#apex problem solving

[raileurta]

Miko's wings

Have a good idea for a au. Miko when she first arrived in the US sees someone with a keychain tail, she thinks it's really interesting and asks about it. The stranger kindly explained to her how they bought it and why. This greatly interests Miko so researches it online; while looking so sees people even make horns, wigs, all types of stuff but the thing that catches her attention is people wearing wings. She really liked the aesthetic appeal of it so she decided to make own.

They are bat inspired and sewn onto a sleeveless jacket. She treats them like they are actually a part of her body and feels wrong if she doesn't wear them. (Can relate)

If someone were to make a comment about how it's not really attached she will try to gaslight them into believing her.

The bots not really knowing a lot about humans assume Miko wings are real and treat it as such. So one day after Miko sneaked onto another mission she obviously got caught in the crossfire and an attack from starscream meant for an autobot grazed her back. Besides from some minor burns she is pretty much injured but for some reason the autobots are looking at her like she just killed their puppy. Then she notices that she doesn't feel the familiar flap of weight turning on her back. When she takes a look behind her she sees that her wings are obligated. Bulkhead is beyond furious as a flyer himself he never thought starscream sink so low to take lanother's wings.

Among Cybertronians or more generally flyers it's considered abhorrent to permanently take away the ability of flight from someone especially a sparkling. Even Megatron would be hard pressed to do this. A flyer that can't take to the skies will slowly go insane before they just break.

A bot can fix a destroy wing easily so it doesn't matter if another bot targets them in battle but a human can't. They can't regenerate a limb and with our "primitive technology" no tech replacement will allow someone to truly fly again.

Bulkhead curses out starscream for doing something so horrible to his sparkling charge. Starscream is beyond mortified with himself, he didn't know the little organic had wings! He flies off into the sky not knowing what to do with himself.

Miko is immediately rushed back to base afterwards to address her injuries. While she's bummed about her wings Miko notices that bots are taking it harder than her. She quickly figures what's going on so she tries to rectify the situation. "Don't be sad guys can't fly with them so I'm not missing out on anything." This translates in the bots' minds that Miko was so young she couldn't have the chance to fly yet. Needless to say this just makes them feel worse.

Starscream also has this misunderstanding so obviously he feels like shit. He feels so guilty in fact he builds Miko a new set of wings for her. They would attach to her spine/nervous system so she could feel and move them as they were a part of her. She loves them of course. When Miko gets the hang of them she'll be feared by all decepticons as she quickly becomes a flying menace.

[twooftheluckyones]

Heads or Tails. Woo hoo! 300 followers! Thank you all so much. As always I like to remind that our ask box is open for silly prompts or drawing requests. GET IN THERE! But we got something else for y'all! Lore dump? Lore dump! We wanted to yap off about how our Narinder and Una's powers work in our AU, but this requires a bit of context in how gods work in general. A god is a sum of its devotion, the raw power poured into it by the will of mortals. Much like a fire, devotion can be as simple as a candle or as raging as a bonfire. A god channels their devotion through a Conduit Crown, which allows them to manipulate the universe. These powers are basic at first, but eventually form themselves into a Domain, or an area of expertise and control a god has. For example: Heket controlled Famine, and in it both hunger and feast. Shamrua, a more aged god, had a wider domain of both War and Peace but also Knowledge and Unawareness. Originally, Narinder was the god of Death, raised by Shamura to blend with the shadows and assassinate rival gods, but his hunger for a larger domain led to his family fearing his rise to power and thus his imprisonment. When Una was given the red crown, she channeled Narinder's energy through herself. She was not a god, simply a vessel, a mortal given the power but not truly the one commanding it or being worshiped. However, as time went on, her followers began to slowly worship her instead. It wasn't by their own choice, mind you. She preached the gospel of the red crown, but mortals saw her feed them, shelter them, and protect them. Its difficult to praise a god you've never met while the one who saved you from being sacrificed is right there cooking soup for the cult. Thus she began to form her own godhood, as mentioned in part one. Her domain was Fortune and change, as she was both quite the lucky lamb and the harbinger of a new era. Lucky to be the last one found. Lucky to be saved by the god of death. Lucky to always get good dice in knucklebones. Narinder could sense this, but his fondness for her and the promise of freedom allowed him to ignore it. A problem that would eventually solve itself. Except it didn't. When fate came to be and their blades met, Una triumphed against Narinder and stripped him of his godhood. But she didn't want to. She had always wanted to rule by Narinder's side, and be his most loyal follower forever. A dream kept deep in her heart from the first days of her revenge, even if it was impossible from the start. So in the apex of battle, when the swirling energy of destiny filled her blade, Una's raging power changed things without her even realizing. A crown cannot lie on sit upon two brows, but a throne can be wide enough for two to share. And with a fateful bargain, a new crown allows them to rule side by side, intertwined as their roles combined. Post ascension, Narinder's old power now belongs to both of them, though each still has a unique domain. Una still controls fortune, ranging from anything to getting lucky in a card game to bumping into your soulmate by pure coincidence, but her power also alludes to growth. Her power manifests as intense bursts of energy, lightning that strikes hard and fast leaving opponents nothing but ash. Narinder's power still pertains to death, but now his domain is Decay and Misfortune. Stubbing your toe, getting rained on, and so many worse fates. His power forms as inky blobs of wispy shadow, corrosive and consuming. Powerful in their own right, their strength only grows when they come together. When life and death meld, their ability carries the strength to change almost anything they desire, if the bickering pair can agree on it. They exist together now, united as gods for eternity.

[unintentionalseductress]

Gojo X Reader for prompt 5! But it would be funnier if Reader said that to Gojo (I wanna know his reaction)

Hello there! I know I'm a bit late. You know how the holidays get!

"Let’s pretend to be presents and get laid under the tree." warning: slight breeding kink

--------

You couldn't help yourself. You had walked into the living room only to see Satoru sitting on the floor in front of the lit up Christmas tree, his eyes gazing up at in child-like wonder. It was rare to see him so quiet and enchanted with something so conventional. You creep up behind him and kneel, pressing a swift kiss to the back of his neck.

Satoru startles, rubbing the area then breaks into a grin at the sight of you crouched on the carpet. "Well look who decided to join me." He pats the space beside him and you move next to him, nestling your head on his shoulder. He pulls you closer and kisses the top of your head. "I've always loved Christmas."

"Hmm me too."

"The tree looks a little bare though. Need to put all our gifts under it to give it that final holiday touch."

Feeling mischievous, you press your lips to Satoru's ear, purring into it. "I have an easy fix for that."

