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lord-squiggletits · 4 months

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On the MegOP fandom trend of saying "Optimus should apologize to Megatron"

(Speaking specifically for IDW1, though it applies to a lot of MegOP especially ones that do continuity soup with heavy reference to IDW1)

I was talking to a friend in DMs and they mentioned a common headcanon/fanfic trope that I also concurred with, and both of us said it's something that bothers us: a common take in the MegOP fandom goes basically along the lines of "If Optimus had just apologized to Megatron, the war would've ended" (or other variants including "if he'd tried harder to understand Megatron/work in collaboration with him").

And firstly, this is incorrect for a number of reasons:

There were attempts at peace negotiations during the war, but they fell through. So Optimus WAS trying to work with Megatron to the point of participating in formal diplomatic meetings.

Optimus tried multiple times on page to convince Megatron to just stop fighting and work with him for peace (Autocracy, Chaos Theory) that Megatron rejected. Given that these on-page examples take place at the start of the war and at the end of the war respectively, it makes sense that Optimus asking Megatron for collaboration is something he was trying/willing to do the entire time. So again, Optimus was always willing AND ATTEMPTING to work with Megatron and find a joint solution

Even before the war when Optimus was still Orion, he was very explicitly inspired by Megatron's writing and names Megatron as one of the people who "opened his eyes" to the wrongs of Cybertronian society. So how is it that people claim "the war went on for too long because Optimus never tried to understand Megatron" when OP literally named Megatron as one of his biggest idols, thus implying that OP does understand Megatron's ideals

But the primary purpose of this post wasn't to defend Optimus, actually. Even though I personally think Optimus did plenty (dare I say, everything) to try to end the war, there are some who may still think otherwise, so instead of arguing about whether Optimus did "enough", or who should apologize to whom, or who "deserves the blame" for starting/continuing the war, I'd actually rather talk about this:

No matter who is most "to blame" for the war, it's my firm belief that neither Megatron nor Optimus would even expect/demand the other to apologize to them at all.

On Megatron's side, he would never seek to judge Optimus negatively for the decisions to the point of saying "you wronged me, apologize." Whether it's evil Megatron who doesn't care about atrocities and revels in an opportunity to expose Optimus as a hypocrite, or post-war/Autobot Megatron who knows that his own evil actions are irredeemable, the idea of Megatron judging Optimus and demanding an apology for the war specifically strikes me as out-of-character. Why would Megatron demand or even want an apology from Optimus when Megatron knows fully well that he has his own sins to bear, he prolonged the war for his own selfish/material gain, and that he is responsible for an untold amount of suffering? Demanding an apology would imply that Megatron sees himself as the wronged party and Optimus as the wrongdoer, but by the end of the war, Megatron is too aware of his own part in the war to ever demand such a thing of Optimus. Even if he DID think that Optimus was "equally to blame" for the war (which he doesn't/wouldn't, btw), Megatron's own feelings of guilt would prevent him from trying to seek the petty satisfaction of the moral high ground or making Optimus beg for his forgiveness.

Additionally, Megatron knows Optimus very well as a person: he knows that the position of leadership is full of "loneliness [and] agonizing self-doubt" for Optimus (Chaos Theory) and that "when Optimus hurts others, he hurts himself" (MTMTE). Another reason that Megatron wouldn't demand nor want an apology from Optimus is because Megatron knows Optimus so well that he already knows that being a war leader fills Optimus with immense guilt and suffering. Given that Megatron knows about Optimus' self-doubt and guilt, why would he even need an apology when he already knows how much Optimus regrets the war and desperately wishes/wished for it to end?

Then, as established in the previous paragraphs, Optimus is too full of guilt for his part in the war (both before it started and in being unable to stop it sooner) to demand an apology from Megatron. Again, demanding an apology would put Optimus in an implied position of moral superiority and/or victimhood, but Optimus doesn't see himself as morally superior or as a victim (or rather, he sees himself as being responsible for these bad things happening and internalizes this as a duty to do better/fix wrongdoings). In other words, Megatron and Optimus both share this view of themselves and each other: Their hands are so dirty, and they both feel such guilt over this, and they know each other well enough to know that the other feels this way as well. Because both of them feel blame for the war and are acutely aware of their own flaws/part in suffering, both of them feel far too responsible for the war happening for them to ever blame their archnemesis for "not trying harder" or "being responsible for the war."

