#go on and say it

[fiestylittlebeetle]

I have musings about how Malware's recovery goes in GC but it's got allot of complex feelings and concepts involved, and although i think the sheer dumbassery of canon would allow it on some level, I know some people might look at this and be like "bro you're literally stupid"

like everything I'm writing for this comes with a asterix that leads to a foot note that says "malware is not forgiven"

more under the cut for your judgement

god how to put this

Ben does not forgive malware for hurting him, or doing anything he did. In fact he doesn't really like malware at all. but as an adult and fighting him in a weakened form. fighting him him felt unfulfilling and kind of pathetic.

he kinda felt like he just beat up someone who could barely defend himself because they dont like eachother. it kinda made him feel like a jerk even if he hates malware

like in AF he straight up took satisfaction in Vilgax needing to ask him for help and even got him a petty little kids meal. so ben is not above helping his enemy even if he acts petty about it

I dont think ben really hates anyone that deeply that he would look at them suffering and go "you should suffer more" thats just not who he is

GC Malware's comeback is messy, and he's not really completely the same malware that Ben took down by force before because he's weak and exhausted and angry but the anger he has is like, trying to use a pilot light to boil a pot of water

After their initial fight Ben does toss Malware in the plumbers holding cells for a while. and Malware does maybe consider trying to escape, but read above as to why he doesn't bother. he just lays in their and hopes either something happens allowing him to get out, or he passes out and doesn't have to think about it.

Ben comes back for him after the last post i made about him meeting Malware 23, and considers "What if I help him this time. Azmuth isn't going to do it, and I couldn't do anything when I was 10 or 17. But maybe I could do something for him now" and he's had a good long think about it. what could Help Malware.

and ya'll are gonna treat me like im insane here but, hear me out

he hasn't told his mom about the Feedback incident, or really brought up Malware at all, so she doesn't know shit. and what Malware lacks is people who care about him, but especially familial people who care about him.

so he's plan is to see if his parents will let him let malware crash their. the stipulation for malware being if he does ANYTHING to his parents, ANYTHING sinister, Ben will rain hell down upon him like he's never known before.

Malware considers this and maybe even asks why ben is doing this

bens response can be summarized "cause im a better person then you, and even after it all, even after you HURT ME, I'm going to help you, and you're going to feel better, and you're going to feel guilty about it even when life gets better, and that seems like a reasonable punishment"

Malware doesn't really have much of choice here btw. He is being forced into this situation weather or not he likes it. and you may go "well you cant FORCE someone to recover" and you're right

but malware isn't gonna put up much of a fight cause he knows his limits (right now)

Sandra is open to the idea of letting malware stay in their guest room for a while, Carl is dubious but agrees cause he sees his son doing something kind. Malware is disgruntled, awkward, and uncomfortable (also Ben lies through his teeth about malware being a "friend" to his parents. like actually through actual clenched teeth)

for a while Malware stays holed up in the room, mostly sleeping or considering his deflated anger.

Sandra tries (and succeeds at some point) to get him to come out and be social. Her and Carl maybe even learn a little about him too, mostly just a vague idea of him being abandoned, and not liking other people very much.

i havn't gotten much further into the details, but I think Sandra would at least be the one who, after interacting with Malware a couple times, realizes he's very depressing. And it makes her sad that he seems so allergic to connecting with people. to her, as a mother, he comes off as a kid who hasn't been shown enough love and attention, and she is actually kinda correct.

details aside i had this idea of Sandra and Carl coming back to the house after being out for a day and finding Malware collapsed (a spontaneous system shut down)

and they roll him over so he's flat on his back, and Sandra has his head in her lap petting him while Carl is on the phone with the plumbers trying to see what kind of help he should get (they're being difficult and Carl already dislikes them so hes having a bad time TM)

anyway Mal eventually starts coming to and upon opening his optic and seeing sandra, and she's like "Oh you're awake!" and realizing what's happening he immediately sits up, almost knocking sandra back, telling her not to touch him, and feeling humiliated.

He's humiliated, but he's also feeling something, anger? no something else, satisfaction? no no something ELSE

ah yes

appreciation

And before someone asks "couldn't he just run away when no one's there" the answer is yes BUT he has no where else to go and he's not really in any condition to be defending himself against other people/aliens who will most likely have powers or weapons to use against him. Sticking around is the best bet rn

Now, you could bring up Khyber here but at this point Khyber had already been tried (basically Khyber was the first person malware found when he woke up. But remember that fight with Mal and Ben I mentioned? Khyber was also there but realized Mal kinda sucks and is useless now and so ditches him to save his own ass. Don't worry. Khyber will be back later when he's got more resources. But it's cause he knows malware is weak, and also one of a kind rare Mechamorph that's perfect for his trophie shelf.)

