#VERY big brained to make a character and go well he's the smartest and strongest creature to ever exist and then autism code him

[autistic-shaiapouf]

You can tell that, for as much as I DO fall in line with the kinnie stuff, you can tell it's not 100% bc my thoughts regarding meruem aren't of reverence but of me pointing and yelling KING BABBY!!

[bambimeadows]

💕hint at Spoilers 💕

Big rant now. In regards to the ending, do you know what honestly annoys me more than *that big shocking thing* happening? Because honestly I hate it, hate how they did it, but I kind of get why they’ve done it and suspect how this series is ultimately going to end.

What annoys me more is how easily they let Makarov escape. In this essay I will- 😅

And this is a common theme in the vast range of lazy writing cards they use for campaigns, but this took the piss.

Because he ran away and after like not even 5 seconds Gaz was like, “they’ve gone.” Sorry? He’s gone? What do you mean beloved? How far do you think he could have gotten in 5 seconds? Not even a lazy ass police officer would act like that, they’d still make some effort to pursue him after he runs off. Why were they so sure he was long gone? (He factually couldn’t have been) Why were they so sure chasing him would have been useless? Because logistically, technically, objectively, even mathematically in a space and time sort of way, it wouldn’t have been useless, at all.

And What, it was determined he was gone just because a train whizzed past? The train whizzing past doesn’t mean Makarov teleported to a completely new location, wait for the train to pass (it takes all of 3 seconds) and then go after him? Run!

Realistically (since we know they love realism now haha) Ghost at least should have still ran after him while Price and Gaz were dealing with the bomb, and canonically if they’re not employing lazy writing devices, Ghost would have. Like let’s get down to it, Ghost’s character. He loved Johnny like his own brother no doubt about it, but with who he is and the way he is, that would spur him on to chase Makarov down like a rabid dog does a bunny, not just instantly accepting he’s escaped AGAIN. He’d know launching into action is more effective and beneficial to Johnny’s memory than just kneeling in sorrow, very helplessly. Paying respects can be done after he’s avenged. Makarov would have still been in the general vicinity while he just kneeled there looking over the body, and isn’t Ghost suppose to be like peak physical capability? If he sprinted he’d be able to surely at least see them and keep following them, if not probably catch up to them and start shooting. And even after Gaz and Price finished disarming the bomb they could have chased after him too. I’ve been racking my brain like, Unless that door leads directly outside and there was a car parked literally right outside the door, but how do they know that? Was it maybe that only Makarov could open that door? Nothing to indicate so and again, how would they know? And surely there’s a car parked outside too to chase him in if believing that he jumped in a car is their reason for determining him long gone after 10 seconds? I know damn well there’s no helicopter waiting for exfil in the streets of london. Look, even if they *tried* to chase after him and couldn’t find/catch him in the end, that would have still at least made some sense and not have been so lazy and dumb.

Idk, maybe I’m spiralling about it but just lazy, nonsensical, vapid shit like that is what really makes me lose faith in their ability to do anything other than peddle warzone. Laziness and illogical writing just so they can justify another campaign consisting of nothing else other than chasing Makarov around the world in 5 hours. It’s just so irritating. The boys are so so good at everything, made out to be the most strongest smartest best boys in the world , but when it comes to Infinity Ward’s special favourite antagonist they suddenly become amateurs, when he’s right there in front of them it suddenly becomes like they’re not that fussed about catching him at all, but that’s all forced so he can live to see another game. It’s such a disservice to their characters. Also Even the fact that he’s been thrown in a gulag previously as well, im sorry but don’t they just execute terrorists left right and centre, why not him? It’s never really explained why they simply must keep him alive? Irl, if they can come face to face with the most dangerous terrorist in the world multiple times and continue to let him slip through their fingers they should all be fired. You know what I mean? In actual fact TF141 has been written to be pretty incompetent, but that’s definitely not the message Infinity ward is trying to put out, instead we’re suppose to act like it makes sense and it’s believable. This wasn’t an ending, it’s hardly even a cliff hanger because we more or less know what to expect. And don’t even get me started with the after credit scene that I missed and only got alerted to on tumblr, again, why? Where does so much lack of effort come from with these people? Is general shepherd’s character not worth more than some shitty slap dash after credits scene? Are you actually joking me? And can I just say as well… I’m not the most educated on all this stuff, but a British SAS soldier or CIA operative, apparently! idk, shooting a very important American war general while he’s just sat in his office? Is that really… is that really something that seems plausible? you know what I mean? Even when they were threatening to shoot him in that whatever the fuck snow mission while he was just stood there not posing any threat, I just thought, mmm can you do that though? Should you do that? That seems like an awful fucking idea? I know you commit war crimes when forced to sometimes but you’re not war criminals…? I hate to go off on a tangent here but may I take you back to MW2 (reboot) where they had to release Hassan because they was scared of fall out with Iran, but they suddenly think that them, British military, shooting an American war general is the right thing to do… right. And I don’t mean I respect the title, I’m saying that this would probably realistically (because remember they love realism when it suits them) be something that would stop THEM just murdering him? It was entirely necessary and needed to take down the last shepherd, he was an outright and literal murdering psychopath and we had no choice to kill him in the end anyway because he was actively trying to kill us, but this one? It just didn’t make sense. They should have at least had him take out a gun and try to shoot price first, that way it would have made sense. It’s just so confusing. Price is suppose to be this smart well verse man, but they made him do something so stupid, reckless and unnecessary? Besides, So much more could have been done with this Shepherd and his storyline, especially following that weird court scene with him and Graves, could have given us something actually potentially interesting and unique, I know that’s an alien concept to infinity ward, but they could try it! So yeah In all I don’t get that decision either. Just so they could quickly get rid of him so they don’t have to write him in the new campaign and they can focus all their attention on their special weshial precious Makarov. And the new Makarov sucks ass too! Wtf have they turned him into- let me stop because I could go all night.

It’s all just so lazy, there are soooo many other dumb stupid moments and choices in this campaign but idk I’m done😔✋ Unless they tell me Alejandro is in MW4 I will not be buying. Now I wait for the multiplayer to release and disappoint so I can be shown that I wasted more money than I thought.