"Oh?" Catching on to the tone, Satoru's voice drops to a husky rumble. "And what might that be?"

"Let’s pretend to be presents and get laid under the tree." You boldly shoot your shot and Satoru's eyes darken at the suggestion.

"It appears Christmas brings about an unholy side of you babe," he says in a low murmur. "But I suppose...it does solve my problem."

You grin as he sinks on top of you, pinning you to the floor as his lips find yours, sealing them in a heated kiss. You cup his face in your hands, returning the kiss with enthusiasm, allowing his tongue to dip into your mouth, exploring sensually as his hands slip under your blouse. You hum in delight as he palms the mounds of flesh, tweaking the hardening peaks, and then he breaks the kiss to lick and nibble down the column of your throat.

You writhe under him as he kisses his way down your body, removing articles of clothing as he does so, halting as he reaches the apex of your legs. Satoru hikes up your skirt and sees the telling stain on your panties, pulling them down to reveal your glistening sex.

"Hmm...the first present to be opened..." he parts your folds so that your clit is visible and he delves down to suck it. Your hips arch and roll in time to his licks and sucks, moaning uninhibitedly as he pushes you to the edge.

Your orgasm causes you to cry out in delight, eyes squeezing closed under the kaleidoscope of colors from the tree as it ripples through your being. When it finally subsides, you crack open your eyes to see Satoru pushing down his sweats, his cock heavy in his hand, the tip already weeping from the slit.

"Oh fuck..." he hisses as he finds your entrance and slides in while pushing your legs apart. He hilts himself, then with a seductive thrust of his hips, sets up a rhythm that has your walls clenching around him in need.

"Maybe I'll give you a present in return?" he asks as he hovers wickedly over you as you whine and gasp underneath him. "Maybe...some of my seed? Perhaps it'll turn into a little plant in your womb?"

You moan at the image and he chuckles. "That's what I thought too."

[siaanme]

Monster Hunter Wilds feels like a game that is in conflict with itself in a lot of ways. I still love it, but there are so many little issues that bug me about it

For example, the main story stuff. The main story is something that is probably best enjoyed solo, but because MonHun is a multiplayer hit, they made it so you can technically do the story with friends. But far from seemlessly, especially if you want to progress in lockstep ‪

In older MonHun (4th gen and below), the low rank story was explicitly single player only, with a separate set of low rank quests for multiplayer. It honestly feels like Wilds would have benefited from this kind of split ‪

Then there's the concept of "you're only hunting these monsters because they're a problem and you have permission." This has been the case for all previous titles, but Wilds is more in your face about it. And that's in conflict with the fact you are going to hunt a lot of these monsters ‪

Am I expected to believe the ecosystem is capable of hosting 20 of these railgun dragons, explicitly an apex predator, but they're all such a dire threat that I have to hunt them? The story has brought this absurdity to the fore, when it was easy enough to handwave in older games ‪

Weirdly they seem to acknowledge this with the two final hunts in Low Rank, where the monsters are one-of-a-kind, and so you can't refight them. Even though past games also handwaved that and just let you refight the one-of-a-kind civilisation destroying dragon ‪

And the maps! I love these big maps, made for exploring. Shame the story doesn't want to give you a chance to do that, between the on-rails walking sections and the constant story momentum. Not to mention your Seikret's auto-tracking actively discourages you from exploring/learning the map layouts

Say what you will about the old quests where you had to gather x amount of y, but they made you actually explore to find the items. Same with not having the monster marked on the map to start with ‪

Oh and on the story momentum, the game clearly wants to be this adventure, going to new places, meeting people, getting involved, solving problems. But the pace doesn't give time for any this to feel particularly earned. The next story mission is always sitting there, in your UI, waiting. ‪

And then once things open up in High Rank, it's a breath of fresh air. Until some of those story missions lock the dynamic weather/season system away until you progress more ‪

I think that in general, the hunting part of this game is some of the best it's ever been. And all of these have been minor nitpicks overall really. But like I said, it just feels like the game is in conflict with itself

[moniquill]

Just wanted to say that I greatly admire your ability to just keep calmly reiterating your position in the face of someone who really really wishes you were holding a different one and has decided that the best way to accomplish that is to insist that you already espouse that other position. An excellent non-escalation tactic that I hope to one day be able to apply as gracefully as you are.

Yeah, I've worked with teenagers before - like, professionally. I've taken classes about this exact thing! Gonna quote myself from another post I made back in 2018 that's mostly unrelated except for this part:

I went into a career where a lot of very specific knowledge is required.

I had to learn about verbal crisis intervention and crisis co-regulation. I had to learn about helpful vs. unhelpful language:

“I can only imagine how that must feel.” or “Do you want to tell me how that feels?”

vs

“I know how you feel.”

and about being cognizant of my own emotional state and my nonverbal communication and how they effect a situation.

(What am I feeling right now? What does this person think, feel, want, or need? What am I communicating to this person? How is the environment effecting the situation? What’s the best thing for me to say? What’s the best thing for me to do?)

I had to learn about active listening, about reflective statements and summarizing content and emotions:

“I can see that you’re [overwhelming emotion, usually angry or sad but sometimes bored or frustrated] right now, and I want to help, can you tell me about it so we can figure out what to do?”

vs

“Stop doing [inappropriate behavior]!”

(extra least-helpful-thing-ever points for bullshit like ‘You know better’ or ‘We already went over this’ or ‘You’re too old for [behavior or coping skill]’ or other such boderline-to-flagrantly abusive language that I’ve seen other people say in response to maladaptive coping, including shitty and/or inexperienced staff)

I’ve had to learn about offering validation and support. I had to learn about how to talk to others to help them connect emotions with behaviors so that they can learn to be self-cognizant and learn more effective coping strategies [than harming self/others] for managing emotional crisis.

I was taught whole units on the subjects of ‘Don’t make it about you’ 'Don’t get caught in a power struggle’ 'Don’t get defensive’ 'Don’t focus too tightly on details; understand the larger situation’ 'Understand the other person’s point of view and motivations’

These are specific strategies for dealing with human beings (oneself and others), and they’re super effective.

I mean, these classes I’ve taken boil down to 'how to not be a super shitty human being’.

And none of them are taught as requisite curriculum in public schools, or even college. All of them have been entirely optional and tied to this specific career path. Math majors don’t have to take these classes.

Why is that?

How have we arrived at a place, in education, where we espouse that it will be more important to literally any human being that they be able to solve a quadratic equation than be able to analyse one’s own anxiety and manage overwhelming emotions (and help others do the same)?