Hell, if you even look at the socio-political climate of Cybertron before the war started, neither Megatron nor Optimus were the ones who put this conflict into motion. The corrupt legacy of the Primes, Functionism, class issues-- all of these things existed before Megatron and Optimus did. Even once they started doing things like writing about social issues (M) or fighting against the Senate (OP), both of them were "underlings" in sense that they weren't leaders:

Megatron's writings may have inspired the Decepticon movement, but that movement existed as an independent entity with its own leaders and speakers long before Megatron became the "official" ruler of the Decepticons. He wasn't even the leader of the 'Cons until he took control of the gladiator arena and the nonviolent sections of the Decepticons were (presumably) subsumed into the underground, exploitative battle culture that Megatron created.

Optimus-as-Orion was a police officer to start, but even once he started going against the Senate, he mainly worked in collaboration with others like Senator Shockwave and Zeta (later Zeta Prime), who he either saw as his idols or who were literally superior to him in rank due to government/military structures.

So with this in mind, even from a social level, while Megatron and Optimus may have been "catalysts" of a sort that caused the war to escalate to an outright planetary/galactic level, the scenario is too complex to solely lay the blame for the war at either of their feet. I'm not confident in saying that Megatron/Optimus would explicitly think of this when talking to each other, but what I'm trying to say is that M/OP were just catalysts in a long chain of brewing tension that exploded into a war. Even if one could claim that one of them "started" or "escalated" the war, the social issues that caused the war and the positions of power that allowed them to become leaders in the first place were falling into place before either of them actually BECAME leaders.

In other words, this shared fate of being the final reaction that exploded a societal conflict into outright war... Megatron and Optimus both have that in common. And because of this, I really don't think either of them would even think to ask the other to apologize because they're both in such similar positions, with such similar feelings of guilt and responsibility, that they understand each other's feelings without words. To demand an apology would be akin to taking that shared vulnerability/guilt and stepping on it, attempting to claim that one is right/superior and the other is wrong/inferior, and that the inferior one needs to grovel and take responsibility for the bad things that happened.

#squiggposting #idw megop #idk if this'll get me hate or not but it's something i think about a lot #and verbalizing it to that friend in DMs helped me put into words why that common fanon take bothers me #also. hot take but if any 'apologies' are necessary then it's M who should be apologizing to OP #the war may be both of their faults but M is the one who explicitly did/said things just to hurt OP and break his spirit #i'm tired of ppl who don't understand (or at least don't discuss) how hurt OP is and how he deserves recogniztion of his feelings too #megop #then again this fanon take may just be a consequence of continuity soup culture #where ppl don't have to acknowledge specific things that M or OP did bc they can just selectively include or not include details from canon #so like. i guess in their continuity soup continuties their fanon is technically correct #but in terms of the source material which is the one shared experience we all have and the common language we derive fanon from #this fanon is very incorrect. or at least i hope i've managed to argue that it's incorrect #anyways the thesis of megop is that they're equals and opposites who are inextricably tied to each other #fanon that tries to place the blame on one or castigate one of them is missing the point of megop #the point is that they're equal. equally strong and charismatic and amazing. and equally culpable #even if they're not literally equally responsible for idw megop at least they at least both FEEL responsible #and i don't think idw megops are the type to mince words about who's 'more responsible'#they're both depressed old men who hate themselves and regret basically their whole lives. why would they judge each other like that

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57sfinest · 1 year

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thinking about how one of the only truly *real* details we get about dora is how she liked war games. and harry thinks of her as dolores dei. and dei was the innocence of colonialism and "for-the-greater-good” bloodshed. it all comes full circle. he was obsessed with her not only for whatever shallow holiness he associated with her but also for the violence she was capable of. whatever his reasons may be, he’s drawn to abuse and degradation.