[tundrainafrica]

Hi, i saw some time ago you compared Royai to Levihan, would you mind elaborating more on their similarities? I ship both and looking at they compared blow my mind

YES. Beautiful ask anon! As always, sorry for only getting into this now, my inbox is still a mess I am currently trying to make sense of. But legit, I could talk about this for hours. Cause I’m that fucking simp who just randomly goes on Youtube and watches the Riza breakdown vs. Lust  scene just to see some GREATTT acting and some great crumbs. 

So anyway, will be moving on now to this really long and--mind you--uncurated rant. 

Disclaimer though: Although I have watched all the fullmetal stuff, from the first anime, to brotherhood to the manga and have lurked in the fanfiction sites long before (like fam, this anime is literally my childhood it’s such a big part of my life that when I hear ‘mustang’ I think of roy mustang not the car), but at this point, the main story line for me is a blur and I probably just remember only the Roy scenes and the Royai scenes well. 

I was not a big fan of Edwin for multiple reasons. 

Warning: Spoilers abound for FMA so read at your own risk. And for people who watch FMA but not AOT, spoilers abound for AOT is well.

So there are a lot of similarities between Levihan and Royai and I think this is the reason why Levihan definitely appealed to me a lot as a couple. Royai after all was my OG ‘I think I wanna be in this type of relationship’ type of couple. 

Military Setting

I’ve always found these types of relationships interesting cause I like to think, you’re in such a high stakes and very stringent atmosphere where you could die at any moment and you’re constantly doing such morally grey things. And with that, people have the tendency to either close in on themselves and just keep to themselves or just go crazy over time. Yet you have people who find the time to form CLOSE and almost ROMANTIC bonds with your fellow soldiers

And I just like the process of exploring how this happens. And you know what makes it juicier? 

    2. The commander to the subordinate dynamic (with a twist)

The boss to the follower dynamic because Royai and Levihan are both incredibly healthy and stable relationships but they both come from something taboo right? A commander to subordinate relationship? So we ask ourselves? How did they both make it work? 

Well, what I notice is despite the implied respect Riza and Levi both hold for Roy and Hange respectively, due to their positions in the military, do you notice Hange and Roy still have respect over Levi and Riza’s opinions. I cannot remember all the scenes in both shows but remember that scene where Riza would just stop Roy half way into fighting when it’s raining because sometimes he does forget that he can’t do his fire thing when it’s raining? It shows obviously that Riza could undermine his decisions if she finds them completely idiotic or out of the blue. Or that scene where Roy was curbstomping Envy when he found out Envy killed Hughes? 

So, the thing is Levi and Hange worked like this too. Even before Hange became commander, I think there was an already implied hierarchical difference between being ‘squad leader’ and being ‘team captain.’ Squad leader’s are generally in a higher position and command a much larger group and do you see how Levi approaches Hange? Like when telling her off about risking her life when trying to capture the titan? 

And even when she was commander, that telepathy scene?? Can we appreciate, that when Hange became commander (compared to when Erwin was commander), Levi took the reins of a lot of the leading in the survey corps, as if he understood his job wasn’t just to follow Hange but to take care of her? 

Like I’m sure Riza saw her job more as a caretaker to Roy more than his subordinate and seeing this in Levihan was just fantastic.

And another thing I love about both of them...

  3. They were just the two competent level headed people

This is such a trope for me. I cannot handle couples where someone is just not competent or is so obviously underpowered compared to the other. Like I want them to be able to handle themselves without the other. And even when they’re alone they’re doing shit and you just find out later, by the way I have this bf/gf/partner who is equally competent. But when we’re together we just share one brain cell because we can practically melt when we’re safe with the other. 

And the thing is since they’re in a military setting we don’t see them ‘practically melt,’ we can usually just pick out the crumbs (ehem 126), and the fact that these crumbs are such rare gems, makes it all the jucier. 

And here’s the thing, in animes and in stories, this ‘competent people’ couple is usually supporting cast cause I dunno? Nobody wants to hear about the competent couple who just figured out they like each other and they just like hanging out with each other for some reason? 

And most adventure stories are underdog stories where we watch people start of as dead weight and get stronger which is not boring per se but I dunno, these couples usually dont’ appeal to me fsr because I’m all for the power couple dynamic and the protagonists always have something going on making them doubt their strength so yeah.  And there’s usually this token love interest who’s not as strong and tries not to be useless but is kinda dead weight.

4. Their special abilities? 

Levi and Hange are a power couple the way Roy and Riza are. When these two couples were introduced into their respective stories, they were all well established as bad asses. We have humanity’s strongest, humanity’s smartest then in FMA we have the flame alchemist one of the strongest alchemists and we have Riza who’s crazy good with a gun. 

5. They were never that in your face couple

As said above, I really love competent people ships but nobody really likes reading about people being competent and having their level headed shit together so these characters end up with more of supporting character energy who have their ‘big damn heroes’ moments where they swoop in and save the protagonist. 

And the thing is, since they’re supporting characters, there’s so much more room to move when contemplating such couples because the crumbs are there? But at the same time they’re not there? And since I like exploring my own headcanons about those ‘boring’ yet incredibly stable and mature relationships, these tend to be my favorite characters to shoehorn into my spotify playlists.

Edwin and Eremika respectively have more ‘in your face’ crumbs and I dunno, their crumbs for me always seemed to be too obviously there where I was like ‘okay cute relationship’ but  ‘I wouldn’t wanna be in a relationship like that’  kinda way. 

And since main protagonist romantic subplots crumbs are already ‘in my face’ I end up thinking to myself, what’s there to headcanon?

And like they go through so much more problems romance wise since obviously they are the protagonist. But I guess for me, I never liked those couples who were so obviously together and go through problems that bystanders are aware of. Because I dunno, people might not agree with me but it doesn’t sit well with me when EVERYBODY knows about the problems between two certain people in a relationship. 

I always liked those couples who just start off as two people hanging out together and then like five years you find out, they live together and have five cats and it turns out they’ve been married for two of those three years. 

And power couples just make it work? Because the stories tend to focus on them being competent people more than being in love so when the coupling actually happens it’s like: 

“Wow you live together and have five cats, you worked so hard for it, I’m so happy for you.” 

Instead of you know, watching people go through like 3456 instances of miscommunication drama just to end up in a still seemingly doubtful relationship.