One of the problems on my homework tonight was:

“The deck on this house is a triangle. The distance from the base to the apex is nine feet longer than the base is wide. If the area of the deck is 68 square feet, how wide is the base?”

(This requires me to know that the area of a triangle is ½ Base(Height) and to parse the equation as 2(68) = B(B+9), therefor B^2 + 9B – 136 = 0 oh look there’s my solvable quadratic equation)

But in the real world, if I need to know how wide the deck is, I’m going to use a tape measure. If I don’t have a tape measure, how the fuck did I work out the area of the deck or the proportions of base to height in the first place?

This is not a task that will be asked of many people in their lives, and yet proficiency in this task is required if you ever want to have a non-minimum wage job.

Meanwhile, most people will at some point in their lives be called upon to comfort someone who is experiencing an overwhelming emotion. Many people will be placed in a position of authority over children. Some will be placed in a position of authority over people who are neuroatypical, or who have experienced trauma, or who have learned maladaptive coping skills, or who for some other reason may display behavior which is not immediately comprehensible to an outside observer who doesn’t seek understanding.

We live in a world where cops and doctors were certainly required to be able to solve quadratic equations at some point to be allowed to progress in their education and credentialing, but where they probably/demonstrably weren’t taught how to deescalate a person who is emotionally flooded to the point of violence (see this post: TW for gif of police violence on a minor). Where they weren’t taught about helpful vs. unhelpful language, or what constitutes instigating and triggering.

We live in a world where empathy and emotional cognizance are electives, but higher math is required.

Why is that?

I think these kids who are frothing-at-the-mouth angry would really benefit from Conflict Co-Regulation being a mandatory part of public school curricula.

[lunarw0rks]

i forgot what i wrote in the ask that got eaten tbh but anyways more valeria thoughts because i need her

OH WAIT I REMEMBER

thoughts about valeria coming home from a long day and using you to destress but the day also wasn’t easy on you and one of her degrading comments goes a little too far, hits a little too close to home.

her being the absolute master of reading body language, catches onto the slight shift in your demeanor before you can even safe word/signal out and everything comes to a complete stop.

and like the switch between the domme/intimidating persona and the one where she genuinely cares about you is night and day. before you know it, she’s hovering over you, cupping your face in her hands and scanning you worriedly.

maybe i just need to be comforted… i think being in her arms would solve 99% of my problems tbh

-🎧

(it's egregious how long it took me to respond to this and i apologize pookie.)

﹌﹌afab!reader. dialogue would be in spanish. implied, notorious purple strap, naturally.

valeria is used to tears, whimpers, even you— clawing at her even when you don't want her to stop. she's a seasoned dom by this point, and even more so when she finds that one special partner.

though she loves you more than anything, she still uses you to distress. and we all know she's got loads of stressors, so it's more often than not you're subjected to some rough play. all in good fun. you're pampered endlessly afterward. and of course, it's pleasurable for you.

but sometimes it's just too much.

like any other hard session, you're limp below her at this point. so many rounds that you've lost count, and you can't feel your limbs. only the nerves ablaze at the apex of your thighs. the sting of her strap abusing your cunt repeatedly, past the point of pleasure. it's only seconds before you register the discomfort— and even less before valeria slows to a stop.

"shit." she curses, "i'm sorry, amor. was i too much?" kisses along your wet cheeks to pry you from your dazed state, until you give her a nod, a look, anything. it'd be dumb of her to expect you to get words out right now, and she's able to read you like a book.

even quicker, she reaches for a towel (fresh, folded, and laid out beforehand) and smooths it along your sweaty skin, her hooded eyes trained on you through it all. wipes you clean and cares extra for any bruises or marks.

absolutely no sessions for at least a while after. insists on having the chef make you something filling and made with love, all while she's getting you in some flexible clothes and clearing her calendar for the next day.

[legobiwan]

"What if Stanley somehow manages to destroy the portal just like he destroyed my perpetual motion machine?"

Holy shit, Stanford, you just spent the last few pages of your Journal outlining in horrifying detail how Bill took your body on a criminal joyride and forced you to forget your own name while pulling your bones from their very sockets in a hallucinatory nightmare void. You woke up weeping on your living room floor.

And yet, you have the absolute fucking gall to be concerned your brother, if you summon him to Gravity Falls, might destroy the Portal???? You mean the one piece of leverage you have over Bill? The main reason he's stalking you? The machine that will literally end the world if activated?

Between this, Ford refusing to burn his journals, and the fact he fully intends on continuing his work on the Portal once he's solved the Bill problem -

This is the picture of a man at the apex of both megalomania and a mental breakdown.

Could you imagine if Ford had found a way to beat back Bill and keep the Portal? Just how much would his ego have inflated even more? (Probably large enough that he wouldn't fit out the door). I feel like it's a timeline where Ford becomes the Big Bad, not because of Bill (well, a little bit because of Bill), but because he sees himself as transcending godhood and what little is left of his moral compass he casts into a black hole. ("He may be a god, but I am scientist.")

The juxtaposition between this and Stan's sacrifice during Weirdmageddon is insane. Ford, who steadfastly refused to give up his life's work to save world and Stan, who gave up everything he was to save the world. There's got to be a part of Stan that reads these pages and wonders just who his brother is, when he turned unto a supervillain, and if it would ever happen again. Stan may not want to acknowledge it, but deep down, I think he's legitimately pissed at Ford for being such narcissistic bonehead. I think it is something that haunts him in the odd hours of the night, his brother sleeping soundly in the bunk next to him on the Stan O'War II while Stan ponders if he's sharing quarters with Lex Luthor. You could have ended it, Poindexter. You could have ended so long ago.

The past is the past and as his mother would say, you can't unshit a turd. (Something Stan has more experience with than he'd like, regret trailing him his whole life like a vengeful shadow). Ford is here now, they're alive, the bastard triangle is gone. But God, does he want to sit his brother down, tie him to a chair, and scream at him, to shake him and demand to know just what hell he had been thinking, why he had allowed himself to become this kind of...this kind of monster.

Stan will never, ever do this. He has his brother, has his awkward affection, has almost everything he's ever wanted. The answers are not worth it. (In Stan's experience, the answers are almost never worth it.)

And as for Ford? Somewhere in his subconscious, a shrill, too-familiar voice likes to remind him of who he is and what he can still become. The same grating voice that tells him they're not so different, after all, that there's still time, there's always time to fix the past, to create the future. You're a scientist, after all. You're more than a god.

