Earthspark theorycrafting time
Okay okay it's time for my favorite part of new TF content which is: wild extrapolation of what little we know into a house of theoretical cards which will no doubt be wiped out by the next episode to drop. Spoilers for the first 10 episodes of Earthspark abound after the cut, obviously.
So, without further ado: something is rotten in the town of Witwicky.
We don't know much about the war. Not why it was fought, or what exactly happened in it, or how it came to end—only that the spacebridge connecting Earth and Cybertron was destroyed, and according to Alex's simplified G1-esque retelling, Megatron just went "hey maybe Optimus has a point that we should stop fighting and preserve what's left of our race" and teamed up with the Autobots to end the war.
Just Megatron. Not a single other Decepticon. Not even ever-loyal Soundwave followed his lead. Even if we accept that the retelling is a highly sanitized and manicured version of what actually happened (like the thing about how Bumblebee totally disappeared forever), it's a very strange thing, isn't it?
We'll come back to this.
In any case, Cybertronians have been on Earth for thirty years. Megatron has been cooperating with Optimus for fifteen of them. The Decepticons are implied to have been in bad condition by the end of the war (Soundwave, malfunctioning in starvation, and a cassette exploding inside him. Rumble or Buzzsaw, presumably. RIP.), and rogue Decepticons are still scrambling to feed themselves in the present day.
In the very first scene of episode 1, Swindle and Hardtop are lured into an Autobot trap baited with a few (rectangles???) of energon. Sure, it's stealing, but they're not actually doing anything wrong here but trying to feed themselves. Still, it's made clear their choice is to fight and flee or surrender and go to prison forever. No third option.
Swindle escapes when the chase is interrupted by spiderbots, but Hardtop is captured. Optimus notes the spiders aren't of Cybertronian make and wonders if this has anything to do with rumors Decepticons are going missing (yes).
Later, Dot Malto comes across the convoy's wreckage. Elita-1 and Optimus arrive, only to inform Dot that the park ranger job she thought she had—the one she moved to Witwicky specifically for—was a lie and that she's actually working for the secret US military agency GHOST. As you might guess, Dot does not like this.
Interestingly, she says she doesn't work 'for the Autobots' anymore. It's not the military she has the most problem with, but them. This may or may not have to do with the much-later-referenced battle of the bay, in which the Autobots did a lot of architectural damage and she was badly injured. Either way, whatever trust was once there is broken.
Then of course Megs makes his entrance. Dot's resentment for Autobots doesn't extend to him—curious, given that in Alex's G1 story they were 'heroic Autobots' and 'evil decepticons', and Dot was a soldier there to see it all firsthand.
Megs and Dorothy are immediately and obviously old friends, and both of them on better terms with each other than with Optimus. Heck, they have names for each other no one else uses. Human buddy acquired!
Megatron: GHOST isn't a perfect ally, but Optimus believes they'll help our kind make a home on Earth.
Dot: Optimus always sees the bright side. Even when there isn't one.
Megatron: Don't be so hard on him, Dorothy. Clearly we've had disagreements, but when I joined the Autobots to end the war, I saw that Optimus always does what he believes is right. No matter the personal cost.
Note, not 'what's right'. 'What he believes is right', no matter the cost. Cut to Dot frowning down at the ominously-shaped GHOST logo on the overturned truck. Hmmmm.jpg.
Meanwhile, the abducted Hardtop is being stripped for parts by the evil Mandroid (okay, his name's actually Dr. Meridian. Did you remember that off the top of your head? No you didn't. Mandroid it is).
Mandroid commands the spiderbots (arachnamechs), hates Cybertronians in general and wants them off Earth, is the one who's been disappearing Decepticons, and has just welded Hardtop's arm onto his own shoulder. Hardtop, as you might guess, is not happy to be here and says when Swindle shows up they'll beat him up. This isn't gonna happen, but we'll come back to that later.
Meanwhile, after a spiderbot battle, the Autobots find out about the new kids but don't know exactly who or what they are. Optimus says he'll contact GHOST to take Twitch and Thrash to HQ for safety (he doesn't question why the truck turns up like three seconds later). Optimus promises to keep them very, very safe, and Dot tells Mo they can trust Optimus, even though we know in general that she doesn't.