6. Iconic scenes for Levihan and Royai? 

And here’s the beautiful thing about the crumbs of both of these ships, they are incredibly apparent when the stakes are high and this is *chef’s kiss.* This is literally the climax, the peak to such subtle crumbs. Like okay, fine it’s satisfying to see the main protagonist and their main love interest doing shit and loving each other when the stakes are high like in Season 2 of AOT with Mikasa thinking she’s gonna die so she confesses to Eren or maybe that Naruto and HInata scene in the Pain Arc where Hinata just pops in and saves Naruto and kinda dies in the process

But can we all agree that there is something very very very satisfying about seeing two people who are probably not or are probably dating just going crazy for each other when the stakes are high? Like yo, come on. 

My favorite scenes for Royai: The Lust fight scene, the Envy fight scene and lastly, the scene where Roy opens the gates to save Riza and goes blind. Can we just appreciate the fact that Roy risked his Colonel dreams to save Riza by going blind??

And for Levihan? I’m sure Levihans are tired of hearing the chapter numbers but 115? That’s fucking iconic, Hange ltierally jumped into the river with Levi and please tell me that is not a parallel to Roy opening the gates for an already half dead Riza. Mind you, Hange did not even know if Levi would make it or not and she probably didn’t know if she would make it or not either. Any of the soldiers could have literally just shot into the river and nicked them with bullets.  She just literally abandoned everything and wooshed to the river. 

And I had this convo with a few other people and we were thinking about what if it was anyone else who found Levi. And we came to the conclusion that IT HAD TO BE HANGE. Because somehow, I feel like Hange would have been one of the only few, if not the only one who would have gathered up the courage to jump into the river and risk their own life to save Levi. 

And for the next part... Disclaimer: This is just my opinion, please let’s not start a ship war.

Like with the war on twitter “Levihan vs. Eruri,” I started to reflect as well on whether or not Erwin would have saved Levi if he was there instead of Hange but I think it is less likely that Erwin would have saved Levi. Erwin probably wouldn’t have agreed with the rumbling definitely but I cannot help but think, Erwin approached his commander position like a chess master and with this, approached Levi as a superior while Hange approached Levi as an equal and a best friend. 

So if, saving Erwin was just going to mess with plans let’s say to manipulate the Yaegerists for some greater purpose, would Erwin have just let Levi die? 

7. The magic is no one fits Roy or Riza perfectly.

I had these same thoughts with Shikatema vs. Levihan and now Royai vs. Levihan. So comparing their dynamics, I just have to say, that none of them fit each other perfectly. Hange has Riza and Roy crumbs and Levi has Riza and Roy crumbs too. 

Like Roy is some ridiculously strong (Levi) superior (Commander Hange) with a seemingly goofy personality (Hange). Riza is the subordinate (Levi) who’s equally reliable but not as overpowered (Hange) with a very strict but very obviously emotionally constipated personality (Levi) 

Like if you put Levihan in some of the token Royai moments. Like the Lust fight? I think Levi would have done something similar to Riza. Okay, he wouldn’t have broken down right then but he would have done something similar to what Roy did when he found out Envy killed Hughes. 

I’m convinced Hange would have had a breakdown which is more of an in between between what Roy (Envy fight) and Riza (Lust fight) had in their respective fights. I mean 115 is proof enough that Hange ain’t playing when her bebeluvs is in danger. 

8. And towards the end of the series?

Okay this is where the comparisons just kinda diverge because this part makes me sad. In the end game, Royai worked together. Riza became the eyes of Roy when he was making shit explode in the final battle coz he was blind. 

And Hange and Levi were completing each other towards the of the AOT end right? Not just with the jian bird references with having parallel injuries. In the final battle though when Levi was out of commission due to the explosion, Hange was the one fighting with the crew until 132. And the moment she died, Levi stepped up and fought right? 

Like they had something similar going on, where these two were covering for each other and taking care of the kids. It’s just that compared to Royai who were explicitly working together, we have Hange covering for Levi right after he got injured and Levi stepping up to cover for Hange after she died. 

AND I can’t help but think, literally post time skip just could not handle Levihan working together huh? Is that how competent Levi and Hange are as soldiers that Yams couldn’t let them work together just one last time? Like he knew it would mess with the story if he lets Levi and Hange lead at full power?

Which brings me to last point, and the point that makes me saddest.

9. About them being endgame? 

Okay, so it wasn’t confirmed that Roy and Riza ended up together because Roy still had his fuhrer goals but AT LEAST THEY HAD A CHANCE? Like their last scene in the show was still them together? And Riza still at least got to follow him? 

Levihan… They just… shit just happened and we all know what happened and now I’m reading fanfiction and crying over fcitoonal characters to pass the quarantine.

Anyway, if you reached this point, thank you for reading. And thank you for the question anon!

[wayfarerrye]

Dream, Is All or Nothing.

 I haven’t really talked about his character, I have mentioned him. But he really deserves one. 

/roleplaying /aboutthecharacter

Dream doesn’t play in Gray. He is absolutes. He is Yes or No. There is no maybes, no concessions. No Mercy 

We don’t know Dream’s motivations though. Only guess. So most of this post with be how Dream interacts with other people.

And when Dream interacts with other people, he always seems to want to be running the show: So let’ say;

Dream idealize Control.

Dream wants control of everyone, and everything, on the sever. He care not for whether you cause Chaos or not, as long as you cause it under his say so.

Three of the most important people to talk about when we talk about Dream and control are: Tommy, Techno, and George. 

The person he can’t seem to control, the person he doesn’t seem to try to, and the person that he seemed to control completely. 

Tommy, is the person Dream singled out. Because Tommy, Tommy is so overtly feral incontrollable by Dream. (Important to note here: Only Dream, we seen cases of Tommy being reigned in by others, but Dream Can’t.) Tommy makes Dream angry, (and scared) because Tommy refuses to fall in line, and will only concede so far, for so long. “We aren’t done.”  I doubt even dying would stop Tommy, not really, it make him harder for Dream to handle though because what is death to ghost. “It isn’t your time to die” 

Techno and Dream have a very interesting dynamic as Techno doesn’t seem to care about being manipulated or directed as long as it doesn’t go against his ideals, hurt him or the people he has deemed to care about. Therefore Dream doesn’t even try to control Techno because he doesn’t have to. This makes Dream and his dynamic very even playing field, furthermore because while Dream has Admin powers sure, Techno has dedication and the skill to use it, so they pretty similarly powerful. 