[aromantic-goldfishdeactivated202]

I find it so funny, in light of TikTok’s imminent American demise, that even now they aren’t considering moving to tumblr. The last two social media refugee crises (Twitter -> X and whatever happened with Reddit) prompted a wave of wide-eyed new baffled tumblr users to flood this app and yet last I heard all of the tiktokers are flooding en-masse a Chinese social media app. That is entirely in Mandarin. Instead of moving to tumblr.

[fluent-in-lesbianism]

I took a 6yo boy to his placement and as soon as I got him situated in the back he saw my SpongeBob driver’s license air freshener hanging on my rearview mirror. He asked if that’s really SpongeBob’s driver’s license and I said yeah it’s real. Then he asked where I got it if SpongeBob’s underwater so I told him I wore a helmet like Sandy and stole it from SpongeBob when he slept, and without missing a beat he goes “That’s identity fraud”

[goldensunset]

if someone is talking about how much they love their parents do not jump in and start venting about your issues with your parents. if someone is venting about their issues with their parents do not jump in and start talking about how much you love your parents. peace and love amen swag city

[sapphic-luthor]

i’m going to hold your hands when i say this and i am only going to be kind about it once: ai does not belong in fandom spaces, ever. not in writing, not in art, not in video, not at all. it does not matter how bad you want to see your favourite characters kiss, or how much you need a bit of help finishing a chapter, or whatever.

make friends with artists. commission somebody. learn to draw yourself. ask for a beta read. try a writing partnership. fandom spaces are communities, so engage with them! it is about the journey and the fact that we all love something enough to create and build together about that thing.

spending 30 seconds to kill a tree and get an AI to push out some soulless empty piece of “content” is antithetical to the entire point of being engaged with fandom, and if you’ve taken to doing this you should really reconsider if you belong in these spaces with the rest of us.

[carsonjonesfiance]

“This thing is legally dubious and therefore technically unenforceable.” Is not a “useless liberal gotcha” it’s how legalism works in this country. Tying up stupidly worded EOs in court is the quickest way to keep them from being implemented. It is the definition of “doing something.” But it doesn’t usually involve much tweeting so of course a certain type of leftist feels obligated to mock it.

[afloweroutofstone]

[reallybadblackoutpoems]

the picture of dorian gray (1890) - oscar wilde

"fuck my yaoi life"

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x03 - “Finally Got The Name Right”

[schistcity]

ohhh… you guys are like… STUPID stupid

[byjove]

countries will be like “nooooo our birth rate is falling exponentially and it’s effecting our economy” and immigrants will be like “hey can you let us in so we can boost your economy and fill your empty jobs and raise our children here” and inevitably the country is like “the only thing worse than a large scale collapse of our population is letting foreigners live here”

[wardensantoineandevka]

is that piece of media actually bad, or is it just not following the blueprint you projected onto it? is that work actually not good, or are you just demanding something from it that is absolutely antithetical to its themes, genre, tone, and narrative goal? is that story actually poorly written, or do you just dislike that it is not the specific things you wanted from it that it never set out to be, never was, and never is going to become? is it actually bad, or is it actually well-executed and you just dislike the story it chose to be because it isn't catering to your specific desires and expectations?

[business-as-usual-bats]

Extremely funny, actually, because I just remembered half of Batman’s villains literally have PhDs

Damian: Father, I am retiring Robin, I am halting vigilante activities completely

Bruce: oh thank god, I approve So Much you have NO idea-

Damian: instead I'm becoming a doctor

Bruce: what

[beepboopappreciation]

Is this anything

[becquerel]

STOP TELLING ME ABOUT HOW SHE DOES SHROOMS SHROOMS AND MARIJUANA ARE DIFFERENT THINGS I HATE ALL OF YOU THIS POST HAS ALMOST 40K NOTES YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL

I KNOW SHE DOES SHROOMS IN THE MAIN COMIC I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY SINCE ITS NEVER DISCUSSED 😭 PLEASE MY NOTES ARE JUST PEOPLE TELLING ME THIS NOW

i really like ryoko kui's dedication to making this elf chick smoke weed in every modern clothing art she appears in