That's the voice Ford papers over with contrition, with guilt and self-abnegation and a near-manic dedication to the small boat bobbing along in the Arctic, not even holding a speck of relevance compared to the vast and might ocean, forget to the multiverse at large. That's the voice Ford drinks away in secret on the worst nights, the one that tells him a stone statue in the forest is as much him as it is the monster whose shape it embodies.

[sublimati0ns]

TFP crack pairing that will not leave my brain:

Starscream and Optimus Prime.

Like, I feel like Optimus could be good for Starscream? Assuming Starscream could stop backstabbing and lying to everyone for literally two seconds and actually made an effort to change, y'know?

Idk, thoughts?

-🍁

While watching TFP, I thought this pairing was plausible in Season 1!! I liked how Optimus vouched for Starscream in s01e20 “Partners,” and seemed genuinely disappointed in Arcee for letting her emotions get the best of her, causing Starscream to go rogue. Their interaction at the beginning of Season 2 was also cute, when Optimus had reverted to his Orion Pax state///

But beyond that, I think there would have to be heavy canon divergence for it to work out, ICly (IMO!) 🤔 After Optimus regains his memories in S2, he becomes colder and more jaded. When he meets Starscream in s02e13 “Triangulation,” he no longer gives him the benefit of the doubt, holding him at gunpoint and refusing to remove his restraints. He could have tried to recruit SS and teamed up against Dreadwing with him, but instead he decides to team up with Dreadwing to defeat the Apex Armour’ed Starscream 😭💔

They don’t have many moments together in general, so by the end of the series, I felt there wasn’t enough chemistry between them to substantiate a post-canon ship (even if they both lived at the end of Rising). I like ‘missing scenes’ or pre-canon exploration as well, but my main focus tends to be post-canon so as not to contradict or reframe the story’s on-screen events (just my personal preference).

But in divergent AUs of S1 or S2, I would have loved to see Starscream and Optimus work as allies and maybe become friends, at least! Maybe in another world, Starscream doesn’t get caught by the vehicons in s02e02—he reveals the truth to Orion, helps him escape, and then joins the Autobots (partially to spite Megatron and partially because it seems like a good strategic plan).

I think—at least in TFP specifically—I can only imagine them having a platonic relationship, though… They don’t seem to be each other’s types to me (Optimus seems like he’ll forever be hung up on Megatron, and Starscream… also hung up on Megatron in a different way, but he has Knock Out and Shockwave and Smokescreen in his orbit to be weird with instead 😂).

I personally prefer a “redeemed” Starscream to not deviate much from his original on-screen personality—perhaps he learns he can gain people’s respect in ways other than via fear and violence, stops taking his stress out on everyone around him, and stops jumping the gun when it comes to “they can’t fuck me over if I fuck them over first!”… but he’s still cynical, cutthroat, and ambitious. He’s still the kind of guy who believes murder is always a viable problem-solving option. He’s still going to believe that the Autobots’ “peace and love and everyone is equal and everyone gets a say” rhetoric is stupid and unsustainable… He’s just not going to try to bring it down like he did before.

So with that in mind, I feel like he’d often be at odds with Optimus, and often find Optimus’s pressure to be the bigger mech and give everyone grace to be stifling 🤔 Maybe if Optimus had a bit of a corruption arc inversely proportionate to Starscream’s redemption? … Wait, would that just result in IDW Prowl. Or IDW StarBee? Hmmm.

All this said, no judgement for OpStar fans, these are just my personal thoughts on their TFP iterations specifically! ♥️I might end up shipping them in other continuities too, once I see them interact more :D

[dchan87]

A year ago today, Hamas butchered 1,200 Israelis, triggering a war in Gaza and another one across Western institutions, campuses, and social media. At American Dreaming, we’ve extensively covered the discourse post-10/7, from the depraved joy the “decolonize” left felt at news of Jews being slaughtered, to the obscene double standards imposed on Israel, to the explosion of full-blown leftist anti-Semitism. We’ve published articles about the young progressives who hate Biden and love bin Laden, the disturbing redefinition of “genocide”, and the absolutely unhinged Western pro-Palistinian activist movement. And after a year of discourse, one thing has been made crystal clear: the political left has an anti-Semitism problem. Everywhere I looked, over these past 12 months, far-left protestors not only tolerated but actively propagated centuries-old anti-Semitism, including celebrating the October 7th massacre and even praising Hitler. It was equal parts disgusting and confusing. How could a movement that, in theory, is supposed to oppose bigotry and racism have so openly embraced it? How did we end up with left-wingers attacking synagogues, creating lists of Zionists, canceling events with “Zionist” participants, defacing Anne Frank memorials, and protesting Israel outside of Auschwitz? How could only half of young adults, by far the most left-leaning age group, disagree with the statement “The Holocaust is a myth”? How did we get to a place where good progressives openly display swastikas, tell Jews to go back to Europe, express the desire to gas them, and perform Hitler salutes? The rhetoric was much the same as it had been for centuries: that Jews are violent, bloodthirsty, imposters — not even Semitic, but a bunch of Europeans playing pretend. Demonstrators held signs with a Star of David in a trash can next to the words “Keep the world clean.” Classic anti-Semitic tropes like the blood libel resurfaced. All of this happened within far-left movements, who now sound eerily like the far right. It’s no wonder that far rightists blend right in at pro-Palestine protests. But why? Integral to the left’s worldview, elaborate theory aside, is solidarity with the underprivileged, be it the poor, ethnic minorities, LGBT people, etc. Logically, the left should be sympathetic to the Jewish people, given their long history of persecution. At a glance, there should be no reason for the hard left to behave functionally the same as neo-Nazis. And yet they do. 

Sadly, anti-Semitism, as one of humanity's oldest hatreds, has never been confined to any one ideology. To understand the history of left-wing anti-Semitism, we must first look back to before the concept of the political “left” even existed.

An Extremely Brief History of Anti-Semitism

In 132 CE, during the apex of Roman imperial power, the Bar Kokhba revolt broke out in the troublesome Roman-controlled province of Judea. Emperor Hadrian solved it with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. In an outright genocidal war, he utterly crushed Jewish resistance, slaughtering large numbers of Jewish civilians and devastating many towns and villages. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE tends to be more remembered by Jews themselves as the beginning of the diaspora, but the events of 135 were when the Jews truly lost their homeland. Although a small population remained, most fled throughout the Middle East or Europe. 