It’s part of the reason they are have some extremely hilarious moments, because they are on this even ground, so for some reason now when you put them in the same area by themselves, suddenly we are watching two of the strongest and smartest people on the server share one-half of a brain cell. Maps. Homeless Dream. Technoblade needed to be taller then Dream. Dream showing his log out point. etc.

George, remember my list about Techno’s people (I still standby it even with the latest lore drop, different post though), well George is first on Dream’s. This may because for a long while George was “the most controllable” seeing as outside meta: he was pretty passive about RP, and that meant George had a habit of following Dream’s cue, and instructions. He didn’t create conflict. 

However even when George started creating conflict, or  not following Dream cue, L’rapids and that whole thing, Dream still cares about George. It is also entire possible Dream is still pulling the strings because now George won’t be targeted for being on the same side as Dream, like Tommy Showed Him Was Possible. 

Dream is a very complex character, where we see he still care about people, but he is still evil. Just in the The ends justify the means way, and Dream end want seems to be Control. Will it be his fatal flaw, his undoing, probably, but also maybe not.

and as I said this is just if Dream’s motivation is Control.

There is an entirely another post about how because we aren’t watching Dream’s POV this could all be a long trick for the betterment of server as a whole. A Multilayer Facade Much like Lelouch from Code Geass. But I don’t know enough about Code Geass to do that justice. 

Or, another post about how this could be Dream playing very much an Akashi Seijuurou style character, which for those that don’t know Akashi is the ‘big bad’ of Kuroko no basket sport anime, though the important part to know is Akashi’s personality split so a much colder, more detached and distinct need to Be In Control and Be The Best was in charge.

This happened because of the pressure of being the Best and having his friends around him showing off their extremes prodigal talents while Akashi felt he was being left behind There is fair more to Akashi story on why it happened, and why him but this is just the TDLR. 

So, Dream could very much have snapped under the pressure of keeping the server under control in the face of L’Manburg Creation, something created to subvert his control and power, feeling as though he wasn’t strong enough. His motivation would still be control of some measure but it would add a depth of self-inflicted horror and tragedy to his character because Dream wouldn’t have been in full control the entire time, and may have passed a line he never would have in another circumstance.

As I said, multiple times now, not seeing Dream’s point of view means we don’t know. 

I am not an apologist by any means, the ends so very rarely justify the means, and Dream has done awful things in the name of getting what he wants, but it doesn’t mean I don’t find him a fascinating character who has probably has complex motivations that might vastly shift the view of the character or might not, and that would still change the view of the character. Because we don’t know his motivations currently.

Again this about the character. 

 As always, reply, reblog, add your tags, and send you ask, if you want to discuss or maybe think I missed something. 

[ganymedesclock]

If you don't mind, I want to know what you think of the theory that Pidge's dad has been brainwashed by the Galra or turned over to their side and is now working for them. The theory kinda sprang up because the topic of Sam Holt hardly ever comes up, not even by Pidge, and people think it's leading up to some kind of huge, dramatic reveal with Sam.

Personally... I don’t really buy that? I’m gonna chunk this up since I have different contentions for a couple of scenarios aired here:

1. Mind control

This show is at least partially driven by what will look cool and serious. Not that Sam Holt probably isn’t a cool tough guy with more fight in him than he seems much like Matt was a heckuva lot more than the defenseless anxious wreck he seemed to be in s1e3, but it does not visually create a dramatic, threatening scene to see a guy who looks like a middle-aged college professor duke it out with our heroes. All the emotional value in the world is not going to make that work.

There’s also the fact that... I’m skeptical the galra can flat-out dominate a mind and create a compliant slave with any level of permanence. If that were the case, we would have seen it in action by now- the empire takes huge numbers of prisoners. Even their ability to invade a mind seems imperfect as demonstrated in s2e10- Slav, before his capture, was working with the Blade, and yet despite being interrogated for some time, the empire had no idea who the Blade even was and was just digging for Slav’s inventions.

Haggar, personally, seems capable of something but it seems both very imperfect, and that takes a long time. I doubt she was able to really overtake Narti as much as somehow steal her senses in a more malicious form of what she did with Kova- Narti doesn’t react to any of the information she’s given that would be new to Haggar but not to her, nor does she do anything to attack or stall the team when it’d be to Haggar’s benefit to do so. So I’m gonna say- until we see someone be full-tilt hijacked by the empire, I don’t think they can do that.

2. Willing conspirator

This is even more unlikely since s4e2 in showing us the general character of the Holts as a family told us a lot about Sam, albeit indirectly.

Roughly, the Holts are highly intelligent, but somewhat selectively loyal. Their ultimate, strongest loyalty is to their family, and people they view as like family beneath that. They’re like crows. If you’re good to them, if you take care of one of them, the others will take care of you in return. Other than that, they’ll be nice, they’ll be affable- but their trust doesn’t go very far, and, well, “What the Garrison doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”

These people have very little reservations keeping secrets if they think it’s a good reason. There’s levels of trust and levels of disclosure and rising through those ranks is earned.

Sam has every reason to hold a very lengthy grudge on the empire. Nothing they possibly do now can persuade him to really want to collaborate with their cause. Them being able to entice him to even sort of work with them would require large, significant compromises which I don’t think Zarkon, Haggar, or anyone in their faction would possibly be willing to make, and Sam is definitely too smart to be enticed the way Lubos was. Lubos’s arrangement was ludicrously imbalanced from the start- he began as, and remained, a prisoner, and as soon as the commander on Olkarion didn’t need him any more, he was more than happy to throw Lubos’s life and their agreement away- since he had all the power, Lubos had no means to resist that.

Someone like Sam, who regularly outfoxed his government space program employers and coworkers pretty much on a lark, would never get caught that way. If he pretended to, it’d be because he’s furthering his own agenda and probably gonna pull a knife on his “business partner” as soon as they turn their back.