Surprise, the truck driver is Mandroid and the robot kids have been abducted. Who saw that coming? Two scenes later, Optimus has to come over like 'oops GHOST has no record of that truck, they could be anywhere, my bad'.
Wow, could it be? Maybe blindly trusting Optimus Prime all the time isn't a great idea? 🤔
Meanwhile, Mandroid is interrogating Twitch and Thrash on their origins, and when that doesn't provide much intel, straps them in for dissection under a very large and many-pointy-limbed device (with a laser on it too, naturally).
The autobots show up to rescue them. When the spiderbots aren't enough to repel them, Mandroid summons some Decepticons to help fight the Autobots off: Skullcruncher, Shrapnel, Hardtop, and Bombshell. This is where we get our first clue about what's going on here, but only if you know the Transformers Lore™. Again, we'll come back to this later.
Elita-1 (fighting Hardtop): Your heart's not in this, is it?
Elita-1: Brain, either.
Then Bee shows up to help, as it turns out he didn't disappear forever (surprise!). In the end, all the Decepticons are captured.
Hardtop: Honest, I don't know what came over me. I'd never fight you, Megatron! No matter what side you're on!
And then there's this odd little moment. Blink and you'll miss it, because it continues into a cut where Megatron helps Dot down from his shoulder. In response to Hardtop's words, Megatron shoves him, then... Looks at his cannon.
Hmmm.jpg x2 🤔
This segues into family time and Dot insisting Twitch and Thrash stay with them, which Optimus is glad to hear. Also he doesn't want GHOST to know Bumblebee is alive. Seems like he doesn't fully trust them either.
...And now that we're out of the ep 1-2 two parter I can skim over most of the rest of the episodes, as, for better or worse, Earthspark is in large part the 'kids and robots petting cows and family game night' show with larger events happening in the background somewhere.
A few significant moments:
-Optimus, Elita-1, and Megatron hang out all domestic-like in the secret GHOST base under Dot's ranger station, presumably. You know. The one with the Decepticon prison in it, where they're all kept until, as OP says, there's a better option available.
-Alex insinuates he used to know Dr. Meridian during the war, and presumably was another science team guy before he retired to teach.
-Swindle breaks into a GHOST convoy to steal an energon scanner that could give him a lead on finding Hardtop but can't get through the forcefield, so scams Mo and Thrash into helping him. When the kids' parents find out:
Dot: You're different from Swindle! Cons weren't born into that life, they chose it. And anyone who wears that badge? Can't be trusted.
Mo: They aren't all bad. Right, mom? You're friends with Megatron.
Dot: That's different. Megatron has truly changed.
Has he, now? But again, just him and no others. And depending what kind of Decepticon backstory we're dealing with in this continuity, saying all Decepticons are evil and chose to be so is a hmmm.jpg x3. What's our IDW1 (or even TF:P) proximity here?
-Some random GHOST trainee almost shoots a kid
-The kids fall into a pit trap and Optimus gets some extremely ominous framing
-Optimus Hides the kids from GHOST inside his trailer, inside the GHOST base. Because Optimus Prime makes bad decisions.
Dot: Cheesy footage of Autobots helping humans build a bridge. Not very subtle. And what exactly does GHOST do with the Decepticons you catch?
Optimus: That's classified. I'm sorry.
Dot: Bots and humans working together is wonderful, but why the secrecy? And the hard sell? You sure you're on the right team, OP?
-Megatron refuses to use his cannon against the cassettes for 'childish pranks'. Optimus calls them criminals. Bee shows up with restraining bolts to mode lock the cassettes and Megs is disgusted.
Megatron: I will never touch those... Things.
Optimus: A means to an end, Megatron: safely transporting our quarry to GHOST.
Megatron: Optimus, does it not concern you that our human allies control where Decepticons live, and what form they take? Even in times of so-called peace? This is not freedom.
It's enough to start an argument between OP and Megs about the way the Decepticons are being treated, in which Megatron says I gave you my fealty to save our people, which is a very interesting choice of words. Fealty, as of an oath of service and obedience to a liege lord. This is not an equal bargain.
Later, battling Soundwave, Soundwave repeats his own words to him. This is not freedom. He calls Megatron traitor—and Megatron, about to fire, stops and looks shocked: as if the idea that to the Decepticons he is a traitor is somehow a new thought.
