polymolly - Tumblr blog

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Spectrum of overwhelm, now in triangle form due to popular demand

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well... yes

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Mobility aids in fantasy!

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the problem with having a decade old tumblr blog is that there are posts on it from a decade ago

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Ok wait let her speak

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Twitter user Iris_Hawkins11: “Slut era” whispers Caleb Widogast as he silently pines for all of his friends with no intention of ever speaking a single feeling out loud.

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I got actual work done this weekend but more importantly I drew PAM WHO DEATH FORGOT

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hes my favorite irradiated mummified stinky (hasnt changed for over 200 years) cowboy

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Y'all have me so stressed. Did you even watch the show?! Let me clear the air for you:

MAXIMUS: The Tin Man

He's searching for his heart. All his life he has believed the Brotherhood was where he wanted to be but now he's in the wasteland, he's in love and he's had a taste of luxury. He's torn where does his heart belong? He's literally in metal armor.

The Ghoul: Scarecrow

Not as obvious but as it was revealed at the end of the season this whole time he's been searching for the knowledge of his families whereabouts. He literally looks like a Scarecrow.

Norman: The Lion

A coward through and through. He hid during the raider attack, he stayed home instead of venturing out for his father, and his cowardice was even referenced in the show.

Lucy: Dorothy

Because, duh.

And of course don't forget Toto.

[polymolly]

I have a thing for one ghoul

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the parallels of Lucy/Max and Cooper/Barb right now are so good.

Lucy's life has just been completely upheaved, betrayed by all she knew and forced into a harsh new world, will she let it turn her into a monster to survive? Max is now reluctantly near the top and very trusted in a corrupt organization with immense power, will he fight the system or succumb to defeatism and self-preservation?

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Corey Brickley

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Of the main three, Maximus was taken by a militant cult as a child after his home was destroyed, and Lucy was born into a mad scientist corporation-based pseudo-cult - but Cooper, an original American, is the one who’s the most broken. It’s not only because he’s lived the longest and therefore been through the most shit. He believed the most in the most pervasive and powerful culture, and it was the deepest betrayal.  

Max and other Brotherhood members, even Thaddeus, are entirely aware of how they're abused and trapped. Lucy follows the values she was taught and genuinely believes in kindness, but she quickly accepts the truth about Vault-Tec and her father. In Cooper’s flashbacks, he’s by far the most resistant to challenges to his beliefs and personal security. He scoffs at his best friend’s criticism and walks out of a meeting where he agrees with the sentiment not so deep down. He throws around the word ‘commie’ because his society actually has a label for dissidents. He's hesitant to spy on Barb not just because he respects her but because he's scared of the truth. As the truth gains on him, his reaction is consistently denial - and it's ambiguous to what extent that's his own personality and to what extent it's cultural conditioning. Unlike other parents, he was honest with his daughter about the war, but he still wanted to believe a nuke was ‘just a fire’. 

In FO analyses there’s a common assumption that the Pre-War world was ‘still better’ and the post-apocalypse is regression. Actually, it’s not that simple. The current cultures are a continuation, not a reset. The wasteland’s brutality makes it possible for people like Max and Lucy to recognize the awful reality behind people claiming to protect them. They don’t cling to lies; at this point, they probably wouldn't choose to give their whole lives for a lie. Pre-War, Cooper fought and worked for outright evil people, but he couldn’t tell at first because his life was pretty good. The depth of indoctrination corresponds to how normal life seems - from the Brotherhood's open contempt for itself to Vault 33's cheery obsession with Reclamation Day to the last days of the upper class in Pre-War America.

And it's so interesting how they relate to each other?? Max tries to do things Lucy’s way, even after it doesn’t work, and he starts agreeing that it’s better to be compassionate than to demand and take. Lucy understands that morality is complex after two weeks in the wasteland, easily forgiving Max for lying, then believing Moldaver's story. Meanwhile the Ghoul tried to show Lucy that the world is terrible and she'll end up like him - not because Cooper was an asshole at heart, but because that complete loss of idealism happened to him, and even though he was once nice and honorable, his original worldview already emphasized Being Right or Proving a Point. 

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