Now, could someone with the empire have actually persuaded Sam’s assistance? Yes, but given the events of s4e6, I doubt that person actually did. Yes, I’m talking about Lotor- he’s much more cooperative and interested in utilizing the skills of non-galra, and actually knows how to negotiate with people. But giving him any connection to Pidge’s dad that he could present to the team like an olive branch would defuse a great deal of lovely potential plot-generating conflict and misgivings before they had a chance to do their thing and set off chains of events. There’s pretty much no way in hell the team would continue to regard Lotor with a lot of suspicion if he was a mastermind behind giving Pidge her father back. After all- the rest of the empire has never cooperated or compromised on anything.

But my overall beef is here... both of these scenarios are pretty much considering Sam Holt as a victim.

Again, you have to consider that this guy is arguably where Pidge and Matt got a hearty chunk of their tricks from. He’s a Holt- which is part of an emerging pattern of highly intelligent, and especially good at plying that intelligence in unorthodox directions. These are people who operate in codes, creeds, and constantly observing their surroundings. And both his looks, the age of his children, and his position imply that he has some thirty years of experience and higher education on both Matt and Pidge.

Is it possible something awful’s happened to Sam Holt during this time? Yeah, but I think s4e2 has discouraged that possibility in my eyes. Having a fake-out of that level of emotional charge on Pidge thinking she was too late to save Matt is going to inevitably weaken any hypothetical future plot of Pidge actually being too late to save her father. Also, given the context, I don’t think they really need to send a message about how it’s really not going to always work out since Pidge’s quest has been framed as a desperate shot in the dark for a long time. Her determination is faced by long avenues of no information.

If Sam hasn’t been mentioned, I think they’re holding him in reserve for future plot- but also, not wanting to hand Pidge the resolution to her big motivation in space.

Also, frankly, I’d say that Sam is very likely that if he comes out of it worse for wear, he’d come out like Shiro- that is to say, not ideal, but not broken. It’s unlikely he’d have been actively tampered with since his captors seemingly considered him profoundly unimpressive, and for someone whose entire family reads like D&D Rogues, that’s a powerful place to be. Shiro says Sam is the smartest person he ever met- and considering Shiro worked for, again, a government space program, that’s a pretty glowing review of Sam’s brain.

Lastly, there’s the fact that Sam being out in space somewhere is useful. Remember, Matt was used to introduce the rebel alliance and help them integrate into the coalition. Having Sam be an active player out and poking around means that he has the potential to bring people to the plot, in which case the writers are at full liberty to choose when, where, and how to reel him back in and have that Holt family reunion.

Yeah, there hasn’t been much about Sam, but I think there’s a reason they had Matt deliberately bring Sam up during Pidge showing him around the castle in s4e3. Nobody’s forgetting about him.

[extraneousdominomask]

I really like your opinions so i want to know: if Sly 5 was a continuation of the whole time travel and meeting ancestors, and we're continuing the pattern of five villains per game, then what kind of villains would you pair up with the ancestors per level? Like for example, Rouishi and El Jeffe, Bob and The Grizz, ect.

lifehack: get snap to answer your excellent prompt by outright telling him you like his opinions

Excellent prompt! Well, first thing’s first: what ancestors would there be? I can’t come up with counterparts if there aren’t, um, parts. So let’s scrape together a quick line-up. All things considered, Slytunkhamen is a shoe-in. Let’s throw in our girl Henriette, and Thaddeus too. And, uh… sorta running out here… round out to five with Otto von Cooper and good ol’ Slaigh. 

That established - what makes a good villain? Long story short, an interesting contrast to the hero. So, 

Slytunkhamen - (Consolidating the three different holders of this name into one person for simplicity’s sake)SOMEONE WHO PLAYS CHILDREN’S CARD GAMESOkay, sorry, had to get that out of my system. As I recall, Slytunkhamen - plural - stole from corrupt pharaohs, making him quite the little anarchist. I think it follows that his opponent would be authoritarian, somehow representing if not embodying the local state apparatus. If most villains are imported in, a la Le Paradox’s gang, then maybe this one, in contrast, is literally just the local governor. Heck, depending on the plot, that might even fit nicely. Having Sly and Slytunkhamen deal with a local fracas before the time-travel plot can get properly underway.

Henriette - Well. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that, as the only female Cooper with a monument in the Vault, Henriette is pretty much representing her entire gender. She is The Girl. So that will need to be considered in light of how she’s likely (definitely) going to be the only female ancestor.The obvious route is to have a General Tsao type, an obnoxious misogynist who we help Henriette pound into the surf. That said - as much as I like to destroy obnoxious misogynists - it might also be interesting to have her rival also be a woman. Not in a Designated Girl Fight way, more in a “We’re both women in a man’s world but I still goddamn despise her” way. I dunno.I wanna talk in terms of Henriette’s actual personality, but unfortunately we don’t have much to go on aside from the fact she was (presumably) pretty smart and tough as nails. Whoever’s going toe to toe with the lesbian queen of the high seas better be worthy of her respect. Savvy?...Well, she can smell gold, right? Maybe her opponent should wear a ton of jewelry. Maybe even have gold in their prosthetics. H: “Avast, Sly! Not a sound.”S: “What? What’s wrong?”H: [sniff, sniff] “...She’s here.”

Slaigh - Slaigh’s stated to the be strongest of the Coopers, and has the absurd body shape to back up that claim. That leaves us with two obvious choices. The first is the classic Brains vs Brawn setup. The villain is a spindly little mastermind who tries to outthink Slaigh. This villain, btw, is 100% from England. That’s just unavoidable.But that character concept sounds very reminiscent of Arpeggio, and “loud bruiser versus tiny nerd in bygone Britain” sounds very reminiscent of Galleth vs Penelope. So in the interest of variety, here’s a second idea: Possibly my favourite Irish legend myth is our origin story for the Giant’s Causeway. Basically, Fionn mac Cumhaill, our strongest champion (who was like eight foot something) got challenged to a fistfight to a giant from Scotland who was even stronger. So instead of Brains vs Brawn, it’s Brawn vs More Brawn. Slaigh’s the strongest Cooper, but how much does that really mean? Sly and the Gang has to help him against a physically tougher opponent - and the resulting blow to his pride that might bring.