Add another hmm.jpg to the pile.
Later on, Skywarp and Nova Storm show up intent on stealing Optimus' arm for Mandroid. Hardtop's wasn't good enough, apparently.
Optimus: They want my left arm like their lives depend on it!
And you know what? When the two of them fail in their mission and Mandroid says he'll dissect them, they don't even try to fight that small squishy human. Wow, weird. And when we find out the terran bots were created via an artifact left behind by Quintus Prime, his squiddy little logo certainly doesn't resemble an upside down spiderbot at all. :)
But now we come to the really interesting part. Dot and Megatron are captured by Mandroid and the following conversation ensues:
Mandroid: Let me begin again. Conversation is difficult, after my time in the war.
Dot: You served too?
Mandroid: My contribution was scientific. I was drafted by GHOST to toil in their robotics laboratory. After a year of laboring on projects I detested, Decepticons attacked San Francisco.
Dot: Yeah, I remember. I led an infantry platoon at the battle of the bay.
Mandroid: Then perhaps you remember the Autobots' friendly fire destroying buildings. My arachnamechs dragged me to safety, saving me the only way they knew how. I came away with... Souvenirs.
You know what I think?
I think it's real suspicious that Hardtop went from wanting to kill Mandroid to doing his bidding without seeming to even understand why. I think it's suspicious that all those other Decepticons did too—they might stick around for fuel, sure, but not to protest even under threat of dissection?
Why did Megatron turn his back on his loyal army in such a way that none of them followed? Why did they go to ground rather than attempt switching sides? When did it become clear that there would be no switching sides, only life imprisonment for those who surrendered?
But not for Megatron—who has sworn fealty, who 'has truly changed' who is tame and obedient. The sole exception.
Remember episodes one and two? Remember who one of Mandroid's tame Decepticon squad was? Bombshell. You know what Bombshell's whole thing is in the lore? Mind control. Do you know what other two motifs are strongly associated with mind control in the Transformers lore?
Spiders.
Needles.
The biggest hmmmmm.jpg imaginable 🤔
I think maybe the emberstone wasn't the only thing Quintus Prime left behind. I think GHOST found whatever that bit of lost technology was during the war, and Mandroid reverse engineered it into the arachnamechs and the 'projects he detested'. You know who recognized who Quintus Prime was without even thinking about it? Alex, who once worked with him.
I think one day Megatron was captured, bolted to a table in a dark room, and came back different. I think Optimus was too happy about that change to ask too many questions, and GHOST would have done the same to the rest of the Decepticons if not for losing Dr. Meridian in the battle of the bay—and with him, all his research. Mandroid doesn't care about turning the Decepticons peaceful anymore, only using them as a means to the end of Cybertronian destruction.
Now all GHOST can do is capture Decepticons and lock them up until there's Optimus' 'better way': until they can reverse engineer Mandroid's work and shadowplay the rest of them into good little productive citizens... And hope their hold on Megatron doesn't break before then.
Never trust a mech with his needles in your neck. :)
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An Analysis of Outsiders Fanfiction Tropes
I think I only have one true problem with outsiders fanfiction and it is when characters (specifically Darry/Steve/Dally) are villainized in the stories
(I want to preface this by saying that people can write fan fictions however they want!! It’s your fic and you should enjoy writing it nonetheless matter what anyone says!!)
BUT, that’s not what this is about—
Something that I think we forget a lot about Ponyboy is that he is a VERY unreliable narrator in this story. Don’t get me wrong I adore him and when I first read the book I did not fully comprehend the complexity of his perspective either. I related a lot to his character growing up and it’s part of the reason why I still enjoy reading it today but I have a very different perspective on it than I did when I was in 7th grade.
Most of the time when people write fanfiction for The Outsiders, Steve and Darry (as well as Dally) are mischaracterized as people who hate Ponyboy (or find him simply a complete nuisance)
This is a perfect example of how an unreliable narrator can twist a character in our eyes.
1. Darry’s character and the relationships between older siblings and younger siblings
For starters with Darry, in the beginning the way that Ponyboy describes him to us is someone who feels burdened by his younger brother and doesn’t really care much about him. Which is later on completely disproved, as we discover Darry cares A LOT about his younger brother and loves him deeply.