Hadrian’s actions were not anti-Semitic per se — Rome was just as brutal to any rebellious subject — but it set the Jews up as a people without a land, a people with nowhere to go whose religion and customs made them visibly other. With the rise of Christianity, the relative religious tolerance typical to polytheistic societies faded away, and the Jews faced constant oppression, at best living as second-class citizens. Of course, Christians have a long history of treating their fellow devotees with murderous contempt if they happen to be the wrong kind of Christian. The massacres of the First Crusade that included Christians as well as Muslims and Jews, the expulsion of Protestants from France, the bloody Anglo-Irish conflict, the Anglican church's persecution of Puritans, and so on. Now imagine what it would mean to openly belong to another faith, one deemed heretical by the Church, the supreme arbiter of morality.

Jews were widely barred from “honest” work — leaving niches in fields considered less savory, like money lending, clerking, pawnbroking, and lawyering. Making the most of the niche they had been forced into by these discriminatory laws — although far from all Jews did such work — led in turn to the stereotype of Jews as greedy, bloodsucking parasites who hated and exploited honest Christians, which, of course, led to even more persecution. Jewish populations were expelled from countries multiple times, or faced savage butchery. There were the brutal Rhineland Massacres of the First Crusade in 1096 CE that saw 800 Jews killed, and expulsion from England in 1290, from France in 1306, and from Spain in 1492. It was a vicious cycle of violent intolerance. 

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

In the late 1700s, the birth of European liberalism changed everything. The French Revolution and Napoleon both offered a greater level of religious tolerance toward Jews, making new inroads toward coexistence. After Napoleon’s downfall, despite a rightward reaction, Europe slowly began to liberalize, incorporate Enlightenment values, and move toward democracy. By and large, Jewish people naturally drifted leftward — the monarchist right wing of the 1800s was no friend to them. When socialism made strides decades later, Jews were an influential part of the movement, such as the Bund, a socialist Jewish party in Russia. 

At the same time, many Jews were understandably fed up with the still-rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, and started to dream of returning to their ancestral homeland, and so began the seeds of modern Israel. 

So far, Jews seemed like natural allies to the left, as an oppressed, marginalized underdog if ever there was one. But anti-Semitism is a powerful, deeply rooted force. Vladimir Lenin forcibly dissolved the Bund in 1921, and all those who did not join the Communist Party were forced to flee abroad or face persecution. It only got worse under Stalin, who systematically eradicated Jewish influence wherever he could find it. His Doctors Plot, in which Stalin invented false charges of treason and espionage toward nine doctors, seven of them Jewish, resembled nothing so much as a classic anti-Semitic purge. Indeed, between 1939 and 1941, the Soviet secret police deported tens of thousands of Jews to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Despite Marxism’s pretensions to antiracism, Soviet anti-Semitism, from Party leadership down to the common comrade, was pervasive, and often intertwined “anti-Zionism” with negative stereotypes about Jews.

It was not until after the Holocaust had been exposed to the world that anti-Semitism finally began to become unfashionable, as humanity took a cold, hard look at the logical conclusion to such hatred. But anti-Semitism did not disappear from either end of the political spectrum.

In the 1960s, James Baldwin explained the pronounced anti-Semitism among the black community in the US, which he tied to attitudes of anti-whiteness and an oppressor/oppressed mindset. In the 1970s, influenced by Soviet propaganda, which relentlessly demonized Zionism and Jews, the Australian Union of Students, dominated by young Trostkyites and Maoists, began following suit on Australian university campuses. When Jewish groups protested, they were physically assaulted.

The ferocious “anti-Zionism” of the Western “New Left” was widely seen as a cover for Jew hatred. In Germany, far-left groups in the 1960s and 70s celebrated the deaths of Israeli civilians in terrorist attacks, engaged in anti-Semitic violence, and schemed to bomb a synagogue. In the famous 1976 Entebbe Raid — in which pro-Palestine terrorists hijacked an Air France plane at gunpoint, then released the non-Jewish and non-Israeli passengers to hold the Israelis and Jews hostage — two of the hijackers were German leftists.

Today’s left ought to be unburdened by such bigotries, at least in theory. Unlike their forebears from previous eras, they did not grow up in a social environment where racism was normal and casual prejudice ubiquitous. The average modern far-leftist is highly educated, affluent, and conscious of systemic biases. They ought to know better. So why don’t they?

Like any complex phenomenon, it has no single explanation. Unlike the far right, which has anti-Semitism encoded into its ideological genetics, leftism is not inherently anti-Semitic. But in true horseshoe fashion, they nevertheless end up in the same place.

The Horseshoe of Anti-Semitism

First, the political far left shares an uncomfortable number of basic assumptions about reality with the far right. Both believe that:

A class of moneyed elites control the government, and democracy is a sham maintained by these vaguely defined, malicious elites.

Proper far-left or far-right beliefs (depending) would naturally take root in society if not for an aggressive campaign of materialist propaganda pushed by these shady elites to distract the masses from realizing their true destiny.

Their cause is one that is so vital and so obviously true that any approach to further it is legitimate, whether that means lying, propagandizing, or committing violence.

The liberal West is evil, degenerate, cruel, and exploitative, and must be crushed at all cost to realize this vision.

This antisocial, conspiratorial worldview is inherent to the far left, to a greater or lesser degree. Name a popular myth about how the West is evil, and a leftist will believe it — whether it’s that the US invaded Iraq to steal oil, or that all Western economies are built purely on the exploitation of developing countries, or that our media and government is controlled by sinister three-letter organizations. Such a mindset is incredibly vulnerable to conspiracy theory — and all conspiracy theories ultimately come back to anti-Semitism. 

If you believe the government is controlled by moneyed elites and that the evil force of Zionism has its claws deep in the US government, then the leftist is already 90 percent of the way to being in full agreement with the Nazi. This is how we get university lecturers saying, “Zionists are straight Babylon swine [...] Zionism is beyond a mental illness; it’s a genocidal disease.” It’s how we get progressive screenwriters complaining that “the entertainment industry is ran [sic] by Zionists.” It’s how you get left-wing musicians like Eric Clapton saying, “Israel's running the show, running the world.”

Israel-Palestine is a Uniquely Sore Issue

Second, Israel-Palestine is singularly inflammatory. It takes every problematic tendency the far left already has — shallow performativity, radicalism, narcissism, subordinating truth to ideology, and viciousness toward perceived opponents — and dials it up to eleven. Palestine offers the leftist a classic oppressor-oppressed binary, one that fits the Marxist image of the world perfectly: a cruel, settler-colonialist nation, brutally oppressing a native population, neatly including a white-vs-brown layer of oppression. It also offers a religious layer, where Israel is painted as both a theocracy and a fascistic ethnostate no different from Nazi Germany.

