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[jezzball-enthusiast]

Posted this on tiktok but I thought people here might like it

Song from Doods perspective:

[jezzball-enthusiast]

🤔 Admittedly I was a little disappointed by the reveal (but certainly not surprised the foreshadowing was heavy in this episode lol), but not actually against how Beth (and Will) seem to be playing with it thus far- which is to say that I do think it has a lot of potential, and I suspect there's more to what we're seeing).

;) Big ol' ramble below

Mostly the theory has turned me off until now (at least insofar as I've witnessed it transpire in the fandom at large) because it struck me as so painfully ironic to see Trudy, a 1950s housewife, struggle to exist under the system that she's in, fail to fit the mold assigned to her, and be denied her personhood very literally for it (this being ironic insofar as how it mimics how she would have been treated back then). This and because frankly I just think she's a lot less interesting if she's fully a robot LOL, but I'll hopefully get to that in a bit.

Not that the hints at her mechanical nature and the relevance of Tucker's background were lost on me; I can appreciate why those would contribute to a plausible, fun and I think still mostly harmless theory (now fact). However, minus one or two specific posts I've seen on the matter (namely a recent one suggesting that if Trudy is a robot Beth is probably taking inspiration from The Stepford Wives, :( sorry person who made that post I couldn't find it I wanted to credit yoouuu), I've seen the theory just about exclusively presented in a manner that, rather than explore the metaphorical and political significance of Trudy being partially or fully mechanical, at best disregards the parts of her narrative that are at their core about sexism (among other related things), and at worst negates them entirely (i.e. Trudy only thinking and acting how she does because she's a robot malfunctioning and not because the world itself is causing harm and she rightfully wants something more than the role she was forced into, Trudy not even having any real thoughts and feelings of her own, etc.). I just think it kind of sucks to shove all those important things about her aside and say "actually, there's no person suffering here, she's just a robot" and perhaps worse yet to imply that she does have thoughts and feelings but because they result in Weird™ behavior it must be a problem with her code and not at all relate to what women were subjugated to during this point in American history.

CONVERSELY I don't think Trudy being a robot (or at least partially one) at least from what Beth and Will have presented us thus far, inherently suffers from any of these issues? First and foremost because Trudy definitely appears to possess sentience, thoughts, and emotions of her own, matters which immediately complicate her degree of personhood and don't inherently box her behavior in as a bug in her programming rather than an issue with the world she's been put in, quite the opposite in fact! I think they have a very solid groundwork laid out here to make a strong statement with Trudy's narrative (and perhaps ask the question of what is really malfunctioning here), all the more so since [I pull out a Rebecca Swallows-style conspiracy board] I don't think she's entirely robotic in nature? Actually you should just read Mack's tags in this post cause he has great thoughts on the matter (of which those are just some of them), but if I can direct your attention to one thing in particular, it would be Beth's fact (I *believe* from episode 2) about Trudy never graduating high school because of her essay where she suggested that "perhaps women could one day domesticate themselves", a statement that could of course be interpreted a number of ways but ultimately threatened the patriarchal status quo enough (in suggesting women's independence) to cost Trudy her diploma. Taken on its own this fact appears to contradict the theory that Trudy has always been robotic in nature, because it doesn't really make sense that Trudy would have been set up to go through high school (or school at all really) when Tucker's intention was/is for her to be the perfect housewife. You may then suggest that Trudy's memories of this are fabricated and not actually her lived experiences, in which case firstly perhaps you should reread my earlier point on the robot theory being used to actively negate and otherwise disregard the portions of Trudy's narrative that pertain to sexism and feminism, and secondly it really doesn't make any sense to me that Tucker would implant those kind of memories into Trudy's brain? To be completely honest if she's been a robot from the very beginning (rather than someone who became a cyborg, which is what I'm trying to suggest here), then I don't see why Tucker would program her with actual sentience in the first place (suspending my disbelief here with regards to the possibility of programming sentience to begin with). It seems much more likely to me then that Trudy was not always a robot, and instead altered by Tucker to force her into a role of subordination and remedy her """imperfections""". This option is significantly more interesting to me one, because it implies that Trudy has actually lived a life up until the present, full of its own complexities and strife (and dreams, and real actual memories worth exploring, etc.), and hence is not by any means "just a robot", and second because it amplifies the hypothetical statement being made on the lives of the real living women of the era and how they were treated and seen as being "in need of fixing" for not conforming to gender roles or otherwise acting "out of line" with what was expected of them.