let's talk about how for all he misses her, the only things he seems to remember are negative. he feels hunted by her, he remembers the way she’d yell at him, but he didn't internalize any of the good things that she must have said or done, only the feeling that he loved and worshipped her. but in the flashbacks and the crosswalk suddenly there are all these bad things he can remember. the fact that he’s been *wronged* is a core tenet of his personality, even after a full factory-reset brain wipe. he wants to hurt himself so he holds on to all the ways she ever hurt him so he can just dig the knife in a little deeper. so much of the crosswalk scene just reads as him projecting-- i don't doubt that she expressed some of those sentiments to him, albeit maybe not verbatim, but the phrasing and the sheer intensity of it just feels like it’s him borrowing her image to beat himself with all the things he hates about himself. this guy really does just self-harm using the people he loves, doesn’t he

#he has to be the victim because if he's not the victim then who is he?#between her and how he treated jean like shit and provoked him too #he kicks people until they kick back so he can hurt and cry and have someone to blame #not saying jean or dora were totally faultless. but harry definitely holds a lot of the culpability here #disco elysium #disco elysium meta #harry du bois #dora ingerlund #sorry.#psychoanalyzing hdb in the club tonight #he's just so absolutely irredeemably fucked it's so fun to dissect #kiwipost #as always. feel free to add to the post #hdb meta #di meta

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henrysglock · 1 year

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S4 Victims: Story by Proxy?

Okay so. In spitballing with Em...something stuck in my head.

So we all know how serial killers leave crumbs because deep down they want to be caught/want the truth to be revealed? Well what if the Duffers, or even current Henry, are doing the same thing. That is, leaving breadcrumbs.

This mainly has to do with the S4 victims, their stories, and the order in which they're chosen.

So, it goes like this:

Chrissy: Abusive mother who resembles Virginia

Fred: Eaten alive by the guilt of being responsible for the accidental death of an innocent.

Max: Suicidal over guilt about Billy's death and her response to it. Billy, who died saving her/while she was saving herself from the Fleshflayer, a regenerated form of the Mindflayer.

Patrick: Abusive father, not much else told.

Max (again): Suicidal Ideation, dies, soul taken, but was revived by El. She's now in some limbo-state, where her body lives but her identity/mind is elsewhere. She will likely be brought back entirely by El in S5.

It almost feels like a story by proxy if we piece it together.

So, let's piece it together:

Person with an abusive mother...feels responsible for the death of an innocent...a sibling who was killed while this person was trying to save themselves from a monster which came from Hawkins lab, which leaves them suicidal...and this person lives in a situation with an abusive father figure. This person becomes suicidal, and their suicide attempt was not entirely successful. They were revived by El, and end up in a limbo state. They may or may not be brought back by El later.

Now, let's collect details about our serial killer:

Abusive mother? Check. (No matter how we frame it, Virginia was not a good mother.)

Innocent died? Check. (Henry has nothing bad to say about Alice, which we know he would if she were not innocent, since he does this with every other victim.)

Sibling died as a result of saving oneself? Check. (The Creel massacre was a situation where Henry was, with whatever intentions we may assign for the other family members' deaths, trying to save himself from Virginia and by extension the lab.)

Ended up with an abusive father figure? Check. (Well...an abusive Papa, one might say.)

Brought back by El multiple times? Check. (El was the one who took Soteria out and brought Henry back from being powerless. El was the one who put Henry in the UD/limbo state. El was the one who opened the gate for his return to the RSU.)

IT ALL ALIGNS. So let's put it together with all the feelings involved:

Citations (I guess? Explanations?) are in the tags listed by number!

Henry had an abusive mother who was at least trying to have him shipped off to the lab, if not actually trying to kill him outright. This situation builds and builds, him wanting to be left alone (1), putting out subconscious and conscious cries for help (2), and her targeting him about it, until March 25th, 1959.

Virginia starts it, attacks, and this time she's out for blood (3). Henry defends himself (4). Virginia, being the parent with powers (5), doesn't actually die (6). Victor, Alice, and Henry go for the door (7). Virginia's on the stairs (8). She's got to finish what she started, since her original plan was botched (9). Henry puts his energy into trancing Victor (10), protecting him from Virginia, since logically two people can't occupy one person's mind.

This leaves good, innocent Alice to fend for herself, standing directly in front of the staircase. She's a loose end (11). Virginia kills her, but can't kill Henry or Victor while the trance is occurring. She figures Henry's going to run himself into the ground (12). She figures she can call Brenner in to collect Henry, like they planned (13). If she disappears, she figures it'll go into the news something like this:

"World War II veteran kills entire family in deranged fit of insanity. Wife missing, presumed dead. Son dies in hospital."

