, and general contentment with its place as Don Abene's pet robot companion remind me a lot of the negative ways transgender people can sometimes view members of their assigned sex prior to the transgender person's own transition.
while not universal to the trans experience, it is certainly not an uncommon experience for transgender people to believe, prior to their transition, that everyone of their assigned gender feels the way that the transgender individually personally feels about their assigned gender: bad. I was this way in that I believed that femininity was as an uncomfortable fit for every woman as it was for me, and that everyone, like me, was simply doing their best to conform to society's notions of what a woman "should" be. I just believed that most women were much, much better at doing that than I was.
in Rogue Protocol, Murderbot feels quite a lot of initial disgust towards Miki. it annoys Murderbot that Miki seems to accept its place as Don Abene's pet robot so unquestioningly, and it hates that Don Abene seems to view Miki with some level of affection and care. obviously, Murderbot is irritated by Miki's naivete and demeanor, but it is also jealous of how nicely it is treated by Don Abene and the rest of the humans on its team.
prior to the moment of realization, transgender people can experience very similar feelings of betrayal and irritation towards other members of their assigned sex for seemingly not questioning the roles they are expected to fall into, or for even appearing content with their assigned sex/gender. prior to realizing I was transgender, I had the distinct feeling that the cis women around me were all somehow traitors to me personally, or at the very least not critical thinkers. to the transgender individual, pre-realization or even in the early stages of transition, it can be difficult, if not down right impossible to believe that anyone loves or enjoys the gender you wish to shed and leave behind. reading Rogue Protocol, I was reminded a lot of this in the way that Murderbot cannot fathom that Miki would willingly stay Don Abene's loyal companion and friend without being programmed (ie. somehow forced) to do so. similarly, it can be difficult for pre-transition trans people to believe that anyone would be the gender they were assigned if they were not forced to perform that gender by society at large. I certainly felt this way.
at the same time, Murderbot is obviously jealous of Miki and its social position with humans. because it is cute and friendly, it is invited to sit in the company of humans. Don Abene treats it as a friend and refers to it as such. no one regards it with the distrust Murderbot is so often met with because Miki is a harmless pet bot. by contrast, Murderbot is a SecUnit with gun ports in its arms and was literally designed to commit violent acts and strike terror into the hearts of those it goes up against.
in the same way, though most of us would prefer not to experience this, trans people can be jealous of cis people's ability to move through society, to be treated without fear or shame in social circles, to receive medical treatment without bias, and in general to walk freely in the world without fear of different treatment simply for being what we are. in a society that views trans people as dangerous and scary (and often as ill-intentioned and devious, too, just like in all of the traitor SecUnit plotlines Murderbot sees in its media), it makes sense that I identify more with Murderbot in this scenario than I do with Miki.
at the end of Rogue Protocol, Murderbot realizes that Miki has been programmed with the ability to accept and reject the orders/priorities Don Abene gives it -- Miki essentially has free will, or at least something close to it, just like Murderbot does. unlike Murderbot, however, Miki feels no desire to change its current situation. it is happy being Don Abene's pet bot and has never felt the desire to be anything other than that. I feel like that makes a pretty good comparison to the realization that every trans person who felt the way I did about other members of their assigned sex eventually comes to: that some people are happy staying exactly the way they are, and that there is nothing wrong with that once you yourself make the choice to change. once you aren't unhappy anymore, it becomes a lot easier to understand others' ability to derive joy from things that you personally used to hate.
154 notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
"i unfollow if our media interests no longer align" I still follow moots haven't spoken to in years and have learned the entire story of deltarune, mouthwashing, that one ninjago lego show, continuations of media I havent been into since 2018 and many others. I don't need a summary of something I just need Mutual to be insane about it on my dash
32K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
2K notes · View notes
awesomenell65 · 9 days ago
Text
What point did they miss with PresAux?
I’ve seen this reaction before, but I must have missed the same thing ..?
Just watched the first episode of Murderbot and have the exact same opinion as everyone else: it is enjoyable as a very separate thing but they have really missed the point especially with PresAux
26 notes · View notes