Otto - Otto, by contrast, is one of the smartest Coopers. So take everything I just said about Slaigh and reverse the polarity. Either someone equally skilled in engineering and mechanics, or a great big brute he needs tech to compete with. I’d kinda lean towards brute. Too often villain is the tinkerer and the hero smashes their toys. It’d be nice to see the other way around.

Thaddeus - a poor person 

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 10: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: And his uncle Benjamin who gets eaten by a cannibal! And he's just so angry.

O: [Laughter] Can you blame him?

[Intro Music Plays]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls!

S: And I’m Specs.  

O: And today we're gonna be talking about episode number 10: War of the Dinobots. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Mm-hmm

O: So, we open with Chip viewing a ‘dangerous’ meteor through a telescope.

S: We got our boy, Chip, back!

O: I’m glad, he's- Chip’s a good boy.

S: He's the best! He's the best human so far.

O: Yeah.

S: I think he will continue to be the best human-

O: I have a hard time picking between him and Raoul, to be honest.

S: Yeah.

O: I really like Raoul but I also really like Chip so I have a hard time picking. And like, I feel like Raoul might win just ever so slightly because I like him and Tracks together more but Chip still- he's up there. He's like my second favorite, if nothing else.

S: We need both of them and Carly to show up in an episode in some new series

O: I know!  And they never do in G1 which is really disappointing because, like, I like all these characters but we never actually- like, I think we get to see Chip and Carly interact and we get to see like Chi- oh, not Chip-

S: Spike and Raoul?

O: Spike and Carly, and Chip and Spike but I don't think we really get to see a lot of the other ones interact.

S: Yeah.

O: Which is a pity. Anyway, Chip calls the Autobots because they’re ones who can save the Earth from this meteor, apparently?

S: Nevermind that it apparently lands more or less safely but who the hell cares? Spike is chilling in Optimus’s cab on a ride to the obs- observatory, you know, like a- like teenage boys do.

O: No worries, dad, I'm not going out drinking and driving! I'm just gonna ride in my giant alien robot friend! Optimus’ burning conviction to save the earth once he, ah, you know, figures out what's going on shines through as he clenches his fist and it's covered with red electricity!

S: How very anime of you, Optimus.

O: Indeed. Uh, Optimus decides they need to get to the meteor before the Decepticons do because it might be a power source. Apparently. And opts to take the Dinobots as back up.

S: I don't think they thought this through. At all?

O: [Laughter] I don’t think they did either!

S: Meanwhile, Megatron totally rages against the machine.

O: Or at least the fact of the Dinobots kicked their ass.

S: [Laughter] Yeah. So it's Tuesday night- time for Starscream and Megatron's weekly tiff.

O: Of course! Megatron insults Starscreams’ strategies and orders Soundwave to find the Dinobots weak points.

S: You know, as one does.

O: Of course.

S: Soundwave flies off to spy on the Dinobots.

O: Slash Autobots.

S: Yes, the Autobots, sorry.

O: Which, of course, means he lands near them. And then Soundwave, a giant 30-foot tall robot, does this by sneaking against the side of a building. It is great.

S: Oh, I feel we should probably mention that the meteor, like, lands in, like, the middle of this sort of bombed out looking town which is across the river from a perfectly ordinary looking town, or whatever.

O: Did I miss that part where it was across the river?

S: There's a bridge or something I think? Well, it's separated, somehow, I don't remember.

O: Regardless, yeah, it basically landed in this like very bombed out looking place perfectly fine? So I don't know why there was this whole “They've got a save the earth.”

S: Yeah but so, yeah, Soundwave is basically sneaking through ruins.

O: Yes but of course he's still a 30 foot robot so, you know, he sends out a good old listening tentacle.

S: It makes snake sound effects. It's kind of weird.

O: I love it.

S: The Autobots are trying to get a twofer for putting their allies in danger today as they brought along both Chip and Spike.

O: Because that was a good idea. And okay, Soundwave has been beat out for worse naming schemes to fucking Spike. Spike suggests they named the meteorite after Chip as the meteorroni chipperoni?

S:  Meteorini Chiporoni or whatever.

O: Oh god, it's terrible. Anyway, shut up Spike!

S: It's a pretty fucking big meteor, I guess? About the size of Optimus Prime though whether it was bigger when it was- before, you know, burning through the atmosphere is another thing entirely and I mean honestly it probably should have, like, had a crater.

O: Yeah, it really didn’t. Like it might have but it wasn't very deep. Uh, they extract a sample from the meteorite--via shooting at it.

S: Extraction via gun. It's the fastest but definitely not the safest way to do this when you're afraid that goddamn thing is gonna blow up.

O: We don’t know that yet.

S: Well, they keep talking about how it's possibly dangerous soooo.

O: You know, I sometimes question Wheeljack’s science credentials.

S: Except isn’t Optimus shooting the thing? I don’t remember.

O: Maybe it was, but Wheeljack’s the one who asked for a sample.

S: True. And the Dinobots are left behind to guard the meteor, as one does.

O: Of course.

S: Chip describes seeing the Autobots transform as ‘outrageous’!

O: What show does he think he's in? Jem and the Holograms?

S: Well, it could be argued that they’re all in the same universe.

O: [Laughter] We’re not getting into that, but yes!

S: So they just decide to leave their young, impressionable, and not so smart babies behind without supervision to guard the meteor.

O: What could go wrong, am I right?

S: I mean they stick them- they leave them in a closet most of the time so, ok, no one get- no one ever gave them the stranger-danger talk.

O: [Laughter] So true.

S: Seriously, they couldn't leave Wheeljack and/or Ratchet with them? Ratchet? Someone?

O: You would think? I mean, like, clearly they shouldn’t be left here by themselves.  Hence, Optimus despite trying to offline them a few episodes back says he's pleased with the Dinobots and is going to order two more.

S: [Sighs] Their family planning is not good.

O: No, no it’s not. Once back at the base, Chip suggests a Stegosaurus and a Pteranodon for the two new dinos. Ratchet and Wheeljack seem to agree with this.

S: They think it's a hot idea.

O: [Laughter] They just wanna make more babies.

S: Yeah, and Sparkplug asks if there's anything Chip doesn't know about. Spike and Chip just, like, share a look that seems to say, “Good question.”

O: Chip: Resident super genius. Back at the Dinobots, Soundwave continues spying by initiating a brain scan with a scanner that pops out of his head.