And on both counts, she's essentially right. It does basically go into the papers that way. Victor is taken in for murder, and Henry is taken by Brenner, but not before he sees that Alice was caught in the crossfire (14).

Henry ends up with Brenner, the abusive Papa. He's got the guilt about Alice's death, something that makes him sad and angry. Brenner, maybe, decides to push this in order to increase Henry's powers, but it backfires. Henry's powers increase, but he does...something. He lashes out, he snaps, maybe he even tries to kill himself. He's Brenner's prized pet, though, so Brenner can't let that happen. He seals Henry's powers away with Soteria. It's a death for Henry's entire identity, so far as to have him under the name Peter Ballard. Then comes along 011. She removes Soteria from Peter Ballard...and revives Henry Creel. She then exiles him to the Upside Down in 1979, only to eventually bring him back in 1983 when she opens the Mothergate.

All this to say: It could be his own story, told through the stories of his victims.

Breadcrumbs, or maybe...obvious things, which nobody by any chance ever observes.

Below the cut is where I speculate into motivations for his actions after Soteria's removal, so...not required reading for this particular analysis.

Years of MKUltra torture warp Henry's guilt about the situation into a bastardized, violent, brutal, unethical savior complex based in the notion that he's a predator by nature, but a predator for good. He "saves" the lab kids from a future like his own, filled with nothing but torture. He "saves" El from her ignorance about the lab and intended to have her join him, thereby attempting to "save" her, technically his little sister, from the lab entirely.

He "saves" his s4 victims from their guilt and suffering, which so closely mirror his own, which no one saved him from. I could even go so far as to say he was "saving" Will, who is set up to be so much like him, from a world of horrible people who (from Henry's viewpoint based on his lived experiences) would only serve to abuse and betray him.

This of course isn't to say any of it is right. None of it is right or good...but it makes sense. It follows a pattern. It coheres. The math...maths.

#Citations!#1: Henry often hides alone in the attic.#2: Victor's burning cradle vison (a child in need of help). The drawing of the Shadow Monster. Possibly Alice's nightmares.#2 (cont.): Can all be interpreted as calls for help. Children in distress act out and make disturbing art in hope of conveying that need.#3: Virginia may or may not have been trying to kill Henry but based on the Fleshflayer parallel re: sibling death...it's probable.#4: Henry himself describes that night as self defense/being forced to act.#5: Virginia likely had powers given that Henry has powers #6: Her powers are likely similar to Henry's and Henry has regenerative powers. There are also fishy scenes of her death which imply #6 (cont.): that she may have still been alive. These include: shots from her POV. The fact that her eyes are bloody--#6 (cont.): but still intact in some shots. The unexplained POV from the top of the stairs.#7: Henry looks very nervous and fidgety at the door like he's antsy to leave with Alice and Victor #8: Again the unexplained POV on the stairs...stairs she earlier runs down after Henry gives her her mirror moment in the bathroom.#9: Henry was successful in disabling her initially which exposed her culpability.#10: Henry puts *so* much time into Victor in canon with basically no explanation why.#11: Alice seems to be a smart and upstanding girl. She might not be controllable re: Virginia being alive/the whole scheme with Brenner.#11 (cont.): The only way to eliminate that risk is to kill her...and we've already seen that Virginia is not good to at least one child.#12: If Virginia has powers like Henry's she likely has a sense of how long someone can be tranced before the trancer runs out of energy.#13: Who called Brenner to come get Henry during his coma? How did Henry end up in Brenner's hands specifically?#14: amerion-main's recent post re: Henry's position change in the foyer shots #End Citations!#This is all very much speculation when it comes to the actual path of events re: the Creel Massacre #but we can all agree that we don't have the full story about the Creels yet...so who knows.#henry/vecna/001 #henry creel analysis #henry creel #virginia creel #creel family #stranger things #stranger things analysis

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sysig · 5 months

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Well work on it faster! (Patreon)

[Panel 1] Prismo: ...It wouldn’t have stopped you from trying.

[Panel 2] Prismo: Would it?