Of course, there are many facts that one must ignore to believe these things. One must ignore that Israel began with legal land purchases, and that among both Israelis and Palestinians you can find people passing for white as well as people who would not. One must ignore that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and that 48 percent of Israel is of Mizrahi (meaning Middle Eastern) origin. One must ignore that Israel is a democracy with Arabs in its parliament, and that the Palestinians harbor many deeply regressive, misogynist, and homophobic values out of touch with modern progressivism.

The Left is Just Too Successful, But Still Needs a Revolution

Third, modern leftism is no longer the struggling worker’s movement it began as. In the early 1900s, the left struggled with real, material problems, such as genuinely unfair wages and labor power imbalances in which employers held all the cards. Protesting for better pay, fewer hours, and more benefits and vacation were real, concrete improvements to fight for. But with these and other battles won — with an eight-hour workday and five-day workweek, with vacation and sick days taken for granted, with LGBT acceptance and racial equality both legally enshrined and culturally mainstream, the modern left had to pivot. Their crusades became less about tangible change in the face of injustice, and more about an opportunity to display righteousness by advancing an incredibly shallow worldview divided between the morally pure and the wicked, with no in-betweens. The ethos of no bad tactics, only bad targets thereby became bad tactics and bad targets.

Jews Just Aren’t Oppressed Enough

Finally, the far left is captured by a narrative in which the underprivileged are the center of attention. There is a foundational leftist belief that the world right now is not only terrible, but actively getting worse due to capitalist exploitation. In this understanding of the world, everything is defined by class struggle between the wealthy, parasitic capitalists, and their victims, the workers, whose labor is exploited for pennies, deliberately keeping the lower classes down. 

When taken to its logical end, we are left with a movement that resents success. So where do Jews fit into this? Well, from this grievance-focused, eternally victimized perspective, the Jewish people are just a bit too white, a bit too financially successful, and a bit too well-integrated to be seen as truly oppressed. Rather they are seen as oppressors. Just as Asians are now “helping white supremacy” because they’re more financially successful than other groups on average, Jews are just not persecuted enough. The far left resents success, and the Jews have shown extraordinary perseverance in their achievements. Indeed, the archetypal Jewish businessman, lawyer, or doctor fits perfectly into the petit-bourgeoisie stereotype the far left so intensely loathes.

What’s left is a movement deeply committed to performative role-playing while eschewing achievable goals, pragmatism, and principles. It’s a dreadful state of affairs. There ought to be room for a left-of-center movement to express a sane pro-Palestinian worldview, but it’s been hijacked by radicals who are as ignorant as they are venomous. Any healthy, open society requires a variety of perspectives represented, but they need to be rooted in reality — not collective guilt, group resentment, and unhinged conspiracism punctuated with Hitler salutes.

In the span of one year, the anti-Zionist far left has done serious and lasting damage to themselves. If they are to avoid becoming simply an inverted variant of neo-Nazism, utterly fringe and dismissed, they must reckon with and expel their radicals, not celebrate them. Is protesting Israel worth trafficking in old anti-Semitic tropes? Is it worth lowering yourself to the level of a fascist? Is it worth an entire political movement with over two hundred years of history? Because if things continue as they are, the left will be left behind, with all sane and decent people having shied away in disgust. Perhaps that’s one faint silver lining of this past year, that the radical left have lunged toward their far-right counterparts on the great trash heap of history. It’s where they belong.

[kirain]

Bg3 companions as animals?

This was an interesting concept!

Shadowheart: The wolf. A fearless hunter stalking her prey, seeing through the dark, and protecting her own. Sometimes lonesome, but fully devoted to her pack. Don't be fooled by her fangs—she'll use them, but she has a softer side. One of kindness and compassion. Her trust just needs to be earned.

Lae'zel: The cheetah. Strong, fast, and independent. She's an apex predator with a superior sense of smell and direction, and she will kill anything that gets in her way. But deep down, she's not as aggressive as she looks. She's curious, cuddly, playful, and far more tolerant than people give her credit for.

Karlach: The llama. Vivacious, joyful, and larger than life. She lives for fun and adventure, meeting every day with a smile. She loves to eat, frolic, and socialise, though she can be a bit stubborn at times. And don't mistake her gentle personality for weakness. She'll defend her pack to the death, and she's tougher than anyone could possibly imagine.

Wyll: The stallion. Noble, loyal, and carefree. He's a leader, always looking out for his own. His instincts tell him to run, but he always runs in the right direction, bucking and kicking at anyone who dares to threaten the safety of his herd. No matter how hard life gets, his spirit cannot be broken.

Gale: The raven. Insightful and intelligent, with a strong connection to the mystical. Quick to solve problems and guide the lost, though many wrongfully see him as a bad omen. If shown love and respect, he will return it tenfold, performing great feats for his friends and mating for life.

Astarion: The white-winged vampire bat. A solitary and slightly vain creature who lives off of blood. Mired in superstition, people fear him, but he's not nearly as sinister as the legends suggest. For the most part, he's harmless, generous, composed, and he can indeed bond with a small group of which he will become extremely protective.

[greenleaf4stuff]

It’s New Year’s Eve in Middle Earth and midnight approaches.

Who is grabbing whom for a smooch? How does it go down?

If you can give three pairings that’s great, no limit though 😉 repeats are fine too.

Hi and thank you so much @gauntletgirlie for sending me this lovely ask game! It is truly the time of giving (smooches) <3 Again, lots of fun to think up some kissing scenarios for this one! I'll put them behind the cut again, and as the prompt implies, there be kissing ahead! All of these are Adar-related btw :) (I wrote these down in like an hour) (also each ask game the answers are getting longer oops)

The pairings:

Adar/Celebrimbor/Elrond

Adar/Celebrimbor (established, modern!AU)

Adar/Elrond (canon!AU)

...

...

Adar/Celebrimbor/Elrond

Elrond glanced between the older elf and the uruk, a look of indecision on his face. "Um-"

There wasn't a way to kiss both of them at the same time, was there? Not without crushing their noses and possibly knocking their teeth against each other, at least. But who should he kiss? He couldn't deny either of them. He just couldn't!

They might both be different in character, temperament, appearance, but he liked them equally. He'd just told them as much recently, for Eru's sake! He couldn't choose one over the other now! Not for something important as this!

He heard counting in the background, a countdown not into the New Year but to his own doom, or so it felt.