I equate this to older siblings who care about their younger siblings, but feel the need to take over in parenting them which causes resentment for the younger sibling. And in Darry’s case, this is something that he had no choice in—he had to step up for his siblings but he would have done it no matter the circumstances. However, Ponyboy feels guilty for “holding back” his older brother and, I believe, holds resentment towards Darry for trying to act like his Father.
Their relationship is complex and well developed in the story but at the end of the day—Darry loved his brother and would have done anything for him (the book just makes theses emotions clearer to Ponyboy!!)
2. Steve and Ponyboy
Steve gets a lot more of the brunt end of this treatment as he has a hard time expressing his feelings in ways that aren’t destructive.
I think that Steve and Ponyboy are especially tense because they have grown up around each other more so than the rest of the gang. But, while the others got to know Ponyboy through Darry or just on their own—Steve didn’t. Sodapop and Steve were always the closest, they were best friends since they were children and as such Steve has known Ponyboy through all stages of life. He defends Sodapop more than anyone else and believes that Ponyboy is someone that Soda has to constantly be worried about.
However, instead of acknowledging that Sodapop choices to over worry and be protective over Ponyboy—he pins the blame on Ponyboy instead. I do think that he cares about Ponyboy, especially in the sense of a younger brother, but he cares about SODAPOP far more and that hurts their relationship.
3. Dally and how men struggle to express their emotions (especially in the 70s)
I think Dally receives this treatment because people compare how he acts with Johnny versus how he acts with Ponyboy.
Yes, he is a lot more upfront and obvious about how he feels about Johnny but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about Pony (or the rest of the gang for that matter). Out of all the characters, he’s the most hardened and ruined by what he’s gone through in life—it makes complete sense for him to not express emotions in black and white ways. He does care about the gang, his loyalty to them and love is shown just not as obviously as some of the others.
Back in the 70s, men weren’t really allowed to show their emotions up front and love is no exception to this. To this day, a large struggle is raising boys to understand that they can express themselves without looking “weak”. Dally is a clear example of this, given what he’s gone through, and despite being only 17 he acts like he’s a hardened adult because of what the world has put him through.
It’s hard for Dally to accept that he does care. Because that means he’s not as tough as he thought he was. And Dallas Winston cannot be weak.
As someone who related (and still does a bit) to Ponyboy growing up, it makes a lot of sense for him to write his friends as people who “put up” with him or “tolerate” him because at that age your worried a lot about that kind of thing.
Especially, when you’ve gone through what he has.
The best way I can conclude this is love isn’t always obvious—sometimes it hidden behind anger and fear.
These characters love eachother more than anything, that’s why the ending is so gut wrenching.
You know they do. And some of them never get to say it.
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Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?
I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?
In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".
Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.
This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.
Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.
The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.
[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]
There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.
This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.
[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]
As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.
But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?
Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.
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something really cool happened today that i wanted to share:
my nephew is 9 years old, and a stereotypical little boy. he likes dinosaurs, minecraft, and ninjas.
today i walked in on him excitedly watching Nimona with my dad. (minor spoiler warning!)
i had never heard of it, but i sat down and watched some of it, just to see why he was so happy.
he started narrating it, anticipating parts of it, almost as if he’d seen it before. he had.
we didn’t get to finish it, but i watched it on my own, because it looked fun and i wanted to see how it ended.
and i loved it. it was a fun, exciting, fantastical adventure about the importance of acceptance people who are different to us.
and it had a very clear queer subplot.
one that my nephew hadn’t mentioned at all in his explanation of the film. his summary was “it’s about a monster who helps a knight that was framed for killing the queen”.
and honestly yeah, that is what the film was about.
before sharing it with us, he had watched it all, engrossed himself in the story, took it in entirely, and the part he cared about most was whether Nimona got her acceptance. he wasn’t indoctrinated, or confused, or questioning anything about himself.
he didn’t bat an eyelid over a gay love confession. he just enjoyed the film, raved about it, made my 60 year old dad watch the movie about the monster who didn’t fit in.
he’s still the same little boy who’s been asking us how to get a girlfriend.
the only thing a movie centred around queer and queer-coded characters taught my nephew was that those who are different to him are not monsters. that’s it.
and that dragons are really cool.
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