[Panel 3] Simon: I don’t know. Maybe.

[Panel 4] Prismo: Simon.

[Panel 5] Prismo: You can’t fool me on this one. Why else would you come to me? To look for her.

[Panel 6] Simon: ... You couldn’t, so I had to.

[Panel 7] Prismo: •sigh• ...Look, you’re right. I should’ve told you.

[Panel 8] Prismo: I’ve just been really...distracted. Simon: Hah.

[Panel 9] Simon: Was years of my no-longer-immortal life not enough for you?

[Panel 10] Prismo: C’mon, man, you know why. Simon: Hmph.

[Panel 12] Simon: You still have to make this right. Prismo: Yeah, I’m working on that.

#Doodles #Adventure Time #Fionna and Cake #Prismo #Simon Petrikov #Get his ass Simon #And Prismo for that matter lol - neither of you are free of sin! You're both culpable! The situation proves it!#It's mostly on Prismo of course but it's not like Simon is Completely innocent haha #His attitude is entirely warranted tho you're slipping Prismo get it together #He needs more friends #As does Simon! They're both just tired hurt people who are tied together by mistakes and misintentions #I do love Prismo turning it back on him and The Guilt™ sets in for Simon haha #He knows he was doing something bad! But how's he supposed to keep going if not?#This was a forgone conclusion but that doesn't make it any easier for either of them!#Simon is doubly sore at being forgotten for so long now that he's fully human again #Deemed unimportant! Ouch #It's not that it wasn't important it's just all the everything - being locked out and then falling into his own grief #They're both sad! It's a bad situation for everyone #Prismo's mostly giving lip service - telling him wouldn't have actually fixed anything #Maybe he could've sent him on a quest but hmm! Fionna and Cake is the way the cookie crumbles #He gets to go on his quest eventually :) They'll both make it as right as they can

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unchartedthelostlegacy · 24 days

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how to shit on neil druckmann in a Palestine honoring way

#im glad hes not making more uncharteds #im glad he fucked up the shit movie with wahlberg's hate criming ass #chloe and nadine's only story is poisoned by violent zionist undertones and another one would just make it more so #the man is unable to make non zionist stories. his stories have to be about how humans are inherently evil and both sides are bad #the guise of nuance the cloak of mutual culpability that casts aside the relationships of cause and effect we have with each other

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skymantle · 2 years

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"alphys is a bad person" to you maybe. to me she's everything

#i feel like describing any character in undertale as fundamentally good or bad goes against. the entire point of the game #she's morally gray. that's okay. women can be dubious too it does not make them evil #like. do you think she just did all that shit for funzies. asgore specifically asked her to study the soul #obviously she was culpable in it all but who wouldn't do what she did in her situation #no one knew the effects determination would have on monsters!!! except maybe gaster but he's gone!#AND PEOPLE SAYING SHES A BAD PERSON FOR CREATING FLOWEY??? SHE LITERALLY DIDNT KNOW. HELLO #logs #utdr #undertale #Speaking of alphys. thinking about haunted scientist alphys finding comfort in cheesy bubbly anime and disillusioned teacher alphys #finding comfort in dark gritty anime. thinks about it #what do you think would happen if they met i think it would be cataclysmic and very uncomfortable for everyone involved #Also also thinking about how we know floweys thoughts at least on a surface level for the entire main cast except. alphys and undyne #but undynes irrelevant in that conversation sorry undyne #the only mention i think he has of her is 'who knows... maybe she's got the key to your happiness?' and that was manipulation on his part #metatext #i guess. for the tags

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ardentpoop · 2 months

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#i could try to write a cohesive caption but im tired and sad so messy notes in the tags it is #spn #liveblog tag #12.22 #it shouldnt have felt like such a weight off to hear dean recount how much pain sam's experienced like this but it was #saying ''he lost his soul'' like it was indeed something awful that happened To him as opposed to a ''mistake'' he made #< which is how he's brought it up to sam himself in past seasons #funny that it seems he's only able to acknowledge sam's suffering when sam isn't present. moreover - only when dean's suffering is #centered as well. inextricable from sam's bc of their shared upbringing #and only when there is a more culpable figure to bear the brunt of dean's feelings (often john and now for the first time mary)#she was dragged back to earth as a gift For You. she doesn't fit and the family she knew is gone and you have an idea of her in your head #that she will never be able to mirror in real life bc that mary never existed #and she's been tortured and brainwashed into killing people she knows and she's trapped in her own mind trying to seek solace in #a happy memory - a vestige of heaven which is a vestige of life #and she has no choice but to listen as you rip into her heart for choices that she already hates herself for #sam/mary parallels holding strong but as always sam got the short end of the stick #anyway. ow :)#tag vomit