OKAY THIS GOT OUT OF HAND SO I'M CUTTING MYSELF OFF HERE but I wanted to my share my current thoughts what with this ending and where I'm at so hopefully that was at least interesting to whoever has chosen to read through this one okay thank you byyyyyyyyye~

[jezzball-enthusiast]

i have the best worst Birdie Oak headcanon and for a measly 100 notes I'll put every other wip I have on hold to share it with you

[jezzball-enthusiast]

RIP Normal Oak you would have loved the book feature

RIP Lincoln Li-Wilsin you would have loved the orange cat booper

RIP Scary Marlowe you would have loved the black cat booper

RIP Taylor Swift you would have loved... Idk something about catboys

[jezzball-enthusiast]

I see alot of people headcanon Normal as nonbinary and I see alot of variations of this hc so I was curious which was most popular

[jezzball-enthusiast]

In the short amount of time the season one dads were grieving Glenn I think they should’ve renamed themselves The Glenn Close Trio in honour, and also because there was only three of them

[jezzball-enthusiast]

This may surprise some of you but I am quite pleased by the reappearance of jezzball in my silly little podcast

[jezzball-enthusiast]

The Season 2 cast as Will Wood songs/quotes because I noticed there's some overlap in the fandoms

Taylor: The main character - 'I'm the main character and you have to like me'

Link: Um, it's kind of alot - 'I've grown used to fear but no, no to you yet, my dear' (this one might be a stretch but it makes sense in my head)

Normal: Love, me normally (obviously) - 'Well I guess that's the least that I owe ya, to be normal in a way I couldn't be'

Scary: ...And if I did you deserved it - 'I really don't care what you think or what you say, either that or I do way too much, oh well, whatever, either way'

Bonus - Hermie: I/me/myself - 'too confused to choose who I should be'

If people like this I might do the Season 1 cast or the kiddads but idk

[jezzball-enthusiast]

Is Doods connection to handshakes from his interaction with Robert Wilson? Meeting him with a firm handshake and stuff. Did he pick it up from Robert or was that just an example of it? If he did get it from Robert is ot just human-like nostalgia or was Roberts consciousness literally assimilated? The handshake killed Robert didn't it? Is it the closest human contact Doods ever had and that's why he likes it?

[jezzball-enthusiast]

MISTAH SWIFT !!

[jezzball-enthusiast]

[jezzball-enthusiast]

I realised that in episode 5 when Hermie asks Normal to the dance he says 'if you're suggesting that I would want to hang out with a man who refuses to take off a mascot costume just solely to increase my own cache by seeming so much more attractive in comparison'

HE WAS TRYING TO COAX NORMAL OUT OF THE MASCOT COSTUME THE WHOLE TIME. TRULY THE SON OF A SCAMMER

[jezzball-enthusiast]

The immense joy I feel at seeing dndads on trending is difficult to describe. This podcast has cheered me up in my worst moments, it has been my white noise so that I can sleep, I have never connected with or enjoyed a piece of media as I have with dungeons and daddies.

Thank you for 100 amazing episodes

[jezzball-enthusiast]

Why does scary kill everyone Taylor gets close to?

He finally was able to watch anime with someone when he bonded with Tony Pepperoni and then she allowed Willy in and killed him.

When he was able to bond with his Dad after years of abandonment she poison sprayed him causing him to bisect himself. We don't know if he died but he's a torso in an abandoned space station with a cracked window.

Link and Normal are the most vocally against scary but she's hurt directly the most (imo)

[jezzball-enthusiast]

Lincoln makes his own Gatorade in the same way that Darrell made his own Coca-Cola

[jezzball-enthusiast]

[jezzball-enthusiast]

Tony Pepperoni looks like the headmaster from the film adaptation of the history boys and I will not be accepting moustacheless versions