megantronusprime

[megantronusprime]

[megantronusprime]

[megantronusprime]

“be stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods.” the best advice I’ve ever received.

[megantronusprime]

and again spyscout'smom

[megantronusprime]

Pretending you're fine when people cross your boundaries doesn't make you a really nice person, it just makes you a really shitty communicator. Far too many people pride themselves on being "too nice" when it's just that they have zero conflict resolution skills and will seethe in resentment for months instead of articulating the problem

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[megantronusprime]

I talked about Scout and Demoman's characters. Here's one for Sniper who goes through way too much crap in the comics that barely anyone acknowledges.

I know people depict Scout as the scrappy kid among the crew, but Sniper shockingly fits the bill. And I don't mean scrappy as in throws punches, scrappy as in is resilient and persistent despite the odds against him.

In the game, aka ‘the Gravel Wars,’ he’s introduced as a standoffish asshole who wants nothing to do with the team. He pretty much insults everyone when you’re playing as him in the voice lines, from teammates to the enemy team, and he is in no way a professional.

And even WHEN he’s not on the battlefield, in Expiration Date, he’s off to the side and doing his own thing. Except for when Spy recruits him and Demoman to duet for that fake date.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get along with the team; if he didn’t, he wouldn’t bother with them at all. In fact, the only real person we mostly see him truly getting along with (before the comics) is Scout. We rarely see him having any patience for the other mercs until the second to last comic.

He’s more or less just refusing to get along with them for a reason we don’t know about. Aka, the scene where he drugs both Demoman and Miss Pauling.

While we can assume it’s from being bullied in his childhood, we can also assume it’s because he thought it was his old/ex team to have killed his family, and that’s INCLUDING Scout. He assumes the worst in everyone, and even if he ""likes"" the team, he also understands that they're just hired arms.

If there’s one thing everyone can agree with about Sniper’s character, it’s that he’s both incredibly intelligent and incredibly wary.

I mean, he’s gotta be if he’s the one watching everyone’s back. It's just ironic how everyone trusts him to watch their back, but he can't ever trust anyone to watch his.

For good reason too, let’s not overlook that when Sniper gets shot, no one’s looking out for him, and he just... dies in Demoman’s arms.

No one really cared when his biological parents abandoned him again. Miss Pauling didn’t really offer much besides a simple sorry, Spy was too caught up in his own dilemma about parents abandoning their kids, and Medic was just happy to see them all again. But what’s REALLY tragic about that whole thing, is that of all people to hold Sniper as he’s dying, it was Demoman. The one person who would truly understand his grievances.

And as he’s in heaven having that conversation with his dad, even when Sniper’s relationship with his dad was shaky at best, he still wanted his approval. He doesn’t have daddy issues, he just got into arguments with him about his career, and even in the end, his dad only wanted what was best for him. They both knew that.

It was just unfortunate that both he and his dad died so Sniper could finally receive approval and understanding.

Then, finally, after getting that approval, he’s actually working with the team and being patient with Spy, the one person who he openly despises. Spy actually had his back and saved him, something that he didn't have before.

He helps the team, settles down by a lot, and is just overall in a much happier place.

In fact, when they go to save Soldier, he's got their backs even years later, and they very much have his after Spy proved that to him.

To conclude Sniper's wonderfully sweet arc: during the dinner scene in the finale, we see him and Demoman share a drink.

And I think that’s bloody beautiful.

[megantronusprime]

I think a woman can be a gentleman Btw. We need a better word for the kind of positive behaviors associated with “gentleman”

[megantronusprime]

Make sure you don't accidentally punish people for communicating their needs and boundaries. When someone cares enough to have the uncomfortable conversation, that's a compliment and a clear sign that they are invested in the relationship. Yes of course it's uncomfortable to hear that something you've been doing has been upsetting someone you care about when that was never your intention, but people generally only bother to have these conversations with the people they want to keep around - the people they trust to care. If they just didn't like you, they'd probably just try to avoid you. So make sure you don't make it into a more punishing experience than it has to be. Try to see the care and the trust behind the criticism, even when it triggers uncomfortable emotions. It's a good sign that they're there telling you.

[megantronusprime]

the most annoying people are people who don't understand storytelling. they be like "oooo how convenient that this thing happened to the main character in the very beginning". yeah no shit. that's why the story begins here

[megantronusprime]

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huge shout out to this little kid for writing my favorite poem

[megantronusprime]

Adult realization: you will make mistakes, you will act irrationally. You will commit some wrongs that cannot be fully righted. People will dislike you and misunderstand you for all sorts of reasons. None of these make you a bad person. All you can do is try your best to be kind and just to people, grow and learn.

[megantronusprime]

can we please please please learn to differentiate between things that are good but devalued because of their association with women (caring for children, being compassionate), things that are neutral but seen negatively because of their association with women (the colour pink, having long hair), and things that are bad but associated with women because of misogyny (being materialistic, being stupid) because otherwise we’re gonna keep getting takes like “being gender nonconforming is anti feminist” and “not studying for your classes is feminist”

[megantronusprime]