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tinky-dinky · 8 months

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Alfred being the one who technically handed the Robin uniform to Damian does not excuse Dick of culpability in it. Dick was the one who didn't immediately tell Damian to take the uniform off and that he's not Robin. Dick is the one who took Damian out as Robin. Dick is the one who allowed it.

If Dick actually cared about Tim, and wasn't a massive hypocrite, he would have told Damian to take the uniform off and made it clear that he is not Robin. Hell, if Dick cared about Robin's legacy and reputation, he'd have gotten the murderous little bastard out of it straight away.

But he didn't. Instead, he allowed Damian to be Robin. Allowed him to take the one thing Tim had left.

Supposedly because Damian needed it more. But did he?

No. No he did not.

Damian lost Bruce, who he'd only known for a short time.

Tim lost his bio parents, Bruce and his best friends. On top of that, his big brother cares more about a murderous, arrogant, insulting, entitled little brat who's tried to kill him multiple times. And Dick thinks he's crazy because Tim thinks Bruce isn't dead, despite both of them knowing that they live in a world where people either seemingly die but aren't actually dead or come back from the dead all the time. And Alfred screwed him over by handing Robin to Damian, even though he had to have known how badly it would hurt Tim.

And don't give me that bullshit about how Dick was struggling. If he was struggling, why would he take Robin away from Tim, who is experienced and well trained, and can be trusted to follow orders and not murder people, and give it to Damian, who has no experience, is not trained as a Robin and cannot be trusted to follow orders or not to murder people?

Why doesn't he ever ask anyone for help? Clark could fill in for him as Batman for a night or two if he needed a break. Guy or Dinah could help him get proper psychological help for himself, Tim and Damian. Or just ask the Titans for help; Roy's a parent, he might have some helpful advice, maybe he or Wally or Donna or someone could have Tim or Damian to stay for a while to give Dick a break.

#dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #this started as annoyance at people acting like dick has no culpability in making damian robin #ignoring that he never tried to stop it and actively took damian out as robin #and turned into another rant about just how shitty dick was to tim #I do actually like Dick #I just think he really fucked up here and want fans to stop acting like he didn't

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terrorbirb · 4 months

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Monday my coworker cleared his throat on me when talking to me for 3 minutes, and I immediately put on a mask, disinfected and moved everything I had to the conference room because he obviously had something. I also immediately told my boss who "was wondering if he should send him home". All of that, but apparently that was enough to get me sick.

Here's the thing, and I know this isn't how it works, I got it from a coworker at work and did EVERYTHING in my power to not get it so i could continue work, so I should get my sick days paid even though I don't have any more PTO. I'm still going to work with a mask on in the warehouse because I, specifically, am needed to complete physical inventory which is incredibly important, but I had to go home at 3pm because I was on the verge of fainting. If I cannot complete these last 2 weeks of work, my company will fall apart, which is why I gave a 5 week notice instead of 2 and delayed starting my new job. I know "fuck this company", but I have enough pride to not want things to be worse than they already are because I Built This Place. I want all the systems I designed to work.

Tldr if a coworker got me sick because my boss didn't send him home when he knew he should, and I took measures to limit my exposure right after being exposed, then I should get my sick hours paid.

#totes bro #all of this to say my boss is PISSED at the coworker even though he shares culpability #which fair anyway but im here to close out the books and wrap up the year as well as document everything #as well as I am literally the only person other than my boss working next week because i always dont take Christmas week off #but that means im covering #i dont take Christmas week off because i don't celebrate Christmas and i want people who do to have their time #because thats important to them when for me its just that i can opportunistically have over a week off while only taking 3 days #Im leaving im leaving im leaving finally i have done what you guys say #but i am so annoyed and sad #i cannot explain how critical it is for me to be here at end of year to close things out regardless of whether or not i leave #the whole company had to shift work schedules because my wife was in the hospital once and i couldn't come in #but now im leaving #i know fuck this company they shouldn't have one person who is the linchpin and they brought this upon themselves #'in exchange for some pto now you are allowed 10 texts that i will respond to after i leave'#generous!