S: [Sighs]

O: [Laughter]

S: Because, of course, we've got a- we've got the weird. We've got this listening tentacle and now we’ve got brain scan time. I mean, yeah, okay you're psychic but whatever.

O: I mean, at least we've seen the listening tentacle pop up a few times at this point.

S: This breaks down to Slag wants to fight, Grimlock who wants to be the boss man and Sludge just wants to follow whoever’s strongest cuz apparently, well, he's not good at critical thinking.

O: He’s not.

S: But I don't think any of them are especially good at that. Though we did look at the tech specs and Grimlock is indeed the smartest of them.

O: Or at least in the toys- in the comics that, uh, begs to be seen if that's relevant. If that's the exact same stats here.

S: Yeah.

O: Megatron seems to translate this information slightly differently, with Slag is hostile, Grimlock is arrogant and Sludge is stupid. Poor, poor Sludge.

S: Yeah.

O: The evil plan for today is to use this information to make them fight against Optimus Prime and steal the meteor.

S: So we're just gonna make babies do shit today.

O: I'm gonna go with yes?

S: Yeah, yeah.

O: I remain convinced Megatron has a bling obsession as he is way too damn excited about big shiny rocks.

S: I mean there were those rubies. There was that giant thing in South America. There's these- I feel like there have been more rocks. There's going to be more rocks in the future.

O: Yeah ju- he has a thing for bling. Optimus just needs to get him bling and then propose to Megatron and the war would be over. Just give the man his bling.

S: Yeah.

O: The Seekers attack the Dinobots, who defend themselves.

S: They gave the babies guns, probably with little to no proper training on said weapons because the Autobots are morons.

O: [Laughter] Well, the Autobots just aren't good with Sparklings, me thinks.

S: Yeah.

O: Megatron lands and several things happen all at once. Namely, that Megatron takes three dyno beams/fire to the face with absolutely no issue what-so-fucking-ever. He literally tosses his fusion cannon off to the side, he basically is like, “Why can't we just be friends? I just want to talk to you guys.”

S: The Dinobots fall for Megatron's flattery as he tells them they are stronger than him and stronger than all the other Autobots.

O: Leading Grim to reach the conclusion that, “He, Grimlock should be leader.” Oh you idiots, my poor, poor dumb Dino idiots.

S: Poor Dino babies.

O: They deserve better.

S: And meanwhile the Seekers take off with the meteorite that the Dinobots were guarding. Like, they literally toss out these, like, grappling hook things from their bellies and they latch onto the meteor and it just looks really goofy.

O: Ah, back at base- are ya ready for a montage?

S: We’re ready for a montage!

O: We- we see that plans are underway to build the new Dinobots.

S: God, Sparkplug--is holding a document that says, “outline plan desge.”

O: [Laughter] Someone couldn’t spell design.

S: Or they couldn't fit it and they didn't care. Or they just didn't speak English or something.

O: Or they were, like, nobody will see this. And then DVDs came along and whoops! Making babies though, it's totally something the whole family can enjoy together.

S: [Laughter] Yeah, and Wheeljack calls Optimus to his lab to tell them that the meteorite is unstable as fuck and could literally explode at any second!

O: This is important because we need to show off Trailbreaker’s super-secret awesome ability to create force fields which he promptly uses to contain the conveniently timed explosion that happens immediately after.

S: I mean we saw the force shield stuff when they were off on Cybertron with the acid rain that time, so this isn't exactly a surprise but it's a new use of it.

O: I guess.

S: Because, yeah, he just surrounds the thing and then it blows itself up and that's fine.

O: Everything's fine. The base is fine. Wheeljack is fine. Optimus is fine.

S: There isn't even, like, a smear or whatever. I don’t know. And so, hey! They learned something from the first Dinobot disaster, so no showing off the Dinobots indoors by the Ark [I meant, Teletraan 1. ~Specs] They're gonna show Swoop and Snarl off outside instead of next to freaking Teletraan 1!

O: [Laughter] You know, the thing that controls their entire base.

S: They learned a thing!

O: They did learn a thing! Swoop and Snarl seem to be slightly smarter than their compatriots, with Swoop using a more grammatically correct sentence than we normally hear from a Dinobot.

S: And the new Dinobots are solar powered, at least Snarl is. They probably both are and I guess go back to the intelligence thing apparently Swoop and Snarl have “7” according to their toy tech specs. Well, “7” in intelligence.

O: Which is still more than the other Dinobots, aside from Grimlock, right?

S: Yeah, Grimlock was an “8.” I think Sludge was a “3,” which just makes me sad.

O: Poor Sludge, poor baby.

S: Yeah, not sure about-

O: I just want to give Sludge a hug.

S: Yeah. Not sure about, uh, Slag or Slug. I feel like he was a “5.”

O: Maybe he was.

S: But I don't remember. And- oh god- and then Ratchet and Wheeljack just tell basically everybody to try and take out the Dinobots cause-

O: I'm not! I’m not sure who I think this is being mean to: the Dinobots or to everyone else.

S: Cuz the Dinobots do a number on everyone. Yeah. Sideswipe is super goddamn excited to fight and gets a pretty good punch on Swoop in.

O: Swoop and Snarl pretty much wipe out everybody else, though.

S: Yeah, I think someone gets picked up and dropped and... Yeah, none of the Autobots are having a grand old time. And then Optimus shows up where they left the other three Dinobots, who are now missing along with the meteorite because we saw what happened earlier.

O: Exactly! And we get to see his tiny antenna pop out of his helm as he calls the base. It’s great!

S: The Dinobots then pop out of nowhere and triple-team Optimus. Optimus makes a plea for the Dinobots to stop this but naturally this fails. Um. [clears throat] Optimus is also making strange moaning noises again through this. I wish he would stop. [Laughter]

S: Oh god, I'm not sure how either of us could, like, do the keyboard smashing noise.

O: [Laughter] I- that was. I knew I was gonna have to be the one to say that anyway, so I was just like [incoherent noise]!

S: And so Optimus is knocked on his ass. Like, he's literally knocked into some sort of fissure or something?

O: Yeah.