In a panic, he did the only thing he thought he could do-

And grabbed the back of both their heads in each of his hands, and gently but insistently moved their faces together until they kissed (with a look of surprise on their faces, but even so-).

'There! Problem solved!' he thought, adrenaline briefly surging and then falling in relief. (He knew they wanted each other too. They'd discussed this. The only thing they hadn't discussed was that blasted New Year's kiss.)

"Oh no, wait- my bad-," he suddenly heard behind himself. It was Círdan. "I miscalculated it seems! It's actually still one minute to midnight. Well, that gives us the chance to count once more, doesn't it?"

Elrond felt himself blanch slightly as Adar and Celebrimbor turned towards him, eyebrows raised. "What was that?" Adar asked. It didn't sound accusing, but oddly curious. A bit amused.

"Erm-"

"I suppose he thought this was a clever solution. Have us kiss so he wouldn't have to choose one of us over the other," Celebrimbor deduced and Elrond silently cursed himself because his friend knew him too well to not have figured it out. Again.

"Oh, is that so?" Adar asked, and he sounded just as amused as Celebrimbor had. "Well too 'bad' that we get a second chance then."

Elrond blinked at them in surprise and question, and only realised what was going on when he felt two hands at the back of his head just as the countdown neared "3...2...1" again.

...it was, indeed, a mess of noses knocking together and teeth clicking and even a bit of spit getting smeared, between the three of them. Messy, uncoordinated, but somehow - it still worked out.

Elrond moaned in delight, smiled into the kiss, and let the other two pull him closer into an embrace.

Adar/Celebrimbor (established, modern!AU)

The party had nearly reached it's apex, which meant Adar was close to having reached his maximum amount of social interactions for the night and was beginning to eagerly await going home with his fiancé.

As it stood, he couldn't find Celebrimbor amidst the crowd of people as he scanned it, making him frown. Galadriel must have seen the way he wandered around searching for the smith, because she caught his eye and motioned towards the kitchen with her glass of champagne, a small smile on her face.

Adar followed her pointing, and indeed, he could hear puttering and the sound of dishes getting cleaned coming from there - in combination with some truly awful music from the radio. He exchanged a mildly exasperated glance with the blonde elf, before he thanked her with a nod and walked into the kitchen.

Celebrimbor stood at the sink, garishly golden rubber gloves on his hands - where did Gil-Galad even *find* those things!? - as he hummed along to some corny pop music while he scrubbed at a plate from their dinner earlier.

Adar shook his head, but his expression was one of fondness. He turned down the radio to announce himself and stepped up behind the elf, wrapping his arms around the other's waist, head coming to rest on his fiancé's shoulder in an easy display of intimacy.

"Why am I not surprised to find you here?" he murmured, and pressed a kiss to Celebrimbor's cheek. The smith smiled as turned over his shoulder to look at the uruk. "You know you don't have to clean those dishes now, do you?"

"Hm," Celebrimbor replied, and leant back into the embrace. "I needed a bit of time away from the noise I suppose. Thought nobody would begrudge me that if I did something useful."

"Clever," Adar admired him, and his smile turned soft. "Remarkably selfless, too."

"Well, I suppose you'd know about all that as well, wouldn't you?" They stared at each other lovingly. They were so enarmoed with one another, they almost missed it when loud, shouted counting began in the living room.

"10...9...8..."

They didn't have to ask. Aside from a moment of surprise, nothing much changed. They remained as they were.

"7...6...5.."

Their noses brushed, eyes half-lidded. Neither had seen the other look so soft before. "A good way to end the year, don't you think?" Celebrimbor murmured.

"4...3...2..."

"Couldn't imagine a better one," Adar answered, and smiled as a leant forward.

"1...0!"

They kissed. Celebrimbor still had his hands in the soapy water of the sink as they stood in the kitchen amidst dirty dishes and empty cups, god-awful music quietly playing in the background. The position of the embrace would give the smith a slightly sore neck later, but-

Neither of them cared for the moment. This, right here - was perfect.

Adar/Elrond (canon!AU)

New Year's was a surprisingly official and festive affair in Lindon, Adar had quickly learned. He and his children had rarely celebrated the turning of the year before, but their treaty with the elves was beginning to influence their traditions.

Unlike the elves with their harps and flutes and harmonious singing, their festive modes of dress and expertly prepared feasts, the uruk had taken a much more grounded approach to the festivities.

Adar could hear them belt out yet another battle song, and judging by the barrels that got rolled towards the improvised 'tavern', the drink was flowing freely as well. Everywhere he went, he saw celebrations of the peace, open fires that cooked delicious-smelling stews and roasted meat, groups of uruk gathered together.

He himself would let his children enjoy the time of levity - but he found himself too tired to join in. The noise, how they all wanted to draw him to their sides so he might join them in song and drink, it was - just too much. As much as he loved them.

He paused in surprise when he finally arrived at his own tent and found he had a visitor.

"What brings you here?" He asked, surprised to find Elrond at the entrance. He hoped the other knew the visit was not an unwelcome one - the two of them had danced around one another for weeks now. Adar had hoped to see the other again, but had expected the peredhel to spend this time with his family and friends in Lindon.

Elrond smiled and offered a greeting. "My friend. It is good to see you," he paused. Adar noticed the other was breathing heavily and had a flushed face, as if he'd hurried to get here. "I- there is something important I wished to do. I feared I might have been too late."

Adar immediately raised his eyebrows and focused on the herald in concern. "Is something the matter?"

The other waved him off, but gently so. "No, no- nothing that should alarm you. Just something that was important to me, is all-"

Adar wanted to ask another question, but the uruk in the wider vicinity around them erupted into loud counting - it seemed the turning of the year was almost complete.

The leader of the uruk startled slightly when he felt gentle, wind-chilled hands on his face, and turned towards the herald only to find the other looking at him with hopeful eyes.

With a start, he understood. "May I kiss you?" How brave this one was, to hurry over here and place all his hopes on a kiss.

"I'd like nothing more," the uruk breathed back, and framed Elrond's face with his own hands, mindful of the gauntlet, before he pulled the other closer.

Elrond was smiling into the kiss, Adar could tell. His face felt chilled too, and Adar thought that he would like nothing more than to take the herald inside and wrap him into warg furs before offering him a warm drink and some food.

But that could wait. For now, there was only the press of soft lips on his own, hands that held him gently as if he was precious, and something blooming in his own chest as the countdown ran down to midnight.