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lord-squiggletits · 3 months

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The thing about the fandom headcanon that calls Pharma Ratchet's crazy ex and treats him like some sort of stalker or intrusion on Ratchet's love life (usually with Drift) is that

On one level, it's already annoying when a perfectly fine/interesting character is reduced to nothing but "bitter ex getting in the way of The Actual OTP" because it simplifies the character to only exist as a satellite to someone's ship (the bitter loser who can't let go/doesn't deserve person A/etc) instead of having their own life going on.

But when it comes to Pharma it's particularly annoying because it reduces Pharma to "the crazy stalker/bitter ex", framing Pharma as if he's the villain ruining Ratchet's life with his inability to just let go,

When in actual canon it was Ratchet who was best friends with Pharma their whole life (they're even shown together in the Functionist Universe). Ratchet who ditched Pharma with barely a word of goodbye (before Delphi, and ironically the same conversation where Pharma asked Ratchet if he should accept the station at Delphi). And it was Ratchet who asked Drift if he was scared of going into DJD territory as an ex-Decepticon, but treated Pharma like scum for killing patients under threat of being murdered by the DJD. And Ratchet who stole Pharma's hands. And Ratchet who tried to manipulate Pharma by using his deepest insecurities against him on Luna-1.

It's not like Pharma is some rando who Ratchet barely knew. They were BEST FRIENDS whose friendship was severed on a really messy note. Pharma has every right to be invested in a relationship/friendship that almost literally lasted he and Ratchet's entire life. It sucks when people implicitly treat Pharma as if he's obsessed and should just move on when the reality is that it was Ratchet who first terminated their relationship with no explanation or even a goodbye (pre Delphi) and then with leaving Pharma to die and then stealing his hands (post-Delphi). So is Pharma really "obsessed" or is he just understandably upset about being betrayed by the person who should've known and cared about him the most?

So like, it's really annoying when Ratchet has so many flaws in canon and questionable ways he treated Pharma, but the fandom just calls Pharma a crazy stalker ex as if Pharma is the freak who's overreacting and mentally insane while Ratchet is just some guy who was only minding his own business. To me it's not even a matter of shipping, it's just the fact that Ratchet DID handle his relationship with Pharma super fucking poorly. And I really wish more people in the fandom acknowledged that instead of framing Pharma as the evil/crazy/overly attached one for being upset about being ditched. Pharma has reasons to be pissed off and driven to get revenge on Ratchet, and even if his romantic feelings towards Ratchet might play somewhat of a role, Pharma is way more than just some stalker ex who's evil because he's crazy and wants Ratchet to be his boyfriend.

I mean Pharma literally says on the page that the reasons he's angry at Ratchet are for ruining his plans at Delphi and for stealing his hands. Even though Pharma-as-Adaptus orders Drift shot later in LL, it's not explicitly framed as some romantic jealousy and could also just as easily be construed as Pharma getting revenge for Drift cutting his hands off. I don't think Pharma ever even talks about or mentions Drift in the entire story. It's very clear that Pharma's beef/obsession with Ratchet is entirely between him and Ratchet and Drift is only a footnote in all of the reasons Pharma is pissed off.

#squiggposting #pharma apologism #not to mention it also sucks when a character is deeply traumatized and psychologically scarred #and theyre dismissed as just being fucking crazy lmao. as if they ended up that way for no reason at all #or when their trauma is just 'oh he's crazy/evil/mentally ill bc he's sad about not having a boyfriend'#i killed the functionist pharma headcanon and by god i will kill the stalker ex pharma headcanon too #the whole thing is just a peak example of protagonist centered morality honestly #ppl cant handle the idea of one of the good guy fan favorites being flawed and culpable for his mistakes #so instead it's the other unpopular barely existent character who gets tacked with the blame #it's sorta like how ratchet canonically has way more internalized functionism than pharma does #but for the longest time the fandom made pharma the posh elitist snob of a functionist

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