S: Yeah, um. Well, he’s knocked on his aft or his ass or whatever. Grimlock shows a smidgen of discomfort at the idea of murdering a helpless opponent, because, apparently, he has some sort of honour even though he is a small child- basically, a very young person who has not had a whole lot of, um, moral education.

O: As Optimus puts it when he gets back up, he blathers something about “traces of Autobot training.” [Laughter]

S: What training? You stuffed them in a closet!

O: In the next shot, Grimlock has clearly stolen Optimus’ gun as he reports in to Megatron about Prime’s defeat.

S: Because he literally just has it under his arm?

O: Yeah, he has it. Yeah, yeah, I feel a little weirded out that I can actually tell Prime's gun apart from everybody else’s now, but I can.

S: That's what happens.

O: That’s what happens when you play the freakin PS4 game so much and you end up playing as everybody including Optimus Prime despite only wanting to play as Wheeljack! I actually feel bad because I'm like, Grimlock’s in that one. I love Grimlock. I think I don't like playing as him because he's hard. He's basically constantly swapping between robot mode and Dino mode the entire time. It's kind of a pain in the ass.

S: Hmm.

O:  Elsewhere, we see Megatron overseeing the filling of Energon cubes from the meteor or where they’ve taken the meteor anyway.

S: Yeah, Soundwave is making more Tupperware cubes again and then seems to defy all laws of physics as he shoots the meteorite and, somehow, this causes a flow of energy to fill up the Energon cubes.

O: Despite them being, like, not near each other, it's very strange.

S: Yeah, it’s kind of- kind of kooky.

O: And, for once, Starscream makes an accurate observation that the meteorite energy seems unstable.

S: And Megatron's a dick about it.

O: Of course! Nevermind that Starscream is, in fact, a scientist, but whatever!

S: Then the Dinobots show up dragging Optimus with them, you know, like the dead weight he is right now.

O: [Laughter] Ouch! Uh, Megatron is rather pissed that Optimus isn’t fucking dead.

S: And Starscream says that Grimlock will never destroy Optimus, begging Megatron not to listen to Grim.

O: Give the bot credit, where credit is due- he is on a roll today. Starscream is on a roll today.

S: He is, and Optimus also attempts to tell Megatron that the meteorite’s unstable, so that's two people telling him it's unstable.

O: Yes, Megatron ignores this, too.

S: At the Ark, Wheeljack has tracked down where the Decepticons have taken the meteor and the Autobots send out Snarl and Swoop to help.

O: Megatron’s unstable Energon stash finally explodes sending Reflector and poor Soundwave flying.

S: There were some really funny photos from that.

O: There were, it was pretty great.

S: Mmhmm. And Starscream gives Megatron his best, “I told you so!”

O: [Laughter] Swoop and Snarl show up via flying and Megatron orders the other three Dinobots to transform and attack.

S: The Dinobots fight, Swoop getting the short end of the stick fight-wise because one of his wings gets chomped on.

O: Yeah,

S: At least a few times.

O: It looks painful, poor baby.

S: Poor kid. Like, he's just woken up, he's like-

O: And now his older brothers are chomping on him!

S: He's now an hour old or something.

O: [Laughter] Starscream and Megs flee as the meteorite threatens to explode and Optimus tackles Grimlock out of the way of the explosion.

S: This looks an awful lot like that bit in Fantasia with all the dinosaurs.

O: [Chuckles] Grimlock, understandably, is now pissed at Megatron.

S: And Megatron does the smart thing and orders a retreat to escape the angry t-rex.

O: Angry, big t-rex.

S: Yeah.

O: I'm glad a camera, a cassette and a cassette deck can fly. [Laughter]

S: Yeah, and then the cavalry arrives in the form of the rest of the Autobots. Of course.

O: Of course! And Grimlock apologizes for, you know, trying to kill Optimus.

S: Optimus Prime kind of ignores this apology. It's like, “I'm not forgiving or forgetting,” as sort of an undertone here.

O: Seems like, he’s like, “I'm going to give you some long-winded speech that's not going to address your apology in any way.”

S: Yeah,

O: And that's the end of episode so we're now up to five Dinobots because more is always better when it comes to dinosaurs.

S: Yeah.

O: Join us next time for the beginning of another three parter, The Ultimate Doom, Part 1. Or the episode that third Bay movie was basically based on.

S: Yeah, or the trio of episodes or whatever.

O: Yeah [Laughter].

S: Ok, so we've got the fanfiction recommendations.

O: Yup!

S: Gotta do it, there's only the two of them and they're both by the same person. One of which is a sequel to something that I recommended earlier. Alright, so for a first recommendation we have “Art in Me” by Nightwind. Continuity's G1 cartoon, rated K. It’s Gen, there's no pairings. Our characters are the Dinobots, Prowl, Red Alert, Wheeljack, and Ratchet.

S: Okay, so “Art in Me” is a sequel to a story that Nightwind had written earlier called “Vigil” and so the summary is, “The Autobots might have a budding Picasso on their hands. Who might it be?”

O: [Chuckles]

S: And so our theme for actually both of these recs or recommendations were “Dinobot shenanigans”-

O: Yes!

S: Because we now have all five Dinobots and as, um, I’ve been keeping track of things were in a series or one-shots or whatever, this is a sequel to Vigil, also by Nightwind.

S: And our second recommendation- there's only the two of them today- is Crosses to Bear, as I have said before, also by Nightwind. G1 cartoon continuity, it's rated T. It's Gen, there's no pairings. Our characters are the Dinobots and various Autobots. And in summary, “It’s Swoop and a few other crazy Autobots versus a really big chunk of rock with Track's life hanging in the balance. Rating upped a bit to due to Trailbreaker’s gratuitous use of a certain expletive.”

S: Expletive. God.

O: Expleti- Expletive.

S: [Laughter] A certain curse word!

O: There you go!

S: Okay, and yeah. Dinobot shenanigans and that's the two fanfiction recommendation. Do we have fan art recommendations?

O: No, it’s an even numbered episode.

S: Ah.

O: Well, we’ll have fan art next week, though!

S: Yep.

O: Well, next episode, not next--we post every two weeks but you know what I mean.

S: And that just about wraps it up for us today. Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort at Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter @AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast, such as AO3, Stitcher and YouTube, just to name a few. Till next time!

S: I'm Specs!

O: And I’m Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music Plays]