[kshert]

Well, I finished the reference for RT. Tessera von Valancius Homeworld: Hive World Origin: Crime Lord Triumph: Apex of Brilliance Darkest Hour: Shadow of Torment Archetypes: Operative? Below are some details in the form of explanatory text.

So. Scars and Original. The scar on her nose is from her childhood, but she will never tell you how she got it and she will never let anyone remove it. Never.

A prosthetic leg after her triumph. An extravagance to emphasize her status as a leader.

Most of the scars are from the torture of the Inquisition . She attracted too much attention to herself with her cold trade and heretical artefacts. As a leader, she went by the name Scarlett and preferred the color red in her clothes. She mostly sat on the planet and ruled from the shadows.

Act 1. When she arrived, she had to put on something more comfortable and suitable for hiking and fighting.

Act 2. After Kiava Gamma. A burn on the hand from hot metal, a dented prosthesis is the work of the claws of forgefiend.

Magnae Accessio. First time using dynastic colors, but she would wear a red dress. Drunk on power. In her element. Act 3. Commorragh. A sharp fall. A new meat leg instead of a prosthetic "gift" from the Maestro of Flesh. The leg will not grow back in the end, fortunately.

Act 4-5. Again dynastic colors, but this time voluntarily. Somewhere here comes the realization that it is worth wearing normal armor. And dress warmly, and then curse everything on Quetza Temer

Post game. Gets used to his role as an avptv and leader of the dynasty. Now clothes only in dynastic colors. (But red eyeliner is sacred) Sits a lot on Dargonus solving problems.

Post game after +200 years. Old age is not a joy. Almost never gets into battles. Drinks Amasec, old injuries make themselves felt.

If there are any mistakes here, I'm sorry, forgive me, I write badly

[merpmonde]

Sangaku Sunday #7

We're back with a new problem from Miminashi-yamaguchi-jinja! This is going to be more ambitious than the first one, though it won't be much harder from a geometry standpoint - the main tool will still be Pythagoras's theorem. But we really need to set the stage for this one.

Consider an isosceles triangle, with two circles whose diameters are on the height from the apex, tangent to each other, and so that the top circle passes through the apex and the bottom circle is tangent to the base. We seek to draw one more circle on either side, which is tangent to the first two, and tangent to two sides of the triangle.

Details and first questions below the cut.

The triangle is given: it is an isosceles triangle SNN'. For the sake of simplicity, let's shrink or blow up the figure so that the height SO is equal to 1 (for a configuration with height h, we will just need to multiply all the lengths by h). The length of the base NN' is therefore the fixed parameter of the problem, and, as the figure is symmetric with respect to SO, we only need to set the length ON as our parameter: set ON = b. Hence, we are working in the right triangle SON.

The problem involves finding the three circles that fit the configuration in SON. Let these circles have respective centres A, B and C, and respective radii p, q and r. The radii are the unknowns of our problem, and we need to find three independent relations between them to solve. From the sketch, it looks like there should be only one solution.

The first relation is obvious: 2*(p+q) = 1, as the diameters of the first two circles form the height SO. This is also very easy to solve: if we have p, then q = 1/2 - p.

A second relation must start to involve r. For this, project the centre of the third circle onto SO and ON, calling these projections P and Q respectively. Now we get to two questions for you to munch on.

1: Prove that

2: Get the lengths AC and PA. Deduce another expression for PC, and prove that

With that, we just need another equation to find p, and we'll be done.

[etchif]

Been thinking about Spinosaurus a lot lately

Wanted to put all of this in the tags but apparently there's a tag limit so screw it it's going on the main post

Which is really all you need in terms of swimming prowess when the most you're using it for is getting from shore A to shore B. Herons don't need aquatic adaptations for this, they can just fly.

Moreover its snout is also pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a semi-aquatic ambush predator. The nostrils are moved quite far up on the skull, additionally it seemed to have posessed pressure sensors at the tip of the snout. It likely hunted by submerging its snout partially in water, so far as to not yet reach the nostrils, sensing nearby prey via its sensors and snapping

If this is true it explains how Spinosaurus and Stomatosuchus were able to coexist without constantly getting into eachother's way. One ambushed but likely did not or rarely pursued prey in shallow waters, the other actively pursued prey in deeper waters. Meanwhile Carcharodontosaurus was off on land filling the niche of terrestrial apex predator.

Obviously as we all know there are many many many things about spinosaurus that are still unclear and up for debate but overall, like I said at the start of my ramblings, I think its history is a great example of how science, when done correctly, is always conclusive. Problems arose, solutions were proposed, New discoveries were made, past problems were solved, new problems arose etc. But in the end old problems are always solved and everything fits together perfectly

[brandwhorestarscream]

Whenever I see posts saying that Miko can destroy Megatron with the Apex Armor or a giant weapon, or say that Miko is a badass for threatening Megatron, or that Miko would've used the giant drill on Megatron (if she was in Jack's place)... I wanna facepalm myself into oblivion!

Miko couldn't defeat Soundwave or Predaking, she could only beat Starscream, because Starscream is always treated like a joke by the show. (Which I don't agree with.)... Also, Reatchet thought that he could beat Megatron with synthetic energon, but Ratchet got beaten into the ground; if Apex Armor Miko tried to battle Megatron, she'd wouldn't stand a chance...

Miko only threatened Megatron, because she was surrounded by Autobots to protect her abd she probably wouldn't be brave enough to threaten him, if she was all alone... and if she was alone, he would've literally crushed her...

I don't think the drill would've actually worked on Megatron, because if it did Megatron wouldn't be taunting Jack... Megatron probably would've easily escaped or eaten the drill... and even if it did work and Miko chooses to attack, she wouldn't have been able to save Bulkhead in time from Starscream (like Jack did)...

Miko isn't a badass girl, she's an idiot with too much luck.

She's so dumb that she makes the other characters dumber.

The reason Miko knows about the Transformers is because Arcee transformed in PUBLIC + DAYLIGHT. The reason Miko keeps escaping into battles (which keeps getting someone almost killed), is because everyone keeps forgetting to keep an eye on her. If the Autobots built a brick wall by the portal entrance (too tall for Miko, but easy for them to step over), then all their problems would be solved! XD

Yeah tbh I would rescind every single one of my criticisms if she did challenge Megatron to a fight and then got immediately pancaked. Like. Could you imagine? Would've made the whole show god-tier. Megatron is supposed to be terrifying, yet we never get to see him spill human blood. Fucking cowards. Let Megatron kill someone. Let Megatron kill the autobots' human pets. Please itd be so funny